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text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 1.5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i5 {display: block; margin-left: 2.5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i7 {display: block; margin-left: 3.5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i9 {display: block; margin-left: 4.5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 48486 ***</div> + +<div class="tnotes covernote"> + <p>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> +</div> + +<p class="xxlarge u">Duality of Man's Nature</p> + +<p class="ph2">I.—DUALITY OF VOICE</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> +<div class="titlepage bbox"> +<div class="bbox"> + + + + +<h1>DUALITY OF +VOICE<br /> + +<span class="xlarge">AN OUTLINE OF ORIGINAL +RESEARCH</span></h1> + + +<p>BY</p> + +<p class="xlarge">EMIL SUTRO</p> + +<p class="small">AUTHOR OF "THE BASIC LAW OF VOCAL +UTTERANCE."</p> +</div> +<div class="bbox"> +<span class="large">G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS<br /></span> +NEW YORK AND LONDON<br /> +The Knickerbocker Press<br /> +1899 +</div></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1899 +BY +EMIL SUTRO</p> + +<p class="center">Entered at Stationers' Hall, London.</p> + +<p class="center">The Knickerbocker Press, New York +</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"There is nothing in our composition either purely +material or purely spiritual."—<span class="smcap">Montaigne.</span></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a><br /><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/deco_pv.jpg" width="700" height="164" alt="" /> +</div> +<div class="chapter"></div> + + + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS"> + <tr> + <th class="tdl">CHAPTER</th> + <th>PAGE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>I.—INTRODUCTION</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Comments of a Distant Reviewer</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Fragments</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Basic Law of Vocal Utterance</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">The Voice of the Œsophagus and its Vocal Cords</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>II.—THE HUMAN VOICE</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Introspection</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Making Parts Rigid</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Extirpation</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Movements of the Tongue</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Simple Sounds</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Posterior Surfaces</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Inspiration—Expiration</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Diaphragms</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>III.—IMPRESSION—EXPRESSION</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">The Phonograph</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Stuttering—Stammering</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Cathode of a Vocal Sound</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>IV.—OUR MOTHER TONGUE</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">National Traits of Character</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">The American Nation</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Centripetal and Centrifugal</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Rotation of Centripetal and Centrifugal Action </td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_130">130</a> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>V.—NATIONALITY AND RACE DISTINCTIONS</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Idiomatic Expression</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp6">Origin of Anglo-Saxon Race and Idiom.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp6">Origin of German Race and Idiom.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Relationship Supposed to Exist as between the German and English Nations</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Language and Motion</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Difference in their Mode of Breathing as between Anglo-Saxons and Germans</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Rise and Fall, or Rhythm</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Stress</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>VI.—PHYSIOLOGY OF VOICE IN RELATION TO WORDS</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Significance of the Term "School" of Singing</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_187">187</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Breathing</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_198">198</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdp4">Song, Singers, and Physiology</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>INDEX</td> + <td class="tdn"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/deco_pvi.jpg" width="700" height="348" alt="" /> +</div> + +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></div> + +<p class="ph1">DUALITY OF VOICE +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a><br /><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/fig011-300dpi.jpg" width="700" height="174" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p class="ph1">DUALITY OF VOICE</p> + +<p class="ph2">AN OUTLINE OF ORIGINAL RESEARCH +</p> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> + + +<p>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 <cite>The Basic Law of Vocal Utterance</cite>.<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>spiritual as well as physical, his abilities and his +limits, and his relative position, influence, and +destiny in the economy of the universe.</p> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Edgar S. Werner. New York, 1894.</p></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +consideration they deserved, other persons, in all +probability, would have made <em>some</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In the beginning, it was all brought about by my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +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 <em>continued</em> to persevere in this +course, and thus succeeded in penetrating deeper +and deeper into matters heretofore deemed inaccessible +to man.</p> + +<p>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 <em>inner</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +always of the <em>same</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>ever</em> been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +<em>quite</em> 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, <cite>The Basic Law of Vocal Utterance</cite>. +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.</p> + +<p>In the November, 1896, number of <cite>Werner's +Magazine</cite>, I noticed the following:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"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, <cite>The Basic Law of Vocal Utterance</cite>. 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +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."</p></div> + +<p>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 <cite>Werner's Magazine</cite>, 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 <cite>Werner's Magazine</cite> it is stated:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"If Mr. Emil Sutro's book, <cite>The Basic Law of Vocal +Utterance</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>all</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>dead</em> +branch of a tree, I am portraying, in its majestic +proportions, the broad expanse of a <em>living</em> oak.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Now that I am offering innumerable <em>proofs</em> in corroboration +of my assertions, I want scientists to +take these matters <em>seriously</em>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +greater problems before the world to-day than are +treated here.</p> + +<p>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 +<em>no</em> 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 <em>learning</em>, why are there none +to assist those who are attempting to solve questions +<em>to be taught</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<em>falsely</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>man's</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>This impatience (and who can blame those who are +suffering, or those who, being young and talented,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>While the exercise of speech is next to universal +with all men, no one has any idea of <em>how</em> it is exercised; +the wisest being as much in the dark as the +least informed.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"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 <em>bleat</em>. We narrow or widen, or +check or stop the flow of this sound by the lips, the +tongue, the teeth, and thus <em>articulate</em>, 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 <em>bleating</em>, or vocalizing; to <em>coo</em>, as babies do, is to +<em>bleat</em>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +make a machine that articulates, is not so easy." [The +Italics are Dr. Holmes's.]</p></div> + +<p>It is not the <em>humorist</em> 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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Teachers have said that, not being a teacher, I +could not know anything about the voice. As if +<em>they</em> 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, <em>is</em> 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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The following appears in the <cite>Encyclopædia Britannica</cite>, +under the heading of "Animal Magnetism":</p> + +<p>"Mr. Heidenhain, after stating that in conformity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +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.'"</p> + +<p>Valiant Mr. Heidenhain, brave explorer on a new +and "dangerous" field of research. This is the +<em>Ultima Thule</em> which any of these bold adventurers +have endeavored to reach. <em>My work began where +theirs came to an end.</em> Though I have not reached +the "North Pole," I have gone far beyond anyone +else.</p> + + +<h3>COMMENTS OF A DISTANT REVIEWER</h3> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +reference to material developments only, and did +not contemplate any advancement of a purely spiritual +nature.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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 <em>facts</em> 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 +<em>knowledge</em>; as to some extent, though by different +means, they have become since.</p> + +<p>"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 +<em>truly</em> brotherly spirit would have prevailed among +all classes and peoples in place of much of the prejudice, +the insincerity, the overbearance, the ani<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>mosity, +the cruelty, and the insanity even of the +believers in (or inheritors of) one spiritual theory +(often misnamed religion) as against those of another.</p> + +<p>"The world's thought, just previous to that time, +had made great strides forward through the recognition +of the laws of <em>evolution</em>, 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 <em>greater movement</em> which +it was now called upon to face; a movement which +went beyond the mere recognition of phenomena +and penetrated into <em>a priori</em> 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 <em>testing</em> the numerous +proofs offered by this writer as to the correctness +of his assertions. His investigations, if properly +understood, would have brought spirituality <em>home</em> 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.</p> + +<p>"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 <em>all</em> its relations. He made the discovery +that the œsophagus is of equal importance with the +trachea in carrying on the process of respiration and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"He discovered further that the larynx, previously +supposed to be the <em>only</em> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>coöperation +of the larynx with the replica. He discovered +the circulation of, and the origin of vocal +sounds, and many other important issues.</p> + +<p>"Through his discoveries, if properly recognized, +<em>all</em> 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.</p> + +<p>"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 <em>all</em> 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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>I can see many a reader smile after perusing the +foregoing, and perhaps saying:</p> + +<p>"Here is a Jules Verne of a new type come +to deal with a novel subject."</p> + +<p>Yet the time will come when the reader will cease +to smile, and look upon these matters <em>seriously</em>. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +do not mean, however, to throw down a gauntlet to +science on these momentous questions in <em>a vaunting +and reckless spirit</em>; but come as a petitioner rather, +asking it to investigate.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Professor Huxley declared that during his fifty +years of experience as a student and teacher not one +thing really <em>new</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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 <em>matter</em>, but it is not given to it +to assist in recognizing the principles which govern +life and the <em>spirit</em> of life.