228 THE VOICE. 



may have complete vocal organs and full power of uttering 

 sounds or cries, is entirely incapable of speech ; and, as a rule, 

 the excellence of the language of any people will be found 

 to be proportional to their development of brain. Man, 

 however, is not the only being that has the power to form 

 articulate sounds, for the parrot and the raven may also 

 Ibe taught to speak by rote ; but man alone attaches mean- 

 ing to the words and phrases he employs. 



3. Speech is intimately related to the sense of hearing, 

 A child born deaf is, of necessity, dumb also; not because 

 the organs of speech are imperfect, for he can utter cries 

 and may be taught to speak, and even to converse in a 

 rude and harsh kind of language ; but because ,he can 

 form no accurate notion of sound. And a person, whose 

 hearing is not delicate, or as it is commonly expressed, 

 who "has no ear for music," cannot sing correctly. A per- 

 son who has impaired hearing commonly talks in an un- 

 naturally loud and monotonous voice. These examples 

 show the necessary relation of intelligence and the sense 

 of hearing with that form of articulate voice, which is 

 termed speech. 



4. The Organ of the Voice. The essential organ 

 of the voice is the Larynx. This has been previously 

 alluded to in its relation to the function of respiration ; 

 and, in the chapter on that subject, are figured the front 

 view of that organ (Fig. 35), and its connection with the 

 trachea, tongue, and other neighboring parts (Fig. 38). It 

 is situated at the upper part of the neck, at the top of the 

 trachea, or tube by which air passes into and out of the 

 lungs. The framework of the larynx is composed of four 

 cartilages, which render it at once very strong and suffi- 

 ciently flexible to enable it to move according to the re- 

 quirements of the voice. 



3. Speech and hearing? A deaf child? Person having "no ear for music? 1 ' 

 Impaired hearincr ? What do the examples show? 



4. Orjpin of the voice ? Where situated ? Of what is its framework composed ? 



