_An Inquiry into the Nature of a_ Voice, _and in what respect it
differs from the Breath_.
Let no Man presume, that he shall ever attain to this noble Art, if he
remain Ignorant in what it is that the nature of the Letters, as well
in general, as special, doth consist; for it was this very thing which
gave occasion to the composing of this small Treatise: Wherefore,
before I treat of the manner of instructing _Deaf_ Persons, I shall
bring into examination, First, the material part of the _Letters_,
viz. _Voice_ and _Breath_; Secondly, the _Letters themselves_, and
their Differences: Thirdly, and Lastly, I will teach the _Practise_ of
the Art.
I have oftentimes heard from some Persons, that it was little beneath
a Miracle, that God should give Men, to express the Thoughts of the
Mind, rather by Motions, which are effected by the Lips, the Tongue,
the Teeth, &c. than otherwise, and that so universally, that there is
no Nation so Barbarous, no not excepting the _Hottentots_, which
cannot speak in a Language. But let (I pray) these Men consider, what
it is that Men rightly Instituted would have, whilst they mutually
talk one with another; for they desire to open the most inward
Recesses of the Heart, yea, and to transfuse their own proper Life
into others, which thing cannot be more commodiously done, than by
Speaking; for there is nothing which floweth forth from us, which
carrieth with it a more vivid Character of the Life, than our _Voice_
doth; yea, in the _Voice_ is the _Breath_ of Life, part of which
passeth into the _Voice_; for indeed the _Voice_ is the Child of the
Heart, which is the Seat of the Affections, and of Desire. Hence it
is, that sometimes we are not able to keep back the impetuous Motions
of the Affections; but _out of the abundance of the Heart, the Mouth
speaketh._ Thus, when we desire something in our selves, and yet are
afraid to express it, the Heart labours like a Woman with Child, and
becomes Anxious; but if we can pour it forth into the Bosom of a
Friend, there presently ariseth great Tranquility, and we say, that we
have emptied our Hearts: Yea, so full is the _Voice_ of the Life,
which immediately flows from the Heart, that to talk long, extreamly
wearieth us; but especially the Sick, who oftentimes can scarce utter
three or four words, but they faint away. Therefore, to comprehend
much in a few words, the _Voice_ is an Emanation from that very
Spirit, which God breathed inth Man's Nostrils, when he Created him a
living Soul. Hence also, _The Word of God, the Son of God, the
Omnipotence of God_, &c. are in Holy Scripture oftentimes homonymous,
or of the like, and same import.
It is no wonder therefore, if _Voice_ be natural to a Man, though he
be _Deaf_, because _Deaf Men_ Laugh, Cry out, Hollow, Weep, Sigh, and
Waile, and express the chief Motions of the Mind, by the _Voice_ which
is to an Observant Hearer, various, yea, they hardly ever signifie any
thing by Signs, but they mix with it some _Sound_ or _Voice_. Thus the
Exclamations of almost all Nations are alike; [_a_] is the _Sound_ of
him chiefly, who rejoyceth; [_i_] of him who is in Indignation, and
Angry; [_o_] of one in Commiseration, or Exclamation; not to mention
many such other-like.
Now I shall briefly declare, wherein the nature of the _Voice_
consisteth, where it is formed, and how it is formed: I shall also
discover, together therewith, wherein is the difference betwixt
_Voice_ and _Breath simply_, as what is in truth, of so much weight,
that if it be unknown, some Deaf Persons cannot learn to speak, as
shall be taught in the Third Chapter. Men ordinarily speak after two
manner of ways, viz. either when they may be heard by any one, who is
not too far distant from them, and that is properly call'd _Voice_; or
else, when they speak privately in another's Ear, and then they
pronounce a _Breath which is simple, but not Sonorous_. Deaf Men also
do know a _Voice_ to be different from a _Simple Breath_; for they can
speak both ways, and I also have learned this Distinction partly from
them.
The Humane _Voice_ is Air, impregnated, and made Sonorous by the
impressed Character of the Life, or is such, as whilst it is in
breathing forth, doth smite upon the Organs of the _Voice_, so, as
_they tremble thereupon_; for indeed, without this tremulous Motion,
no _Voice_ is made: Yea, not only the _Larynx_, or Wind-pipe, doth
thereupon tremble, but the whole Skull also; yea, and sometimes _all
the Bones_ _of the whole Body_, which any one may easily find in
himself, by his applying his Hand to his Throat, and laying it on the
top of his Head. This trembling is very perceptible in most sounding
Bodies, and is (if I mistake not) owing for the most part to the
_Springiness_ of the Air; which, did I not study to be brief, I could
more fully explicate. Now the _Simple Breath_ is Air, breathed forth
by the opening of the Mouth or Nostrils, simply, and without any
smiting on the parts, which rather exciteth a whispering than a sound.
Hence is it, that Animals, whose Wind-pipe is cut beneath the Throat,
do indeed render a _Breathing_, but no _Voice_; for the Tube of the
Wind-pipe is too large, and too smooth, than that the Air can strike
upon it any where; and being thus reflected on its self, it can also
imprint a tremulous Motion on its neighbouring Bodies: This the
Physicians Pupils do know; who being about to dissect live Dogs, they
cut their Throats, that they may not be troubled with their barking:
For _Voice_ differs as much from a _Simple Breath_, as doth that
hoarse Sound, which we excite, by rubbing the tops of our Fingers hard
upon some Glass or Table, which is quite differing from that same
_soft whistling Sound_, which is heard when we lightly rub with the
Hand the same Glass or Table.
