1861 ] 295 [Vowels. 



where it is again at rest. The vowels which are formed in points 1, 

 2, and 3, are pronounced with the opening of the mouth enlarged ; 

 those which are formed in the points 4 and 5 with the opening of 

 the mouth contracted. 



Let this series of vowel- 

 sounds be pronounced in 

 the order here indicated, 

 and let the regions of the 

 mouth be noticed into 

 which the several vowels 5\o=no^e 

 are conveyed by the ac- 

 tion of the tongue during 

 their modulation, and it 

 will be found that the 

 position of each in the 



diagram is correct. Let the reader afterwards repeat this series se- 

 veral times in one breath, and he will not fail to notice how much 

 the pronunciation of the series is like describing a circle or oval in 

 the cavity of the mouth by means of the tongue. Moreover, the 

 vowel-line does not necessarily run from point 1 to points 2, 3, 4, 

 and 5, but it may also run from point 1 to points 5, 4, 3, and 2, and 

 thence back to point 1. 



We, hence, see that the above vowel-sounds describe a circle or 

 an ellipse, running either from right to left, or from left to right. 



[Rem. 1. In comparing the positions which I have assigned to each 

 of these vowels, with those laid down by Dr. Briicke in the plate, at 

 the end of his volume, the reader will find that they agree perfectly. 

 Dr. Briicke has only sketched the three vowels a in father, i in ma- 

 chine, and u mjiute; the vowels e in edge or a in age, and o in note, 

 he regards as intermediate sounds between the former. 



Willis produced the vowel a \n father by letting the cog of a cog- 

 wheel strike against a watch-spring of a certain length. By short- 

 ening the spring, this sound passed over into that of a in age, and 

 i in machine, and by lengthening it into that of o and u. The same 

 result he obtained by shortening and lengthening a pipe, in which a 

 sound was produced by the vibration of a tongue. Dr. Briicke re- 

 peated these experiments. He could not produce any vowel-sounds 

 from the watch-spring, but he succeeded in obtaining them from the 

 pipe. Compared with the vowels of the human voice, he says they 

 were very indistinct ] but still he thinks that Willis lighted upon a 

 very important point in the matter. He, moreover, says that a varia- 



