OF AHTS AND SCIENCES. 279 



in the same words assumed a nasal quality somewhat approaching 

 the French nasal in. 



The further experiment was performed of sounding the five vow- 

 els a e i o u successively into the cylinder when this made one 

 revolution per second, and reproducing them at three revolutions. 

 It was found that the quality of the different vowels was altered 

 so that they were unrecognizable by one ignorant of the sounds 

 which had actually been spoken by the voice. The same result 

 was reached with the vowels a e e o o, and also with 6 5 a e i. The 

 last mentioned series, which is No. 20 in the tables, was impressed 

 upon the cylinder at a speed of one revolution, and reproduced at 

 two and at three revolutions, approximately. At two revolutions 

 the series seemed to have changed to o ou aff e i, the a% closely 

 approaching the French nasal in. At three revolutions the sounds 

 heard were o ou% a% I u%, the a% being a clear nasal in and the wj 

 a very short u with a high resonance note. 



The limitations in speed of the phonograph cylinder, as the 

 instrument is constructed for practical purposes, have thus far 

 prevented us from carrying the range of changes in the pitch of 

 the reproduced sounds as far as is desirable. This defect we pur- 

 pose to remedy by suitable modifications in the driving gear of the 

 apparatus. For reasons alread} 7 ' explained, it is also desirable to 

 measure the relative rates of rotation more accurately than we have 

 been able to do with the commercial form of the phonograph. 



We hope that we may be able to continue this investigation by 

 a more systematic study of the behavior of the reproduced vowel 

 sounds, and likewise to consider the effect of changed pitch in 

 reproduction upon the various consonantal sounds. 



In connection with the present subject, it is interesting to con- 

 sider the unconscious testimony to the existence of different char- 

 acteristic resonance notes for the different vowels which is given by 

 various onomatopoetic words. The words used to denote various 

 sounds form an excellent example, as will appear from the follow- 

 ing list of a few such words in which the pitch of the sound denoted 

 is higher as the list proceeds : — boom, gurgle, roll, toll, roar, 

 slump, thump, crash, smash, crack, snap, bang, jingle, ring, hiss. 

 It will be observed that the vowels in the later words are those 

 with higher resonance notes. 



Rogers Laboratory of Physics, 



May, 1892. 



