Dean D. Lewis 187 



fibers about the end of tlie muscle fiber. He is inclined to believe, how- 

 ever, that there is a close relation between the muscle fibers and the 

 elastic elements of the cord,' and emphasizes the fact that Ijy muscle fibers 

 leaving the body of the muscle and running for a short distance in the 

 ligament, as fine an influence could be exerted upon the elastic elements 

 of the ligament as could be explained by the idea of the insertion of 

 muscle fibers directly into the elastic fibers. He does not regard the 

 ligament as the tendon of the musculus vocalis. 



Katzenstein ^ does not regard the ligamentum vocale as the tendon of 

 the musculus vocalis. He has never seen the direct transition of muscle 

 fiber into elastic fiber. 



In horizontal and frontal sections, muscle fibers may be found, which 

 are closely related to the elastic fibers of the ligamentum vocale. I have 

 found these to be most numerous posteriorly, in front of the vocal process 

 of the arytenoid cartilage. These muscle fibers have no such complicated 

 arrangement as Jacobson depicts. They seem to pass in between the 

 elastic fibers of the ligament, and to be surrounded by these fibers, but it 

 is probable that they do not end among the elastic fibers of the ligament. 

 Smirnow's investigation '" as to the mode of insertion of striated muscle 

 into soft tissue will aid in settling this question. He says that in all 

 eases in which striated muscle is not in direct relation to the bony or 

 cartilaginous skeleton, in which the fibers are attached to the softer varie- 

 ties of connective tissues, these tendons consist, wholly or almost wholly, 

 of elastic tissue. In attempting to establish this relation, I have been 

 unable to find in any case a transition of muscle fiber into elastic tissue. 



The laryngoscopic findings in the production of falsetto tones as given 

 by Stork, quoted by Jacobson, would suggest that the ligamentum vocale 

 may act in segments. I am inclined to believe that these fibers, wdiich are 

 so closely related to the elastic tissue of the ligamentum vocale, but still 

 cannot l;e considered as inserting into it, may by their contraction make 

 tense the vocal ligaments, while the arytenoid cartilage remains stationary, 

 and may by their contraction render the production of falsetto tones pos- 

 sible. There is still another possibility, hoAvever. The fibers of the liga- 

 mentum vocale, as they pass forward to their anterior attachment, are 

 re-inforced by additional elastic fibers, which are derived from the 

 perimysium of the musculus vocalis, and through it are attached to the 

 arytenoid cartilage. It is possible that by the contraction of muscle 

 fibers related to these elastic elements different segments of the cord 



-^Katzenstein: Arch. f. Laryngol. u. Rhinol. Bd. xiii, p. 346. 

 -^ Smirnow: Anat. Anz., Jena. Bd. xv, p. 488. 



