THE VOICE AND SPEECH. 



51 



The Larynx. The larynx, or organ of voice, consists essentially of 

 the two vocal cords, which are so attached to certain cartilages, and so 

 under the control of certain muscles, that they can be made the means 

 not only of closing the aperture of the larynx (rima glottidis), of which 

 they are the lateral boundaries, against the entrance and exit of air to or 



FIG. 294. 



FIG. 295. 



FIG. 294. Outline showing the general form of the larynx, trachea, and bronchi, as seen from 

 before, h. the great cornu or the hyoid bone; e, epiglottis; t, superior, and t', inferior cornu of the 

 thyroid cartilage; c, middle of the cricoid cartilage; tr, the trachea, showing sixteen cartilaginous 

 rings; b. the right, and b', the left bronchus, x & (Allen Thomson.) 



FIG. 295. Outline showing the general form of the larynx, trachea, and bronchi, as seen from 

 behind, h, great cornu of the hyoid bone; f, superior, andV, the inferior cornu of the thyroid carti- 

 lage; e, the epiglottis; a, points to the back of both the arytenoid cartilages, which are surmounted 

 by the cornicula; c, the middle ridge on the back of the cricoid cartilage; tr, the posterior mem- 

 branous part of the trachea; 6, 6', right and left bronchi, x ^. (Allen Thomson.) 



from the lungs, but also can be stretched or relaxed, shortened or length- 

 ened, in accordance with the conditions that may be necessary for the air 

 in passing over them, to set them vibrating and produce various sounds. 



