PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE OF THE VOCAL ORGANS. 517 
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The department of acoustics also needs attention. Suppose the muscu- 
tar efforts are at ready command, of what use can it be unless it is known 
or at least suspected to what acoustic law a vocal gain is due ? In acous- 
sie respects, all the later writers have run riot. Chater’s absurd compari- 
son of the throat to a wind instrument, like the flute, is only equalled by 
Myers’ theory of vocal reinforcement, by Lunn’s reckless assertion that 
the little tiny ventricles compress or press back the stream of vocal breath 
issuing from between the vocal cords, and thus decide the tone. As well 
might one expect to compress the air in a foot-ball when half its circum- 
ference had been blown away. There is in this statement no twilight 
suspicion of professional jealousy. I have experimented with Koenig's 
resonators, imported from Paris. The very smallest of them, the one 
which is pitched to reinforce the very highest audible overtone of the 
auman voice, is a hundred times as large as the largest existing ventricle 
‘n men. 
As for advice concerning the recent works on voice—I mean the spe- 
cial ones, written usually by voice-teachers—I am reminded of Beecher’s 
famous specific for a cold : ‘Put together a little camphor, chlorate of 
potash, turpentine, alum, and aconite; shake the mixture thoroughly, 
shen open the window, throw glass and all as far as you can ; go to bed 
and keep ycor feet warm!” I am not at all sure, though, that such 
dercely antagonistic and monstrous views as these later works exhibit may 
aot lead the teacher to more independence of his own. Such diserepan- 
cies might save him from the warping influence of supposed authority, 
since there is no universal authority, and might therefore allow original 
shoughts of ultimate value to arise in freedom. 
For a most valuable instance of the worth of even the ordinary text- 
oooks, let me mention that nearly all the standard works declare, unmis- 
sakably, that soft tones require more muscular effort than loud ones. 
Try for yourself ; notice at home how strongly you will be tempted to 
scowl a little when you endeavor to soften a high note to an artistic finish, 
as Patti does so exquisitely. Though somewhat hoarse from a vanishing 
cold, and, of course, somewhat unsettled by so much talking, I will try 
to illustrate. Parenthetically let me remark that the singer should never 
talk just before singing. He should give himself time to establish anew 
hat impostor, as Mareini called it ; that setting of the throat in ringing 
-igidity which must displace the looser state even of public addresses. 
The question regarding the endurance of the vocal cords is easily 
answered. It is practically unlimited. Children shout, scream, and 
laugh an entire afternoon with no vocal distress, though the cords are 
in constant and even violent action. The opinion prevails that there is 
possible some injurious friction of the cords which can irritate them 
and eventually engender disease. On the decided contrary, they may 
actually be rubbed against each other for hours without harm. Kanlitz,