1834.]

Dignity of the Maternal Character.

87

dependent years of childhood, and they cannot safely delegate this sacred duty to others to be guardians, companions, housewives, ornaments to the social circle, and blessings to the poor, sick, and suffering. To the question, What are children to be taught when they are young?' who can give a better answer than that already given That which they are to practice when they are old.'

6

How are daughters, then, to be properly educated, unless they are prepared to share the labors, the cares, the responsibilities, and the sufferings of domestic life? With all the tender susceptibilities of a mother's heart, they must be trained to decision, and firmness, and promptitude of action, to unwearied effort, and unvarying kindness, without heeding the gratification of ambition, or the gains of covetousness which so constantly encourage the efforts of our sex, but from which they are in a great measure excluded. In addition to this moral training, they need the hope which never faileth' to assist them in meeting the heavy trials, and the lighter vexations which attend their path. Nothing else will ensure their practice of every virtue, without praise or reward, and often under every discouragement.

And how noble is their destiny when they are well prepared for the higher responsiblities of their station! Who, without admiration, can reflect on the character and conduct of a well-educated matron, opening her mouth with wisdom, the law of kindness upon her lips,' rearing a numerous family, and educating them to all that is virtuous and amiable in woman? Did man ever earn more worthily a monument? When or where did he live, and what was his name? The mother of the prophet Samuel Cornelia of Rome, whose jewels were her children - the mother of Doddridge, and the mother of Washington; - of a meek and quiet spirit, never aspiring to fame, have secured monuments more enduring than brazen columns.

Faithful mothers will rise resplendent to immortal honors, when the murderers of millions, called heroes, and worshipped as gods, shall be consigned to everlasting shame. The last conflagration which will melt down the lofty pillars of Trajan and Napoleon, will only exhibit, in more glorious light, the victories of their untiring love the trophies of their anxieties and toils.

M.

88

Address of the New-Born.

[Feb.

[For the Annals of Education.]

ADDRESS OF THE NEW-BORN.

NATURAL affection is enhanced and refined by the moral relations of a father. A little helpless stranger is introduced into his house and his heart. And a strange being it is! — such a one as himself was, a few years since. Till now, he knew experimentally, as little of a parent's heart as of his own infancy.

'Where, and who, and what art thou, little stranger?'

The child of thy prayers, and hopes, and trembling fears! Quartered upon thee and thy companion-bearing her image ever endeared to thine eye, thy imagination, and thy soul! Let the voice of Nature speak for thine infant child. Thine image, too, natural, moral, and immortal, is enstamped upon me. At thy request, the father of my spirit has committed my frail body to thy care. Years must it be watched, daily and nightlying on a mother's arm -clinging closely to a father's heart.' 'It is new, this care of providing for the child of my love. Thought of indeed, and talked of- but never realized until this day.'

rest

The frail casket of my feeble body, encloses a jewel of incalculable worth an immortal mind—a spark of intelligence struck from the eternal rock, that shall live when suns shall rise and set no more.' Of this treasure, thou art the keeper! For this, thou must account to the father of spirits. My spirit bears the impress of his immortality - my body, of thy mortality. As such receive me, oh, my father! Provide for every want! To thee are they known by years of experience but not to me. If suffered to live long enough to know myself, let me find my body nurtured to health, and my mind fitted to do its duty. Then shall I be taught how much of affection and duty I owe to thee.

If thy spirit shall take its eternal flight before I am capable of estimating thy character, and thy love to thy son, leave me a written memorial of thy tenderness, and of thy deep concern for my immortal soul. Prepare thy surviving friends to love me, and furnish the portrait of my parents. So, though their voice be silenced, their example and writings may speak, and point the path to heaven, where I may meet them above the reach of Death!'

M.

1834.]

Description of the Vocal Organs.

89

DESCRIPTION OF THE VOCAL ORGANS.

[We are allowed to extract the following description of one of the most interesting parts of the human frame, from the Anatomical Class Book, by DR J. V. C. SMITH, the pioneer, we believe, of popular text-books on this subject.]

By voice, animals have the power of making themselves understood to their own species - and these sounds are either articulate or inarticulate.

Language is an acquired power, having its origin in the wants of more than one individual. Man, without society, would only utter a natural cry, which sound would express nothing but pain.

Supposing a human being to have been entirely forsaken by those of his species, in that stage of infancy, when he could have no recollection of anything pertaining to his race, his voice would, in essence, remain the cry of an infant, only strengthened in tone, at a particular age, by the development of the vocal organs, to their destined size.

But let two individuals be placed together, but without communication or knowledge of the existence of beings similar to themselves, the natural cry of each would undergo modifications: the one would make a sound, to express a particular sensation, which in time would be understood by the other: a repetition of the same note would be the sign of that sensation in future.

