Chapter II: Part 2

Starting from the supposition that life is too subtle, too intangible a thing to have its innermost operations disclosed by the clumsy work of our hands or the dull vision of our eyes, though increased in power a thousandfold, I matched the subtle work of my voice with the subtler of my brain, and thus, undisturbed by any extraneous agency whatever, watched the process by which, first, simple mechanical, then articulated sounds, and finally sounds linked together into speech, are produced. In so doing I traced sounds through the labyrinth of numerous avenues to their original sources--_the organism of all our faculties, instead of being confined to their end organs, being widespread over our entire system_.

* * * * *

Physiologists as a rule are satisfied with the _observation and exposition_ of phenomena. I have endeavored to _explain_ phenomena. I have gone "behind the returns," as politicians say. I have lifted the mysterious veil, and have obtained glimpses at the process of life. In this manner the voice of the œsophagus was first discovered, which, in logical sequence, has carried me from one discovery to another. Once in the confidence of nature, it freely opened up to me its heart. Comprehending one thing led me on to the comprehension of others.

There is no study which is as fascinating as that pursued by introspection. It is self-compensating in the highest degree; all facts thereby evolved being the logical sequence of others previously ascertained. Or, if not always in sequence, they all fit into the same system; everything that has been ascertained being a stone which was waiting to be placed in a certain niche to fulfil a certain purpose in the construction of a harmonious edifice. There was no waste, no material entirely lost; nor will there be at any future time. If similar studies will be pursued by those specially fitted for the purpose, the time may not be far distant when there will not be an atom of our material existence whose meaning and purpose will not be understood. The laws which I claim to have discovered will assist in this accomplishment, as they are of so broad a nature that they may be said to form the substructure to forces and conditions which are at the very root of our existence. I do not pretend to say that in this little book they have been properly treated, nor that I possess the ability, under the best of circumstances, to thus treat them. I have but stated what has come under my observation, and have stated it in as simple and direct a manner as my instinct and my ability have taught me to state it.

I have been up on Mount Washington to see the sun rise. It was a beautiful picture; still, there were clouds in the way which here and there obscured my vision, as was to be expected from the unwonted height to which I had risen, and the distant horizon.

* * * * *

I am not writing for a class, but for the multitude to which I belong, and of which, in its aspirations, its hopes, its sincerity, and its ignorance regarding _specific_ knowledge, I form a part. Hence my thoughts are its thoughts and my language its language. There will be no difficulty, therefore, for _all_ to understand me and to profit by my experience.

My observations result in the triumph of the sensation, the feeling (common to all), over the exact sciences (known to but few). Science, for the most part, is satisfied with dissecting or analyzing. My endeavor has been to construct; to form the whole out of parts instead of reducing the whole into parts. My guide has been instinct coupled with common-sense,--that rarest of all the senses in spite of its name. How far it has guided me aright, it will be the province of science to judge.

I may be asked why, in treating upon so "simple" a subject as the human voice (my only endeavor in the beginning), I want to move heaven and earth, and press them into my service. My answer is, Wherever I touched the subject of the voice, I found it to be in correlation with all other subjects.

My great desire now is, that I may be granted the time and retain the ability to write out all I have ascertained; while my greatest wonder is, that these things should have waited for me at all to be made known; why they should not have been discovered centuries ago. My eyes once opened, I found them lying about within the easy reach of my arm and the mere assistance of my pick and shovel, like precious ore in a newly discovered mining country. I had but to open the lid of the mysterious casket which had been intrusted to me, and all these great truths escaped from the same; not to disappear, however, as they did in the fable, but to remain with me and to be made known through me to the world.

* * * * *

The best part of my life has been spent in this, my adopted country. Though I experience no difficulty in expressing myself in the English language, still it is not my native tongue, and I sometimes feel as if I might have said some things better if I had said them in German.

* * * * *

Looking at the many volumes written on the subject of the larynx alone, and considering that during all this time its associate, the replica, without whose assistance _not one_ vocal sound can ever be uttered, has remained unknown, though in plain sight and "in everybody's mouth," one cannot help but think of Goethe's lines:

"Ein Kerl der speculirt
Ist wie ein Thier, auf duerrer Haide
Von einem boesen Geist im Kreis herum gefuehrt,
Und ringsumher liegt schoene gruene Waide."

("A theorist is like unto a beast
On barren soil by evil sprite led round and round
Within a narrow circle, though beyond there is a feast
Of pasture green on fertile ground.")

"THE BASIC LAW OF VOCAL UTTERANCE"

My earlier work, entitled as above, was written under peculiar circumstances. After discovering the fact that sounds proceed from beneath as well as from above the tongue, light streamed in upon me on so many subjects I had previously attempted to solve that I was almost dazed thereby. I thought it my duty to make these matters known, and attempted to describe them as they appeared to me. They were all perfectly clear to me, and even to-day there is scarcely a thing I then said that does not wholly stand its ground. Still, to-day, viewing things from an advanced point of view, much of that which was then expressed pragmatically, almost in a single sentence, and which then appeared to be sufficient, I am convinced requires considerable elaboration and elucidation.

