Why its
former use is indispensable must be discussed elsewhere.
The organ of respiration is the windpipe, and the organ to which
this is related as means to end is the lungs. The latter is the part
of the body by which the temperature of land animals is raised above
that of all others. But what primarily requires the air drawn in by
respiration is not only this but the region surrounding the heart.
That is why when animals breathe the air must penetrate inwards.
Voice then is the impact of the inbreathed air against the
'windpipe', and the agent that produces the impact is the soul
resident in these parts of the body. Not every sound, as we said, made
by an animal is voice (even with the tongue we may merely make a sound
which is not voice, or without the tongue as in coughing); what
produces the impact must have soul in it and must be accompanied by an
act of imagination, for voice is a sound with a meaning, and is not
merely the result of any impact of the breath as in coughing; in voice
the breath in the windpipe is used as an instrument to knock with
against the walls of the windpipe. This is confirmed by our
inability to speak when we are breathing either out or in-we can
only do so by holding our breath; we make the movements with the
breath so checked. It is clear also why fish are voiceless; they
have no windpipe. And they have no windpipe because they do not
breathe or take in air. Why they do not is a question belonging to
another inquiry.
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