VOICE. 



ation of a fine mufical voice ; and agreed, that it was im- 

 pofiible, from any external appearance or diffeftion, to 

 difcover the leall difference in the vocal organ gf an indi- 

 vidual who had been poffcffcd of a fine voice, and of one 

 who had no voice at all, but for fpeech ; of a voice of 

 high pitch or low ; of a voice of extenfive or coiitrafted 

 compafs. 



The great Haller combated the fyilem of Dodart, and 

 gave a very fcientific and anatomical theory of his own ; but 

 not more intelligible and fatisfaftory to common readers 

 than that of Dodart. 



Buffon was of opinion, that thofc who fung out of tune 

 heard better with one ear than the other ; that thofe who 

 fang in falfet clofed the larynx, and narrowed the paflage 

 of the voice ; by which means oftavcs were produced, as in 

 the flute and hautbois, by blowing with more force for the 

 high notes than the low, with the fame ventages open or 

 clofed. 



The falfet voice is literally voce da tejla, and formed in 

 the throat ; never like the notes formed in the cheft, called 

 •ance di petto. 



This fubjeft, one of the mod curious in phyfiology, has 

 tempted us to extend the article bevond our intention or 

 ufual liiViits : we mull not yet, liovvevcr, quit the fubjeft. 



The organ of voice had been always regarded by ana- 

 tomifts and natural philofophers as a wind-inftrumcnt, till 

 the time of M. Ferrein, wlio, in 1 741, prefented a memoir 

 to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, to prove it to be a 

 ftringed inftrument, played on by the wind, which fcrves as 

 a bow. An aUulion, however, to the jEohan harp would 

 have been more happy, than to a viohn. The ^olian harp 

 (fee tEolus'j Harp) was well'known in England about this 

 time. An idea of it, too, might have been feen in Kircher's 

 Mufurgia, quoted by M. Ferrein for other purpofes ; and it 

 was thence tliat Thomfon the poet took it, who wrote an 

 ode on this aerial inftrument, which was fet to mufic, and 

 performed at a morning concert at vifcountefs Townfhcnd's, 

 mother of the prcfent marquis. The ode is in Dodfley's 

 ColleiSiion, and in Thomfon's Works. Ofwald, the cele- 

 brated player of old Scots tunes on the violoncello, and 

 compofer of many new, paffed for the inventor of the 

 ^olian harp ; but as he was unable to read the account of 

 it in the Mufurgia, written in Latin, Thomfon gave him 

 the defcription of it in Enghfti, and let it pafs for his in- 

 vention, in order to give him a better title to the fale of the 

 inftrument at his mulic-(hop in St. Martin's Church-yard. 



M. Ferrein was of opinion, that there are ftrings in the lips 

 of the glottis, capable of lengthening and fhortening, and 

 vibrating and founding, like thofc of ftringed inftruments. 

 His opinion furprifes at firft, and feems paradoxical ; but 

 he has fupported it by experiments, which cannot eafily be 

 eluded. According to him, the organ of voice is at once a 

 ftringed and a wind-inftrument. The air which comes from 

 the lungs, and which paftes through the glottis, performing 

 the office of a bow upon the tendinous fibres of its lips, M. 

 Ferrein calls vocal Jlrlngs or ribands of the glottis. By the 

 violent collifion of the air againft thefe vocal ftnngs, they 

 are put in motion ; and it is by their quick and flow vibra- 

 tions that they produce tones differing in gravity and acute- 

 nefs, in proportion as they are more or lefs extended, ac- 

 cording to the common and well-known laws of ftringed 

 inftruments. 



M. Ferrein has made a thoufand experiments before the 

 Academy, and individuals, in confirmation of his doftrine, 

 as well upon the human fubjeft as upon different animals. 

 He took the trachea arleria from the dead body of a man 



deftined for diffeftion, with his larynx, and blew into the 

 traihea, holding at the fame time the ribands, as he calls 

 them, of the glottis lengthened or {liortened, and the human 

 voice was heard to rife or fall in tone, or remain ftationary, 

 in proportion to thefe circumftances. 



And it is very remarkable, that, contrary to the ex- 

 peftation of M. Ferrein, the different voices produced, in 

 the courfe of thefe experiments, were fo like thofe of the 

 particular animals upon whofe organs they were made, thai 

 they were always to be difcovered and diftinguiflied one 

 from the otlier. The roaring of a bull, the cry of a dog in 

 pain, &c. were conftantly dilcoverable, notwithftanding the 

 want of innumerable parts ufed in modifying thefe founds in 

 Hving animals, fuch as the palate, the teeth, hps, &c. The 

 larynx torn from the animal was ufually mutilated, and 

 fometimes without the epiglottis, as well as all the bits of 

 cartilages furrounding or covering the glottis and vocal 

 ftrings, which were removed in order to exhibit more plainly 

 the vifible play and vibrations of thefe ftrings ; and not- 

 withftanding all thefe defefts, the voice of each animal pre- 

 ferved almoft every peculiarity of found which diftinguifhes 

 it from that of other animals. 



M. Ferrein fays, that the neceffary tenfion, or lengthen- 

 ing and fliortcning of the vocal ftrings, for the purpofe of 

 forming the whole extent of the human voice, is not above 

 two or three lines, or twelfth parts of an inch. 



In common ftringed inftruments, lengthening a ftring 

 makes it flatter, or of a tone more grave ; and fliortening it 

 has a contrary effeft : but with refpeft to thefe vocal ftrings 

 it is quite different ; for they are rendered more acute by 

 being lengthened, as at the fame time their tenfion is in- 

 creafed. 



Many have gone through M. Fcrrein's experiments with 

 fuccefs ; though Haller iays that he himfelf was not fo 

 happy, not having been able to produce different voices of 

 animals, as others had done, by blowing on the ribands. 

 (Sec Elogc de M. Ferrein, in the Hift. de I'Acad. Royal 

 des Scienres for the year 1769, pubUftied 1772, p. 15.) 

 M. Ferrein was a phyfician and profeffor of anatomy and 

 furgery, who died at Paris in 1769. 



If a pipe could be formed to reiemble the vocal organ, as 

 defcribed by M. Ferrein, we might hope for a true and 

 exaft imitation of the human voice, which has never yet 

 been attained, owing perhaps to the miftaken notion of the 

 voice being a kind of flute or mere wind-inftrument. 



Voice, in Grammar, is a circumftance in verbs, by which 

 they come to be confidered as either aftive or pafiive, i. e, 

 either as expreffing an aftion impreffed on another fubjeft ; 

 as, / beat : or receiving it from another ; as, / am beaten. 



The Greeks have a third voice, called medial, becaufe it 

 has fometimes an aftive, and fometimes a paflive fignifica- 

 tion. 



Voice, in matters of eleftion, denotes a vote, or fiiff rage. 

 In this fenfe, a man is faid to have a deliberative voice, when 

 he has a right to give his advice and opinion in a matter of 

 debate, and his fuffrage is taken ; an aflive voice, when he 

 gives his vote for the eleftion of any one ; and a pajfive 

 voice, when the fuffrages may fall on liimfelf to be elefted ; 

 an excitative voice, when he may aft to procure another to 

 be elefted ; a confultative voice, when he can only offer rea- 

 fons and remonftrances, on which the chief, or head, deter- 

 mines at his own difcretion : fuch the cardinals have, with 

 regard to the pope ; and the mafters in chancery, with re- 

 gard to the lord chancellor, &c. 



Voice, in Oratory, is one of the parts of pronunciation, 

 upon the proper regulation of which much of the orator's 



fuccefs 



