790 
his chosen field of work, who was so broadly 
sympathetic in his views, and who endeared 
himself to so many by his personal character 
and attainments. 
F. L. O. WADSWwoRTH. 
ALLEGHENY OBSERVATORY, 
May 1, 1901. 
THE LARYNX AS AN INSTRUMENT OF MUSIC. 
I SEE in the last number (April) of the Ameri- 
can Journal of Science an excellent paper by 
Professor Scripture on the ‘ Nature of Vowels.’ 
After a graphic analysis of these sounds, he criti- 
cizes with much acuteness the views of other 
writers. Of this I have nothing to say, except 
that I have been greatly interested. But in 
the last paragraph he concludes that the so- 
called vocal cords cannot vibrate in the man- 
ner of strings nor of tongues of reed-pipes, but 
must vibrate compressively in the manner of 
elastic cushions. 
Now I write this to say that somewhat simi- 
lar views have been expressed by me in my 
class lectures on comparative physiology for 
25 years, although not published until last year 
in my book on ‘Comparative Physiology and 
Morphology of Animals.’ 
On p. 210 of that work, speaking of the 
larynx as a musical instrument, after showing 
that it cannot be likened to a stringed instru- 
ment nor to a reed-pipe, I say: ‘‘It is strange 
that no one has thought to liken it to an 
ordinary horn—a stage horn, or better, a French- 
horn. In this instrument the sound is modu- 
lated exactly as in the larynx, viz., by the 
tension and the pressing together of the lips of the 
performer. 'The edges of the rima glottidis ought 
to be called the vocal lips—as indeed they are, 
and not the vocal cords—which they are not in 
any sense. The analogy between the two 
instruments is perfect. The performer on the 
horn presses his lips together tighter, makes 
them tenser and the opening between them 
smaller, in proportion as he desires a higher 
note. He then drives the air between the 
tense lips so as to set their edges in vibration. 
This vibration, by alternate partial closing and. 
opening of the aperture, gives rise to successive 
jets or pulses of the out driven air, and this in 
its turn gives corresponding pulses to the air in 
SCIENCE. 
(N.S. Vou. XIII. No. 333. 
the sounding cavity of the horn. Precisely the 
same, as we have seen, takes place in the 
larynx. The only wonder is that so small an 
‘instrument as the larynx and the mouth- 
cavity should be capable of such marvelous 
effects.”’ 
It is true I do not say anything about ‘com- 
pressive vibrations,’ but I think there can be no 
doubt that the nature of the vibrations in the 
two cases is identical.’ 
JOSEPH LE CONTE. 
BERKELEY CAL., April 24, 1901. 
THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF FOSSILS. 
To THE Epiror oF SciENcE: In the current 
issue of SCIENCE (May 3, 1901), p. 710, report is 
given of a paper read before the New York 
Academy of Science by Mr. Gilbert van Ingen, 
on ‘A method of facilitating Photography of 
Fossils.’ 
It may be of interest to your readers to know 
that a patent covering the process there des- 
cribed was issued in December 1899, and a com- 
pany, the ‘Scientific Photograph Company,’ 
under the business management of Roger H. 
Williams (Address 28 East 28th St., New York) 
has been formed to execute orders for the pre- 
paration of illustrations by this patented pro- 
cess. The results obtained are successful in 
reproducing the most delicate details of the 
form of opaque objects of all kinds in which ac- 
curacy is demanded. The process eliminates 
both the interpretation of the artist and the 
distorting effects of color and uneven reflection 
of natural surfaces, and is proving of great value 
as a means of reproducing, in publications, the 
exact form of fossils and other objects. 
HENRY S. WILLIAMS. 
YALE UNIVERSITY, 
May 7, 1901. 
SHORTER ARTICLES. 
VARIATION IN LIGHT OF EROS. 
THE range of variation in the light of Eros, 
which has been diminishing during the spring, 
has now become zero. In February, 1901, it 
was found by European astronomers to amount 
to 2.0 magn. Observations by Professor O. C. 
Wendell, with the Harvard Equatorial, showed 
that the range on March 12, 1901, was 1.13 
