i86 



NATURE 



[December 26, 1901 



Graham Bell and others in more recent years, has made it 

 possible to investigate phonetic phenomena with the aid of this 

 instrument. In 187S Fleeniing Jcnkin and Ewing' devised a 

 method of recording curves from the imprints on the tinfoil 

 covering the drum of the phonograph, and these curves were 

 submitted to harmonic analysis. This was also attempted by 

 A. M. Mayer- in the same year. The subject was taken up by 

 Hermann'' about iSgo, and he obtained valuable tracings b) 

 using the wax-cylinder phonograph. He succeeded in obtaining 

 photographs of the curves on the wax cylinder, a beam of light 

 reflected from a small mirror attached to the vibrating disc af 

 the phonograph being allowed to fall on a sensitive plate while 

 the phonograph was slowly travelling. In 1891 Boeke^ 

 measured with great accuracy the dimensions of the marks on 

 the wax cylinder, and from these constructed the corresponding ' 

 curves. This method has also been adopted by Marichelle.'' 

 McKendrick," in 1895, photographed the marks on the wax 

 cylinder of the phonograph, and in i8q6 he devised a recorder 

 for enlarging the curves on the well-known principle of the 

 syphon recorder. In 1899 .Scripture," of Vale, investigated 

 vowel-sounds with the aid of the gramophone. Me transcribed, 

 by an ingenious mechanical device, the marks on the gramo- 

 phone disc into the forms of curves, and made a minute analysis 

 Lastly, Marage,' in a' series of masterly papers, reinvestigated 



-Kunig's apparatus. A, Manometric capsule ; M, rotating 



the whole subject of vowel-tones with the aid of a chrono 

 photographic method and a special form of syren invented bj 

 himself. 



The various experimental methods we have described have 

 been chiefly directed to an examination of the nature of vowel- 

 sounds. \Vhat is it that gives the peculiar quality to the sound 

 of a vowel ? Mow is it that we can, by the ear, identify the 

 sound of any vowel, whether it be spoken or sung ? How is it 

 that if we sing a vowel on the notes of a scale we can still 



1 Fleeming Jenkin and Ewing ; "On the Harmonic Analysis of certain 

 Vowel Sounds" {,Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxviii. p. 745). 



-' Mayer: Journal de Physique, 1878. 



'* A full bibliographical reference to Hermann's papers is given in 

 Schiifer's *' Text-Book of Physiology," vol. ii. p. 1222. 



* Hoeke : " Microscopische Phoiiogrammstudien " {Archiv f. d. ge.*:. 

 Physiol., Bonn, Bd. i. S. 207 ; also I'roc. Roy. Soc. Edin., 1898.) 



' " ■ ichelle : " La Parole d'apres le Tracii du Phonographe " (1897). 



pt. IV. ; Pnc. Roy. 

 Revealed by the Phono- 



" McKendrick: Trans. Roy. Soc. Edi 



Soc. Kdin., 1896-97 : also "Sound-Waves 



graph " (London, 1897.) 



" Scripture : "Studies from the Yale Psychological l,aboratory" (1899.) 

 ^ Marage : "Comment parlent les Phonographes" ; " Les Exercises 



Acousliqucs chcz Les Sourds-Muets " ; " Rule de la ch.-iine des osselets 



dans I'Audiiion ■; and " Thiorie de la Formation des Voyelles ' (from 



X897 onwards). 



identify the vowel, whatever may be the pitch of the note on 

 which it is sung? The scientific investigation of the nature of 

 vowels begins with Willis,' who, in 1829, imitated the larynx by 

 means of a reed, above which he placed a resonator, tuned to one 

 of the harmonics of the reed. He also imitated vowel-tones 

 by holding an elastic spring against the edge of a toothed 

 wheel, and he placed the vowels in '.he following order — oti, 0, 

 a, e and i. In each case a compound tone was produced which 

 retained the same pitch so long as the wheel revolved at the 

 same rate. By keeping the wheel revolving at a uniform rate, 

 and at the same time changing the length of the spring which 

 was allowed to vibrate, Willis found that the qualities of various 

 vowels were imitated with considerable distinctness. In 1837 

 Wheatstone,- in a criticism of Willis, made some important sug- 

 gestions. In 1854 Grassmann'' announced a theory as follows : — 

 The vocal cords excite the resonances of the cavity of the 



-,, IV- Kx.imple* i.f fl;iiiie-pK 

 m.inometric capsule adapted 

 left indicate the ratio of the 

 compountl tone. 



obtained by 

 ' organ pipes, 

 ions of the tv 



tones forming the 



mouth ; the tonality changes with the degree of opening of 

 the mouth by the development of some of the harmonics of 

 the fundamental tone emitted by the larynx. According to 

 this view, the buccal cavity adds by its resonance certain har- 

 monics to the fundamental laryngeal sound. Grassmann classified 



1839, vol. 



: als. 



1 Willis : Cambridge rhil. Tr 

 Phys. u. chem., Leipsig, Bd. xxiv. p. 397. 



•J Wheatstone, Westminster Kez'iew, October 1837 



3 Grassmann. " tjher die physik. Nalur derSprathleiite," 1877 ; hehad, 



however, in 1854, enunci.ited his theory 



iiiedem Oplik." 



* Uebersicht der Akustik u. 



NO. 1678, VOL. 65] 



