THE VOICE.

One remarkable power of the tongue still remains to be noticed, connected as it is with the utterance of vocal sounds. Sound, as is well known, is produced by the vibration of air emitted from the lungs of animals, caused by an organ termed the larynx. Mammals, birds, and reptiles, are the only animals which, according to this definition, possess a voice. But many species of other classes produce peculiar sounds, by which the individuals are attracted to each other, or express their wants and feelings. A true organ of voice includes various parts: the lungs, bronchi, trachea, larynx, and mouth. The most essential portions, are two vibratile chords, bounding a slit-shaped opening, called the glottis; and this may be situated at different parts of the air-tube in different animals; the part of the tube between the glottis and the oral outlet being the true sonorous instrument. In mammals and reptiles the glottis is situated at the end of the windpipe, which communicates with the bronchial tubes, and consequently the whole trachea becomes, in this class, part of the vocal instrument.

The admirable apparatus by which man is enabled to produce a sufficient variety of sounds to answer his purposes, consists of the chest for containing air, of the larynx at the top of the windpipe for producing the

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CHAPTER II.

STRUCTURE OF THE TONGUE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BEAL
LENCE OF GOD-THE POWER OF SPEECH.

THE organ of taste in man is the tongue. o . the surface is peculiarly sensitive, the skin De nished with a large proportion of blood-esse nerves. Here a distinct layer is formed, throug a great number of tasters pass, and project surface, covered with a thin cuticle, like

MODIFICATION OF THE VOICE.

voice, and of the short tube of the mouth for modifying it. When, therefore, air rushes from the lungs through the opening at the top of the windpipe, it causes the elastic tips of that opening to vibrate, and to excite the tremblings which produce sound. This is modified at the will of the individual in a great variety of ways; a variety which is, however, still very simple. The principal means of doing this appears in the tongue and the lips, which are expressly adapted to render sounds articulate.

The modifications of the voice, easily distinguishable by the ear, are reckoned to be about fifty in number, but no single language contains more than about half of them. They are divisible into vowels and consonants; the one class being formed by the voice issuing through the open mouth, and influenced only by the degrees in which this is done; the other by some interruption of the sound. How beautiful in its simplicity is such an arrangement! The combinations that are thus produced are indeed immense.

Command is acquired over other muscular organs of the body, as the feet in walking, or the fingers in playing on musical instruments; and just so is it obtained over the organs of speech. At first, there must be a distinct act of volition for every muscular move

SPEECH THE PREROGATIVE OF MAN.

ment; but the action is easier each time it is repeated; and, at length, habit renders a series of such movements easy and prompt in obeying a single wish. The child, for example, must exert as distinct and powerful an act of the will to pronounce the single syllable Ma, or Pa, as, after a little practice, is required to double it, or, when there has been a little more, will be necessary for the hardest word it can utter. So far, however, may the ability improve, that an accomplished speaker will pour forth complete sentences, most powerful and eloquent, in rapid succession; and yet his oratory, fascinating and impressive as it is, grew, as the result of effort and habit, from the imperfect utterance, and the comparatively feeble wish, of a little child.

Speech is, indeed, the prerogative of man. His intellect does not more surely indicate his sovereignty over the animal world, than does the power of expressing his thoughts. So far as relates to their wants and desires, their attachments and aversions, methods may be observed of communication between one animal and another. There are cases, too, in which words are uttered by the force of imitation. But speech, which alone can embody thought, and cause mind to interchange with mind, is confined to man alone. It is the