August 2, 1 901.1 



SCIENCE. 



188 



iug articles: 'The Ontario Coast Between 

 Fairhaven and Sodias Bays,' by J. O. Martin. 

 Some jDeculiar features of the landscape due to 

 the rapid erosion of the glacial drumlius along 

 the shore line ai'e described. ' Eighth Session of 

 the International Congress of Geologists, Paris, 

 1900,' is written up by Persifor Frazer. 'Two 

 New Genera and Some New Species of Fossils 

 fi'om the Upper Paleozoic Rocks of Missouri,' 

 by R. R. Rowley. Mr. Rowley describes two 

 new genera of blastoids and proposes the names 

 Lophoblastus and Carpenteroblastus, following 

 which he describes two new species of the first, 

 one of the second, and fourteen of the other 

 genera of fossils from the same region. The 

 article is accompanied by a plate. ' Ore Forma- 

 tion by Surface Decomposition,' is discussed by 

 C. R. Keyes, in which he concludes " that with 

 the exception of possibly a few isolated unim- 

 portant instances ore concentration does not 

 generally take place through surface decom- 

 position of rock masses, in areas such as the 

 Ozark lead and zinc region." ' Gold and Other 

 Minerals in Iowa,' by Samuel Calvin. The 

 author undertakes to destroy the fallacious 

 ideas that gold, gas or oil exist in paying- 

 quantities in Iowa. He also exposes the fallacy 

 that any so-called geologist with a drilling out- 

 lit is to be trusted in his predictions to a public- 

 spirited community. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 

 THE LARYNX AS A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. 



The wide prevalence of the mistaken notion 

 that the vocal cords vibrate in the axial direc- 

 tion of the larynx makes it desirable to point 

 out that observations by the laryngostrobo- 

 scope— a combination of a laryngoscope and an 

 adjustable intermittent source of illumination — 

 have proved to the contrary for the male chest 

 register. With this method it is possible to 

 follow a vibration slowly through its phases. 

 This has been done by Musehold, who reports 

 that in singing in the chest register the cords 

 touch along their whole length ; that in loud 

 tones the edges have a slightly rounded form, 

 especially in the middle, indicating strong con- 

 tact in the middle and weaker contact at the 

 ends of the glottis ; that in weaker tones the 



line of contact appears even and thin while the 

 top of the cord becomes flatter ; that the edges 

 of the cords move out sidewise and not in the 

 axial direction of the larynx. Two of Muse- 

 hold's diagrams are reproduced heie. The 

 upper one shows the bunching of the cord edges 

 due to the firm contact; the lower one is an 

 indication of the way the air pressure in the 

 trachea presses the cords apart. 



In connection with the remarks of Professor 

 Le Conte on a previous occasion, it is interesting 

 to note that with the same method Musehold 

 was able to observe the lips of a performer on 

 a horn, with the result of seeing that the lips 

 vibrate as cushions and not in the direction of 

 the axis of the horn. 



In Professor Hallock's interesting commuiii- 

 cation in the last number of Science, the micro- 

 scopic section of one of the cords is correctly 

 given, but the diagram of the supposed way in 

 which the muscle turns into a thin sheet is cer- 

 tainly incorrect. It is hardly the place here to 

 give a summary of the facts in regard to the 

 action of the vocal cords and the nature of the 

 vowels in speech and song ; I have stated in a 

 previous communication that the proof is clear 

 and complete that a vowel both in speech and 

 song is not essentially a fundamental from the 

 cords with a series of overtones reinforced by 

 the vocal cavities. I may, perhaps, be par- 

 doned for saying that I have given a digest of 

 the many investigations on this and related sub- 

 jects in a work on experimental phonetics now 

 in press. E. W. Scripttke. 



Yale Uxiveksity, 

 July 26, 1901. 