</p> + + +<h3>FRAGMENTS</h3> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +they may in the course of time turn up in some one +else's mind.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I will now let follow some of the matters I have +spoken of:</p> + +<p>My personality and my work must go together, +until others relieve me of the latter by making it +<em>their</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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 cor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>roboration, +or an explanation, only, of things already +known. With me, nevertheless, <em>all</em> is original; and +I may therefore justly claim that if any of these +matters have been discovered before, I, at least, have +<em>re-discovered</em> them.</p> + +<p>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, +<em>the same opportunity may not arise again for centuries</em>.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>"Truth is stranger than fiction"; which is undoubtedly +true. We can imagine that only of which +we have at least <em>some</em> knowledge, but there are realms +of truth beyond us of which we have <em>no</em> knowledge. +Besides, these revelations are of so extraordinary a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +nature that I cannot altogether close my eyes to the +fact that I <em>may have been led on to them</em> by agencies +beyond my personal power of volition. I will cite +but one reason why such an idea might be justly +entertained by me.</p> + +<p>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 <em>convinced</em> 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."</p> + +<p>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. <em>I then found what I had +been after unknown to myself.</em> 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.</p> + +<p>I am aware that for me to say, as I have just now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +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 <em>all circumstances</em> are capable of +pursuing either the one direction or the other.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>I might say I have been on a prospecting tour to a +<em>new</em> country, where I found the outcroppings of +numerous veins of precious ore. These veins are +<em>true fissure veins</em>, penetrating, as they do, into the +very bowels of the earth; and it will take centuries +to exhaust them in all their <em>dips, spurs, and angles</em>.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>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 <em>portion</em> +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 <em>complete</em> 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 <em>living thing</em>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 +<em>that we have no control over its mechanism</em>, it will be +best, as far as singers and elocutionists are concerned, +to surrender it to and leave it with the anatomists.</p> + +<p>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 <em>right</em> to go on with them. Still, I +was sustained by the fact that I had been <em>led on to +them</em>. 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 <em>within myself</em>.</p> + +<p>It is my belief that the ordinary course of events +is never interfered with; but that <em>great</em> 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.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>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 compre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>hend; +some one will not mind the trouble of investigation. +It is not likely that I shall <em>forever</em> remain +the only "seeing one."</p> + +<p>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, <em>properly</em>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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 <em>deserving poor</em> 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 <em>lost</em> to those for whom they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +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 <em>all</em> men, independent +of sex, race, or country.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +finished rather hastily in the erroneous belief that +this knowledge was at once and imperatively needed.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>sole</em> +inhabitant, if that inhabitant were blind?</p> + +<p>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. <em>We</em> 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 <em>spiritually</em> 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.</p> + +<p>Just here biologists have blundered, trying to get<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +hold of <em>psyche</em> 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 <em>our</em> 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 <em>motion</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<p>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—<em>the +organism of all our faculties, instead of being confined +to their end organs, being widespread over our entire +system</em>.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Physiologists as a rule are satisfied with the +<em>observation and exposition</em> of phenomena. I have +endeavored to <em>explain</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>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 +<em>specific</em> knowledge, I form a part. Hence my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +thoughts are its thoughts and my language its +language. There will be no difficulty, therefore, +for <em>all</em> to understand me and to profit by my +experience.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +however, as they did in the fable, but to remain +with me and to be made known through me to the +world.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>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 <em>not one</em> 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:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ein Kerl der speculirt<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ist wie ein Thier, auf duerrer Haide<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Von einem boesen Geist im Kreis herum gefuehrt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und ringsumher liegt schoene gruene Waide."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">("A theorist is like unto a beast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On barren soil by evil sprite led round and round<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Within a narrow circle, though beyond there is a feast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of pasture green on fertile ground.")<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h3>"THE BASIC LAW OF VOCAL UTTERANCE"</h3> + +<p>My earlier work, entitled as above, was written +under peculiar circumstances. After discovering +the fact that sounds proceed from beneath as well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There was something Faust-like in it all, and I +sometimes shudder at my own temerity. Still,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In attempting to scale a mountain I had reached +a point from which I could overlook the valley im<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>mediately +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.</p> + +<p>I have since arrived at a plan according to which +these matters will be treated in a more systematic +manner. In <em>this</em> volume, besides many novel subjects, +I have been enlarging upon and elucidating +many superficially mentioned in my book, <cite>The Basic +Law of Vocal Utterance</cite>. Still, the matters treated +upon even in <em>this</em> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>THE VOICE OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS AND ITS VOCAL +CORDS</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +the student. I can here mention only the main +points.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So many have spent year after year upon the diffi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>cult +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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 686px;"> +<img src="images/fig053-300dpi.jpg" width="686" height="386" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/fig054-300dpi.jpg" width="700" height="168" alt="" /> +</div> +<div class="chapter"></div> + + + + +<h2>THE HUMAN VOICE</h2> + + +<p>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 <em>point d'appui</em>, I +think that if there is anything in our composition +or emanating therefrom that is <em>not</em> produced by +"<em>purely</em> physical agencies," it is the voice.</p> + +<p>In my opinion there is nothing purer, more +"spiritual," in the world than a beautiful voice. +Did you ever <em>see</em> a spirit? Perhaps not. But you +have often <em>heard</em> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <em>all</em> that a vocal sound +is, I will tell you what your soul is.</p> + +<p>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 <em>no</em> 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, +<em>after</em> we have once begun to understand what these +movements imply.</p> + +<p>That we cannot now derive any benefit from the +observation of these motions is due to the fact that +they are <em>reflex</em>, <em>involuntary</em>, <em>uncontrolled</em> and <em>uncontrollable</em> +by the will. Or, as Mme. D'Arona +expresses it:</p> + +<p>"They are not the <em>cause</em> of the perfect tone, but +are simply acted upon by the cause."</p> + +<p>After having become acquainted with the cause of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +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 <em>causes</em>, 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 <em>first +cause</em>, so as to correct that which they indicate to +be wrong in our tone production.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The original source of tone production has its +location in <em>various vessels of the viscera</em>: 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +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, <em>the tone originates</em>. Here we can control, +and unconsciously do control, it.</p> + +<p>I shall adduce indubitable proof as to the correctness +of these assertions. More than that, I shall <em>locate</em> +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.</p> + +<p>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, <em>all</em> parts of the <em>viscera</em> participate therein, +by, in a manner, <em>leaning</em> 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 +<em>reinforced</em> by this aid.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<p>In matters of the voice, as in many others, truth +is stranger than fiction.</p> + +<p>Dr. Rush has said:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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 <em>beneath</em> 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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +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 <em>divine</em> in its <em>every aspect</em>; +parts which have been supposed to serve ends only +of a comparatively low order participating in the +highest spiritual functions.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>complete</em> +any one thing. I shall be well satisfied if I shall be +able to simply touch upon every subject that has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +come under my observation, lightly, suggesting +things, and leaving it to others to enter more thoroughly +into the same.</p> + + +<h3>INTROSPECTION</h3> + +<p>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 <em>is</em> 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 <em>inner</em> surface of my eyes.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Is not all physiological research more or less of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The word "Introspection" has heretofore meant +reflection upon purely spiritual phenomena only; I +have proven by my personal example that we can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +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 +<em>influence</em>, and not an insight. Besides, this condition +is as yet too obscurely known to be made use of as a +practical means of observation.</p> + +<p>After all this, the question will still be asked, +"What must we <em>do</em> to look into ourselves?"</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +well attempt to arrive at a law by the observance of +which <em>all</em> persons would be enabled to write poetry.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>all</em> +persons may not be able to personally obtain satisfactory +results, <em>all</em> may be <em>benefited</em> by the results +obtained by those qualified to successfully carry on +a course of observations by means of introspection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>know</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>I have been trying to get at this motive power, +and to some extent have been successful in so doing. +Besides, the <em>body</em> 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 <em>every</em> 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 <em>requires</em> 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.</p> + +<p>For me to <em>fully</em> describe my mode of proceeding +in arriving at these matters would be equal to an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +attempt at crowding into a few paragraphs <em>all</em> I +have gone through within something like forty +years, more or less, of observation.