Take, for instance, this dictum: "The manner in which we breathe for speech is by raising and lowering the tongue," etc. This is perfectly correct, and positive proof will be advanced hereafter as to its being so.

I thought these matters would be readily understood, not knowing at that time that between the manner in which I had reached conclusions and the one in which conclusions had been reached by others who had also made a study of these matters, there was a vast difference. Unknown to myself I had lived a life of my own. I had given myself up to these matters in a manner no one ever had before; having been everlastingly at it, holding on with a tenacity that knew no restraint. In this manner I wrung facts from nature that may have never been intended to be revealed.

There was something Faust-like in it all, and I sometimes shudder at my own temerity. Still, I had no such thought when I so persistently continued trying to fathom the mystery of vocal sounds. Viewing it in its proper light it was a narrow and every-day undertaking. I was fairly staggered, therefore, when I reached such unlooked-for results.

The reader, however, may ask, and I feel it incumbent upon me, as well, to tell him, What was the nature of these results? Wherein consisted these discoveries? They covered a large field and whole range of knowledge. They had reference more particularly to vocal sounds. These, in fact, had almost exclusively occupied my mind for many years. These apparently simple factors, vocal sounds, I have since ascertained are the outcome of laws, forces, and agencies, and combinations of all these, which largely make up the sum and substance of our spiritual existence. The direct nature of vocal sounds, therefore, cannot be well treated upon till some understanding has been arrived at of the nature of the elements out of which they are composed. I was rash enough to attempt to explain them, especially the consonant sounds, in this little book of mine, from a standpoint I had then arrived at. Others have tried to explain them from a much narrower standpoint still. From that standpoint I offered explanations as to our mode of speaking, breathing, as to defective speech, etc. Although this was an advanced standpoint, and well worthy the consideration of scientists, it was a standpoint far beneath the one I have arrived at since.

In attempting to scale a mountain I had reached a point from which I could overlook the valley immediately beneath my feet. I have since gone up much higher. Yet there are towering heights still above me which I shall never be able to reach. From this it will be seen how difficult it would be for me to state in a few paragraphs what I had actually ascertained. That book, however, will increase in value in the course of time, not only for the knowledge it contains, but historically, so to say, as the beginning of an evolution which, it seems to me, will eventually embrace all sciences in regard to man; when treated, as they will be, from a standpoint of inner as against one of outer consciousness, from the standpoint of the soul and the heart, as in the inadequacy of our expressions I have to call them, as against that of the head and the senses.

I have since arrived at a plan according to which these matters will be treated in a more systematic manner. In _this_ volume, besides many novel subjects, I have been enlarging upon and elucidating many superficially mentioned in my book, _The Basic Law of Vocal Utterance_. Still, the matters treated upon even in _this_ book cover so much ground, and had to be condensed to such an extent, that many of these also will require further enlargement and elucidation. This will be attempted to be done in future publications. Meantime I trust these matters will be taken in hand by others, who by their writings will relieve me of some of this additional labor. Take it all in all, there is so much of this work that I feel as if I had swallowed the ocean and was now called upon to give an account of its contents.

THE VOICE OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS AND ITS VOCAL CORDS

Among the discoveries mentioned in my former publication one stands out most prominent, and it is the basis of all my other discoveries; namely, "that the voice is of a dual nature." I had ascertained that sounds circulate around the radix of the tongue; that they, or rather the air wave which carries them, enters either at the upper surface of the tip of the tongue and recedes back, to come out again from beneath its lower surface, or vice versa. I had also ascertained that the former process is the English, the latter the German, for breathing and vocal expression.

I was convinced that this signified a circulation of vocal sounds; and though I had finally also reached this conclusion and intimated it, namely, "that we breathe and speak through the œsophagus," I did not express it in so many words, as I meant to leave this expression for a future publication. I was at first under the impression that both waves belonged to the trachea, the one that was ingoing as well as the one which was outgoing.

Meantime I had discovered the "larynx or voice-box to the œsophagus," but considered this at first also as belonging to the trachea. I thought inspiration and ingoing sounds belonged to the vocal cords of the trachea, expiration and outgoing sounds to this "new" vocal cord located beneath the tongue. To study these first attempts, by which I was trying to find my way, and which culminated in these wonderful discoveries, I presume would be of interest to the student. I can here mention only the main points.

I have found beyond a doubt, and my future statements will more fully establish this fact, that the frænum linguæ and the parts of the mucous membrane surrounding the same are relatively of the same nature in regard to the voice of the œsophagus that the vocal cords and other parts of the larynx are in relation to that of the trachea.

