ill-treatment, or slightly suffering, almost always speaks in a
high-pitched voice. Dogs, when a little impatient, often make a high
piping note through their noses, which at once strikes us as
plaintive;[404] but how difficult it is to know whether the sound is
essentially plaintive, or only appears so in this particular case, from
our having learnt by experience what it means! Rengger, states[405]
that the monkeys (_Cebus azar _), which he kept in Paraguay, expressed
astonishment by a half-piping, half-snarling noise; anger or
impatience, by repeating the sound _hu hu_ in a deeper, grunting voice;
and fright or pain, by shrill screams. On the other hand, with mankind,
deep groans and high piercing screams equally express an agony of pain.
Laughter maybe either high or low; so that, with adult men, as Haller
long ago remarked,[406] the sound partakes of the character of the
vowels (as pronounced in German) _O_ and _A_; whilst with children and
women, it has more of the character of _E_ and _I_; and these latter
vowel-sounds naturally have, as Helmholtz has shown, a higher pitch
than the former; yet both tones of laughter equally express enjoyment
or amusement.
In considering the mode in which vocal utterances express emotion, we
are naturally led to inquire into the cause of what is called
expression in music. Upon this point Mr. Litchfield, who has long
attended to the subject of music, has been so kind as to give me the
following remarks: The question, what is the essence of musical
expression involves a number of obscure points, which, so far as I am
aware, are as yet unsolved enigmas. Up to a certain point, however, any
law which is found to hold as to the expression of the emotions by
simple sounds must apply to the more developed mode of expression in
song, which may be taken as the primary type of all music. A great part
of the emotional effect of a song depends on the character of the
action by which the sounds are produced. In songs, for instance, which
express great vehemence of passion, the effect often chiefly depends on
the forcible utterance of some one or two characteristic passages which
demand great exertion of vocal force; and it will be frequently noticed
that a song of this character fails of its proper effect when sung by a
voice of sufficient power and range to give the characteristic passages
without much exertion. This is, no doubt, the secret of the loss of
effect so often produced by the transposition of a song from one key to
another. The effect is thus seen to depend not merely on the actual
sounds, but also in part on the nature of the action which produces the
60