s;;s 



VOICE. 



diseases in singers, orators, and others accustomed 

 to great exertion of the vocal organs.' The voice 

 of men and animals is a very interesting subject of 

 inquiry. The tones by which animals express 

 their feelings, the sweet and powerful melodies of 

 the small birds, the tones which convey the ideas 

 and emotions of rational man, and furnish his no- 

 blest music, are well fitted to awaken the curiosity 

 of the naturalist, physiologist and philosopher 

 For some remarks on the organs of the voice in 

 animals and men, we refer the reader to Blumen- 

 bach'g Manual of Comparative Anatomy (translated 

 by W. Lawrence, revised by Coulson, London, 

 1887). 



Respecting the sounds of human language, by 

 the various combinations of which-such a variety of 

 words is produced, we will add a few remarks. 

 Besides the lungs, the windpipe, &c., the finely, 

 arched roof the mouth, and the pliability of the 

 lips (enabling us to give a great variety of forms to 

 the mouth, which are almost the sole means of 

 giving their peculiar character to the different 

 vowels), are of the greatest importance. Under 

 the articles on the separate letters the reader will 

 find an account of the way in which the sounds 

 represented by them respectively are produced. 

 " The modifications of voice, easily made (says 

 Mr Arnott, in his Elements of Physics), and easily 

 distinguishable by the ear, and, therefore, fit ele- 

 ments of language, are about fifty in number ; but 

 no single language contains more than about half 

 of them. They are divisible into two very distinct 

 and nearly equal classes, called vowels and conso- 

 nants." In the article Consonant, the natural divi- 

 sion of words is shown to cease with syllables : 

 they are one sound, and the division into vowels 

 and consonants, ingenious and useful as it is, does 

 not, in fact, exist to the degree which we usually 

 take for granted, from the circumstance of consider- 

 ing them as totally distinct from early childhood. 

 Consonants are, generally speaking, only the be- 

 ginning or end of vowels ; i. e. the mouth must in 

 some way be opened to produce a vowel sound, 

 and closed to conclude the vowel sounds ; and this 

 mode of opening or closing gives rise to that which 

 we call a consonant. The circumstance that con- 

 sonants cannot be pronounced without the aid of 

 vowels, shows, that the strict division into vowels 

 and consonants is one which nature has not made. 

 Mr Arnott says : " To explain the second class of 

 the modifications of sound, called consonants, we 

 remark, that while any continued or vowel sound 

 is passing through the mouth, if it be interrupted, 

 whether by a complete closure of the mouth, or 

 only by an approximation of parts, the effect on the 

 ear of a listener is so exceedingly different, accord- 

 ing to the situation in the mouth where the inter- 

 ruption occurs, and to the manner in which it 

 occurs, that many most distinct modifications thence 

 arise. Thus any continued sound, as a, if arrested 

 by a closure of the mouth at the external confine 

 or lips, is heard to terminate with the modification 

 expressed by the letter p ; that is, the syllable ap 

 has been pronounced : but if, under similar circum- 

 stances, the closure be made at the back of the 

 mouth, by the tongue rising against the palate, we 

 hear the modification expressed by the letter A, and 

 the syllable ak has been pronounced ; and if the 

 closure be made in the middle of the mouth, by the 



* See Majrendie's Report on Doctor Bennati't (physician to 

 the Italian opera in Paris) Memoir on the Diteeaet of the Uvula, 

 read March 7, 1831, in the French academy. 



tip of the tongue rising against the roof, the sound 

 expressed by t is produced, and the syllable at is 

 heard : and so of others. It is to be remarked, also, 

 that the ear is equally sensible of the peculiarities, 

 whether the closure precedes the continued sound 

 or follows it ; that is to say, whether the syllables 

 pronounced are ap, at, ak, or pa, ta, ka. The 

 modifications of which we are now speaking appear, 

 then, not to be really sounds, but only manners of 

 beginning and ending sounds ; and it is because 

 they can thus be perceived only in connexion with 

 vocal sounds, that they are called consonants." 

 We refer the reader to Mr Arnott's work, for 

 further remarks on the pronunciation of the various 

 vowels and consonants, and add here only his table 

 of articulations, in which, if we consider the per- 

 pendicular line on the left as the opening of the 

 mouth, and the line on the right as the back part of 

 the mouth, the four divisions indicate the places 



where the letters are pronounced See the articles 



on the letters and on writing. 



labial. Palatal. Cultural. 



Mute. 

 Semi-muff. 

 Semi-vowel or nata 

 Aspirate. 

 Vocal aspirate. 

 Vibratory. 



The effect of the sexual functions on the voice is 

 well known ; but the mode in which this effect 

 takes place is not explained. This influence is 

 observable even in birds, which delight us with 

 their amorous melodies at the season of pairing ; in 

 woman, whose voice acquires its metallic tone and 

 its fulness at the age of puberty ; and particularly 

 in man, who does not possess, till that period, the 

 "voices" peculiar to him, the bass or tenor, and 

 in whom the change of voice, as every one knows, 

 is prevented by previous emasculation. But also 

 many other causes, affecting especially the nervous 

 system, produce considerable changes in the voice, 

 which afford important symptoms in diseases. 

 Thus it may be wanting altogether in a diseased 

 state (this is called aphonia'), or it may be changed 

 morbidly (paraphonia, cacophonta). In the latter 

 case, it is either too strong or too weak, too deep 

 (vox clangosa, if it is at the same time too strong, 

 and raucitas gravis, if it is at the same time too 

 weak), or too high (oxyphonia, which again is di- 

 vided into vox cucuriens or rudens, which is at the 

 same time too strong, and raucitas acuta, at the 

 same time too weak). Most of these affections 

 appear as symptoms, but are seldom considered as a 

 primary disease. They often enable the physician 

 to draw conclusions respecting the true character 

 of the disease. The entire loss of voice originates 

 from cramp, weakness or paralysis. If it is caused 

 by paralysis, it is almost always a fatal symptom. 

 If it is connected with an excitable constitution, it 

 indicates violent congestions and approaching apo- 

 plexy; occurring after delivery, it indicates con- 

 vulsions; in the croup, suffocation and mortification. 

 An unnaturally strong voice is very common in 

 madness. The vox clangosa, sounding as if the 

 person was speaking in an empty pot, is, in danger- 

 ous diseases, a very serious symptom. The hoarse- 

 ness, in which the voice is too deep, indicates great 

 danger in bilious fever, scarlatina , consumption, and 



