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diff --git a/48486-0.txt b/48486-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c53537 --- /dev/null +++ b/48486-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6469 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 48486 *** + +=Duality of Man's Nature= + + I.--DUALITY OF VOICE + + + + + DUALITY OF + VOICE + + AN OUTLINE OF ORIGINAL + RESEARCH + + + BY + + EMIL SUTRO + + AUTHOR OF "THE BASIC LAW OF VOCAL + UTTERANCE." + + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + NEW YORK AND LONDON + The Knickerbocker Press + 1899 + + COPYRIGHT, 1899 + BY + EMIL SUTRO + + Entered at Stationers' Hall, London. + + The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + "There is nothing in our composition either purely material or + purely spiritual."--MONTAIGNE. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I.--INTRODUCTION 1 + + Comments of a Distant Reviewer 15 + + Fragments 22 + + Basic Law of Vocal Utterance 37 + + The Voice of the Œsophagus and its Vocal Cords 41 + + II.--THE HUMAN VOICE 44 + + Introspection 50 + + Making Parts Rigid 56 + + Extirpation 59 + + Movements of the Tongue 61 + + Simple Sounds 66 + + Posterior Surfaces 68 + + Inspiration--Expiration 77 + + Diaphragms 80 + + III.--IMPRESSION--EXPRESSION 83 + + The Phonograph 88 + + Stuttering--Stammering 92 + + Cathode of a Vocal Sound 103 + + IV.--OUR MOTHER TONGUE 110 + + National Traits of Character 112 + + The American Nation 120 + + Centripetal and Centrifugal 124 + + Rotation of Centripetal and Centrifugal Action 130 + + V.--NATIONALITY AND RACE DISTINCTIONS 137 + + Idiomatic Expression 141 + + Origin of Anglo-Saxon Race and Idiom. + + Origin of German Race and Idiom. + + Relationship Supposed to Exist as between the + German and English Nations 148 + + Language and Motion 151 + + Difference in their Mode of Breathing as between + Anglo-Saxons and Germans 159 + + Rise and Fall, or Rhythm 160 + + Stress 174 + + VI.--PHYSIOLOGY OF VOICE IN RELATION TO WORDS 178 + + Significance of the Term "School" of Singing 187 + + Breathing 198 + + Song, Singers, and Physiology 210 + + INDEX 223 + +[Illustration] + + DUALITY OF VOICE + +[Illustration] + + DUALITY OF VOICE + + AN OUTLINE OF ORIGINAL RESEARCH + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +By the time this book will appear, nearly six years will have elapsed +since I discovered the voice of the œsophagus, and almost five since I +published a preliminary account of this discovery in a book entitled +_The Basic Law of Vocal Utterance_.[1] This discovery, though the most +comprehensive and far-reaching of any that has ever been made, not +only in regard to the voice, but in regard to the better comprehension +of our nature and our entire human existence, has remained as unknown +to the world as if it had never been made. Yet some day, when its +importance is recognized, it will take rank in the annals of the +history of the human race as second to no other discovery that has +influenced and shaped human thought in the proper recognition of the +origin and the nature of man, spiritual as well as physical, his +abilities and his limits, and his relative position, influence, and +destiny in the economy of the universe. + +[1] Edgar S. Werner. New York, 1894. + +I have spent so many years of arduous labor on these investigations, +and have become so thoroughly convinced of their truth, that I have +ventured to make these assertions without the slightest compunction, +or fear of final contradiction. Although the facts involved in these +matters entitle me to these declarations, I would not have overstepped +the bounds of modesty in so far as to make them had not my first +experience forced upon me the conviction that the path of modesty in +matters of this kind is not the one to success. I was so impressed with +the exalted position of science, and so apprehensive of my own powers, +that in my former publication I as much as apologized for my temerity +in telling the scientific world things of which it did not have any +previous knowledge. These last four years, however, have so enlarged my +views and given me such a firm grasp and insight, that I no longer fear +any man's judgment. I would, on the contrary, heartily welcome honest +and competent criticism, being convinced that the same would not and +could not but strengthen my position. + +As a matter of personal gratification, I am indifferent to success; but +I think the time has come when these matters should not continue to +remain with me alone, but should become the property of all, not for +my sake, nor simply for that of science, but for the sake of truth, +and the benefit of mankind. Had my previous statements been given +the consideration they deserved, other persons, in all probability, +would have made _some_ of the many discoveries, at least, that it +has now been my privilege to make single-handed. Still, the field is +inexhaustible; that which I have discovered being but an index hand to +that which is still to be discovered. Having no reason to doubt but +that I am a properly organized member of the human family, I consider +myself entitled to speak of my personal experience as in like manner +applicable to every other member of that family. + +Having found it expedient to frequently address the reader in a +"direct" manner, using the personal pronoun "you" in so doing, I must +ask his pardon for this liberty. In thus addressing him, I trust we +shall be in better rapport; all I shall have to say thus becoming, +in a manner, a confession as from author to reader. While I confide +in him and make him participate in these vital discoveries, I want +him to confide in me, in so far as to take it for granted that all I +shall say is truthfully meant, and that it has been arrived at, not +superficially, but only after the most searching and long-continued +investigations. We will thus become partners in a research as great +as any that has ever agitated man's mind, or filled his soul with +things of great moment. Having penetrated into matters which have +heretofore been considered as occult, or inaccessible to man, my mode +of proceeding will be found interesting as a guide to others wanting to +pursue similar investigations. + +In the beginning, it was all brought about by my simple desire, being +a German, to speak the English language in the precise manner in which +native-born persons speak it. For this purpose, I unwittingly pursued +the same course which has been pursued by many others under similar +circumstances; namely, that of introspection. Having been indefatigable +in this course (which others must not have been), after pursuing the +same for some time I was startled by unforeseen discoveries. They were +phenomenal, and far beyond any previous design, hope, or expectation. +After this, my original endeavor to speak the English language +idiomatically correct became a matter of secondary importance. My +eyes once opened, I _continued_ to persevere in this course, and thus +succeeded in penetrating deeper and deeper into matters heretofore +deemed inaccessible to man. + +Having pursued investigations by means of introspection now for a +number of years, it has become an easy habit with me, and I can +recognize and pursue processes by which results are obtained through +_inner_ motive powers, almost as plainly as such by which results are +obtained through visible and tangible means. The facts thus observed +and recognized as truths have become so numerous as to be almost +overwhelming, in number no less than in importance; so much so, that +I scarcely know where to turn or where to commence, to be able to +communicate them all to others in due form and sequence. These facts +are not temporary, but are constant; in so far as they can be conjured +up at any time and under any circumstances, and are always of the +_same_ nature. They are of an entirely reasonable, practical, and, for +the most part, mechanical nature; and are explanatory of the exercise +of our faculties and functions, spiritually as well as materially. That +these observations mirror actual proceedings going on within us for the +production of vocal utterance, of breathing, motion, and locomotion, +and the exercise of various other faculties and functions, it will be +my endeavor, by actual demonstration, to prove through this and future +publications. + +For the purpose of enabling others to pursue a similar course of +studies, I shall take especial pains to point out my course of +proceeding as plainly as I can--such course with me having been +entirely rational, positive, and direct, and without in any sense +disturbing my ordinary mode of existence. The course pursued in +physiologico-psychological studies, in fact, does not differ greatly +from that pursued in the study of purely psychological subjects, which +is also carried on by means of introspection, though it is of a more +positive nature. + +When the following was first written (it is nearly two years ago now), +I intended, at an early date, to publish a short treatise on the +subject of the voice only. Since then, however, the same has assumed +greater and greater proportions, embracing many other subjects. Still +I have deemed it best not to change this introduction in consequence +thereof. + +Though not quite ready for another publication (the subject is so great +and my knowledge so inadequate), I do not know that I should have +_ever_ been _quite_ ready, but for several incidents, all happening +about the same time, which have induced me to break the silence I +have observed since the publication of my book, _The Basic Law of +Vocal Utterance_. These incidents, though in themselves apparently +insignificant, have impressed me with the belief that I owe it to +the public and myself to say something in explanation of what I have +already said, and to add thereto (partly, at least) what has since been +ascertained. + +In the November, 1896, number of _Werner's Magazine_, I noticed the +following: + + "A good example of the inadequacy of expressional terms in + discussing vocal topics is shown by Mme. Clara Brinkerhoff + and Mr. Emil Sutro. Mme. Brinkerhoff has been a contributor + to this magazine, and has addressed musical bodies, for many + years. Mr. Sutro is author of the book, _The Basic Law of Vocal + Utterance_. Both of them maintain that the voice is something + more or other than an expiratory current of air set into + vibration by purely physical agencies. Mme. Brinkerhoff thinks + that the voice is the utterance of the soul, and that the soul + has its seat in the solar plexus. Mr. Sutro scoffs at the + theory that the voice is only out-coming air vibrated at or by + the cords situated in the larynx. He thinks that the ligaments + under the tongue also serve as vocal cords, and that speech + is the product of vibrating ingoing air as well as vibrating + out-coming air. Just what they think the voice is neither of + these persons makes clear to others. Their failure to express + their thoughts, however, should not be taken as proof that they + have not caught glimpses of truths of the greatest importance. + Still, our impression is that their concepts are too vague + to be put into intelligible language even if the expressional + terms at hand were adequate. But, all things considered, the + fact still remains that discussion will continue to be largely + useless so long as one person does not know what the other + person is talking about." + +In addition to all this, the proceedings of various societies in New +York alone, judging by their reports also contained in the November, +1896, number of _Werner's Magazine_, which is of unusual interest +throughout, show how great is the interest which, at the present time, +centres around this matter of the voice. In place of saying the "truth" +in matters of the voice, as contained in my book, it would, perhaps, +be more correct to have said, "the first ray of light that has ever +penetrated the gloom and the mystery surrounding the nature of the +voice." In _Werner's Magazine_ it is stated: + + "If Mr. Emil Sutro's book, _The Basic Law of Vocal Utterance_, + be right, then other writers on vocal science are wrong. His + statements are startling and revolutionary. He claims to have + discovered a new vocal cord and to be able to prove that speech + sounds are the product of inspiration as well as expiration. + The significance of this is apparent when it is realized that + all vocal authorities, heretofore, have taught that voice + is vocalized expiration, and that speech is this vocalized + expiration articulated into words. + + "The author draws a sharp distinction between the air taken + for life-purposes and the air taken for speech-purposes. He + says that vital breathing can and should go on independent of + artistic breathing, and that the two processes need not and + should not disturb nor conflict with one another. He combats + the theory that the lungs are a reservoir of air, which in the + vocal act is pressed against the vocal cords of the larynx, + thereby producing tone, which is resonated and modified by the + parts above the glottis. He maintains that it is a physical + impossibility to give sufficient force and rapidity to the + lung air to put muscular and cartilaginous tissue into tonal + vibration,--that this force and this rapidity can come only + from the internal atmospheric pressure, and that, therefore, + preparatory lung inhalation for voice-purposes obstructs rather + than aids the vocal act. He gives a new explanation of the + formation of speech sounds, and offers various novel theories. + + "Many readers will hesitate to accept his views, yet as long as + vocal science is still in a formative condition and involved in + so much chaos and uncertainty, any attempt at a solution should + receive careful consideration." + +I have cited this able review in full, written by one whose life has +been one act of devotion to the solution of these questions, as it will +at once introduce the reader into the drift of my investigations as far +as they had advanced up to that time. + +I have continued to steadily devote myself to the further prosecution +of my investigations, never publishing anything, scarcely ever speaking +on this subject to any one. The subject appeared to me so great and so +far above my ability to master it that I, at first, looked around for +assistance among those I deemed most likely to be able to render it. +But no one had any assistance to offer, no one scarcely seemed even to +comprehend what I was after. Thus, at last, almost in despair, I made +up my mind that I must undertake this task single-handed; and I have +been at it, scarcely without interruption, ever since. + +Meanwhile, the play of "Much Ado about Nothing," or "The Farce about +the Larynx," continued to go on bravely all over the world. I have +watched it with a sense of pity, rather than amusement. It appeared +to me, more than anything else, like a game of blind man's buff, +in which _all_ the participants were blindfolded; my own horizon, +meanwhile, being illumined by roseate tints representing continuous new +discoveries, like a May morn before the rising of the sun. + +The voice has been treated as a separate mechanical issue, while it is +the outcome of a series of both physical and spiritual issues. While +the old school is reproducing, in its minutest details, the _dead_ +branch of a tree, I am portraying, in its majestic proportions, the +broad expanse of a _living_ oak. + +These anatomical details may interest scientists; they are valueless +to the singer, as he has no control over the movements of the larynx. +He need but "attack" his note in the right way, and all these muscles, +sinews, cartilaginous tissues, etc., will fall into line, involuntarily +and unsolicited. + +Now that I am offering innumerable _proofs_ in corroboration of my +assertions, I want scientists to take these matters _seriously_, and +not to look upon this book, also, as some may possibly have felt +inclined to do in regard to my previous publication, as a "scientific +curiosity" merely. There are no greater problems before the world +to-day than are treated here. + +During all these years of unrequited labor, which extend far beyond +the day on which I made my memorable discovery, my personal affairs +meanwhile constantly suffering, with but one notable exception _no_ +hand was held out to me in succor. In view of this fact (and it is the +experience of many who, in the privacy of their souls, are struggling +after the light), I want to ask this question: With all the noble +institutions for _learning_, why are there none to assist those who +are attempting to solve questions _to be taught_ for the benefit and +advancement of mankind? True, there are scholarships and fellowships +for students, but they are not available to persons advanced in years +who have duties to perform and families to support. When successful in +the end, their reward--if there is any--often comes too late to be of +any practical value. + +Such would be the case with me should any material acknowledgment come +to me now, having of late attained to the leisure I had so much longed +for, thanks to my previous labor and a brave son's devotion and valued +aid and assistance. No man, however, will ever know how long I have +been kept under the ban of purely materialistic endeavors, while these +higher things were occupying my mind and clamoring for recognition. A +sum equal to that representing a single day's expenditure for _falsely_ +teaching matters connected with the voice, alone, the world over, not +to speak of other matters of still greater importance, would have +sufficed for a number of years, if not for a lifetime, to place me +in a position to devote myself exclusively to the exposition of the +correct principles underlying these important subjects. As it has +been with me, no doubt it is and always has been with many others in +different fields of research. + +Since the publication of my previous book, I have had four years of +continuous experience, during which the statements therein made have +been strengthened and enlarged, so that I am now ready to support +them with an endless array of proof. That book, however, was the +beginning of what some day will be regarded as a greater movement in +the right direction than any previous one, for attaining an insight +into nature's occult work in creating, developing, and sustaining the +living organism, and the exercise of its faculties and functions, more +especially _man's_ faculties and functions. The subject, however, is +of so subtle a nature that it cannot be treated like a mathematical +problem or a chemical analysis; still, I shall do the best I can with +such means as are at my command. + +Recently an acquaintance who is interested in vocal culture asked me +how I was getting along, and I answered, telling him something like +what I have said in the preceding. He replied: + +"That is the trouble with you Germans. This is a live world, a +practical world; we want facts, results--something we can turn to +account and make use of." + +This impatience (and who can blame those who are suffering, or those +who, being young and talented, want to be led into the right path) +throws the door wide open to all kinds of charlatanism--charlatanism +which is honest and charlatanism which is dishonest, the former, being +more readily trusted, often working the greater harm. The best teaching +for the present, in default of a science, is that which is based simply +on experience; the pseudo-science now being taught being worse than no +science at all. + +While the exercise of speech is next to universal with all men, no one +has any idea of _how_ it is exercised; the wisest being as much in the +dark as the least informed. + +This is what so eminent a man as Oliver Wendell Holmes had to say on +the subject in one of his lectures, delivered not many years before his +death: + + "Talking has been clearly explained and successfully imitated + by artificial contrivances. We know that the moist membranous + edges of a narrow crevice (the glottis) vibrate as the reed + of a clarionet vibrates, and thus produce the human _bleat_. + We narrow or widen, or check or stop the flow of this sound + by the lips, the tongue, the teeth, and thus _articulate_, or + break into joints, the even current of sound. The sound varies + with the degree and kind of interruption, as the 'babble' of + the brook with the shape and size of its impediments--pebbles, + or rocks, or dams. To whisper, is to articulate without + _bleating_, or vocalizing; to _coo_, as babies do, is to + _bleat_, or vocalize, without articulating. Machines are easily + made that bleat not unlike human beings. A bit of India-rubber + tube tied around a piece of glass tube, is one of the + simplest voice-uttering contrivances. To make a machine that + articulates, is not so easy." [The Italics are Dr. Holmes's.] + +It is not the _humorist_ Holmes, however, who has said this, as one +would suppose that it was, but it is the writer, scientist, and +thinker, who was in dead earnest when he gave unto the world this +"definition of the gift of speech." + +Any comment on my part would but weaken the sense of the ludicrous +this "explanation" of so great a subject, even from a mere mechanical +standpoint, must arouse in the reader. Yet Dr. Holmes's "explanation" +is not any more preposterous than that of many other scientists of the +present day. + +Teachers have said that, not being a teacher, I could not know anything +about the voice. As if _they_ had the sole patent right to the voice, +and others held their voices but from them, in fee! I, however, took +the liberty of looking into my own voice and trying to find out whence +it came and what it was made of. It is not much of a voice, to be sure; +yet it has the common attributes of all voices. Besides, I should +like to know who, in truth, _is_ a teacher. He who over a narrow path +follows the footsteps of others, or he who strikes out boldly for the +root and the truth of a matter, and, disregarding precedents, goes down +to the very bowels of the earth, if need be, to bring it to the surface? + +The knowledge of even the best of us is not much more than some froth +on the surface of the well of truth. Yet that froth is all these timid +souls have dared to examine. They have not had the courage to dive +down deep into its fathomless flood. Many a truth has been taught by +those who had been considered innocent of any knowledge thereof. I +am one of these "innocents," and, on the whole, am not sorry for not +having been imbued more with the knowledge, or supposed knowledge, of +the present day. + +We are so much the slaves of habit that we become reconciled to any +condition, almost, no matter how undesirable or absurd it may be. Thus +biological science has been going along in a rut for centuries, but +little having been ascertained of vital importance; nor could this +have been otherwise, considering the modes of investigation. I was +not surrounded by so many trees that I could not see the woods. My +perspective was as clear as a bird's, that soars above and beyond the +smoke of the city and the dust in the eyes of the heirs of generation +upon generation of anatomical and physiological research, burying +beneath its lumber the clear insight of the soul. Thus, ignorance with +me may indeed have been bliss. Yet I do not want to place myself in +a position as deprecating science, having the highest appreciation +for all its endeavors. I deprecate science only in so far as, dealing +with matter, it attempts to draw inspiration therefrom as to spiritual +issues; and the voice certainly is a spiritual issue. + +The following appears in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, under the +heading of "Animal Magnetism": + +"Mr. Heidenhain, after stating that in conformity with the manner +in which one muscle is affected, others become similarly affected, +proceeds to say: 'Probably the reflex excitement would extend still +farther, but I naturally consider it out of the question to try +whether the muscles of respiration would become affected. It is easily +understood that such experiments require the greatest caution and may +be very seldom carried out.'" + +Valiant Mr. Heidenhain, brave explorer on a new and "dangerous" field +of research. This is the _Ultima Thule_ which any of these bold +adventurers have endeavored to reach. _My work began where theirs came +to an end._ Though I have not reached the "North Pole," I have gone far +beyond anyone else. + + +COMMENTS OF A DISTANT REVIEWER + +This entire subject is of so subtle a nature that I must warn the +reader to be patient in its study and careful of his judgment. Should +the present work, however, also fail to elicit the attention of +my fellowmen, some thinker, perhaps, of a future generation, upon +discovering a copy of this book on the dusty shelves of an antiquarian, +while looking over its time-stained leaves and after struggling with +its vernacular, may be struck with some remark coinciding with ideas +arrived at by himself and other scientists of that day, and while +commenting upon his "find," may possibly deliver himself thus: + +"As the nineteenth century of the Christian era was drawing to a +close, a citizen of the (then) youthful country of the United States +of North America published a book which contained disclosures far in +advance of his time and generation--truths, in fact, concerning life +and the exercise of our faculties and functions, which, if properly +understood, might have eventually led to even the solution of the very +mystery of the soul. Though science at that remote period had made +marvellous strides forward, its endeavors were mostly of a utilitarian +character, or consisted of efforts to explain phenomena from a strictly +materialistic standpoint. The author of this book, however, by dint +of a combination of extraordinary circumstances, which induced him to +search for causes of phenomena within, in place of outside of himself, +had succeeded in breaking through the barriers which had, theretofore, +separated phenomena which were called 'natural' from those which, by +the majority of mankind, were still supposed to be 'supernatural,' or, +at least, unexplainable, unknowable, beyond the ken of man. + +"He was thus enabled to penetrate more deeply than any one ever had +before into the knowledge of the mysterious forces which engender and +sustain organic life. Had he been properly understood, the compass of +human knowledge would have been greatly enhanced, and the race itself +liberated from the narrow limits to which it had been confined by the +scientists almost as much as by the theologians (by the doctors of the +body almost as much as by those of the soul) of his day. Some writers +of that period delighted in depicting a state of affairs several +centuries ahead of their time. The changes which were supposed to have +taken place, however, had reference to material developments only, and +did not contemplate any advancement of a purely spiritual nature. + +"Though the founder of the Christian religion, and other men of a +high order of intellectual and moral insight, had laid down rules +for 'deportment' which to a great extent still govern the world; in +regard to a spiritual insight, the dearth, the waste, the discord, the +distraction, the unrest, the 'Weltschmerz' (as the Germans called it), +the despair of science, which knew but and dealt but with the baser +part of our existence, unable to penetrate into the higher, was then at +its height. The 'miracle' had ceased to exercise its influence over the +intellectual classes, and knowledge had not taken its place. + +"This writer, however, through his discoveries, had opened up the +way--made a beginning--to a penetration of science into the realms of +the spirit; and a substitution of faith based on _facts_ for one based +on tradition and fancy only. Religion and science, having been factors +of a different, almost antagonistic, order, thus at that early period +already might have become reconciled and united through _knowledge_; as +to some extent, though by different means, they have become since. + +"In thus gaining more knowledge, more light regarding the motive +powers which govern our existence, the shackles which had overwhelmed +the soul would have long since fallen to the ground, and a _truly_ +brotherly spirit would have prevailed among all classes and peoples +in place of much of the prejudice, the insincerity, the overbearance, +the animosity, the cruelty, and the insanity even of the believers in +(or inheritors of) one spiritual theory (often misnamed religion) as +against those of another. + +"The world's thought, just previous to that time, had made great +strides forward through the recognition of the laws of _evolution_, +which culminated in one master mind, through great elaboration and +by citing numerous examples, assigning cogent and necessary reasons +therefor. The world should have been ripe, therefore, for this _greater +movement_ which it was now called upon to face; a movement which went +beyond the mere recognition of phenomena and penetrated into _a priori_ +causes. Strange to say, it either could not or would not understand; +being still bound by fetters which held it in a vise-like embrace of +previously conceived ideas as to the impossibility of penetrating into +matters of this nature, and which prevented it from even _testing_ the +numerous proofs offered by this writer as to the correctness of his +assertions. His investigations, if properly understood, would have +brought spirituality _home_ to us; they would have made it accessible +to us. It would have ceased to be a phantom, and would have become a +reality, a friend on whom we could count, in place of a mysterious and +incomprehensible stranger. + +"Beginning with discovering the dual nature of the voice, the writer +of this book opened up the way to the comprehension of the mystery of +man's dual nature in _all_ its relations. He made the discovery that +the œsophagus is of equal importance with the trachea in carrying on +the process of respiration and in exercising the faculty of vocal +expression; that for these purposes œsophagus and trachea are to an +equal degree directly amenable to the influence of the atmospheric +air; that the dual nature of organic beings in general, and of man +in particular, is represented by the hemispheres of the thorax and +the abdomen; that the former in its entirety represents spiritual +and the latter in its entirety material issues; that the trachea and +its branches on the one hand, and the alimentary canal on the other, +respectively represent these issues more directly; that the fusing +and blending of these issues has for its result the phenomenon called +life; that the severance of these issues has for its result the +phenomenon called death; that there are thus positive limits, place, +and surroundings assigned to material and immaterial issues within the +sphere of our bodily existence, and that combined they pervade our +entire system; that all phenomena of life, especially all phenomena +of a spiritual nature, and among these more ostensibly those of vocal +utterance, owe their origin to these issues momentarily joining hands; +that in so doing there is a transitory fusion, which for an endless +number of purposes is brought about in an endless number of ways. + +"He discovered further that the larynx, previously supposed to be the +_only_ instrument for the production of sounds, has its counterpart +in the 'replica' (the 'larynx' of the œsophagus), located beneath +the tongue and represented by the frænum linguæ and surrounding +cartilaginous tissues; that no vocal sound can be produced except +by the coöperation of the larynx with the replica. He discovered +the circulation of, and the origin of vocal sounds, and many other +important issues. + +"Through his discoveries, if properly recognized, _all_ the sciences +dealing with life would have been placed upon a new and far more +reasonable and comprehensible basis than they had rested upon before. + +"These discoveries would have tended to undermine the basis of every +materialistic school of philosophy, and to place those with spiritual +and ideal propensities upon higher and firmer ground. Had they been +properly appreciated and further expanded by others it would have +eventually become possible to develop _all_ our faculties to the full +extent of their ability, and to correct faults, errors, and defects +caused by wrong education or heredity, through the application of laws +at the very root of our existence; laws which were then, and in fact to +a great extent are to this day unknown. + +"It may, in fact, be said without exaggeration that his discoveries, +which were all made within a period not exceeding five years, +outweighed in importance all other discoveries combined relating to +physiologico-psychical issues made previous to his time." + +I can see many a reader smile after perusing the foregoing, and perhaps +saying: + +"Here is a Jules Verne of a new type come to deal with a novel subject." + +Yet the time will come when the reader will cease to smile, and look +upon these matters _seriously_. I do not mean, however, to throw down +a gauntlet to science on these momentous questions in _a vaunting +and reckless spirit_; but come as a petitioner rather, asking it to +investigate. + +My time and generation are but like a flash from the orb of eternity, +but the laws I have discovered are as eternal as that orb itself. With +all the scientific investigations now going on, there has not even an +approach been made which might have led up to them; nay, not a hint +or a hypothesis, even, leading toward the same. Science, in fact, had +nothing to do with them; the first man might have made them almost as +well as the latest. They are all grappling with matter, while I have +grasped the spirit that is in, yet above, all living matter. + +In making these discoveries I have bent a sail upon the crafts +of physiology and psychology, which have been aimlessly, almost +hopelessly, drifting on the shallow waters of the examination of +isolated material phenomena. This sail will enable them to reach the +broad expanse of the ocean, where they will be able to make soundings +in its deepest waters. + +Professor Huxley declared that during his fifty years of experience as +a student and teacher not one thing really _new_ had ever come under +his observation. Had he lived to become acquainted with these facts I +feel confident he would have declared them to be new. + +The venerable Professor Virchow, the other day, in an address before +the International Congress of Physicians at Moscow, made use, in +substance, of these words: "The cell is immortal--there must have +been a previous cell for its generation. On this fact as a basis +(ascertained by the aid of the microscope) the science of the coming +century may securely rest." + +And he set this down as the greatest achievement of science in respect +to the recognition of the phenomena of life. Yet there is nothing +more fallible than the microscope in ascertaining facts regarding +the knowledge of life. It may to some extent reveal the essence of +_matter_, but it is not given to it to assist in recognizing the +principles which govern life and the _spirit_ of life. + + +FRAGMENTS + +This book, in a sense, is a personal narrative, and necessarily must +be so, giving an account, as it does, of observations in experiments +upon myself. In making these experiments I have endeavored to treat +myself impersonally, as a subject, so to say, placed at my disposal +for experimental purposes; my ego having been the object as well as +the subject of my investigations. In occasionally speaking of the +results thus obtained in a eulogistic manner, this should not be looked +upon as self-praise, therefore, but rather as an impersonal mode of +describing what has come under some one's observation--this "some one" +being myself. I want to place the matters I have observed before the +reader in the right light, and do not hesitate to say or fear to say +just what I think to be the truth. If I were to wait for others to say +these things the reader who does not comprehend their latitude as I +do might have to wait a long time before he could grasp the subject +in its entire importance. I want to say this much as an apology and a +vindication for frequent indulgences in apparent self-eulogism. + +I have another motive for making such remarks; viz., the desire of +rousing the scientific world from its apathy regarding these matters. +These laudatory remarks may wound its pride, and possibly arouse its +ire,--more especially in view of their coming from a layman,--and +thus induce it to study these matters, if but for the purpose and +with the view of controverting them. I would hail such an endeavor +with pleasure, not having the slightest fear of its ability to +successfully controvert any of the vital facts I have ascertained, and +whose correctness I expect to prove by a great array of facts with +accompanying proofs. + +When I first began to make these studies, I made numerous notes as new +features happened to present themselves to my mind. I have encountered +no inconsiderable difficulty in sifting this material so as to present +my experiences in as connected and consecutive a manner as possible. +In this, however, I have only partially succeeded; nor have I been +able to altogether avoid repetitions. For these shortcomings I must +plead a want of time. For some time past, however, my experiences have +accumulated so rapidly that I have ceased to take any notes whatever, +trusting to my memory that these mental notes may be recalled at the +proper time. No doubt some things, even of importance, have thus been +lost sight of. Still, while pursuing similar studies, they may in the +course of time turn up in some one else's mind. + +In looking over some of my notes I have found things which I have +deemed worthy of preservation. I let some of these follow in a +promiscuous manner. This, it must be admitted, is not in accordance +with scientific usage. But I am not a scientist, simply an amateur; +and take advantage of the privileges this fact gives me. If I were to +conform to strict scientific rules and "etiquette," years might elapse +before I could get these matters into proper shape. It will always +remain a mystery to me, however, why these things should have come to +me at all--so unworthy, so unadapted to their proper exposition. In +order to do them justice, they should have come to one complete master +of his time, young, strong, possessed of a wide range of knowledge and +a deep insight. + +I will now let follow some of the matters I have spoken of: + +My personality and my work must go together, until others relieve me +of the latter by making it _their_ work to the same extent that I have +made it mine. You cannot separate the fiddle from the fiddler, neither +having any significance apart from each other, except by the fiddler +perpetuating that which the fiddle produces--the composition,--by +writing it down, thus transmitting it to others. This I am trying to do +by this book. + +No doubt some of the things which have come under my observation in +some form or other are already known to science, and are, therefore, a +corroboration, or an explanation, only, of things already known. With +me, nevertheless, _all_ is original; and I may therefore justly claim +that if any of these matters have been discovered before, I, at least, +have _re-discovered_ them. + +If I were an institution possessing a guaranty of continued existence I +might value the present lightly, knowing a future would come when these +matters will be fully understood. Being a creature of the present, +however, which may be turned into the past--especially at my time of +life--at almost any moment, these matters should become known at the +earliest opportunity; some of them being of so subtle a nature that +they may require personal explanation and illustration. They have been +hidden from us in the past; should they fail to be made known now, _the +same opportunity may not arise again for centuries_. + + * * * * * + +I do not claim any special sagacity over others for having made these +discoveries, and disbelieve altogether in miraculous interposition. Yet +I do not want to be prejudiced in any direction. + +We are surrounded by the mysterious and the miraculous; and that which +is called "natural" as a rule is far more mysterious than that which is +called "miraculous." + +"Truth is stranger than fiction"; which is undoubtedly true. We can +imagine that only of which we have at least _some_ knowledge, but there +are realms of truth beyond us of which we have _no_ knowledge. Besides, +these revelations are of so extraordinary a nature that I cannot +altogether close my eyes to the fact that I _may have been led on to +them_ by agencies beyond my personal power of volition. I will cite but +one reason why such an idea might be justly entertained by me. + +That which originally led me on to these investigations, as already +mentioned, was the simple desire to speak the English language just as +native-born persons speak it. Although I eventually became aware of the +fact that this was next to impossible, yet I persisted in this endeavor +to such an extent that I spent far more time on it than it would have +deserved had I been _convinced_ that I would be finally successful. +Again and again I said to myself, "This is a foolish, absurd, unworthy +undertaking for a person of intelligence"; the next minute I was at +it again, trying to utter this sound or pronounce that word in the +"correct English fashion." + +I want to ask, What was it that impelled me to thus persist, almost +against my wish, will, and better insight? When, after many years +of this almost wanton endeavor, I discovered the dual nature of the +voice, I could not help but think that an influence beyond myself had +been exercised to impel me to persist in these efforts, which were +then crowned with a success of a different order, and far beyond any +previous expectation. _I then found what I had been after unknown +to myself._ To simply say I was "infatuated" would not explain this +strange adherence to what for a long while looked like a vain and +hopeless undertaking. + +I am aware that for me to say, as I have just now said, "I cannot +altogether close my eyes to the fact that I may have been led on by +agencies beyond my personal power of volition," may expose me to +ridicule in the eyes of some persons; besides being a contradiction to +my other convictions. Yet I say so deliberately and am quite willing to +abide by the consequences. It is a case of the duality of our nature, +which impels me to take a naturalistic or biogenetic view of things in +one direction, yet forces me to take a spiritualistic or abiogenetic +view of them in another direction. I do not comprehend