VOICE SINGING. 491 



repetition of the letter R, in the phonetic words, adds considerable 

 force to the idea intended to be conveyed by the passage 



"Break his bands of sleep asunder; 

 And rouse him like a rattling peal of thunder," 



and in Byron's "Darkness," 



"Forests were set on fire but hour by hour 

 They fell and faded and the crackling trunks 

 Extinguish 'd with a crash and all was black." 



5. SINGING. 



The singing voice differs from other vocal sounds in consisting of 

 appreciable tones, the intervals of which can be distinguished by the 

 ear, and admit of unison. Under the sense of hearing we endeavoured 

 to show, that the musical ear is an intellectual faculty; and that the 

 ear is only the instrument for attaining a knowledge of sounds, which 

 are subsequently reproduced by the larynx, under the guidance of the 

 intellect. In this respect, therefore, there is a striking resemblance 

 between music and spoken language. 



Like the latter, singing admits of considerable difference, as regards 

 intensity, timbre, &c. Voices are sometimes divided into the grave 

 and acute ; the difference between them amounting to about an octave. 

 The former is the voice of the adult male ; but he is capable of acute 

 sounds, by assuming the falsetto, which M. Savart 1 conceives to be pro- 

 duced in the ventricles of the larynx; M. Bennati in the pharynx; and 

 more recently, Mr. J. Bishop 2 has suggested, that it may arise either 

 from the partial closing of the glottis, or from a nodal division of the 

 vocal chords, "the pitch of the sound in the production of this peculiar 

 modification of the voice being such, that the column of air in the vocal 

 tube is of the precise length requisite to vibrate in unison with the 

 larynx." The mode, however, in which the falsetto voice is produced is 

 by no means determined. It has given rise to great diversity of views. 3 

 The acute voice is that of the grown female, children, and eunuchs. 

 According to M. Pouillet, 4 the gravest sound of the male voice makes 

 190 vibrations per second ; the most acute 678 per second ; whilst the 

 female voice makes 572 vibrations for the gravest, and 1606 for the 

 most acute. By adding all the tones of an acute to those of a grave 

 voice, they are found to embrace nearly three octaves ; but, according 

 to M. Magendie, it does not appear, that such a compass of voice, in pure 

 and agreeable tones, has ever existed in one individual. 5 On the 

 other hand, M. Biot calculated three octaves and a half to be the ex- 

 treme range ; this, Mr. Bishop 6 says, he knows from experience is too 

 low an estimate. Independently of the falsetto, the compass of the 

 natural voice would seem to rarely exceed two octaves ; but in some 

 cases, as in those of Catalani and Malibran, it has extended beyond 



1 Magendie's Journal de Physiologic, torn, v., Paris, 1825. 



2 Proceedings of the Royal Society, No. 65, London, 1847. 



3 Miiller, Physiology, P. iv., p. 1032, Lond., 1838. 



4 Elemens de Physiologic Experimental, torn. iii. 130, Paris, 1832. 

 6 Precis Elementaire, i. 262. 



The Lond. and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, for October, 1836, p. 272. 



