on, we may set it down as
a general law that, alike in man and animals, there is a direct
connection between feeling and motion; the last growing more vehement as
the first grows more intense. Were it allowable here to treat the matter
scientifically, we might trace this general law down to the principle
known among physiologists as that of _reflex action_.[2] Without doing
this, however, the above numerous instances justify the generalisation,
that mental excitement of all kinds ends in excitement of the muscles;
and that the two preserve a more or less constant ratio to each other.

* * * * *

"But what has all this to do with _The Origin and Function of Music_?"
asks the reader. Very much, as we shall presently see. All music is
originally vocal. All vocal sounds are produced by the agency of certain
muscles. These muscles, in common with those of the body at large, are
excited to contraction by pleasurable and painful feelings. And
therefore it is that feelings demonstrate themselves in sounds as well
as in movements. Therefore it is that Carlo barks as well as leaps when
he is let out--that puss purrs as well as erects her tail--that the
canary chirps as well as flutters. Therefore it is that the angry lion
roars while he lashes his sides, and the dog growls while he retracts
his lip. Therefore it is that the maimed animal not only struggles, but
howls. And it is from this cause that in human beings bodily suffering
expresses itself not only in contortions, but in shrieks and
groans--that in anger, and fear, and grief, the gesticulations are
accompanied by shouts and screams--that delightful sensations are
followed by exclamations--and that we hear screams of joy and shouts of
exultation.

We have here, then, a principle underlying all vocal phenomena;
including those of vocal music, and by consequence those of music in
general. The muscles that move the chest, larynx, and vocal chords,
contracting like other muscles in proportion to the intensity of the
feelings; every different contraction of these muscles involving, as it
does, a different adjustment of the vocal organs; every different
adjustment of the vocal organs causing a change in the sound
emitted;--it follows that variations of voice are the physiological
results of variations of feeling; it follows that each inflection or
modulation is the natural outcome of some passing emotion or sensation;
and it follows that the exp