PAGE ous, Inflammable, and Light formations.-Volcanic Class-Vol- canic Action considered-Volcanic Eruptions-Result of Geolo- THE SCIENTIFIC READER. ELOCUTION. OF THE ADVANTAGES OF ORATORY. Or the various arts cultivated by man there is none more fascinating, and which may eventually be of more utility to its possessor than the capability of clothing his ideas in elegant and forcible language, and giving utterance to them in a graceful and effective manner. If we refer to the period when Athens was a popular government, we shall perceive that the course of public affairs was, in a great measure, directed by the orators, and the same was the case in Rome under the consuls. The more eminent of these obtained the highest degree of honour, and their works and fame will be preserved to the end of time. The Grecian and Roman youth thought no labour too hard, no application too great, to become masters of this divine art by which they might be enabled to possess unlimited sway over the passions of the multitude, and ultimately wield the destinies of the world. And why should not the British youth equal the youth of Greece and Rome? They are not inferior in talent, and have superior opportunities; and although they may not attain that pre-eminence in the state that the orators of old attained, yet in every station of life, eloquence will be found to produce the greatest advantages. B To excel as an orator, it is not only necessary to be a perfect master of language, but to possess a fluency of utterance and an elegant and forcible delivery with suitable action and gesture. It is true that some persons are peculiarly gifted with a flow of language, also that some have powers better calculated for speaking than others, their voices are more flexible, powerful, and harmonious; yet when it is recollected what Demosthenes effected with every physical disadvantage, no one need despair of becoming by care and diligence, if not an eminent speaker, at least a respectable one. It is not the province of the present work, to give rules for composition or precepts for obtaining a fluency of elegant language, but to offer the juvenile speaker such directions as may lead to the attainment of a graceful and appropriate delivery, without which, the finest and most nervous language will be tame and unimpressive. OF ARTICULATION AND PRONUNCIATION : WITH AN ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANS OF SPEECH. Good reading and speaking very particularly depend upon a just and clear articulation.* Articulation and Pronunciation, although sometimes confounded, are, to a considerable extent, dissimilar. Articulation is the linking together of the elementary sounds, so as to form them into syllables and words. Pronunciation refers to the vocal sound produced; and is either correct or incorrect, according as it conforms with, or deviates from that which is considered the true standard. Unless the organs of speech are perfect, a person cannot articulate well; if his tongue is too large or too small, if his lips are too thick or too thin, if his teeth are too closely set or too few in number, his articulation will not be perfeet. Before entering more particularly into the subject of articulation, it may not be uninstructive to the youthful reader to con The power of articulation constitutes the chief difference between men and brutes; the latter being unable to articulate can only utter indistinct sounds. sider briefly the nature of the voice and the different organs of speech. Sound is generally attributed to the undulations of the air caused by some tremulous body; these undulations being received into the ear are conveyed by the auditory nerve to the brain. The lungs, which are two spongy and vascular organs situated in the lateral part of the thorax or chest, are the principal cause both of respiration and of the voice. When we make an inspiration or draw our breath, they become distended, and by their natural inclination to contract, they expel the air through the windpipe. As soon as this expulsion or expiration, as it is called, has been completed, the air again rushes in and is again expelled as before. The upper end of the windpipe is called the larynx the superior opening of which, called the glottis, is the cause of the voice. There are a great many muscles attached to the larynx, and their use is to move that organ either upwards or downwards, backwards or forwards. The size of the larynx varies according to age and sex; it is small in children and women, greater in young men, and still larger in adults. means of the contractile power of the glottis, through the agency of the muscles, when the breath is forced through it, it causes a vibration of the vocal chord so as to produce sound. By The intensity of the voice, like that of other sounds, depends on the extent of the vibrations; and the more voluminous the larynx is, the more considerable will be those vibrations. A strong person, therefore, with a capacious larynx, has generally a powerful voice. Children and women, whose larynx is comparatively small, have a weaker voice. The sounds which the human larynx is capable of producing are yery numerous, but how they are produced is not exactly known. The larynx is raised in forming acute sounds, and lowered in forming grave sounds; the vocal tube being shortened in the first case, and lengthened in the second. In breathing or whispering no sound is produced, because the opening is too wide, and the vocal chord too relaxed. The expression of the voice, its intensity and tone, thus receive their various modifications by means of the larynx. |