ietly in a closed room; she was
to see no one, she was not to talk at all, she was not to laugh. As
harassing as was the experience, she faithfully observed the directions,
and on the fourth day every vestige of redness had disappeared. Only
a slight elevation remained on the cord where the node had been. The
treatment was continued three days longer. At the expiration of that
period no trace of the node could be seen. Now no one would suspect that
a node had once affected her voice. Experiences like this indicate why
I counsel against use of the voice under diseased conditions.

As a general proposition, all throat spraying is dangerous. A New York
singer, suffering while on a concert-tour from a case of sub-acute
laryngitis, sought advice from a physician who honestly tried to aid
him, but shot wide of the mark through injudicious use of a spray, in
which he used menthol and eucalyptus, a combination much affected by a
certain well-meaning class, and which for a time gives to the throat
a delightful sense of coolness. The singer became afflicted with a
violent, explosive cough, which caused the formation of a node. He gave
up singing, losing nearly $1,000 in engagements. He went to his own room
and to bed. He remained in his room for three weeks. The temperature was
carefully watched. He did not expose himself in the slightest degree,
nor did he use his voice. The result was a perfect cure.

Another case is that of a church singer whose throat during a religious
festival service became filled with the smoke of incense. The irritation
caused a troublesome cough, and she lost her voice entirely above the
top F#. It required fourteen days to effect a cure. She stopped singing
for six days and then sang in church, with the result that the
difficulty returned, augmented. She sensibly rested the succeeding week
and perfected a cure. Rest did far more than any amount of medicine,
however it might have been administered.

Paralysis of the vocal cords constitutes a second form of vocal
catastrophe. It should need no definition. In reality, however, the
paralysis does not lie in the cords themselves, but in the leading
muscles that control in phonation. There are many forms of this
particular example of vocal catastrophe, though I am now dealing only
with those which are liable to attack a singer, and which are most
frequent in my own experience.

With the singer one form is common, viz.: paralysis of the left adductor
musc