>r /•«#V 
VOI 
The glottis, by means of different mus- 
cles, can be extended or shortened, can 
be dilated or contracted ; and it is these 
changes which produce all the variety of 
tone. The narrower the opening the greater 
the rapidity with which the air passes, and 
the more acute the sound: hence tliose who 
wished to give their voice a very high tone, 
would suffocate themselves if they conti- 
nued it sufficiently long ; for, as they almost 
entirely close the glottis, very little air can 
issue ; and they are in a similar situation 
with those whose respiration is stopped by 
hanging, drowning, &c. But if the open- 
ing of the glottis be too much dilated, the 
air will pass too easily to produce any vi- 
bration : hence those who wish to give their 
voice too deep a tone, cannot produce any 
sound. 
This power of contraction and dilation 
is, perhaps, the most wonderful part of the 
mechanism of the voice. The diameter of 
the glottis never exceeds -^th of an inch : 
now, suppose a person capable of sounding 
twelve notes (to which the voice easily 
reaches), there must be the difference of 
^th part of an inch for each note. But if 
we consider the subdivision of notes of 
which the voice is capable, the motion of 
the sides of the glottis appears still more 
minute ; for if of two chords, so stretched 
as to be exactly in unison, one be shortened 
the 5 feth part of its length, a correct ear will 
perceive the difference of the two sounds ; 
and a good voice will sound the difference, 
which is only ^Ijth part of a note. But sup- 
pose that a voice can divide a note into 
100 parts, it will foltow that the different 
openings of the glottis will be 1200 in the 
J-th of an inch, each of which will produce a 
sound perceptible to a good ear. But the 
movement of each side of the glottis being 
equal, it is necessary to double this num- 
ber, and the side of the glottis actually 
divides the ^th of an inch into 2400 equal 
parts ; that each vibration is ^ifeoth part of 
an inch. 
As yet we have simple, unarticulated 
sound ; such as when we sing the notes of 
a tune without words. Speech is made up 
of articulated voice ; that is, voice modi- 
fied by the action, not of the lungs, the 
trachea, or the larynx, but of the throat, 
palate, teeth, tongue, and lips. Every va- 
riation in tone, however, is produced by a 
variation in the glottis ; and in strength, by 
the action of the lungs : so that all the parts 
of this complicated mechanism are conti- 
nually employed. Articulation begins when 
V'OI 
the voice has passed the larynx. The sim- 
plest articulate sounds are those which pro- 
ceed from an open mouth : they are so little 
modified, that they are called in some other 
languages by the term voice, and in our 
own, from a derivative of the same word. 
In transmitting these, the apertures of the 
mouth may be pretty large, or somewhat 
smaller, or very small ; which produces one 
set of the variations of vowel sounds : be- 
sides, in passing through the open mouth, 
the voice may be gently acted upon by the 
lips, or by the tongue and the palate, or by 
the tongue and throat; and hence another 
source of variation; and thus nine simple 
vowel sounds are produced. When the 
voice, in its passage through the mouth, is 
totally Intercepted, or strongly compressed, 
there ds formed a certain modification of 
articulate sounds, which is called a conso- 
nant. Silence is the effect of a total inter- 
ception ; and indistinct sound, of a strong 
compression : hence a consonant is not of 
itself a distinct articulate voice ; and its in- 
fluence, in varying the tones of language, 
cannot be perceived, unless it be accompa- 
nied with an opening of the moutli, that is 
by a vowel sound. 
Such is the nature of the mechanism of 
the human voice ; so complicated, yet so 
simple: and when we consider the great 
variety of motions necessary to be per- 
formed by every one who speaks with com- 
mon fluency, instead of surprize that children 
are so long before they can articulate, and 
express a chain of ideas by words, we shall 
see ground for admiration that this most in- 
valuable acquisition is made so early. The 
fact appears to be, that the powers of imi- 
tation are at that period the principal source 
of improvement ; and the organs being then 
more capable of the requisite variation of 
flexure than in the later periods of life, j 
sounds are acquired (not indeed without 
much trouble, and almost incessant exer- ^ 
tion), which at the age of manhood baffle ; 
the best-directed exertion. j 
VOIDED, in heraldry, is understood of 
an ordinary whose inner or middle part is 
cut out, leaving nothing but its edges to | 
show its form, so that the field appears j 
through it. Hence it is needless to express i 
the colour or metal of the voided part, be- j 
cause it must of course be tliat of the field. 
The cross voided, differs from the cross 
fimbriated, in that the latter does not 
show the field through it, as the other does ; 
and the same obtains in other ordinaries. 
VOIDER, in heraldry, one of the ordi- 
