On the voice of birds.

  • Duncan, Philip Bury, 1772-1863.
Date:
[between 1830 and 1839?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the voice of birds. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    “ lite ou sont les quadrupedes d’imiter notre pa- “ role.” Besides speech, man is indebted to his lips for all that vivacity of countenance and variety of expression, which is another sort of language, of which no other animal is capable. The lips of man are in the same plane with his teeth; but those of animals with an angular countenance turn round with the teeth, so that they cannot purse up their lips so as to make an U, or round them so as to pro- nounce an O. In monkeys two large membranous bags cover the front of the neck under the skin and open into the larynx between the os hyoides and the, thyroid cartilage, which prevents their power of speaking. In apes there is under the skin an uni- form muscular expansion, under which four muscles are traceable, and about as many in a dog. Men have more muscles in the lips, and they are more distinct than in those of any quadruped. Man has nine pair and one odd muscle in the lips, nine-: teen in all. One may easily conceive what an infinite variety of movements and configurations such a complicated apparatus can produce, whereas quadrupeds can j only make uniform grimaces. ,i Reptiles have no epiglottisb, and their larynx is , composed of parts analogous to the upper larynx oi birds; but they have no inferior larynx like birds They have no lips or palate to modify sounds. “ I “ y a ni ventricules ni rubans vocaux.” ; j “ The principal instrument of the voice,” say* ,, |1 b The epiglottis, the fifth cartilage of the larynx, is thin an< ■( moveable, and resembling an ivy leaf or little tongue.