no A N T 1 E N T M ETAPHYSICS. Book IL 



compofed. Ic receives various modificacions in its paflage through 

 that part of the windpipe which is called the larynx ; and particu- 

 larly from the upper part of the larynx, which is called in Englifh the 

 knot of the throat, and in French la glotte, by which the breath enters 

 the mouth : And it receives ftill more modifications in the mouth, by 

 the organs the mouth contains, fuch as the tongue, the palate, and 

 the teeth, and by the lips, through which it goes into the open air. 

 By a certain pofition of thefe organs of the mouth, while the breath 

 is paffing through it, are formed thofe articulate founds, which we 

 call voivels : And by the different aftions of thofe organs are form- 

 ed founds of much greater variety, which are called con/o7tants, but 

 which, as the name imports, cannot be founded by themfelves, but 

 only in conjundlion with the vowels. Our vocal inftrument, 

 therefore, is fo complex, as iVl. Gebelin has defcribed it, that it is 

 not only a wind inftrument fuch as a flute, but alfo a ftringed in- 

 ftrument, and likewife an inftrument that operates by the touch like 

 an organ *. But before the voice is fo varioufly modified by the 

 organs of the mouth, it receives a modification by different con- 

 tractions and dilatations of that part of the larynx above mentioned, 

 called the knot of the throat, by which are produced mufical tones, 

 differing in acutencfs and gravity ; which tones, 1 am perfuaded, ac- 

 companied the pronunciation of all the antient languages. That 

 this was the cafe of the Greek and Latin, is well known. The 

 Sanlcrit alfo was and is ftill a mufical language in India, as I have 

 elfewhere obferved f ; and fo was alfo the Hebrew : And as mufic 

 is more natuial to man than articulation, particularly in the fouthern 

 Snd eaftern countries, fo that I am perfuaded he fung before he 

 fpoke, I think it could not well be otherwife. Laflly, there is ano- 

 ther modification of the voice before it comes into the mouth ; and 

 that is in the throat, by which it forms guttural founds. 



The 



• Vol III. of Maude Primitif, p. 74. 



-5- Vol. Yl. of Origin of Language, p, 14^. 



