December 26, 1901] 



NA TURE 



189 



third harmonic of this note, then the vowel A is modified ; the 

 same applies to E and O, which have the second harmonic, and in 

 passing from the one vowel to the other it is sufficient to change 

 the aperture of the glottic opening. Thus for A, if the funda- 

 mental note is k, the oral resonator must be tuned to 3« ; for 

 E and o, if the fundamental is h', the oral resonator gives 

 2 «' ; and for I and ou the resonator is in unison. If this 

 is not so, then the quality of the vowel is much altered. Thus 

 if the syren gives A, and the plate used is that for ou, then 

 the sound is A modified. This agrees with the experience of 

 teachers of singing, who hold that a badly sung vowel is a 

 vowel-sound emitted into a cavity adjusted for another vowel. 

 Marage has also found that when the sounds of his syren, aided 

 by the masks, are examined by the manometric method, the 

 flame pictures appear as they may be expected to do, that is, 

 groups of three flames for .\, of two for E, EU, and o, and of 

 one for I, u and ou. Vowels then, according to him, are 

 due to an intermittent aero-laryngeal vibration, strengthened by 

 the oral cavity and producing ou, o. A, E and i, when it is 

 in unison with the sum of the vibrations ; transformed by it, 

 and giving origin to other vowels, when there is no unison ; and 

 the number of intermittences gives the fundamental note on which 

 the vowel is emitted. If the oral cavity acts alone, the vowel is 

 whispered ; if the larynx acts alone, the vowel is sung ; and if 

 the two act the vowel is spoken. Marage lias applied his 

 method with much success in testing the ear and in the treat- 

 ment of mutes who are not absolutely deaf. His memoir is 

 characterised by great simplicity and at the same time by 

 thoroughness. 



But the study of vowels is not the only result of recent re- 

 search in phonetics. The analysis of consonantal sounds is now 

 being carried out by various workers, such as Pipping, Scripture 

 and Lloyd. Meyer, in Hermann's laboratory, has investigated the 

 pitch of words, sentences and syllables in speech. This has 

 also been studied by phonographic tracings by Marichelle. The 

 whole subject has also a practical bearing, as the knowledge 

 acquired enables the teacher of deaf mutes so to instruct his 

 pupils in the use of their organs as to avoid the dreary monotone 

 of those who learn to speak by watching only the movements of 

 the lips. 



It only remains to notice the remarkable monograph of 

 Jespersen. This is an attempt to aid the study of phonetics by 

 the use of a scientific nomenclature to express sounds, so that 

 just as the chemist represent'^ by letters and figures the nature 

 of a chemical substance of complex constitution, so the 

 student of phonetics may be able to express the sounds of 

 words by symbols. The visible-speech system of Melville-Bell 

 consisted of symbols which expressed more or less accurately 

 the physiological movements to be made, or the position to be 

 assumed, during the pronunciation of a given sound ; but the 

 syn^bols of Jespersen are letters and figures. The letters or 

 figures, however, to be useful must have a physiological mean- 

 ing. Strictly speaking the symbols denote, not sounds, but the 

 elements of sounds. Thus so simple a sound as m is physiologi- 

 cally the result of (a) lips shut ; {b) point of tongue resting in 

 the bottom of the mouth ; (c) surface of tongue not raised to- 

 wards the palate ; {d) nasal passage open ; [e) vocal cords 

 vibrate; and (/) air expelled from lungs. The attempt of 

 Jespersen may be called an analphabetic system of writing, sym- 

 bolising, not sounds, but the elements of sounds. At present it is 

 severely technical, but it seems to " provide a means of writing 

 down and describing phonetic minutis in a comparatively easy 

 and unambiguous manner." It will do for the phonetician 

 what symbolism does for the mineralogist. It is a kind of 

 algebra for speech sounds. 



In advocating the establishment of a photographic museum, 

 to be a visual register of the past, Janssen recently wrote as fol- 

 lows : — " Photography registers the chain of phenomena during 

 time, just as writing registers the thoughts of men during the 

 ages. Photography is to sight what writing is to thought. If 

 there is any difference, it is to the advantage of photography. 

 Writing is subject to conventionalities from which photography 

 is free ; writing employs a particular language, while photo- 

 graphy speaks the universal language." 



