th, by completely or partially closing the organs of
speech; as, for instance, by closing the lips, as when we pronounce
_p_ie, _b_y, _m_y, etc.; or by pressing the point of the tongue against
the gums and teeth, as when we say t_ie_, d_ie_, etc.; or by lifting the
body of the tongue against the hard palate or roof of the mouth, as when
we give the _k_ or hard _g_ sound, as in rac_k_, ra_g_, or in any other
similar way.

Consonants are, therefore, the breaks or _limitations_ upon the
otherwise unbroken and continuous vocality, voice, or vocalized breath.
In other words, as already said, _Vowel_-Sound is the Elemental
_Substance_, and _Consonant_-Sound the Elemental _Form_ of Language, or
Speech. (By Vowels and Consonants are here meant, the Reader should
closely observe, Vowel-_Sounds_ and Consonant-_Sounds_, as produced by
the _Organs_ of _Speech_, and as they address themselves to the _Ear_,
distinguished and wholly apart from the _letters_ or combinations of
letters by which they are diversely represented to the _Eye_ in
different languages.)

By a valid but somewhat remote analogy, the _Vowel_-Sounds of Language
may be regarded collectively as the _Flesh_, and the _Consonant_-Sounds
as the _Bone_ or _Skeleton_ of the Lingual Structure. Flesh is an
_Analogue_ or Correspondential Equivalent of Substance. Bone or
Skeleton, which gives _outline_ or _shape_ to the otherwise soft,
collapsing, and lumpy flesh-mass of the Human or Animal Body, is an
_Analogue_ of Correspondential Equivalent of Limitation or Form; as the
framework of a house is the shaping or form-giving factor or agent of
the entire structure.

_Vowel_-Sounds are soft, fluent, changeful, and evanescent. One passes
easily into another by slight deviations of pronunciation, resulting
from trivial differences in National and Individual condition and
culture; like the Flesh of the animal, which readily decays from the
Bony Skeleton, while the last remains preserved for ages as a fossil.
The Vowel-Sounds so readily lose their identity, that they are of slight
importance to the Etymologist or Comparative Philologist, who is, in
fact, dealing in the _Paleontology_ of Language.

The _Consonants_ are, on the contrary, the _Fossils_ of Speech; bony and
permanent representatives of Framework, of _Limitation_, of Form.
Consonant-Sounds are also sometimes denominated _Articulations_. This
word means _joinings_ or _jointings_. It is from the Latin _articulus_,
a JOI