1 86 THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 



suspected that it was not a real bag-pipe solo. 

 In like manner I have converted the sounds of 

 the voice into a very perfect piccolo, flute, fife, and 

 into a fairly good imitation of a whistle sound. 

 To produce the whistling" effect and the fife 

 sound the rate of speed must be necessarily very 

 high, and some notes will not be perfectly con- 

 verted for some reason which I have not yet fully 

 understood. Some voices are much more easily 

 converted into the flute effect than others. To 

 get the best flute sounds a full, smooth, mezzo-so- 

 prano gives the best effect. In reversing the 

 operation the sounds of these instruments can 

 be made to imitate the human voice somewhat, 

 but not exactly. Not only in the fact that the 

 modulation is wanting and there is no semblance 

 to consonant sounds, but the tone itself differs in 

 quality from that of the voice. 



Among other respects in which the vocal 

 sounds of man and simian resemble is in the 

 contour of the sounds, which I have defined else- 

 where. I have called attention to the fact that 

 by reversing the cylinder of the phonograph 

 and repeating the sound recorded thereon, a 

 musical note or sound would repeat alike each 

 way. Most of the sounds made by other animals 