</p> + + +<h3>MAKING PARTS RIGID</h3> + +<p>I have already stated that I was originally led into +making these investigations through my simple desire +of getting rid of my <em>German</em> 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.</p> + +<p>In the beginning I came to what I considered a +<em>positive</em> 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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>all</em> pure +notes or sounds. To accomplish this, he must +persistently watch one result after another.</p> + +<p>My mode of proceeding has been largely in making +parts <em>rigid</em>, 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 <em>part</em> 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. <em>Having two languages at my command, +I was startled to find that cause and effect in both were +totally different from each other.</em> This gave me the +original cue to all my observations.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <em>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</em>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>EXTIRPATION</h3> + +<p>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 <em>out of myself</em>. In regard to vocal utterance, these +consequences are positive and direct. That these +operations must be very <em>carefully</em> conducted in connection +with <em>vital</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I beg leave to here insert without comment the +following clipping from the press:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +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."</p></div> + + +<h3>THE MOVEMENTS OF THE TONGUE</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The muscle of the tongue, for vocal utterance, is +the most important in our organization. It appears<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +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 <em>whose</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>approaches</em> the spot +whence a sound comes, or should come. To ascertain +such spot with exactitude, it is but necessary to +<em>extend</em> the tongue's tip until it reaches the wall of +the oral cavity during or, still better, immediately<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +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 <em>apparently</em> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Every imaginable opprobrious epithet has been by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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, +<em>after</em> the utterance of a sound, as <em>during</em> +such utterance; that is <em>immediately</em> after the tongue +has ceased to vibrate for such sound.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + +<p>Whatever the movements of the tongue are for +the <em>spoken</em> language, they are of an inverse order for +<em>song</em>. 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, +<em>while speech is of the oral cavity, song is of the +pharynx</em>. In making these remarks and others <em>in +anticipation</em>, 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 <em>never</em> +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.</p> + + +<h3>SIMPLE SOUNDS</h3> + +<p>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 +<em>simple</em> and not <em>vocal</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +sounds of the deaf, and those which distinguish the +speech of a foreigner from that of the native-born.</p> + +<p>The recognition of these sounds as the <em>negative +parts of speech</em> has been one of my main accomplishments, +and has been of the greatest assistance to me +in my investigations.</p> + +<p>Things <em>complete</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>harmonious</em> 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 <em>discordant</em>, violent, and even dangerous +nature. Take but the atmospheric air and +its elements for an example.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +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 <em>simple</em> sounds—<em>i. e.</em>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h3>POSTERIOR SURFACES</h3> + +<p>In saying, as I have, that introspection is carried +on by looking into ourselves with the <em>inner surface +of our eyes</em>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +observation, is reversed; their function now being to +observe internally and spiritually.</p> + +<p>In connection with sounds, you will not only "in +your mind's eye" <em>see</em> the places where they originate, +and <em>feel</em> 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 <em>know</em>, that <em>every exterior functional +surface has a corresponding posterior one</em>.</p> + +<p>Whenever a thing is brought <em>home</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +"my mind's eye," if the faculty of seeing were not +actually given to the posterior surface of the eye.</p> + +<p>This will become clear when you consider that +you will altogether fail to see internally when you +attempt to use the <em>anterior</em> surface of your eye for +the purpose of <em>internal</em> 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. +<em>All</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +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 <em>see</em> 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.</p> + +<p>If we could invent a microscope by the aid of +which we could look into ourselves in a <em>spiritual</em> +sense, that is, through posterior surfaces, <em>all</em> 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 <em>present</em>, +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, <em>phonographically</em>. They +are awakened by association; and that organ of sense +by the aid of whose anterior surface they were first +received and <em>recorded</em>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>material</em> nature; +while those which come to us indirectly—through +our inner consciousness—may be said to be of <em>spiritual</em> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <em>anterior</em> part of +our ear, <em>entering</em>, as it does, from <em>without</em>. We hear +our own voice through the <em>posterior</em> part of our ear, +<em>going out</em>, as it does, from <em>within</em>. 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.</p> + +<p>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, <em>and continue to +listen to the same in precisely the same manner in +which you did to those of this other person</em>; that is, +let them flow into your ear from without, inwardly. +The result will be <em>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</em>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<p>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, <em>all</em> 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.</p> + +<p>I copy the following from an article in the <cite>Philadelphia +Sunday Press</cite>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"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."</p></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>regulating our +steps</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<em>every</em> inflection of the voice.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +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 <em>spiritually</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +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.</p> + + +<h3>INSPIRATION—EXPIRATION</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>To confine our mode of physical and spiritual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +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. <em>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.</em></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <em>air-tight sack</em>,—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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +qualities, and takes away with it the constantly accumulating +refuse.</p> + +<p>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 +<em>spirit</em>, 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 <em>in our +own name and by our own right</em>, without interference +or the intercession of any person or agency whatsoever, +in the past or the present.</p> + +<p>Have I placed too great a value on the discovery +of the "voice of the œsophagus"?</p> + +<p>I feel convinced that the further exposition of my +observations will justify me in all I have said.</p> + + +<h3>DIAPHRAGMS</h3> + +<p>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. <em>Every</em> +opening, in fact, has its diaphragm. Where there +is none visible, it is formed by contraction, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>ever +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>mode</em> of inspiration regulating the special +sound to be produced.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>All these various diaphragms fall or recede for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +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, <em>i. e.</em>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/fig093-300dpi.jpg" width="700" height="166" alt="" /> +</div> +<div class="chapter"></div> + + + + +<h2>IMPRESSION AND EXPRESSION</h2> + + +<p>All vocal expression is but an echo, the echo of +a thought. Thought <em>must</em> 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 <em>ipso facto</em>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>That an <em>impression</em> 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 +<em>entire</em> impression is made through the eye. The +reader or singer, knowing the <em>value</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>The <em>thought</em> of a sound, after <em>producing</em> an impression, +<em>guides</em> the tongue in <em>releasing</em> 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 <em>think</em> 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 +<em>thinking</em> of the correct sound must be carried on for +the <em>next</em> syllable during the <em>production</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h3>THE PHONOGRAPH</h3> + +<p>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 <em>simple</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +of speech are "shut," far more so than they are for +<em>vocal</em> sounds.</p> + +<p>Consonant sounds cannot be uttered "vocally" +without a vowel sound. When they appear in a +syllable their <em>accompanying</em> 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.</p> + +<p>"Simple" <em>consonant</em> sounds are unaccompanied, +not "leavened," by a vowel sound. "Simple" <em>vowel</em> +sounds, on the other hand, are unaccompanied by +the element which constitutes consonant sounds; +while "vocal" <em>vowel</em> sounds <em>are</em> accompanied +thereby.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>part</em> of a limb without +preparation. A part of a limb in this sense may be +compared to a <em>simple</em>, the entire limb to a <em>vocal</em>, +sound. The thought must make an impression by expansion +or contraction, which, when released, will +express the desired motion; no matter whether such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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, <em>whose powers are interdependent upon one +another</em>.</p> + +<p>The effect of the teacher's <em>voice</em> upon his or her +scholar's organization is of a <em>similar</em> order to that +made by <em>thought</em> upon the teacher's own organization. +That it is not of the <em>same</em> 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 <em>voice</em> is of the same +order as that made upon the deaf by the <em>features</em> of +their instructor which are representative of his voice. +We are living, breathing <em>phonographs</em>. Every impression +we receive through any of our senses must +be made in a material manner before it can have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +its immaterial expression. We engrave upon living +tissue, instead of on rubber or wax.</p> + +<p>I repeat that, to obtain a pure sound, the <em>thought</em> +underlying such sound or sounds must be <em>purely, +clearly defined</em>. 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 <em>thought</em> progresses, the expression +as <em>sound</em> progresses. While the <em>impression +is thoughtful, the expression is thoughtless</em>. While +we think for a sound during the impression, we do +not think for it during its expression; <em>but we think, +during the latter, for the next sound</em>. 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +(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.</p> + + +<h3>STUTTERING, STAMMERING</h3> + +<p>What is all this I am writing?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Regarding the subject of stuttering proper, I must +still preface it with some remarks of a general nature.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>ensemble</em>. 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + +<p>To perfectly render a poetical conception by words +either spoken or sung, the performer's <em>mind</em> 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. <em>As a matter of fact, +however, inspiration is of longer duration than expiration.</em></p> + +<p>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 <em>well</em>, speaks and +writes it rhythmically, always. Good style is +synonymous with correct rhythmical expression,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +superinduced by correct breathing; rhythmic expression +depending entirely upon rhythmic impression, +and the latter upon rhythmic thought, +accompanied by rhythmic breathing.