816 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 
joy, or anger, or, indeed, any strong emotion. Every dis— 
turbance of the equilibrium of the soul causes a disturbance 
of the equilibrium of the body, and may rightly be called 
a pain; and this pain finds ready expression and natural 
relief in the sound @h. 
Let us now observe the nature of the sound m. It is 
the second sound pronounced by the little child, and indi- 
cates that its soul has become stronger; its thoughts have 
more control over the nerves, and the result is the sound m, 
the easiest to pronounce after ah; it is produced by de 
liberately closing the mouth, and letting the air pass out 
through the nose. What does this sound m mean? 
When the child said ah, it felt pain, and thought of 
nothing else—not even of keeping its mouth closed ; it gave 
up all to sorrow. But now there is evidence of an effort. 
The mouth is not only closed, but kept closed. What is 
naturally the most prominent thought now? It is a desire 
to be relieved from pain. The closing of the lip indicates 
that the feeling of desire is in the soul. If we watch the 
child as it cries, we shall see that, after the first attack of 
pain, it tries to close its mouth. The desire to be free from 
pain causes this reflex motion. But this desire is not strong 
enough yet. We can observe the conflict of the muscles of 
the mouth. The middle parts of the lips try to approach 
each other; the muscles below the corners of the mouth 
draw the lower lip downwards. Presently, the attempt to 
close the mouth succeeds for a time, and the child now says 
am, and, repeating the process, amam, till the small strength 
of desire or purpose it had is gone, and it abandons itself to 
grief with a final, prolonged ah, making the whole utterance, 
the history of its feelings, heard as amamaaah! This is the 
child’s expression of pain, and of the desire for help, and it 
is almost universally adopted as the name of that human 
being which listens to the cry, and understands it, and 
soothes the feelings that called it forth. Precisely the same 
feeling is in our own souls when we say m. The sound is 
one of the effects of the feeling of desire or purpose. It is 
a matter of common observation that a loose upper lip and 
an open hand indicate a weak will, and a mouth firmly 
closed and a fist habitually clenched are marks of determina- 
tion. 
We have noticed that the sounds ah and m indicate cer- 
tain states of the soul. If we examine the other sounds of 
the human voice, we shall find that each one is an effect of 
a certain feeling. 