An additional sensation, having an intimate connexion with the first, would require a variation of tone, and this would also become a symbol of two sensations. Here then would be the origin of language. Multiply the species, and each new member of the society would express some other sensation or want, by another modification of the original cry. Here we discover the certain commencement of a spoken language; these different sounds becoming classified, constitute a dictionary, in which each word is the mark or sign of particular sounds; thus, if an individual can imitate the sound, or a series of sounds, he masters a language. Let it be remembered that man could never arrive to this perfection in sound or language, if his vocal organs were not differently constructed from brutes. Such is the mechanism of theirs, that so many sounds, and no more, can be made; but in man's organs, there is no limitation sound appreciable that he cannot imitate.

THE VOCAL BOX, OR LARYNX.

no

Directly under the integuments on the front side of the neck, is a cartilaginous tube, the trachea or wind-pipe, built up of a series of narrow strips, which are portions of a ring; therefore, it is always kept free and open. At its lower end it divides into two branches, going to the lungs on either side, but its upper portion is enlarged, just under the chin, and finally opens in common with the tube of

90

Vocal Organs.

[Feb.

the stomach and mouth. This enlarged part, quite prominent in man, is the larynx or vocal organ.

Several cartilages assist in its formation, viz, the thyroid, cricoid, the arytenoid and the epiglottis. The cricoid is the foundation; the thyroid is the wall around it; the arytenoid are appendages to the back of the cricoid, and the epiglottis is a valve, opening and closing the entrance into the wind-pipe, like the valve of a bellows.

6. The two inferior horns.

7. The suspensory ligament of the os hyoides. 8. The os hyoides. 9. The azygos ligament, connecting the os hyoides to the thyroid cartilage.

10. The two lateral liga

ments connecting the horns of the os hyoides to the superior horns of the thyroid cartilage.

One of these diagrams presents a front and the other a back view of the larynx or vocal box. The bone of the tongue is seen, like half of a hoop marked S, in both plans. 2 is the front of the thyroid cartilage, felt under the skin-protruding in the form of an irregular tumor. The wind-pipe is the tube at the bottom of each larynx. The vocal cords - the membranes which vibrate to produce sound, as the current of air rushes by, are concealed, being placed inside. From the remarks in the text, together with the references, a very correct idea will be formed of the structure of this curious organ. By blowing through the wind-pipe of almost any animal, soon after it is slain, provided the larynx has not been injured, the vocal cords may be put in motion, and the sound which is produced will bear considerable analogy to the natural voice of the animal.

Within the larynx, and consequently below the valve, are four delicate membranes, two on each side, put upon the stretch -- being in fact, like shelves, their thin edges nearly meeting from the opposite sides, so that there is scarcely any space between them. These are the vocal cords.

When the air rushes out from the lungs through the wind-pipe, it must obviously pass through the larynx, in doing which it strikes the tense edges of the cords, and produces a vibration. This vibratory motion given to the current of air, produces sound. In the cavities of the bones of the face, forehead and nose, its power is increased, and in the mouth it undergoes further modifications, and ultimately becomes articulate language. The teeth, tongue, lips,

1834.]

Relative Situation of Countries.

91

nose and fauces have each an influence in the production of articulate sounds. Hence grammarians have arranged the human voice under the appropriate divisions of guttural, nasal, dental and labial sounds, expressive of the agency which each of these organs exert on the original tone.

Shrillness or roughness of voice depends on the diameter of the larynx, its elasticity, lubricity, and the force with which the expired air is propelled through the rima glottidis, or slit like chink, between the vocal cords.

It is because the larynx is smaller in women, and more elastic, that their voice is of a different character. The breaking of the voice, (vox rauca,) noticeable in boys, at a particular age, depends partly on the enlargement of the apartments within the bones, which generally take place at that important crisis of their lives, when the whole constitution undergoes a sudden change.

But the mechanism of voice would have been incomplete, were there not a number of exceedingly delicate muscles, which graduate the diameter of the narrow slit through which the sound escapes into the mouth. Unconsciously, they effect the requisite contractions, forever varying, according to the rapidity, intensity, or strength of the voice, in singing, conversation or declamation.

Finally, the larynx is a musical wind instrument, of the reeded kind, on the principle of the hautboy. The nearness of the vocal cords to each other resembles the reed precisely. All the tones of reeded instruments are effected by finger holes, but the tones of the human voice are varied by the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles, which shorten or elongate the vocal tube. Thus the same result is produced by this process, increasing or diminishing the diameter of the larynx, that is accomplished in the clarionet, bassoon, flute and hautboy, by a graduated scale of finger holes.

Is not this another beautiful, mechanical evidence of the existence of a Being superior to ourselves?

PRACTICAL LESSONS ON THE SITUATION OF COUNTRIES.

[The utter ignorance which we have formerly felt, and constantly seen, in regard to the relative situation of places, and the difficulty of conceiving of the position of countries in reference to our own, lead us to present sections of the earth from the Geographical Copy Book, and to write the dialogues accompanying them, as a specimen of the mode in which we think the subject ought to be explained by parents and teachers.]

Father. William! here is another section of the Earth, in the Geographical Copy Book, and can you tell me what it is?

William. Why, Sir, I see the two poles are marked upon it, and Washington. I suppose it must be a section through Washington and the poles.