yngoscope is invaluable in the recognition and treatment
of diseases which before only could be guessed at, "with the exception
of certain points relating to the 'falsetto' register, it can scarcely
be said to have thrown any new light on the mechanism of the voice." In
other words, the instrument belongs in the hands of the physician, not
in those of the singer.

The larynx, as I already have stated, is a small organ, on an average
two inches long and one and a half inch wide. The reader can form a good
idea of its location by the Adam's apple, which is its most forward
projection at the top.

From the singer's point of view the larynx exists for the sake of the
vocal cords--in order that they may be acted upon by certain muscles and
thus relaxed or tightened, lengthened or shortened, or by a combination
of these states properly adjusted to the note that is to be produced.
The vocal cords lie parallel to each other. The space between them
(the opening through which the air from the windpipe passes up into
the larynx) is called the glottis. With every loosening, tightening,
lengthening or shortening of the vocal cords or other effect of
muscular action upon them, the space between them--the glottis--alters
in size and shape. These subtle changes in the size and shape of the
glottis are, as I shall expect to show, of great importance in
voice-production. They form the first step in the actual creation
of voice.

The numerous and subtle adjustments and readjustments in shape of which
the larynx is capable could not be effected if its shell consisted of so
hard and unyielding a substance as bone. Consequently, it has to consist
of a substance which, while sufficiently solid to form a background for
the attachment of its numerous muscles, yet is sufficiently pliable to
yield with a certain degree of elasticity to the action of these. Nature
therefore has built up the larynx with cartilage, or gristle, providing
a framework made up of a series of cartilages, sufficiently joined to
form a firm shell surrounding the muscular tissue, yet, being hinged as
well as joined, capable of independent as well as of combined movement,
and, withal, possessing the requisite degree of pliability to respond in
whole or part to the extremely varied and often delicate action of the
laryngeal muscles--muscles which indeed are required to be as practised
and as sensitive to suggestion as if they were nerves.

The principal cartilage of the l