In contradistinction to the larynx, I named these entire surroundings the "replica," as, in conjunction with the tip of the tongue resting upon the same, they conform to the shape of the oral cavity, of which in their general appearance they are almost a counterpart. In a similar manner I named the special part thereof, which "regulates" the intonation, the "vocal lip," in contradistinction to the vocal cords of the larynx, which perform the same service for the voice of the trachea.

After making such positive assertions regarding the replica as I did in my previous publication--now more than four years ago--I was more than surprised that no one should have deemed it worth his while to look into the value of these assertions. If any one had, he could not have helped but acknowledge their correctness. It is but necessary to utter any vocal sound whatsoever, either vowel or consonant, and while doing so watch the vocal lip and the frænum, to become at once convinced that their motions are of precisely the same order as those of the larynx and the vocal cords.

So many have spent year after year upon the difficult and "fruitless" endeavor to study the motions of the larynx; while here is an opportunity plainly before every one's eyes to study, without effort, the most interesting phenomena in voice production. We must be obliged to seek for a thing high and low before we deem it worthy of our attention.

THE HUMAN VOICE

What is the voice--a spirit, or "an expiratory current of air set into vibration by purely physical agencies"? It does not seem to me to be either, but something which is of the nature of both: our dual nature, embodied in the sounds of speech; our body and soul joining hands to produce the miracle of the voice. Regarding the materialistic view quoted above, which is held by most of the investigators, who make the larynx their _point d'appui_, I think that if there is anything in our composition or emanating therefrom that is _not_ produced by "_purely_ physical agencies," it is the voice.

In my opinion there is nothing purer, more "spiritual," in the world than a beautiful voice. Did you ever _see_ a spirit? Perhaps not. But you have often _heard_ one. You hear them daily, hourly, constantly; other spirits as well as your own--the spirits represented by the voice; the soul incorporated in the sounds of speech. When you converse, it is soul to soul; when you hear an anthem sung, it is the soul of the singer to the soul of the universe. The soul reveals itself most prominently through the voice when there is anguish in it, or joy; tears or laughter; love or hate.

An attempt to get at the truth in matters of the voice is an attempt at getting at the truth in matters of life. If you will tell me _all_ that a vocal sound is, I will tell you what your soul is.

To examine into the anatomical construction of the larynx, to watch it physiologically and learn to understand the motions of the vocal cords in their relation to vocal sounds, is not much more than looking at the dial of a clock (a simile already used, but worth repeating). The movements of the hands will give you _no_ cue to the construction of the intricate works hidden behind the face of the clock. Nor will the careful examination and observation of the "dials" which serve the voice of the œsophagus in the same manner as those of the larynx serve the voice of the trachea, measurably increase the knowledge of vocal phenomena. I do believe, however, that, inasmuch as the movements of the replica, the frænum, and the vocal lip fit into and complement those of the larynx and its vocal cords, and vice versa, lessons of great benefit to the knowledge and the improvement of vocal utterance may be learned, _after_ we have once begun to understand what these movements imply.

That we cannot now derive any benefit from the observation of these motions is due to the fact that they are _reflex_, _involuntary_, _uncontrolled_ and _uncontrollable_ by the will. Or, as Mme. D'Arona expresses it:

"They are not the _cause_ of the perfect tone, but are simply acted upon by the cause."

After having become acquainted with the cause of these motions, and having learned to control it in the interest of pure and perfect tone, the movements of the larynx and the replica will become of value to us as "indicators" of the correct or incorrect exercise of the cause which they reflect. In "recording" the original movements they will show us what is right or wrong in the latter, and will thus offer us an opportunity for correcting them. Up to the present they have been simply barometers, which, no matter how closely we may observe them, offer us no opportunity for changing "the state of the weather" which they indicate. After thoroughly comprehending the _causes_, however, which move them, we may shape the course of the latter in conformity with our will. Or, vice versa, we may shape our will, which, after all, is the _first cause_, so as to correct that which they indicate to be wrong in our tone production.

Now, what is that which the will acts upon, and thus becomes the original source, the first cause, so to say, of tone production? My answer will be a surprise, for, as far as I know, no one has ever as much as thought, even, of looking in this direction for the seat of the voice.

The original source of tone production has its location in _various vessels of the viscera_: in the lungs, the kidneys, and the bladder, for the most part, though many other vessels, if not all, participate, and are more or less involved in its production. Besides these vessels, the heart and the solar plexus, as central organs of the vascular and nervous systems, together with the brain as the central seat of thought and the will, perform parts of the highest importance in tone production and vocal utterance. In the lungs, the bladder, and the kidneys, together with their coadjutors, the bronchi and ureters, _the tone originates_. Here we can control, and unconsciously do control, it.

I shall adduce indubitable proof as to the correctness of these assertions. More than that, I shall _locate_ sounds in these various vessels. As a tone proceeds from a given string located in a given part of a musical instrument, and cannot proceed from or be produced on any other string, a given tone of the human voice proceeds from a given vessel, and cannot proceed from or be produced in any other vessel.