those who under +_all circumstances_ are capable of pursuing either the one direction or +the other. + + * * * * * + +I might say I have been on a prospecting tour to a _new_ country, where +I found the outcroppings of numerous veins of precious ore. These veins +are _true fissure veins_, penetrating, as they do, into the very bowels +of the earth; and it will take centuries to exhaust them in all their +_dips, spurs, and angles_. + + * * * * * + +It will be a matter of surprise that a layman, one not of the tribe +which make science the pursuit of their lives, should have penetrated +into these mysteries. It must not be lost sight of, however, that +science, as a rule, deals with things visible and tangible, while the +voice is a sensation which, regarding its origin in the ego, cannot be +observed outside of the ego. One may by close observation trace the +origin of one's voice to its innermost channels, and thus learn much +about the subtlest characteristics of its nature, a proceeding to which +it would not be possible to subject any one else's voice. The same +conditions prevail in regard to other sensations which have also come +under my, at least, partial observation. + + * * * * * + +Science, as a rule, has been satisfied with the observation of results, +of phenomena, without attempting to penetrate into causes, which seemed +to be unalterably hidden from its gaze. Special features, however, of +the voice have been ably and successfully observed and described by +many eminent persons. To these I have not given any attention, partly +because they were beyond my sphere, and partly (not being a musician) +because they were beyond my power of observation. + + * * * * * + +In looking for the voice, anatomy in its minute examinations of the +larynx has but opened up a grave for us to gaze into. And what have we +beheld? A skeleton of the voice's body--of its soul not a trace. This +skeleton, to boot, is but a _portion_ of the mechanism of the voice; +of its other parts, equally important, science has not even known that +they were in existence. Like a palæontologist or an archæologist, I +have dug up these other parts or fragments from all around; some were +found close at hand, others quite a distance off. I have skilfully put +them together, and have thus constructed a fairly _complete_ torso, or +framework of the voice. I say "torso," though I may justly claim more +than that, having again infused the soul into it which had fled from +it; and, see, it has become a _living thing_. + +That the wonderful apparatus contained in the throat is for a purpose +there cannot, of course, be any doubt. It is but partly for the +purpose attributed to it, however, and, until we better comprehend +this part-purpose, especially in view of the fact _that we have no +control over its mechanism_, it will be best, as far as singers and +elocutionists are concerned, to surrender it to and leave it with the +anatomists. + +To the ultimate aim of science--the knowledge of life--I have +contributed matters of a nature deemed beyond the province of the +knowledge of man. Was it ever intended that they should be known? On +more than one occasion I have been puzzled to know whether to go on +with these investigations; whether I had a _right_ to go on with them. +Still, I was sustained by the fact that I had been _led on to them_. +For what other purpose could this have been done but for that of +making the results thereof known? They could serve no good purpose in +remaining locked up _within myself_. + +It is my belief that the ordinary course of events is never interfered +with; but that _great_ events may be inaugurated by unseen agencies and +guided by unseen hands. The responsibility which has devolved upon me, +incompetent and unprepared as I am, is almost too great; still, I must +try to discharge it to the best of my ability. + + * * * * * + +I have no personal motive of either fame or fortune. At one time I +would have been pleased with such results; now it is too late. If not +in my day, some day, I trust, some one will read and comprehend; some +one will not mind the trouble of investigation. It is not likely that I +shall _forever_ remain the only "seeing one." + +It would have been better if I had not published a line for at least +ten years. It would have taken that long to say what I want to say, +_properly_. My time is too uncertain, however, to run such a risk. My +friends are falling to the right and left by the roadside. I must be up +and doing; must make a beginning at least. + +We must be satisfied with reaching matters approximately, and argue by +analogy to some extent; and also hope that others will take them up and +push them along a little farther than we have been able to do. Perhaps +in the course of time a perfect insight may be arrived at. + + * * * * * + +The community of man is a necessity; a separate existence, an anomaly. +We are dependent and interdependent upon one another. Man cannot +escape his fellow-man. In the remotest desert his spirit is still in +communication with him. If it were not so, who would not at times want +to flee all, escape from all? + +I have but one fear--inability, for some reason or other, to finish +my work. I feel like the heroine of a celebrated German novelist, +travelling about with a trunk filled with gold, which she distributed +among the _deserving poor_ as fast as she came across them. Meanwhile +she was in constant fear lest her life should ebb out before all was +distributed, and its precious contents _lost_ to those for whom they +were intended. If there were any way of imparting this knowledge +other than by writing it down, I would gladly resort to it. But how +can I reach the few who are capable of and willing to take up these +questions, except by communicating them to the many? These "few" will +be found in all parts of the world, for these truths apply to _all_ +men, independent of sex, race, or country. + + * * * * * + +My cry is not for recognition. My personality might be blotted out, +like that of millions of others, without its being noticed, yet, by +virtue of this trust which has been reposed in me, what a loss it would +be! My cry is for investigation and the coöperation of others, so that +this work may be carried on independent of myself. Meantime, I cannot +transfer this task to others. I must first explain all that it is in my +power to explain. I can then shift it from my shoulders onto theirs. +They must be educated up to it before they can take hold of it as I +have taken hold of it. + + * * * * * + +When I first announced my discoveries, I gave all I possessed, +supposing others would see as I saw and comprehend as I did; having +no doubt but that the world would at once acknowledge their truths +and accept their precepts. I have since found that the world can get +along very comfortably with a vast amount of want of knowledge. I +therefore made up my mind not to be quite so rash again in making it my +beneficiary, not till I was better prepared for the purpose; this other +book of mine having been finished rather hastily in the erroneous +belief that this knowledge was at once and imperatively needed. + +Since publishing this previous book I have also found, which I did +not know at that time, that my very mode of investigation (by means +of introspection) was new; that no one had ever looked into matters +of this kind in the manner I had; besides, it seems strange that in +this age of keen investigation of the most trivial matters, no one +should have deemed it worth his while to look into these more important +subjects. + +Regarding the anatomical investigations of the larynx, and anatomical, +coupled with physiological, investigations generally, let me ask a +question: Supposing a palace with a million apartments, each one in +succession more luxuriously furnished than its predecessor, would they +avail anything to its _sole_ inhabitant, if that inhabitant were blind? + +We have obtained a fair conception of the wonderful palace, the human +body, its numberless apartments and their luxurious furnishings, but +do not comprehend their meaning, except in a remote and unsatisfactory +mechanical sense. _We_ are the blind that inhabit it. Most of these +apartments will remain meaningless to our understanding until we +ascertain what use the sovereign, the soul, which reigns therein, is +making of them, not only mechanically, but _spiritually_ as well. For +the soul lives in them all, though it is supposed that it lives only in +its throne-room of the brain and that it never descends from the throne +set up in the same. + +Just here biologists have blundered, trying to get hold of _psyche_ by +pursuing matter bereft of life; or investigating life in other beings +instead of that inherent in themselves. The vivisection of all the +frogs in the world will not give us the first knowledge of the frog's +soul; certainly not of _our_ soul. The knowledge of the anatomical +construction of the larynx has brought us no nearer the knowledge of +the mystery of the voice than that of the brain has brought us to that +of the soul. We must understand the process by which the mechanism of +the brain is set in _motion_ before we can begin to understand our +mode of thinking. We must comprehend the manner in which a musical +instrument is to be used before we can begin to draw music from the +same. And so must we understand the spirit which moves the mechanism of +the voice (of which so far we have known but a single factor), if we +want to understand our mode of using it. + +Does any one seriously think that by photographing vocal sounds, +or passing a mirror down his throat and watching the movements of +the vocal cords, he will observe anything that will lead him to an +intimate knowledge of nature's subtle process by which vocal sounds are +produced? As well look at the face of a clock and see its hands move, +and then say you have arrived at a knowledge of the hidden intricate +mechanism of the works of the clock. The mechanism of the instrument of +the voice is a thousand times more intricate than that of a clock. It +lives, it breathes, it moves, it expands and contracts, it rises and +falls, it gathers, it gives--now here, now there. + +Starting from the supposition that life is too subtle, too intangible +a thing to have its innermost operations disclosed by the clumsy work +of our hands or the dull vision of our eyes, though increased in +power a thousandfold, I matched the subtle work of my voice with the +subtler of my brain, and thus, undisturbed by any extraneous agency +whatever, watched the process by which, first, simple mechanical, then +articulated sounds, and finally sounds linked together into speech, are +produced. In so doing I traced sounds through the labyrinth of numerous +avenues to their original sources--_the organism of all our faculties, +instead of being confined to their end organs, being widespread over +our entire system_. + + * * * * * + +Physiologists as a rule are satisfied with the _observation and +exposition_ of phenomena. I have endeavored to _explain_ phenomena. I +have gone "behind the returns," as politicians say. I have lifted the +mysterious veil, and have obtained glimpses at the process of life. In +this manner the voice of the œsophagus was first discovered, which, +in logical sequence, has carried me from one discovery to another. +Once in the confidence of nature, it freely opened up to me its heart. +Comprehending one thing led me on to the comprehension of others. + +There is no study which is as fascinating as that pursued by +introspection. It is self-compensating in the highest degree; all +facts thereby evolved being the logical sequence of others previously +ascertained. Or, if not always in sequence, they all fit into the same +system; everything that has been ascertained being a stone which was +waiting to be placed in a certain niche to fulfil a certain purpose +in the construction of a harmonious edifice. There was no waste, no +material entirely lost; nor will there be at any future time. If +similar studies will be pursued by those specially fitted for the +purpose, the time may not be far distant when there will not be an +atom of our material existence whose meaning and purpose will not be +understood. The laws which I claim to have discovered will assist in +this accomplishment, as they are of so broad a nature that they may be +said to form the substructure to forces and conditions which are at the +very root of our existence. I do not pretend to say that in this little +book they have been properly treated, nor that I possess the ability, +under the best of circumstances, to thus treat them. I have but stated +what has come under my observation, and have stated it in as simple and +direct a manner as my instinct and my ability have taught me to state +it. + +I have been up on Mount Washington to see the sun rise. It was a +beautiful picture; still, there were clouds in the way which here and +there obscured my vision, as was to be expected from the unwonted +height to which I had risen, and the distant horizon. + + * * * * * + +I am not writing for a class, but for the multitude to which I belong, +and of which, in its aspirations, its hopes, its sincerity, and its +ignorance regarding _specific_ knowledge, I form a part. Hence my +thoughts are its thoughts and my language its language. There will be +no difficulty, therefore, for _all_ to understand me and to profit by +my experience. + +My observations result in the triumph of the sensation, the feeling +(common to all), over the exact sciences (known to but few). Science, +for the most part, is satisfied with dissecting or analyzing. My +endeavor has been to construct; to form the whole out of parts instead +of reducing the whole into parts. My guide has been instinct coupled +with common-sense,--that rarest of all the senses in spite of its name. +How far it has guided me aright, it will be the province of science to +judge. + +I may be asked why, in treating upon so "simple" a subject as the human +voice (my only endeavor in the beginning), I want to move heaven and +earth, and press them into my service. My answer is, Wherever I touched +the subject of the voice, I found it to be in correlation with all +other subjects. + +My great desire now is, that I may be granted the time and retain the +ability to write out all I have ascertained; while my greatest wonder +is, that these things should have waited for me at all to be made +known; why they should not have been discovered centuries ago. My eyes +once opened, I found them lying about within the easy reach of my arm +and the mere assistance of my pick and shovel, like precious ore in +a newly discovered mining country. I had but to open the lid of the +mysterious casket which had been intrusted to me, and all these great +truths escaped from the same; not to disappear, however, as they did +in the fable, but to remain with me and to be made known through me to +the world. + + * * * * * + +The best part of my life has been spent in this, my adopted country. +Though I experience no difficulty in expressing myself in the English +language, still it is not my native tongue, and I sometimes feel as if +I might have said some things better if I had said them in German. + + * * * * * + +Looking at the many volumes written on the subject of the larynx alone, +and considering that during all this time its associate, the replica, +without whose assistance _not one_ vocal sound can ever be uttered, has +remained unknown, though in plain sight and "in everybody's mouth," one +cannot help but think of Goethe's lines: + + "Ein Kerl der speculirt + Ist wie ein Thier, auf duerrer Haide + Von einem boesen Geist im Kreis herum gefuehrt, + Und ringsumher liegt schoene gruene Waide." + + ("A theorist is like unto a beast + On barren soil by evil sprite led round and round + Within a narrow circle, though beyond there is a feast + Of pasture green on fertile ground.") + + +"THE BASIC LAW OF VOCAL UTTERANCE" + +My earlier work, entitled as above, was written under peculiar +circumstances. After discovering the fact that sounds proceed from +beneath as well as from above the tongue, light streamed in upon +me on so many subjects I had previously attempted to solve that I +was almost dazed thereby. I thought it my duty to make these matters +known, and attempted to describe them as they appeared to me. They +were all perfectly clear to me, and even to-day there is scarcely a +thing I then said that does not wholly stand its ground. Still, to-day, +viewing things from an advanced point of view, much of that which was +then expressed pragmatically, almost in a single sentence, and which +then appeared to be sufficient, I am convinced requires considerable +elaboration and elucidation. + +Take, for instance, this dictum: "The manner in which we breathe for +speech is by raising and lowering the tongue," etc. This is perfectly +correct, and positive proof will be advanced hereafter as to its being +so. + +I thought these matters would be readily understood, not knowing at +that time that between the manner in which I had reached conclusions +and the one in which conclusions had been reached by others who had +also made a study of these matters, there was a vast difference. +Unknown to myself I had lived a life of my own. I had given myself +up to these matters in a manner no one ever had before; having been +everlastingly at it, holding on with a tenacity that knew no restraint. +In this manner I wrung facts from nature that may have never been +intended to be revealed. + +There was something Faust-like in it all, and I sometimes shudder at +my own temerity. Still, I had no such thought when I so persistently +continued trying to fathom the mystery of vocal sounds. Viewing it +in its proper light it was a narrow and every-day undertaking. I was +fairly staggered, therefore, when I reached such unlooked-for results. + +The reader, however, may ask, and I feel it incumbent upon me, as well, +to tell him, What was the nature of these results? Wherein consisted +these discoveries? They covered a large field and whole range of +knowledge. They had reference more particularly to vocal sounds. These, +in fact, had almost exclusively occupied my mind for many years. These +apparently simple factors, vocal sounds, I have since ascertained are +the outcome of laws, forces, and agencies, and combinations of all +these, which largely make up the sum and substance of our spiritual +existence. The direct nature of vocal sounds, therefore, cannot be well +treated upon till some understanding has been arrived at of the nature +of the elements out of which they are composed. I was rash enough to +attempt to explain them, especially the consonant sounds, in this +little book of mine, from a standpoint I had then arrived at. Others +have tried to explain them from a much narrower standpoint still. From +that standpoint I offered explanations as to our mode of speaking, +breathing, as to defective speech, etc. Although this was an advanced +standpoint, and well worthy the consideration of scientists, it was a +standpoint far beneath the one I have arrived at since. + +In attempting to scale a mountain I had reached a point from which I +could overlook the valley immediately beneath my feet. I have since +gone up much higher. Yet there are towering heights still above me +which I shall never be able to reach. From this it will be seen how +difficult it would be for me to state in a few paragraphs what I had +actually ascertained. That book, however, will increase in value +in the course of time, not only for the knowledge it contains, but +historically, so to say, as the beginning of an evolution which, it +seems to me, will eventually embrace all sciences in regard to man; +when treated, as they will be, from a standpoint of inner as against +one of outer consciousness, from the standpoint of the soul and the +heart, as in the inadequacy of our expressions I have to call them, as +against that of the head and the senses. + +I have since arrived at a plan according to which these matters will +be treated in a more systematic manner. In _this_ volume, besides +many novel subjects, I have been enlarging upon and elucidating many +superficially mentioned in my book, _The Basic Law of Vocal Utterance_. +Still, the matters treated upon even in _this_ book cover so much +ground, and had to be condensed to such an extent, that many of these +also will require further enlargement and elucidation. This will be +attempted to be done in future publications. Meantime I trust these +matters will be taken in hand by others, who by their writings will +relieve me of some of this additional labor. Take it all in all, there +is so much of this work that I feel as if I had swallowed the ocean and +was now called upon to give an account of its contents. + + +THE VOICE OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS AND ITS VOCAL CORDS + +Among the discoveries mentioned in my former publication one stands +out most prominent, and it is the basis of all my other discoveries; +namely, "that the voice is of a dual nature." I had ascertained that +sounds circulate around the radix of the tongue; that they, or rather +the air wave which carries them, enters either at the upper surface of +the tip of the tongue and recedes back, to come out again from beneath +its lower surface, or vice versa. I had also ascertained that the +former process is the English, the latter the German, for breathing and +vocal expression. + +I was convinced that this signified a circulation of vocal sounds; and +though I had finally also reached this conclusion and intimated it, +namely, "that we breathe and speak through the œsophagus," I did not +express it in so many words, as I meant to leave this expression for a +future publication. I was at first under the impression that both waves +belonged to the trachea, the one that was ingoing as well as the one +which was outgoing. + +Meantime I had discovered the "larynx or voice-box to the œsophagus," +but considered this at first also as belonging to the trachea. I +thought inspiration and ingoing sounds belonged to the vocal cords of +the trachea, expiration and outgoing sounds to this "new" vocal cord +located beneath the tongue. To study these first attempts, by which +I was trying to find my way, and which culminated in these wonderful +discoveries, I presume would be of interest to the student. I can here +mention only the main points. + +I have found beyond a doubt, and my future statements will more fully +establish this fact, that the frænum linguæ and the parts of the mucous +membrane surrounding the same are relatively of the same nature in +regard to the voice of the œsophagus that the vocal cords and other +parts of the larynx are in relation to that of the trachea. + +In contradistinction to the larynx, I named these entire surroundings +the "replica," as, in conjunction with the tip of the tongue resting +upon the same, they conform to the shape of the oral cavity, of which +in their general appearance they are almost a counterpart. In a +similar manner I named the special part thereof, which "regulates" the +intonation, the "vocal lip," in contradistinction to the vocal cords of +the larynx, which perform the same service for the voice of the trachea. + +After making such positive assertions regarding the replica as I did in +my previous publication--now more than four years ago--I was more than +surprised that no one should have deemed it worth his while to look +into the value of these assertions. If any one had, he could not have +helped but acknowledge their correctness. It is but necessary to utter +any vocal sound whatsoever, either vowel or consonant, and while doing +so watch the vocal lip and the frænum, to become at once convinced that +their motions are of precisely the same order as those of the larynx +and the vocal cords. + +So many have spent year after year upon the difficult and "fruitless" +endeavor to study the motions of the larynx; while here is an +opportunity plainly before every one's eyes to study, without effort, +the most interesting phenomena in voice production. We must be obliged +to seek for a thing high and low before we deem it worthy of our +attention. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE HUMAN VOICE + + +What is the voice--a spirit, or "an expiratory current of air set into +vibration by purely physical agencies"? It does not seem to me to be +either, but something which is of the nature of both: our dual nature, +embodied in the sounds of speech; our body and soul joining hands to +produce the miracle of the voice. Regarding the materialistic view +quoted above, which is held by most of the investigators, who make the +larynx their _point d'appui_, I think that if there is anything in our +composition or emanating therefrom that is _not_ produced by "_purely_ +physical agencies," it is the voice. + +In my opinion there is nothing purer, more "spiritual," in the world +than a beautiful voice. Did you ever _see_ a spirit? Perhaps not. But +you have often _heard_ one. You hear them daily, hourly, constantly; +other spirits as well as your own--the spirits represented by the +voice; the soul incorporated in the sounds of speech. When you +converse, it is soul to soul; when you hear an anthem sung, it is the +soul of the singer to the soul of the universe. The soul reveals itself +most prominently through the voice when there is anguish in it, or joy; +tears or laughter; love or hate. + +An attempt to get at the truth in matters of the voice is an attempt at +getting at the truth in matters of life. If you will tell me _all_ that +a vocal sound is, I will tell you what your soul is. + +To examine into the anatomical construction of the larynx, to watch +it physiologically and learn to understand the motions of the vocal +cords in their relation to vocal sounds, is not much more than looking +at the dial of a clock (a simile already used, but worth repeating). +The movements of the hands will give you _no_ cue to the construction +of the intricate works hidden behind the face of the clock. Nor will +the careful examination and observation of the "dials" which serve the +voice of the œsophagus in the same manner as those of the larynx serve +the voice of the trachea, measurably increase the knowledge of vocal +phenomena. I do believe, however, that, inasmuch as the movements of +the replica, the frænum, and the vocal lip fit into and complement +those of the larynx and its vocal cords, and vice versa, lessons of +great benefit to the knowledge and the improvement of vocal utterance +may be learned, _after_ we have once begun to understand what these +movements imply. + +That we cannot now derive any benefit from the observation of these +motions is due to the fact that they are _reflex_, _involuntary_, +_uncontrolled_ and _uncontrollable_ by the will. Or, as Mme. D'Arona +expresses it: + +"They are not the _cause_ of the perfect tone, but are simply acted +upon by the cause." + +After having become acquainted with the cause of these motions, and +having learned to control it in the interest of pure and perfect tone, +the movements of the larynx and the replica will become of value to +us as "indicators" of the correct or incorrect exercise of the cause +which they reflect. In "recording" the original movements they will +show us what is right or wrong in the latter, and will thus offer us +an opportunity for correcting them. Up to the present they have been +simply barometers, which, no matter how closely we may observe them, +offer us no opportunity for changing "the state of the weather" which +they indicate. After thoroughly comprehending the _causes_, however, +which move them, we may shape the course of the latter in conformity +with our will. Or, vice versa, we may shape our will, which, after all, +is the _first cause_, so as to correct that which they indicate to be +wrong in our tone production. + +Now, what is that which the will acts upon, and thus becomes the +original source, the first cause, so to say, of tone production? My +answer will be a surprise, for, as far as I know, no one has ever as +much as thought, even, of looking in this direction for the seat of the +voice. + +The original source of tone production has its location in _various +vessels of the viscera_: in the lungs, the kidneys, and the bladder, +for the most part, though many other vessels, if not all, participate, +and are more or less involved in its production. Besides these vessels, +the heart and the solar plexus, as central organs of the vascular +and nervous systems, together with the brain as the central seat of +thought and the will, perform parts of the highest importance in tone +production and vocal utterance. In the lungs, the bladder, and the +kidneys, together with their coadjutors, the bronchi and ureters, _the +tone originates_. Here we can control, and unconsciously do control, it. + +I shall adduce indubitable proof as to the correctness of these +assertions. More than that, I shall _locate_ sounds in these various +vessels. As a tone proceeds from a given string located in a given part +of a musical instrument, and cannot proceed from or be produced on any +other string, a given tone of the human voice proceeds from a given +vessel, and cannot proceed from or be produced in any other vessel. + +I shall furthermore show that the various shades of a tone proceed from +various parts of such vessel. Yet, while tones are produced in special +parts, the instrument of the voice being of a sympathetic nature, +_all_ parts of the _viscera_ participate therein, by, in a manner, +_leaning_ towards a vessel in which a tone is produced, thus assisting +in giving it utterance. If a sound is produced in one of the vessels +of the abdomen, those of the thorax, though not directly participating +therein, give it aid and comfort by their passivity, thus throwing the +entire strength of the voice-producing forces into this one spot. If a +sound is produced in the thorax, the vessels of the abdomen aid it in +a similar manner. This is more particularly the case when a sound of a +superior order is to be produced, which is thus _reinforced_ by this +aid. + +In matters of the voice, as in many others, truth is stranger than +fiction. + +Dr. Rush has said: + +"Some day, when the real instrument of the voice will be discovered, +it will be found to be of an order far different in its nature and +construction from that which it has ever been supposed to be." + +The greatest mechanical wonder, however, is that the voice, and that +which is apparently one and the same sound, should under different +circumstances emanate from sources so entirely different in their +construction as the vocal cords to the trachea and those to the +œsophagus, the viscera of the kidneys, the bladder and the lungs, etc. +This fact also accounts for the mystery which, like an impenetrable +veil, has hung over the features of the voice. Who has ever thought of +looking for the spirit of the voice to reveal itself from _beneath_ the +tongue? Who has ever thought that the œsophagus was a breathing-tube +of a similar functional order as the trachea? Who has thought that the +viscera of the abdomen were playing as important a part in breathing as +the lungs? Who has thought that the hemisphere of the abdomen was as +directly amenable to the influence of the air as that of the thorax? +Who has, in fine, thought that the viscera of the abdomen together with +those of the thorax were primarily instrumental in producing the voice +and vocal utterance? + +It may not be pleasant to know, and it may not quite conform with our +æsthetic taste, that the "voice divine" should have its origin in such +vessels as the kidneys and the bladder; but I have no quarrel with +the Creator, and can but wonder, as I have never ceased to wonder from +step to step in all these investigations, at the marvellous resources +of nature. There is one great lesson conveyed through this, namely,--- +that the body is _divine_ in its _every aspect_; parts which have been +supposed to serve ends only of a comparatively low order participating +in the highest spiritual functions. + +This knowledge is the sanctification of the "flesh," so constantly and +unjustifiably rejected and reviled as against that of the spirit. I +am not dealing with theories, but am stating facts which will be as +positively proven as any other scientific facts ever have been proven. +These proofs will not be all forthcoming in this book, however, there +being other subjects of equal, if not greater, importance that I have +to deal with before I can reach them; these subjects being of such a +nature that they must be explained before those immediately connected +with voice production can be properly dealt with. + +I have been reproached with attempting too much; with dealing with too +many subjects at one and the same time; that I ought to complete one +theme and then take hold of another. Just so; but this cannot be done. +I must first deal with general principles. Our entire system being of +a homogeneous nature, I cannot deal with separate issues until these +principles have been dealt with and understood in their entirety. +Besides, I cannot hope to ever _complete_ any one thing. I shall be +well satisfied if I shall be able to simply touch upon every subject +that has come under my observation, lightly, suggesting things, and +leaving it to others to enter more thoroughly into the same. + + +INTROSPECTION + +With our mortal eyes turned outwardly we cannot see spiritual things, +nor the motive power of life, nor the material form the spirit assumes +in moving the mechanism of the body. For there _is_ a material way +in which it is thus moved, as there necessarily must be, and I have +obtained glimpses thereat by turning my eyes inwardly--by looking into +myself with the _inner_ surface of my eyes. + +Yet through all these centuries people have been using that portion +of their eyes which is intended for external vision only, in a vain +endeavor to arrive at spiritual-material facts. Thus the larynx, as +the supposed seat of the voice, has been subjected to scrutiny based +upon laws derived from phenomena which owe their origin to physical +causes only. During this vain endeavor the larynx has been subjected +to torture and maltreatment worse than that inflicted upon a mediæval +witch. + +But its tormentors have derived no solace from this treatment, not even +that of a confession of imaginary sins. Why not? Simply because it had +not anything to confess, being a reflex, an indirect, and not a free +and original agent. Through torture (by means of the laryngoscope), the +destroyer of harmony, we cannot arrive at laws based upon harmony. + +Is not all physiological research more or less of this order? The +"higher law" of science may demand its victims, even as did the "higher +law" of the church. I do not wish to say, however, that the sacrifice +of animals on the altar of science is as useless as that of human +beings used to be on that of religion. Vivisection, however, while it +may, and no doubt sometimes does, help to recognize the physical cause +of disorder, will never be of any value in arriving at spiritual causes +and the recognition of the inner motive power of life, nor to any great +extent at that of the exercise of our faculties and functions. For this +knowledge we require a different mode of proceeding. To penetrate into +the realm of the spiritual-material world (and all phenomena of life +are of that nature) we must not look externally but internally, not +into other beings but into ourselves. That is the only place where we +can hope to find it in action and arrive at the causes of such action. + +As our being cannot enter into the inner life of another being and +identify itself with the same or become a part thereof, or remain apart +and become a spectator of the same or substitute therefor (not even for +that of the simplest and lowest living vegetable or animal organism), +we would have to despair of our ability of ever being able to arrive +at the laws governing life, if we were not able to look into our own +lives by substituting for our observations our inner for our outer +consciousness. + +The word "Introspection" has heretofore meant reflection upon purely +spiritual phenomena only; I have proven by my personal example that we +can observe physiologico-psychological phenomena with considerable +accuracy--very little of this kind of work, as far as I can learn, +ever having been done before. The nearest approach at amalgamation, +probably, is that which is brought about by means of hypnotism. In this +instance the two factors, the positive and the negative, the operator +and the person operated upon, do not fuse, however, and become one, +but remain entities, each in his own right. Or, to speak still more to +the point, while the positive, that is the spiritual, factor of the +operator may, and no doubt does, join hands with the negative, that is +the material, of his subject, by which the operator becomes one with +the latter, there is still but an _influence_, and not an insight. +Besides, this condition is as yet too obscurely known to be made use of +as a practical means of observation. + +After all this, the question will still be asked, "What must we _do_ to +look into ourselves?" + +I will admit that I have not stated what others should do, but in +explaining what I have done I mean to explain what general course +others will have to pursue. By taking into consideration what I have +said, and adding thereto what I shall still have to say, a general idea +may be formed of what the reader must do to place himself in a position +to make original observations by means of introspection. No two cases +being just alike, from the fact that heredity, the mental capacity, +physical condition, education, temperament, nationality, etc., with +no two persons are just alike, it is not well possible to point out a +course quite suitable to all. I might as well attempt to arrive at a +law by the observance of which _all_ persons would be enabled to write +poetry. + +Still, needing assistance in this vast undertaking, I am particularly +anxious to make this matter clear, as the results of these observations +are of vital interest to all, and I am but one weak, ignorant mortal +creature, with but a small fraction of a life left to me in which to +state that which it would at least take a full lifetime to properly +and fully explain. I am overburdened with an insight which is being +increased daily, even against my will, and which I shall never be able +to fully communicate to others. Let the flood-gates of truth once be +opened and come in upon you as they have upon me, and you will be +overwhelmed by the mass of their detail no less than by the vigor of +their mass. My great want, therefore, for the purpose of more fully +arriving at these facts and obtaining ever higher results is assistance +and coöperation. I wish it to be distinctly understood, however, that I +do not mean this in a personal sense--far from it; but in the interest +and the promotion of science, as everybody wanting to make original +observations must pursue these studies for himself and by himself. + +Why such a course has not been heretofore pursued by others I am at +a loss to understand, except from the fact that it takes an unusual +amount of perseverance to reach the first results. Though _all_ persons +may not be able to personally obtain satisfactory results, _all_ may be +_benefited_ by the results obtained by those qualified to successfully +carry on a course of observations by means of introspection. The +world at large will always have to be satisfied with being simply the +beneficiary of scientific research; more especially of research in +matters spiritual or psychical. From facts thus obtained rules may +be deduced, which, translated into "physical forms," may become the +property of all. In this manner numerous observations I have made have +already assumed a practical shape; but I have not as yet been able to +devote the necessary time to them to produce a system which may be used +for general instruction. + +Meanwhile I do sincerely hope that others will take hold of these +matters in all seriousness, and assist me in arriving at these +practical physical forms, which I trust, in fact _know_ beyond the +shadow of a doubt, will be fruitful of the most beneficent results +in the teaching of the deaf, of singing and elocution, of pure vocal +utterance in speaking; in curing stammering and other chronic faulty or +deficient utterance; besides numerous other matters of equal importance +not in immediate connection with vocal utterance. + +That these matters must be and are of the greatest importance to the +medical student goes without saying. It is to be hoped that they may +lead to a more rational treatment of our frail and often ailing bodies. +I say "bodies" because this is the common phrase. Yet how false this +is, every true physician is but too conscious of. Our ailments cannot +be successfully treated from a mere physical standpoint. The question +of life is not a mechanical one; it is spiritual beyond anything else, +the spirit being the motive power giving life to the otherwise inert +physical body. Yet the only endeavor of the physician has always been +to cure the "machine," to set its mechanism right again when it is out +of order, simply because he has not been able to get at the spiritual +motive power which propels it. + +I have been trying to get at this motive power, and to some extent +have been successful in so doing. Besides, the _body_ never suffers. +Its ailments make the soul suffer; while the ailments of the soul have +a comparatively less injurious effect upon the body. The body is the +habitation of the soul. The soul dwells in its _every_ part. As long +as this habitation is habitable the soul continues to dwell therein. +When it becomes uninhabitable the soul departs, never to return. Hence +a body, never so frail and ailing, will continue to live as long as a +vital part is not affected, that is, a part the soul _requires_ for its +habitation and cannot do without. Close such part to the indwelling +of the soul, prevent material and spiritual factors from joining +hands therein, and the spirit departs. Once departed it can never +be made to return. Hence a body in the full vigor of health, after +having been immersed in water sufficiently long to have any one vital +avenue positively closed against the indwelling of the soul, cannot be +resuscitated. As long as the soul clings to it, however, with never so +feeble a grasp, it may come to life again, in the same manner that a +flame nearly extinguished may be fanned to life again. + +For me to _fully_ describe my mode of proceeding in arriving at these +matters would be equal to an attempt at crowding into a few paragraphs +_all_ I have gone through within something like forty years, more or +less, of observation. + + +MAKING PARTS