2.  Sound, notwithstanding its many shades, should be homogeneous; that is, as full at the end as at the beginning.  The mucous membrane, the lungs and the expiratory muscles have sole charge of its transmission.  The vocal tube must not vary any more for the loud tone than for the low tone.  The opening must be the same.  The low tone must have the power of the loud tone, since it is to be equally understood.  The acoustic organs should have nothing to do with the transmission of sound.  They must be inert so that the tone may be homogeneous.  The speaker or singer should know how to diminish the tone without the contraction of the back part of the mouth.

To be homogeneous the voice must be ample.  To render it ample, take high rather than low notes.  The dipthong eu (like u in muff), and the vowels u and o give amplitude to sound.  On the contrary, the tone is meagre in articulating the vowels e, i and a.  To render the voice ample, we open the throat and roll forth the sound.  The more the sound is circumvoluted, the more ample it is.  To render the voice resonant, we draw the tongue from the teeth and give it a hollow form; then we lower the larynx, and in this way imitate the French horn.

3.  The voice should always be sympathetic, kindly, calm, and noble, even when the most repulsive things are expressed.  A tearful voice is a grave defect, and must be avoided.  The same may be said of the tremulous voice of the aged, who emphasize and prolong their syllables.  Tears are out of place in great situations; we should weep only at home.  To weep is a sure way of making people laugh.

Chapter IV.

The Voice in Relation to Measure.

Of Slowness and Rapidity in Oratorical Delivery.

The third and last relation in which we shall study voice, is its breadth, that is, the measure or rhythm of its tones.

The object of measure in oratorical diction is to regulate the interval of sounds.  But the length of the interval between one sound and another is subject to the laws of slowness and rapidity, respiration, silence and inflection.

Let us first consider slowness and rapidity, and the rules which govern them.

1.  A hasty delivery is by no means a proof of animation, warmth, fire, passion or emotion in the orator; hence in delivery, as in tone, haste is in an inverse ratio to emotion.  We do not glide lightly over a beloved subject; a prolongation of tones is the complaisance of love.  Precipitation awakens suspicions of heartlessness; it also injures the effect of the discourse.  A teacher with too much facility or volubility puts his pupils to sleep, because he leaves them nothing to do, and they do not understand his meaning.  But let the teacher choose his words carefully, and every pupil will want to suggest some idea; all will work.  In applauding an orator we usually applaud ourselves.  He says what we were just ready to say; we seem to have suggested the idea.  It is superfluous to remark that slowness without gesture, and especially without facial expression, would be intolerable.  A tone must always be reproduced with an expression of the face.