But if there is to be a museum of photographs, appealing to 

 the sense of sight, why should we not have a museum of 

 sounds, in the shape of phonograph records, appealing to 

 the sense of hearing ? How little can we tell from written 

 characters the exact sounds of ancient Sanskrit, or how 



Demosthenes spoke in Greek or Cicero in Latin ? Would it not 

 now be interesting to hear the exact accent of old English, or 

 the Scotch of the fifteenth century? All dialects should be care- 

 fully registered and put aside for future consultation, and thus 

 we would do for the ear what we do for the eye. No doubt such 

 a collection of phonographic records would help onwards the 

 science of language. 



NO, 1678, VOL. 65] 



THE ANCIENT GLACIERS OF SKYE. 



TN the central portion of Skye there is a group of mountains 

 -*■ unequalled elsewhere in Britain for rugged grandeur. To 

 the south and south-west lie theCuillin Hills, the serrated peaks 

 of which rise to an elevation of more than 3000 feet ; they are built 

 essentially of a great laccolitic mass of gabbro, traversed by count- 

 less dykes and sheets of basalt. To the north lie the Red Hills, 

 the smoother outlines and often ruddy aspect of which contrast 

 markedly with the dark and rough elevations of Blath-bheinn, 

 or Blaven, and the Cuillins ; they are composed of granite and 

 granophyre, and rise to heights rarely exceeding 2500 feet. 



That the whole of this mountain district has been severely 

 glaciated has for many years been recognised, but the detailed 

 history of the ice-erosion has not hitherto been worked out. 

 Mr. Alfred Harker, in the course of a special survey of the region, 

 has had opportunities of study which have enabled him to 

 write an essay on the subject which for completeness and 

 lucidity is probably unsurpassed.' The district, as he points 

 out, is one which had for long been subject to erosion ; the 

 drainage system in pre- Glacial times was a fully matured one, 

 and the features then stood out in bold relief. Moreover, the 

 amount of post-Glacial erosion has been so trifling that the 

 effects of ice- and frost-action remain practically without modifi- 

 cation by later agencies. 



Mr. fiarker tells how during the period of maximum glacia- 

 tion the Skye mountains supported a true ice-cap, under which 

 they were wholly buried, and this ice-cap was sufficiently 

 powerful to withstand and divert northwards and southwards 

 great portions of the ice-sheet from the Scottish mainland. He 

 sees evidence of the movements of the lower layers of ice in the 

 strife on the rock-.surfaces and in the dispersal of boulders ; the 

 upper layers not improbably took a course less restricted by the 

 form of the ground. He describes the way in which the ice 

 must have been forced into hollows and openings ; its action in 

 grinding down and tearing away rocks, irrespective of their 

 mineralogical composition or structure ; and its mode of widening 

 and deepening valleys. Attention is drawn to the formation of 

 cirques or corries, due consideration being given to their aspect 

 and relation to the amount of sunshine. The erosion by ice- 

 action of rock-basins, such as those occupied by Loch Coruisk 

 and other lochs and tarns, is clearly stated and is one of the 

 most effective arguments lately published on the subject. 



Mr. Harker's observations lead to the conclusion that the 

 principal glaciation was followed by a later and minor period of 

 ice-action, when glaciers occupied the valleys, and, as would 

 be expected, it is not always possible to discriminate between 

 the work done by the greater and lesser agents. The movement 

 of the later ice was, however, very diflerent on many parts of 

 the lower ground from that during the principal glaciation, a 

 difference due to the withdrawal of the Scottish ice-sheet. To 

 the later glaciation are attributed the perched blocks which 

 occur on the bare slopes of some of the Cuillin valleys. That the 

 higher ridges and summits of the ranges show little or no effects of 

 glaciation is due to the fact that they acted as ice-sheds, and 

 escaped erosion owing to the lack of rock-debris in the ice over- 

 lying them. 



The mountains, as pointed out by Mr. Harker, are for the 

 most part of bare rock, so also are the higher corries, except 

 where encumbered with screes ; while in the lower corries and 

 main valleys the drift is never so thick as to obscure the true 

 form of the ground. Hence the story of the ice-erosion is very 

 plainly engraved on the land, while the author's intimate know- 

 ledge of the petrology has enabled him to track the courses of 

 many boulders of peculiar mineral composition with absolute 

 certainty. 



1 " Ice-Erosion in the Cuillin Hills of Skye." By Alfred Harker, M.A% 

 F.G.S. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xl. pari ii., 1901. 