</p> + +<p>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 <em>must</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 +<em>before</em> another thought comes along crowding in +upon the preceding one and in so doing <em>blurring</em> +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 <em>impressive</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<em>not</em> to stutter, or a <em>fear</em> 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, <em>itself being thought</em>, +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 <em>vocally</em> 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 <em>think</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +and organs of speech are all <em>tuned</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Experiments may be made by means of making +these respective parts rigid which will establish the +correctness of these assertions.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +me remark, however, that unless the <em>thought</em> of the +performance accompanies it, a mere mechanical pressure +will not suffice.</p> + +<p>That <em>thought</em>, 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 <em>not</em> subject to these troubles; though +the utterance of the same persons while speaking, +and in so doing, <em>thinking</em>, may be subject thereto.</p> + +<p>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 <em>stammering</em>, his master cried out, +"Sing, sing!" whereupon he delivered himself +thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Der spiritus im keller brennt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Und alles steht in flammen."<br /></span> +<span class="i0">("The spirits, master, are aflame,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all things are a-burning.")<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In a recent number of <cite>Cosmopolis</cite>, Prof. Max +Müller said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"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!'"</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <em>completely</em> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A stammerer can return to the point of gravitation +by throwing some of his surplus ballast overboard. +<em>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.</em></p> + +<p>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. <em>His tongue is in a loose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +state of elevation, in which position the air is constantly +streaming out (expiring) from beneath the +same.</em> He must <em>lower</em> it to have <em>his</em> 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, <em>with which it always acts in unison</em>. In restoring +the tongue to a normal condition we restore +the diaphragm to a normal condition.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. <em>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.</em> This is owing +to the fact that a German inspires from under and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h3>THE CATHODE OF A VOCAL SOUND</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>product</em> +of its combination with the <em>simple</em> "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 <em>vocal</em> "r" +sound of the English language; the "r" I had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Think of it! To be able to divide the essence of +life and to obtain two <em>living</em> 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 <em>vocal</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>recognition</em> of the nature of a thing constantly +before us and brought to our consciousness through +our ear.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The anode is quiescent until the cathode comes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +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 <em>smouldering</em> fire, the sight of a thing too dimly +seen to be recognized, a cut or broken limb, a +suspense, a disappointment, a <em>suppressed</em> 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.</p> + +<p><em>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.</em> 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.</p> + +<p>In our ordinary speech this alloy, this union, is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>How do I know all this? I will tell you: By +watching the <em>beginning</em> 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 <em>appears</em> 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.</p> + +<p>What does the motion in which anode and cathode +approach each other—which is not direct as it at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +first appears to the observer, but vastly circuitous—signify?</p> + +<p>The circulation through the vascular system of the +elements (of the æther) creating vocal sounds, or the +<em>circulation of vocal sounds</em>. 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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 457px;"> +<img src="images/fig119-300dpi.jpg" width="457" height="220" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/fig120-300dpi.jpg" width="700" height="167" alt="" /> +</div> +<div class="chapter"></div> + + + + +<h2>OUR MOTHER TONGUE</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>All</em> 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 <em>ever</em> succeed in speaking English as it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +should be spoken until he succeeds in <em>reversing</em> 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.</p> + +<p>I venture to make the assertion that no other +person besides myself has ever learned to pronounce +a foreign language <em>idiomatically correct</em>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +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.</p> + + +<h3>NATIONAL TRAITS OF CHARACTER</h3> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +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 <em>language</em>.</p> + +<p>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, <em>in an idiomatically +correct manner</em>, 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 <em>features</em>, +yes, even my way of <em>thinking</em>, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +which is peculiar to a language, its general cast, and +which is representative of its genius and spirit.</p> + +<p>To what do I attribute so powerful an influence?</p> + +<p>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 <em>nation</em>. 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; <em>such difference in the mode of breathing +being the reflection of every individual soul</em>.</p> + +<p>The bent of the soul in <em>individual</em> cases determines +the flow of these streams, the same as the +bent of the <em>national</em> 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, <em>which</em> +preponderates, <em>which</em> gives the first impulse. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>This gives the Anglo-Saxon a circuitous route for +his expression in coming to the surface; his mode +of respiration being the following:</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>after</em> breathing in the prescribed manner. +The prescribed manner being the one in which +the <em>impression</em> is made and from which the <em>expression</em> +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 <em>his</em> language after breathing +in the <em>German</em> fashion, nor will a German be able to +do so in <em>his</em> language after breathing in the <em>Anglo-Saxon</em> +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>at +home</em> 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.</p> + +<p>Their <em>indirect</em> mode of breathing of Anglo-Saxons +produces a deliberate mode of speech; while +German breathing, being <em>direct</em>, produces a speech +as rapid in its formation as in its utterance. <em>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.</em> +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 de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>pressed; +contented, but also of a disposition to find +fault whenever the occasion may arise.</p> + +<p>Anglo-Saxons, in consequence of their <em>indirect</em> +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 <em>direct</em> 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 <em>status quo</em>.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Himmelhoch jauchzen, zu Tode betruebt."<br /></span> +<span class="i0">("Raised to the sky with delight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Depressed to the ground with despair.")<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Schiller says:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"[Der Edle] <em>legt</em> das Hohe in das Leben,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Doch er sucht es nicht darin."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">("[Our aim should be] the noble to inculcate into life,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And not to search for it therein.")<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I am inclined to think that the opposite of this is +the usual tendency with Anglo-Saxons.</p> + +<p>Many other causes might be cited, many other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +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 <em>character</em> of nations.</p> + +<p>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 <em>his</em> being is primarily +rooted.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h3>THE AMERICAN NATION</h3> + +<p>It will require but a single example, familiar to +all, to still more forcibly show that it is <em>language</em> +through whose agency national traits of character +and physical development are produced. How do +you suppose that the wonder has been wrought, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>It often happens that parents of foreign birth +cannot comprehend the character and actions of +their own children, who are <em>so</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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) <em>does</em> smile, its passive features +are lighted up in a manner so enchanting that its +beauty amply compensates for its previous apathy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + +<p>I do not wish to say, however, that Anglo-Saxons +do not <em>feel</em> 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 <em>reserve</em>, that of the German one of <em>abandon</em> and +<em>laisser-aller</em>. This is not due to heredity in the first +instance, but to the influence of language, by which +character and habits are formed.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>idiomatically correct</em> German as it +is for their parents, with whom the trachea predominates +over the œsophagus, to speak idiomatically<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h3>CENTRIPETAL AND CENTRIFUGAL</h3> + +<p>While speaking our native tongue our muscles +move, our sinews tend, our vessels lean, <em>our</em> blood +throbs, and our nerves tingle with the essence of our +language in <em>its</em> 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 <em>versus</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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. <em>They carry +from below, upward.</em> 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. <em>They carry from above, +downward.</em></p> + +<p>The German mode of expression is produced by +contraction, expansion, contraction; the English<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +by expansion, contraction, expansion. For the +former, contraction takes place <em>towards</em> 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 +<em>from</em> the diaphragm, first upward and then downward; +that is, from the diaphragm towards the head, +and then from the diaphragm towards the feet.</p> + +<p>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 <em>firmly</em> 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 <em>indirect</em> with Anglo-Saxons, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +Germans they are <em>direct</em>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>All motions in connection with vocal utterance on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <em>beneath</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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 (<em>the soft palate of +the lower jaw</em>), 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 expira<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>tion; +by making the bottom of the mouth close to +the teeth rigid, he will stop inspiration.</p> + +<p>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. <em>During</em> +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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h3>ROTATION OF CENTRIPETAL AND CENTRIFUGAL +ACTION</h3> + +<p>Speaking of centripetal and centrifugal motion as +separate actions, there must, of course, be a <em>rotation</em> +of these actions to produce a <em>complete</em> action of any +kind. We, however, speak of the one which <em>prevails</em> +over the other, as <em>the</em> action under consideration. +Thus when I say a German's mode of eating +is centripetal, I say so because the action of his jaws<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +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 <em>eight</em> movements to carry on +one <em>complete</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The respective manner in which knives and forks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>The act of smiling being produced in the same +order as that of speaking, the same conditions prevail +in relation to the same.