RIGID + +I have already stated that I was originally led into making these +investigations through my simple desire of getting rid of my _German_ +mode of expression in speaking the English language. Being determined +to find out where the trouble was which prevented me from producing +pure English sounds while I experienced no difficulty in producing +pure German sounds, I pursued vocal sounds, through numerous phases, +to their original sources. The endeavor to arrive at the true nature +of vocal sounds through autology and by means of "introspection" has, +no doubt, been made by thousands before me. The reason they were not +more successful must be attributed to the simple fact that such persons +have been lacking in perseverance. It is one of the most misleading +endeavors one can pursue. + +In the beginning I came to what I considered a _positive_ result +perhaps for the hundredth time, but to think I was on the wrong +track the one hundred and first time. I would then, perhaps, finally +determine that the first result arrived at, after all, was the correct +one. In this manner I have in the course of time arrived at positive +conclusions, which have been the basis of all my investigations, and +are undoubtedly correct, as they have yielded up one result after +another and have never proven false. For this, relatively speaking, +"perfect insight" I have waited, before saying anything more at all, +since my previous (preliminary) publication. To these conclusions I owe +my present trust and confidence, and the "boldness and temerity," as +some may say, in making such "startling declarations" in the face of +the accumulated wisdom of the science of this and of past ages. Yet I +am tired unto death of prevarication and of time-serving, and will say +what I consider to be the truth, no matter what may be the consequence. + +Any one singing a false note or mispronouncing a foreign word or sound, +yet knowing what the right note, word, or sound is and should be, can +do the same thing, and by perseverance finally find what he has been +looking for and pronounce such note, word, or sound in its entire +purity. This will put him on the track to the production of _all_ pure +notes or sounds. To accomplish this, he must persistently watch one +result after another. + +My mode of proceeding has been largely in making parts _rigid_, and +then observing the consequences. In pursuing this course for some time, +you will finally attain such a mastery therein that you will be able +to make almost any vessel, muscle, sinew, membrane, tissue, etc., or +any _part_ thereof, rigid. This is done for the purpose of neutralizing +parts which partake in the production of sounds, and will enable you to +closely watch cause and effect in your natural, as well as artistic, +course of breathing and sound production. _Having two languages at my +command, I was startled to find that cause and effect in both were +totally different from each other._ This gave me the original cue to +all my observations. + +In place of sounds, others may pursue odor, taste, feeling, +motion, hearing, etc., to their original sources, and make similar +observations. In so doing they will find that _all phenomena, the +products of our faculties, abilities, or gifts, originally proceed from +the same or similar sources; that there is a homogeneity of proceeding, +mainly consisting in various modes of breathing, in the production of +them all; the end organs of our senses or gifts finally determining +definite special results_. + +For vocal utterance, we draw our inspiration for various results to +be attained, from the air, and breathe in a different mode for every +special performance. These modes of breathing, though the same for all +persons in a general sense and leading through the same channels, in a +more restricted sense are different for every nationality. + +There is no "danger" connected with these pursuits, in spite of Mr. +Heidenhain's fears; which fact is due to the duality of the nature of +each and all our various faculties, there being a safety-valve always +at the other end in the shape of the negative factor. The only danger I +have discovered was in connection with the "streams of life," which do +not permit tampering with without penalty. As these exist independent +of our ordinary mode of breathing, they are not apt to be interfered +with by any neophyte in the pursuits now under consideration. Of these +powerful streams, of which no notice has ever been taken by any one, +though ceaselessly streaming into and out of our system while life +lasts, I shall take occasion to speak later on. + + +EXTIRPATION + +To make a part "rigid" is equal to the "extirpation" of such part. +While it is in a state of rigidity, it ceases to take part in any +action whatsoever; it is inert and the same as if it had ceased to +exist. What advantage, then, let me ask, is there in extirpating parts +in animals, when we can, by making parts rigid, directly extirpate such +parts in ourselves? We can in this manner suppress the action of any +muscle, or the participation of any vessel, or part of such vessel, in +any act, by the simple exercise of our volition. I find no difficulty +in thus "extirpating" any such part from myself for the time being, +and then observing the consequences. I can take hold of the innermost +part of myself, so to say, and take it _out of myself_. In regard to +vocal utterance, these consequences are positive and direct. That +these operations must be very _carefully_ conducted in connection with +_vital_ parts goes without saying. The action of muscles participating +in the production of vocal utterance, however, or in the act of +breathing, except the muscles of the heart, can be suppressed without +danger. I am thus in a position to modify extirpation of parts to any +extent, almost, I desire. I can add to and detract therefrom at will, +and can shift the act of extirpation from the anterior part of a vessel +to its posterior, or from its superior to its inferior, or vice versa, +now making one side rigid, then the other, now one end, and then the +other; or take hold of its centre and leave the other parts free, +or suppress its circumference and leave the centre free. There is +scarcely a limit to the action of my will in handling my subject. All +this while, my feelings, my intelligence, my mind, take in every phase +of these proceedings, and enable me to give a correct account of the +results I have been observing. + +This discovery--for a discovery it must be, as I can find no account of +any similar proceeding ever having been carried on--should, and I hope +will, put an end to vivisection, when it is resorted to for the purpose +of learning anything whatever in respect to the action and the process +of life. By this proceeding I have more or less successfully observed +the acts of breathing, of vocal utterance, motion and locomotion, +hearing, seeing, and thinking. + +I beg leave to here insert without comment the following clipping from +the press: + + The following extracts are from a lecture on "Vivisection in + Relation to Medical Science," delivered by Edward Berdoe, M. + R. C. S., etc., at Cambridge. Lovers of animals may be glad to + know how the medical fraternity amuse themselves: + + "You may open the abdomens of living cats, guinea-pigs, and + rabbits, and apply irritating chemicals to their exposed + intestines, causing what you are pleased to term 'peculiar + rhythmic movements' and 'circus movements,' but what the + unlearned would call violent spasms and convulsions, as was + done by Dr. Batten and Mr. Bokenham, at St. Bartholomew's + Hospital, last year. You may dissect out the kidneys of living + dogs and cats which you have first paralyzed by curare--the + 'hellish oorali' of Lord Tennyson's poem, so called because + the animal's sufferings are intensified by its use, and it is + unable to move a limb, or to bite, scratch, howl, or otherwise + interfere with the operator's comfort. You may do this, as + was done by Dr. John Rose Bradford, at University College, + London. You may infect ninety cats with cholera poison, and + bake numbers of them alive, as did Dr. Lander Brunton. You may + inoculate the eyes of rabbits and guinea-pigs with the material + of tubercle, fix glass balls filled with croton oil--a horribly + irritating drug--and stitch them into the muscles of the backs + of rabbits, then crush them amongst their tissues, as did + Dr. Watson Cheyne, at King's College, London. You may slice, + plough, burn, and pick away the brains of monkeys and dogs, as + did Dr. Ferrier. You may slowly starve to death animals whose + vagi nerves have been cut and stimulated by electricity, as + was done by Dr. Gaskell, of this University, in 1878. You may + cut out the spleens and livers from living rabbits, pigeons, + and ducks, as was done by Dr. William Hunter, of St. John's + College, Cambridge, in 1888, or do a thousand other acts which + in a coster-monger or a farm laborer would be termed and dealt + with as acts of atrocious cruelty, punishable by imprisonment. + But you have not learned the cure for a single malady which + afflicts the human body." + + +THE MOVEMENTS OF THE TONGUE + +There is another mode of proceeding by which satisfactory results can +be obtained, and which was the only one I resorted to in the beginning +and for many years afterwards; namely, the watching of the movements of +the tongue. + +The muscle of the tongue, for vocal utterance, is the most important in +our organization. It appears to me, in fact, as if in its tip there +were a concentration of all the threads which control our existence; +and that it is, therefore, representative of an epitome of our entire +being. As all sciences, in a general, though in some instances +perhaps somewhat remote, sense, centre in the science of life, so +do the controlling elements in our composition centre in the tip of +the tongue. If it were possible to analyze it spiritually as well as +physically, we would obtain a compendium of knowledge far in advance of +any there is in existence in the world at the present time. Still, it +must be admitted that this would, to some extent, depend upon _whose_ +tongue's tip was submitted to such analyzation. The fact of the tip of +the tongue being removed by surgical operation without serious effect +upon the mental condition of the individual does not greatly affect my +assertion. In that case the concentration must have taken place at the +tongue's new tip or end. + +The tongue's tip, with as infallible correctness as the magnetic needle +points towards the north pole, indicates the exact spot whence sounds +come, or should come, to appear on the surface in a clear and undefiled +manner. The tongue's tip, for English vowel sounds, does not touch +any part of the oral cavity. It is constantly changing its position, +however, and for every vowel sound, or shade of a vowel sound, points +in the direction of or _approaches_ the spot whence a sound comes, +or should come. To ascertain such spot with exactitude, it is but +necessary to _extend_ the tongue's tip until it reaches the wall of the +oral cavity during or, still better, immediately after the utterance +of a vocal sound. Upon reaching that spot the tongue may continue in +the same position of contact and the sound can still be uttered with +entire purity. Change this point of contact, however, but in the least, +and such sound will at once cease to come to the surface. Yet, while +_apparently_ a sound comes from the direction in which the tip of the +tongue points, this is not really the case. In pointing in a given +direction, the tongue opens up the channels of the œsophagus and the +trachea in a special manner for the proper emission of a given sound, +beneath as well as above, and to the left as well as to the right of +its radix. In changing the tongue's position but in the least, these +channels will open in a different direction, which may then be the +proper medium for the emission of another sound, but not for the one +under consideration. + +The general mode in which the radix of the tongue turns upon its axis +is the direct and fundamental cause productive of the various languages +of the world; such general mode necessitating special movements of +the tongue for the production of the sounds of any special language. +Regarding the proper emission of consonant sounds every one knows that +the same depends upon the particular spot of contact of the tongue's +tip with parts of the oral cavity. As a matter of fact, such point +of contact also opens, the same as with vowel sounds, the tubes of +the trachea and œsophagus at the tongue's radix in the proper manner +for the emission of a given stream of air for the production of such +consonant sounds. + +Every imaginable opprobrious epithet has been by singers bestowed upon +the tongue. "This obstreperous muscle which is always in the way," says +one. "This troublesome member will persist in going up when you want +it to remain down"; "intractable," "contrary," "obstinate," "wilful," +"ungovernable," "stubborn." All these expressions have been used by +writers on the voice in connection with the tongue, simply because it +would not yield to unreasonable and unnatural demands made upon it; the +tongue, being a free agent, persisting in its natural rights--as much +so as any independent democratic citizen persists in his. + +My observations having been made in connection with a foreign language, +I had a better opportunity for watching my tongue's movements than I +would have had had I attempted to watch them in connection with my +native tongue; the movements of the tongue in connection with the +latter being so rapid and involuntary that it becomes exceedingly +difficult to make any observations at all. It was like having this +foreign (English) tongue exist independently alongside of my own, my +intelligence watching it, and guiding it, now here, now there, until it +would touch the right spot for the right English sound. Knowing what +the right sound was and should be, I never stopped until the same came +to the surface. + +In trying to find my way in this foreign (English) territory of the +oral cavity, I might compare my English tongue to the stick in the +hands of a blind man, who uses it in place of his eyes to ascertain his +whereabouts, so as to enable him to proceed on his way in the right +direction. With my "stick" I felt in every direction, till I found I +could steer clear of obstacles straight into the channel of the sound I +had been seeking. From my German post of observation I was thus enabled +to watch the movements of my English tongue in its efforts to find +itself "at home" in this foreign territory, while I was at the same +time guiding it from one point therein to another. + +I want to call especial attention to and reiterate the fact that +the exact point whence a sound proceeds, or seems to proceed, can, +by extending the tongue's tip, be quite as well (if not better) +ascertained, _after_ the utterance of a sound, as _during_ such +utterance; that is _immediately_ after the tongue has ceased to vibrate +for such sound. + +The difference in the movements of the tongue for various languages +is one of the most interesting observations to be made in connection +with these studies. The German language being the exact opposite, the +antipode, to the English, after comprehending the movements of the +tongue for the latter, its own movements, that is, the movements of the +tongue for German sounds, were not difficult for me to ascertain. + +It is an anomaly to apply the works of German writers on the voice to +the study of the English language, or to that of any other than the +German language; or to apply books written from an English standpoint +to the study of any language except the English--the movements of the +tongue, and, in sympathy therewith, of countless other muscles, being +different for every language. + +Whatever the movements of the tongue are for the _spoken_ language, +they are of an inverse order for _song_. I anticipate in making the +following statement, namely, that while speech is of an order which +is rapid, direct, anterior, exterior, spontaneous, impulsive, and +material, song is of an order which is slow, indirect, posterior, +interior, premeditated, contemplative, and spiritual. I will also +add this: that, _while speech is of the oral cavity, song is of the +pharynx_. In making these remarks and others _in anticipation_, I do +so intentionally and for a purpose; not so much in expectation that +they will be at once and fully understood, as with a view of setting +others thinking on these subjects until I can reach them in due course +of time; or, if I should _never_ be able to reach them, that the +principle, at least, underlying the same, which if the opportunity +had been granted me would have been fully sustained, shall not be +lost. The reader will notice that I am hurrying over the ground +as rapidly as I consistently can, even from my--under the best of +circumstances--superficial standpoint, leaving wide gaps to be filled +in by others in the course of time. + + +SIMPLE SOUNDS + +Speaking of sounds in making experiments in connection with the +movements of the tongue, it is of the first importance that these +sounds should be _simple_ and not _vocal_ or compound. They must be +sounds of the same order as we utter in whispering, or such sounds as +we are apt to use when learning to speak a foreign tongue. They are +the inharmonious sounds of the deaf, and those which distinguish the +speech of a foreigner from that of the native-born. + +The recognition of these sounds as the _negative parts of speech_ has +been one of my main accomplishments, and has been of the greatest +assistance to me in my investigations. + +Things _complete_ tell no tales. We must decompose them, reduce them +to their elements, if we want to arrive at the truth in matters of +science. I have succeeded in doing with things spiritual--vocal +sounds--what the chemist is doing with things material. In things +complete, as they are shaped by the hand of nature, the elements of +which they are composed are mingled in such a dexterous manner, are so +happily blended, that they adjust, counterpoise, and complement one +another, and thus live with and in one another. + +These new forms have been created by the elements of which they are +composed, abandoning their separate original forms and now appearing in +a new form, as integral parts of an _harmonious_ entity. These elements +have not only abandoned their form, however, but in most instances have +also changed their character; which in their original composition may +have been of a _discordant_, violent, and even dangerous nature. Take +but the atmospheric air and its elements for an example. + +A similar state of affairs exists in connection with the phenomena +of the material-spiritual world. While vocal sounds, when properly +produced, stand for all that is harmonious and pleasing, their +component parts, their positive and negative elements, by themselves, +offer features of a contrary nature. They also offer us, the same as +elements do to the chemist while making experiments, the opportunity +for making an endless number of combinations. Unless you know what +_simple_ sounds--_i. e._, negative parts of vocal sounds--are, and +know how to produce them, you will scarcely be able to make one class +of experiments which I shall offer in great abundance to sustain my +arguments. + +When I shall reach the subject of vocal sounds proper, I shall +more fully explain their exact nature. I will simply say this at +present: A simple sound is the product of that hemisphere only to +which it properly belongs. A vocal sound is aided and assisted by a +complementary sound from the other hemisphere. The more perfect such +aid, the more perfect will be its tone. Simple vowel sounds are short, +abrupt, the same as consonant sounds when produced all by themselves +and without the aid of a vowel sound uttered in conjunction with them. + + +POSTERIOR SURFACES + +In saying, as I have, that introspection is carried on by looking into +ourselves with the _inner surface of our eyes_, I meant to say, in the +first instance, that we must exclude all exterior vision, and then +attempt to locate and follow up the course of events going on within +us. While in this state we are strictly reduced to our personal and +individual existence. In thus "watching," the function of our eyes, +instead of being used for external material observation, is reversed; +their function now being to observe internally and spiritually. + +In connection with sounds, you will not only "in your mind's eye" _see_ +the places where they originate, and _feel_ the course they are taking, +but you will actually, functionally (in the mode of spiritually seeing +and feeling), "see" and "feel" them. This vision and this feeling is +far from being perfect, however,--not being accustomed to thus seeing +and feeling,--but it may, when continuously exercised, become so in +the course of time. While in this state, besides seeing the places +interiorly, you may also see them exteriorly, by reflection as it +were, and in a reverse order, "as in a looking-glass," in which case +it is still an interior vision reflected exteriorly. As a matter of +fact, I not only believe, but positively _know_, that _every exterior +functional surface has a corresponding posterior one_. + +Whenever a thing is brought _home_ to us, either through our organs +of seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, or tasting, the outer surface +of such respective organ constitutes the positive factor for such +action, while its inner surface constitutes the negative factor +thereof. Whenever the outer world is excluded, however, as during +thought, introspection, and in our sleep, the inner surface of any of +these organs becomes the positive, and the outer surface the negative, +factor. In thus saying, "I see with the inner surface of my eyes," I do +not mean this figuratively only, but literally, functionally, as well; +as I could not see these places and locate them internally nor could +I see any subject or object with "my mind's eye," if the faculty of +seeing were not actually given to the posterior surface of the eye. + +This will become clear when you consider that you will altogether +fail to see internally when you attempt to use the _anterior_ +surface of your eye for the purpose of _internal_ vision. Thus, the +phenomena of vision which accompany thought or dreams, during sleep +as well as in our waking moments, are not merely spiritual, but, in +the sense of internal functional vision, are also material, so to +say. _All_ thought, in fact, is more or less of this same nature. We +use the posterior surfaces of our organs of sense more frequently, +in consequence, than we do their corresponding anterior surfaces. +Physiologists will say there is no such a thing as an inner surface +of the eye capable of seeing. This does not alter the fact that I +actually, functionally, see with the posterior surface of my eyes, and +that everybody else does the same thing. + +I shall, in connection with vocal utterance, have occasion to call +attention to numerous divisions of as positive a character as a wall +of living tissue, of which there is not a trace to be seen by external +vision; these divisions being channels, constantly used in one and +the same direction, some for ingoing, others for outgoing streams of +air and sounds. Of these channels, also, being invisible to the outer +surface of the eye, science has never taken any notice. These invisible +agencies are connecting links, mediating between cause and result, in +connection with material-spiritual or spiritual-material phenomena of +whatsoever nature brought to our consciousness. Hence the inability +of science, in its ignorance of these agencies, to reconcile the one +with the other by the aid of such material only as has been heretofore +at its disposal. We may _see_ proceedings going on which are mediating +between cause and effect, by the assistance of the inner surface of +our eyes. They disappear altogether, as well as any other "vision," +upon an attempt being made at seeing them with the external surface of +our eyes. Yet we may see inwardly with our eyes open, as we do when +absent-minded, etc. + +If we could invent a microscope by the aid of which we could look into +ourselves in a _spiritual_ sense, that is, through posterior surfaces, +_all_ the secret springs of our nature might be revealed to us. This +ability to become cognizant of physiologico-psychological processes +by the aid of the inner surfaces of our organs of sense, reveals +a peculiar functional exercise of their faculties. In matters of +memory they are not intended to aid in conveying to our consciousness +impressions made at the _present_, but those made at a previous time. +These impressions having been made on the soft tablets of our brain, +either during our individual existence or that of our progenitors, and +transmitted to us by dint of heredity, are brought to our consciousness +by the aid of these inner surfaces, _phonographically_. They are +awakened by association; and that organ of sense by the aid of whose +anterior surface they were first received and _recorded_, now reawakens +them by the aid of its posterior surface. Visions, consequently, are +reflections made on the inner surface of the eyes, from impressions +previously made upon the brain, in a similar manner to that by which +sounds come forth from a phonograph. They could not assume shape if +they were not thus reflected. It is owing to the nature of these +reflections that they are more fleeting and evanescent than those made +by the objects themselves upon the external surface of the eyes. + +The anterior and posterior surfaces of all organs, by whose aid we +exercise our faculties, which surfaces represent their poles and dual +factors, the positive and the negative, the material and the spiritual, +change places in conformity with whether an object is impressed upon +them exteriorly or interiorly, in the present or the past, directly or +indirectly, physically or spiritually. Things which are brought to our +consciousness from the exterior world and in a direct manner--through +our senses--may be said to be of a _material_ nature; while those which +come to us indirectly--through our inner consciousness--may be said +to be of _spiritual_ origin. The clearness of our visions naturally +depends upon the clearness of the impression still remaining upon +the tablets of the brain. The more stirring the event in the first +instance, the deeper and more lasting, of course, the impression. All +this, however, does not throw any light upon the process of abstract +thought; nor am I in a position to aid in so doing. Yet it appears +to me to be a sister proceeding; and that a nearer approach to an +explanation of those more material phenomena may finally assist in +arriving at an explanation of the causes of these more recondite and +apparently purely spiritual phenomena. + +The correctness of the preceding remarks will become more apparent +when we substitute for the faculty of seeing, that of hearing. We +hear the voice of another person through the _anterior_ part of our +ear, _entering_, as it does, from _without_. We hear our own voice +through the _posterior_ part of our ear, _going out_, as it does, +from _within_. No matter how low we may speak, we can always hear our +own voice, though inaudible to others; and we can still distinctly +hear it at such time, even when we fail to hear a low, though in fact +relatively much louder, tone proceeding from the voice of another +person. A ventriloquist, on the other hand, with whom these relations +are reversed, hears his own voice reflected from without, inwardly, +while, if he continues in the same condition while listening to another +person's voice, he will hear the latter from within, outwardly. + +For the purpose of testing the correctness of these observations, +please pay attention to the following: In listening to the sounds of +another person's speech, you will have no difficulty in noticing that +they stream into your ear from without, inwardly. Now, substitute for +this other person's voice the sounds of your own voice, _and continue +to listen to the same in precisely the same manner in which you did +to those of this other person_; that is, let them flow into your ear +from without, inwardly. The result will be _that you will not only not +hear the sounds of your own voice, but that these sounds themselves +will become paralyzed, that you will not be able to produce any sound +whatever_. + +The cause is obvious. You attempt to listen to negative sounds with +the side of your ear still tuned negatively; while, ordinarily, when +we cease to listen and commence to speak, _all_ poles are reversed. +Spoken sounds are positive in relation to the speaker, but negative +in relation to the person listening to the same. In consequence, the +producer hears them with the negative (inner) part of his ear, the +receiver, or listener, hears them with the positive (exterior) part of +his ear. + +I copy the following from an article in the _Philadelphia Sunday Press_: + + "A curious fact in regard to the effect of explosions upon the + drumhead, is that this tissue, though generally blown in, is + sometimes blown out. Just what causes the latter result has not + yet been fully explained." + +In this instance, I presume, the person's ear was tuned to listen +interiorly, and the effect of the explosion, which, in relation to him, +was of a negative nature, took effect on the positive, the posterior, +side of his ear. This person was not in expectancy of the explosion, +but it came on unawares, of a sudden, while he was in a state of +contemplation. + +In connection with the eye, our inner consciousness acts as a "rein" +upon the outer, drawing back in case of danger, checking our progress +when suddenly coming upon a precipice, and _regulating our steps_ to +circumvent it, but without coming to a stop, when seeing an obstacle +in our way from a distance. The "rein" in such an instance reverses +the poles of the eyes--the positive becomes negative and the negative +positive; that is to say, in our usual mode of seeing, while walking, +the exterior surface of the eye is positive, the interior negative; +but when there is danger ahead and we are warned to be cautious, the +exterior becomes negative and the interior positive; the activity now +being exercised by the latter, the passivity by the former. The action +of the "rein," however, is not direct, but crosswise; that is to say, +the posterior surface of the left eye is in correspondence with the +anterior of the right, and vice versa, in conformity with the "impulse" +emanating from either the one or the other, while the anterior surface +of the left eye is in correspondence with the posterior of the right, +and vice versa. + +The knowledge of the reversion of the functional exercise of our +organs of sense is of signal importance in connection with motion and +vocal utterance, which always go hand in hand; every utterance being +accompanied by a motion, though not always visible to the eye. In truly +artistic delivery these motions are brought to the highest perfection; +and visibly, though often in great moderation, accompany _every_ +inflection of the voice. + +To be able to see a thing at all, we must be in a relatively proper +position with the object to be seen; we must be on the same plane with +it. We must also have light, not only for the latter, but by reflection +therefrom also for ourselves. In addition we must have the inner light +enabling us to comprehend what we have seen. I contend that for the +study of spiritual-material as well as material-spiritual phenomena, +such light has always been wanting for the thing to be seen, as well as +for the orb to see and consequently for the spirit to comprehend. In +attempting to comprehend, and to explain appearances, physiologically, +we have been looking in our exterior world, where we cannot, in place +of our interior world, where we might be able to see and to observe. We +have been using the outer surface of our eye instead of the inner, with +which to see spiritual things. The thing to be seen and the orb with +which to see were not on the same "plane." It was impossible to perform +the act of _spiritually_ seeing. The proper light once obtained, it +has not only illumined for me the things to be seen, but also my +capacity for seeing and comprehending them. Roentgen has taught us the +method of seeing material things through opaque bodies. I have learned +to recognize spiritual phenomena in opaque bodies, created, as they +are, by a combination of spiritual and material factors. While I have +made use of this gift for a special study--that of vocal utterance--I +incline to think that it may be made use of for the study of not only +all the various material-spiritual phenomena to be observed in the +nature of organic bodies in general and man's in particular, but also +of our relations with the unseen and unknown world and its forces, +in which our essence has its being, whence it comes, and to which it +returns. In minutely explaining my mode of proceeding, it is also my +special desire to rob it of any appearance of "supernaturalness" some +persons might be inclined to invest it with. Though I cannot explain +many things connected with the voice from an entirely naturalistic +standpoint, I think they are all explainable if the proper amount of +study and observation be given to them. This, as a matter of course, +does not, however, include the operations of the mind proper, which are +governed by laws beyond any human understanding. + + +INSPIRATION--EXPIRATION + +The entire mechanism of our being, more especially that of our +faculties and functions, is primarily excited through openings into +which air is inspired, from which air is expired. These openings are +connected with channels and vessels which are passive or negative +during inspiration; active or positive during expiration. Thus the +multiform streams of air introduced into our system communicate with +parts thereof, which, by their construction and intercommunication with +others, are specially adapted for the exercise of any special faculty +or function. Our will directs these streams of air to flow into their +proper channels (and they automatically obey) for the guidance of our +steps in a certain direction, for the production of a given sound, +the recognition of a given sight, the sensation of a peculiar odor, +taste, or feeling, or the excitation of a passion, a compassion, or +any other sensation, feeling, or thought whatsoever. These streams of +air, therefore, are of an order as multiform as the complex web of our +material and spiritual existence, and are introduced through thousands +of different channels and in thousands of different ways. + +To confine our mode of physical and spiritual existence to a single +stream of air introduced into the oral cavity, or the nostrils, and +thence into the lungs, appears to me to be as primitive a proceeding +and as narrow a view as can possibly be taken of one of the greatest +subjects our understanding is called upon to deal with. In place of +that, I have positive proof that the streams of air which flow into +these openings are of the most multiform nature; every sight, odor, +taste, touch, and every sound, and fraction of a sound even, calling +for a special stream of air which no other stream can furnish or +supply. Besides the oral cavity and the nostrils, the eyes, ears, +and every additional opening, down to an almost invisible pore or +capillary vessel, are recipients of special streams intended for +special purposes. _We breathe through the soles of our feet and the +palms of our hands, as well as through the skull of our heads. The +closer we guard our body against the influence of the air, by means of +unnaturally close-woven and air-tight clothing, the less capable we +become of exercising our natural faculties and functions._ + +To this subject I shall devote time and attention at some future +period, more especially in connection with vocal utterance, as it has +everything to do with the production of sounds, which proceed in part +from within, outwardly, and in part from without, inwardly. In so +doing, positive becomes negative and negative positive; inspiration and +expiration equalize each other, and thus a continuous flow of speech +becomes possible, while if the flow were continuously in one and the +same direction it would soon come to an absolute stop. + +It is this that science has done for us: It has clogged up all these +natural avenues to our existence by teaching that we breathe through +the trachea alone, in consequence of the muscle of the diaphragm +forming an air-tight partition between the upper and lower compartments +of our bodies; being ignorant of the fact of that other great tube of +the œsophagus, also opening into the oral cavity, performing the same +functions for the abdomen which the trachea does for the thorax. In +place of all these millions of openings through which we inspire and +expire, science teaches that we breathe through a single tube, into +and out of an _air-tight sack_,--a mechanically impossible proceeding. +By some ill-defined process, air is supposed to find its way into the +thorax and out again after depositing its oxygen in the blood-vessels. +Meanwhile, the balance of our body is left to shift for itself, not the +slightest particle of fresh food ever finding its way into any portion +thereof, except indirectly through the blood-vessels. To my simple +and untaught understanding it appears that if such a state of affairs +really existed--no matter how rapid the circulation of the blood--the +entire hemisphere of the abdomen would be given over to putrefaction in +an exceedingly short space of time. + +Breathing, however, as we do, through the œsophagus, in like measure +with the trachea, and through every other opening in our epidermis in +addition, our body is constantly, uninterruptedly, permeated with fresh +air in its every avenue, vessel, capillary tube, cell, etc., which +sustains us by its life-giving qualities, and takes away with it the +constantly accumulating refuse. + +The muscle of the diaphragm has been the air-tight door to the cell +of the condemned, whose portal has been guarded by ignorance and +every oppression, suppression, fear, superstition, anxiety, bigotry, +narrowness, prejudice, etc., that the human mind is capable of. It has +given us over to self-accusation as a natural and vital element. It +has shut us up into the narrowest limits, and kept us from communing +with the universe and the spirit of the universe. It has excluded from +us the grace, the beauty, the light, the liberty, the eternity of the +_spirit_, and prevented us from recognizing ourselves as integral parts +of the universe and of the causes which sustain it and sustain us. It +has prevented us from communing with them as free agents _in our own +name and by our own right_, without interference or the intercession of +any person or agency whatsoever, in the past or the present. + +Have I placed too great a value on the discovery of the "voice of the +œsophagus"? + +I feel convinced that the further exposition of my observations will +justify me in all I have said. + + +DIAPHRAGMS + +As the trunk has its diaphragm, dividing thorax and abdomen, so do +all dual hemispheres representing a faculty or function have their +diaphragms, performing duties of an analogous nature. _Every_ opening, +in fact, has its diaphragm. Where there is none visible, it is formed +by contraction, whenever needed, and but for the time being. All +these various diaphragms, more particularly the one specially bearing +that name, are of the greatest importance in connection with vocal +utterance,--the sounds of the vessels of the abdomen being produced by +an expansion of the thorax and consequent contraction of the abdomen, +those of the vessels of the thorax by an expansion of the abdomen and a +consequent contraction of the thorax. + +For the purposes of vocal utterance, inspiration into the thorax +produces an expiration from the abdomen by way of the œsophagus, +accompanied by vocal sound, while an inspiration into the abdomen +produces an expiration from the thorax by way of the trachea, +accompanied by vocal sound; the special _mode_ of inspiration +regulating the special sound to be produced. + +This proceeding has reference to outgoing sounds only. For ingoing +sounds the opposite proceeding takes place; an expiration from the +thorax producing an inspiration into the abdomen, and an expiration +from the abdomen an inspiration into the thorax, both accompanied by +sound. Every original inspiration into thorax or abdomen, of course, +must have been preceded by an expiration from these parts, while every +original expiration must have been preceded by an inspiration into the +same. The utterance of every sound, therefore, requires at least three +movements on the part of the respiratory organs. But for the action of +the diaphragm, such sounds could not be produced. + +All these various diaphragms fall or recede for inspiration, rise or +advance for expiration; the function of a diaphragm being exercised +in conformity with the manner in which it is approached. This may be +done by way of the œsophagus or the trachea, _i. e._, from the side +of the hemisphere of the abdomen, or from that of the thorax. The +outward movement of the abdomen during respiration, therefore, is not +caused by a pressure brought to bear on its contents by the diaphragm, +but it advances and recedes in conformity with a direct process of +inspiration and expiration by way of the œsophagus and the trachea; the +œsophagus and trachea sustaining each other and acting reciprocally +and in conjunction. This presumed pressing forward and subsequent +receding of the entrails, in consequence of the descent and ascent of +the diaphragm, presents a spectacle as repugnant as it is impossible +of execution; the extension of the abdomen, more particularly in +connection with special sounds, being so great that no pressure +whatever brought to bear upon the entrails could possibly produce it. + +In place of this theory, now so generally entertained, the simple fact +obtains that the diaphragm descends in consequence of an influx of air +into and subsequent expansion of the thorax, causing a contraction of +the abdomen and an efflux of air from the same; that it ascends in +consequence of an influx of air into and expansion of the abdomen, +causing a contraction of the thorax and an efflux of air from the same. + +[Illustration] + + + + +IMPRESSION AND EXPRESSION + + +All vocal expression is but an echo, the echo of a thought. Thought +_must_ precede vocal expression. It is not possible to produce a vocal +sound, not the simplest, without thought. There is no such