VOICE IN MAN AND IN ANIMALS. 39 i 



of the larynx be rent and torn ; but it is destroyed by lesion of the 

 nerves of the little muscles which alter the form of the glottis and 

 stretch the vocal cords. 



But alongside of these undisputed facts there were a number of 

 undecided questions which stimulated to further research. Some in- 

 vestigators were continually meditating on methods of viewing the 

 larynx in normal action. Toward the close of the last century mir- 

 rors were first employed for this purpose, but the earliest attempts 

 were unsuccessful. For fifty years all efforts of this kind proved abor- 

 tive, and the thought of examining the interior of a living larynx was 

 coming to be regarded as an illusion. Suddenly, as by an inspiration, 

 the solution of the problem occurred to the mind of Manuel Garcia. 

 Ignorant of the labors of others who had endeavored to obtain a view 

 of the vocal apparatus, Garcia conceived the idea of observing his own 

 vocal organs in the act of singing. Taking a small mirror attached to 

 the end of a long rod, he placed it beneath the uvula, and then, illumi- 

 nating with a beam of sunlight another mirror which he held in his 

 hand, he had a full view of his own larynx. Thus was discovered the 

 true method of investigation. In 1855 Garcia communicated to the 

 London Royal Society the result of his observations on the living 

 larynx. 1 



When a new mode of research is discovered, the first investigators 

 to take hold of it are those who have little or no prepossessions of their 

 own. They perceive that, by varying the application of the process, 

 notable results may be attained without much labor or ability. Gar- 

 cia's process called forth on many sides much enthusiastic zeal. This 

 was the case especially at Vienna, but the results fell short of the 

 anticipations. The caprices of the sun's light and the defects of arti- 

 ficial light were such as to discourage the observers. In order to 

 succeed, the means of illumination had to be improved at any cost. 

 Garcia had used for a reflector a plane mirror; J. Czermak, Professor 

 of Physiology at Pesth, finding his pattern in the instrument used for 

 inspecting the eye, the ophthalmoscope, employed a concave mirror, 

 which concentrates the light. The feasibility of studying man's vocal 

 apparatus by means of the laryngoscope was now insured. Still, for 

 a long time afterward, experimenters busied themselves with devising 

 contrivances for increasing the intensity of the light by combinations- 

 of glass lenses. 3 



Czermak, who by long practice had acquired great skill in the 

 manipulation of his own larynx, visited the principal cities of Ger- 

 many, taking with him a good instrument. His demonstrations were 



1 " Observations on the Human Voice," " Proceedings of the Royal Society of Lon- 

 don," vol. vii. 



' The different kinds of instruments are described in Mandl's work, " Traite du 

 Larynx ;" also, in the article, " Laryngoscope," by Dr. Krishaber, in " Dictionnaire En- 

 cyclopedique des Sciences Medicales." 



