approach. A swift and noiseless advance around that projecting rock, and we are upon them; we capture them, without the possibility of resistance. One disorderly noise or motion may leave us at the mercy of their advanced guard. Let every man keep the strictest silence, under pain of instant death!

-From Murdoch and Russell's Orthophony.

Referring to the first line of the fourth example above, 'Ha!' like most other interjections, does not stand for an unvarying audible effect. Such words are simply a graphic device-a typographical symbol-to indicate an articulate, or, often, an inarticulate, emotional utterance. They accordingly vary, even if represented by the same literal form, in loudness, stress, pitch, quality, and quantity; and the vowel itself is often modified, or completely changed, according to the emotion embodied, the intensity of the emotion, and, perhaps in greater degree, according to the judgment, taste, fancy, or immediate impulse of the interpreter. Just as 'Ha, ha, ha!' stands for some kind of laugh, which it is the reader's office to identify and execute, according to the age, temperament, sex, and situation of the character represented; so interjections generally, are to be rendered by sighs, groans, gasps, strangulations, murmurs, shrieks, yells, moans, etc., articulate or inarticulate, as may best express the specifically appropriate emotion or passion.

The 'Ha!' of the example is probably best rendered by a deep, quick, audible inspiration--a wide-throated gasp.

1.

EXAMPLES OF EXPLOSIVE WHISPER.

Strike a light, and come down, 7 quick!

The cat's in for

the kitchen, and I can't open the door 7 in the dark, fear she'll get upstairs. If she hears you, she'll be startled and frightened, and break something.7 Be as quick and quiet as you can!

2.

Hark! I hear the bugles of the enemy! They are on their march along the bank of the river. We must retreat instantly, or be cut off from our boats. I see the head of their column already rising over the height. Our only safety is in the screen of this hedge. Keep close to it; be silent; and stoop as you run! For the boats!-forward!

-From Murdoch and Russell's Orthophony.

HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE.

The terms, effusive, expulsive, and explosive, are commonly supposed to have been directly adopted by elocutionary writers from Doctor Rush's 'Philosophy of the Human Voice.' In the 'Philosophy' are frequently found the words, 'explosion,' 'explosive,' used in their present technical sense; but Doctor Rush nowhere employs the words, effusion, effusive, expulsion, expulsive. Of the earliest promoters of the Rush philosophy, Barber, Weaver, Kirkham, and Gummere have nothing to say of the effusive and expulsive forms. Gummere uses the word 'expulsion' once or twice, but not in its present application.

The first orderly setting-forth of these primary modes of utterance that I have been able to find, is in Murdoch and Russell's 'Orthophony', published in 1846. To one or the other, or both, of these pre-eminent exemplars of the principles of Rush must be due the credit of supplying, defining, and exemplifying these essential and generally adopted terms.

་

*Without the vanishing glide toward ĭ or ē.

*Without the vanishing glide toward oo or oo.

*'Mixed' means, between Front and Back, or, Combined Front and Back: not so far forward as Front, and farther forward than Back.

VOWEL FORMATION.

VOWEL SHAPING.

The vowel elements are fundamental to all speech. Voice and whisper are produced by greater or less resistance of the vocal bands, as the breath flows from the lungs outward. From the sound thus produced the vowels are molded, by the lengthening or shortening, and the narrowing or expanding, of the resonator; which includes the pharynx and the cavities of the head, nose, and mouth. Divested of the reenforcement of the resonator, the voice would be dehumanized

toneless and tuneless. In the production of the quality called orotund, I am convinced that the chest is an indispensable part of the resonator; or that, entirely or in part, the orotund voice originates in the chest. Without chest resonance, there could be no orotund.

THE VOWEL CHAMBER.

The character of every vowel, as a unit of voice and as a unit of speech, is affected by the adjustment of the parts through the whole length of the vocal channel; but, for any given vowel, there is a specific adjustment of the channel, at a particular part or section of it. This section is called the Vowel Chamber; in forming which, the tongue is the principal and most directly controllable agent.

Each chamber has a Place of Constriction, formed by approximating the tense tongue more or less closely to the hard palate, the soft palate, or the back wall of the pharynx. The lips, also, are constricted for the Back Vowels; for which reason they are often called the Labial Vowels.

The Vowel Chamber consists of the Place of Constriction and the cavity before, or behind, or the cavities before and behind it.

VOWEL PITCH AND QUALITY.

Each vowel has its own natural pitch and quality. The vocality of the Front Vowels is naturally lighter, brighter, and harder than that of the Back Vowels; and their pitch is higher, because the resonance of the front cavity predominates. The vocality of the Back Vowels is somber, or dark, and their pitch is lower than that of the Front Vowels, because the pharyngeal resonance predominates over the oral, and the larynx is more depressed and open.

THE VOWELS, AS NARROW AND WIDE.

The vowels may be said to arrange themselves naturally in Pairs; and, of each pair, one is called Narrow, or Primary (Bell), and the other Wide.

For the Narrow Vowels, the tongue is decidedly tense at the place of constriction, and its lateral edges are firmly pressed against the neighboring surfaces, so that it secures a stable position. If the place of constriction is behind the hard palate, the soft palate and the pharynx are strongly tense. It will be observed that the Narrow Vowels are those usually called Long.

In changing from any Narrow Vowel to its corresponding Wide, the tongue tension becomes extremely slight, the body of the tongue drops slightly at the place of constriction, and the side pressure is reduced to mere contact; the whole process is momentary, and the resulting sound is abrupt and brief. Such are the Wide-the so-called Short-Vowels. In the effort to give them quantity, the tongue becomes firm and braced, and the soft palate sympathizes. Under these conditions, the Wide Vowels approximate toward the type of the Narrow.