5H THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to place. The Chinese invariably substitute the soft for the hard 

 trill, 1 and this substitution is common among other nations. The 

 Polynesians put gutturals in the place of dentals, 2 and the missionaries 

 who are educating the youth of the Hawaiian Islands have had to 

 abandon sounds that the people are unable to pronounce. It is almost 

 as difficult rightly to hear as it is correctly to imitate articulations 

 foreign to one's own tongue : travelers hardly ever agree in their 

 representations of names that they have heard pronounced by natives. 

 Are differences of voice and of auditory perception the result to a 

 small extent of organization, but to a greater extent of early edu- 

 cation? One is tempted to believe that such is the case. But experi- 

 ment and observation, hitherto very limited, have not yet thrown 

 upon this subject the light of scientific truth. 



Words are formed by the combination of vowels and consonants ; 

 the voice gives utterance to them ; this is language which is at first 

 governed by convention, and then by grammar. Pronunciation re- 

 sults from the emission of articulate sounds ; its range in pitch is 

 usually about one-half of an octave. Commonly the voice rises or 

 falls a little at the end of a phrase, producing accent, or marking 

 affirmation or interrogation. The adult man, as a rule, speaks in the 

 lower register, children and women in the upper register, but to this 

 there are many exceptions. 



Though we all employ speech, yet we differ in ease and agreeable- 

 ness of utterance. The voice is weak or powerful, as determined by 

 the mode of action of the respiratory organs. The timbre is sharp, 

 harsh, sweet, or harmonious ; this is determined by the conformation 

 of the resonant cavities. Whatever quality of voice we happen to 

 have naturally, is to be preserved, though it may be improved by 

 constant attention to the ear, by steady observation, finally by train- 

 ing. Speech does not flow from its source with the same ease in all 

 cases : here the mind is master, and mental qualities differ from one 

 another to a far greater extent than physical aptitudes. Some per- 

 sons express themselves without difficulty or hesitation their thinking 

 faculty acts as a continuous force ; others seem to grasp a word or a 

 phrase here and there their thinking faculty is fluctuating, confused, 

 undecided. A certain feeling of constraint prodiices stuttering, stam- 

 mering. It used to be supposed that stuttering is the result of grave 

 defects of the vocal organs, but such is not the case at all ; this infirm- 

 ity has its seat in the mind, and it may be cured or mitigated by 

 systematic effort. It is shown by statistics that Provence, Languedoc, 

 and Guienne, contain a greater proportion of stammerers in their 

 population than any other portions of France. 3 This statement, when 



1 1 for r Eulope for Europe. 



s gh for d, k for t. This change of pronunciation is not infrequent in some country 

 districts of France. 



? ' "Statistique decennale du b6gaiement en France," par Chervin aine\ Lyon, 1868. 



