The brain and the voice in speech and song / by F.W. Mott.

  • Mott, F. W. (Frederick Walker), 1853-1926.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The brain and the voice in speech and song / by F.W. Mott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    BREATHING AND EXERTION Sir Charles Bell, who discovered the respi- ratory system of nerves, pointed out how the lungs, from being in the lower animals merely the means of oxygenating the blood, become utilised in the act of expelling air from the body for the production of audible sounds—the elements of human voice and speech. Likewise he drew attention to the influence which powerful emotions exercise upon the organ of respiration, including the countenance, e.g. the dilated nostrils in anger. Again, when the voice suffers interruption and falters, and the face, neck, and chest are animated by strong passion working from within the breast, language exerts its most commanding influence. In hemiplegia or paralysis of one half of the body, there is a difference between the two sides for ordinary automatic un- conscious diaphragmatic breathing and voluntary or costal breathing. Thus in ordinary breathing the movements are increased on the paralysed side, especially in the upper part of the chest, while in voluntary breathing they are increased on the sound side. Hughlings Jackson suggested the following theory to explain these facts: Ordinary breathing is an automatic act governed by the respiratory centre in the medulla. The respiratory