thing as a +voice _ipso facto_, no more than there is music in a musical instrument +unless it is called forth by the hand of the player. Try it. Come upon +a sound suddenly, around the corner, as it were, and then express +it. Do not give it a moment's time for its development; that is, do +not give thought time to mould a form for it, but try to utter it in +embryo, so to say, the very moment you think of it, and you will not be +able to do it. You will not produce any sound whatever. + +It is as necessary to form a mould for a sound as it is for any +shaped and moulded material article. Out of this mould it comes +forth in conformity with the form we have given it: harsh, abrupt, +discordant--rhythmical, beautiful, soulful. Such as the thought is, +so will be the expression. In ordinary conversation this proceeding +is automatic and mechanical, in elocution or song more or less +volitional and artistic. That is to say, for ordinary speech it acts +automatically, for artistic utterance it acts designedly. Materially, +the mould is convex, shut, for ingoing; concave, open, for outgoing +sounds. It expands for the former, it contracts for the latter. Vocal +sounds are a product of matter as well as mind; the act itself which +produces them being a connecting link between matter and mind. The +soul calls on the body to aid it in giving form to its desires and +intentions; the body instantly obeys and assumes the form from which +the expected sound or action is to arise. + +No matter how great a soul may be, unless it can give form and +consequent utterance to its greatness, it will be helpless, far more so +than the simplest soul capable of giving expression to its simplicity. +Confined to our own limits, like the congenital deaf, our faculties +become dwarfed and useless. We do not know ourselves, do not know our +own souls. We must expand, go out into the world and take it in, if we +want to grow and give our faculties a chance to develop. + +The greater our horizon, the more we can take in, the more we can +give out. Our soul is scarcely ours when enchained; the greater its +liberty, the more it belongs to us. Hence our just pity for the +congenital deaf, and our desire to assist them in their efforts at +expression. Those among them who are being, or have been, tutored, +receive their impressions through their eyes in the form assumed by +the speaker's mouth; the eye assuming the function of the ear. The +form assumed by their teacher's mouth, however, not being perfect, a +perfect impression cannot be made. Hence the expression of the deaf +is in conformity with the impression they have obtained: mechanical, +material, soulless. The exterior lines of the mouth of the teacher, or +any other speaker's from which the deaf draw their inspiration, are +those of the material side of the medal. Failing to see the reverse +side thereof, namely, the interior of the mouth, which is its spiritual +side, the lines of the latter make no impression upon them. These +fine lines on the interior side of the speaker's mouth, representing +the rhythm, the soul of the voice, not being seen, fail to make that +impression from which alone a soulful expression could arise. + +That an _impression_ may be made through the eye will scarcely require +a defense, in view of the fact that in reading aloud or in singing +from notes the _entire_ impression is made through the eye. The reader +or singer, knowing the _value_ of every sound, is impressed by the +sight of a letter or a note as he would be by the sound itself. Not so +with the congenital deaf, who, being ignorant of such value, cannot +reproduce it. Nor will it be contended, I suppose, that the deaf +knowingly, designedly, or volitionally attempt to imitate the forms +assumed by the teacher's mouth, but it will be admitted that this is +done spontaneously, and that vocal sounds with them arise from this +imperfect mechanism, thus involuntarily reproduced. + +With the congenital deaf, with persons attempting to speak a foreign +language, etc., the material form, as well as the spiritual impetus, +being imperfect, the expression will be in conformity therewith. In +how far and in what manner these investigations may become helpful to +the deaf will be a matter for the not distant future to develop. That +they will eventually become of the greatest aid to them I have every +reason to believe. Those who have made a study of matters of this kind +understand the difficulties surrounding the same. These difficulties +are increased manifold where the ear of the scholar absolutely refuses +to come to his own and his teacher's aid. + +There are forms in which vocal sounds move, well defined and capable of +material representation, which are not fully expressed by the shape of +the teacher's mouth, nor are they thus expressed by impressions taken +by the aid of the camera. Regarding the latter, it is necessary to note +that photographic representations of vocal sounds are the result of +the combined action of the voice of the œsophagus and of that of the +trachea, of material and immaterial factors. Just in how far the latter +are capable of being thus represented must, as yet, remain a matter of +conjecture. + +An attempt at reconciling photographic representations of vocal sounds +with the oscillations of the vocal cords is, at most, a one-sided +proceeding. To arrive at any correct conclusion at all, it would be +necessary to take the vibrations of the "vocal lip" and the frænum into +equal consideration. + +Regarding our capacity for improving the natural physical and psychical +capabilities of the musical instrument of the voice, that depends upon +the manner in which we play upon it. As it yields to the slightest +pressure of the air, either for good or for evil, we must, above all +things, learn how to guide the tip of our tongue in touching its +aërial strings or keys, which are far more sensitive than those of any +instrument ever produced by the hand of man. It takes years to attain a +mastery over the simplest musical instrument; yet it is often expected +that the instrument of the voice should yield to the most careless +efforts made in the most wilful and indiscriminate manner. + +The _thought_ of a sound, after _producing_ an impression, _guides_ +the tongue in _releasing_ such impression. Unless the tongue touches +or moves towards the exact spot which will effect such release, the +expression or the sound will not be forthcoming. That the impression, +as well as its release, should be properly made, it is necessary to +_think_ of the sound which is to be produced, in the most precise and +correct manner. I cannot sufficiently impress upon the reader's mind +the importance this simple lesson conveys. If he will shape his manner +of vocal utterance, especially his mode of singing, in conformity +therewith, he will be able to improve his voice to a far greater +extent than he would by following any or all of the realistic methods +now in vogue. This _thinking_ of the correct sound must be carried on +for the _next_ syllable during the _production_ of the previous one; +and care must be taken not to think of more than one syllable at one +and the same time. Unless this is done, no pure sound will ever be +produced, the impression made by thinking of a second or third syllable +overlapping that for the next following; thus producing a muddle and +a discord. Rhythm being the basis for all perfect vocal utterance, +a rhythmic impression must be made in order to obtain a rhythmic +expression. This cannot be done when the former is not preserved in its +entire purity until it is released. + +All of us, either during our ordinary speech or during our efforts +at artistic expression, are guided by the process just described; +unknowingly, unwittingly, properly or improperly, for good or for evil, +pursuing this same course. I cannot enter upon these matters to any +greater extent at this time, as it will be necessary to first treat of +other matters with which they are intimately connected. + + +THE PHONOGRAPH + +In trying the experiment of coming upon a sound unawares, simply +endeavor to divest yourself of all thought, and then suddenly, without +any preparation whatever, say "a," or "b," or "it," or any word you +wish, and you will not be able to produce such sound or sounds--or, +in fact, any sound whatsoever. Or, you may get some one to, of a +sudden, produce sounds embodied in letters before your eyes; and you +will find you will be unable to utter them instantly. While you cannot +thus produce a vocal sound, or vocal sounds embodied in words, you can +produce _simple_ sounds without preparation. As they belong to but +one hemisphere, and are consequently not the product of a compound +impression, they may be uttered the very moment we think of them. While +they are being uttered, our organs of speech are "shut," far more so +than they are for _vocal_ sounds. + +Consonant sounds cannot be uttered "vocally" without a vowel sound. +When they appear in a syllable their _accompanying_ vowel sound carries +them and permeates them. When they appear singly we add a vowel sound +to them. We say: "ar," "be," "en," "ka," etc.; unless we do so we +cannot pronounce them. Without such accompanying vowel sound they would +be inert. + +"Simple" _consonant_ sounds are unaccompanied, not "leavened," by +a vowel sound. "Simple" _vowel_ sounds, on the other hand, are +unaccompanied by the element which constitutes consonant sounds; while +"vocal" _vowel_ sounds _are_ accompanied thereby. + +The word "surd," used in connection with non-vocal sounds, does not +express the meaning of what I call "simple" sounds, as all sounds may +be either "vocal" or "simple," while "surd" applies only to special +sounds. + +The necessity of making an impression for vocal utterance also prevails +in connection with motion. You cannot lift your right foot or your left +arm, or make any given motion whatever, the very moment you think of +making it. It requires some preparation; though you may lift _part_ +of a limb without preparation. A part of a limb in this sense may +be compared to a _simple_, the entire limb to a _vocal_, sound. The +thought must make an impression by expansion or contraction, which, +when released, will express the desired motion; no matter whether such +motion is made unconsciously or deliberately. It is more difficult to +watch this proceeding in connection with sight; the operations of light +being so rapid that the expression seems to be simultaneous with the +impression. + +Contraction and expansion for motion are of the same order as they are +for vocal utterance. In fact, both are so closely connected that we +cannot utter a sound unless it is accompanied by a motion. In stopping +the motion accompanying a sound, we stop our ability of uttering such +sound. I shall have occasion to call attention to numerous conditions +under which it will be impossible to utter sounds, either separate or +connected, by stopping the motion necessary to produce such sounds. It +is all due to the fact that we are homogeneous beings, _whose powers +are interdependent upon one another_. + +The effect of the teacher's _voice_ upon his or her scholar's +organization is of a _similar_ order to that made by _thought_ upon +the teacher's own organization. That it is not of the _same_ order is +due to the fact that the organization upon which it is made is but +rarely constituted the same, is not as highly organized and developed +or "schooled," as the one from which the voice emanated. The impression +made by the singing-teacher's _voice_ is of the same order as that +made upon the deaf by the _features_ of their instructor which are +representative of his voice. We are living, breathing _phonographs_. +Every impression we receive through any of our senses must be made in +a material manner before it can have its immaterial expression. We +engrave upon living tissue, instead of on rubber or wax. + +I repeat that, to obtain a pure sound, the _thought_ underlying such +sound or sounds must be _purely, clearly defined_. We cannot obtain +a clear impression from a seal whose engraving is blurred, or when +the sealing-wax is not in a proper condition of softness, or when the +hand is not steady which makes the impression. The same conditions +prevail with vocal utterance. Thought makes the impression; the æther, +passing through its narrowed passages at a rate as swift as thought, +creates the sound. The impression is made as _thought_ progresses, the +expression as _sound_ progresses. While the _impression is thoughtful, +the expression is thoughtless_. While we think for a sound during +the impression, we do not think for it during its expression; _but +we think, during the latter, for the next sound_. If this were not +the case, consecutive speech would be a matter of impossibility. The +artist's thought is embodied in the creation of the model for his +statue from which a mould is made. The casting of the statue, equal to +its expression, is mechanical, thoughtless. + +In this connection the brain is of the same order as the tablets of +the phonograph. For ordinary use, however, the lines engraved upon it +are evanescent; they disappear again with the sound or thought which +releases them. Impressions, however, of a deeper nature remain--some +forever. The thought or sounds they represent, the same as the lines +on the tablets of the phonograph, are released but for the time being +and while such thought and sounds (through association) are recalled +to memory. The thought and sounds are evanescent, but the lines which +represent them remain for further use, the same as the lines on the +tablets of the phonograph and the strings of a musical instrument. If +we could read aright the lines which the voice makes on the tablets of +the phonograph or on the negative plates of the photographer, we would +obtain a correct insight into their character. These studies, when +fully developed, may lead to a comprehension of these hieroglyphics, +the same as the Greek translation on the Rosetta stone furnished the +cue to the comprehension of the hieroglyphics of the Egyptian monuments. + + +STUTTERING, STAMMERING + +What is all this I am writing? + +It is an endeavor at giving expression to an impression obtained of +a great subject imperfectly understood. The general ideas underlying +it all are on the lines of truth, but the contours are evanescent, +the lines representing special features ill-defined, while the finer +shadings are almost entirely wanting. It is a stuttering, a stammering, +in matters my mind is too narrow to grasp, incapable of comprehending +in all their bearings, impotent to take in in their ultimate relations. +Still, I am doing what I can with such material as nature has placed +at my disposal. Thought failing to make a clear impression, my pen, I +fear, cannot give a clear expression to it all. + +Regarding the subject of stuttering proper, I must still preface it +with some remarks of a general nature. The influx and efflux of +streams of air into and out of our system, called breathing, is of a +very complicated nature. While we designate the same by the general +terms of inspiration and expiration, these streams are of as multiform +a nature as the ethereal fabrics they are intended to weave, whose weft +they form, and whose warp is of a more material nature. Call these +fabrics what you please--actions, speech, feelings, passions, fancies, +sensations, etc. While these streams form innumerable separate systems, +they are all subject to one and the same law--rhythm. The more perfect +the rhythm the higher the development and consequent performance. + +While we always breathe, or should breathe, in the same rhythmic order +(the octave) for the sustenance of life in general, we unconsciously +breathe in various other measures for an endless number of other +purposes. Our dual nature, and the duality of the manner in which we +breathe, as a rule enable us to go through these various performances +without a disturbance as to the harmonious character of our existence. +It is a great orchestral performance by instruments of various kinds +and orders, each performer playing his own notes, specially adapted +to his particular part and instrument; yet all coming together in one +harmonious _ensemble_. This fact finds expression, clearly defined, in +the various measures in which metre and rhythm are clad for poetry and +song. The introduction into our system of a rhythmic flow of streams of +air for the various purposes of vocal utterance is conditioned upon a +rhythmic flow of thought. + +To perfectly render a poetical conception by words either spoken +or sung, the performer's _mind_ must be in accord with the rhythm +underlying such conception. In that case only will he breathe +and, consequently, speak or sing in the requisite manner for such +production. I should have prefaced all this by saying that, in the same +manner as inspiration and expiration succeed each other in regular +rotation, so do the ordinary measures of long and short (¯˘), or +short and long (˘¯), in simple forms of poetry, succeed each other in +regular rotation; long (¯), or stress, always standing for expiration, +short (˘), or repose, for inspiration. _As a matter of fact, however, +inspiration is of longer duration than expiration._ + +All other forms are artistic, and are produced by a mode of thinking, +and consequent breathing, as variable as the subject may suggest or +demand. For ordinary speech, while the rhythm is not of the same order +as that for poetry, a rhythmic order of some kind must be, and always +is, observed. That the rhythm is not noticeable is due to the fact +that, while inspiration and expiration in prose writing and ordinary +conversation follow each other in regular rotation, they are not always +accompanied by sound. Hence the rhythmic irregularities of speech +exist only in appearance and in the inartistic manner in which speech +is generally, and prose writing often, produced. A person who speaks +and writes his language _well_, speaks and writes it rhythmically, +always. Good style is synonymous with correct rhythmical expression, +superinduced by correct breathing; rhythmic expression depending +entirely upon rhythmic impression, and the latter upon rhythmic +thought, accompanied by rhythmic breathing. + +To write well (that is, a good style), to speak well (as an orator, +actor, or elocutionist), to sing well, it is, above all things, +necessary that the performer's mind should be in a state of conformity +with the situation which is to be described. His flow of thought, and +consequent breathing and mode of expression, will then correspond with +the scope, drift, and circumstance underlying his performance. Unless +this is the case, the latter will be unsatisfactory, unimpressive, +unsympathetic. To prove that for a satisfactory performance this _must_ +be the case, it will but be necessary to call attention to the fact +that under various emotions our mode of breathing undergoes great +changes--as under fear, hate, jealousy, indignation, excitement, love, +enthusiasm, benevolence, languor, apathy, etc. Our breathing under +these different circumstances will, the same as the manner of our +expression, undergo various stages of change as to time and measure, as +well as to rhythm, emphasis and intonation. + +The character and rapidity of the flow of our blood is of the same +order as our manner of breathing. It is, in fact, as I expect to prove +later on, not only of the same order, but of the same origin and +regulated by the same causes. The flow of the blood is not merely of a +material order, but of a spiritual one as well. While it is acted upon +by the mind it reacts upon the mind. + +The thought must be measured and restricted as to time, so as to enable +it to make the proper impression and produce a corresponding expression +_before_ another thought comes along crowding in upon the preceding one +and in so doing _blurring_ the impression made by the latter before it +had been given the time to be expressed. If the necessary time is not +granted for an impression to be made and for the expression thereof +to obliterate the same, the premature flow of another thought, coming +on top of the first, will make a new impression over the previous +one, causing confusion and making a clear expression a matter of +impossibility. Unless our professor, while standing in front of his +blackboard demonstrating before his class, has a sponge in his hand, +and before again writing in the same place wipes out that which he had +written before, the new writing will not be of such a nature that it +can be understood. The slate endures; but the thought and the writing +are always new. Yet, when such writing is of an _impressive_ nature, it +is like that of a palimpsest; though apparently obliterated, its lines +remain, and their meaning can be recalled to memory as often as the +occasion may demand it. + +The "muddle" of which I have spoken is oftentimes so great that no +sound of any kind can ensue, the rhythmic flow of sound-producing +streams having been disturbed and prevented from assuming the necessary +shape for their formation into proper sound-waves by this hasty mode of +thinking. The consequence is a hiatus in the natural flow of speech, +which prevents the thought from materializing in the shape of the word +intended to be spoken. This hiatus the victim of such precipitate mode +of thinking generally attempts to bridge over by spasmodic efforts, +which but serve to aggravate the situation, increasing, as they do, the +disorder in the sound-producing lines. + +Stuttering being caused by a disorder in these lines, the remedy is +to again restore them to order. The disorder having been caused by a +too hasty mode of thinking, superinduced, as a rule, by a desire _not_ +to stutter, or a _fear_ of stuttering, the remedy lies in allaying +this fear. The fear of stuttering, or the anxiety not to stutter, +which obtains while the speaker is producing thought, _itself being +thought_, and coming on top of the thought intended to be uttered, +brings about, or at least aggravates, the very difficulty he was trying +to overcome. Mere thought may wander off and again return to its theme, +unrestrained, and without causing disturbance; but thought which is +to be _vocally_ uttered must strictly adhere to its subject. There +is no impression to be made by the former which must remain until it +is released by vocal sound; impression and expression being almost +simultaneous. In place of making a spasmodic effort, therefore, the +stutterer should endeavor to be calm, and to then calmly _think_ the +word or sentence over again which has become a stumbling-block in his +way. After doing so, he will have no trouble uttering it. + +The fact that stutterers experience no difficulty in singing is a proof +of the correctness of these assertions. While singing, the performer's +streams of life and organs of speech are all _tuned_ to one harmonious +measure. His frame of mind being securely in accord with his theme, +his thought, devoid of fear, flows evenly along with his song. There +is no occasion for haste or trepidation in this instance,--there +cannot be, haste being the opposite to and the enemy of harmony, the +latter meaning a continuous return of the same measure and the same +mode of breathing, the former irregularity and disorder in the mode of +breathing. + +Besides, song, belonging to the pharynx, is spiritual; it is of our +inner nature, and therefore restful and continuous. While speech, which +belongs to the oral cavity, is material; it is of our outer nature, +and therefore subject to every impression, influence, and consequent +change. Elocution, declamation, or recitation, on the other hand, +partake of both our inner and our outer nature. They belong in part to +the pharynx and in part to the oral cavity. + +Experiments may be made by means of making these respective parts rigid +which will establish the correctness of these assertions. + +These experiments can also be made by the application of mechanical +pressure. When pressing your hand or fingers against your throat you +will be unable to speak, though it will not prevent you from singing. +By pressing them against the back of your neck you will be unable to +sing, though you may speak. By pressing them against either side of +your neck you will be unable to recite, though you may both speak +and sing. The slightest pressure, even, will produce these results. +Let me remark, however, that unless the _thought_ of the performance +accompanies it, a mere mechanical pressure will not suffice. + +That _thought_, improperly exercised, is the cause of stuttering or +stammering, obtains from the fact, that the utterance of the singer, +elocutionist or actor, being a matter of memory, and not of original +thought, is _not_ subject to these troubles; though the utterance of +the same persons while speaking, and in so doing, _thinking_, may be +subject thereto. + +Not appreciating its significance, I used to laugh with everybody else +at the anecdote of a stuttering boy in an apothecary shop, who had been +sent down after some article in the cellar. Returning, pale, trembling, +and _stammering_, his master cried out, "Sing, sing!" whereupon he +delivered himself thus: + + "Der spiritus im keller brennt, + Und alles steht in flammen." + ("The spirits, master, are aflame, + And all things are a-burning.") + +In a recent number of _Cosmopolis_, Prof. Max Müller said: + + "Charles Kingsley was a great martyr to stammering, and it was + torture to him to keep conversation waiting until he could put + his thoughts into words. Singularly enough, at church, Kingsley + did not stammer at all in reading or speaking; but on his way + home from church he would say to one with whom he was walking: + 'Oh, let me stammer now; you won't mind it!'" + +While his thoughts were concentrated on his subject, which had probably +been elaborated beforehand and was expressed in rhythmic language, +besides being obliged to speak slowly and deliberately so as to be +heard and understood, he experienced no difficulty. Still, he was under +a restraint. As soon as he was by himself again, he commenced to think +impulsively, as probably was his habit, and gave vent to a torrent of +thoughts, which overleaped each other like waters rushing through a +broken dam. + +There are two main forms in which this trouble manifests itself. The +one is a surfeit, a crowding together of sounds, all of which want to +come to the surface at one and the same time, like a crowd of people +during a panic trying to rush out through the same door, thus causing +a jam. This form, creating a hiatus in vocal utterance, is generally +designated by the term "stammering." That which is called "stuttering," +on the other hand, consisting, as it does, in a repetition of the +same sound, is due to the opposite cause. While the former is due +to too great an effort, this is due to a paucity of effort. The +sound-furnishing element is not under control; it leaks out against +the will, it runs away with you. Hence a repetition of the form once +assumed, in consequence of a lack of nerve force, of a rein to keep it +in check, of a brake preventing it from rushing down-hill with you; +in contradistinction to the act of stammering, in which the brake had +been too forcibly applied, the watch wound up too firmly and beyond its +requirements. + +In the case of stammering the impression has been too quick in shaping +itself into words; in the other it has been too slow in so doing. In +the former case too many moulds have been formed for proper impression; +while in the latter the sound is spoken before the mould has been +properly and _completely_ formed; that part only which had been formed +being uttered and repeated. In the case of stammering there is a +surfeit of impression but a want of sound; in that of stuttering there +is a want of impression but a surfeit of sound. A stammerer is one who +takes in too much, a stutterer one who takes in too little, air for his +hasty way of thinking. + +When this trouble happens with one and the same person--as it sometimes +does--it first assumes one shape and then the other; it turns a +complete somersault in so doing. The balance, the equilibrium, the +point of gravitation, previously overleaped on one side, is again +overleaped, and the person lands on its extreme other side. While a +stammerer he had too much ballast on board, now he has too little. + +A stammerer can return to the point of gravitation by throwing some of +his surplus ballast overboard. _His tongue being tied to his lower jaw, +in which position he is constantly taking in more air than he needs, he +must raise it in order to let the surplus out from beneath the same._ + +A stutterer, whose tongue is running away with him, owing to an +insufficiency of ballast, must take in enough (inspire sufficiently) to +bring him back to his point of gravitation. _His tongue is in a loose +state of elevation, in which position the air is constantly streaming +out (expiring) from beneath the same._ He must _lower_ it to have _his_ +balance restored, as in so doing the air will stream in over and above +the tongue until the equilibrium has been restored. In other words, +the person who is thus agitated must calm himself, he must relax from +an overstrain in either one direction or the other. The diaphragm, +holding the balance of power, will be found to be in as uncontrollable +a condition as the tongue, _with which it always acts in unison_. In +restoring the tongue to a normal condition we restore the diaphragm to +a normal condition. + +The institutions for the cure of stuttering, stammering, and +intermediate stages of the same trouble, attempt to bring about a state +of restoration of the disturbed balance by means arrived at through +experience. The real cause being unknown, the remedies must necessarily +be restricted. If persons thus afflicted will take their own cases in +hand and treat them in conformity with the precepts here laid down, the +chances are in favor of their being cured where no other remedy had +been of any avail. + +As the preceding remarks have been made from the point of view of an +English-speaking person, the standpoint of a German being diametrically +opposite, the same must all be reversed to fit the case of a German, +in so far as locality is concerned. _For stammering, the tongue of a +German is closely wedged in, in the direction of the roof of the mouth; +for stuttering, it is loosely pointing downward._ This is owing to the +fact that a German inspires from under and beneath, and expires from +over and above, his tongue; just the reverse of the manner in which +this is done by an English-speaking person. + +In order to efficiently cure the trouble of stuttering, it is necessary +that the act of breathing and sound-production should be closely +studied with every separate nationality, as these processes differ with +all nationalities; this difference being very pronounced as between +Germans and Anglo-Saxons. For an American to go to Germany, therefore, +to be cured of this trouble, is as false a step as for a German to go +to the United States or England for this purpose. + +While I have in the preceding endeavored to give an account of the +general causes which result in stuttering, I have not touched upon such +special causes as are directly connected with the character and origin +of vocal sounds; the explanation of which must be postponed to a future +period. + + +THE CATHODE OF A VOCAL SOUND + +By an accident, in some respects not unlike the one which drew +Roentgen's attention to the light by whose aid we have learned to look +into and through opaque bodies, I (myself an accident, an appearance +on and soon to be a disappearance from the illuminated surface of the +earth) have discovered eternal laws, by whose aid we shall be able to +comprehend much of what has heretofore been as a closed book to us, +regarding our physical and psychical nature and the exercise of our +faculties and functions. + +During my endeavors to overcome the difficulties which my German tongue +offered to the perfect pronunciation of the English "r" sound, and +during an almost frantic effort on one occasion at so doing, I was +amazed by the fact that while one "r" came to the surface from over and +above the tongue, another made its appearance from under and beneath +the same. The latter was the "r" of the voice of the œsophagus. Of all +this, however, I have spoken at length in my previous publication. + +Though it occurred to me at once like a flash that this was a +revelation of the greatest importance, its real significance was only +made clear to me in the course of time. No matter how I view it, as +time progresses it assumes greater and greater proportions. There is +no event in the history of man which appears to me to be of greater +significance. Through this "accident" I was induced to look closer +and closer into my inner nature, where, to my amazement, I found +that a world, apparently silent and mysterious, and supposed to be +unapproachable, was the abode of numberless physical and psychical +phenomena, clearly defined and definable. + +The "r" which came to the surface from beneath my tongue by way of +the œsophagus was the cathode, the negative end of this sound. The +_product_ of its combination with the _simple_ "r" (which came to the +surface from over and above the tongue by way of the trachea) I had +hitherto produced when attempting to speak English, was the _vocal_ +"r" sound of the English language; the "r" I had hitherto produced +having been the anode--the positive and first part of this sound only. +As Roentgen's cathodic light has illuminated the physical body, so +have cathodic sounds illumined for me the spiritual body of my mundane +existence. I am endeavoring to show my fellowmen this "new light," +whose lustre, also invisible on ordinary occasions, when once seen is +so great that it will never again fade from the memory of the beholder. +As time progresses, it will continue to penetrate ever more deeply into +regions hitherto considered to be impervious to any kind of light; +regions whose phenomena have been called supernatural, or, at least, +beyond the sphere of the knowledge of man. All other anodes or cathodes +of which we have obtained any knowledge belong to physical phenomena +only. The cathode I have discovered belongs to our spiritual life, +being a part of a living vocal sound. + +Think of it! To be able to divide the essence of life and to obtain two +_living_ parts, each endowed with a life of its own! This is a nearer +approach to the knowledge of life than any ever attained before. A +_vocal_ sound is an entity. From entities we cannot learn anything. +They are phenomena complete in themselves. Regarding their innermost +nature, they have always been to us as a closed book. They offer us no +vantage-ground; no opening, no breach, through which we can enter into +the mysterious process of their existence. No matter whether such life +or existence be that of the minutest parasite of a minute vegetable +growth, that growth itself, or the giant of the forest; whether it +be that of a microbe or the microbe of a microbe; whether it be the +essence of a thought, a sigh, a tear, a look, a vocal sound, or of a +human being--their innermost natures are all alike mysterious to us. I +have succeeded in analyzing a vocal sound, and this apparently simple +proceeding has opened up to me endless vistas in endless directions. I +have reduced this entity into its natural elements, and have again put +these together. After resolving it into two lives I have again formed +it into one. I can bring about this analysis as well as this synthesis +at will at any time. + +All know what is meant by vocal sounds, yet few, I repeat, know what +are simple sounds, though constantly used by everybody while whispering +or uttering exclamations, while surprised, alarmed, frightened, etc. My +accomplishment, therefore, is but the _recognition_ of the nature of a +thing constantly before us and brought to our consciousness through our +ear. + +Simple sounds are the anodes, the beginnings of sounds. There is no +life in them, no rhythm, no melody, no light, no grace, no beauty. +These are imparted to them by the fusion of the cathode element of +vocal sounds with this, the anode; the spiritual with the material. +The anode is formed first. It is the passive element, the female, +the patient, the waiting, which must have been before the male, the +impatient, the aggressive. The thing to be fructified must have been +before that which fructifies. + +The anode is quiescent until the cathode comes along, joins it, and +infuses life into it. The creation of a vocal sound is an act of +generation. The cathode, after overwhelming the anode, penetrates it +and diffuses itself throughout it, and thus forms a union whose result +is the production of a vocal sound. Similar unions between anodes and +cathodes are formed a myriad-fold every moment during time's progress, +and result in the creation of an electric spark, or a succession of +sparks, called an electric light, or any other light or fire, or of a +thought, or of the embryo to a new life of any and every description, +etc.; while a discord, a stutter, a _smouldering_ fire, the sight +of a thing too dimly seen to be recognized, a cut or broken limb, a +suspense, a disappointment, a _suppressed_ action or passion, etc., are +anodes not joined by their cathodes. By the juncture of a cathode with +an anode we exercise our faculties, we become conscious of a sight, a +sound, an odor, a taste, etc.; the anode being vested in the thing to +be seen, heard, smelled, or tasted,--the cathode in ourselves. + +_While the anode of a vocal sound may be uttered audibly, the cathode, +by itself, cannot be uttered--the spiritual cannot be materialized +except in conjunction with the material._ The anode, the physical, is +inert until the cathode, the spiritual, has formed a juncture with it, +has been alloyed with it. Every phenomenon of which we become conscious +is the result of a process of this nature. The more perfect the union, +the more perfect the outcome or result, the phenomenon. + +In our ordinary speech this alloy, this union, is of a mutable and +evanescent, in oratory and song it is of a more continuous and lasting, +nature. With persons speaking a foreign tongue, and with the deaf, it +is superficial, imperfect; in many cases, in fact, we hear only anodes, +no union having been effected. The amalgamation, the alloy of the +finer with the coarser, the higher with the lower, the spiritual with +the material, is not at all or but imperfectly performed; the coarser +element prevails and makes its presence felt in every utterance. The +more perfect the union between anodes and cathodes in vocal utterance, +the higher will be the performance, the more perfect the speech, the +more beautiful the song, the more stirring, the more soulful; the +nearer they come to our hearts. + +How do I know all this? I will tell you: By watching the _beginning_ +of a vocal sound; the performance actually going on within us, while +such sound is first being created. This performance is of an inverse +order as between German and English, in so far as the anode for German +vocal sounds is located to the right, the cathode to the left. The +cathode approaches the anode from left to right; while in the creation +of an English vocal sound the anode is to the left, the cathode to the +right, and the latter approaches the former from right to left. The +location where the union _appears_ to take place is in the chest, near +the heart; for German sounds, to the right thereof, for English to the +left. As a matter of fact, however, it is in the heart itself. + +What does the motion in which anode and cathode approach each +other--which is not direct as it at first appears to the observer, but +vastly circuitous--signify? + +The circulation through the vascular system of the elements (of the +æther) creating vocal sounds, or the _circulation of vocal sounds_. The +proofs that this important fact actually obtains will be furnished very +positively and very circumstantially at a later date in connection with +that part of these expositions which treats on vocal sounds. