PRODUCTION OF THE VOICE. 503 



tially the same in both sexes. The larynx is smaller than 

 in the adult, and the vocal muscles are evidently more feeble ; 

 but the quality of the vocal sounds at this period of life is 

 peculiarly pure and penetrating. While there are peculiari- 

 ties that distinguish the voices of boys before the age of 

 puberty, they present, as in the female, the different quali- 

 ties of the soprano and contralto. At this age the voices of 

 boys are capable of considerable cultivation, and their pecu- 

 liar quality is sometimes highly prized in church-music. 

 After the age of puberty, the female voice does not com- 

 monly undergo any very marked change, except in the de- 

 velopment of additional strength and increased compass, the 

 quality remaining the same ; but in the male there is a rapid 

 change at this time in the development of the larynx, and 

 the voice assumes an entirely different quality of tone. This 

 change does not usually take place if castration be performed 

 in early life ; and this barbarous operation was frequently 

 resorted to in the seventeenth century, for the purpose of 

 preserving the qualities of the soprano and contralto, par- 

 ticularly for church-music. It is only of late years, indeed, 

 that this practice has fallen into disuse in Italy. 



The ordinary range of all varieties of the human voice 

 is given by Miiller as equal to nearly four octaves ; but it is 

 rare that any single voice has a compass of more than two 

 and a half octaves. There are examples, however, in which 

 singers have acquired a compass of three octaves, and even 

 more. The celebrated singer, Mme. Parepa-Rosa, has a 

 compass of voice that touches three full octaves, from so! 2 

 to sol 5 . In music, the notes are written the same for the 

 male as for the female voice, but the actual value of the 

 female notes, as reckoned by the number of vibrations in the 

 second, is always an octave higher than the male. 1 



In both sexes there are differences, both in the range and 

 the quality of the voice, which it is impossible for a culti- 

 vated musical ear to mistake. In the male, we have the 



1 FOURXIE, Physiologic de la voix et de la parole, Paris, 1866, p. 531. 