</p> + +<p>In speaking English you can "feel" that the +upper lip is the main vehicle; <em>it has all the life in it</em>. +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The foreigner who learns to speak the English +language ever so well, though he may reside here<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +almost a lifetime, if he does not learn to speak it +<em>idiomatically</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Language does not work <em>every</em> wonder, of course. +The influence of heredity perpetuates that of language; +but the latter is the primary influence. Nor +can it be denied that <em>every</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>the English tongue</em> +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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 599px;"> +<img src="images/fig146-300dpi.jpg" width="599" height="283" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/fig147-300dpi.jpg" width="700" height="164" alt="" /> +</div> +<div class="chapter"></div> + + + + +<h2>NATIONALITY AND RACE DISTINCTIONS</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Seeing an acquaintance, he pointed out the Chinaman +and asked if he knew who he was.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's Jimmy O'Connor; he's from So-and-so."</p> + +<p>"I mean the Chinaman."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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 <em>idiomatic expression +ever</em> takes place.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>terms</em> of expression, remained true to +their original <em>idiomatic</em> expression. As this country<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>purify</em> 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.</p> + +<p>It appears to me that the capacity of England for +successful colonization is largely due to the centrif<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>ugal +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>only</em> 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.</p> + + +<h3>IDIOMATIC EXPRESSION</h3> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>kernel</em> 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.</p> + +<p>I have already stated that it is <em>motion</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>most</em> +these invaders could do was to graft some of the expressions +in which <em>their</em> ideas were clad, some words, +on to this aboriginal stem. This stem was so strong<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>[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.]</p> + +<p>What is this original sap in the English, and +what is it in the German language?</p> + +<p>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 <em>sea</em>, 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.</p> + +<p>The English language is a raft living upon the +ocean. You can <em>hear</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>feel every word you +utter mingle with its waves. These pictures will +never disturb your fancy, but will associate with it +in perfect harmony.</em> 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 <em>hold</em> such picture; +<em>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.</em></p> + +<p>The impression made by the ocean, in fact, is so +great that it dominates the <em>thought</em> and the entire +being of English-speaking people. This is the case +to such an extent that if you continue to persistently +<em>think</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +of the ocean without experiencing any disturbance +whatever.</p> + +<p>While the basic element of the English language +is closely affiliated with the ocean, that of the <em>German +language</em> is affiliated with the <em>woods, and the +blowing of the winds</em>. In their habitation in the +forest, the wind made so deep an impression on the +primeval inhabitants of Germany that you can feel +its <em>soughing pervade all German diction</em>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In place of conjuring up these pictures in your +mind's eye you can substitute <em>real</em> pictures representing +these scenes, and while contemplating them +the effect will be the same.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>While with English diction there is <em>a pause and +then an emphasis</em> as of the waves coming on and then +breaking against the shore, so, with German diction, +there is an <em>emphasis and then a pause</em>, as of the blowing +of the wind succeeded by a calm. These, in a +word, are the characteristic elements in the idiomatic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +expressions of these peoples; English idiomatic expression +being <em>low succeeded by loud</em>; German, <em>loud +succeeded by low</em>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The fondness of the English for the sea, their supremacy +thereon, etc., need not be amplified upon:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Wherever billows foam<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Briton fights at home,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His hearth is built of water."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The English language, on the other hand, is full<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +of expressions applying to nautical matters and to +the sea, for which there are no adequate expressions +in the German language.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Idiomatic expression, the soul of language, has its +incipiency in the <em>soul</em> of a people, and may pervade +it for centuries before the <em>body</em> of the language, the +<em>words</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>commenced</em> to make its +appearance.</p> + + +<h3>RELATIONSHIP SUPPOSED TO EXIST AS BETWEEN +THE GERMAN AND ENGLISH NATIONS</h3> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> +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 (<em>les extrêmes se touchent</em>), their poles +being diametrically opposed to each other.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +nations and their languages, I trust others, thoroughly +familiar with the same, by applying to their investigations +similar principles, will establish similar facts.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>feel</em> these actions, +and, feeling them, "<em>measure</em>" them. This mode of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +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.</p> + + +<h3>LANGUAGE AND MOTION</h3> + +<p>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 <em>must</em> precede, or +<em>apparently at least</em>, accompany vocal sounds <em>always</em>.</p> + +<p>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 <em>close</em> it +in speaking English. In letting them drop, in the +second instance, your mouth will close, and you +will <em>open</em> 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 ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>tended +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 horizon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>tally, +can readily speak English, while a German in +the same position cannot utter a sound of <em>his</em> 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?</p> + +<p>My explanation is this:</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In <em>raising</em> the tongue, a free passage to the œsophagus +is obtained, while that to the trachea is obstructed. +In <em>lowering</em> the tongue, a free passage to +the trachea is obtained, while that to the œsophagus +becomes obstructed. It is necessary, however, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +understand that, while English speech is centrifugal +and German centripetal, these are <em>tendencies</em> only and +not permanent <em>conditions</em>; 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There is one thing which must be mentioned, +however. To obtain centrifugal action, it is necessary +to <em>stretch</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +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 <em>thorough</em> to produce results either +centripetally or centrifugally.</p> + +<p><em>All</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>From all this one great lesson may be learned: +no matter by what divergent means nature may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Unless otherwise mentioned, I wish the reader to +remember that I am always speaking not only from +the standpoint of an American, but <em>as</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>I am well convinced, on the other hand, that +through perseverance <em>perfection</em> 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 +<em>fully</em> 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 <em>entire</em> 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.</p> + +<p>An instrument tuned for the production of the +English language, consequently, cannot produce +German sounds, nor can it produce Romanic, Slav<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>onic, +or the sounds of any other language. Sounds, +<em>apparently</em> the same, of either the singing or speaking +voice of various languages are, therefore, <em>not</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>same</em> +with <span class="smcap">ALL</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>DIFFERENCE IN THEIR MODE OF BREATHING AS +BETWEEN ANGLO-SAXONS AND GERMANS</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Pressures produced in the precisely <em>opposite</em> manner +in every respect, on the part of a German-speaking +person, will produce effects of precisely the <em>same</em> +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +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 <em>anteriorly</em>. Pressures of +the same nature applied <em>posteriorly</em> produce opposite +results with Anglo-Saxons as well as Germans.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h3>RISE AND FALL, OR RHYTHM</h3> + +<p>The thorax is productive of the falling, the abdomen +of the rising voice, the former being the representative +of the <em>impression</em> for sounds, the latter of +their expression.</p> + +<p><em>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.</em></p> + +<p>This is the fundamental cause of the difference +between the idiomatic expression of these two +peoples, and primarily also of the difference existing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +between their national traits physically as well as +mentally.</p> + +<p>Every original word in either of these languages +will illustrate these facts:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` +Vater, Mutter, Bruder, Schwester. +</pre> +</div> + +<p>Take the same words in English, and the accent +will be reversed:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ +Father, Mother, Brother, Sister +</pre> +</div> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +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 (¯˘).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The <em>proper</em> way to illustrate the rhythm would be +as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ´`´` ´` ´` ´` +Vater, Mutter, gut. + + `´ `´ `´ `´ `´ +Father, Mother, good. +</pre> +</div> + +<p>There is always a rise of the voice before its fall +in German, and a fall before its rise in English <em>for +each and every syllable</em>. 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +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:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` +Auf der duftverlornen Grenze + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` +Jener Berge tanzen hold + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` +Abendwolken ihre Taenze + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` +Leicht geschuerzt im Strahlengold. + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ +</pre> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Lenau.</span><br /> +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ´ ` ´` ´` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` +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. + ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ +</pre> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Heine.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The beginning of every line in this verse might +remain unmarked as not belonging to the rhythmic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +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:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ´ ` ´` ´ ` ´` ´` ´` +O schaurig ists uebers Moor zu gehn, + ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ´ ` ´` ´ ` ´ ` +Wenn es wimmelt vom Haiderauche, + ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ + + ´` ´` ´` ´` ´ ` ´ ` +Sich wie Phantome die Duenste drehn + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ + + ´ ` ´ ` ´` ´ ` +Und die Ranke haekelt am Strauche. + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ +</pre> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Droste-Huelshoff.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>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</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` +"Auf der duftverlornen Grenze"? +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></pre> +</div> + +<p>It is not a positive line of demarcation, but one +which is lost, as it were, "in the soft ether of the +evening sky."</p> + +<p>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 +<em>Weltschmerz</em> (the sadness pervading all nature). It +is also expressive of its <em>Begeisterung</em> (an enthusiasm +which upon the slightest provocation takes a man +almost off his feet). All these are traits of the +German national character.