214 TBE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF MUSIC. 



themselves in sounds as well as in movements. Therefore 

 It is that Carlo barks as well as leaps when he is let out — 

 that puss purrs as well as erects her tail — that the canary 

 chirps as well as flutters. Therefore it is that the angry 

 lion roars while he lashes his sides, and the dog growls 

 while he retracts his lip. Therefore it is that the maimed 

 animal not only struggles, but howls. And it is from this 

 cause that in human beings bodily suffering expresses itself 

 not only in contortions, but in shrieks and groans— that in 

 anger, and fear, and grief, the gesticulations are accompa- 

 nied by shouts and screams — that delightful sensations are 

 followed by exclamations — and that we hear screams of joy 

 and shouts of exultation. 



We have here, then, a principle underlying all vocal 

 phenomena ; including those of vocal music, and by conse- 

 quence those of music in general. The muscles that move 

 the chest, larynx, and vocal chords, contracting like other 

 muscles in proportion to the intensity of the feelings ; ev- 

 ery different contraction of these muscles involving, as it 

 does, a different adjustment of the vocal organs ; every dif- 

 ferent adjustment of the vocal organs causing a change in 

 the sound emitted ; — it follows that variations of voice are 

 the physiological results of variations of feeling ; it follows 

 that each inflection or modulation is the natural outcome 

 of some passing emotion or sensation ; and it follows that 

 the explanation of all kinds of vocal expression, must be 

 sought in this general relation between mental and muscu- 

 lar excitements. Let us, then, see whether we cannot thus 

 account for the chief peculiarities in the utterance of the 

 feelings : grouping these peculiarities under the heads of 

 loudness^ quality^ or timbre^ pitchy intervals^ and rate of 

 variation. 



Between the lungs and the organs of voice, there is 

 much the same relation as between the bellows of an organ 



