tongue which it necessitates, enable us to get a complete view of the
interior of the voicebox, which during the emission of other vowel
sounds is more or less hidden.

Mr. Lunn objects that all investigations with the laryngoscope are
valueless on account of the supposed necessity of holding the tip
of the protruding tongue. He says, in a letter to the "Orchestra"
(January, 1880): "One of our most promising singers told me he
could not rightly produce his voice when under laryngoscopic
investigation. It is a moral impossibility for all!" (A physical
impossibility would be more to the purpose.) "Let the reader pull
his tongue out with a napkin as far as he can, and sing, and he
will get some notion of the tone producible." There is no
foundation for this objection, because if a singer has his tongue
under proper control there is not the slightest occasion to put it
out and to hold it. As to pulling it out as far as one can, that
should not be done under any circumstances, and no man having the
slightest knowledge of laryngoscopy would suggest such a ridiculous
proceeding. In my own case the vocal ligaments can be seen from one
end to the other while I keep my tongue in its natural position,
and I am willing to demonstrate this fact to any one who has any
doubt in the matter.

As soon as we produce a tone, the pyramids, and with them the vocal
ligaments, meet, so as to touch each other more or less closely, while
there still remains a large space between the pocket ligaments above.
Every time we take breath, the pyramids with the vocal ligaments recede,
to meet again as before, every time we strike a new tone. The vocal
ligaments, thrown into vibrations by the stream of air passing between
them, cut, as it were, this stream of air into regular waves, and thus
(as more fully explained on p. 38) tone is produced.

We notice here that this tone-production may be originated in three
different ways:--(1) The vocal ligaments may meet _after_ the air has
commenced to pass between them. Of this an aspirate is the result. (2)
The vocal ligaments may meet _before_ the air has commenced to pass
between them. This causes a check or a click at the beginning of the
tone. (3) The vocal ligaments may meet just at the very moment when the
air passes between them. In this case the tone is properly struck. There
is nothing to make it indefinite as