MOVEMENTS OF THE GLOTTIS DUEING PHONATION. 493 



P-A -, the vibrations, having become rounder and purer, are accom- 

 mj p:r|=ij plished by the vocal ligaments alone, up to the end of the 

 tJ %*~ * register. 



" The glottis at this moment presents the aspect of a line swelled toward 

 its middle, the length of which diminishes still more as the voice ascends. 

 We shall also see that the cavity of the larynx has become very small, and 

 that the superior ligaments have contracted the extent of the ellipse to less 

 than one-half." 



These observations have been in the main confirmed by Battaille, Emma 

 Seiler and others who have applied the laryngoscope to the study of the 

 voice in singing. 



In childhood the general characters of the voice are essentially the same 

 in both sexes. The larynx is smaller than in the adult, and the vocal mus- 

 cles are more feeble ; but the quality of the vocal sounds at this period of 

 life is peculiarly penetrating. While there are certain characters that dis- 

 tinguish the voices of boys before the age of puberty, they present, as in 

 the female, the different qualities of the soprano and contralto. After the 

 age of puberty, the female voice does not commonly undergo any very 

 marked change, except in the development of additional strength and in- 

 creased compass, the quality remaining the same ; but in the male there is a 

 rapid change at this time in the development of the larynx, and the voice 

 assumes an entirely different quality. This change does not usually take 

 place if castration be performed in early life ; and this operation was fre- 

 quently resorted to in the seventeenth century, for the purpose of preserving 

 the qualities of the male soprano and contralto, particularly for church- 

 music. It is only of late years, indeed, that this practice has fallen into 

 disuse in Italy. 



The ordinary range of all varieties of the human voice is equal to nearly 

 four octaves ; but it is rare that any single voice has a compass of more than 

 two and a half octaves. There are examples, however, in which singers have 

 acquired a compass of three octaves. In music the notes are written the 

 same for the male as for the female voice, but the actual value of the female 

 notes, as reckoned by the number of vibrations in a second, is always an 

 octave higher than the male. 



In both sexes there are differences, both in the range and the quality of 

 the voice, which it is impossible for a cultivated musical ear to mistake. The 

 different voices in the male are the bass, the tenor, and an intermediate voice 

 called the barytone. The female voices are the contralto, the soprano, and 

 the intermediate, or mezzo-soprano. In the bass and barytone, the lower and 

 middle notes are the most natural and perfect ; and while the higher notes 

 may be acquired by cultivation, they do not possess the same quality as the 

 corresponding notes of the tenor. The same remarks apply to the contralto 

 and soprano. 



The following scale (Landois) gives the ordinary ranges of the different 

 kinds of voice; but it must be remembered that there are individual in- 

 stances in which these limits are exceeded : 



33 



