The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-09-29
VOICE OF ANIMALS.
THE SLOW RISE AND FUTURE FALL
OF THE HUMAN SPEECH.

Onco No Living Thing Had Voice, and
the Time VIII Come When the Same
Thing VIII Be True Again, at Least So
Far as Human Beings Arc Concerned.
There was time in the history Of the
world when even the animals had no voice.
There were no sounds or noises then but
those made by the winds whistling about
mountain tops and bowling through prim.
eval forests, or of the waves dashing on
shores absolutely silent and dead. The an.
imals Of those geological epochs, being in
the plastic state preceding the develop
ment of the osseous structure that now
| gives form and comeliness to the human
body, were just beginning to breathe the
external air with gentle respiration.
Ages, it should rather be said epochs, were
| passed in this manner in the course of
which the habit of respiration developed
the lungs. Then the use Of the throat es-
sential to the taking Of food produced
those organs necessary to speech, which
are called the pharynx, glottis and larynX.
1t seems that Providence, as matter of
supreme convenience, made the same pas
sage serve for eating, speaking and breath
ing, although another arrangement was
possible, like the respiratory apparatus of
the grasshopper, which is placed at the
sides This is one of the very few eXcep-
tions 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 development the
act of respiration began to be accompanied
by certain inartculate sounds, at first re-
sembling the rough breathing of a person
whose air passages are obstructed by bad
cold Instinct soon taught the animal
that these noises could be increased by
forcing slightly the inspiration or eXpira-
tion of the BREATH or by contracting the
muscles of the throat and so emitting the
voice in rapid succession of indefinite
sounds We have the right to suppose that
the yelping of sea lions represents very
nearly the human voice in its early stages
of development. The sounds of the voice
of the human being are, like those of all
animals and all instruments, the result Of
a vibration of chords, and are grave or
acute according to the size of these chords.
This change was more rapid in animals
living on the land the voice of those whose
habits continued to be amphibious remain
ing much the same There came in the
d course Of time to he great variety in the
voices OF animals, determined partly by
their size, but generally by the circum-
stances in which they were placed. The
different species of the feline race living in
forests cultivated the higher tones. The
lion adapted his voice to the vast desert
spaces where he roamed and gained q
scanty subsistence. The dog in his wild
state probably confined himself to the
lower notes of the scale and expressed his
hostility only by barking. Since his do.
mestication, having acquired a sort of hui
man sentiment, he yelps and whiues in the
higher tones to express feelings that are
but imperfectly understood. The cat imi.
tates the high sopranos. The horse, having
a long neck and head nearly as long, i'm.
itates in his neighing most Of the modern
tenors.
The animals Of the bovine tribe produce
the voice from low down in the throat
only occasionally venturing on certain
higher and exceedingly unnatural notes
a great variety of tone and compass i.
found among the birds, from the shrill
scream Of those Of ravenous kind down
to the parrots, among which are found the
bassos, baritones and contraltos of the
race. The singing birds combine the high
and low tones with extraordinary fleXi
bility of voice and perfection of vocalsn
at which they arrived probably at very
remote period of the worlds history.
Man inherited from his immediate an
cestors, the apes and monkeys, voice o.
considerable altitude, in which the lower
tones were almost unknown. The mon
keys chartered to their fellows from tret
to tree in shrill head tones, the natura
vocal expression Of weak and timid race
in whose physical formation the head has
begun to hold an important place. TIL,
upper notes Of the register were character
istic of the first men, as they still are o
savage tribes and peoples, and of the hal
, civilized members of modern society
whose voices have never been subjected t
discipline.
The music of the Chinese, Japanese ant
of all wild tribes is keyed high and sun!
usually in falsetto, the lower notes beiny
obtained by drums, tomtoms or some othe
instruments of the kind. Although thei
songs are far from agreeable TO the ear
they still think they can sing, an ILLUSION
, shared, it must be confessed, by con
siderable number of persons in the mos
refined modern society.
These facts and suggestions contai
probably the reason for the belief eX
pressed bya French writer that the huma
voice is gradually descending the scale
= High tenors and sky scraping sopranos ar
= more and more difficult to find, a grea
o misfortune in these times when the Was
ner operas demand such eXtraordinar
!, vocal efforts. The Chronicle has alread
=. endeavored to explain the awful const
quences Of this theory carried to its logici
T, results. 1t has shown how the soprano
will gradually become contraltos; the COZ
g traltos tenors, regardless Of sex; the tenol
4 baritones and the baritones bassos.
would be well if the misfortune ende
here, but this is by no means all. Whe
the whole human race is only able to spea
in bass tones there will continue to be
depression of the higher of these, unit
n one single dead level is reached, aboV
rs which the voice will be unable to rise. I
'r this unfortunate voice music in all j
<, forms will long have been impossible. f,
N awhile conversation, whose ghost
ii solemnity can only be imagined, will
r. carried on and then the vocal organs wi
of cease entirely to exist.-San Francis,
y Chronicle.
H. A Terrible Cholera Tragedy.
c. At Askabad, Turkestan, the cholel