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` +Wimmelt, Haide, gehen, wehen, drehen, Ranke, haekelt, + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` +Grenze, jener, Berge, Abend, Wolken, Taenze, + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` +strahlen, ihren, eine, Linde, pfeifen, Voegel, Winde, + + ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` +schaurig, singen, traurig. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></pre> +</div> + +<p>The same rhythm, though not so obviously expressed, +obtains with the words of one syllable:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> +´` ´` ´` ´` ´ ` ´` ´` +Auf, der, Duft, hold, leicht, im, Gold, + + ´` ´ ` ´` ´ ` ´ ` ´` +Grab, steht, lind, suess, ueber's, Moor. +</pre> +</div> + +<p>Now compare with this the strength and vigor of +English diction, which runs in the precisely opposite +direction:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ +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. +˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ +</pre> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Scott.</span><br /> +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ `´ `´ +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. + ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ +</pre> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Longfellow.</span><br /> +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +<pre> +` ` ´ ` `´ `´ `´ ` `´ +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. + ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ +</pre> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Kipling.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>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 <em>breaking</em> against it, as against the wind +<em>coming up suddenly</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ` ´ `´ ` ´ +Falls----as----from. +</pre> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Lunn, in his <cite>Philosophy of Voice</cite>, has the +following:</p> + +<p>"How many Englishmen <em>dare</em> utter loudly a +word beginning with a vowel? If attempted, either +it would not be done, or, in spite of the speaker,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +owing to the weakness of the muscles which draw +the cords together [<em>sic</em>], an aspirate would precede +the vowel."</p> + +<p>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 <em>not</em> +"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</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> +`´ `´ `´ `´ +Oh east is east, etc. +</pre> +</div> + +<p>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 <em>muscles</em> and <em>cords</em> 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.</p> + +<p>The English language in its Saxon words mainly +consists of monosyllables. These, however, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +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 <em>tacitly</em> accompanies +the same, and is expressed in an undertone, +<em>preceding</em> the rise.</p> + +<p>Almost every verb of this class will give evidence +of this fact:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ´ ` ´ ´ ` ´ ´ ` ´ +Gehen--go, sehen--see, hoeren--hear, + + ´ ` ´ ´ ` ´ ´ ` ´ +sprechen--speak, kochen--cook, tanzen--dance, + + ´ ` ´ +fallen--fall, etc. +</pre> +</div> + +<p>Hence, in conformity with the above, these words +in the English language should be properly marked +thus:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> +`´ `´ `´ `´ `´ `´ +Go, see, hear, speak, cook, dance, etc. +</pre> +</div> + +<p>which gives the real intonation thereof.</p> + +<p>This applies to all words commencing with a +vowel, and explains what Mr. Lunn has designated +as a "weakness of the English language":</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + `´ `´ `´ `´ `´ `´ `´ +Art, arm, or, all, eagle, each, old, etc. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></pre> +</div> + +<p>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 <em>time</em> belongs +to the first syllable, as in the words</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<pre> + ` ´ ` ´ +Danced, hazel, etc. + ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ +</pre> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Having shown that German <em>sentiment</em> is in accord +with the idiomatic expression of the German language, +I will now show that <em>English</em> sentiment also +conforms to <em>its</em> 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 <em>in +general</em>. 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +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 <em>vs.</em> the Germans, +one critic honored me with the epithet "renegade."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>-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, <em>this</em> world; whose world to come, +even, must have a positive and well-defined character +and surroundings:</p> + +<div class="hangindent"> + +<p>"Where the walls are made of jasper and the streets are +paved with gold."</p></div> + +<p>To what is all this due but to this <em>bond of language</em> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Ordinarily, both metre and rhythm are expressed +by the same signs (˘¯); this is very misleading.</p> + +<p>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 <em>meas</em><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span><em>ure</em> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>prepare</em> for an +utterance than to utter it. It takes longer to inspire +than to expire.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>These questions, of course, are many-sided. When +I speak of nationality, however, I have the <em>best</em> specimens +of a nation as representatives thereof in view<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +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 <em>feeling</em> against him, no matter +how able or patriotic he may be, of some foreign +influence as a substratum in his composition.</p> + + +<h3>STRESS</h3> + +<p>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. +<em>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.</em></p> + +<p>Take, for instance, the following:</p> + +<p class="center">"Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light," +</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +unable to utter the last, those of the falling voice. +This rule holds good for all peoples and all languages.</p> + +<p>There is this difference, however, as between +English and German speech, that, for the former, +the falling voice (identical with that of the thorax) +<em>precedes</em> 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 <em>think</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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, +<em>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +"thoughts" of the words of the falling voice must +precede the "utterance" of the word of the rising.</em></p> + +<p>A German may try and say the following:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"In einem <em>Thal</em> bei armen <em>Hirten</em>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Erschien mit jedem jungen <em>Jahr</em>,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>in such a manner as <em>not to think</em> 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.</p> + +<p>An Anglo-Saxon may try and say the following:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And the star-spangled banner in triumph <em>doth wave</em><br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er the land of the free and the home <em>of the brave</em>,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>A German, consequently, must <em>think</em> 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.</p> + +<p>In place of using mechanical pressure, the same +results can be obtained by making the respective +parts rigid. Regarding this matter of <em>making parts +rigid</em>, I want to make the following explanation, +illustrating the physiological process going on in so +doing.</p> + +<p>While a part is rendered inactive, placed <em>hors de +combat</em>, so to say, by the application of mechanical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +pressure, the same result can also be obtained by +making such part rigid. To accomplish this, it is +but necessary to positively <em>think</em> 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 <em>thinking</em> of the abdomen, which is equal +to an expiration therefrom, you will be unable to +utter the stress or <em>rise</em> 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 <em>fall</em> of the voice, which is the product of an inspiration +into the chest. The reason is obvious: +<em>We cannot utter sound in the same direction in which +we breathe; sound and respiration always following +opposite directions.</em></p> + +<p>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 <em>continuous</em>, 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/fig188-300dpi.jpg" width="700" height="168" alt="" /> +</div> +<div class="chapter"></div> + + + + +<h2><a name="PHYSIOLOGY_OF_THE_VOICE_IN_RELATION" id="PHYSIOLOGY_OF_THE_VOICE_IN_RELATION">PHYSIOLOGY OF THE VOICE IN RELATION +TO WORDS</a></h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>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.</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +the matter they help to form; matter and spirit +going hand in hand in our entire composition.</p> + +<p>In reading poetry, or giving expression to the +same in song (I repeat), we do so in a fourfold +manner:</p> + +<p>First: as to metre or time (the "measure" of +time).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Third: as to accent.</p> + +<p>Fourth: as to emphasis.</p> + +<p>The <em>metre</em> 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."</p> + +<p>The metre is a product or outcome of the <em>will</em>, 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 <em>material</em> 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.</p> + +<p>The <em>rhythm</em> is that characteristic quality which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>The rhythm is an outcome of the <em>mind</em>; an influence +which presides over <em>spiritual-material</em> issues. +As <em>harmony is the first law of nature</em>, 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.</p> + +<p>The <em>accent</em> 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 +<em>accents</em> as it denotes different senses or meanings; +while <em>different words, embodying the same idea, are +uttered with precisely the same accent</em>.</p> + +<p>The accent or intonation is an outcome of the +<em>soul</em>; an influence which dominates over our spiritual +nature and over <em>spiritual issues</em>. "The rose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +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 <em>word</em> "rose," which +is the same, or nearly the same, in so many different +languages, though possessing the same <em>spiritual</em> elements +in them all, varies as to measure and rhythm +in every one of them.</p> + +<p>If the influence of the soul, embodying an idea in +a word, through the intonation we give it, were not +the same for <em>all</em> 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 +<em>thrilled</em> by it.</p> + +<p><em>The intonation of a word, expressive of the soul in +the embodiment of an idea, is a bond which unites +all humanity</em>; 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 <em>their</em> +words is native with us and with <em>all</em> mankind, their +<em>dead</em> tongue would be <em>absolutely</em> 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 <em>his</em> lyre still living and +finding an echo in <em>our</em> souls! Think of the harmony<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +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 <em>that words of the same meaning</em>, <em>in +every language</em> (aside from metre and rhythm), <em>are +pronounced precisely the same</em>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>mechanical</em> contrivance; +but its intonation is of the soul, being an +emanation of the idea it represents. If our ears were +so schooled that by <em>their "intonation" we could comprehend +the meaning of words</em>, we could understand +every language upon simply hearing it spoken.</p> + +<p>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 utter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>ance, +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>audible</em> +"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 <em>immaterial</em> +subject would be more difficult to comprehend. +Of the fact, however, that an impression from abstract +subjects <em>is</em> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <em>separate ideas</em>, or, rather, <em>groups of ideas</em>. +I beg leave to copy the following from the <cite>Saturday +Evening Post</cite> of April 8, 1899:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"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.'"</p></div> + +<p>The accent is not subject to the will any more +than the rhythm. The will can do <em>this</em>, however: +it can give greater weight, force, and expression, +and a wider scope, to the correlated forces of +metre, rhythm, and accent, through the</p> + +<p><em>Emphasis</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +physical system, but lay no claim as to the correctness +of the <em>terms</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>mechanically</em> 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 <em>perfection</em> 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.