l through too energetic
singing, but this is altogether abnormal, and beyond the scope of our
enquiry. The voice, properly used, will last as long as any other organ,
and it benefits by exercise. Mr. D. W. Rootham of Bristol, who now at
middle age has a strong constitution and a fine baritone voice, tells me
that as a boy at Cambridge he sang for seven years at five services
every Sunday. The thing seems incredible, and it is an extreme case,
though it shows what work the voice, properly managed, will do.

Singing, it should be remembered, promotes health. It does so indirectly
by causing cheerfulness, a genial flow of spirits, and the soothing of
the nerves. It does so directly by increasing the action of the lungs.
So far as these organs are concerned, singing is a more energetic form
of speech. As we sing we breathe deeply, bring more air into contact
with the lungs, and thus vitalise and purify the blood, giving stimulus
to the faculties of digestion and nutrition. A physiologist, in fact,
can trace the effects of singing from the lungs into the blood, from the
blood into the processes of nutrition, back again into the blood, into
the nerves, and finally into the brain, which of all organs is most
dependent upon healthful and well-oxygenated blood. Dr. Martin (organist
of St. Paul's Cathedral) has had many years' experience in training
choir-boys, and he tells me that he has never known a boy to injure his
voice, or lose it through singing. It is a question of method; if the
voice be used properly it will stand any amount of work. He has seen
boys disposed to consumption improve in health after joining the choir.
The medical man who declared that if there were more singing there would
be less coughing, expressed in a graphic way the healthful influence of
vocal practice. Parents and guardians need never hesitate to allow their
sons and charges to become choir-boys under proper choirmasters. They
may be sure that nothing but good can come of the exercise.

Two cautions only are needed. The first is, not to sing during a cold.
When a slight inflammation has attacked the larynx--that is, when a cold
has been taken--the vocal cords are thickened, and the act of
vocalisation causes them to rub together, which increases the
inflammation. If the cold is a bad one--that is, if the inflammation is
great--the singer will be compelled to rest, because the congestive
swelling of the vocal cords will be so great that they will b