The Decticus: his Instrument 



they are combined according to our tastes, 

 but they are not invented. 



On the other hand, our music has no pro- 

 totype in the symphony of created things. 

 Certainly there is no lack of sounds, faint or 

 loud, sweet and solemn. The wind roaring 

 through the storm-tossed woods, the waves 

 curling and breaking on the beach, the 

 thunder growling in the echoing clouds stil- 

 us with their majestic notes; the breeze 

 filtering through the tiny foliage of the pine- 

 trees, the Bees humming over the spring 

 flowers charm every ear endowed with any 

 delicacy; but these are monotonous noises, 

 with no connection. Nature has superb 

 sounds ; she has no music. 



Howling, braying, grunting, neighing, bel- 

 lowing, bleating, yelping: these exhaust the 

 phonetics of our near neighbours in organ- 

 ization. A musical score composed of such 

 elements would be called a hullabaloo. Man, 

 forming a striking exception at the top of 

 the scale of these makers of raucous noises, 

 took it into his head to sing. An attribute 

 which no other shares with him, the at- 

 tribute of coordinated sounds whence springs 

 the incomparable gift of speech, led him on 

 to scientific vocal exercises. In the absence 



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