MECHANISM OF THE VOCAL REGISTERS. 499 



in apposition. It is probable that the vocal chords alone vibrate in the lower 

 and upper medium, while the apophyses of the arytenoid cartilages partici- 

 pate in the vibrations in the female chest-voice. 



The vocal chords are much shorter in the female than in the male. Ac- 

 cording to Sappey, the average length in the male is about -J of an inch (22 

 mm.) and in the female, about f of an inch (17 mm.). If the chords alone 

 vibrate, without the apophyses of the arytenoid cartilages, the difference in 

 length would account for the differences in pitch of the voice in the sexes. 

 The tenor can not sing above the chest-range of the female voice without 

 passing into the falsetto, to produce which he must actually shorten his vocal 

 chords so that they are as short or shorter than the vocal chords of the female. 

 This is shown by the scale of range of the different voices compared with 

 the length of the vocal chords ; and this idea is sustained still farther by a 

 comparison of "the larynx during falsetto production" (Fig. 171, I). In 

 the male falsetto, produced by this shortening of the vocal chords, the more 

 nearly the resonant cavities are made to resemble, in form and capacity, the 

 corresponding cavities in the female, the more closely will the quality of the 

 female voice be imitated. It is probable that the vocal bands in the female 

 present a thinner and narrower vibrating edge than the chords in the male, 

 although there are no exact anatomical observations on this point. This 

 would account for the clear quality of the upper registers of the female 

 voice as compared with the male voice or with the female chest-register. 

 Analogous differences exist in reed-instruments, such as the clarinet and the 

 bassoon. This comparison of the female upper registers with the male 

 falsetto does not necessarily imply a similarity in the mechanism of their 

 production, as is assumed by some writers. The vocal chords, in the female 

 lower and upper medium, vibrate in their entire length ; in the male falsetto, 

 the chords are artificially shortened so that they are approximated in length 

 to the length of the chords in the female. 



To reduce to brief statements the views just expressed, based partly upon 

 laryngoscopic examinations that are far from complete by a number of 

 competent observers, the following may be given as the mechanism of the 

 vocal registers in the female, taking no account of the changes, in form and 

 capacity of the resonant cavities : 



1. The chest-voice is produced by " large and loose vibrations " (Garcia) 

 of the entire length of the vocal chords, in which the apophyses of the aryt- 

 enoid cartilages participate to a greater or less extent, these cartilages not 

 being in close apposition. 



2. In passing to the lower medium, the arytenoid cartilages probably are 

 not closely approximated, but they do not vibrate, the vocal chords alone 

 acting. 



3. In passing to the upper medium, the arytenoid cartilages probably are 

 closely approximated, and the vocal chords alone vibrate, but they vibrate in 

 their entire length. 



4. The head-register, which may be called the female falsetto, bears the 

 same relation to the lower registers in both sexes. The notes are clear hut 



