d in what may be called the singer's mental ear; that the nerves
convey each of these sounding mental conceptions to the intricate
system of muscles in the larynx and resonant cavities and that the
right muscles immediately adjust the larynx and cavities of resonance
to the shape they have to assume to sound the corresponding note.
Every vocal tone is, in fact, a mental concept reproduced as voice by
the physical organs of voice-production, so that every vocal tone is,
in its origin, a mental phenomenon. That is why an inaccurate ear for
pitch results in a vocalist singing off pitch. His mental conception
of the note is wrong, the message conveyed from the mind over the
nerves to the muscles of the vocal organs is wrong, consequently they
shape themselves for a note that is wrong, and, when the note issues
from between the singer's lips, it is wrong--wrong from start to
finish, from mind to lips. Thus again is illustrated the intimate
connection between psychology and physiology in voice-production, and
the necessity of having every function concerned therein so thoroughly
trained that every act from mental concept to sounding voice is
correctly performed through a habit so thoroughly acquired that it has
become second nature. In common parlance one might say to the student
of song, "Get the correct voice-habit and keep it up," for that really
is what it amounts to, only it is necessary that great stress should
be laid on the word "correct."

It now becomes necessary to describe the larynx, and this I will
endeavor to accomplish without puzzling the reader with too many
technical terms. The study of the larynx was made possible by the
invention of the laryngoscope in 1855 by Manuel Garcia, a celebrated
singing-master. It is a simple apparatus--which, however, does not
detract from but rather adds to its value as an invention--and has been
a boon to the physician in locating and curing affections of the throat.
Its essentials are a small mirror fixed at an obtuse angle to a slender
handle. Introduced into the mouth it can be placed in such position
that the larynx is reflected in the mirror and thus can be observed
by the operator. Those who have had their throats examined with the
laryngoscope will recall that the operator wears a reflector over his
right eye. Through a central perforation in the reflector he views the
image, which is seen the more clearly for the light thrown upon the
laryngoscopal mirror by the reflec