400 VOICE AND SPEECH. 



inch. The anterior insertions of the vocal bands can be seen in 

 both photographs ; therefore the actual difference in the length of 

 the bands can be appreciated. The vocal bands have not only 

 become shorter, but they appear to be subjected to a much higher 

 degree of tension. The cartilaginous glottis is closed and the 

 aperture in the ligamentous portion has been much reduced in 

 size. The laws which govern the pitch in both string and reed 

 instruments will aid us in explaining these changes. Though the 

 tone is higher and the degree of stretching less than in the note 

 below, the tension is increased, and the aperture through which 

 the air passes is much narrower. It seems to me that this clearly 

 defined change in the mechanism of the vocal bands which, so 

 far as my investigations permit me to judge, are at this point in 

 the scale the rule w T ill assist us to a clear understanding of the 

 action of the laryngeal muscles in singing when we reach that 

 part of the study. 



" In the first photograph, which was taken while the subject 

 was singing the note immediately preceding that on which the 

 break occurred, the vocal bands can be seen to be long and wide 

 and the posterior three-fourths of the chink of the glottis is open. 

 By open, I mean that the edges of the vocal bands are not in 

 actual contact. The anterior fourth or fifth of the ligamentous 

 portion of the glottis is closed. The space between the vocal 

 bands is widest in the cartilaginous portion of the glottis. In 

 the production of the next note higher, F sharp, the second of the 

 pair, a marked change in the size of the larynx and in the length 

 of the vocal bands is seen to have occurred. The cavity of the 

 larynx has been suddenly reduced in size and the vocal bands 

 have been shortened. The cartilaginous portion of the glottis is 

 closed and the ligamentous portion is open in a linear slit from 

 the posterior vocal process to within a short distance of the an- 

 terior insertions of the vocal bands. The decrease in the length 

 of the vibratory portions of the vocal bands is due to the closure 

 of the cartilaginous glottis, for the ligamentous glottis remains 

 about the same as in the note before the break. The arytenoid 

 cartilages have been brought much closer together and occupy a 

 more posterior position. These pictures were taken one after the 

 other in quick succession, the conditions in every respect, except 

 the note sung, being the same. The anteroposterior and lateral 

 dimensions of the cavity of the larynx are shown to have been 

 considerably decreased when the voice broke into the register 

 above. When the mechanism of the larynx was changed the 

 voice acquired a very different quality, which continued, in grad- 

 ual elevation of pitch, throughout the register. As marked a 

 change as this in the mechanism of the vocal bands in females is, 

 I believe, found only in the larynges of contralto singers. 



" It is believed by many writers on the voice that with the 



