A STUDY OF THE VOICE AND OF SPEECH 319 



this is largely a result of the size, shape, and relative posi- 

 tions of the air passages, much can be done to improve the 

 clearness and intensity of the voice. 



The Care of the Voice. "A pleasing speech and voice are 

 almost equal to personal appearance in importance to the 

 individual in his relations to others. A great number of 

 complex movements are needed to produce proper speech, 

 and these are acquired slowly and with difficulty. . . . 

 Speech is largely the result of imitation, and if the voices 

 a child hears are harsh or coarse, so will his own become. 

 The best way, therefore, to teach a child distinct and re- 

 fined speech is to let it hear such only. However, this is 

 not always all that is sufficient. Enlarged tonsils and, still 

 more, adenoid vegetations block the way of the sound waves 

 to the nasal cavities after they leave the larynx. This 

 deprives the voice of both intensity and resonance. . . . 

 The number of people that are allowed to grow up handi- 

 capped by hasty, slurred, harsh, disagreeable speech and 

 voice is great. Parents do not seem to appreciate the 

 advantage to their children in after life that a refined, 

 melodious voice will be. 



"Proper singing is one of the best modes of cultivating a 

 pleasant speaking voice, even if the singer has no chance of 

 anything more than a place in a chorus. It is a delight to 

 hear a good singer speak, and often we can tell that a per- 

 son is a singer simply from the speech. . . . When a 

 child's voice is changing, singing should be prohibited until 

 the adult type of voice has been fully developed. This is 

 true of girls as well as boys. Singing is an excellent form 

 of respiratory gymnastics, and tends to develop a full, well- 

 formed chest. In this way it acts as a preventive of lung 

 diseases." PYLE, " Personal Hygiene" (W. B. Saunders 

 & Co.). 



Sounds produced by Other Animals. The song of some 

 birds is most remarkable in its variety and richness. We 

 should, therefore, expect a highly developed larynx. Such 



