200 M. Savart on the Mechanism of the Human Voice. 



Inches. lOths. 

 The front teeth of the upper jaw greatly resemble those of the 

 lower, with the exception of the middle incisive teeth which 

 are twice the width of the lateral ones, and narrow at 

 their inner surface, -..---06 



Art. II. — Memoir on the Mechanism of the Human Voice. 

 By M. Felix Savart. 



JLt gives us particular satisfaction to have such frequent op- 

 portunities of presenting to our readers an account of the 

 ingenious and valuable researches of M. Savart, relative to 

 some of the most profound and less cultivated branches of 

 Physical Science. His Memoir on the Human Voice, which is 

 printed in the last number of the Ann. de Chimie et de Phy- 

 sique, * exhibits, in a striking point of view, the sagacity of 

 its author, who advances step by step from the theory of the 

 simple whistle of the hunters, to the explanation of the most 

 complicated organ of the human frame. We could have 

 wished that our limits would permit us to give the whole of 

 this memoir; but, as this is out of the question, we shall en- 

 deavour to convey the substance of it to our readers, which 

 they will perhaps comprehend more readily than if they were 

 in possession of more minute details. 



The formation of the human voice has been regarded by 

 some as similar to a stringed instrument, while others have 

 considered it as resembling the mouth-piece of organ-pipes ; 

 but M. Savart has shown that both these explanations are 

 inadmissible, and he thus proceeds to an investigation of the 

 subject. 



When the length of an organ-pipe is from twelve to fifteen 

 times its diameter, the velocity of the current of air has a 

 slight influence on the number of oscillations, and it is diffi- 

 cult to make the sound vary a semitone. In short tubes, on 

 the contrary, the influence of the velocity of the current of 

 air is much greater, and cubical pipes can be made to give 

 out several sounds, and embrace the interval of an entire 



* For September 1825, p. 6t— 8?. 





