thus shown that the laryngeal muscles are, to a less extent, under the control of the will than are those of either hand or eye. The rational training of the singing-voice cannot, therefore, proceed upon any theory based upon the voluntary training of the muscles controlling the movements of the vocal cords.

The mucous membrane which lines the larynx is liberally supplied with secreting glands, whose function is to keep the parts moist. Above the vocal bands, another pair of membranous ligaments are stretched across the larynx forming, with its sides and the vocal bands, a pouch or pocket. The upper ligaments are sometimes called the false vocal cords, but are more properly termed ventricular bands. Their function has occasioned much speculation, but whatever modification of tone they may be supposed to produce, they no doubt protect the true vocal bands and permit their free vibration. The larynx, in the production of sound, may be compared to an organ-pipe. The two vocal cords which act simultaneously and are anatomically alike, when set in vibration by the blast of air coming from the lungs, correspond to the reed of the organ-pipe; the vibration of the cords, producing sound, which is communicated to the air enclosed in the cavities of the chest and head. Pitch of tone is determined by the rapidity of vibrations of the bands, according to acoustical law, and the length, size, and tension of the cords will determine the number of vibrations per second, i.e., their rapidity.

Strength or loudness of tone is determined primarily by the width or amplitude of the vibrations of the vocal membrane, and quality or timbre is determined by the form of the vibration.

The infinitely varying anatomical divergencies in the form and structure of the nasal, pharyngeal and throat cavities, and possibly the composition of the vocal bands, modifies, in numberless ways, the character of tone in speech or song. It is a fascinating topic, but must be dismissed here with the remark that, as those anatomical differences in structure are far less marked in children than in adults, their voices are, in consequence, more alike in quality and strength. It takes long, patient training to blend adult voices, but children’s voices, when properly used, are homogeneous in tone.

The voices of boys and girls, prior to the age of puberty, are alike. The growth of the larynx, which in each is quite rapid up to the age of six years, then, according to all authorities with which the writer is conversant, ceases, and the vocal bands neither lengthen nor thicken, to any appreciable extent, before the time of change of voice, which occurs at the age of puberty.

It is scarcely possible, however, that the larynx literally remains unchanged through the period of the child’s life, extending from the age of six to fourteen or fifteen years. In point of fact, authorities upon the subject refer only to the lack of growth and development in size of the larynx during the period; but undoubtedly, during these years, there is a constant gaining of firmness and strength, in both the cartilages and their connecting membranes and muscles. None of the books written upon the voice have even mentioned this most important fact. It bears with great significance upon questions relating to the capacities of the child’s voice at different ages, and explains that phenomenon called the “movable break,” which has puzzled so many in their investigations of the registers of the child’s voice. The constant, though of course extremely slow, hardening of the cartilaginous portions of the larynx, and the steady increase in the strength of its muscles and ligaments is not in the least inconsistent with the previously noted fact, that the vocal bands during this time increase to no appreciable extent in length; for, it may be observed, after the change of voice, which often occurs with great rapidity, and during which the vocal bands increase to double their previous length in males, that, though the pitch of the voice, owing to increased length of the bands, suddenly lowers, yet not until full maturity is reached, do the laryngeal cartilages attain that rigidity, or the vocal bands that ready elasticity essential to the production of pure, resonant voice. Yet, during these years, while the voice is developing, the vocal bands remain unchanged in length. Even in those cases where the voice changes slowly in consequence of the slow growth in length and thickness of the vocal cords, it takes several years, after laryngeal development has ceased, for the voice to attain its full size and resonance.

Furthermore, the continual increase in strength and firmness of the larynx from six years onward to puberty, is consistent with the constant growth in strength and firmness of tissue characterizing the entire body. It is again proven by the continual improvement in the power and timbre of the tone through this period, always premising, be it understood, that the voice is used properly, and never forced beyond its natural capabilities. The voice, at the age of eleven or twelve, is far stronger, and is capable of more sustained effort than at the age of six or seven years, and, for the year or two preceding the break of voice, the brilliance and power of boys’ voices, especially in the higher tones, is often phenomenal, and in all cases is far superior to that of previous years.

The resemblance between the voices of boys and girls, a resemblance which amounts to identity, save that the voices of boys are stronger and more brilliant in quality, disappears at puberty.

Among the physical changes which occur at this period is a marked growth of the larynx, sufficient to alter entirely the pitch and character of the boy’s voice. As a female larynx is affected to a lesser extent, the voices of girls undergo little change in pitch, but become eventually more powerful, and richer in tone.

This break of the voice, as it is called, occurs at about the age of fifteen years in this climate, but often a year or two earlier, and not infrequently a year or two later. The growth of the larynx goes on, with greater or less rapidity, varying in different individuals, for from six months to two or three years, until it attains its final size. In boys, the larynx doubles in size, and the vocal bands increase in the proportion of five to ten in length. This great gain in the length of the vocal cords is due to the lateral development of the larynx, for the male larynx, in its entirety, increases more in depth than in height. The result is a drop of an octave in the average boy’s voice, the longer bands producing lower tones. The change in size in the female larynx is in the proportion of five to seven, and the increase is in height instead of depth or width as in the male larynx. The vocal cords of women are, therefore, shorter, thinner and narrower than are those of men.

The reason assigned for the peculiar antics of the boy’s voice, during the break, is unequal rapidity in the growth and development of the cartilages and of the muscles of the larynx. The muscles develop more slowly than do the cartilages, and so abnormal physical conditions produce abnormal results in phonation.

No further changes occur in the laryngeal structure until middle life, when ossification of the cartilages commences. The thyroid is first affected, then the cricoid, and the arytenoids much later.

The consequent rigidity of the larynx occasions diminished compass of the singing-voice, the notes of the upper register being the first to disappear. In some few cases of arrested