A good example may be made with two cylindrical tin cups; the bottoms form the membranes and the cups the mouthpieces.
In reality, they might justly be compared to the priests in so far as they were the mouthpieces of the congregation in public thanksgiving.
Another result of the personal government by the emperor was that it was impossible, in dealing with recent history, to determine how far the ministers of state were really responsible for the measures which they defended, and how far they were the instruments and mouthpieces of the policy of the emperor.
For centuries Khotan was famous for jade or nephrite, a semi-precious stone greatly esteemed by the Chinese for making small fancy boxes, bottles and cups, mouthpieces for pipes, bracelets, &c. The stone is still exported to China.
The Commune of Paris and the journalists who were its mouthpieces, Hebert and Marat, aimed frankly at destroying the Girondins.