when he first came to me, behind a screen, and again after the last lesson, they would certainly not have believed that they were listening to the same person. What Mr. X and his friends think of his case may be seen from the following letter which he wrote me on July 6th, 1880:—"Now that a week has passed since the last lesson I had from you, I write to bear testimony to the wonderful benefit to my voice obtained through the very short course I took. My friends are quite astonished at the marked difference, and I beg you will accept my most sincere thanks," &c.

Many similar cases might be mentioned, but the one just quoted is sufficient, and I will sum the matter up with a few remarks which Mr. Lennox Browne made as chairman at my lecture at the Aldersgate Street Literary Institution, on October 9th, 1880. He then said that, in his medical experience, he found that persons who suffered from their voices generally owed their ailments to bad habits of using the voice, and not to any defect in the larynx or resonance chamber. In several cases lately he had sent such patients to Herr Behnke, who had given them lessons in correct breathing, and who had thereby, and without any medicine, galvanism, or other aid, restored their voices in a remarkably short time.

From what has been said above about midriff and rib breathing versus collar-bone breathing, the folly of tight-lacing, or, indeed, of in any way interfering with the freedom of the waist, will be at once apparent. We pride ourselves upon our civilization; we make a boast of living in the age of science; physiology is now taught, or at least talked of, in almost every school; the laws of health are proclaimed in lectures and lessons innumerable all over the country, and we laugh at barbarous customs of other nations, such, for instance, as that of Chinese women preventing the growth of their feet by forcing them into boots of only half their proper size. And yet our ladies wear instruments of torture called corsets, altering the shape of their bodies, and positively driving the lower ribs into the lungs! Now which folly is the greater—that of doubling up the toes, or of crippling the body in its most vital parts? Let ladies answer the question, and let them further most solemnly consider that the girls of to-day are the mothers of to-morrow, and that upon the measure of their own health and strength depends the well-being of coming generations.

It is only fair to add, that if the practice of interfering with the freedom of the waist is reprehensible in the case of ladies, it is, in one sense, still more so in the case of the male sex, because, as has been shown before, men depend more for their breathing upon the action of the abdominal muscle than women. They should, therefore, neither wear tight-fitting vests, nor suspend their pantaloons by means of waistbands, belts, or buckles. Loose garments and braces are the proper thing, though the latter are commonly, but erroneously, considered to be injurious. Abdominal belts may be worn with advantage by persons of either sex requiring their support; but these are very different from stays or waist-bands. I find that an enterprising firm is advertising corsets for gentlemen (!), and a woodcut may be seen in some papers representing a young Adonis laced up in regular ladies' fashion, so that, if it were not for his luxurious moustache, one would certainly take the drawing to be meant for a woman. It is almost impossible to imagine that a man could ever make such a fool of himself; on the other hand, it is clear that these advertisements would not continue to appear if they did not bring customers. But these poor creatures do not deserve to be called men, and I am sincerely sorry for them.

With regard to the question whether inspiration should take place through the mouth or through the nostrils, I must enter my most decided protest against making it a practice to inhale through the mouth. There are, of course, occasions when this is unavoidable, as, for instance, where the singer has rapidly to take what is called a "half breath." But complete inflation, or, "full breath," is not the work of a moment; it takes time, and must be done gradually, steadily, and without the slightest interruption. This should always be done through the nostrils. The mouth was never intended for breathing, while the nose is specially and admirably adapted for this purpose. Not only can the lungs be well and quickly filled through this channel, but it is so cunningly devised that it acts at the same time as a "respirator," both purifying and warming the air before it touches the more delicate parts of the vocal organ. On the other hand, when inhaled through the mouth, the air carries with it, sometimes right into the voicebox, dust and other impurities, and its temperature is not materially altered. The consequence is that the throat and voicebox, when heated by singing or talking, or by hot rooms, are often exposed to cold, raw, and foggy winter air, and serious derangements of the respiratory organs are the natural consequence. If, moreover, this pernicious habit of breathing be once contracted, we shall soon also sleep with open mouths, thus parching our throats, and sowing the seeds of many a serious disorder.

On this point I quote a few lines from Dr. Louis Elsberg,[F] professor of laryngology in the University of New York: "The natural mode of quiet breathing is through the nose; mouth-breathing is an acquirement. A new-born infant would choke to death if you closed its nose; it does not immediately know how to get air into the lungs through the mouth until after, by depressing the tongue, you have once made a passage for it."

George Catlin, the celebrated traveller among American Indians, became so thoroughly convinced that the difference between the healthy condition and physical perfection of these people in their primitive state, especially their sound teeth and good lungs, and the deplorable mortality, the numerous diseases and deformities in civilized communities, is mainly due to the habit, common among the latter, of breathing through the mouth, especially during sleep, that he wrote a book entitled "Malrespiration and its Effects upon the Enjoyment and Life of Man." In this book he says, "If I were to endeavour to bequeath to posterity the most important motto which human language can convey, it should be in three words, 'Shut your mouth.' In the social transactions of life this might have its beneficial results as the most friendly cautionary advice, or be received as the grossest of insults; but where I would print and engrave it, in every nursery and on every bedpost in the universe, its meaning could not be mistaken, and obeyed, its importance would soon be realized."

He also says, "It is one of the misfortunes of civilization that it has too many amusing and exciting things for the mouth to say, and too many delicious things for it to taste, to allow of its being closed during the day. The mouth therefore has too little reserve for the protection of its natural purity of expression, and too much exposure for the protection of its garniture; but, do keep your mouth shut when you read, when you write, when you listen, when you are in pain, when you are walking, when you are running, when you are riding, and by all means when you are angry! There is no person but who will find and acknowledge improvement in health and enjoyment from even a temporary attention to this advice."

Again he says,