San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-08-02
EVOLUTION OF THE VOICE.
Scientist Say the Time is Coming
When Men WilI Not Speak.

luO WOkIN " lCh CNOh bhO
had no voice. There were no sound
or noises than but those made by the
winds whistling about mountain tops
and bowling through primeva for
ests, or of the waves dsshing on
shores absolutely silent and deadh
The animals of those geological
epoches, being in the plastic
state preceding the development OF
the osseous structure that now gives
torn and comeliness to the human
body. were just beginning to breathe
the external air with a gentle respi-
ration. Ages, it should rather be
said epocns, were passed in this man
ner, in the course of which the habit
of respiration developed the lungs.
Then the use Of the throat essential
to the taking OF food produced those
organs necessary to speech, which are
called the pharynx, CLOTHS and
larnyX. 1t seems that Providence, as
matter of supreme convenience,
made the same passage serve for eat.
ing, speaking and breathing,
although another arrangement was
possibI-, like the respiratory appa.
rstus of the grasshopper, which is
placed a. the sides. This IL one of the
very few exceptions to the rule which
applies in common to man and most
animals.
When the upper part of the throat
was in an advanced state of develop
ment the act of aspiration began to be
accompanied b, certain inarticulate
souuus, at first resembling the
rough breathing of a person whose
air passages are obstructed by bad
cold Instinct soon taught the ami
NAL that these noises could be in
creased by forcing slightly the inspil-
alton or expiration OF the breat or
by contracting the muscles of the
throat and so amitting the voice in q
rapid succession of indefinite sounds.
We have the right to suppose that
the yelping of sea lions represen ts
very nearly the human voice in. it's
early stages of development. The
sounds OF the human being are,
ike those of all animals and of all in
struments, the result of vibration of
chords, and are grave or acute accord
ing TO the size of these chords. There
| is little reason to doubt that the first
sounds made by animals were low
down In the musical scale, but as the
voice, guided by instinct, was more
and more used, either for the purpose
of amusement or to inspire terror.
they would naturally, in the case of
many species in which there was q
more pronounced development of
the Uranium, be made more in
the head and become what we
now call head tones. This change
was more rapid in animals
living on the land, the voice of those
who habits continued to be smphib.
ious remaining much of the same.
There came in the course Of time to be
. very great variety in the voices of
animals, determined partly by their
size, hut generally by the circum-
ces in Which they were placed.
The different species of the feline race
living in the forests cultivated the
higher tones. The lion adapted his
voice to the vast desert spaces where
he roamed and gained q scanty SUBJ
sistence. The dog In his wild state
probably confined himself to the low r
notes of the scale aud expressed his
hostility only by barking. Since
his domestication, having ac
quired q sort of human sentiment
he clips aud whines in the highest
tones ~ express feelings that are but
imperfectly understood. The cat imi.
tates the high sopranos. The horse,
having long neck and head nearly
as long, initiates in his Weighing most
OF the modern tenors. The animals
of the bovine tribe produce the voice
from low down in the throat, only
occasionally venturiug on certain
higher and exceed ,ngly unnatural
notes A great variety of tone and
compass Is found among the birds,
! from the shrill scream Of those of q
ravenous kind down to the parrots, In
which are found the BASES, baritopes
and coutraltos of the race. The sing
ing birds combine the high and low
tones with extraordinary tiextbiIity OF
voice and perfection of vecalism at
which they arrived probably at a
very remote period of the worlds his
| tory,
Man inherited from his immediate
ancestors, the apes and monkeys, a
voice of considerable attitude, in
which the lower tones were almost
unknown. The monkeys chartered to
their fellows from tree to tree in shrill
head tones, the natural vocal express
sion of week and timid race in whose
ply steal formation the mead had be-
gun to hold an important place. The
upper notes of the register were char
acteristic of the fret men, as they still
/ are of savage tribes and peoples and
of the hall civilized mem bers Of
modern society whose voices
have never been subjected to
discipline. The voices Of country
people accustomed to magnificent dis
tances and conversation st long range
are, If not keyed higher, oftener used
in the upper ranges than those OF the
city people, who feel obliged by the
necessities of good breeding to mod