218 THE OEIGm A2sT) FrNCTION OF MTSIC. 



fore ; and the rest of the sentence will similarly ascend and 

 descend by longer steps. 



Again, if, supposing her to be in an adjoining room, the 

 mistress of the house calls " Mary," the two syllables of 

 the name will be spoken in an ascending interval of a third. 

 If Mary does not reply, the call will be repeated probably 

 in a descending fifth ; implying the slightest shade of an- 

 noyance at Mary's inattention. Should Mary still make 

 no answer, the increasing annoyance will show itself by the 

 use of a descending octave on the next repetition of the 

 calL And supposing the silence to continue, the lady, if 

 not of a very even temper, will show her irritation at 

 Mary's seemingly intentional negligence by finally calling 

 her in tones still more widely contrasted — the first syllable 

 being higher and the last lower than before. 



Now, these and analogous facts, which the reader will 

 readily accumulate, clearly conform to the law laid down. 

 For to make large intervals requires more muscular action 

 than to make small ones. But not only is the extent of vo- 

 cal intervals thus explicable as due to the relation between 

 nervous and muscular excitement, but also in some degree 

 their direction,, as ascending or descending. The middle 

 notes being those which demand no appreciable effort of 

 muscular adjustment ; and the effort becoming greater as 

 we either ascend or descend ; it follows that a departure 

 from the middle notes in either direction will mark increas- 

 ing emotion ; while a return towards the middle notes will 

 mark decreasing emotion. Hence it happens that an en- 

 thusiastic person uttering such a sentence as — " It was the 

 most splendid sight I ever saw ! " will ascend to the first 

 syllable of the word " splendid," and thence will descend : 

 the word " splendid " marking the climax of the feeling 

 produced by the recollection. Hence, again, it happens 

 that, under some extreme vexation produced by another's 

 stupidity, an irascible man, exclaiming — " What a con- 



