324 TITCHENER— PRODUCTION OF [Nov. 6. 



direction of a current of air. But not only are there gross dif- 

 ferences in the mode of formation of the ^-sound; there are also 

 individual differences, due apparently to the arrangement of the 

 teeth, the shape and size of the tongue, and so forth;* and beside 

 these, there are differences in ability to maintain the sound begun, to 

 hold it from fluctuation during its course. The sound that one 

 emits, on first trying to imitate the whistle, may therefore be almost 

 comically wrong, — broad, harsh, irregular, soft, wavery, instead of 

 sharp and keen. 



We presently found two experimenters, Mr. N. P. Stephens and 

 Mr. P. T. Carson, who after practice were able in a large proportion 

 of successive attempts to reproduce the sound oif the whistle. 

 Neither these nor the other volunteers whom we tried out could, 

 however, imitate the sound obtained by the ordinary vigorous 

 squeeze of the bulb, such a squeeze as one gives in determinations 

 of the terminus. We therefore had recourse to a compression which, 

 though sharp and definite, was still weaker than that by which 

 the whistle is usually actuated. The difference between the mouth- 

 sound and the whistle-sound given at full intensity is, so far as our 

 observations go, that the latter is beady, intense, compact, while 

 the former is broader, weaker, coarser. The compression which 

 we used was, nevertheless, strong enough to yield clear dust-figures 

 by the Kundt method.^ No doubt, it varied somewhat, both in the 

 experimental series and in the dust-figure determinations. But the 

 hand-pressure becomes rather surprisingly even, wdth a little prac- 

 tice; and determinations made at different times by Dr. Foster 

 varied only between the limits of 8,594 dz 63 v. d. and 8,522 ±: 27 

 V. d. It is therefore certain that we were working in the near neigh- 

 borhood of Kohler's optimal 8,400 v. d. 



4 See, e. g., C. L. Merkel, " Physiologic der menschlichen Sprache," 1866, 

 186 ff., Taf. III.; G. H. von Meyer, "The Organs of Speech," 1884, ZU^-', 

 G. E. Sievers, " Grundziige der Phonetik," 1885, 56 ff., 122 f . ; O. Jespersen, 

 "The Articulations of Speech Sounds," etc., 1889, 61 f., 87; H. Hoffmann, 

 " Die Lautwissenschaft," etc., 1901, 62 ; W. Vietor, " Elemente der Phonetik," 

 etc., 1887, 125 ff. ; E. Seelmann, " Die Aussprache des Latein," etc., 1885, 245 

 f.; H. Sweet, "A Handbook of Phonetics," 1877, z:i, 39 f- 



5 M. T. Edelmann, " Studien iiber die Erzeugung sehr hoher Tone, etc.," 

 Drude's Annalcn, II. [CCCVIL], 1900, 469 ff. 



