upper parts of the vocal tube in an infinitely higher degree of developement and mobility than is common in bass singers, such as Lablache and Ambroggi. In Mad. Santini, especially, whose voice presents the greatest compass and the greatest descent, the posterior part of the mouth is very extensive and voluminous.

The same difference, though less perceptibly, may be traced between the soprano and the contralto. Among male singers the bari-tenor, and among females the mezzo soprano is the medium.

This difference in the parts employed in different scales of notes is further illustrated by the different sort of fatigue experienced by singers whose voice consists of two registers, and by those whose voice extends only to common bass, contralto, or bari-tenor.

Thus Mesdames Mombelli, Fodor, Sontag, and Tosi, among the soprani-sfogati, David, Rubini, Gentili, and many others, among the contra-altini tenors, are never so much fatigued as after having sung parts in which the play of the notes of the second register is most frequently employed; and this sense of fatigue is exclusively confined to the parts constituting the superior extremity of the vocal tube. Excessive exertion of these parts would produce either feebleness of their nervous system, or a degree of inflammation which might be communicated to the wind-pipe, but rarely attacks the bronchial tubes, lungs, or pleura. On the other hand, Lablache, Galli, Ambroggi, Santini, Nozzari, Crivelli, Mesdames Marianni, Catalani, and several other singers, in whom singing is confined to the working of the first register, almost exclusively, although their voice is of a very different character, feel fatigue most in the thoracic and diaphragmatic regions. Perseverance in singing after a certain point might assume an inflammatory character, and soon terminate in tracheal or bronchial inflammation, or peripneumony, or pleurisy.

It is of great practical importance, Bennati adds, with a view to treatment, to observe, that in this second class of singers, debility of the nervous system of the parts constituting the upper end of the vocal tube is very rare. When they are merely injured by excessive fatigue, the use of astringent gargles, and the external application of camphorated spirituous frictions, may accelerate the cure, which rest alone can at length complete. But as debility of these parts may readily assume the aspect of inflammation, it is necessary to take care not to be deceived in diagnosis, because employing antiphlogistic treatment, either general or local, in a case of mere debility, would aggravate the disease, and might even induce complete aphonia, of which several celebrated singers in our time have become victims.

This conclusion is illustrated by the fact, that David and Mademoiselle Tosi almost lost their voices by means of a treatment opposite to the pathological state of their organs, and that Madame Mainvielle Fodor has by treatment carried still farther, for several years almost irrecoverably lost the great compass and power of her voice, and though she occasionally sings in public, it is with incomparable less power and beauty than formerly.

The same doctrine is further confirmed by the effects of disease taking place in the mouth or throat, and affecting eventually the musical part of the tube. In this case Signor Bennati has observed that it not only impairs the timbre or pitch of the voice, but even diminishes the number of simple tones previously possessed by the individual.

In short, the theory of Signor Bennati is explicitly and briefly the following. The larynx possesses the power of emitting notes of a certain height in the scale; but after it has attained, in the utterance of these notes, the highest point susceptible of distinct well-formed sound, it ceases to produce notes by its own efforts, and every attempt to make it do so, causes it to emit a base, or stifled, or imperfect sound. The larynx, however, having attained this point, seems to become fixed, and to procure the voice a new diapason or register, the notes composing which are produced by the operation of the muscles of the soft palate, uvula, tongue, and the approximation of the pillars of the throat, as well as by the contraction of the supra-laryngeal muscles enumerated above; and the sounds will be grave or acute, in the direct or inverse ratio of the approximation of these parts. In well-constructed and well-trained throats, these sounds will be clear, distinct, perfectly formed and melodious. In throats of imperfect construction, and less completely educated, they are not only less distinct and perfect of themselves, but they are rendered confused and discordant by the harsh and jarring tones of the larynx, still excited beyond its powers. Its function is therefore, he infers, merely secondary, in the production and utterance of supra-laryngeal notes. When, indeed, the larynx does more in the production of these notes, it appears to be detrimental.

It deserves particular attention, that the distinction thus made between the notes formed by the laryna alone, and those formed by the upper part of the throat, is accurately observed in popular usage by the Italians, who designate the former as la voce di petto, or thoracic voice, and the latter, as la voce di testa, or voice from the head. This distinction has originated chiefly in the circumstance, that if any one possessed of the ordinary musical voice runs over the scale from the low notes to the high, he will perceive that all the notes from low B or C to E or F' tenor are formed in the windpipe and laryna; and that all the notes above

the latter, or even before that, according to the voice of the individual, are formed in the posterior cavities of the head and throat.

To add stronger confirmation to the inferences at which Signor Bennati has arrived regarding the functions of the velum, uvula, and isthmus faucium, in the production of the very high notes, he gives several facts from pathology,-singular enough, we confess, and though capable of occurring to none except musical physicians, deserving to be known.

1. M. Koreff, a friend of Bennati, had occasion to treat M. the Prince M. for an abscess in the tonsillary region, which, though requiring to be punctured or touched with caustic, could not be seen for that purpose. After employing all the usual contrivances, and especially the introduction of a spoon, which excited violent retching, M. Koreff thought of requesting the patient to sing the most acute note which the pitch of his voice could reach. Instantly the upper part of the vocal tube was thrust forward; M. Koreff' availed himself of this position to apply the caustic; and the patient was relieved at the end of a few hours.

It is not impossible that this relief would have ensued in cynanche tonsillaris, at any rate and under any treatment. But we do not wish to depreciate excessively the value of the illustrations of the ingenious author.

