Should the specimens be very successfully dissected, it may be worth
while to keep them for future observation, in rather weak alcohol (40
per cent.), in, say, a preserve jar.

All examinations of the vocal bands may leave the observer
disappointed; he may fail to realize, most likely, how such wonderful
results can be accomplished by structures so simple as those he sees
before him. But when the laryngoscope is brought into use, then comes
a revelation. This instrument will be described in the next chapter.

HYGIENE.

Some of the hygienic principles involved have already been referred to
and illustrated, and others follow from the facts already set forth.
It is very important for the voice-user to bear in mind that his
larynx is a part of the respiratory tract, and that the whole of this
region and the entire digestive tract, part of which is common to
both, are lined with mucous membrane. If the nose be affected with
catarrh, the throat does not usually long escape; and if the back of
the mouth cavity (_pharynx_) be disordered, the vocal bands and other
parts of the larynx are almost sure to be involved more or less.

The condition of the stomach is reflexly, if not by direct continuity
through the mucous membrane, expressed in the throat generally; hence
as experience shows, the voice-user cannot exercise too great care as
to what and how much he eats, especially before a public appearance.
He must know himself what best suits him, in this regard, to a degree
that is necessary for few others.

When singing, more blood is sent to the organs used, hence the great
danger of that excess of blood being retained in the parts too long,
as might easily happen from pressure about the neck, etc. It is
scarcely necessary to point out that draughts, cold rooms, etc., will
also determine the blood from the skin inward, and set up that
complicated condition of multiform evils known as "a cold." The
obvious principle of prevention lies in keeping the body, and
especially the neck, shoulders, and chest, warm after using the vocal
organs in any way in public. To hand the singer a wrap after leaving
the platform is always wise, and the judicious friend will see that
conversation is not allowed, much less forced on the possibly
breathless and wearied voice-user--a precaution that is probably more
honored in the breach than in the observance, for in this as in other
cases one's friends are sometimes his worst enemies.

SUMM