Provide a species of whistle, common as a child’s toy or a sportsman’s
call, in the form of a hollow cylinder, about three-fourths of an inch
in diameter, closed at both ends by flat circular plates, with holes in
their centres. Hold this toy between the teeth and lips; blow through
it, and you may produce sounds varying in pitch with the force with
which you blow. If the air be cautiously graduated, all the sounds
within the compass of a double octave may be produced from it; and, if
great precaution be taken in the management of the wind, tones even yet
graver may be brought out. This simple instrument or toy, has, indeed,
the greatest resemblance to the larynx, which is the organ of voice.
A speaking-machine has been invented in Germany, with which have been
distinctly pronounced the words, _mamma_, _papa_, _mother_, _father_,
_summer_. This instrument consists of a pair of bellows, to which
is adapted a tube terminating in a bell, the aperture of which is
regulated by the hand, so as to produce the articulate sounds.