I shall furthermore show that the various shades of a tone proceed from various parts of such vessel. Yet, while tones are produced in special parts, the instrument of the voice being of a sympathetic nature, _all_ parts of the _viscera_ participate therein, by, in a manner, _leaning_ towards a vessel in which a tone is produced, thus assisting in giving it utterance. If a sound is produced in one of the vessels of the abdomen, those of the thorax, though not directly participating therein, give it aid and comfort by their passivity, thus throwing the entire strength of the voice-producing forces into this one spot. If a sound is produced in the thorax, the vessels of the abdomen aid it in a similar manner. This is more particularly the case when a sound of a superior order is to be produced, which is thus _reinforced_ by this aid.

In matters of the voice, as in many others, truth is stranger than fiction.

Dr. Rush has said:

"Some day, when the real instrument of the voice will be discovered, it will be found to be of an order far different in its nature and construction from that which it has ever been supposed to be."

The greatest mechanical wonder, however, is that the voice, and that which is apparently one and the same sound, should under different circumstances emanate from sources so entirely different in their construction as the vocal cords to the trachea and those to the œsophagus, the viscera of the kidneys, the bladder and the lungs, etc. This fact also accounts for the mystery which, like an impenetrable veil, has hung over the features of the voice. Who has ever thought of looking for the spirit of the voice to reveal itself from _beneath_ the tongue? Who has ever thought that the œsophagus was a breathing-tube of a similar functional order as the trachea? Who has thought that the viscera of the abdomen were playing as important a part in breathing as the lungs? Who has thought that the hemisphere of the abdomen was as directly amenable to the influence of the air as that of the thorax? Who has, in fine, thought that the viscera of the abdomen together with those of the thorax were primarily instrumental in producing the voice and vocal utterance?

It may not be pleasant to know, and it may not quite conform with our æsthetic taste, that the "voice divine" should have its origin in such vessels as the kidneys and the bladder; but I have no quarrel with the Creator, and can but wonder, as I have never ceased to wonder from step to step in all these investigations, at the marvellous resources of nature. There is one great lesson conveyed through this, namely,--- that the body is _divine_ in its _every aspect_; parts which have been supposed to serve ends only of a comparatively low order participating in the highest spiritual functions.

This knowledge is the sanctification of the "flesh," so constantly and unjustifiably rejected and reviled as against that of the spirit. I am not dealing with theories, but am stating facts which will be as positively proven as any other scientific facts ever have been proven. These proofs will not be all forthcoming in this book, however, there being other subjects of equal, if not greater, importance that I have to deal with before I can reach them; these subjects being of such a nature that they must be explained before those immediately connected with voice production can be properly dealt with.

I have been reproached with attempting too much; with dealing with too many subjects at one and the same time; that I ought to complete one theme and then take hold of another. Just so; but this cannot be done. I must first deal with general principles. Our entire system being of a homogeneous nature, I cannot deal with separate issues until these principles have been dealt with and understood in their entirety. Besides, I cannot hope to ever _complete_ any one thing. I shall be well satisfied if I shall be able to simply touch upon every subject that has come under my observation, lightly, suggesting things, and leaving it to others to enter more thoroughly into the same.

INTROSPECTION

With our mortal eyes turned outwardly we cannot see spiritual things, nor the motive power of life, nor the material form the spirit assumes in moving the mechanism of the body. For there _is_ a material way in which it is thus moved, as there necessarily must be, and I have obtained glimpses thereat by turning my eyes inwardly--by looking into myself with the _inner_ surface of my eyes.

Yet through all these centuries people have been using that portion of their eyes which is intended for external vision only, in a vain endeavor to arrive at spiritual-material facts. Thus the larynx, as the supposed seat of the voice, has been subjected to scrutiny based upon laws derived from phenomena which owe their origin to physical causes only. During this vain endeavor the larynx has been subjected to torture and maltreatment worse than that inflicted upon a mediæval witch.

But its tormentors have derived no solace from this treatment, not even that of a confession of imaginary sins. Why not? Simply because it had not anything to confess, being a reflex, an indirect, and not a free and original agent. Through torture (by means of the laryngoscope), the destroyer of harmony, we cannot arrive at laws based upon harmony.

Is not all physiological research more or less of this order? The "higher law" of science may demand its victims, even as did the "higher law" of the church. I do not wish to say, however, that the sacrifice of animals on the altar of science is as useless as that of human beings used to be on that of religion. Vivisection, however, while it may, and no doubt sometimes does, help to recognize the physical cause of disorder, will never be of any value in arriving at spiritual causes and the recognition of the inner motive power of life, nor to any great extent at that of the exercise of our faculties and functions. For this knowledge we require a different mode of proceeding. To penetrate into the realm of the spiritual-material world (and all phenomena of life are of that nature) we must not look externally but internally, not into other beings but into ourselves. That is the only place where we can hope to find it in action and arrive at the causes of such action.