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + + + + +OUR MOTHER TONGUE + + +Nature will have its right always. What is this right in regard to +vocal utterance? It is the manner in which we breathe. When we violate +nature's right in our mode of breathing for vocal expression, our +penalty is that such expression will not be what it is intended to be, +what it should be; the idiomatic expression of every language being the +outcome of a special mode of breathing for the same. + +_All_ my observations in the first instance owe their origin to the +fact that I was breathing in a manner directly opposite to the one +in which it was necessary for me to breathe to correctly produce the +idiomatic expression of the English language. It was not until after +this fact had become clear to my mind that I began to extract from my +organs of speech those sounds which appear so abnormally different and +"strange" to the ear of the bewildered foreigner, who finds himself +completely at a loss how to produce them. The better he becomes +acquainted with the language, the more thoroughly he becomes convinced +of the fact that his mode of speaking English is different from that of +the native-born. Nor will a German _ever_ succeed in speaking English +as it should be spoken until he succeeds in _reversing_ his mode of +breathing. He must go straight to the antipodes in sound production; +he must stand on his head, so to say, instead of on his feet. I shall +fully explain what this means later on. + +I venture to make the assertion that no other person besides myself has +ever learned to pronounce a foreign language _idiomatically correct_, +as I have, by means of applying to his mode of speaking rules based +on actual knowledge or scientific principles. In this manner I have +succeeded in learning to speak English with less of the tinge of a +foreign accent adhering to my speech than usually is the case with +foreigners who have commenced to speak it as late in life as I did. I +do not say this vauntingly, for I do not consider this accomplishment +in itself as of a very high order; but I say it to vindicate my claim +that I have discovered the principles on which the production of +language is based, and offer my personal pronunciation of the English +language to which these principles have been applied as a proof that +I have done so. I am still learning, however, for it takes time and +practice and a great deal of patience to dislodge the old habit from +its wonted haunts and to assign its quarters to a foreign guest. My old +familiar dwelling has thus become a lodging for the English language, +though I can return to it at will with my old and dearly beloved mother +tongue and be comfortable therein. + +The foreign guest, however, who came to dwell therein, does not use +my native home, in his mode of entering it or going forth from it, in +the old familiar way, nor does he use the same apartments for the +same purposes. He enters at the back gate while I used to enter at +the front; he leaves it at the front gate while I left at the back. +He opens his shutters to the east, while I used to look out from the +west, etc. Such differences as these in our mode of breathing exist +throughout the entire length and breadth of both languages. The sounds +we have imbibed in our early youth, however, will always be more +familiar and nearer to us and dearer than those of any other language, +no matter how closely the latter may enter into our lives and our being +at a later period. + + +NATIONAL TRAITS OF CHARACTER + +What constitutes a given number of people a nation, besides their +history, their political organization, and the geographical position of +their territory? What makes every member belonging to a nation, whether +he lives within its territory or has emigrated therefrom, a different +being from every member of any other nation? What makes each member of +a nation resemble every other member thereof, not only in regard to +vocal expression but also in regard to general cast of features, build +of body, movements, gesticulations, etc., and in what may be summed up +as national traits of character? + +No one will deny the fact that such differences exist, as between +Germans, Frenchmen, and Englishmen, for instance. This difference is +not racial, as they all belong to the Caucasian race. It can scarcely +be climatic with nations whose territory is adjacent to each other; +nor is it likely to be religious, historical, or political. There is +nothing very decidedly different in the situation and composition of +these various nations and the individuals of which they are composed, +except their _language_. + +I maintain that language is not only the main point of difference, but +that it is the cause and origin of all other main points of difference. +As language is the main gift which distinguishes men from animals, so +it is also the principal distinguishing mark as between one nation +and another. I maintain, and expect to prove, that the language--that +is, any specific language--acquired in childhood becomes an integral +part of a person's organization, as positively so as any of his other +natural faculties; and that he cannot change it, that is, _in an +idiomatically correct manner_, without changing, to some extent, the +drift of his entire organism. As soon as I began to succeed in speaking +the English language as it is spoken in this country, idiomatically +correct, I changed my nature, to some extent, from that of a German to +that of an American; nor is it possible to learn to speak any language +idiomatically correct without undergoing a similar change. Not alone +my mode of vocal expression, but my motions, my habits, nay, my very +_features_, yes, even my way of _thinking_, in some respects, have +been subjected to such a change; modified, of course, by heredity, +previous habits, and the constant reversion of all this by the frequent +recurrence to my native tongue. In using the term "idiomatically +correct" I mean of course that mode of expression which is peculiar to +a language, its general cast, and which is representative of its genius +and spirit. + +To what do I attribute so powerful an influence? + +It is not easy to say this comprehensively in a few words. I will +say this much, however: That, language being the outcome of streams +of the vital fluid passing into and out of our composition in a +systematic manner, each system varying with every other system, our +vital organs are differently affected, in conformity with the manner +and the rotation in which these streams reach these different organs; +in other words, in conformity with the manner in which we breathe for +our language. This influence is not confined to the vocal expression +of a _nation_. It is influential with and extends to the special mode +of vocal expression in separate districts, provinces, localities, and +cities; nay, it extends to families and single members belonging to +such families, each separate member's expression being the product of +his special mode of breathing, and differing in some respects from that +of every other member of the same family; _such difference in the mode +of breathing being the reflection of every individual soul_. + +The bent of the soul in _individual_ cases determines the flow of these +streams, the same as the bent of the _national_ soul determines the +same for the entire nation. Or, which perhaps would be more correct, +the flow of these streams determines the bent of the individual as +well as national soul. The influence being reciprocal, it would be +difficult to state, as it is with all matters of this kind, _which_ +preponderates, _which_ gives the first impulse. It is of the same +order as the old question (never to be solved) aptly expressed in the +homely query, "Which was created first, the hen or the egg?" + +It is interesting to note the manner in which the vital streams +affecting the character of the two peoples in regard to whom I have +had the opportunity for many years of making my observations, the +Anglo-Saxon and the German, take their course. With the former the +point of gravitation is located in the abdomen; with the latter in the +thorax. + +This gives the Anglo-Saxon a circuitous route for his expression in +coming to the surface; his mode of respiration being the following: + +He inspires into the thorax posteriorly, next into the abdomen +anteriorly. He then expires from the abdomen posteriorly, and from the +thorax anteriorly; vocal expression accompanying the last movement. + +A German's mode of respiration is as follows: He inspires into +the abdomen posteriorly, expiring from the abdomen anteriorly; he +then inspires into the thorax anteriorly and expires from the same +posteriorly, the latter movement only being accompanied by sound. You +will notice that in the former case the breath to be expired and to +be accompanied by sound has been held in the thorax until the abdomen +has gone through an inspiration and an expiration; while with Germans, +inspiration into the abdomen as well as into the thorax are succeeded +by expiration from the same, a direct proceeding as against the +indirect of the Anglo-Saxon. Thus the former secures a force reserved +and held and to be drawn upon as it is needed, while the latter +pours forth his vital force in a continuous stream as soon as it is +engendered. + +The point of gravitation determines the mode of breathing and the +production of vocal utterance. With Anglo-Saxons, the point of +gravitation being located in the abdomen, their speech tends from +below, upward; with Germans, the point of gravitation being located +in the thorax, their speech tends from above, downward. The direction +of Anglo-Saxon expression is from the abdomen, where it has its root, +to the thorax; that of the German is from the thorax, where it has +its root, to the abdomen. It will scarcely be necessary for me to say +to the reader, over and over again, "Try this," "Try that"; I wish +it to be understood, once for all, that this recommendation is to be +tacitly implied as accompanying every statement, every proposition, +every assertion I make. Personally I can go through any one and all of +the performances at any time and at a moment's notice. In making these +experiments, speak or sing _after_ breathing in the prescribed manner. +The prescribed manner being the one in which the _impression_ is made +and from which the _expression_ is produced as a matter of course and +of necessity. An Anglo-Saxon will not be able to utter a word spoken +or sung in _his_ language after breathing in the _German_ fashion, nor +will a German be able to do so in _his_ language after breathing in +the _Anglo-Saxon_ manner. Change either manner of breathing but in the +least, and you will not be able to express yourself in either German or +English; but you may thus be able to express yourself in some other +language. It is, of course, understood that we breathe into the abdomen +through the œsophagus, into the thorax through the trachea. + +In trying propositions like the one now under consideration, it may +not be easy for persons who have not previously given any thought to +matters of this kind to successfully try them. You must give yourself +up to these things, must be _at home_ for them only, for a period at +least, until you have become thoroughly engrossed with them. It is not +a study to be superficially attained. You must enter into it with your +whole soul, your entire being. If you do, you will eventually become as +familiar with the principles underlying these matters as you are with +the letters of the alphabet, or the figures representing the numerals, +and be able to apply the same in as easy a manner and for as various +purposes as you do these. + +Their _indirect_ mode of breathing of Anglo-Saxons produces a +deliberate mode of speech; while German breathing, being _direct_, +produces a speech as rapid in its formation as in its utterance. +_Action being the counterpoise of speech, is of the inverse order of +the latter. English speech being slow and deliberate, English action is +rapid and direct; German speech being rapid and direct, German action +is slow and deliberate._ English character, the same as English speech, +is distinguished by patience and forbearance; these, when finally +exhausted, are succeeded by sudden and violent outbreaks. German +character, the same as German speech, is alternately exuberant and +depressed; contented, but also of a disposition to find fault whenever +the occasion may arise. + +Anglo-Saxons, in consequence of their _indirect_ mode of expression, +are in possession of a reserve force always at their command, but only +called upon on special occasions; hence long-continued forbearance, +and then--a blow for liberty. With Germans, in consequence of their +_direct_ mode of expression, their vital force is continuously being +engendered, and as continuously being exhausted. Hence, they are in the +habit of constantly protesting, and as constantly submitting to the +_status quo_. + +The character of Anglo-Saxons, in viewing things from a practical +standpoint, is as far removed from the ideal as it is from the +pessimistic. It is neither exuberant, overstrained, exalted, nor +despondent; but cool, well balanced, and matter-of-fact. It is not like +the German: + + "Himmelhoch jauchzen, zu Tode betruebt." + ("Raised to the sky with delight; + Depressed to the ground with despair.") + +A German is influenced according to whether he can or cannot, while +losing sight of the real, satisfy his craving for the ideal, for +which, in his direct and impulsive nature, he is constantly yearning; +which the Anglo-Saxon, seeing it is beyond his reach, abandons as +impracticable. + +To comprehend the ideal of whatsoever nature, the German, with +endless patience, tries to solve the most complicated problems; after +solving them he is often satisfied with the result in the abstract; +while the practical Anglo-Saxon uses this result for his utilitarian +purposes. The philosophical German patiently unravels a Gordian knot; +the practical Anglo-Saxon, "Alexander-like, cuts it in two with his +sword" ("Wie Alexander haut ihn auseinander"). Germans love education +for its own sake; it makes of them superior beings, giving them +treasures more highly prized than any others, and far more lasting. +Anglo-Saxons, on the other hand, get their education for a purpose, and +with a view to their worldly advancement. While with Germans education +is "Selbstzweck" (its reward consisting in its possession), with +Anglo-Saxons its reward consists in its application. The question so +often agitated in this country, whether a university education may or +may not be of benefit (that is, in furthering his worldly advancement) +to any one not intending to embrace one of the learned professions, +would never arise in Germany; practical value and education being +things apart, the latter taking first rank always and never being +subordinated to the former. + +Schiller says: + + "[Der Edle] _legt_ das Hohe in das Leben, + Doch er sucht es nicht darin." + + ("[Our aim should be] the noble to inculcate into life, + And not to search for it therein.") + +I am inclined to think that the opposite of this is the usual tendency +with Anglo-Saxons. + +Many other causes might be cited, many other results. These, however, +must answer the present purpose, which is, to show that the course +taken by the vital streams in breathing, besides affecting their +speech, affects the _character_ of nations. + +All this might be summed up in saying: The point of gravitation with +Anglo-Saxons being located in the abdomen, which represents the +material side of life, their being is primarily rooted in the material, +and reaches the ideal by way of the material. The German, on the other +hand, having his point of gravitation in the thorax, which represents +the spiritual part of our existence, reaches the material by way of the +ideal, in which _his_ being is primarily rooted. + +I owe the reader an apology for anticipating in using the terms +"streams of life" and "the point of gravitation." These are not words +without a definite meaning, however; on the contrary, they are of the +greatest significance and of a very definite meaning. Still, I must tax +his patience for a proper explanation thereof till I shall be able to +reach them in due course of time. We cannot approach the steep crest of +a hill by a straight line of ascent, but must patiently wind around and +around its circumference to be able to finally reach its summit. + + +THE AMERICAN NATION + +It will require but a single example, familiar to all, to still more +forcibly show that it is _language_ through whose agency national +traits of character and physical development are produced. How do you +suppose that the wonder has been wrought, and is still daily being +worked, of the great mass of humanity reaching these shores from +foreign lands being merged into one homogeneous nation? The remark is +often made that "it is the climate." If it were the climate, or other +conditions specifically belonging to this country, how is it that +foreigners coming here at maturity always remain foreigners, while +their offspring born and bred here become Americans? Even children born +elsewhere, but coming here at an early age, soon become "Americanized," +while their parents remain foreigners always. These children must have +taken a potent draught, not partaken of by their parents, to not only +change their mode of vocal but also of physical expression; nay, the +vital expression of their entire being. That draught is the English +language. Most foreigners respectively married to an American wife or +husband, and rearing a family of American children, remain foreigners +to the end of their lives. + +It often happens that parents of foreign birth cannot comprehend the +character and actions of their own children, who are _so_ different, +being superficial and frivolous, where they are deep and sound; cool +and calculating where they are fire and flame. Yet these children +possess sterling qualities of another kind which their parents do not +possess. + +I call to mind two brothers, sons of German parents, born in this +country. With the eldest-born the German influence was potent. He was +made to speak German at home and at school, and is to-day, though +married to an American, more German in his manner and appearance +than American, while his mode of speaking the English language also +has something "German" in it. His brother, on the other hand, more +particularly reared under native influences, is a thorough American. +There was nothing in this case but the influence of language which +could have caused this difference. Similar examples might be cited +endlessly. + +If language is capable of exercising so powerful an influence it +must be more than a superficial acquirement. It must be woven into +and interwoven with our innermost nature. What is there in the +English language to make a German's broad and massive forehead, high +cheek-bones, full lips, short chin, and round face, in his offspring +sink into narrow forms and long, oval lines? What makes the lower +jaw, which in him was short and round, in these children sink down +and extend outward, while the upper jaw recedes back? What is it that +makes the jovial and happy expression of the German in his children +change into features of an impassive nature, from which they are only +roused when in action?--features of which it has been said that it is +sometimes difficult to know whether they, sphinx-like, cover a happy +or unhappy disposition; a disposition sometimes so self-possessed and +reserved that its owner might almost reply as Alva did, when asked why +he never smiled: "I would not so demean myself before myself as to +smile." Yet when such a face (especially when it is a girl's) _does_ +smile, its passive features are lighted up in a manner so enchanting +that its beauty amply compensates for its previous apathy. + +I do not wish to say, however, that Anglo-Saxons do not _feel_ either +joy or sorrow as keenly as Germans do (though I have my doubts even +on this score); but they do not carry their feelings with them on +the surface. They sink them into that reserve, at once proud and +self-possessed, which does not wish others to take cognizance of their +private affairs. The nature of the Anglo-Saxon is one of _reserve_, +that of the German one of _abandon_ and _laisser-aller_. This is +not due to heredity in the first instance, but to the influence of +language, by which character and habits are formed. + +Dr. Holmes relates that, after a protracted search for his son, who +had been wounded in the battle of Gettysburg, when at last finding the +"Captain" in a transport train, he went up to him, simply saying, "How +are you, Bob?" and he replying, "How are you, Dad?"--stating at the +same time, "Such is the force of our national habit that, especially in +the presence of strangers, we suppress the impulse of our most ardent +feelings," or words to that effect. A similar proceeding under such +circumstances would be considered "unnatural" among Germans. + +Regarding the change of features, as between foreign-born (German) +parents and their English-speaking offspring, by which the latter's +assume a shape which makes the œsophagus predominate over the trachea, +it will be as impossible for these children to speak _idiomatically +correct_ German as it is for their parents, with whom the trachea +predominates over the œsophagus, to speak idiomatically correct +English. When my features assume the proper shape for English speech, I +cannot produce a single correct German sound, and when they assume the +proper shape for German speech, it is as impossible for me to produce a +correct English sound. + +I expect that this statement will be hotly disputed. The measure of +our ordinary mode of listening, however, must not be applied to these +matters. In some rare instances the difference is so slight that it +takes a very acute ear to notice it. + + +CENTRIPETAL AND CENTRIFUGAL + +While speaking our native tongue our muscles move, our sinews tend, +our vessels lean, _our_ blood throbs, and our nerves tingle with the +essence of our language in _its_ direction, and not in the direction +of any other language. We not only speak and sing our language, but we +gesticulate it, we walk it, dance it, write it, think it, smile it, +and sorrow in it. Everything we do is done differently from the same +thing done by a person speaking another language. The movements of the +muscles of a German are centripetal, while those of an Anglo-Saxon +are centrifugal. With a German they close in around the mouth; with +an Anglo-Saxon they depart from the mouth upward and downward. Hence +the broad features of the German _versus_ the elongated ones of the +Anglo-Saxon. Look at the old people. The centrifugal action with an +Anglo-Saxon even in old age still leaves his form erect, his face +serene, scarcely showing a wrinkle, either on his forehead, his +cheeks, or around the eyes and mouth. Apart from his bleached hair, +he frequently retains a quite youthful appearance. The centripetal +action with a German in old age, on the other hand, has a tendency to +bend his form and draw it together, and to shrivel up his skin into +innumerable wrinkles, so that his mouth often resembles the mouth +of a purse drawn close together. This youthful appearance with aged +English-speaking people reflects on their customs and their costume, +which latter retains much of the tidiness of their younger days. +Germans, on the other hand, age soon. This fact is so apparent that +they conform their habits and general appearance to their age. They +feel old, and unhesitatingly submit to their aged condition. They often +appear old when still comparatively young. English-speaking old people, +on the other hand, are never too old not to wish to appear young. For +the terms "Greis" and "Greisin," which imply a weakened and somewhat +helpless condition, there is no corresponding expression in the English +language. + +Observe a gang of laborers carrying a heavy log. If there are Germans +among them, their heads and shoulders will be bent, as well as their +knees, resembling caryatides in Gothic churches. _They carry from +below, upward._ Those who speak English, on the other hand, will walk +with heads erect, straight shoulders, and stiff knees, resembling the +caryatides of the Greek temples. _They carry from above, downward._ + +The German mode of expression is produced by contraction, expansion, +contraction; the English by expansion, contraction, expansion. For +the former, contraction takes place _towards_ the diaphragm, first +upward and then downward; that is, from the feet upward, and then from +the head downward. For the latter, expansion takes place _from_ the +diaphragm, first upward and then downward; that is, from the diaphragm +towards the head, and then from the diaphragm towards the feet. + +Artists must study these things if they want to get a proper insight +into life, and the action of life, characteristic of different nations. +The simple study of anatomy gives them no clue to these matters. +Everything we do is done differently from the same thing being done +by a person speaking another language. The books on physiology do not +make mention of these matters. They treat all nations alike. They tell +an Englishman that in closing his mouth the muscles of the upper lip +by a direct action are first raised and then lowered, while those of +the lower are first lowered and then raised. As a matter of fact, the +natural tendency with English-speaking people is towards having their +mouths open. In closing the same the lower lip is first raised, then +lowered, the upper is first lowered, then raised, and again lowered; +whereupon the lower lip is raised. This gives three movements to each +lip. The natural tendency with Germans is towards keeping their mouths +closed. To _firmly_ close the same they must raise the upper lip, lower +the lower, lower the upper, and then raise the lower. This gives two +movements to each lip. These motions are _indirect_ with Anglo-Saxons, +with Germans they are _direct_. With Anglo-Saxons the lower jaw is the +main instrument; with Germans it is the upper. With Anglo-Saxons the +lower moves up to the upper; while with Germans the upper closes down +on the lower. That Anglo-Saxons move their lower jaw up to the upper, +to them will appear as a matter of course; yet Germans do not do this; +with them the lower jaw is first raised to be in position to be met by +the upper, the latter being lowered from the atlas by motions made by +the entire upper part of the head. + +During speech the head of an Anglo-Saxon remains impassive; there is no +perceptible movement except in connection with his lower jaw. Hence his +stolid immovability in contradistinction with the mobility and vivacity +of a German, whose entire head, often accompanied by his entire body, +appears to take part in his speech. These motions, though fundamental +with these peoples, vary with locality, individual character, +temperament, etc. A German if he keeps his cranium entirely still will +be unable to produce a sound; while an Anglo-Saxon will be unable +to produce a sound if he should move it as Germans do. A German's +power of vocal utterance lies in the flexibility of his cranium; an +Anglo-Saxon's in that of his lower jaw. + +An Anglo-Saxon grinds the teeth of his lower jaw, in anger or in +passion, or while masticating food, or under any other circumstances, +against those of his upper; a German grinds those of his upper jaw +against those of the lower. + +All motions in connection with vocal utterance on the part of an +Anglo-Saxon are of a decidedly larger compass than those of a German; +the latter being confined to the slight motions he is able to make with +his head, while the former frequently draws down his lower jaw to a +very great extent, far more so than a German would be able to draw down +his. + +The "life" with the German is in the upper, with Anglo-Saxons it is +in the lower jaw; the former representing the thorax, the latter the +abdomen. While the thorax, as already mentioned, with Germans is the +predominating vehicle for every performance of life, with Anglo-Saxons +it is the abdomen. + +With Germans the lower jaw is the anvil, the upper the hammer; with +Anglo-Saxons the upper is the anvil, the lower the hammer; the action, +the life, always being with the hammer. + +If you watch an American girl chewing taffy you will find her lower +jaw going way down, then out, and up again. This is characteristic +of the manner in which Anglo-Saxons breathe and speak. The chewing +process, owing to the adhesion of the taffy to the teeth, together with +the greater flexibility of a girl's jaws, brings out these features +more strikingly than under ordinary circumstances. In chewing taffy +the lower jaw (the hammer) meets with some difficulty in making its +movements; it is therefore lowered as much as possible, so as to be +able to more effectually close in with the upper (the anvil). A German +girl's movements under similar conditions are restricted, being largely +confined to the upper jaw, which cannot be raised to any great extent. + +An Anglo-Saxon speaker or singer makes movements similar to such a +chewer of taffy. He draws his lower jaw down and out to make room in +the lower cavity of his mouth for the expression of his main sounds. +These are the product of the abdominal cavity and find their way out +through the œsophagus from _beneath_ the lower surface of the tongue. +Here they pass the replica and the frænum, which impart to them their +rhythmical expression. Any one doubting the correctness of these +statements, by making the replica and the frænum, or either of them, +rigid, will not, if he is an Anglo-Saxon, be able to produce a single +sound; if he is a German, he will still be able to utter his main +sounds coming to the surface through the trachea, over and above his +tongue. An Anglo-Saxon, on the other hand, may still speak when he +makes the vocal cords of the larynx rigid; while a German in that case +will be unable to produce any sound whatsoever. To these matters I have +already called attention in a previous publication, in connection with +the man who was deprived of his larynx by a surgical operation, but not +of his power of speech. + +A similar experiment may be made in regard to breathing. By making the +soft palate, representing the thorax, rigid, you will not be able to +inspire, though you may expire. By making the bottom of the mouth close +to your teeth (_the soft palate of the lower jaw_), representing the +abdomen, rigid, you will not be able to expire, though you may inspire. +With a German the precisely opposite facts prevail. By making the soft +palate rigid, he will stop expiration; by making the bottom of the +mouth close to the teeth rigid, he will stop inspiration. + +During vocal utterance, with Germans every superior muscle first moves +downward, every inferior upward; while with Anglo-Saxons every superior +muscle first moves upward, every inferior downward. This is preparatory +and previous to action. _During_ action the German opens his mouth, the +Anglo-Saxon closes his. Hence the Anglo-Saxon's half-open mouth while +in repose, and his almost stern expression while in action, pleasurable +action even, which has provoked the witty saying that "Englishmen take +to their pleasures sadly." + +The abdomen being the centre of gravity for English speech, and the +lower jaw being in direct communication with the same by way of the +œsophagus, by making the lower jaw rigid you stop the flow of English +sounds. The thorax, on the other hand, being the centre of gravity for +German speech, and the upper jaw being in direct communication with the +same by way of the trachea, in making this jaw rigid you stop the flow +of German sounds. + + +ROTATION OF CENTRIPETAL AND CENTRIFUGAL ACTION + +Speaking of centripetal and centrifugal motion as separate actions, +there must, of course, be a _rotation_ of these actions to produce a +_complete_ action of any kind. We, however, speak of the one which +_prevails_ over the other, as _the_ action under consideration. Thus +when I say a German's mode of eating is centripetal, I say so because +the action of his jaws being direct, it is first centrifugal, then +centripetal, then centrifugal, then again centripetal. When I say an +Anglo-Saxon's mode is centrifugal, I say so because the action of his +jaws being indirect, it is first centripetal, then centrifugal, then +centripetal, then again centrifugal, and finally once more centripetal. +This, with a German, of course, means: Open, close, open, close. +With an Anglo-Saxon it means: Close, open, close, open, close. This, +however, only gives the main features of an act of eating, etc., as +well as uttering sounds; any of these acts, in reality, requiring +_eight_ movements to carry on one _complete_ act. When centrifugal +prevails centripetal follows, and when centripetal prevails centrifugal +follows. It stands to reason that an action which is composed of open, +close, open, close, or close, open, close, open, close, cannot continue +in the same rotation indefinitely, but must be complemented by a motion +of the opposite nature; such complementary action, however, always +being executed inwardly and not outwardly. While the action of the jaws +just now described precedes mastication, the inner action complementary +thereof is accompanied by the act of swallowing. + +Thus with a German there are four movements preceding mastication and +four for swallowing; with an Anglo-Saxon there are five movements for +the former and three for the latter; while the act of mastication +proper with both nations consists of eight movements which are repeated +as often as is necessary for the act of swallowing. + +The respective manner in which knives and forks are handled in eating +by Germans and Anglo-Saxons, as well as the different manner in which +they dance, and the characters they use in writing, might be cited as +results of the different modes in which centripetal and centrifugal +actions prevail with them. The characters Germans use in writing being +centrifugal in their nature and those Anglo-Saxons use centripetal, +this can only be accounted for by assuming that the muscular action +preparatory to the act of writing in both instances is of the opposite +nature. + +In consequence of the centrifugal movements of their jaws and lips, the +teeth, with English-speaking persons, are always on exhibition; while +the centripetal movement prevailing with Germans conceals them. The +consequence is that English-speaking people pay the utmost attention to +the care and perfection of their teeth, while Germans, in the highest +ranks even, frequently neglect them to an almost shameful degree. The +direct outcome of this state of affairs is the great advancement which +the practice of dentistry has made in this country and in England, +while it is one to which, on the continent of Europe, but comparatively +little attention is being paid. + +With English-speaking people, especially the women, whose lips are more +flexible than men's, the teeth of the upper jaw are more frequently +exposed than those of the lower, for this reason: The œsophagus being +the main instrument for English speech, its sounds, in coming to the +surface from beneath the tongue, require the latter to remain in a +semi-raised position most of the time; the upper lip, being in the +way of these sounds coming to the surface, must be raised for the same +reason; in so doing it exposes the upper row of teeth. The lower lip +is lowered for the sounds of the trachea for the same reason that the +upper is raised for those of the œsophagus. Whenever the upper lip is +raised the lower must be immediately lowered, and vice versa. With +Anglo-Saxons the main movement is with the upper, with Germans it is +with the lower lip. Owing to the centripetal action with Germans, these +movements are less pronounced than they are with English-speaking +people. + +The act of smiling being produced in the same order as that of +speaking, the same conditions prevail in relation to the same. + +In speaking English you can "feel" that the upper lip is the main +vehicle; _it has all the life in it_. In speaking German you can "feel" +it is the lower, which for that language possesses the life. If you +make the former rigid you cannot speak English; if you make the latter +rigid you cannot speak German. + +In connection with the movements of the lips it will be noticed that +while the upper jaw and the roof of the mouth are dominated by the +trachea and the thorax, and the lower jaw and the bottom of the mouth +by the œsophagus and the abdomen, the upper lip is dominated by the +sounds of the œsophagus, and the lower by those of the trachea. This, +however, is owing to mechanical reasons only, as explained, and not to +vital causes. + +The foreigner who learns to speak the English language ever so well, +though he may reside here almost a lifetime, if he does not learn +to speak it _idiomatically_ correct, will not be influenced by it to +any great extent in any of the various manners of which I have made +mention, either as regards his features, character, habits, motions, +thoughts, etc.; but, in spite of his "English," he will still be a +foreigner. This foreigner's children, however, provided he does not +influence them to the contrary through pride of his native tongue, and +if reared under native influences, will become thorough Americans. + +There need be no fear, therefore, that immigration might bring to +this country a permanent foreign element. Such elements, when they do +come, are of a passing nature. Their offspring, in passing the crucial +test of the English tongue, sink the foreigner into the all-absorbing +element of the English idiom; and in so doing are merged into and +become an integral part of the people of this country. They may come +of whatever nation, from whatever land; no matter how they may appear, +act, or speak, the English idiom will continue to make them Americans, +in their children at least, in the future as it has in the past. +There is thus in the centrifugal force which dominates the speech of +Anglo-Saxons that which is a safeguard to the homogeneity as well as +the institutions of this nation. + +An Anglo-Saxon cannot be a bondsman; his language forbids it. The +centrifugal force which prevails with him does not permit fetters. The +children of all foreigners born here and speaking the English language +come under its spell. If language did not have this supreme influence, +there is no other influence that would have prevented this country long +ago from having become inhabited in special districts with permanent +groups of people foreign to its aims and institutions, and alien to its +genius, its character, and its customs. In districts where German is +spoken as the principal language, as in some parts of Pennsylvania and +Wisconsin, it is not, with the native-born at least, the pure German +language, but its idiomatic expression is that of the English tongue. + +People say, "It is the climate." We have every climate under the sun; +yet in all that is essential the man from Maine is as thoroughly +American as the one from Texas; the gold-digger in the frozen regions +of the Yukon as the man of the orange-groves of Florida or California; +the American fisherman on the Banks of Newfoundland as those on the +Gulf of Mexico; the man who battles on the plains against the Indians +as he who serves under the banner of the Republic and upholds its glory +in foreign lands and seas. You can tell an American the moment you look +at him. Yet if you ask some of them where their parents were born, you +will hear strange tales of lands and peoples across the sea and far +away. + +Language does not work _every_ wonder, of course. The influence of +heredity perpetuates that of language; but the latter is the primary +influence. Nor can it be denied that _every_ foreigner living here +for some time, whether he has learned to speak English or not, will, +to some extent at least, be influenced by the habits, customs, +institutions, climate, and language of this country. This does not +detract, however, from the force of my argument regarding language +and its influence as the most vital force in shaping a people's +characteristic traits, physically as well as spiritually. + +There has been of late a great deal of talk and enthusiasm even +regarding the desirability of a closer alliance between the two great +English-speaking nations; their natural affinity and kinship. This +affinity, this belonging together, this being of one family and one +stock, is commonly expressed by this term, "English-speaking peoples." +That which I have endeavored to explain at length is thus tacitly +acknowledged to be correct through the use of this term, which implies +that it is _the English tongue_ which makes these peoples one in +sentiment, in feeling, in their aims and purposes, as it makes them +one in their physical appearance, their motions, the exercise of their +faculties and functions, etc. + +[Illustration] + + + + +NATIONALITY AND RACE DISTINCTIONS + + +While the English language makes Americans of all foreigners, it does +not, of course, obliterate race distinctions as long as races continue +to exist as such. Persons of alien races, nevertheless, when born in +this country and reared under native influences, will become "American" +in a truer sense than foreigners belonging to the Caucasian race coming +here at maturity. I dare say Frederick Douglass was truly more of an +American, in all this word implies, than any foreigner who ever came to +live here; and so are all the better classes of native-born negroes, +in a certain sense, more truly American, this indescribable something +which constitutes a nation, than any aliens whosoever. + +A gentleman once told me that, travelling on a steamboat on one of +the New England rivers, he had been inadvertently listening to a +conversation carried on behind him, between what seemed to be two New +England farmers. On rising from his seat, he saw that one of the men +was a Chinaman, dressed like the other and conversing precisely as he +did. + +Seeing an acquaintance, he pointed out the Chinaman and asked if he +knew who he was. + +"That's Jimmy O'Connor; he's from So-and-so." + +"I mean the Chinaman." + +"Yes, the Chinaman; that's him. You know he was picked up at sea, +when still a baby, by a New Bedford whaler, and was brought up in the +captain's family, who adopted him. He's as good a farmer and as true an +American as you can find anywhere." + +These studies are meant to be purely objective, and have no concern +with politics or policies, regarding undesirable immigration, +or issues of a similar nature. But language is nationality, and +nationality language, always, in the first instance; and the purer +a language is spoken, the truer, purer, and better such nationality +will be expressed and represented by those who thus speak it. What an +incentive to aim at the purest and best expression of language, for +any people! But it will be said that language is subject to change. +If it is, so will the people who speak it to some extent change with +it. Such change, however, is in its dress, in words mainly; rarely +and at long intervals, and under very peculiar circumstances only, in +its expression. As a matter of fact, I doubt whether a change of the +_idiomatic expression ever_ takes place. + +The difference existing between the English spoken in the United States +and the mother country might be cited as an example. The idiomatic +expression is precisely the same. But the necessary self-reliance of +the first settlers, the privation, the barter and exchange, the vast +extent of the territory of this country, the greater independence +enjoyed by its people, etc., might be named as reasons for the greater +dash and freedom, together with a possible want of culture, as compared +with the language spoken by educated Englishmen, prevailing in its +utterance. + +The same influences prevail regarding the general appearance, motions, +and characteristic traits of these respective nations. Though closely +allied and connected in a specific, and very nearly allied to each +other in a general sense, there is that which distinguishes the English +of the old world from those of the new, and which can be easily +recognized. + +Being centrifugal, the English idiom, octopus-like, embraces anything +and everything that comes within the radius of its omnivorous capacity, +without, however, losing its original character. It is like a fisherman +who has hung out his net in the ocean, taking in all that comes along; +or like the sea itself, greedy without end. It has no scruples about +roots and construction, but construes everything according to its wants +and adapts it to its uses as it comes along from any quarter. + +These adopted children, these waifs, however, it must not be lost +sight of, before they become integral parts of English speech must +submit to a change of their original idiomatic expression. No matter +who came--Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, or French--the people of the +British Islands, while adopting their _terms_ of expression, remained +true to their original _idiomatic_ expression. As this country absorbs +people from the whole world and makes one homogeneous American nation +of them, so has the English language absorbed, and is still absorbing, +words from every other people's language, and has transformed them into +one