</p> + +<p>I can explain the preceding, in part at least, as +follows:</p> + +<p>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 <em>apparently</em> of the same order, they are, as a +matter of fact, invariably of an inverse order.</p> + +<p>We cannot produce two distinctly different expressions +while breathing in one and the same direction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +While we breathe for metre in one direction, we +breathe for rhythm in the opposite direction.</p> + +<p>Regarding that mode of breathing expressive of +the soul, and pertaining to words in conformity with +their <em>meaning</em>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>to ascertain the exact +nature of such tempo</em> for every separate language. +<em>When the correct time is kept, all other component +parts of speech fall into line correctly and involuntarily.</em> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +being sustained by an involuntary counter-factor; +the same as voluntary and involuntary muscles complement +and sustain each other.</p> + +<p>Not only every artistic performance, but I dare +say <em>every</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>octave</em> of movements.</p> + + +<h3>SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WORD "SCHOOL" IN CONNECTION +WITH THE ART OF SINGING</h3> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +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 <em>all</em> +tongues.</p> + +<p>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 <em>old</em> and the <em>new</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <em>hurtful</em> to the voice of the person making +the attempt.</p> + +<p><em>Such person will only injure his or her own natural +mode of expression, without acquiring the foreign +mode</em>.</p> + +<p>The idea of learning a certain mode of expression, +the Italian, for instance, for singing, and applying +it to <em>all</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<em>all</em> purposes of vocal expression. Then learn the +use of other tongues for vocal expression in those +other tongues only. You cannot apply the techni<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>cal +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>best</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +best outcome of their gift of song, which demands +for its best expression freedom from conventionality +or any other constraint.</p> + +<p>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 <em>same order</em>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +obtains during our waking moments. Our mode of +breathing, however, <em>always</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>same</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +manner than by <em>thinking</em>, either materially or spiritually, +in these languages, and in the proper idiomatic +manner inherent therein.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 "<em>prima donna assoluta</em>," 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 <em>donna</em>, 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.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +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 <em>Italian</em> 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?</p> + +<p>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 <em>feel</em> what is genuine +and also that which is not; the former being nature's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +singing societies, no matter how excellently schooled, +and how artistically rendered.</p> + +<p>A similar experience was had by Madame Brinkerhoff, +who relates the same in <cite>The Vocalist</cite> of December, +1896, as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"To show how language is imbedded in the <em>timbre</em> 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 <em>timbre</em> 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 <em>timbres</em>. +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.'</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +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.'"</p></div> + +<p>This is what Frau Johanna Gadski had to say in +an interview printed in <cite>Werner's Magazine</cite>:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"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."</p></div> + +<p>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 (<em>der Zauber</em>) 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 <em>all</em> +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 Eng<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>lish-speaking +nations a greater native development +thereof in harmony with the national expression.</p> + +<p><em>Song</em>, above all, must be national; it must be in +harmony with the <em>genius</em> 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 <em>must go together</em>; 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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + + +<h3>BREATHING</h3> + +<p>All of the preceding, in a manner, may be said to +be a preliminary argument for the great truth I claim<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +to have discovered, namely, that <em>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.</em></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +two, likewise equal to an inspiration and an expiration, +belong to the thorax.</p> + +<p>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 +<em>octave</em> 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.</p> + +<p>The preceding experiment gives us the following +result:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="experiment"> + <tr> + <th colspan="0">ABDOMEN</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Movement</td> + <td>1.</td> + <td>Anterior, inspiration.</td> + <td rowspan="3" class="bl bt bb"><em>Inspiration.</em></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">"</td> + <td>2.</td> + <td>Posterior, expiration.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">"</td> + <td>3.</td> + <td>Anterior, inspiration.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">"</td> + <td>4.</td> + <td>Posterior, expiration.</td> + <td rowspan="3" class="bl bb"><em>Expiration.</em></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">"</td> + <td>5.</td> + <td>Anterior, inspiration.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">"</td> + <td>6.</td> + <td>Posterior, expiration. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="0">THORAX</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Movement</td> + <td>1.</td> + <td>Posterior, inspiration.</td> + <td rowspan="3" class="bl bt bb"><em>Inspiration.</em></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">"</td> + <td>2.</td> + <td>Anterior, expiration.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">"</td> + <td>3.</td> + <td>Posterior, inspiration.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">"</td> + <td>4.</td> + <td>Anterior, expiration.</td> + <td rowspan="3" class="bl bb"><em>Expiration.</em></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">"</td> + <td>5.</td> + <td>Posterior, inspiration.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">"</td> + <td>6.</td> + <td>Anterior, expiration.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>All of the preceding has reference to the Anglo-Saxon +mode of breathing.</p> + +<p>Germans, under the same circumstances, will make +movements of an inverse order.</p> + +<p>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 <em>with Germans, expiration antecedes inspiration</em>, +while <em>with Anglo-Saxons, inspiration antecedes +expiration</em>.</p> + +<p>In our experiment, with Anglo-Saxons, <em>inspiration</em> +took place in the abdomen by two movements +anteriorly to one posteriorly, and in the thorax by +two movements posteriorly to one anteriorly; while +<em>expiration</em> 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:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="schedule"> + <tr> + <th><span class="smcap">Anglo-Saxon</span></th> + <th>Abdomen</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1. Inspiration,</td> + <td>Ant., post., ant.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>2. Expiration,</td> + <td>Post., ant., post. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th>Thorax</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>3. Inspiration,</td> + <td>Post., ant., post.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>4. Expiration,</td> + <td>Ant., post., ant.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>In the case of a German, it would have been more +proper, for our experiment, to have <em>first</em> 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:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="movement"> + <tr> + <th><span class="smcap">German</span></th> + <th>Thorax</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1. Inspiration,</td> + <td>Ant., post., ant.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>2. Expiration,</td> + <td>Post., ant., post.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <th>Abdomen</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>3. Inspiration,</td> + <td>Post., ant., post.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>4. Expiration,</td> + <td>Ant., post., ant.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><em>This shows that the movements of the abdomen are +the reverse of those of the thorax</em>:</p> + +<p>With <em>Anglo-Saxons</em>, in such a manner that, while +for the abdomen <em>inspiration</em> takes place anteriorly, +it takes place for the thorax posteriorly; and that, +while for the abdomen <em>expiration</em> takes place posteriorly, +it takes place for the thorax anteriorly;</p> + +<p>With <em>Germans</em>, in such a manner that, while for +the thorax <em>inspiration</em> takes place anteriorly, it takes +place for the abdomen posteriorly; and that, while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +for the thorax <em>expiration</em> takes place posteriorly, it +takes place for the abdomen anteriorly.</p> + +<p>These various modes of breathing find an illustration +in the following:</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Als haetten sie verschluckt den Stock,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Womit man sie einst gepruegelt."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">("As if the stick they'd swallowed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With which they once were walloped.")<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The fact that inspiration always consists in an in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>spiration, +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>only</em> being visible and accompanying +action.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="breathing"> + <tr> + <td></td> + <th colspan="0"><span class="smcap">Anglo-Saxon</span></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1.</td> + <td>Insp.</td> + <td>Thorax—post., ant., post.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>2.</td> + <td class="tdc">"</td> + <td>Abd.—ant., post., ant.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>3.</td> + <td>Exp.</td> + <td>Abd.—post., ant., post.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>4.</td> + <td class="tdc">"</td> + <td>Thorax—ant., post., ant.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <th colspan="0"><span class="smcap">German</span>.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1.</td> + <td>Exp.</td> + <td>Thorax—post., ant., post.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>2.</td> + <td>Insp.</td> + <td class="tdp2">" —ant., post., ant.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>3.</td> + <td>Exp.</td> + <td>Abd.—ant., post., ant.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>4.</td> + <td>Insp.</td> + <td class="tdp1">" —post., ant., post.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Though Germans and Anglo-Saxons breathe in +opposite directions, still there is an affinity between +them in so far as they breathe <em>along the same plane</em>. +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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>idiomatically</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +abdomen interchange with one another in so harmonious +a manner that their inspirations and expirations +appear as one respective inspiration and +expiration.</p> + +<p>The following schedules will show the relation of +metre and rhythm to breathing.</p> + +<p>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 <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="schedule"> + <tr> + <th colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Anglo-Saxon</span> Abdomen</th> + <th colspan="2">Thorax<br /></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td rowspan="2">1. Inspiration,</td> + <td class="monospace tdp1">`´`</td> + <td rowspan="2">3. Inspiration,</td> + <td class="monospace tdp1">`´`</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="monospace tdp1">¯˘¯</td> + <td class="monospace tdp1">¯˘¯</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td rowspan="2">2. Expiration,</td> + <td class="monospace tdp1">´`´</td> + <td rowspan="2">4. Expiration,</td> + <td class="monospace tdp1">´`´</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="monospace tdp1">˘¯˘</td> + <td class="monospace tdp1">˘¯˘</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In making the experiments just now under consideration, +it will <em>not</em> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> + +<p>The same experiments may also be made by making +<em>abdomen and thorax</em> alternately <em>rigid</em>, 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 <em>pronounced</em>, +however, in the latter instance as they are +in producing a <em>direct</em> closure of the trachea and the +œsophagus.