[122] The voice is doubtless a factor of the first importance in sexual
attraction among the blind. On this point I have no data. The
expressiveness of the voice to the blind, and the extent to which their
likes and dislikes are founded on vocal qualities, is well shown by an
interesting paper written by an American physician, blind from early
infancy, James Cocke, "The Voice as an Index to the Soul," _Arena_,
January, 1894.
[123] Long before Darwin had set forth his theory of sexual selection
Laycock had pointed out the influence which the voice of the male, among
man and other animals, exerts on the female (_Nervous Diseases of Women_,
p. 74). And a few years later the writer of a suggestive article on "Woman
in her Psychological Relations" (_Journal of Psychological Medicine_,
1851) remarked: "The sonorous voice of the male man is exactly analogous
in its effect on woman to the neigh and bellow of other animals. This
voice will have its effect on an amorous or susceptible organization much
in the same way as color and the other visual ovarian stimuli." The writer
adds that it exercises a still more important influence when modulated to
music: "in this respect man has something in common with insects as well
as birds.
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