244 REPORTS ON INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. 



The fundamental problem of the mechanism of the voice in pro- 

 ducing vowels occupies an entire chapter. Professor Hermann's proof 

 of the incorrectness of the Helmholtz overtone theory is confirmed, 

 and the puff theory is adopted as the basis of a more complete one. 

 Experiments are described with water resonators that produced tones 

 like those of the vocal cavities, an apparatus having been constructed 

 that produced all the vowel sounds instead of only one, two, or three, 

 as before obtained. 



The last chapter contains complete instructions, with two detailed 

 examples, for the analysis of vowel waves. Appended to the book 

 are the schedules to be used in analyses with 12, 24, 36, and 72 

 ordinates, the two latter having never before been published ; those 

 for 72 ordinates were the first time calculated and tested at a great 

 expense of time. 



Professor Scripture hopes to soon have another study in readiness 

 containing detailed studies of several records. The manuscript is well 

 advanced, but has to be constantly revised and extended, owing to 

 the fact that the fundamental ideas concerning speech sounds have 

 to be developed as the work progresses. A few isolated facts out of 

 the results of these studies were given in the last report (Year Book 

 of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, No. 3, p. 114) ; before 

 final publication, however, it is necessary to reduce the entire lot to a 

 consistent phonetic system, the results involving views of speech dif- 

 fering widely from the prevalent phonetic conceptions. 



On the foundation of the general phenomena of vocal action as 

 explained in the volume now in hand and the laws and facts con- 

 cerning the individual sounds as developed in the study under way, 

 it is possible to proceed to the problem with which the work orig- 

 inated, namely, the laws of verse. The problems and the lines of 

 work have already been stated (Year Book No. 2, p. 243 ; No. 3, 

 p. 114). Records of English, French, and German verse have been 

 obtained and partly studied, and it is expected that the results will 

 appear later. The proof of the incorrectness of the typographical 

 view of modern verse, as consisting of sounds, syllables, and feet that 

 can be divided from each other, is believed to be complete, and a 

 psychological theory of verse — the centroid theory — is found to be 

 reliable. The relations of melody, stress, and duration as factors of 

 rhythm in the several languages will be considered. 



