FERRUARY 21, 1907] 
In a similar manner Dr. Scripture gives a careful 
description of a large number of tracings of noises, 
whistling, various musical instruments, and human 
speec h. 
We now approach the most difficult part of the 
investigation, namely, the analysis of the curves pro- 
duced by human speech. Dr. Scripture’s plan has 
been to analyse carefully portions of actual speeches, 
Fic. 1.—Record of a note from an orchestra. 
as, for example, that of Chauncey M. Depew on 
“* Forefather’s day,’’ when he says ‘*‘ Without regard 
to race or creed I can,’’ &c.; or from “Cock Robin,” 
‘*With my little eye I saw him die,’’ &c.; or Joseph 
Jefferson’s speech in proposing Rip Van Winkle’s 
toast, ‘‘Come, Rip, what do you say to a glass? 
That’s fine schnapps.’’ As an 
example, take a small portion of 
the latter speech : COME 
Each line contains only a few 
waves out of the curve for a RIP 
vowel, and Dr. Scripture gives a 
careful analysis. It would have 
been better, I think, if Dr. Scrip- WAT [lass 
ture, with his fine appliances, had 
given us an exhaustive examina- oo 
tion of each vowel, not as it 
occurs in suc h a speech as we are you 
considering, but by itself. The 
vowels here examined are ‘*‘ Ameri- SAY 
can vowels.’’ Would it not have 
been better to have obtained first- 
rate gramophone records of clearly TO 
sounded vowels, and then to have 
reproduced the curves of these A 
sounds? However, there can be 
no doubt Dr. Scripture’s analysis GLAaSs? 
teaches us a great deal. One 
would have expected that the  yyat's 
wave forms in a vowel tone would 
have had the same form or shape yy 
for a short time, but it would 
appear that this is not so. SCHNAPPS 
““So much has been said,’’ writes 
Dr. Scripture, ‘‘of the complexity 
and the variability of the speech 
curves that the impression may have 
been produced that they are hopelessly irregular. This is 
not true. They are as irregular as the leaves of a tree; 
no two are alike, yet the individuals of a variety resemble 
one another, and differ from other varieties ’’ (p. 49). 
““As already pointed out, no two waves of a vowel are 
alike; the differences are often so great that we may 
sure that one part sounds utterly different from another, 
although the ear apparently gets only a single general 
impression ’’ (p. 53). 
NO. 1947, VOL. 75] 
be 
NATURE 
ed Vance aut Vaa lr VA VAY AVA Vid 
Fic. 2.— Curves showing waves {rom various vowels sj oken Ly Jcseph Jefferson in 
Dr. Scripture then devised a method ‘‘ whereby the 
ear can’ be enabled to hear the sound of each ave 
separately.’’ A special apparatus was constructed by 
which a sing selected wave was many times re- 
then etched, and then trans- 
ferred to the gramophone disc. The group of waves 
reproduced the represented by these exactly 
similar waves, and the ear was appealed to as to the 
the 
peated on a strip of zinc, 
sound 
resemblance sound 
ot to anv 
particular vowel. This is quite a 
novel method of investigation, and 
suggests further experimental 
work. It shows the possibility of 
transferring any set of curves to a 
gramophone plate and then listen- 
ing to the sound and comparing 
it with other sounds. The writer 
oi this notice, by another method, 
has obtained many curves. of 
vowels, and he cannot altogether 
bear out the statement of Dr. 
Scripture that all the waves differ 
from each other. At the begin- 
ning of a vowel tone, and towards 
its close, the waves may differ, 
uthouzh of the same _ general 
type, but in the middle of the 
tracing, when the vowel tone is 
lear and distinct to the ear, the waves appear to be 
ne same in form. 
In the analysis of speech curves, Dr. Scripture 
attaches imp¢ rtance to what may be termed the 
melody of speech. We have ‘* melody ’’ when sounds 
of different pitch are heard after one another. 
~~ 
ne OW ON Oprah 
we Wr" [vy SV ACA ACAVACAV ACAVd ica 
AVAVACAY AVA AcAVACAV AekVACA Vid Vcd at 
“Rip Van Winkle’s Tozst. 
““The study of melody is the study of the fluctuations 
of the pitch of the tone from the glottal lips. Each 
explosion, puff, or vibration from the glottis arouses a 
vibrating movement that shows itself in the speech curve 
have 
is a group of vibrations; this we called a ‘* wave- 
group’ or a ‘ wave.’ A ‘ wave’ thus means the whole 
complicated group of vibrations resulting from a_ single 
glottal movement. The study of melody has to do with 
these waves or wave-groups.”’ 