As our being cannot enter into the inner life of another being and identify itself with the same or become a part thereof, or remain apart and become a spectator of the same or substitute therefor (not even for that of the simplest and lowest living vegetable or animal organism), we would have to despair of our ability of ever being able to arrive at the laws governing life, if we were not able to look into our own lives by substituting for our observations our inner for our outer consciousness.

The word "Introspection" has heretofore meant reflection upon purely spiritual phenomena only; I have proven by my personal example that we can observe physiologico-psychological phenomena with considerable accuracy--very little of this kind of work, as far as I can learn, ever having been done before. The nearest approach at amalgamation, probably, is that which is brought about by means of hypnotism. In this instance the two factors, the positive and the negative, the operator and the person operated upon, do not fuse, however, and become one, but remain entities, each in his own right. Or, to speak still more to the point, while the positive, that is the spiritual, factor of the operator may, and no doubt does, join hands with the negative, that is the material, of his subject, by which the operator becomes one with the latter, there is still but an _influence_, and not an insight. Besides, this condition is as yet too obscurely known to be made use of as a practical means of observation.

After all this, the question will still be asked, "What must we _do_ to look into ourselves?"

I will admit that I have not stated what others should do, but in explaining what I have done I mean to explain what general course others will have to pursue. By taking into consideration what I have said, and adding thereto what I shall still have to say, a general idea may be formed of what the reader must do to place himself in a position to make original observations by means of introspection. No two cases being just alike, from the fact that heredity, the mental capacity, physical condition, education, temperament, nationality, etc., with no two persons are just alike, it is not well possible to point out a course quite suitable to all. I might as well attempt to arrive at a law by the observance of which _all_ persons would be enabled to write poetry.

Still, needing assistance in this vast undertaking, I am particularly anxious to make this matter clear, as the results of these observations are of vital interest to all, and I am but one weak, ignorant mortal creature, with but a small fraction of a life left to me in which to state that which it would at least take a full lifetime to properly and fully explain. I am overburdened with an insight which is being increased daily, even against my will, and which I shall never be able to fully communicate to others. Let the flood-gates of truth once be opened and come in upon you as they have upon me, and you will be overwhelmed by the mass of their detail no less than by the vigor of their mass. My great want, therefore, for the purpose of more fully arriving at these facts and obtaining ever higher results is assistance and coöperation. I wish it to be distinctly understood, however, that I do not mean this in a personal sense--far from it; but in the interest and the promotion of science, as everybody wanting to make original observations must pursue these studies for himself and by himself.

Why such a course has not been heretofore pursued by others I am at a loss to understand, except from the fact that it takes an unusual amount of perseverance to reach the first results. Though _all_ persons may not be able to personally obtain satisfactory results, _all_ may be _benefited_ by the results obtained by those qualified to successfully carry on a course of observations by means of introspection. The world at large will always have to be satisfied with being simply the beneficiary of scientific research; more especially of research in matters spiritual or psychical. From facts thus obtained rules may be deduced, which, translated into "physical forms," may become the property of all. In this manner numerous observations I have made have already assumed a practical shape; but I have not as yet been able to devote the necessary time to them to produce a system which may be used for general instruction.

Meanwhile I do sincerely hope that others will take hold of these matters in all seriousness, and assist me in arriving at these practical physical forms, which I trust, in fact _know_ beyond the shadow of a doubt, will be fruitful of the most beneficent results in the teaching of the deaf, of singing and elocution, of pure vocal utterance in speaking; in curing stammering and other chronic faulty or deficient utterance; besides numerous other matters of equal importance not in immediate connection with vocal utterance.

That these matters must be and are of the greatest importance to the medical student goes without saying. It is to be hoped that they may lead to a more rational treatment of our frail and often ailing bodies. I say "bodies" because this is the common phrase. Yet how false this is, every true physician is but too conscious of. Our ailments cannot be successfully treated from a mere physical standpoint. The question of life is not a mechanical one; it is spiritual beyond anything else, the spirit being the motive power giving life to the otherwise inert physical body. Yet the only endeavor of the physician has always been to cure the "machine," to set its mechanism right again when it is out of order, simply because he has not been able to get at the spiritual motive power which propels it.

I have been trying to get at this motive power, and to some extent have been successful in so doing. Besides, the _body_ never suffers. Its ailments make the soul suffer; while the ailments of the soul have a comparatively less injurious effect upon the body. The body is the habitation of the soul. The soul dwells in its _every_ part. As long as this habitation is habitable the soul continues to dwell therein. When it becomes uninhabitable the soul departs, never to return. Hence a body, never so frail and ailing, will continue to live as long as a vital part is not affected, that is, a part the soul _requires_ for its habitation and cannot do without. Close such part to the indwelling of the soul, prevent material and spiritual factors from joining hands therein, and the spirit departs. Once departed it can never be made to return. Hence a body in the full vigor of health, after having been immersed in water sufficiently long to have any one vital avenue positively closed against the indwelling of the soul, cannot be resuscitated. As long as the soul clings to it, however, with never so feeble a grasp, it may come to life again, in the same manner that a flame nearly extinguished may be fanned to life again.

