se again anew, and to rise somewhat more than before. This
movement of the pyramids may best be compared to that of a pair of
scissors. With every higher tone the vocal ligaments seemed more
stretched, and the vocal chink somewhat shorter. At the same time, when
I sang the scale upward, beginning with the lowest tones, the vocal
ligaments seemed to be moved in their whole length and breadth by large,
loose vibrations, which extended even to all the rest of the interior of
the voicebox.

* * * * *

"The place at which the pyramids, almost closed together, cease their
action and leave the formation of the sound to the vocal ligaments
alone, I found in the thick register of the female voice at C, C[#]
[Illustration: musical notation], more rarely at B [Illustration:
musical notation]. In the thick register of the male voice this change
occurs at A, B[b] [Illustration: musical notation]. With some effort the
above-mentioned action of the pyramids may be continued several tones
higher. But such tones, especially in the female voice, have that rough
and common timbre which we are too often compelled to hear in our female
singers. The glottis also, in this case, as well as the parts of the
voicebox near the glottis, betrays the effort very plainly; as the tones
ascend, the glottis and the surrounding parts grow more and more red.
_As at this place in the thick register there occurs a visible and
sensible straining of the organs, so also is it in all the remaining
transitions, as soon as the attempt is made to extend the action by
which the lower tones are formed beyond the given limits of the same._
These transitions, which cannot be extended without effort, coincide
perfectly with the places where J. Mueller had to _stretch_ the ligaments
of his exsected voicebox so powerfully in order to reach the succeeding
half-tone. Garcia likewise finds tones thus formed disagreeable and
imperfect in sound.

"Usually, therefore, at the note C[#] [Illustration: musical notation]
in the female voice, and A, B[b] [Illustration: musical notation] in the
male voice, the vocal ligaments alone act in forming the sound, and are
throughout the register moved by large, loose, full vibrations. But the
instant the vocal ligaments are deprived of the assistance of the
pyramids they relax, and appear longer than at the last tone produced by
that aid. But with every higher tone they appear again to be stretched
shorter