homogeneous language of its own. + +Comparative philology, if it wants to accomplish that which would be +most worthy of its efforts, will have to come down to these strong and +basic roots of language. + +The German language, whose idiomatic expression is centripetal, on the +other hand, does not possess the same capacity for adopting foreign +words and adapting them to its idiom. When it does adopt them, as, +for instance, those of French origin, they are pronounced, not in the +German, but, as far as the German people are capable of so doing, in +the French manner. They could not, in fact, be pronounced in the German +manner, the German language being a close corporation, so to say, which +does not admit of any foreign shareholders; while the English language +is a company open to all comers. While it is the endeavor of Germans +to _purify_ their language by expelling as far as possible any foreign +word and element therefrom, Anglo-Saxons are constantly adopting +new words from foreign languages. It would be equal to the labor of +Sisyphus for Anglo-Saxons to endeavor to purify their language from +foreign words, in the same sense that Germans are attempting to purify +theirs. + +It appears to me that the capacity of England for successful +colonization is largely due to the centrifugal force inherent in its +language, while the want of success of Germany for the same purpose is +due to the absence of this force. Anglo-Saxon government tends toward +decentralization, German toward centralization. I say this in spite of +the fact that Germany is still divided into many principalities; the +fact of its adherence to this undesirable condition being a proof of +the correctness of this assertion rather than otherwise--Germans not +being able to readily get out of that in which they are once rooted. In +regard to governing peoples in distant territories or colonies, this +tendency is of importance. English government, being undemonstrative, +is more effective than German, which is demonstrative, meddlesome, +and therefore offensive; the former being material and practical, the +latter immaterial and inclined to be visionary. + +In a word, where are we to find explanations regarding national traits +of character except through inner motive powers, productive of results +individual as well as national? There is no factor which exercises an +influence upon a nation as a unit so wide in extent and of so powerful +a nature as that of language. It is the _only_ motive power, in fact, +which every member of a nation shares with every other member thereof, +but not with any member of any foreign nation. + + +IDIOMATIC EXPRESSION + +Although it is a well known fact that every language has an idiomatic +expression, an intonation of its own, I am not aware of any attempt +ever having been made at definitely stating what such expression, +or intonation, really consists in; and in what respect it differs, +as between one language and another. Yet this fact should be the +most important of all in connection with ethnological studies. It is +necessary to know what a people's idiomatic expression is before we can +begin to make a study of its language, in comparison with that of any +other people, by which we may expect to arrive at conclusions of any +real value in an ethnological sense. + +In comparison with idiomatic expression, the study of the roots of +words and their derivation, it appears to me, is of but secondary +importance; idiomatic expression being the _kernel_ in which the tree +of national expression had its incipiency, its origin. It is the +life which pulsates through its veins, in which it has its stay and +maintenance; the nerves which tingle with its intelligence, its genius, +its soul. Take away this soul, and it ceases to exist. For every +language there must have been a strong impulse making an impression +before there could have been any expression at all. This impulse must +have been of so powerful and continuous a nature as to have left its +impression upon the minds of a sufficiently large number of people to +form the nucleus for the expression of a specific language, and, in so +doing, constituting such people a nation. + +I have already stated that it is _motion_ in the first instance which +superinduces a specific mode of breathing and consequent expression. It +is to motion, then, that we must ascribe the first impulse. Such motion +may have been active as to defense against enemies, wild beasts, or +the elements; or it may have been passive, consisting of the continuous +noise produced by the motion of the sea, tempests, or thunder-storms, +making a great and lasting impression. Then, again, the influence may +have been of a peaceful, balmy, beneficial nature, as with people +living in security, in a mild climate and on fertile lands. The +stronger the expression of these movements, the stronger the impression +they made and the more powerful the expression of the language; the +softer and more harmonious their expression, the softer and the more +rhythmical the expression of the language. These influences made their +first impression by superinducing a mode of breathing in conformity +therewith. + +Thus sounds giving expression to pain, perhaps, in the first instance, +or to sorrow, joy, surprise, etc., were made in conformity with +this, their specific mode of breathing. These outcries, consisting +of syllables, grew into words and sentences, which, being uttered in +conformity and sympathy with their special mode of breathing, created +a specific idiomatic expression. The same process, from its first +inauguration, and with but slight alterations, has been practised and +persisted in by the same people from the beginning to the present +time. With the English people, as already mentioned, no migration, no +invasion, no conqueror, no matter how powerful, has been able to swerve +it from its path. The _most_ these invaders could do was to graft +some of the expressions in which _their_ ideas were clad, some words, +on to this aboriginal stem. This stem was so strong in its primeval +conception that it could bear all these exotic graftings without losing +its character, absorbing all, welcoming all beneath the widespread +roof and homestead of its branches. It proved its superiority over the +idiomatic expression of these foreign tongues by its survival, as the +fittest. + +[Before proceeding further, I want to remark: these studies having been +made from an Anglo-Saxon point of view, it is just possible that a +preponderance of observations may have been made on that side; while, +if they had been made from a German standpoint, the preponderance most +likely would be on that side. This, no doubt, will be the case should I +at any future period be able to write all this, as I intend to, in the +German language.] + +What is this original sap in the English, and what is it in the German +language? + +The aborigines of the British Isles, living apart from their +continental brethren, became possessed of an idiom different and +apart from any other. It was the idiom of the _sea_, by which they +were surrounded; the motion and commotion of the waves, the surf, the +incoming and outgoing tides, their undertow and overflow; the waves +advancing toward the shore, their breaking against it, and their final +retreat from the same. + +The English language is a raft living upon the ocean. You can _hear_ +the waters rushing through it and on to the shore and back again. You +can feel the waves rising up to gigantic heights, and then falling +to and below the level of the sea. You can feel the undertow in its +reserve force, quiet and subdued like the lull before the storm, yet +capable of almost any demonstration. You can feel all this in the +strength and vigor of its diction as expressed in its prose and poetry. +This is not a mere poetical conception, but a truth capable of actual, +practical demonstration. + +While reading poetry or prose, or while singing, fancy seeing in your +mind's eye the ocean with its waters in commotion, either the open sea +or the surf near the shore, and you will _feel every word you utter +mingle with its waves. These pictures will never disturb your fancy, +but will associate with it in perfect harmony._ Now substitute for the +picture of the ocean and its tumult some rural picture, as of a field +of grain or the branches of trees tossed by the wind, or the flow of a +river, or even that of the sea itself when perfectly calm. Keep such +picture before you exactly as you did that of the sea in commotion. +While reading, speaking, or singing English you will not be able to +_hold_ such picture; _it will soon disturb you, and to such an extent +that you must cease thinking of it, or be obliged to stop your reading, +singing, etc._ + +The impression made by the ocean, in fact, is so great that it +dominates the _thought_ and the entire being of English-speaking +people. This is the case to such an extent that if you continue to +persistently _think_ of any other image than the ocean, even without +uttering any sound whatever, it will so greatly perturb you that you +will be unable to continue thinking at all. You may, on the other hand, +continue to think for an indefinite period of the image of the ocean +without experiencing any disturbance whatever. + +While the basic element of the English language is closely affiliated +with the ocean, that of the _German language_ is affiliated with the +_woods, and the blowing of the winds_. In their habitation in the +forest, the wind made so deep an impression on the primeval inhabitants +of Germany that you can feel its _soughing pervade all German diction_. + +If you are a German keep the picture of the woods before you and the +soughing of the wind through the tree-tops, and it will harmonize with +German thought and diction. Substitute a picture of the ocean for it, +or almost any other picture, and you will not be able to vocally utter +German thought, nor will you be able to continue thinking in the German +language at all. + +In place of conjuring up these pictures in your mind's eye you can +substitute _real_ pictures representing these scenes, and while +contemplating them the effect will be the same. + +After pursuing the picture of the ocean for a while, say: "English;" +after pursuing that of the woods, say: "Deutsch;" either will come +quite naturally, but you cannot reverse them. If you attempt it, these +words will not be forthcoming. + +While with English diction there is _a pause and then an emphasis_ as +of the waves coming on and then breaking against the shore, so, with +German diction, there is an _emphasis and then a pause_, as of the +blowing of the wind succeeded by a calm. These, in a word, are the +characteristic elements in the idiomatic expressions of these peoples; +English idiomatic expression being _low succeeded by loud_; German, +_loud succeeded by low_. + +The influence of the ocean with its continuous uproar formulated the +speech and character of the English nation into one of strength and +reality, with its centre of gravity in the abdomen. The peaceful +influence of their habitation in the woods, together with the +impression made by the wind, the singing of birds, etc., formulated the +speech and character of the German nation into one more of ideality, +with its centre of gravity in the thorax. + +The fondness of the English for the sea, their supremacy thereon, etc., +need not be amplified upon: + + "Wherever billows foam + The Briton fights at home, + His hearth is built of water." + +The fondness of the Germans for the woods is equally noted: Der +"dunkle," "zauberische," "geheimnissvolle," "heilige"--Wald (The +"darkly deep," "magical," "mysterious," and "sacred" woods) are but +common expressions. + +There is not a word in the English language of the same significance +as that of "Der Wald." It embraces many ideas, of which the words +"the woods" and "the forest" are not expressive. These, in a literal +translation, find expression in the words "Das Gehoelz" and "Der +Forst," which are of a more realistic nature. + +The English language, on the other hand, is full of expressions +applying to nautical matters and to the sea, for which there are no +adequate expressions in the German language. + +The fondness of the present Emperor of Germany for the sea must be +attributed to the English blood flowing in his veins. While it is his +desire to create a powerful navy, the people of Germany are indifferent +to, and obstruct rather than assist, the accomplishment of this desire. + +Idiomatic expression, the soul of language, has its incipiency in the +_soul_ of a people, and may pervade it for centuries before the _body_ +of the language, the _words_ in which its thoughts are clad, makes its +appearance. It must have taken many centuries more before these words +grouped themselves into sentences and assumed the shape of speech. The +words may change, but the idiomatic expression will always remain the +same. + +So, also, must the soul of man have had existence for an indefinite +period of time before a body was formulated to clothe it in. The +spiritual cell, if I may be permitted to use such an expression, must +have existed before the material; or, in other words, the spiritual +cell must have made its appearance long before the material cell +_commenced_ to make its appearance. + + +RELATIONSHIP SUPPOSED TO EXIST AS BETWEEN THE GERMAN AND ENGLISH NATIONS + +It is a common saying that there is a close relationship existing +between the German and English nations. There is no greater fallacy +than this. I contend that this relationship is of a very distant +order, consisting, as it does, merely in words, or, as I have said, +garments loosely flung around the sturdy, strong, and unalterable stem +of English idiomatic expression. In every other respect there is a +great dissimilarity and antagonism even, existing between these two +peoples. If there is any analogy existing between them at all, it is +one of opposition; one that is based on the idea that extremes meet +(_les extrêmes se touchent_), their poles being diametrically opposed +to each other. + +There is no more relationship existing between (Anglo-Saxon) German and +English than there is between (Norman) French and English; the German, +French, and English languages each possessing their own especial and +unalterable idiomatic expressions. Whatever foreign words either of +them adopt must be subjected to their idiom, or keep floating along as +best they may in their original character. + +The entire aspect of these three nations, the French, English, and +German, points to the fact that there must be a radical difference +in their vital mode of existence. Just what this vital mode consists +in, in respect to the two latter nations, I expect to still further +establish in a future publication. Both languages traverse nearly the +entire range of the vital organs in opposite directions. Hence the +strength and also the weaknesses of these languages, as compared with +other languages which, extending from side to side, have a smaller +compass but a comparatively purer range of sounds. Regarding other +nations and their languages, I trust others, thoroughly familiar with +the same, by applying to their investigations similar principles, will +establish similar facts. + +Owing to its centrifugal tendency, it is necessary for English vocal +utterance to open the mouth much wider than it is for German. Let a +German open his mouth no farther for the enunciation of English than he +is in the habit of opening it while speaking his own language, and he +will not be able to utter a single sound. The same result will obtain +when an Anglo-Saxon attempts to speak German on the same basis that he +is in the habit of speaking his own language. Owing to the centripetal +tendency of the German language, the mouth in speaking German is but +slightly extended. That this respective widening and narrowing of, +not only the mouth but of every other channel employed in bringing +about vocal utterance, must tend to exercise a marked influence on +Anglo-Saxon and German features will be obvious. The consequence is +that the mouth of English-speaking persons in thus being extended has +a broad yet narrow appearance, with rather thin and compressed lips, +while the mouth of Germans in thus being contracted is comparatively +smaller, with full and ripe lips. This feature is in conformity with +all other features which, with Anglo-Saxons, are elongated, with +Germans contracted. + +Experiments regarding centrifugal and centripetal action can be made +to good advantage by resting your head sideways on a pillow. In this +position during vocal utterance you can _feel_ these actions, and, +feeling them, "_measure_" them. This mode of proceeding can be +successfully adopted in many other experiments connected with these +studies. I must warn the reader, however, again and again, that all +this has reference only to languages spoken idiomatically correct. It +has no reference whatever to foreign languages spoken in the usual +mechanical manner. + + +LANGUAGE AND MOTION + +I will now show that motion is the first impulse and primary condition +of speech. I will give but a few examples at present, but expect +to prove most exhaustively later on that motion _must_ precede, or +_apparently at least_, accompany vocal sounds _always_. + +While standing up, straight, throw out your arms horizontally, then +speak English. You will have no difficulty, but you will not be able +to speak German so easily. Next, stand as before, and again throw out +your arms horizontally, then drop them, letting them hang down close +to your body. After doing so you will have no difficulty in speaking +German, but you will not be able to speak English so readily. In +throwing out your arms in the first instance, your mouth will open, +and you will _close_ it in speaking English. In letting them drop, in +the second instance, your mouth will close, and you will _open_ it in +speaking German. Now, stand on the tips of your toes, and you will have +no difficulty in speaking English, but you will not be able to speak +German with ease. Then rest the weight of your body on your heels, +and you will have no trouble in speaking German, but you cannot speak +English with ease. In standing on the toes the body is extended by +centrifugal, in standing on the heels it is contracted by centripetal +action. Next, extend your neck, and you will have less trouble in +speaking English than in speaking German; then lower your neck, and +you will find no trouble in speaking German, but you will in speaking +English. These experiments might be amplified manifold, but these must +suffice for the present. + +The same features of the opening and closing of the mouth in conformity +with the position you assume, will obtain in all these instances +the same as at first mentioned. It will scarcely be necessary for +me to repeat that all this shows that the motion for English speech +is centrifugal, for German centripetal. Nor will it be necessary to +call attention to the fact that all this tends towards giving Germans +a condensed and broad, Anglo-Saxons a lengthy and narrow bodily +appearance. + +It is, however, a noteworthy fact that with Germans the nearer you +approach the sea, the more centrifugal becomes their action and +personal appearance. The people of Northern Germany, therefore, though +radically differing from them in most other respects, partake more of +the general bodily features of Anglo-Saxon nations than those of the +South of Germany, who are positively opposed to them. + +Upon having ascertained the correctness of these statements by actual +experiment, I want to ask the reader how he expects to reconcile these +facts with the universally adopted theory that the larynx is the +sole instrument productive of vocal utterance. An Anglo-Saxon, when +stretching out his arms horizontally, can readily speak English, while +a German in the same position cannot utter a sound of _his_ language +without difficulty. If the larynx in the case of an Anglo-Saxon, under +these circumstances, produces vocal utterance, why is it not so easy +with a German? + +My explanation is this: + +By extending your limbs, in stretching out your arms, or standing +on your toes, the centrifugal action is instrumental in parting the +jaws and giving the tongue an upward tendency. In so doing, the +œsophagus and replica obtain ascendancy over the trachea and the +larynx. The abdomen (the seat of gravitation for English speech) +and its tributaries thus obtain the mastery over the thorax and its +tributaries. The former being the main vehicle for English speech, +such speech can be produced without molestation. These facts, while +favorable to the production of English vocal utterance, obstruct and +hinder German vocal utterance. + +In lowering the arms or standing on one's heels, thus substituting +centripetal for centrifugal action, the jaws close, the tongue assumes +a downward tendency. The trachea and the larynx, as well as the +thorax (the seat of gravitation for German vocal utterance), obtain +the preponderance, and German may be freely spoken, while English is +obstructed. + +In _raising_ the tongue, a free passage to the œsophagus is obtained, +while that to the trachea is obstructed. In _lowering_ the tongue, a +free passage to the trachea is obtained, while that to the œsophagus +becomes obstructed. It is necessary, however, to understand that, +while English speech is centrifugal and German centripetal, these are +_tendencies_ only and not permanent _conditions_; centrifugal and +centripetal action constantly interchanging and modifying one another. +An uninterrupted tendency in one and the same direction, either +centripetally or centrifugally, would soon come to an end and produce +stagnation, inertia, death. There is no action without a counteraction. +Hence, ingoing vocal sounds are counterbalanced by outgoing; the +same as ingoing thoughts or thoughts produced by external vision are +counterbalanced by outgoing, or thoughts produced by internal vision, +etc. + +In addition to the parts mentioned, there are many other parts of +the body which, subjected to centrifugal or centripetal action, will +produce results of the same order as those already mentioned. In +stretching out your legs (while in a sitting position), you will find +speaking German to be difficult; upon drawing them up, you will have +trouble with English. The same results may be obtained, in connection +with the toes and fingers, in a number of different ways. From all +this, it will be readily seen that all parts of the body are closely +related to each other, the tendency of the muscles in one prominent +part producing the same tendency in all the rest. + +There is one thing which must be mentioned, however. To obtain +centrifugal action, it is necessary to _stretch_ the part under +consideration; the mere extension of a part, without stretching it, +will be fruitless of results in either one direction or another; +so will the mere contraction of any part be fruitless of results, +unless such contraction is complete. You can let your arms hang down +alongside of your body and yet speak English easily; and you can hold +them out horizontally, and yet speak German easily. In either case the +contraction and expansion must be _thorough_ to produce results either +centripetally or centrifugally. + +_All_ persons make similar motions to those mentioned with every sound +they utter, though these motions do not appear on the surface; in fact, +they could not speak if they did not make them. + +I have already mentioned, but want to repeat, that centrifugal action +is the cause of the elongated faces, and especially of the elongation +of the lower jaw of English-speaking persons. It is also the cause of +their semi-parted lips while in repose, showing their teeth, and a +full exhibition thereof while speaking; a fact which has caused much +merriment to continental nations, and has given rise to an endless +number of caricatures of "milord" and "milady" on their travels, etc. +It is also the cause of the perfection of dentistry in this country +and in England, where the teeth are always more or less on exhibition. +In other countries, where they are hidden behind the curtains of the +lips, which are usually closed, except while speaking or laughing, this +necessity does not arise to nearly the same extent. To the centrifugal +force there is also due much of the innate charm and beauty of +English-speaking women. + +From all this one great lesson may be learned: no matter by what +divergent means nature may work its ends, similar results are +obtained, though often arrived at by opposite means and from opposite +directions. Thus life ever presents to us new forms and features, and +ever infuses new interest into what otherwise might become unbearable +in its monotony. A better insight into these facts ought to make +us feel more lenient towards what appear to us as other people's +"idiosyncrasies." It should also have a tendency to prevent us from +attempting to enforce to their full extent laws made in conformity with +our own desires and inclinations but in direct opposition to those of +others (foreigners living among us), whose character and disposition +lead them in diametrically opposite directions. + +Unless otherwise mentioned, I wish the reader to remember that I am +always speaking not only from the standpoint of an American, but _as_ +an American. The fact of my long residence in this country, where I +have spent the best part of my life, in itself would not entitle me to +do this, having shown, as I have endeavored to do, that this is not +sufficient to change a person from one nationality into another. During +my earnest endeavor at fathoming these differences, however, I have +been led into assuming the forms which distinguish the Anglo-Saxon from +the German. Unless I am with Germans and speak the German language, in +my thoughts and otherwise I lead the life of an American. + +That my English speech, however (though my friends in their indulgence +would lead me to believe otherwise), is not as perfect as it might be, +is largely due to the fact of my constantly having recourse to the +German language, and that I am thus as constantly led back into these +other forms of existence which cannot be indulged in without some +detriment and abstraction from either the one or the other. There was +a time, in fact, when the transformation I have spoken of was taking +place (the disturbance being so great) that I could not speak well +either the one language or the other. + +I am well convinced, on the other hand, that through perseverance +_perfection_ in the utterance of both of these languages, for speech +as well as for song, and possibly of some other languages besides, may +be attained in the course of time; nature being so pliable that, when +the required actions are once _fully_ understood and complied with, a +perfect change may be made instantly in passing from one language on +to another. Such changes, in fact, are naturally made by persons who, +in their infancy, have been educated in and taught to speak several +languages at one and the same time; the material during infancy +being so pliable that it can be readily formed into any shape and +transformed into any other. All of the preceding also shows that, for +every separate idiom, the _entire_ instrument must be "tuned" for its +production in a given order, and that only when so tuned can such idiom +be produced in its entire purity. It also shows that, unless so tuned, +the vocal cords of the larynx and replica cease to be instrumental in +the production of sound. + +An instrument tuned for the production of the English language, +consequently, cannot produce German sounds, nor can it produce Romanic, +Slavonic, or the sounds of any other language. Sounds, _apparently_ +the same, of either the singing or speaking voice of various languages +are, therefore, _not_ the same and are certainly not produced in the +same manner. For a German, consequently, or an Italian to attempt to +teach an English-speaking person the art of singing is an anomaly. A +foreigner might, with the same show of reason, attempt to teach persons +of another nationality the correct pronunciation of their own language. +It would be equally false, of course, for an English-speaking person to +attempt to teach a German, Italian, etc., the art of singing, unless he +had first mastered his pupil's idiomatic expression, or the pupil had +mastered that of his teacher. + +Many persons are under the erroneous impression that song and speech +are performances separate and apart from each other, while they are in +reality of precisely the same, though inverse, order. They are of the +same order, for instance, as the back and palm of the hand: the former +representing speech, the latter song; the external and the internal, or +the anterior and the posterior. As the back of the hand, such must and +will be its palm; or, as its palm, such must and will be its back. + +Conversing with a teacher some time since, she scorned such +propositions, saying a person's language had nothing to do with his or +her song; the mode of production of the latter being the _same_ with +ALL nationalities; besides, she had studied the larynx, and knew all +about it. This, of course, settled it, and I had not anything further +to say. + + +DIFFERENCE IN THEIR MODE OF BREATHING AS BETWEEN ANGLO-SAXONS AND +GERMANS + +Anglo-Saxons inspire first into the thorax and then into the abdomen. +Germans inspire first into the abdomen and then into the thorax. The +former expire first from the abdomen and then from the thorax; the +latter expire first from the abdomen and then from the thorax. This, +however, gives but a partial account of the process of breathing, and I +must postpone a more explicit one to a later period. + +To prove the correctness of the above assertion, press your hand +against the left side of your thorax anteriorly, and you will find +it difficult to inhale. If you press your hand against the right +side of your thorax, on the other hand, you will have no difficulty +in inhaling. Next, press your hand against the right side of your +abdomen, and you will not be able to exhale; but if you press your hand +against its left side, you will experience no trouble in exhaling. In +pressing your hands one against the left side of the breast and the +other against the right side of the abdomen, you will have trouble in +breathing. + +Pressures produced in the precisely _opposite_ manner in every respect, +on the part of a German-speaking person, will produce effects of +precisely the _same_ nature. A German, in pressing the right side of +his abdomen, will not be able to inspire freely, but pressing its left +side will not hinder him from doing so. Pressing the left side of his +thorax will impede his expiration, while the pressing of its right +side will not prevent him from doing so. These results will become +more obvious when these pressures are continued for some time. All +the pressures mentioned are to be applied _anteriorly_. Pressures of +the same nature applied _posteriorly_ produce opposite results with +Anglo-Saxons as well as Germans. + +Similar results may be obtained by producing pressures on the median +line of either thorax or abdomen, front as well as back. Such will also +be the case when pressures are produced on either side from the armpits +downward or from the hips upward. More satisfactory results, however, +than those obtained through mechanical pressure can be obtained by +making the respective parts rigid. It will scarcely be necessary for me +to mention all these various causes and consequent results in detail, +as any one interested in these matters can work them out for himself +from that which I have said. + + +RISE AND FALL, OR RHYTHM + +The thorax is productive of the falling, the abdomen of the rising +voice, the former being the representative of the _impression_ for +sounds, the latter of their expression. + +_An Anglo-Saxon's voice, inspiring, as he does, into the thorax, and +expiring from the abdomen, will first fall and then rise. A German's +voice, on the contrary, inspiring, as he does, into the abdomen, and +expiring from the thorax, will first rise and then fall._ + +This is the fundamental cause of the difference between the idiomatic +expression of these two peoples, and primarily also of the difference +existing between their national traits physically as well as mentally. + +Every original word in either of these languages will illustrate these +facts: + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` + Vater, Mutter, Bruder, Schwester. + +Take the same words in English, and the accent will be reversed: + + ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ + Father, Mother, Brother, Sister + +When these and similar words were adopted into the English language, +it was done at the expense of their original idiomatic expression. +I am speaking of the music, the rise and fall, the rhythm pervading +a language, not of time or measure, nor of the intonation, nor of +emphasis. + +I make four distinctions, and expect to prove that they are the basis +of every artistic expression of either speech or song. First, measure +or time. Second, the rise and fall of the voice, equal to its rhythm. +Third, intonation, which pertains to words in accordance with their +meaning. Fourth, emphasis, which has reference to the feelings. + +That the human voice is capable of at one and the same time expressing +four moods so different from each other, shows that there are +various factors (all of a different nature) simultaneously at work +producing these different results. To correctly indicate these four +characteristics, it would be necessary to mark each syllable in a +fourfold manner. I shall confine myself to the rhythm and the metre, +and shall mark the former above the line by using the signs for accent +(´`), and the latter below the line by using those for metre (¯˘). + +Right here is the main stumbling-block with persons of either +nationality in speaking the language of the other. They will in +so doing invariably retain the idiomatic expression of their own +vernacular. + +The _proper_ way to illustrate the rhythm would be as follows: + + ´`´` ´` ´` ´` + Vater, Mutter, gut. + + `´ `´ `´ `´ `´ + Father, Mother, good. + +There is always a rise of the voice before its fall in German, and a +fall before its rise in English _for each and every syllable_. When +a language is well spoken, this complete intonation is always heard. +If this needs illustration, which it should not, being so obvious, +the poetry of both peoples offers proofs in great abundance. It is a +notable fact that, with German verse, the voice for the end syllable +always sinks, with English it rises; the former is generally short, +the latter long; but even where the word ends with a long syllable in +German the voice falls at the end, and where one ends with a short +syllable in English the voice rises at the end. + +To anxiously count every syllable in poetry is contrary to the spirit +of a language. There are slight touches here and there which simply +serve as connecting links, and which, in marking the rhythmic flow of +sounds, should not be included as belonging to the metre. Most of these +are prefixes or affixes, pauses for repose or relaxation, consisting +in scarcely noticeable inspirations or expirations, which are necessary +to strengthen the voice for the actual metre. The various intonations +are generally expressed by the use of the signs for long and short +only. As the latter, properly speaking, only represent time or measure, +the voice is left to express as best it may and without any guidance +whatsoever every other factor composing a language. All I want to do +now is to show by the signs for the accent the difference between the +English and German rhythmic movement: + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` + Auf der duftverlornen Grenze + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` + Jener Berge tanzen hold + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` + Abendwolken ihre Taenze + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` + Leicht geschuerzt im Strahlengold. + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + LENAU. + + ´ ` ´` ´` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` + Auf ihrem Grab da steht eine Linde + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´` ´ ` ´ ` + Drin pfeifen die Voegel im Abendwinde; + ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´` ´` ´ ` ´` ´ ` + Die Winde die wehen so lind und so schaurig, + ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´` ´ ` ´ ` ´` ´ ` + Die Voegel die singen so suess und so traurig. + ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + HEINE. + +The beginning of every line in this verse might remain unmarked as not +belonging to the rhythmic expression proper, and being expressive +mainly of an inspiration preceding the expiration which it foreshadows. +The beauty of Heine's verse is largely due to the fact that he does +not anxiously count time, but lets his voice rise and fall where it is +most effective. It will be noticed that there is a greater movement, as +expressed by the signs of the rhythm, in Heine's verse than there is in +Lenau's, hence the inexpressible charm of his diction. Here is another +great poet, or poetess rather, the greatest Germany has produced, also +fearless of prescribed forms, but full of charm and power: + + ´ ` ´` ´ ` ´` ´` ´` + O schaurig ists uebers Moor zu gehn, + ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ´ ` ´` ´ ` ´ ` + Wenn es wimmelt vom Haiderauche, + ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + ´` ´` ´` ´` ´ ` ´ ` + Sich wie Phantome die Duenste drehn + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ´ ` ´ ` ´` ´ ` + Und die Ranke haekelt am Strauche. + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + DROSTE-HUELSHOFF. + +In these last two citations, the dactylus (¯ ˘ ˘) is the prevailing +measure, which but strengthens my assertion that in German diction +there is a fall after a rise; the former being here more distinctly +expressed than in the simple trochaic measure. The fall, the +relaxation, being greater, the rise, the vigor in the expression, +thereby gains additional strength. What is the consequence of this +falling off or gliding down in German diction so well expressed in +Lenau's + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` + "Auf der duftverlornen Grenze"? + +It is not a positive line of demarcation, but one which is lost, as it +were, "in the soft ether of the evening sky." + +Hence the high tide succeeded by the low, the aspiration followed by +resignation, the night after the day, death after life, repose after +the strife--all this expresses the genius of the German language; and +is also expressive of German life and character--its dreaminess, its +longing, its desire for the ideal, never to be attained; the abstract, +the abstruse; its yearning, its altruism, its transcendentalism, its +_Weltschmerz_ (the sadness pervading all nature). It is also expressive +of its _Begeisterung_ (an enthusiasm which upon the slightest +provocation takes a man almost off his feet). All these are traits of +the German national character. + +There is no spiritual bond among all these millions that could possibly +produce such sentiments and feelings as its result, differing, as they +do, from the feelings of any other nation or people, but that of a +language common to all. + +To prove that the trochaic measure is the one ordained by nature for +German expression, it is but necessary to glance at the characteristic +words of the preceding verses: + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` + Wimmelt, Haide, gehen, wehen, drehen, Ranke, haekelt, + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` + Grenze, jener, Berge, Abend, Wolken, Taenze, + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` + strahlen, ihren, eine, Linde, pfeifen, Voegel, Winde, + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` + schaurig, singen, traurig. + +The same rhythm, though not so obviously expressed, obtains with the +words of one syllable: + + ´` ´` ´` ´` ´ ` ´` ´` + Auf, der, Duft, hold, leicht, im, Gold, + + ´` ´ ` ´` ´ ` ´ ` ´` + Grab, steht, lind, suess, ueber's, Moor. + +Now compare with this the strength and vigor of English diction, which +runs in the precisely opposite direction: + + ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ + The stag at eve had drunk his fill, + ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ + Where danced the moon on Monan's rill; + ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + `´ `´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ + And deep his midnight lair had made, + ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ` ´ ` ´ ` ` ´ ` ´ + In lone Glenartney's hazel shade. + ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + SCOTT. + + ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ `´ `´ + The day is done, and the darkness + ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + `´ ` ´ ` ` ´ ` ` ´ + Falls from the wings of night, + ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + `´ ` ´ ` ` ´ ` ` ´ ` ´ + As a feather is wafted downward + ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + `´ ` `´ ` ´ ` ´ + From an eagle in his flight. + ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ + + LONGFELLOW. + + ` ` ´ ` `´ `´ `´ ` `´ + Oh east is east, and west is west, + ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ` ´ ` ` ´ ` ´ + And never the two shall meet, + ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ + Till earth and sky stand presently, + ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ` `´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ + At God's great judgment seat. + ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + ` ´ ` ´ ` ` ´ ` ´ + But there is neither east nor west, + ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + `´ ` ` ´ ` ´ + Border, nor breed, nor birth, + ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ` ´ `´ `´ ` ´ ` ´ + When two strong men stand face to face, + ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ` ` ´ ` ` ´ ` ` ´ + Though they come from the ends of the earth. + ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ + + KIPLING. + +It is either the iambic (˘¯) or the anapest (˘˘¯). Of course, these +vary to some extent in conformity with the reader's intonation, but the +spirit of the language is always from weakness to strength, in place of +from strength to weakness, as with the German. It is always the waves +approaching the shore and then _breaking_ against it, as against the +wind _coming up suddenly_ and then dying away. This is the reason why +a serenade or lullaby in English can never be rendered with the same +effect as in German, the English voice rising at the end instead of +falling. + +Wherever a verse commences with a stress, it must be considered that +a fall of the voice or an inspiration has preceded it; this, though +unaccompanied by sound, being really the case. I have thus marked the +beginning of Longfellow's beautiful lines: + + ` ´ `´ ` ´ + Falls----as----from. + +Mr. Lunn, in his _Philosophy of Voice_, has the following: + +"How many Englishmen _dare_ utter loudly a word beginning with a +vowel? If attempted, either it would not be done, or, in spite of the +speaker, owing to the weakness of the muscles which draw the cords +together [_sic_], an aspirate would precede the vowel." + +This is right, as far as his observation is concerned, but he does +not seem to know that this very weakness he complains of is really +the strength of the English language, the lull before the storm, the +concentration before the explosion; and that "thus the idiosyncrasy +of our people's speech" is _not_ "deadness, weakness, and general +feebleness," but, on the contrary, a strength and a virility not +surpassed by any other tongue. This finds illustration in Kipling's + + `´ `´ `´ `´ + Oh east is east, etc. + +It is but necessary to comprehend the laws which underlie this apparent +weakness to turn it to its best account, and to obtain from it the +highest results, both for speech and song. As for the "weakness of the +muscles which draw the cords together," it will scarcely be necessary +for me to make a specific refutation; the premises upon which such +assumption is founded being quite untenable, there being quite as much +vigor in the _muscles_ and _cords_ of an Anglo-Saxon as in those of any +other nation. Nor, I suppose, will it be necessary to strengthen my +assertions by once more quoting the separate words and thus pointing +out the iambic, the rise after the fall (˘¯), or the anapest (˘˘¯), the +twofold repose and gathering of strength for the final emphasis. + +The English language in its Saxon words mainly consists of +monosyllables. These, however, as stated, must be looked upon as words +of two syllables, a suppressed intonation always preceding their vowel +sounds. The majority of such words, as a matter of fact, originally +consisted of two syllables, of which the last was dropped when they +were adopted by the English. This last syllable, representing the fall +of the voice thus disappearing, left the first, which represented +its rise, standing unsupported by itself. As the rise of the voice, +however, cannot be expressed without the accompaniment of its fall, the +latter always _tacitly_ accompanies the same, and is expressed in an +undertone, _preceding_ the rise. + +Almost every verb of this class will give evidence of this fact: + + ´ ` ´ ´ ` ´ ´ ` ´ + Gehen--go, sehen--see, hoeren--hear, + + ´ ` ´ ´ ` ´ ´ ` ´ + sprechen--speak, kochen--cook, tanzen--dance, + + ´ ` ´ + fallen--fall, etc. + +Hence, in conformity with the above, these words in the English +language should be properly marked thus: + + `´ `´ `´ `´ `´ `´ + Go, see, hear, speak, cook, dance, etc. + +which gives the real intonation thereof. + +This applies to all words commencing with a vowel, and explains what +Mr. Lunn has designated as a "weakness of the English language": + + `´ `´ `´ `´ `´ `´ `´ + Art, arm, or, all, eagle, each, old, etc. + +Without this half-suppressed fall of the voice, there would be no +beauty, no charm, no soul in the English language; in fact, it could +not exist. Words of two syllables, however, always have the fall of the +voice on the first, its rise on the second, syllable, even where the +preponderance of _time_ belongs to the first syllable, as in the words + + ` ´ ` ´ + Danced, hazel, etc. + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ + +The reader will find these statements sustained by almost every word he +may examine into, which will show that the characteristic expression +of English diction is that of the iambic measure, which passes from +weakness to strength; while that of German diction, as already stated, +is that of the trochaic measure, which passes from strength to weakness. + +Having shown that German _sentiment_ is in accord with the idiomatic +expression of the German language, I will now show that _English_ +sentiment also conforms to _its_ idiomatic expression. I must beg +the reader, however, not to be over-critical. I am not attempting to +furnish comparative sketches of the national character of these peoples +in a literary sense, but am entering into these matters for the sole +purpose of sustaining the results of my physiological investigations. +Nor should these attempts be applied to individual cases, there being +exceptions to all rules, but to the national character _in general_. +If a person in making investigations of this kind had to constantly +fear that he might be treading on some one's sensitive toes, he could +never make any headway at all. I am, in fact, perfectly willing to +apologize beforehand for any such mishap possibly taking place, as I +wish to be perfectly impartial and without bias. I have said this much +partly for the reason also that in consequence of some remark, on one +occasion, made in my former publication in favor of the English _vs._ +the Germans, one critic honored me with the epithet "renegade." + +The rising voice succeeding the falling is not a soft and gradual +receding, but, on the contrary, it is more like an explosion, a +trumpet-blast; the inspiration which had been "stored" being suddenly +released. There is no such "storing" in connection with German +diction; inspiration and expiration succeeding each other on the +spot. With English diction this change may be compared to the break +of day after the night; the fray after the repose; resurrection after +death; a conflagration and a rebuilding at once on the spot, not +only individually, but by an entire community (Boston and Chicago); +an outburst after due deliberation; no sentimentality, but a firm +resolve for the right; patient submission to a point, then a strike +for liberty; the slow accumulation of a fortune and the spontaneous +spending thereof; a hot political campaign and a victory or defeat; +in either case acquiescence; no vain mourning after the fact; a +butterfly of wealth, idleness, and fashion, then perhaps ruin; yet not +despair, but a brave conformity to altered circumstances; an energy in +the pursuit of business or of war which does not flag until utterly +exhausted or success is achieved and a victory is won. All this is due +to the reserve force in the character of English-speaking people, +which comes to their rescue when circumstances demand it. A world +positive and direct, full of energy, restlessness, and activity. A +world of, and for, _this_ world; whose world to come, even, must have a +positive and well-defined character and surroundings: + + "Where the walls are made of jasper and the streets are paved + with gold." + +To what is all this due but to this _bond of language_ uniting these +millions, and embracing every foreign element, in its children at +least? The theme is inexhaustible, but I am limited as to time; yet +additional remarks on the same subject will be forthcoming during the +further pursuance of these studies. + +For song, it appears to me, the words, besides being marked by notes, +should also be marked as to rhythm, as this would assist singers in +giving them the proper intonation; notes indicating metre, but not +rhythm. + +Metre and rhythm are produced by two distinctly different processes; +metre, or time, being the outcome of a mode of breathing subject to the +will, while rhythm is the outcome of an involuntary mode of breathing +for a characteristic quality inherent in a nation's language as its +idiomatic expression. + +Ordinarily, both metre and rhythm are expressed by the same signs (˘¯); +this is very misleading. + +To express time, or metre, I use the signs for short and long (˘¯). To +express rhythm, or the fall and rise of the voice, I use the signs for +what is usually called the accent (´`). If we were to _meas__ure_ the +exact time, however, consumed in the utterance of syllables, we would +find that the falling voice, which is the product of inspiration and +belongs to the thorax, requires more time than the rising voice, which +is the product of expiration and belongs to the abdomen. + +In marking verse, however, the sign for long (¯) generally accompanies +the short syllable of the rising, and the sign for short (˘) the, as a +matter of fact, long syllable of the falling voice. It takes longer to +fill a bottle than to pour out its contents; to prepare a dish than to +eat it; to walk upstairs than to jump from a window. It takes longer to +_prepare_ for an utterance than to utter it. It takes longer to inspire +than to expire. + +In view of the vast foreign element constituting a part of this nation, +it would be a matter of interest to know at what period the foreigner +ceases to exist as such and the "American" begins; or, in other words, +to understand when the evolution takes place which transforms the +foreigner into the American. From my point of view it is, above all, +a question of language. The political aspect of the case is scarcely +to be considered. An unnaturalized Englishman, consequently, after +thoroughly "Americanizing" his language, becomes more of an American +(no matter whether he himself thinks so or not) than an Irishman who, +though naturalized, never ceases to use his native brogue. + +These questions, of course, are many-sided. When I speak of +nationality, however, I have the _best_ specimens of a nation as +representatives thereof in view always. A man with a foreign accent +does not have the same standing or influence in municipal, state, and +national councils as one who speaks a pure English; there is always a +_feeling_ against him, no matter how able or patriotic he may be, of +some foreign influence as a substratum in his composition. + + +STRESS + +I have already stated that the thorax is the seat of the falling, +the abdomen that of the rising, voice. This can be tested by a +simple experiment, the result of which will be as startling as it is +phenomenal. _By simply pressing the stomach, or making the same rigid, +you will find that the fact of your doing so will prevent you from +uttering any sound belonging to the rising voice, or the stress laid +upon a word._ + +Take, for instance, the following: + + "Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light," + +and you will find that, upon pressing the stomach, or making the same +rigid, you will not be able to utter the words "say," "see," "dawn's," +and "light." This will become more obvious in uttering these words +slowly than in doing so rapidly. You will have no difficulty, on the +other hand, in uttering the rest of the words, viz.: "Oh," "can you," +"by the," "early." + +Upon releasing the stomach and bringing a pressure to bear upon the +chest, on the other hand, you will have no difficulty in uttering the +first words mentioned, those of the rising, while you will be unable +to utter the last, those of the falling voice. This rule holds good for +all peoples and all languages. + +There is this difference, however, as between English and German +speech, that, for the former, the falling voice (identical with that of +the thorax) _precedes_ the rising (identical with that of the abdomen); +while for the latter the reverse is the case;--Anglo-Saxons inspiring +into the chest and then into the stomach; Germans into the stomach and +then into the chest. Germans will have greater difficulty in making +this experiment than Anglo-Saxons, as words of the falling voice, as +a rule and in all languages, precede those of the rising. Germans, +consequently, must _think_ of the word of the rising voice, which, as +a matter of fact, succeeds the words of the falling, before they can +utter the latter. This difficulty is enhanced by the fact that while +the rising voice is generally confined to a single word, the falling +voice generally embraces several. + +Hence the frequency of the use of the anapest (˘˘¯) and the dactylus +(¯˘˘), and the relative rarity of the use of the bacchius (˘¯¯) and +the antibacchius (¯¯˘); short always representing the falling voice, +which embraces more than one word, while long represents the rising +voice, which usually embraces but one single word; the definition +requiring more words than the thing to be defined. Hence, _for German +diction, the "thought" of the word of the rising voice must precede the +"utterance" of the words of the falling; while for English diction, +the "thoughts" of the words of the falling voice must precede the +"utterance" of the word of the rising._ + +A German may try and say the following: + + "In einem _Thal_ bei armen _Hirten_, + Erschien mit jedem jungen _Jahr_," + +in such a manner as _not to think_ of the words which are italicized +before uttering those which immediately precede them, and he will find +that he will be unable to pronounce the latter. + +An Anglo-Saxon may try and say the following: + + "And the star-spangled banner in triumph _doth wave_ + O'er the land of the free and the home _of the brave_," + +and he will find that in saying "in triumph doth wave," he must think +of the words "doth wave" before he will be able to utter the word +"triumph." Again, in saying "the home of the brave" he must think of +the words "of the brave" before he will be able to utter the word +"home." + +A German, consequently, must _think_ of the principal word before he +can utter those which qualify it; an Anglo-Saxon must think of the +latter before he can utter the former. + +In place of using mechanical pressure, the same results can be obtained +by making the respective parts rigid. Regarding this matter of _making +parts rigid_, I want to make the following explanation, illustrating +the physiological process going on in so doing. + +While a part is rendered inactive, placed _hors de combat_, so to say, +by the application of mechanical pressure, the same result can also +be obtained by making such part rigid. To accomplish this, it is but +necessary to positively _think_ of such part, to associate your mind +with it, which is equal to an act of expiration when it relates to the +abdomen, and inspiration when it relates to the thorax. By positively +_thinking_ of the abdomen, which is equal to an expiration therefrom, +you will be unable to utter the stress or _rise_ of the voice, which is +the product of an expiration from the stomach; by positively thinking +of the thorax, which is equal to an inspiration into the same, you will +be unable to utter the _fall_ of the voice, which is the product of an +inspiration into the chest. The reason is obvious: _We cannot utter +sound in the same direction in which we breathe; sound and respiration +always following opposite directions._ + +For the purpose of making satisfactory experiments in this respect, +as, in fact, in every other respect in connection with these +investigations, it is necessary that inspiration or expiration, as the +case may be, should be _continuous_, that is, that either the one or +the other should be persisted in until a result is obtained; namely, +until an apparent increase or decrease in the size of the part of the +body under consideration, or an inflation or depletion of the same, +will be perceptible. Though it may be difficult at first, a person will +soon learn to distinguish between an increase or a swelling of a part, +which means inspiration into the same, and a decrease or a shrinking or +diminution thereof, which means expiration from the same. + +[Illustration] + + + + +PHYSIOLOGY OF THE VOICE IN RELATION TO WORDS + + +In the further pursuance of the questions heretofore under +consideration, I shall now enter upon a theme of a still more subtle +nature. The question of metre, rhythm, accent, etc., is one which is +involved in much mystery; nor can I find that many persons entertain +precisely the same ideas as being expressed by these terms. + +_Accepting as a fundamental principle the fact that our various +spiritual conditions are based upon our ability to extract the +necessary inspiration therefor from the air, which bears the same +relation to our spiritual existence that the earth does to that of +our body (in furnishing it with such elements as it requires for its +maintenance), I contend that we breathe for speech in as many different +modes as there are parts or elements in its composition._ This +proposition does not necessarily conflict with the fact that we also +draw elements from the air, as analytical chemistry has proven, which +serve for the construction of matter; such elements, however, instead +of being strictly material, as they have every appearance of being, +are, in reality, the spiritual complements of the matter they help to +form; matter and spirit going hand in hand in our entire composition. + +In reading poetry, or giving expression to the same in song (I repeat), +we do so in a fourfold manner: + +First: as to metre or time (the "measure" of time). + +Second: as to the rhythm or the music pervading the voice, produced by +its rise and fall, also called cadence, or the idiomatic expression of +a language. + +Third: as to accent. + +Fourth: as to emphasis. + +The _metre_ is produced by an artistic mode of breathing (in addition +to our ordinary and permanent mode), marked by regular repetitions of +a given order of inspirations and expirations which can be "measured" +as to the time consumed in their enunciation, and are therefore, not +incorrectly, called "feet." + +The metre is a product or outcome of the _will_, a force which presides +over material-spiritual issues. It changes with our inclinations +and moods, and is expressive thereof. We can pass from one metre to +another at will, as the occasion may require. It is the _material_ +part of speech, as we can measure it and account for it as to time +in space, supposing time to be incorporated. The metre expressive of +joy, for instance, being quick, that of sorrow slow; the former, if +incorporated, would take up less space than the latter, in the same +proportion as it consumes less time in being uttered. + +The _rhythm_ is that characteristic quality which distinguishes one +language from another, the basis upon which it is built and around +which all its elementary words cluster; its fundamental principle, +its idiomatic expression, the music pervading its every syllable; the +inflection, the rise and fall, the cadence of the voice; the spirit of +a language, which is permanent and unchangeable. + +The rhythm is an outcome of the _mind_; an influence which presides +over _spiritual-material_ issues. As _harmony is the first law of +nature_, so is that harmony which pervades our native tongue the law +upon which our individual and national characteristic expressions and +actions are based. We exercise it intuitively. It is innate in, and +unalterably connected with, our native tongue. It cannot be eliminated +therefrom, or put into it by a foreigner, except when acquired in +childhood, or by the study of such principles as I have attempted to +lay down in this book. It is inborn in every language as its spirit, +and is as enduring as that language itself. It is not subject to change +by the dictates of the will. + +The _accent_ represents that element which distinguishes between the +character and meaning of words, and has no reference to parts thereof +or their relation to other words; the same word being pronounced in as +many different ways and with as many different _accents_ as it denotes +different senses or meanings; while _different words, embodying the +same idea, are uttered with precisely the same accent_. + +The accent or intonation is an outcome of the _soul_; an influence +which dominates over our spiritual nature and over _spiritual issues_. +"The rose by any other name would smell as sweet." It is equally true +that any other name given to the rose would be pronounced by the same +indefinable intonation as its present name, with that same embodiment +of the mystery of the soul signifying the flower called "a rose." +The _word_ "rose," which is the same, or nearly the same, in so many +different languages, though possessing the same _spiritual_ elements in +them all, varies as to measure and rhythm in every one of them. + +If the influence of the soul, embodying an idea in a word, through the +intonation we give it, were not the same for _all_ languages, it would +not be possible to translate poetry, and retain, to some extent at +least, that which is commonly called "the rhythm" of the original; nor +would it be possible to sing a song in another language, and retain, +even approximately, the spiritual elements of the original. We would +not be impressed with it, would not be _thrilled_ by it. + +_The intonation of a word, expressive of the soul in the embodiment +of an idea, is a bond which unites all humanity_; not alone the human +souls of any special day and generation, but of all days and all +generations. But for the fact that the Greek soul is in us to-day, +that the native intonation of _their_ words is native with us and with +_all_ mankind, their _dead_ tongue would be _absolutely_ dead for us. +We could find no meaning in it, no beauty, no spirit, no soul. Think +of the melody pervading the soul of Homer and emanating from _his_ +lyre still living and finding an echo in _our_ souls! Think of the +harmony pervading the soul of Schiller or Tennyson continuing to live, +and pervading the souls of the latest generations! Nor could Luther's +famous translation of the Bible or its beautiful English version ever +have been produced, and after production have made the same impression +on the mind, or been read with the same expression of the voice, as the +words of this same Bible made upon the minds, and were expressed by the +voice, of its original composers, but for the fact _that words of the +same meaning_, _in every language_ (aside from metre and rhythm), _are +pronounced precisely the same_. It is this universal comprehension of +their beauty which gives immortality to the strains of great singers, +whether they appear in their original form or are translated (that is, +if well translated) into foreign languages, or are set to music and +sung either in the one or the other. + +If the performances of creating original compositions and their +translations were of a mere mechanical order, or were explainable from +a mechanical standpoint, no such soul effects could ever be produced. +The word, as such, is a _mechanical_ contrivance; but its intonation +is of the soul, being an emanation of the idea it represents. If our +ears were so schooled that by _their "intonation" we could comprehend +the meaning of words_, we could understand every language upon simply +hearing it spoken. + +The people of all nations, through their eyesight, form the same +conception of an object; the same being impressed upon all minds in the +same manner. When a picture thus impressed upon the mind (brain) is +reproduced by, or is translated into, vocal utterance, it continues +to remain the same with all people. This does not refer to impressions +made by material objects alone, but extends to immaterial subjects as +well. Hence, knowing the meaning of a word in one language, we can at +once conjure up the idea it represents in all languages. + +The sight, however, not only impresses our minds through the eye with +a given picture, but, as there is a correlation existing between all +our faculties, it also impresses the voice with a given inflection, +expressive of such impression upon the mind, and of no other +impression; any given sight or mental conception of any kind always +producing an inflection of the voice corresponding therewith. The vocal +expression of an idea might thus be called an _audible_ "photographic" +reproduction of the impression made by the original object upon the +eyesight, and, respectively, upon the brain, or it might be called a +phonographic reproduction thereof, supposing that the picture of an +object could be impressed upon the wax and could thus become audible. +How such a reproduction may be made from an _immaterial_ subject +would be more difficult to comprehend. Of the fact, however, that +an impression from abstract subjects _is_ made, and that an audible +expression of such impression is produced through the voice, and that +this is the case with all people alike, I expect to furnish positive +proof in a future publication. The fact of our not being accustomed +to distinguish in this manner between various expressions through +inflections of the voice is no proof that they do not exist. + +The soul impresses every word with a seal of its own, characteristic +of the idea it embodies, there being as many accents or inflections of +the voice as there are _separate ideas_, or, rather, _groups of ideas_. +I beg leave to copy the following from the _Saturday Evening Post_ of +April 8, 1899: + + "Mr. Kipling recently told an interviewer: 'We write, it + is true, in letters of the alphabet; but, psychologically + regarded, every printed page is a picture book; every word, + concrete or abstract, is a picture. The picture itself may + never come to the reader's consciousness, but deep down below, + in the unconscious realms, the picture works and influences + us.'" + +The accent is not subject to the will any more than the rhythm. The +will can do _this_, however: it can give greater weight, force, and +expression, and a wider scope, to the correlated forces of metre, +rhythm, and accent, through the + +_Emphasis_ which it infuses into them. Through the emphasis, inlet +upon inlet is opened, an additional stream of fresh air is infused +into them, flooding the spiritual system. Valve upon valve is then +opened to let it out. Hence, emphasis is not an "element" of speech +proper, but an amplification, an addition to existing elements, rather, +impregnating them with the life of the heart, the feelings, the +emotions. + +In distinguishing in this manner, as I have in the above, between +the will, the mind, and the soul, I consider them parts of a great +spiritual system intimately connected with corresponding parts of our +physical system, but lay no claim as to the correctness of the _terms_ +I have used. On the contrary, I feel that they are inadequate, and, at +most, a makeshift for more fitting expressions. There is a dearth of +expressional terms, and I am doing the best I can with such as are at +my disposal. + +In the same sense, also, I distinguish between material-spiritual, +spiritual-material, and spiritual issues; and consider them the +outcome, respectively, of the will, the mind, and the soul. + +I wish it were in my power to at once fully explain, as far as I am +able to offer any explanation at all, how it is _mechanically_ possible +to express these four elements of metre, rhythm, accent, and emphasis +(so widely differing from each other) at one and the same time, by four +different modes of breathing, carried on simultaneously, in addition +to our regular mode of breathing. The _perfection_ of elocution and of +singing is to carry on all these various processes simultaneously in as +perfect a manner as the subject and the occasion may demand. + +I can explain the preceding, in part at least, as follows: + +Verse is generally marked by the signs of long and short. While they +denote time or metre in the first instance, they are also used to mark +what is called "rhythm." Yet, while metre and rhythm are _apparently_ +of the same order, they are, as a matter of fact, invariably of an +inverse order. + +We cannot produce two distinctly different expressions while breathing +in one and the same direction. While we breathe for metre in one +direction, we breathe for rhythm in the opposite direction. + +Regarding that mode of breathing expressive of the soul, and pertaining +to words in conformity with their _meaning_, and which, in the absence +of any more significant word, I have called the "accent," it is of an +altogether different order and does not conflict with these other modes +of breathing. + +Having stated that rhythm and accent are involuntary productions, and +that metre alone is subject to the will, we must look to the metre, +measure, or time for our guide in our artistic vocal performances. To +this, emphasis must be added, as being likewise subject to the will. + +As every language has its own time, or tempo, and cannot be properly +produced except in conformity therewith, it appears to me that it +should be the first aim of vocal science _to ascertain the exact nature +of such tempo_ for every separate language. _When the correct time is +kept, all other component parts of speech fall into line correctly +and involuntarily._ Just what the proportionate tempo is for English +as against German vocal utterance, I am unable to say, but it is much +quicker for the latter than it is for the former. + +There is a duality existing between metre and rhythm: the former is +voluntary, the latter involuntary. Thus, also, is there a duality +between emphasis and accent, of which the former is voluntary, +the latter involuntary. Every voluntary factor, not only in vocal +utterance, but every voluntary factor in any artistic performance of +whatsoever nature, being sustained by an involuntary counter-factor; +the same as voluntary and involuntary muscles complement and sustain +each other. + +Not only every artistic performance, but I dare say _every_ act or +action of any kind, is of a dual nature. Every separate duality, again, +being sustained by a counter-duality, every performance is sustained by +four different factors. + +When an act is of a material nature and belongs to the hemisphere of +the abdomen, it is sustained by four counter-factors belonging to +the thorax. When it is of an immaterial nature and belongs to the +hemisphere of the thorax, it is sustained by four counter-factors +having their seat in the abdomen. Thus every act or action consists of +eight movements, or an _octave_ of movements. + + +SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WORD "SCHOOL" IN CONNECTION WITH THE ART OF SINGING + +Having established the fact that the rhythmic movements for English +and German vocal expression are directly opposed to each other, +the one being represented by the iambic, the other by the trochaic +measure, there is still a wide field open for investigation as to +the idiomatic expression of other languages. This it should not be +difficult to determine; personally, I cannot devote the necessary time +to this subject even as far as I might be able to do so in connection +with other languages of which I have some knowledge. The differences +in other tongues, of course, must be embodied in either of the two +measures named, as these embrace all others. Whatever may constitute +a nation's idiomatic expression must spring from a variation of either +of these. While the precedence is given to the abdomen in some and to +the thorax in others, the point of gravitation, which according to its +location calls for the special manner in which we inspire into and +expire from either the one or the other, establishes such variation in +the idiomatic expression of _all_ tongues. + +All that is said about an Italian, a German, or any other "school" +(with the exception, perhaps, of what may constitute the difference +between what is called "the _old_ and the _new_ Italian school," and +which covers issues of a nature foreign to these investigations) has +its proper significance right here: There is no "school" in the sense +in which this word is ordinarily used. There are nations and there are +languages belonging to such nations. Each nation's language is that +nation's "school," and no one nation can go to school with any other +nation. + +Peasants and the mass of the people generally in Italy, France, +Germany, etc., do not visit academies to study vocal art, yet their +mode of expression is precisely the same as that of the best vocal +artists of these respective countries. I do not mean to say, of course, +that the raw material their voices is made up of is as rarefied and +artistically trained, but that the composition, the fundamental element +thereof, is of precisely the same order as that of their most finished +artists. This raw material, on the other hand, in every instance, +varies from that of people belonging to every other nation. + +The best thing, therefore, to be done, to bring such vocal material as +nature has endowed one with up to its greatest perfection, is to have +it "schooled" by artists belonging to one's own nation. There may be a +time coming, and the same may not be far distant, when methods may be +taught by which one may become acquainted with the spirit, and learn +the exact mode of the technical expression, of other nations besides +one's own. It will then become possible to comprehend these foreign +methods and to profit by comprehending them. As long as the principles +upon which they are based, however, are not understood, any attempt at +singing according to the same will be futile as an accomplishment or an +art, and _hurtful_ to the voice of the person making the attempt. + +_Such person will only injure his or her own natural mode of +expression, without acquiring the foreign mode_. + +The idea of learning a certain mode of expression, the Italian, for +instance, for singing, and applying it to _all_ tongues, is futile and +contrary to all reason. We might, with as much show of reason, say that +by learning to pronounce one foreign tongue we may apply that knowledge +to the pronunciation of every other foreign tongue. + +The true state of affairs, and the only one to follow, is, and always +will be, this: First, and above all, learn to use your own tongue +thoroughly, for _all_ purposes of vocal expression. Then learn the use +of other tongues for vocal expression in those other tongues only. You +cannot apply the technical mode of Italian expression to English vocal +utterance any more than you can apply the technical mode of English +expression to Italian vocal utterance. An attempt at so doing is quite +as preposterous in the one case as it is in the other. + +Besides, for the purpose of singing in his own tongue, an Anglo-Saxon +does not and should not want to acquire any other mode, as he is by +nature in possession of one of the _best_ modes of expression. There +is none intrinsically purer, none possessed of more vigor or power of +expression. There are those with greater softness combined with purity, +but lacking strength, as the Italian; and those with more soulfulness +combined with strength, but lacking purity, as the German. This +native element of purity allied to strength in the Anglo-Saxon, more +especially in the English-American, mode of expression is primarily +the cause of the high position in the artistic world of the American +singer. I ascribe the superiority of the "American" mode of expression +over the "English," when untrammelled as in song, in part to the +greater personal liberty, the greater want of conventionality, the vast +extent of our territory, and our almost constantly clear and unclouded +sky; all these being conditions that assist the free exercise of one's +natural endowments. To reach the best results in the art of singing, +the body as well as the soul must be, as far as possible, untrammelled +in any direction. While the idiomatic expression of the English +language here and abroad is the same, the social restraint and the +conservatism of the English as a nation act against the best outcome +of their gift of song, which demands for its best expression freedom +from conventionality or any other constraint. + +Each nation is at its best in its own tongue. Our orators are equal to +any there are in the world. They do not speak according to the Italian, +the German, or any other school. If they did, they would utterly fail +and make themselves ridiculous. Why do people, then, want to "speak" +in this more expansive and soulful manner, called "singing," in these +foreign modes? I know the answer will be that singing and speaking are +things quite apart, having no affinity in their mode of production. I +shall show, as I have already partly shown, that they are of precisely +the _same order_, though different phases of that order; that they +cannot be separated; in so far as the elements which belong to speech +also belong to song, and those which belong to song also belong to +speech; but that they are used in an inverse order in the former as +well as in the latter. + +Listen to a person breathing just before falling asleep, in a slow, +rhythmical order; material objects retire into the background and +assume a semi-spiritual shape. This is a similar condition to the +one we are in and in which we breathe during the production of song. +[By the by, sleep can be induced by thinking of a song, that is, by +mentally singing it]. No two nations, however, breathe just alike in +that condition, any more than they do during their waking moments; +the mode of breathing during sleep being a reversion always of the +one which obtains during our waking moments. Our mode of breathing, +however, _always_ determines our mode of vocal utterance. We can +reverse our voice, as we do in whispering, but it is always the same +voice, as a garment is the same when we turn it inside out. + +Do you know, by the way, that the English whispering voice is the +German speaking, and the German whispering the English speaking voice? +Try it, and you will find it so. Go on whispering; that is, continue +to use your voice in the _same_ mechanical manner, but instead of for +whispering, use it for speaking aloud, and you will have the exact mode +of the other tongue. An Anglo-Saxon, in so doing, will be able to speak +German aloud, but not English; a German will be able to speak English, +but not German. + +Thinking and speaking are of one and the same order. Thought makes the +impression of which speech is the expression. If this were not the +case, it would not be possible to pass from thinking to speaking or +from speaking to thinking at once, and without an effort. To produce +English speech, we must think English in a material way, that is, +anteriorly, and in so doing produce an instrument from which English +material or speech sounds emanate. To produce English song, we must +think English in a spiritual way, that is, posteriorly, and in so +doing produce an instrument from which English spiritual or song +sounds emanate. We cannot think English in either of these two ways +and produce German or Italian sounds for speech or song; nor can we +produce the latter sounds in any other manner than by _thinking_, +either materially or spiritually, in these languages, and in the proper +idiomatic manner inherent therein. + +How can an English-speaking person, physically and spiritually formed +for English expression, and for no other expression, produce proper +Italian sounds? She will think Italian in an English way; and, while +singing Italian words, produce them with an English expression. That is +not singing Italian, however, but English. Is it likely that she will +succeed in acquiring the Italian mode of expression while her teacher +himself is ignorant of just what that mode consists in, and in what +it differs from the native mode of vocal expression of his scholar? +You might as well attempt to produce on a violin the sounds of a +violoncello or some other instrument. + +To illustrate the power of the natural voice, it will but be necessary +to call attention to what occurs in almost any concert wherein one of +America's own daughters, now "_prima donna assoluta_," is the main +performer. She sings a grand aria, the work of an Italian master, +highly artistically and perfectly rendered. Musicians are delighted; +the public applauds. She reënters, and now the _donna_, changed to a +simple American, sings one of England's or America's own songs. The +audience, which before had been languidly listening, at the first +notes of this song is stirred, electrified, and now listens intently. +When she ceases to sing, there is a storm of applause, as to almost +shake the house. Where the artistic sense alone had been engaged +before, the hearts and the souls of her hearers have now been touched. +Yet I have seen the eccentric Von Buelow deliberately take out his +handkerchief after such a demonstration and wipe the "desecration" of +the "ditty" from the keys of the piano which had accompanied the song, +before he deigned to dignify it with one of his "classic" renderings. +No doubt he had much contempt for it all: the song, the singer, and +the public. The treasures of that "ditty," however, were of an order +similar to those hidden within the breast of every one composing that +audience. The pearls, floating through the room from the lips of one +of its own daughters, had, with a sympathetic touch, stirred it to +its very depths, while the foreign "aria" had left it comparatively +cold. Supposing an _Italian_ singer were to sing an English "aria" in +the English language to an Italian audience, and, after that, were +to produce one of her own simple Italian songs, would not the effect +be the same? Would Italians, in fact, care to listen to her English +interpretation, no matter how artistically rendered? + +It is an entirely different thing, however, for German or Italian +singers to come here and sing their own songs in their own native +tongue. Though foreign, the production is genuine. They sing what +belongs to them, that in which they live, breathe; they sing their own +soul. Such a performance we can comprehend and appreciate, even as we +view a foreigner with interest, and honor him for that which is great +and good in him, and for which he is distinguished. We can soon _feel_ +what is genuine and also that which is not; the former being nature's +own production, the latter imitated, forced--unnatural. Italians do not +sing English or German songs; why should Germans and English-speaking +people sing Italian and French songs, to the exclusion, very often, of +their own? + +It was but recently that I heard a German choral society sing German +songs to a delighted American audience. Then came something weird, +strange; it was German, yet the words were not German. Looking at the +programme, it turned out to be the famous plantation song, "'Way down +upon the Suwannee River." The audience looked bewildered; there was +no applause, though, judging by the attitude of the singers, they had +expected to make this the grand hit of the evening. + +The last performance of the great festival of the United German singers +in Philadelphia, in 1897, was the production of the "Star-Spangled +Banner." Everything in the appearance of the singers showed that this +finale was to be the crowning act of the entire festival. All the +singers, male and female, participated, and "Old Glory" was waved in +the air during the performance. But, as I had feared, it was a complete +failure. Instead of the vast audience spontaneously rising to its feet +and being carried away by enthusiasm, it remained cold and indifferent, +and there was no applause commensurate with what it would have been had +the performers sung the words with the true ring in them and the true +English accent. The same thing would happen if the "Marseillaise" were +sung in France, or the "Wacht am Rhein" in Germany, by foreign singing +societies, no matter how excellently schooled, and how artistically +rendered. + +A similar experience was had by Madame Brinkerhoff, who relates the +same in _The Vocalist_ of December, 1896, as follows: + + "To show how language is imbedded in the _timbre_ of the voice, + I will relate an incident of last season. On the first night + of the representation of the 'Scarlet Letter,' by Damrosch, + sung by German singers, I was not surprised or in the least + displeased at hearing this beautiful opera sung with the German + _timbre_ of voice; but after listening to a whole act, I heard + no German words; I listened in vain for the shaping of their + consonants and vowels, although I heard the German sounds or + _timbres_. So I asked the lady seated next to me what language + the people on the stage were singing. 