506 VOICE AND SPEECH. 



But for the operation of the nerves I refer to my former observ- 

 ations on the pneumono-gastric nerve at page 4-33. 



" Man and singing-birds have the power of whistling. In the 

 latter, it is accomplished by a larynx placed at each extremity of 

 the windpipe and divided into two portions. The former, though 

 possessing a single and undivided larynx, has probably learned to 

 imitate birds by the coarctation of his lips c ," which, however, serves 

 only as an embouchure to the column of air contained within the 

 mouth and larynx. The varieties of intonation entirely depend on 

 the alterations of the tongue and on the corresponding motions of 

 the larynx. For the higher sounds the tongue is brought for- 

 wards and the larynx raised, and for the lower sounds the tongue 

 recedes and the larynx is depressed. 



" Singing, which is compounded of speech and a musical 

 modulation of the voice, I conceive to be peculiar to man and 

 the chief prerogative of his vocal organs. The power of whistling 

 is innate in birds ; many of them may easily be taught to pro- 

 nounce words, and instances have been known of this even in 

 dogs. But it is recorded that genuine singing has once or twice 

 only, and then indeed but indifferently and with the utmost 

 difficulty, been taught to parrots ; while, on the other hand, 

 scarcely a barbarous nation exists in which singing is not 



common 



" Speech is a peculiar modification of the voice, adjusted to the 

 formation of the sounds of letters by the expiration of air through 

 the mouth or nostrils, and in a great measure by the assistance 

 of the tongue, applied and struck against the neighbouring parts, 

 the palate and front teeth in particular, and by the diversified 

 action of the lips. e 



c " The larynx, even among the most savage people, is capable of imitating 

 the sounds of brutes. Consult, v. c. Nic. Witsen, Noord en Oost Tartarye, 

 ed. 2. Amst. 1705. vol. i. p. 165., respecting the inhabitants of New Guinea 

 of the southern hemisphere, called Papus. And J. Adair, History of the Ame- 

 rican Indians, p. 309., respecting the Choktah tribe of North America." 



d " I have in my hands the testimony of most respectable travellers, in regard, 

 for instance, to the inhabitants of Ethiopia, Greenland, Canada, California, 

 Kamtschatka, &c., and therefore wonder at the assertion of Rousseau, that 

 singing is not natural to man. Dictionn. de Musique, t i. p. 170. Geneva, 

 1781. 12mo." 



e See Rich. Payne Knight, Analytical Essay on the Greek Alphabet. Lond. 

 1791. 4to. p. 3." 