</p> + +<p>There is a fourth mode of producing the same +results, namely, through the simple act of <em>continuously</em> +"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 <em>precedes</em> motion for vocal utterance, +<em>always</em>, 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 +<em>order</em>, is subject to innumerable changes in conformity +with the sound, syllable, or word intended +to be produced.</p> + +<p>I am aware that there may be <em>apparent</em> 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 <em>perfect</em> in their way, in a human, and +therefore imperfect, manner. Our limitations natu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>rally +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 +<em>final</em> 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.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—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.</p></div> + + +<h3>SONG, SINGERS, AND PHYSIOLOGY</h3> + +<p>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 pene<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>trate +this darkness, to learn to comprehend <em>himself</em>. +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>knowingly</em>; +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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>something</em> +in relation to the <em>voice</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +voice, by examining into the relation of matter to +matter.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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,"—<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <cite>Werner's Magazine</cite> for August, +1898, page 490) saying:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"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. <em>With this novel +fact I announce an original discovery.</em>"</p></div> + +<p>It is such <em>stuff</em> 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?" (<cite>Werner's Magazine</cite> +for September, 1898, page 59). Air-chambers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +and air-pressures again. I protest against being +made <em>particeps criminis</em> in any such proceeding.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The <em>living</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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, <em>all</em> being wrong?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +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 <em>continue</em> to prevail over any other.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<em>no</em> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +to be able to furnish. They only give us the stove +and the fuel, which remain forever dark, cold, lifeless, +inert.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>truth</em> in matters of the voice has been +established.</p> + +<p>I dare say this simple fact, "We breathe and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +speak through the œsophagus in conjunction with +breathing and speaking through the trachea," for +<em>real</em> knowledge, is worth all of the entire literature +on the voice, as a science, now in existence.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When the true knowledge of the production of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> +speech and song for <em>every</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>every</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> + +<p>As for this <em>new</em> 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.</p> + +<p>I specially appeal to the <em>young</em> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a><br /><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;"> +<img src="images/fig233-300dpi.jpg" width="700" height="167" alt="" /> +</div> +<div class="chapter"></div> + + + + +<h2>INDEX</h2> + + +<p> +Abdomen, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<br /> +Abstract thought, <a href="#Page_72">72</a><br /> +<br /> +Accent, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br /> +<br /> +Æther, <a href="#Page_91">91</a><br /> +<br /> +Anapest, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br /> +<br /> +Anglo-Saxon race, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br /> +<br /> +Animal magnetism, <a href="#Page_14">14</a><br /> +<br /> +Anode, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<br /> +Antibacchius, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br /> +<br /> +Atlas, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br /> +<br /> +Autology, <a href="#Page_56">56</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Bacchius, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br /> +<br /> +<cite>Basic Law of Vocal Utterance</cite>, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br /> +<br /> +Bladder, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Blood, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Brain, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Breathing, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br /> +<br /> +Brinkerhoff, Mme. Clara, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<br /> +Bronchi, <a href="#Page_8">8</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Caryatides, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +<br /> +Cathode, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<br /> +Centrifugal, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br /> +<br /> +Centripetal, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br /> +<br /> +Charlatanism, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br /> +<br /> +Circulation of sound, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +<br /> +Climate, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br /> +<br /> +Clothing, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br /> +<br /> +Colonization, <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br /> +<br /> +Congenital deaf, <a href="#Page_84">84</a><br /> +<br /> +Consonants, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Dactylus, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br /> +<br /> +Dentistry, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +Diaphragm, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +<br /> +Dissecting room, <a href="#Page_211">211</a><br /> +<br /> +Douglass, Frederick, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br /> +<br /> +Drumhead, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br /> +<br /> +Duality, <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Emphasis, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br /> +<br /> +English-speaking peoples, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br /> +<br /> +Evolution, <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> +<br /> +Expansion, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br /> +<br /> +Expiration, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a><br /> +<br /> +Extirpation, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Foreigners, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a><br /> +<br /> +Frænum linguæ, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Gadski, Johanna, <a href="#Page_196">196</a><br /> +<br /> +Generation, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +<br /> +German writers, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Gounod, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<br /> +Gravitation, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Heidenhain, Mr., <a href="#Page_14">14</a><br /> +<br /> +Heine, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br /> +<br /> +Hemispheres, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +<br /> +Holmes, Dr. O. W., <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br /> +<br /> +Huxley, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> +<br /> +Hypnotism, <a href="#Page_52">52</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Iambic measure, <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br /> +<br /> +Idiomatic expression, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span><br /> +Idiom of the sea, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the forest, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Immigration, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br /> +<br /> +Inspiration, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a><br /> +<br /> +Intonation, <a href="#Page_161">161</a><br /> +<br /> +Introspection, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Kidneys, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Laryngoscope, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +<br /> +Laryngoscopists, <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> +<br /> +Larynx, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br /> +<br /> +Lungs, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Lunn, Mr., <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Matter, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a><br /> +<br /> +Medicine, <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br /> +<br /> +Metre, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br /> +<br /> +Miller, Dr., <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> +<br /> +Mind, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Motion, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a><br /> +<br /> +Müller, Prof. Max, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Octave, <a href="#Page_93">93</a><br /> +<br /> +Œsophagus, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Palimpsest, <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +<br /> +Phonograph, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br /> +<br /> +Point of gravitation, <a href="#Page_101">101</a><br /> +<br /> +Posterior surfaces, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +"R" sound, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +<br /> +Race distinctions, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br /> +<br /> +Reinforcement, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br /> +<br /> +Religion, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<br /> +Replica, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /> +<br /> +Rhythm, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a><br /> +<br /> +Rigidity, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<br /> +Roentgen, Professor, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br /> +<br /> +Rush, Dr., <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Saxon words, <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> +<br /> +School of singing, <a href="#Page_187">187</a><br /> +<br /> +Science of the voice, <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br /> +<br /> +Sight, <a href="#Page_183">183</a><br /> +<br /> +Simple sounds, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<br /> +Singers, <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br /> +<br /> +Singing, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /> +<br /> +Soft palate, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /> +<br /> +Soul, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +<br /> +Speech and song, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br /> +<br /> +Spirit, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br /> +<br /> +Spirits, <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br /> +<br /> +Spiritual cell, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br /> +<br /> +Stammering, <a href="#Page_97">97</a><br /> +<br /> +Stuttering, <a href="#Page_97">97</a><br /> +<br /> +Surd, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Teachers, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a><br /> +<br /> +Teeth, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +Teutonic race, <a href="#Page_206">206</a><br /> +<br /> +Thorax, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<br /> +Thought, <a href="#Page_192">192</a><br /> +<br /> +Timbre, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br /> +<br /> +Tongue, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a><br /> +<br /> +Trachea, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<br /> +Trochaic measure, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br /> +<br /> +Tuning, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Ureters, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Ventriloquism, <a href="#Page_73">73</a><br /> +<br /> +Virchow, Professor, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> +<br /> +Viscera, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Vivisection, <a href="#Page_51">51</a><br /> +<br /> +Vocal science, <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br /> +<br /> +Vocal sounds, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +Voice of the œsophagus, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">falling, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rising, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">whispering, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Von Buelow, <a href="#Page_193">193</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<cite>Werner's Magazine</cite>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a><br /> +<br /> +Will, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a><br /> +</p> + +<div class="transnote"> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + + + + +<h2>Transcriber's Notes:</h2> + + +<p>Simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors were 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