r death, led to compression of the liver and other
organs. No voice-user should use such an effective means of preventing
the very thing he should most desire, a full and free use of the
breathing apparatus.

Before carrying out the exercises suggested or others equally good,
the student is recommended to be weighed, and especially to have the
chest carefully _measured_. This can be done with sufficient accuracy
by the use of a tape-measure. It will be well to take the
circumference a few inches above and below a certain point, so that it
may be ascertained that the chest expands in every region. The
measurements should be taken under the following conditions:

1. The chest should be almost or wholly divested of clothing.

2. Its circumference is to be ascertained--(_a_) when the breath has
been allowed to pass out gently, and before a new breath is taken;
(_b_) with the deepest possible inspiration; (_c_) after the deepest
possible expiration, which has been preceded by a similar inspiration.

After about three weeks the individual should be again measured, by
the same person, in exactly the same way, in order to learn whether
there has been development or not, and, if so, how much. It is
important that the measurements should be made at exactly the same
horizontal planes, and with this end in view it is desirable to put a
small mark of some kind on the chest, which may remain till the next
measurements are made.

The method of breathing recommended is as follows:

1. Inhale very slowly through the nostrils, with closed mouth,
counting mentally one, two, three, four, etc., with regularity.

2. Hold the breath thus taken, but only for a short time, counting in
the same manner as before.

3. Exhale slowly, still counting.

After a few moments' rest the exercise may be again carried out in the
same way. These exercises may be in series, several times a day.

The following warnings are especially to be observed:

1. Never continue any exercise when there is a sense of discomfort of
any kind whatever. Such usually indicates that it is being carried out
too vigorously.

2. Increase the depth of the inspirations daily, but not very rapidly.

3. The inspirations and expirations should both be carried out very
slowly at first.

4. Cease the exercise before any sense of fatigue is experienced.
Fatigue is Nature's warning, and should be always obeyed. It indicates
that the waste products which result from the use