34-4 Mr. Bishop's Experimental Researches into 



and to vary them so as to imitate the tones of birds, beasts, and 

 musical instruments, with an ahnost infinite variety of other 

 sounds, justly excites our admiration and astonishment. Not- 

 withstanding the great labour bestowed by musicians on the 

 temperament of keyed instruments, with a view to correct the 

 dissonances occurring in the construction of the diatochromatic 

 and enharmonic scales, so as to satisfy the ear, such instru- 

 ments are far inferior to the vocal organs, which can produce 

 all the tones necessary for the most exquisite and perfect har- 

 mony. 



The association of the organ of hearing with that of the 

 voice tends materially to its utility and perfection. Congeni- 

 tal deafness deprives a person of the power of acquiring arti- 

 culate language, except by a laborious process of tuition and 

 to a limited extent. 



By very slight modifications of the tube, the simple unin- 

 terrupted tones of the voice will produce the vowel sounds, 

 which have accordingly been imitated by Kratzenstein, De 

 Kempelen, Willis, and others, through the medium of artifi- 

 cial mechanism. The interrupted sounds, or voces limiiatce, 

 require, on the other hand, the co-operation of the pharynx, 

 tongue, teeth, cheeks, lips, and nostrils ; the various actions of 

 which, by checking the sounds, produce the gutturals, dentals, 

 and labials of grammarians. According to the mode in which 

 the interruption takes place, and to the varied adjustments 

 of the organs employed in effecting them, these are distin- 

 guished into mutes, explosives, nasals, liquids, and gutturals : 

 but the manner in which these effects are produced, it is not 

 my present purpose to investigate, and indeed they have been 

 already minutely analysed by Haller, Soemmerring, Blumen- 

 bach. Bell, Magendie, Bichat, and others. In the use of ar- 

 ticulate language the variations of the voice are usually within 

 a minor third, either above or below the pitch of the vocal 

 tube, and the inflections of tone are generally in the minor 

 key. When in the vibrating position, the glottis is capable of 

 yielding sounds during inspiration, which are used by some 

 persons for the purposes of ventriloquism. The expressions 

 of pleasure and pain are produced by mere variations of tone, 

 without the aid of articulation. In laughing, the voice is re- 

 peatedly interrupted, in consequence of the glottis being al- 

 ternately opened and closed in quick succession. In crying, 

 the tones follow each other in enharmonic and discordant, but 

 longer intervals. 



The views here taken of the functions of the vocal organs, 

 and of which the following is a brief summary, are confirmed 



