'244 Proceedings of Boyal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
The gulf here apparent is not really so wide as it looks. Relatively 
to most of the resonances here studied, the resonances of vowels 
are much less mobile ; but they are not all equally wanting in 
mobility. Mobility increases in the same order that oral resonance 
decreases — % e, a , o, u* All the resonances of u yet calculated 
are for isolated u. There can be no doubt that between conso- 
nants u will show much higher oral resonances than these. It 
would not be hard to phonograph the syllable 6u6, and show at 
once how far the 0 is able to pull the u resonance upwards, and how 
far the u is able to pull the 6 resonance downwards. The consti- 
tution of the glides in such a phonogram would also be very inter- 
esting. So also, in their own degree, would be phonograms of 
0o6 and 6d0 ; but the mobility of i and e is relatively slight. 
The combinations of x and x — exe > a X a > °X°i u X u i S ^ 10W a 
iurther increase in the intractability of the consonant, especially in 
. x. The resonance of x i n a X a > °X °-> U X U > can h ear( l to fall step 
by step, though hardly pari passu , with the fall of the oral 
resonance of the vowel, but in x , whether the adjoining vowel be 
close i or open i, close e or open e, or front a, the convenience of 
articulating against the alveolar ridge is such that the x resonance 
is not drawn very far away in any case from the “neutral” value, 
due to that position, and estimated below for myself at 2500 v.d. 
"When the oral articulation and resonance of the vowel are far 
away from these, e.g., in the case of open e, or front a, adjusting 
movements are needed, of some duration, and there will doubtless 
be two glides, of rising and falling pitch respectively, corresponding 
To them in the phonogram. 
The like combinations of s and f appear to exhibit a still further 
decrease in the power of the adjacent vowel to make the resonance 
of the consonant conform to the oral resonance of the vowel. In 
the combinations isi, ese, ifi , e/e, this intractability of the consonant 
is not much observed, because all the resonances lie near together, 
in the four-accented octave. But this is by no means the case in 
the other forms, asa, oso, usu, afa , o/o, ufu. In these there is a 
wide gap between the neutral resonance of the consonant, and the 
oral resonance of the vowel ; and the consonant refuses to give 
* On mobility of u, see Helmholtz, Sens. Tone 3 , p. 110 ; of u and o, see 
tables above quoted : of a, see Proceedings of this Society, vol.xxii. pp. 110-113. 