The _Voice_ therefore, as it is the _Voice_, is generated in the
_Cartilages of the Wind-pipe_, then afterwards is formed into such or
such _Letters_; but that it may become a lovely _Voice_, it's
requisite, that those Cartilages be _smooth_, and _lined with no
mucous Matter_, else the _Voice_ will become Hoarse, and sometimes be
utterly lost, viz. when they have lost their Springy power.
For _Pipes_; and other _Wind-Instruments_ do most notably explain to
us the nature of the _Voice_; for in them we see a certain _Voice_ or
_Sound_ to be generated out of Simple Air, whilst it is as it were,
rent in pieces, and forced into a tremulous Motion: Now, that in these
Instruments there is a little Tongue; or which is instead of a Tongue,
the same in a Man is the _Epiglott_, or Cover of the _Wind-pipe_, and
the _Uvula_, or Pallate of the Mouth; but the rest of the _Cartilages_
of the _Throat_, besides that, they contribute much to the making of
the _Voice_, yet are they chiefly serviceable to it, in rendering it
to be more flat, and more sharp, and that especially by the _Bone of
the Tongue_, and the adjoyning Muscles: But I am unwilling to put from
this Office the Muscles which are proper to the _Wind-pipe_; for they
all unanimously conspire to make the _Cleft of the Throat_ either
wider, or narrower. But above all, here is that wonderful Faculty of
modifying the _Voice_, according to Will and Pleasure; which, even as
_Speech_ also, is not natural to us, but a Habite, contracted by long
Use or Custom. Hence it is, that the Unskilful are not only Ignorant
how to Sing, but also cannot so much as imitate others who are
Singing; so also such as are ignorant of any Language, do not only not
understand others who are speaking that Language, but also do not know
how presently to repeat that _Voice_ which they received by their
Ears.
Things principally requisite to the _Voice_, are, that the
_Wind-pipe_, the former thereof be solid, dry, and of the nature of
_Resounding_ Bodies. By this _Hypothesis_, two of the most Eminent
_Phænomena's of the Voice_ are discovered; why the _Voice_ should then
at length become firm and ripe, when the Bones have attained unto
their full Strength, and due Hardness, which cometh to pass much about
the Years of ripe age, when the vital Heat, doth in a greater degree
exert itself: The other Phænomenon is _Hoarsness_ or an utter loss of
the _Voice_, which is, when the _Cartilages_, or _Gristles of the
Throat_, especially the _Epiglott_, or Coverlid of the _Wind-pipe_, is
lined or besmeared all over with a slimy Viscosity, whereby they lose
their _Elasticity_, or Springiness. Now these Symptoms of the _Voice_
are also common to other _Wind-instruments_, when they become too much
moistned by any vapourous wetting Air. The same reason also is to be
assigned why the _Voice_ doth at last quite cease in those who have
made too long Harrangues, in speaking, and whose Jaws are quite dried
with an immoderate Heat; for in both these cases the top of the
_Wind-pipe_ is covered over with a clammy _Tenacious Phlegm_.
There remains yet two other Symptoms of the _Voice_, which I have
undertaken to explicate, viz. why the _Voice_ sometimes leaps from one
_Eighth_ to another; and, as it is rightly said by the Vulgar
Expression, that it is broken: and why, when we strive to make our
_Voice_ either too sharp, or too flat, it at last plainly faileth us.
As to the first, let us consider when and how it cometh to pass; and
first, it's what principally happeneth to _Orators_, when they
endeavour to lift up their _Voice_ too high, or strongly; but how this
cometh to be, _Organ-pipes_, and the _Monochorde_, do teach us, _viz._
when some Impediment interposing, doth divide the _ordinary Sound_
into two; if therefore those parts are equal, either of them is by one
_Eighth_ more sharp than the former Sound, neither are they
distinguished from one another; but if they prove to be unequally
divided, then two _distinct Sounds_ are made at the same time, whereof
one is flatter than the ether, and this is commonly called a _broken
Voice_: But why our _Voice_ should fail us, when we endeavour to make
it more sharp, or more flat than it ought to be, the reason is,
because we strive either so to contract the _Cleft_ of the
_Wind-pipe_, and to press the _Spout-like Cartilage_, by help of the
_Bone of Tongue_, towards the _Epiglott_, that the going forth of the
_Voice_, and of the _Breath_, may be precluded, or else, on the
contrary, because that the said _Cleft_, through the drawing down of
the _Cartilages_, is so much widened, that the departing out of the
_Breath_, finds no hinderance.
But here I had almost forgot to compare the _more dry_, the _more
moist_, the _more solid_, and the _more thin_ Constitution of the
_Larynx_, or _Wind-pipe_, which also make very much to the rendering
the _Voice_, to be either sharp, or flat. That same humming Noise,
which _many flying Insects_ make, not so much by the Wings, (for when
they are cut off, the humming still remains) as by a most swift and
brisk Motion of certain Muscles, hid in the Cavity of their Breasts,
seems to have somewhat of an affinity to the _Voice_; wherefore I
desire the Learned to examine, whether those small _Muscles, which are
proper to the Cartilages of the Wind-pipe_, cannot perform somewhat
like to that.
Many more Particulars concerning the _Voice_ might yet further be
inquired into, such as, how it is, that every one may be known by his
_Voice_? How that _Sound_, which in Singing is called _Quavering_, or
_Trilling_, by a peculiarity, is excited, &c, But seeing that these
things do not properly respect the nature of the _Voice_, I, for
Brevities sake, do omit them.