For me to _fully_ describe my mode of proceeding in arriving at these matters would be equal to an attempt at crowding into a few paragraphs _all_ I have gone through within something like forty years, more or less, of observation.

MAKING PARTS RIGID

I have already stated that I was originally led into making these investigations through my simple desire of getting rid of my _German_ mode of expression in speaking the English language. Being determined to find out where the trouble was which prevented me from producing pure English sounds while I experienced no difficulty in producing pure German sounds, I pursued vocal sounds, through numerous phases, to their original sources. The endeavor to arrive at the true nature of vocal sounds through autology and by means of "introspection" has, no doubt, been made by thousands before me. The reason they were not more successful must be attributed to the simple fact that such persons have been lacking in perseverance. It is one of the most misleading endeavors one can pursue.

In the beginning I came to what I considered a _positive_ result perhaps for the hundredth time, but to think I was on the wrong track the one hundred and first time. I would then, perhaps, finally determine that the first result arrived at, after all, was the correct one. In this manner I have in the course of time arrived at positive conclusions, which have been the basis of all my investigations, and are undoubtedly correct, as they have yielded up one result after another and have never proven false. For this, relatively speaking, "perfect insight" I have waited, before saying anything more at all, since my previous (preliminary) publication. To these conclusions I owe my present trust and confidence, and the "boldness and temerity," as some may say, in making such "startling declarations" in the face of the accumulated wisdom of the science of this and of past ages. Yet I am tired unto death of prevarication and of time-serving, and will say what I consider to be the truth, no matter what may be the consequence.

Any one singing a false note or mispronouncing a foreign word or sound, yet knowing what the right note, word, or sound is and should be, can do the same thing, and by perseverance finally find what he has been looking for and pronounce such note, word, or sound in its entire purity. This will put him on the track to the production of _all_ pure notes or sounds. To accomplish this, he must persistently watch one result after another.

My mode of proceeding has been largely in making parts _rigid_, and then observing the consequences. In pursuing this course for some time, you will finally attain such a mastery therein that you will be able to make almost any vessel, muscle, sinew, membrane, tissue, etc., or any _part_ thereof, rigid. This is done for the purpose of neutralizing parts which partake in the production of sounds, and will enable you to closely watch cause and effect in your natural, as well as artistic, course of breathing and sound production. _Having two languages at my command, I was startled to find that cause and effect in both were totally different from each other._ This gave me the original cue to all my observations.

In place of sounds, others may pursue odor, taste, feeling, motion, hearing, etc., to their original sources, and make similar observations. In so doing they will find that _all phenomena, the products of our faculties, abilities, or gifts, originally proceed from the same or similar sources; that there is a homogeneity of proceeding, mainly consisting in various modes of breathing, in the production of them all; the end organs of our senses or gifts finally determining definite special results_.

For vocal utterance, we draw our inspiration for various results to be attained, from the air, and breathe in a different mode for every special performance. These modes of breathing, though the same for all persons in a general sense and leading through the same channels, in a more restricted sense are different for every nationality.

There is no "danger" connected with these pursuits, in spite of Mr. Heidenhain's fears; which fact is due to the duality of the nature of each and all our various faculties, there being a safety-valve always at the other end in the shape of the negative factor. The only danger I have discovered was in connection with the "streams of life," which do not permit tampering with without penalty. As these exist independent of our ordinary mode of breathing, they are not apt to be interfered with by any neophyte in the pursuits now under consideration. Of these powerful streams, of which no notice has ever been taken by any one, though ceaselessly streaming into and out of our system while life lasts, I shall take occasion to speak later on.

EXTIRPATION

To make a part "rigid" is equal to the "extirpation" of such part. While it is in a state of rigidity, it ceases to take part in any action whatsoever; it is inert and the same as if it had ceased to exist. What advantage, then, let me ask, is there in extirpating parts in animals, when we can, by making parts rigid, directly extirpate such parts in ourselves? We can in this manner suppress the action of any muscle, or the participation of any vessel, or part of such vessel, in any act, by the simple exercise of our volition. I find no difficulty in thus "extirpating" any such part from myself for the time being, and then observing the consequences. I can take hold of the innermost part of myself, so to say, and take it _out of myself_. In regard to vocal utterance, these consequences are positive and direct. That these operations must be very _carefully_ conducted in connection with _vital_ parts goes without saying. The action of muscles participating in the production of vocal utterance, however, or in the act of breathing, except the muscles of the heart, can be suppressed without danger. I am thus in a position to modify extirpation of parts to any extent, almost, I desire. I can add to and detract therefrom at will, and can shift the act of extirpation from the anterior part of a vessel to its posterior, or from its superior to its inferior, or vice versa, now making one side rigid, then the other, now one end, and then the other; or take hold of its centre and leave the other parts free, or suppress its circumference and leave the centre free. There is scarcely a limit to the action of my will in handling my subject. All this while, my feelings, my intelligence, my mind, take in every phase of these proceedings, and enable me to give a correct account of the results I have been observing.

