$6^ APPENDIX. VI. 



and the instrument itself will not vary, though 

 the notes or passages may be altered almost at 

 pleasure. 



I tried once an experiment, which might in- 

 deed have possibly made some alteration in the 

 tone of a bird, from what it might have been 

 when the animal was at its full growth, by pro- 

 curing an operator who caponised a young black- 

 bird of about six weeks old ; as it died, however, 

 soon afterwards, and I have never repeated the 

 experiment, I can only conjecture with regard 

 to what might have been the consequences 

 of it. 



Both* Plmi/ and the London poulterers agree 

 that a capon does not crow, which I should con- 

 ceive to arise from the muscles of the larynx 

 never acquiring the proper degree of strength, 

 which seems to be requisite to the singing of a 

 bird, from Mr. Hunter's dissections. 



But it will perhaps be asked, why this opera- 

 ' . tion should not improve the notes of a nestling, 

 as much as it is supposed to contribute to the 

 greater perfection of the human voice. 



To this I answer, that castration by no means 



insures any such consequence; for the voices 



of much the greater part of Italian eunuchs are 



- so indifferent, that they have no means of pro- 



* Lib. X. c. 21. 



