Even when, in the culture of a voice, we have advanced so far that none of the inharmonic but only the harmonic over-tones sound with the fundamental tone, we shall always find that every voice has its own peculiar _Klangfarbe_--i.e., its own characteristic timbre; and it is not possible so to form the tones of a voice that the over-tones sounding with them shall diminish proportionally according to their height. Every voice has one, mostly two, over-tones, which always predominate in every tone, every register, and give the voice its peculiar quality. When, with the first octave, the fifth above it sounds, the voice is full and mellow. A clear, sympathetic, silvery ring is produced by the sounding of the seventh with the octave immediately above it. One of the most beautiful timbres is a result of the prominence of the third with the seventh, etc. This peculiarity appears to be connected with the particular form and structure of the cavity of the mouth. That parts of the cavity of the mouth serve as a sounding-board in the formation of sound, has already been mentioned.[11] The perfection of a tone at a certain pitch depends, in the resonance of the cavity of the mouth, upon the utterance of some vowel, to which the parts of the mouth are adjusted; and this perfection is considerably affected by even a slight variation in the timbre of the vowel, as it occurs in different dialects of the same language. On the other hand, the peculiar tones of the cavity of the mouth are almost wholly independent of age and sex. The peculiar pitch of the resonance apparatus has also an influence upon the tone. Every one who knows how to play on any instrument knows that some of its tones sound sweeter and are more easily given than others; these are the tones in which the peculiar tone of the instrument and its over-tones sound together. To describe more particularly the natural laws upon which these facts rest would lead us too far away from our present purpose. THE VOWELS Every tone in singing usually takes the sound of some vowel. By the greater or less distinctness of one or another of the over-tones, sounding with the fundamental tone, various timbres of the vowel are produced. But certain vowels in certain parts of the scale can be sung far more easily and sweetly than others. The investigation of this fact has taught us that a tone gains in richness when the tone corresponding to the vowel belongs to the over-tones of the fundamental tone. In the human voice, however, the tones favorable to the several vowels do not admit of being precisely determined.