2. The Count de Fredigotti, unfortunately cut off in the prime of life, was not only one of the most accomplished amateur singers, but perhaps the greatest and most fastidious connoisseur of our times. Unfortunately, however, this nicety of judgment had shown him that a physical defect presented an insuperable impediment to his voice ever attaining that perfection of art which his ear told him it ought to possess. He consulted a celebrated French surgeon; and by his advice, he determined to submit to the extirpation of two-thirds of each tonsil, with the sole intention of giving more clearness, more compass, and more facility to that bari-tenor voice from which he expected to derive so much celebrity. He underwent the operation at Paris; but the result was contrary to his expectations. The thoracic voice that is the voice which, according to the notions of Signor Bennati, is modulated particularly by the action of the laryngeal muscles having acquired a clearer and sounder timbre, was enlarged by the addition of two notes; but in compensation, four supra-laryngeal notes, or those of the second register, were irrecoverably lost. Upper sharp do alone was marked very imperfectly, which proves, Signor Bennati contends, that the upper parts of the vocal tube being imperfect, could produce only an imperfect sound. This note had been easily produced by means of the posterior oral cavity previous to operation; but it is impossible to imagine the difficulty with which it was uttered afterwards. The Count could not then produce it without prepara

tion, that is, he was obliged to make a deep aspiration, expelling the air with such violence, that his efforts were depicted in every feature.

From this fact, the Signor thinks he is warranted in drawing the inference, that this imperfect do which the Count had so much difficulty in uttering, was not a note of the second register, but the last laryngeal sound.

3. At the time of writing the memoir before us, Signor Bennaţi had under his care, M. Carcelli, a young pupil of the Conservatory of Milan, in whom, in consequence of a tonsillary angina, the tonsils had become so bulky that he became unable to sing, by reason of his voice, which previously possessed the ordinary extent of tenor, losing its sonorousness and its compass, and reaching only sharp re, while upon the second register he could mark five notes more than formerly.

Bennati, who was consulted and was desirous to avoid operation, wished to see if, by means of astringents alone, he could improve the timbre of the voice, and enable this young man to give some more laryngeal notes. At the end of fifteen days, Bennati had effected a remarkable change in the intensity and sonorousness of the timbre, and had even succeeded in enabling him to reach the sharp laryngeal fa. The patient, indeed, had recovered two notes or four semitones; while the notes of the second register which he had acquired in consequence of his accident he still retained.

4. To show the remarkable power of the uvula, and that this part must contract almost to obliteration in some of the high notes, for instance re or mi, Signor Bennati appeals to the phenomena of disease, in which part of it has been removed, or has become paralyzed, and relates the following case.

In August 1830, a contra-altini tenor, M. Giovanni Boccaletti de Bergamo, was attacked with hemiplegy of the left side. In consequence of this disease, the uvula, in the supra-laryngeal notes, ceased to contract, unless imperfectly on the right side, and, nevertheless, the contraction of the muscles of the isthmus faucium and of the velum, was always effected as in health. M. Boccaletti, however, was no longer able to utter any of the supra-laryngeal notes which he sung before his disease with so much facility and sonorousness.

Signor Bennati concludes his memoir with some judicious practical observations on the changes which the voice undergoes at puberty, one of the most conspicuous periods of its develope

ment.

It is well known, that at this period a general revolution takes place in the organ of voice, which then commonly loses in men a whole octave, unless by a morbid cause, general or local, the

parts which concur to the production of voice are enfeebled. This debility may also proceed from the practice of singing, which is very dangerous at this critical instant, since it may injure the developement of the organ, either by inducing partial or total palsy, or by causing inflammation, of which the extreme degree of intensity may end in complete aphonia.

Though the explanation of the mode in which this injury takes place may be doubtful, or, perhaps, limited in application, the result is certain; and there are few instances, in which, if the individual persists in singing at the period of puberty, the voice is either not much injured, or is broken, as is vulgarly said, or irreparably lost. Instances are common; but among those distinguished for good voices they attract most attention. Bennati mentions the comparative one of Donzelli and Donizetti, one of the fellow pupils of the former, and brother of the Maestro. In both these singers the voice began to change at the same time. Donizetti continued to practise; and the result was the loss of his voice. Donzelli, on the other hand, who, by the advice of his instructor, refrained from singing the whole time of the change, acquired one of the most perfect organs in modern times.

Among those individuals who have early devoted themselves to singing, and especially in boys who, previous to the age of puberty, sang soprano or contralto, we observe after that period the simultaneous but independent action of the two registers, and the more regular developement of the superior region of the vocal tube, but more or less marked according to the kind of voice. The voices of David, for instance, of Rubini, and of Donzelli, which have passed through these transitions, present the most remarkable extent of the two registers. In Donzelli, however, though he can reach the upper sharp re, the modulating faculty, particularly in the notes of the second register, is infinitely more laborious and restrained than in the other two. In compensation, his laryngeal notes are greatly more sonorous and rounder than those of David and Rubini. The difficulty experienced by Donzelli is inherent in the sort of voice which he possesses, that is a bari-tenor, which generally consists of one register only. In Donzelli there are two registers, because he devoted himself very young to the practice of singing, and consequently early subjected to the spontaneous power of the will those muscles, which, before the age of puberty, obeying the internal and successive motion of the larynx, form only a single register. Meanwhile, the action of these same muscles being - most conspicuous, while the hyoid bone and larynx are fixed above, concurs, with the parts of which the upper chamber of the vocal tube consists, to form the register now mentioned.

Of the same fact, the case of Signor Bennati himself presents