In giving an account of my own observations with the laryngoscope,
I premise that laryngoscopy has of late attracted much attention
among the learned, and that _Czermak_, _Turk_, _Merkel_, _Lewin_,
_Bataille_, &c., have published a series of valuable observations,
all of which, however, with the exception of Bataille's, were made
in the interest of science, for pathological purposes especially.
My aim, in the employment of the laryngoscope, has been directed
exclusively to the discovery of the natural limits of the different
registers of the human voice; and although I have thus been able
to observe many other interesting processes, it would not at all
accord with the design of this book to communicate observations
which have no direct relation to the culture of the voice in
singing, and which come better from men of science than from
a teacher of vocal music.
In using the laryngoscope while the breath is quietly drawn,
I saw, as Garcia did, the whole larynx wide open, so that one
could easily introduce a finger into it, and the rings of the
trachea were plainly visible.
[Illustration of the above.]
a. Arytenoid cartilages.
b. Epiglottis.
c. Trachea.[2]
d. Vocal chords.
When those who had become accustomed to the introduction of
the instrument sang, at my request, _a_, as pronounced in the
English word _man_, in a deep tone, the epiglottis rose, the
tongue formed a cavity from within forwards, and thus rendered
it easy to see into the larynx. So soon as the _a_, as in
_father_, was sung, the cover quickly fell, the tongue rose,
and prevented all observation of the organ of singing. The
other vowels are still less favorable to observation, because
they do not admit of any such wide opening of the mouth.
Strong tones also are unfavorable to observation, as Garcia
also remarked; and this is very natural, because strong and
sonorous tones require greater exertions of the singing organ,
and, above all things, the right position of those parts of
the larynx and mouth which serve as a resonance apparatus in
the formation of sound. In order to be able to see perfectly
the whole glottis, all this resonance apparatus must be drawn
back as far as possible, and the rim of the larynx must be
tolerably flat. Thus only faint and weak sounds are favorable
to observation.