306 
nasal, and defies all definition éither of 
vowel, liquid, or semi-liquid: unless, 
indeed, it may be said to be produced 
by vibrating contact of certain portions 
of the interior nostrils. In which case (as 
it is capable of indefinite duration) it thay 
be properly ranked among the liquids. 
I must warn the foreigner, however, 
against a mistake; into which he is 
likely to be led by several of our wri- 
ters, who tell us that it is the same 
element with that which the French 
call the nasal vowel; though certainly 
any person who should pronounce our 
ding-dong, like the French environs, 
would never be suspected of talking 
English, 
VILE THE LOWER JAW, in treat- 
ing of the organs of enunciation, must 
not be passed over in absolute silence: 
for although, as I have already shewn, 
there are some persons who can pro- 
“nounce distinctly, with clenched teeth, 
every element and combination of ele- 
ments in the English language (as they 
may be taught to do without uvula or 
back part of palate); and although it 
be equally certain, that in cases of the 
‘spurious lock-jaw,* the patient (if he 
can be kept alive by suction,) does not 
necessarily lose the power of speech; 
‘yet certainly, in the generality of in- 
stances, it is desirable to make use, in a 
considerable degree, of the agency of 
_this organ, in modifying the opening and 
cavity of the mouth, during the process 
of enunciation. But as there are de- 
fects, and serious defects, which arise 
‘ The fact is, that it is a pure nasal; and all 
, that is necessary for its complete formation 
is, that the soft and elastic parts of the 
mouth be so disposed as to impel the vocal 
impulse exclusively to the compressed 
nostrils. 
~ * Of the spurious lock jaw there are two 
‘distinct species, one properiy, and the 
other zmproperly so named. The latter is, 
~ in fact, nota locking but a dislocation, which 
sometimes takes place in the act of yawn- 
ing; the jaw, in the act of extravagant ex- 
“tension, slipping out of its socket. To 
this the surgeon, by a simple operation 
(though not without peril to his thumbs), 
applies aremedy. The former (to which 
‘the text alludes) consists in a rigid and 
permanent constriction of the muscles, 
‘which keeps the teeth immovably clenched, 
“and'which would aceordingly, if the usual 
‘theory of the forntation of the organic for- 
-“aajation’of the vowels, &¢., were correct, in 
“addition to'the exclusion of all nourishment 
S but’ what ¢an’be stcked through the teeth, 
Ayender tie patient dumb. But'such is not 
rhe result. cui ces 
1 jaayp 
Gradation of Universal Being. 
[Nov. Ij 
both from the excessive activity and 
the inertion of this member of the 
mouth, as also from erroneous motions 
and positions ; and as none of the ‘ele- 
ments depend for their primary forma- 
ion on any of its particular motions, 
the more proper place to speak of it at 
large, will be under the head of Im 
pediments; 5 ie 
I shall conclude this, lecture, there- 
fore, by referring again (as to an object 
of primary importance) to the requisite 
attention to neatness and precision “in 
the actions and position of the lips: 
an attention equally requisite to fea- 
tural and to enunciative beauty: even 
those sounds which can be intelligibly 
enunciated by the mere action of other 
organs acquiring an additional grace 
and completeness from the management 
of these. In short, taste, expression, 
complete distinctness, and delicacy, 
whether in elocution or in song, de- 
pend, in a great measure, if not abso- 
lutely, on the precision of labial action. 
Without it, singing itself can never be 
any thing but a scientific squall; and 
as for elocution, jabber we may, like. - 
one set of animals, gabble like a second,. 
or bleat like a third; but he who indo-. 
lently acquiesces in the heavy glouting 
protusion, or insensibility of lip, shall 
never attain to the dignity and harmony’ 
of human speech.* 
(End of the Third Lecture. ) 
—>— 
On the GraDaTion of Universat. BEING. 
(Continued from p. 110.) P 
HE second cause, that of origi- 
nally distinct races, has no direct, 
or even probable proof in its favour; nor 
can we adduce any satisfactory founda- 
tion on which, were it necessary, we 
might erect the superstructure of such 
an 
* In my early lectures, it was customary 
with me to follow up these reflections with: 
some disquisitions on the more early, and, 
generally speaking, superior attainment of 
elocutionary accomplishments in the fair 
sex; and some criticisms on the mode of 
reasoning adopted by Dr. Currie and éther 
philosophical enquirers, to account for that 
phenomenon. But afterwards, this portion 
of the lecture became occasionally wrought 
up with other philosophical and rhetorical 
materials into the form of a discourse on 
the identity of fitness and beauty, of which 
a very brief outline only exists. The’ fol- 
lowing lines of Akenside might be regarded 
as the text— eT ae 
*< For truth and Good areone, © 7? 
And Beauty ‘dwells in them, ‘and they inher, 
With like participation!” 
iB YIGGs0) 
