VOICE. 



would he vory imperfect if we could not act upon these bodies, 

 change place and express what we feel. Indeed, we do possess 

 this power, which is the result of the faculty of producing sounds, 

 and of the faculty of executing motion. 



Fig. 34. 



Fig. 35. 



br 



OF THE VOICE. 



42. Voice consists in the pro- 

 duction of a particular sound, 

 by the aid of the air which 

 escapes from the lungs. A great 

 number of organs take part in 

 the performance of this func- 

 tion ; but that one which is 

 especially its seit, is the larynx, 

 a sort of cartilaginous tube, 



which, at its superior extremity, opens into the 

 pharynx by an opening named glottis, and which, 

 by its inferior opening communicates with the 

 windpipe, which is, in a manner, only a prolonga- 

 tion of it. (Fig. 34, and 35.) 



43. The larynx is essentially the organ which 

 produces the voice, and it is the passage of ait 



through its interior which occasions the sounds there formed. To 

 deprive an animal of this faculty, it is only necessary to open the 

 windpipe, for then the air finding an exit through the accidental 

 opening, no longer passes through the larynx, nor is it subjected P 

 to the vibrations which would have been imparted by this organ. 

 44. The larynx, which is composed of several cartilaginous 

 plates, forming in front, what is vulgarly called, ManC* apple, 

 is lined by a mucous membrane, which forms, near its middle, 

 two broad lateral folds, directed from the front backwards, and 

 arranged very much like the edges of a buttonhole. These folds 

 are called the vocal curds, or inferior ligaments of the gbttit; by 

 the aid of a little muscle, situate in their folds, the slit, or opening 



Explanation of Fig. 34. The l;irynx seen in front. The internal line in- 

 dicates the shape of the internal surface of this organ, h. the hyoid bone, 

 /. the larynx, t. the trachea, 6r, bronchiae, . ventricles of the glottis, 

 c. vocal cords. 



Explanation of Fig- 35. The larynx open, seen fioTi one side, c. the 

 rpiglottis, c. one of the ventricles of the larynx, cv. one of the vocal cords, 

 t. the trachea. 



42. What is voice? Is voice produced by the function of a single organ ? 



43. What is the larynx ? How may it be proved that the larynx is essen- 

 tially the organ of voice? 



44. What is meant by the vocal cords? 