This discovery--for a discovery it must be, as I can find no account of any similar proceeding ever having been carried on--should, and I hope will, put an end to vivisection, when it is resorted to for the purpose of learning anything whatever in respect to the action and the process of life. By this proceeding I have more or less successfully observed the acts of breathing, of vocal utterance, motion and locomotion, hearing, seeing, and thinking.

I beg leave to here insert without comment the following clipping from the press:

The following extracts are from a lecture on "Vivisection in
Relation to Medical Science," delivered by Edward Berdoe, M.
R. C. S., etc., at Cambridge. Lovers of animals may be glad to
know how the medical fraternity amuse themselves:

"You may open the abdomens of living cats, guinea-pigs, and
rabbits, and apply irritating chemicals to their exposed
intestines, causing what you are pleased to term 'peculiar
rhythmic movements' and 'circus movements,' but what the
unlearned would call violent spasms and convulsions, as was
done by Dr. Batten and Mr. Bokenham, at St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, last year. You may dissect out the kidneys of living
dogs and cats which you have first paralyzed by curare--the
'hellish oorali' of Lord Tennyson's poem, so called because
the animal's sufferings are intensified by its use, and it is
unable to move a limb, or to bite, scratch, howl, or otherwise
interfere with the operator's comfort. You may do this, as
was done by Dr. John Rose Bradford, at University College,
London. You may infect ninety cats with cholera poison, and
bake numbers of them alive, as did Dr. Lander Brunton. You may
inoculate the eyes of rabbits and guinea-pigs with the material
of tubercle, fix glass balls filled with croton oil--a horribly
irritating drug--and stitch them into the muscles of the backs
of rabbits, then crush them amongst their tissues, as did
Dr. Watson Cheyne, at King's College, London. You may slice,
plough, burn, and pick away the brains of monkeys and dogs, as
did Dr. Ferrier. You may slowly starve to death animals whose
vagi nerves have been cut and stimulated by electricity, as
was done by Dr. Gaskell, of this University, in 1878. You may
cut out the spleens and livers from living rabbits, pigeons,
and ducks, as was done by Dr. William Hunter, of St. John's
College, Cambridge, in 1888, or do a thousand other acts which
in a coster-monger or a farm laborer would be termed and dealt
with as acts of atrocious cruelty, punishable by imprisonment.
But you have not learned the cure for a single malady which
afflicts the human body."

THE MOVEMENTS OF THE TONGUE

There is another mode of proceeding by which satisfactory results can be obtained, and which was the only one I resorted to in the beginning and for many years afterwards; namely, the watching of the movements of the tongue.

The muscle of the tongue, for vocal utterance, is the most important in our organization. It appears to me, in fact, as if in its tip there were a concentration of all the threads which control our existence; and that it is, therefore, representative of an epitome of our entire being. As all sciences, in a general, though in some instances perhaps somewhat remote, sense, centre in the science of life, so do the controlling elements in our composition centre in the tip of the tongue. If it were possible to analyze it spiritually as well as physically, we would obtain a compendium of knowledge far in advance of any there is in existence in the world at the present time. Still, it must be admitted that this would, to some extent, depend upon _whose_ tongue's tip was submitted to such analyzation. The fact of the tip of the tongue being removed by surgical operation without serious effect upon the mental condition of the individual does not greatly affect my assertion. In that case the concentration must have taken place at the tongue's new tip or end.

The tongue's tip, with as infallible correctness as the magnetic needle points towards the north pole, indicates the exact spot whence sounds come, or should come, to appear on the surface in a clear and undefiled manner. The tongue's tip, for English vowel sounds, does not touch any part of the oral cavity. It is constantly changing its position, however, and for every vowel sound, or shade of a vowel sound, points in the direction of or _approaches_ the spot whence a sound comes, or should come. To ascertain such spot with exactitude, it is but necessary to _extend_ the tongue's tip until it reaches the wall of the oral cavity during or, still better, immediately after the utterance of a vocal sound. Upon reaching that spot the tongue may continue in the same position of contact and the sound can still be uttered with entire purity. Change this point of contact, however, but in the least, and such sound will at once cease to come to the surface. Yet, while _apparently_ a sound comes from the direction in which the tip of the tongue points, this is not really the case. In pointing in a given direction, the tongue opens up the channels of the œsophagus and the trachea in a special manner for the proper emission of a given sound, beneath as well as above, and to the left as well as to the right of its radix. In changing the tongue's position but in the least, these channels will open in a different direction, which may then be the proper medium for the emission of another sound, but not for the one under consideration.

