Among other respects in which the vocal sounds of man and Simian
resemble is in the contour of the sounds, which I have defined
elsewhere. I have called attention to the fact that by reversing the
cylinder of the phonograph and repeating the sound recorded thereon that
a musical note or sound would repeat alike each way. Most of the sounds
made by other animals do this, but those made by man and Simian alike
show modulation, not, however, equally distinct. The notes of birds
repeat alike both ways except their order is reversed. Again, to magnify
the sounds as I have shown it can be done, allows you to inspect them,
as it were, under the microscope, and this examination shows the contour
of the sounds of these two genera to resemble.

Dr. Alexander Melville Bell has shown, in his work on "Visible Speech,"
that the organs brought into use in the production and modification of
sounds must work in harmony with each other; hence it is that by a study
of the external forms of the mouth the movements of all the organs used
in making any sound can be determined with such certainty that
deaf-mutes can be, and have been, successfully taught to distinguish
these sounds by the eye alone. And it was by such a method that I set
out to read the temple inscriptions from the ruins of Palenque, some
years ago, at which time I had not heard of Dr. Bell's learned and
excellent work. The main feature of those glyphs, by which I was guided,
was the outline of the mouth, which the artist had sought to preserve
and emphasise at the cost of every other feature, and by this process I
found to my satisfaction some ten or twelve sounds or phonetic elements
of the speech used by these people; but not knowing the meaning of the
sounds in that lost tongue, I did not attempt to verify them, but when I
find the time to devote to them I believe I can accomplish that.

[Sidenote: TRIP TO AFRICA]

It is a part of my purpose, in my trip to Africa, to try to secure
photographs of the mouths of the great apes while they are in the act of
talking, and to this end I am having constructed an electric trigger,
with which to operate my photo-camera at long range, and I shall try to
furnish to the eminent author of "Visible Speech" some new and novel
subjects for study.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Some Curious Facts in Vocal Growth--Children and
Consonants--Single, Double, and Treble Consonants--Sounds of
Birds--Fishes and their Language--Insects an