Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1873 edition. Excerpt: ... harmonium, is set in vibration by the current of air made to pass beneath them. The rapidity of the vibration, and consequently the pitch of the sound, depends on the degree of tension of the vocal ligaments.' 'When we reflect, ' says Mr. Hilles,1 'that the range of the human voice will extend, although rarely, to the compass of two octaves, and that in this range are included, in some singers, as many as 2,000 minor tones, we shall form some idea of the extreme delicacy of motion, of which the laryngeal muscles are capable when fully educated.' The elementary sounds of which the voice is capable are.about twenty in number,2 and it is easy to see that the permutations and combinations of these sounds are amply sufficient to provide the world with an infinite variety of languages. The elements of articulate sound are three--1. The aspirate,3 which is a mere strengthened expiration;.2. The vowel sounds, produced by a continuous stream of air passing through the trachea, and modified only by the form of the aperture through which they pass; and 3. The consonants,4 for the utterance of which is required a partial or complete interruption of the breath in its passage through the organs in front of the larynx. These are of two kinds, viz. those1 of which the sound can be prolonged, and the explosive consonants (b, p, d, t, g, k), which require a total stoppage of the breath at the moment previous to their pronunciation, and which therefore cannot be prolonged. The sound of the former is modified by the position of the tongue, palate, lips, and teeth, and also by the degree in which the air is permitted to pass through the nose. 1 Ubi supra, p. 275. 2 Harris, Hermes, ii. 2, 3rd ed. p. 325. 8 Heyse, p. 74. In pp. 78, 79, Heyse traces what he..