re muscular action than to make small ones. But not
only is the _extent_ of vocal intervals thus explicable as due to the
relation between nervous and muscular excitement, but also in some
degree their _direction_, as ascending or descending. The middle notes
being those which demand no appreciable effort of muscular adjustment;
and the effort becoming greater as we either ascend or descend; it
follows that a departure from the middle notes in either direction will
mark increasing emotion; while a return towards the middle notes will
mark decreasing emotion. Hence it happens that an enthusiastic person
uttering such a sentence as--"It was the most splendid sight I ever
saw!" will ascend to the first syllable of the word "splendid," and
thence will descend: the word "splendid" marking the climax of the
feeling produced by the recollection. Hence, again, it happens that,
under some extreme vexation produced by another's stupidity, an
irascible man, exclaiming--"What a confounded fool the fellow is!" will
begin somewhat below his middle voice, and descending to the word
"fool," which he will utter in one of his deepest notes, will then
ascend again. And it may be remarked, that the word "fool" will not only
be deeper and louder than the rest, but will also have more emphasis of
articulation--another mode in which muscular excitement is shown.

There is some danger, however, in giving instances like this; seeing
that as the mode of rendering will vary according to the intensity of
the feeling which the reader feigns to himself, the right cadence may
not be hit upon. With single words there is less difficulty. Thus the
"Indeed!" with which a surprising fact is received, mostly begins on the
middle note of the voice, and rises with the second syllable; or, if
disapprobation as well as astonishment is felt, the first syllable will
be below the middle note, and the second lower still. Conversely, the
word "Alas!" which marks not the rise of a paroxysm of grief, but its
decline, is uttered in a cadence descending towards the middle note; or,
if the first syllable is in the lower part of the register, the second
ascends towards the middle note. In the "Heigh-ho!" expressive of mental
and muscular prostration, we may see the same truth; and if the cadence
appropriate to it be inverted, the absurdity of the effect clearly shows
how the meaning of intervals is dependent on the principle we have been
illustrating.

The remaining cha