Clinical notes on diseases of the larynx : investigated and treated with the assistance of the laryngoscope / by William Marcet.

  • Marcet W. (William), 1828-1900.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical notes on diseases of the larynx : investigated and treated with the assistance of the laryngoscope / by William Marcet. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    chest-voice, beginning with the lowest; and this can be observed by anybody on applying a finger to the throat between these cartilages, and then singing different chest-notes. The motion of the above cartilages being due to the contraction of the crico-thyroid muscles in the act of stretching the cords, it appears to me that the tension of these vocal organs is actually not altered in ' Yodle' singing. What can be, therefore, the action of the larynx for the ]3roduction of falsetto sounds ? In order to solve the present question, I re- quested one of the well-known Tyrolese singers, when recently giving concerts at St. James's Hall, and sing- ing the ' Yodle' in perfection, to be so kind as to submit to a laryngeal examination, and this gentleman most obligingly acceded to my request. I had some diffi- culty in obtaining as good a view of his larynx as I should have liked, from the irritability- of the pharynx, but I saw his vocal cords distinctly. They were beau- tifully developed, and the motions of the laryngeal muscles were full and rapid. While he was in the act of singing head-notes the cords were seen to be con- siderably shortened, and their edges tightly apphed against each other. The shortening of the vocal cords of the Tyrolese Singers for the utterance of falsetto notes was obviously due to the action of the arytenoid cartilages, which may be considered in some respects as actually forming part of the cords; these, by being made to press against each other, would diminish considerably the length of the cords, producing the same conditions as when an 'harmonic' note is brought out on a violin or vio- loncello, by pressing the finger lightly on the cord at certain places. The clear head falsetto note appears to me an harmonic, due to the shortening of the