'German,' she replied. I + said: 'But I hear no German words. Will you kindly listen and + tell me when you hear German words?' She listened and replied, + 'No, I do not hear German words, but I thought before it was + German.' She asked me if it was English. We could not decide it + until the lights were turned on, and looked at the programme, + which read, 'sung in English.' + + "This summer I asked a distinguished singer and teacher of + Philadelphia in what language the 'Scarlet Letter' was sung in + that city. She replied, 'Oh, German, of course.' 'Did you hear + it?' I asked. 'Yes, and I enjoyed it very much, and it was sung + in German,' she replied. 'It said in English on the programme,' + I said. 'Well, if I was fooled, a great many more were + fooled--beside myself, all our party thought so too. What are + you going to do about it?' Gounod says: 'I did not like Italian + singing; their tones were attacked so differently from the + French method of singing that it was unpleasant at first, but I + went again and again, for I could not stay away. I enjoyed it + so much.'" + +This is what Frau Johanna Gadski had to say in an interview printed in +_Werner's Magazine_: + + "I have never had any lessons in acting. The director of the + Choral Opera told me at the outset that it was better to act + by feeling when singing than by instruction. If one studies + only acting and singing, one is not always natural. That is the + reason why one who does not speak German does not understand + the German people and their spirit, is not a German, and + cannot sing the Wagner rôles. One must have the German spirit. + Sometimes you write here in your papers that German singers + cannot sing. I think they sing German rôles very well. One must + sing, act, and, above everything, feel at the same time, and + then one can speak to the heart of the listener." + +Singing in a foreign tongue is, and must be, and always will be (until +these things are more thoroughly understood), to a large extent, simply +mechanical. Until then, the soul-stirring depth (_der Zauber_) of the +native composition will always be wanting. The Anglo-Saxon race has +been altogether too dependent upon European continental nations for +its examples, its support, and its development in _all_ branches of +art. This has been more particularly the case in regard to music and +song. Though German music, for obvious reasons, which give Germans +the preponderance on this field of art, ranks first among nations, +still there should be among English-speaking nations a greater native +development thereof in harmony with the national expression. + +_Song_, above all, must be national; it must be in harmony with the +_genius_ of a nation to attain its highest development. It is too +closely allied to a nation's speech to be separated therefrom without +doing violence to both its music and its meaning. The music and the +words _must go together_; their union is as indispensable as it is +indissoluble. While we have excellent vocal material in this country, +it lacks the proper food for its nourishment. There is no want of +poetic compositions. No nation has their superior, or has them in +greater abundance. We have the words and the singers; but there is a +woful lack of a higher class of compositions for singing. The latter +are not at all commensurate with the abundance and the superiority of +the talent that is awaiting their appearance. + +With compositions on a par with its vocal talent, this nation might +rank first among nations in the art of singing. It must stand on its +own footing. It must sing its own songs and must be taught by its +own teachers. This dictum may provoke indignation in "foreign" vocal +teachers. Though I regret the possible consequences to them, this +cannot be helped. Science is synonymous with knowledge, and knowledge +with truth, and "the truth must be told if the heavens should fall." + + +BREATHING + +All of the preceding, in a manner, may be said to be a preliminary +argument for the great truth I claim to have discovered, namely, that +_in the sphere of the trunk of our body the material part of our nature +is represented by the hemisphere of the abdomen, its immaterial part by +that of the thorax; that in the sphere of the head a similar division +obtains, in conformity with which it is also divided into hemispheres +representing material and immaterial issues; and that every faculty, +and the exercise thereof, have their being in a dual action, in close +succession, emanating from these hemispheres._ + +The first proposition to be proven was that we breathe through the +œsophagus, conjointly with the trachea. If all I have said in the +preceding has not already convinced the reader of the truth of this +statement, I trust the following experiments will thoroughly convince +him thereof. These experiments will also furnish additional proof of +the fact that English and German modes of respiration are of an inverse +order. + +Not the slightest fear need be entertained as to the result of these +experiments. I have made the same, and others of a similar nature, over +and over again, without being in the least discomfited thereby; and I +may add that to the fact of having been entirely divested of fear, I +largely owe my success in all these undertakings. + +If you are an Anglo-Saxon, and make the muscles of your throat rigid, +thereby stopping inspiration through the trachea into the thorax, you +will soon experience a decided movement of the abdomen, in conformity +with which it will first expand anteriorly, then posteriorly, and again +anteriorly. There will now be a pause, after which the abdomen will +be first expanded posteriorly, then anteriorly, and again posteriorly. +This is as far as you can go; you will be compelled to release your +hold on your throat after these six movements; the thorax meanwhile +remaining passive. + +Upon next making the muscles of the back of your neck rigid, equal to +those of the œsophagus, the latter being thereby closed to respiration, +you will soon experience a decided movement of the thorax, by which +it will be first expanded posteriorly, then anteriorly, and again +posteriorly. There will now be a pause, after which the thorax will be +first expanded anteriorly, then posteriorly, and again anteriorly. + +These twelve movements constitute one act of respiration during which +inspiration and expiration for thorax and abdomen equalize each other. +The first three movements of the abdomen, consisting of an inspiration, +an expiration, and an inspiration, constitute what is commonly called +an inspiration; the second three movements of the abdomen, consisting +of an expiration, an inspiration, and an expiration, constitute what +is commonly called an expiration. Of the six movements of the thorax +succeeding these, the first three, consisting of an inspiration, an +expiration, and an inspiration, are equal to an inspiration; the last +three, consisting of an expiration, an inspiration, and an expiration, +are equal to an expiration. We thus have four complete respirations, +two of which, equal to an inspiration and an expiration, belong to the +abdomen; and two, likewise equal to an inspiration and an expiration, +belong to the thorax. + +Inasmuch as each of these four respirations is composed of three +separate movements, one complete respiration consists of twelve +separate movements of the respiratory organs. This relates to our +ordinary mode of breathing. For vocal utterance, more especially the +utterance of a vocal sound, these four respirations are first made +for the impression, and are then, in an inverse order, repeated for +the expression. This gives us eight movements, or an _octave_ of +movements, for each vocal sound; these eight movements, as a matter of +fact, consisting of twenty-four separate movements of the respiratory +organs. These movements, which in our experiment were of relatively +long duration, during our ordinary mode of breathing follow upon one +another very rapidly; thorax and abdomen, which during our experiment +were restrained, ordinarily and when unrestrained, acting and reacting +upon one another in quick succession. + +The preceding experiment gives us the following result: + + ABDOMEN + + Movement 1. Anterior, inspiration.} + " 2. Posterior, expiration.} _Inspiration._ + " 3. Anterior, inspiration.} + " 4. Posterior, expiration.} + " 5. Anterior, inspiration.} _Expiration._ + " 6. Posterior, expiration.} + + THORAX + + Movement 1. Posterior, inspiration.} + " 2. Anterior, expiration. } _Inspiration._ + " 3. Posterior, inspiration.} + " 4. Anterior, expiration. } + " 5. Posterior, inspiration.} _Expiration._ + " 6. Anterior, expiration. } + +All of the preceding has reference to the Anglo-Saxon mode of breathing. + +Germans, under the same circumstances, will make movements of an +inverse order. + +The first movement of the abdomen will be posterior, the next +anterior, the third posterior, which will be succeeded by anterior, +posterior, and anterior ones; while the movements of the thorax +will be anterior, posterior, and anterior, succeeded by posterior, +anterior, and posterior ones. This shows that _with Germans, expiration +antecedes inspiration_, while _with Anglo-Saxons, inspiration antecedes +expiration_. + +In our experiment, with Anglo-Saxons, _inspiration_ took place in +the abdomen by two movements anteriorly to one posteriorly, and in +the thorax by two movements posteriorly to one anteriorly; while +_expiration_ took place by two movements of the abdomen posteriorly to +one anteriorly, and in the thorax by two movements anteriorly to one +posteriorly, as per this schedule: + + ANGLO-SAXON Abdomen + 1. Inspiration, Ant., post., ant. + 2. Expiration, Post., ant., post. + + ANGLO-SAXON Thorax + 3. Inspiration, Post., ant., post. + 4. Expiration, Ant., post., ant. + +In the case of a German, it would have been more proper, for our +experiment, to have _first_ closed the muscles to the œsophagus, and +then those to the trachea, as Germans first breathe into the œsophagus +and then into the thorax. Had this been done, the result would have +been inverse to that of our experiment, as follows: The first movement +of the thorax would have been one of inspiration, the same as the first +movement of the abdomen; and the second movement of the thorax would +have been one of expiration, the same as the second movement of the +abdomen, thus: + + GERMAN Thorax + 1. Inspiration, Ant., post., ant. + 2. Expiration, Post., ant., post. + + Abdomen + 3. Inspiration, Post., ant., post. + 4. Expiration, Ant., post., ant. + +_This shows that the movements of the abdomen are the reverse of those +of the thorax_: + +With _Anglo-Saxons_, in such a manner that, while for the abdomen +_inspiration_ takes place anteriorly, it takes place for the thorax +posteriorly; and that, while for the abdomen _expiration_ takes place +posteriorly, it takes place for the thorax anteriorly; + +With _Germans_, in such a manner that, while for the thorax +_inspiration_ takes place anteriorly, it takes place for the abdomen +posteriorly; and that, while for the thorax _expiration_ takes place +posteriorly, it takes place for the abdomen anteriorly. + +These various modes of breathing find an illustration in the following: + +Anglo-Saxons, while carrying a burden (for which purpose it is +necessary to hold the breath or to economize the same as much +as possible), inspire into the abdomen anteriorly and the chest +posteriorly, and in so doing expand the same accordingly; while +Germans, under the same circumstances, breathe into and expand the +abdomen posteriorly and the chest anteriorly. The action of the former +tending away from the diaphragm, that of the latter tending towards it, +exercise an influence on the spinal column which causes Anglo-Saxons +while carrying a burden to assume an erect, Germans a stooping +position. This has already been illustrated by calling attention to the +difference between the position of the Greek and Gothic caryatides, +the former representing the Anglo-Saxon, the latter the German mode of +breathing. The order for German soldiers, "Brust heraus, Bauch herein"! +("Breast out, belly in"), for Anglo-Saxons should be, "Breast in, belly +out"! The former gives German soldiers that stiff appearance, tending +towards the diaphragm, of which Heine has said: + + "Als haetten sie verschluckt den Stock, + Womit man sie einst gepruegelt." + + ("As if the stick they'd swallowed + With which they once were walloped.") + +The fact that inspiration always consists in an inspiration, an +expiration, and an inspiration, while expiration consists in an +expiration, an inspiration, and an expiration, is one of the most +interesting observations I have made in connection with these studies. + +These facts may be generalized in saying: There is no action connected +with life which consists of a single movement in any one single +direction; every action, of whatsoever nature, if it is outgoing, +consisting of an outgoing, ingoing, and outgoing movement; if it is +ingoing, of an ingoing, outgoing, and ingoing movement; every superior +movement consisting of a superior, an inferior, and a superior; every +inferior, of an inferior, a superior, and an inferior one; every left +movement, of one to the left, to the right, and to the left; every +right movement, of one to the right, to the left, and to the right; the +last movement _only_ being visible and accompanying action. + +While our experiment is representative of the general principles +underlying our mode of breathing, the act of breathing, proper, is +subject to many variations. During their waking moments, or for +conversation, with Anglo-Saxons respiration takes place by thorax and +abdomen changing off, alternately, while with Germans they succeed one +another in the same manner as they did in our experiment, commencing, +however, with the thorax instead of with the abdomen, and with +expiration instead of with inspiration, as follows: + + ANGLO-SAXON + 1. Insp. Thorax--post., ant., post. + 2. " Abd.--ant., post., ant. + 3. Exp. Abd.--post., ant., post. + 4. " Thorax--ant., post., ant. + + GERMAN. + 1. Exp. Thorax--post., ant., post. + 2. Insp. " --ant., post., ant. + 3. Exp. Abd.--ant., post., ant. + 4. Insp. " --post., ant., post. + +This shows an indirect movement for Anglo-Saxon, a direct movement for +German respiration. Hence, English enunciation is necessarily slow, +German relatively quick. It also shows that the reserve force with +Anglo-Saxons is held before it is expended; with Germans it is expended +almost as fast as it is engendered. + +As there is an apparent discrepancy between the last schedule and the +previous one showing Anglo-Saxon mode of inspiration, I want to remind +the reader that our "experiment" was made mainly to set forth the +fact that we breathe through the œsophagus conjointly with breathing +through the trachea; but it was not intended to show our regular mode +of breathing. + +Though Germans and Anglo-Saxons breathe in opposite directions, still +there is an affinity between them in so far as they breathe _along the +same plane_. Peoples who speak any of the Latin tongues, on the other +hand, breathe along a different plane, and so do Slavonic, Mongolian, +and other races. Anglo-Saxons and Germans, therefore, though opposed +to one another in one sense, are affiliated in another; and both may +be, therefore, as they often are, said to belong to the Teutonic +race, together with other peoples along the borders of the North and +Baltic Seas. In a similar manner, no doubt, other races possess their +similitudes and dissimilarities. + +It should scarcely require any further proof on my part after this +and all I have previously said to show that, if any of the peoples +now speaking Latin tongues were in place thereof to speak English or +German, they would, in the course of time, cease to be Frenchmen, +Spaniards, or Italians, as the case might be, and would become +Anglo-Saxons or Germans; or that, if any of the Slavonic races or +peoples would do the same, the same result would eventually ensue; and +also that, if Anglo-Saxon or German peoples were to speak Latin or +Slavonic tongues in place of their own, they would eventually cease to +be Anglo-Saxons or Germans, and would become the people whose tongue +they were speaking; always provided, of course, that such tongues were +to be spoken _idiomatically_ correctly. Should any one still doubt +that language is the mainspring formulating peoples and nations in all +that essentially belongs to them and distinguishes them as such, I +confidently believe that that which I shall still further have to say +on this subject will eventually convince even the most obdurate of the +correctness of these assertions. + +The preceding schedules both for English-and German-speaking peoples +show their mode of breathing during their waking moments and for +the purpose of conversation. During sleep and for the demands of +the singing voice, however, thorax and abdomen interchange with +one another in so harmonious a manner that their inspirations and +expirations appear as one respective inspiration and expiration. + +The following schedules will show the relation of metre and rhythm to +breathing. + +Inspiration being of longer duration than expiration, I have in the +following signified the former by the sign for long (¯), the latter +by that for short (˘); while for the rise of the voice I have used +the sign for acute (´), and for its fall that for grave (`); for +comparison, see schedule on page 202. + + ANGLO-SAXON Abdomen Thorax + 1. Inspiration, `´` 3. Inspiration, `´` + ¯˘¯ ¯˘¯ + 2. Expiration, ´`´ 4. Expiration, ´`´ + ˘¯˘ ˘¯˘ + +An experiment may be made by an Anglo-Saxon adopting the German mode of +breathing and then attempting to speak English, or by a German adopting +the Anglo-Saxon mode of breathing and then attempting to speak German, +which neither will succeed in doing. + +In making the experiments just now under consideration, it will _not_ +be necessary, after closing the muscles of the trachea or the œsophagus +for the first six movements, to continue doing so, as the next six +movements will ensue involuntarily. There may be several repetitions of +these twelve movements involuntarily or automatically following after +that; any special mode of breathing once assumed being apt to continue +indefinitely until another mode is inaugurated. + +The same experiments may also be made by making _abdomen and thorax_ +alternately _rigid_, or producing a state of rigidity through +mechanical pressure, in place of producing it with the muscles of +the œsophagus and the trachea. As this may appear simpler and "less +dangerous," there should be nothing to hinder any one from making these +experiments. The movements will not be as _pronounced_, however, in +the latter instance as they are in producing a _direct_ closure of the +trachea and the œsophagus. + +There is a fourth mode of producing the same results, namely, through +the simple act of _continuously_ "thinking" of any particular part. +We may thus bring about a closure of the muscles of the trachea or +œsophagus, of thorax or abdomen, etc.; thought, which _precedes_ motion +for vocal utterance, _always_, as cause to effect, being the final +arbiter in all matters of respiration, unless the latter is of an +involuntary and simply functional character. While the act of breathing +for life pursues its even tenor, breathing for vocal utterance, though +of the same _order_, is subject to innumerable changes in conformity +with the sound, syllable, or word intended to be produced. + +I am aware that there may be _apparent_ incongruities in some of the +preceding, and I presume there always will be. We can see things +only from our limited standpoint. I have undertaken to solve matters +supposed to be superhuman, or "of God," and hence _perfect_ in their +way, in a human, and therefore imperfect, manner. Our limitations +naturally extending to our power of observation, the duality of +our nature in matters of this kind does not permit us--I might say, +forbids us--arriving at _final_ conclusions. We can go as far as our +understanding permits us to go--beyond that, we may at most indulge in +speculation. I have limited myself to my limits, to what I could prove, +and have but rarely indulged in what I could not--in speculation. + + NOTE.--Since the above was written Dr. G. E. Brewer, who in + conjunction with Dr. F. C. Ard, last month (March, 1899), + in New York, successfully performed the very rare operation + of laryngectomy, has told me that his patient had already + (after a month) commenced to speak again, though as yet only + in a monotonous whispering voice. She is doing so in spite of + the fact that every vestige of her larynx, which had been in + a diseased state, and which the doctor showed me, had been + removed. When I told the doctor this mysterious "new" voice + was that of the œsophagus and had always existed with his + patient, as it exists with every one else, and had always been + heard in conjunction with that of the trachea, he was greatly + astonished, though naturally incredulous, but said he would + investigate. + + +SONG, SINGERS, AND PHYSIOLOGY + +We are incomprehensible and mysterious beings. We do not know whence we +come nor whither we go; we do not know what agencies guide and sustain +us--our end is a tragic one. While the soles of our feet closely +adhere to the ground, our heads are in touch with the most distant +stars. We exercise faculties to perfection whose origin and mode of +operation are unalterably hidden from our knowledge. We possess gifts +and talents which raise us above the plane of our ordinary existence +and inspire us with the belief that we are related to the divinity, are +part of the divinity. It has ever been man's aim to penetrate this +darkness, to learn to comprehend _himself_. The vocation of the singer +is one to which this knowledge is indispensable. In the fulness of his +organization endowed by nature with a divine gift, the singer's aim and +desire is to retain and perfect this gift. + +The birds sing their same individual song throughout their career. Man, +however, sings the song of his soul; a song as endless and as varied as +his thoughts. Song with him is not a gift alone, but its exercise is a +study, an art. He must sing _knowingly_; he must ascertain the source +of his song and the reason why certain causes produce certain results. +Hence the necessity for a science of the voice. + +The knowledge of the exercise of our faculties is dependent on the +knowledge of life and on that of the spirit, without whose aid no +transaction of life of any kind ever takes place. Despairing of his +ability to penetrate into the realms of the spirit, aspiring man has +ever resorted to that which was next at his command--matter. Hence +the effort throughout all of man's history to reach the soul by way +of the body. But body and mind, in alliance, have ever succeeded in +frustrating these efforts; in keeping the secret of their duality and +mutuality intact from the gaze of man. Yet singers are determined to +find out _something_ in relation to the _voice_ at least. Finding that +we cannot penetrate into the relation existing between mind and matter, +the effort is renewed in the most persistent manner to explain the life +and the spirit, whose essence and outcome is the voice, by examining +into the relation of matter to matter. + +Our professor, having discarded the assistance of life and the spirit, +dabbles in matter pure and undefiled. This process our young students +are invited to attend. They carry their youth and their talent, their +high hopes and aspirations, into the dissecting-room, where the +spirit of the voice is supposed to reveal itself among the ghastliest +spectacles. If a person of ordinary good sense, but not acquainted +with these subjects, were to attend a lecture on the physiology of the +voice and then attend a singing-lesson based upon the knowledge thus +attained, he would be apt to remark: "Can this performance possibly +be meant to be in good faith? Is not this man taking advantage of the +credulity of this woman, who is giving him her hard-earned money, but +to find before long that she has been beggared, not only in purse, but +in voice and spirit as well; that she has not been benefited in any +sense, but sadly robbed and betrayed?" + +The persistency with which the modern scientist attempts to hammer a +voice out of the larynx and surrounding material tissues and other +physical agencies is a cardinal sin against the holy "spirit." When he +uses this supposed knowledge for coining it into money at the expense +of trusting and aspiring singers, he commits a malpractice, for which +some day he will have to go to the penitentiary of his own conscience; +that is, if he is in possession of any. "Vocal bands, mucous membranes, +tissues, ligaments, muscles, hollow spaces, air-pressure,"--these are +the factors productive of the voice divine; matter, nought but matter; +not a spark of the divine afflatus, not a spark even of life. + +Journals devoted to the voice are full of these things. I will quote +but a single instance. At the Music Teachers' National Convention, held +in New York, in June, 1898, a sensation was created by Dr. Frank E. +Miller (see _Werner's Magazine_ for August, 1898, page 490) saying: + + "In other words, I wish to say that the action of the cavities + or hollow spaces is anterior and prior to the action of the + vocal bands in production of tone and tone-quality in our + organs of speech. _With this novel fact I announce an original + discovery._" + +It is such _stuff_ as this that these people feed upon and believe +in as revelations of great moment. Yet Dr. Miller and his coadjutors +might sit before these cavities or hollow spaces till the end of time, +looking, observing, probing, measuring, weighing, and determining their +relation to the vocal bands and vice versa, and not a vestige of the +spirit of the voice would ever make its appearance. The last conundrum +of this kind, and it has special reference to my discoveries, is as +follows: "May not the disturbance of speech known as stammering or +stuttering be mainly a condition caused by the putting out of gear of +one air-chamber in its relationship to other air-chambers, whereby +the air-pressures during the speech-act are at war with one another, +resulting in the well-known manifestations?" (_Werner's Magazine_ for +September, 1898, page 59). Air-chambers and air-pressures again. I +protest against being made _particeps criminis_ in any such proceeding. + +When we go back to the earliest recorded times and find traces of an +attempt at expression by means of crude signs or figures impressed +upon the clay, we can see more of the potentiality of a science (or +a civilization) arising therefrom than we can from the teachings of +the laryngoscopists, who claim that the voice can be evolved from the +relations of various forms of matter to one another, without even a +trace of the spirit accompanying them. + +Not many years since audiences of intelligent persons were invited to +watch a dark tent in which two men were so closely tied together (as it +was supposed) that they could not possibly move a limb. From this tent +noises would arise as of the dragging of chains along the floor, bells +ringing, etc., interposed now and then by a chair being flung through +the air. All this was done by the "spirits." This was a proceeding not +unlike the one now going on in the materialistic school in connection +with the spirit of the voice. There is no more likelihood of the latter +arising from the dark tent of the matter they are investigating than of +a real spirit appearing in that other tent. The performance, besides, +is not as amusing, no chairs being flung, etc. The audience is looking +on gravely expectant, but all remains forever monotonously, solemnly, +ominously, and cadaverously silent and resultless. + +The _living_ grain of corn a blind hen after much scratching succeeds +in digging out from beneath a barn-yard floor bears a closer +resemblance to life, and hence to the voice, than the relations a +professor of physiology scratches together out of the various parts +which he supposes make up the instrument of the voice. These attempts +are so contrary to reason and common sense that in any other science +their originators would be laughed to scorn for their pains. + +The other great issue with physiologists in connection with the +voice is that of breathing. Clavicular breathing, costal breathing, +diaphragmatic breathing, etc.--these are some of the terms in common +use, and the "modes" of breathing commonly practised. Each of these +modes is supposed to be practised separately and at the will of the +performer. They are praised and recommended or condemned according +to the special view of the practitioner. Systems are based on these +special modes and schools arise therefrom. What one "school" practises +is condemned by another. And how could it be otherwise, _all_ being +wrong? + +Being homogeneous entities, whose wholesome existence is based upon a +harmonious coöperation of all parts, we cannot practise breathing from +a special part without every other part more or less participating. +The act of breathing being our most vital performance, every other +part would suffer if it were confined to any special part. Our entire +system, therefore, must participate therein; the hemisphere of the +abdomen no less than that of the thorax; both hemispheres coöperating +with each other and with other streams introduced into our system +through the pores and every other opening in the body. For a moment, +and for an especial expression, one part may prevail over another; but +the true artist will always breathe in such a manner that after such an +effort all parts will again harmonize and balance one another. He will +have such control over his breathing powers that he can at any time +throw the balance of power into one direction; but he will never let +any one direction _continue_ to prevail over any other. + +Every theory heretofore advanced in respect to our mode of breathing, +being based upon false premises, is wrong in the abstract, and +impossible of practical execution. + +If I have expressed myself strongly, it is because I feel strongly +the injury which has been wrought by this so-called "science" of the +laryngoscopists. It has in thousands of instances hindered the natural +development of the voice, and has in many other directions done +incalculable harm; while it has in _no_ direction ever done any good. +It has oppressed the intellect, depressed the spirit, and suppressed +the soul of singers. Let me add but this: What would be the use of the +most scientifically constructed stove, filled with the most appropriate +fuel, if the flame were wanting to set fire to this fuel? Supposing the +laryngoscopists to comprehend the intricate construction of the stove +(the body), the highly sensitive and complicated apparatus of the fuel +(the instrument of the voice)--both of which, however, they are greatly +in the dark about--the flame would still be wanting to set fire to this +fuel and fill the stove with the holy glow of song. This flame (the +life, the spirit) they do not even pretend to be able to furnish. They +only give us the stove and the fuel, which remain forever dark, cold, +lifeless, inert. + +To set myself up in judgment regarding these important issues, or to +place my judgment over that of so many eminent persons in the past +as well as the present, may appear to be a presumptuous, rash, bold, +and almost unwarranted undertaking. It is not my fault, however, that +there should be such utter confusion existing in these matters; that +no one should have ever succeeded in reducing this chaos to any kind +of order; that I am the heir, so to say, to this condition of affairs; +the trustee to this inheritance, who is to make use of it to the best +advantage of all that are interested. + +Nor is it my fault that, not by dint of superior endowments, or any +other qualities of a superior order, but simply through the discovery +of the dual nature of the voice, I should have obtained an insight +into, a mastery over, these matters never before enjoyed by any man. +Yet there seems to be a disposition on the part of some persons to +throw blame on me for these facts; in place of furthering, to suppress, +this knowledge; in place of probing and investigating, to assume that +it is simply the outcome of a somewhat more than lively imagination. +It appears to me that this is partly done in the interest of the vast +literature on these subjects now in existence, which will become +obsolete and valueless as soon as the _truth_ in matters of the voice +has been established. + +I dare say this simple fact, "We breathe and speak through the +œsophagus in conjunction with breathing and speaking through the +trachea," for _real_ knowledge, is worth all of the entire literature +on the voice, as a science, now in existence. + +The science of the voice, as I understand and am trying to explain and +establish it, is one not so much of mechanical issues, though they +have their share in it, as one in which the spirit, this heretofore +unapproachable issue, performs the greatest and most vital part. It is +a question of life, and every issue and every agency governing life are +involved in it. How vast a science this science of the voice therefore +is, can be better imagined than at once fully comprehended. I am far +from being able to present it in all its aspects, but shall endeavor, +as I have already partly done, to continue to give a general outline of +it. + +It will take time and patience for any one to acquire this knowledge, +but the reward will be more than commensurate. To superficially obtain +it from others is not sufficient; one must learn to know it of one's +own knowledge. It is an academic study, embracing many sciences. A +person must enter into it with his whole being if he wants to get hold +of the spirit thereof and be truly benefited thereby. He must identify +himself with this knowledge, must become part and parcel thereof, or it +must become part and parcel of him. When this is done, true teachers +of the voice will arise, for here is a chance for greatness to assert +itself. It will be death to all hackneyed knowledge and charlatanism. + +When the true knowledge of the production of speech and song for +_every_ language has been established, when we have a real science +of the voice, the teacher comprehending these issues in their entire +latitude will be able to teach how to interpret Mozart, Schubert, and +Wagner, Rossini and Verdi, Gounod, and every other master in the tongue +and the spirit in which he has produced his works. + +The genius for execution in the art of singing is with the Anglo-Saxon +race, but not for composition, for original conception. It may come, +but it is not with it now. + +The desire of the singer naturally is to embrace the highest in her +or his repertoire. At present it is Wagner. But how can Wagner be +rendered without a comprehension of his genius as expressed through +his language? The genius of the master and the genius of the language +he wrote and composed in cannot be separated. They are soul and body +of one and the same entity. Without the comprehension of the genius of +the German language, of its idiomatic expression, it is not possible +to reproduce what Wagner meant to express by his work. To sing German +with an English tongue is an anomaly; it is still English in the real +sense of the word, and not German. It is an unnatural proceeding, and +therefore injurious to the vocal organs of the singer. + +No one would expect a foreigner, for the delectation of a native-born +audience, to recite before it poetry in the latter's language, or a +native-born person to recite before it in a foreign tongue. In either +case such a person would fail. Why, then, song, this sister art and +accomplishment? + +All these are questions which, though ever so reluctantly, artists +will have to face. It complicates their art, but it will also, when +understood, make it comparatively easy. Americans will then sing the +works of foreign masters with the same perfect ease that they do +those of their native composers, and so will persons of every other +nationality. + +Who will be able to teach a foreign language so well as the natives +of each respective country? provided such persons have learned to +comprehend the difference between the mode of production of their +speech and that of their scholars. In that case only will a German +be able to teach an Anglo-Saxon his (the German) language for either +speech or song. It will be the same with every other nationality. + +The teachers, as a class, are with me. They feel that the efforts +of the physiologists to aid them in their vocation are wrong and +misleading. They have no faith in the revelation of matter. They know +matter is inert, powerless for any purpose without the indwelling +of the spirit; that the spirit reigns over and controls _every_ +manifestation of life; and that the voice in singing is one of the +highest manifestations thereof. They know that song comes from the +heart and the soul, while it uses the body for its instrument. + +I have been told I must build up before tearing down; before destroying +the old I must put something better in its place. I think it a +praiseworthy undertaking, in itself, to destroy the false and the +harmful. Besides, we cannot erect a new building before the old one has +been removed. + +As for this _new_ science, I am doing what I can to put it into +shape, to give a visible and tangible form to it as it has developed +in my mind. The world has been able to do without it so long, those +interested in these matters must have a little patience. + +I specially appeal to the _young_ to devote themselves to these studies +and to thus become the precursors in the application of principles +which are destined to revolutionize the vocal science of the world; the +old being often too old to get out of lifelong practices, no matter how +erroneous. I appeal in like manner to the students of medicine, and to +those of every other branch of science, whose aim is the knowledge of +man in any of, and all, his relations. + +[Illustration] + + + + +INDEX + + + Abdomen, 174, 198, 208 + + Abstract thought, 72 + + Accent, 178, 180 + + Æther, 91 + + Anapest, 167, 175 + + Anglo-Saxon race, 136 + + Animal magnetism, 14 + + Anode, 106 + + Antibacchius, 175 + + Atlas, 127 + + Autology, 56 + + + Bacchius, 175 + + _Basic Law of Vocal Utterance_, 1, 6, 7 + + Bladder, 46 + + Blood, 65 + + Brain, 46 + + Breathing, 8, 93, 95, 159, 198, 214 + + Brinkerhoff, Mme. Clara, 6, 195 + + Bronchi, 8 + + + Caryatides, 104 + + Cathode, 106 + + Centrifugal, 124, 130, 152 + + Centripetal, 124, 130, 152 + + Charlatanism, 12 + + Circulation of sound, 109 + + Climate, 135 + + Clothing, 78 + + Colonization, 140 + + Congenital deaf, 84 + + Consonants, 89 + + + Dactylus, 164, 175 + + Dentistry, 132 + + Diaphragm, 80, 102, 203 + + Dissecting room, 211 + + Douglass, Frederick, 137 + + Drumhead, 74 + + Duality, 18 + + + Emphasis, 161, 179 + + English-speaking peoples, 136 + + Evolution, 18 + + Expansion, 90 + + Expiration, 80, 200 + + Extirpation, 59 + + + Foreigners, 134, 173, 194 + + Frænum linguæ, 42 + + + Gadski, Johanna, 196 + + Generation, 107 + + German writers, 65 + + Gounod, 195 + + Gravitation, 107 + + + Heidenhain, Mr., 14 + + Heine, 164, 204 + + Hemispheres, 88 + + Holmes, Dr. O. W., 12, 123 + + Huxley, 21 + + Hypnotism, 52 + + + Iambic measure, 167 + + Idiomatic expression, 110, 113, 123, 143, 148 + + Idiom of the sea, 144; + of the forest, 146 + + Immigration, 134 + + Inspiration, 177, 200 + + Intonation, 161 + + Introspection, 4, 56, 68 + + + Kidneys, 46 + + + Laryngoscope, 50 + + Laryngoscopists, 215 + + Larynx, 9 + + Lungs, 46 + + Lunn, Mr., 167 + + + Matter, 211, 218 + + Medicine, 220 + + Metre, 161, 172, 178 + + Miller, Dr., 212 + + Mind, 184 + + Motion, 89, 142, 151 + + Müller, Prof. Max, 99 + + + Octave, 93 + + Œsophagus, 198, 208 + + + Palimpsest, 96 + + Phonograph, 71, 88, 90 + + Point of gravitation, 101 + + Posterior surfaces, 68 + + + "R" sound, 104 + + Race distinctions, 137 + + Reinforcement, 47 + + Religion, 17 + + Replica, 19, 42, 129 + + Rhythm, 68, 93, 160, 172, 178 + + Rigidity, 57, 59, 176, 208 + + Roentgen, Professor, 105 + + Rush, Dr., 48 + + + Saxon words, 168 + + School of singing, 187 + + Science of the voice, 210 + + Sight, 183 + + Simple sounds, 66, 68, 88, 106 + + Singers, 210 + + Singing, 57, 158 + + Soft palate, 129 + + Soul, 184 + + Speech and song, 158 + + Spirit, 54, 211, 220 + + Spirits, 44 + + Spiritual cell, 148 + + Stammering, 97 + + Stuttering, 97 + + Surd, 89 + + + Teachers, 13, 218, 219 + + Teeth, 132 + + Teutonic race, 206 + + Thorax, 174, 198, 208 + + Thought, 192 + + Timbre, 195 + + Tongue, 61, 101 + + Trachea, 198, 208 + + Trochaic measure, 165 + + Tuning, 157 + + + Ureters, 47 + + + Ventriloquism, 73 + + Virchow, Professor, 21 + + Viscera, 46 + + Vivisection, 51 + + Vocal science, 220 + + Vocal sounds, 67, 89 + + Voice of the œsophagus, 1; + falling, 175; + rising, 175; + whispering, 191 + + Von Buelow, 193 + + + _Werner's Magazine_, 6, 7, 196, 212, 213 + + Will, 179, 184 + + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + + Simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors were + silently corrected. + + Anachronistic and non-standard spellings retained as printed. + + Italics markup is enclosed in _underscores_. + + Bold and underlined markup is enclosed in =equals=. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Duality of Voice, by Emil Sutro + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 48486 *** |