The general mode in which the radix of the tongue turns upon its axis is the direct and fundamental cause productive of the various languages of the world; such general mode necessitating special movements of the tongue for the production of the sounds of any special language. Regarding the proper emission of consonant sounds every one knows that the same depends upon the particular spot of contact of the tongue's tip with parts of the oral cavity. As a matter of fact, such point of contact also opens, the same as with vowel sounds, the tubes of the trachea and œsophagus at the tongue's radix in the proper manner for the emission of a given stream of air for the production of such consonant sounds.

Every imaginable opprobrious epithet has been by singers bestowed upon the tongue. "This obstreperous muscle which is always in the way," says one. "This troublesome member will persist in going up when you want it to remain down"; "intractable," "contrary," "obstinate," "wilful," "ungovernable," "stubborn." All these expressions have been used by writers on the voice in connection with the tongue, simply because it would not yield to unreasonable and unnatural demands made upon it; the tongue, being a free agent, persisting in its natural rights--as much so as any independent democratic citizen persists in his.

My observations having been made in connection with a foreign language, I had a better opportunity for watching my tongue's movements than I would have had had I attempted to watch them in connection with my native tongue; the movements of the tongue in connection with the latter being so rapid and involuntary that it becomes exceedingly difficult to make any observations at all. It was like having this foreign (English) tongue exist independently alongside of my own, my intelligence watching it, and guiding it, now here, now there, until it would touch the right spot for the right English sound. Knowing what the right sound was and should be, I never stopped until the same came to the surface.

In trying to find my way in this foreign (English) territory of the oral cavity, I might compare my English tongue to the stick in the hands of a blind man, who uses it in place of his eyes to ascertain his whereabouts, so as to enable him to proceed on his way in the right direction. With my "stick" I felt in every direction, till I found I could steer clear of obstacles straight into the channel of the sound I had been seeking. From my German post of observation I was thus enabled to watch the movements of my English tongue in its efforts to find itself "at home" in this foreign territory, while I was at the same time guiding it from one point therein to another.

I want to call especial attention to and reiterate the fact that the exact point whence a sound proceeds, or seems to proceed, can, by extending the tongue's tip, be quite as well (if not better) ascertained, _after_ the utterance of a sound, as _during_ such utterance; that is _immediately_ after the tongue has ceased to vibrate for such sound.

The difference in the movements of the tongue for various languages is one of the most interesting observations to be made in connection with these studies. The German language being the exact opposite, the antipode, to the English, after comprehending the movements of the tongue for the latter, its own movements, that is, the movements of the tongue for German sounds, were not difficult for me to ascertain.

It is an anomaly to apply the works of German writers on the voice to the study of the English language, or to that of any other than the German language; or to apply books written from an English standpoint to the study of any language except the English--the movements of the tongue, and, in sympathy therewith, of countless other muscles, being different for every language.

Whatever the movements of the tongue are for the _spoken_ language, they are of an inverse order for _song_. I anticipate in making the following statement, namely, that while speech is of an order which is rapid, direct, anterior, exterior, spontaneous, impulsive, and material, song is of an order which is slow, indirect, posterior, interior, premeditated, contemplative, and spiritual. I will also add this: that, _while speech is of the oral cavity, song is of the pharynx_. In making these remarks and others _in anticipation_, I do so intentionally and for a purpose; not so much in expectation that they will be at once and fully understood, as with a view of setting others thinking on these subjects until I can reach them in due course of time; or, if I should _never_ be able to reach them, that the principle, at least, underlying the same, which if the opportunity had been granted me would have been fully sustained, shall not be lost. The reader will notice that I am hurrying over the ground as rapidly as I consistently can, even from my--under the best of circumstances--superficial standpoint, leaving wide gaps to be filled in by others in the course of time.

SIMPLE SOUNDS

Speaking of sounds in making experiments in connection with the movements of the tongue, it is of the first importance that these sounds should be _simple_ and not _vocal_ or compound. They must be sounds of the same order as we utter in whispering, or such sounds as we are apt to use when learning to speak a foreign tongue. They are the inharmonious sounds of the deaf, and those which distinguish the speech of a foreigner from that of the native-born.

The recognition of these sounds as the _negative parts of speech_ has been one of my main accomplishments, and has been of the greatest assistance to me in my investigations.

Things _complete_ tell no tales. We must decompose them, reduce them to their elements, if we want to arrive at the truth in matters of science. I have succeeded in doing with things spiritual--vocal sounds--what the chemist is doing with things material. In things complete, as they are shaped by the hand of nature, the elements of which they are composed are mingled in such a dexterous manner, are so happily blended, that they adjust, counterpoise, and complement one another, and thus live with and in one another.

These new forms have been created by the elements of which they are composed, abandoning their separate original forms and now appearing in a new form, as integral parts of an _harmonious_ entity. These elements have not only abandoned their form, however, but in most instances have also changed their character; which in their original composition may have been of a _discordant_, violent, and even dangerous nature. Take but the atmospheric air and its elements for an example.