On respiration in singing

Front matter

TUIC <~ADCtA/C-| I r-r^miDAKlV I IILlllTC-rk

SfLO

ON RESPIRATION IN SINGING.

Chapter I

THE respiratory ACT. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY.

The thorax ; its form ; bones which compose it. Bronchi, lungs, pleural cavity. — Inspiration : elevation of the ribs, external inspiratory muscles, diaphragm. — Expiration : role of the thoracic walls, passive in simple, active in forced, expiration . . pp. 4 — 14

Chapter II. Respiratory Types

Clavicular, abdominal, and costal types : their definition. — In ordinary respiration the child employs the abdominal method ; the adult man sometimes the abdominal, sometimes the costal, method. — The woman uses the clavicular method. — Influence of corsets. — ^^Pneumographic tracings of non-civilised women. — Preponderance of the action of the diaphragm in tranquil respiration . . pp. 15 — 23

XX CONTENTS.

Chapter III. Ordinary And Artistic Respiration

Aim of ordinary respiration ; aim of artistic respiration : the latter necessitates deep inspirations, which require the intervention of thoracic muscles. Opinion of physiologists.— Great development of the chest in gymnasts and singers. — The play of the thorax is the principal factor of respiration in singing pp. 24—34

Chapter IV. History Of Artistic Respiration

Teachings of the old Italian masters, and of the authors of the old method of the Conservatoire. — School of Mandl. — The old practices are abandoned. — Triumph of abdominal respiration . pp. 35 — 45

Chapter V. Clavicular Respiration

It has the inconvenience of being partial, amplifying the thorax at the summit of the cone, and furnishing the singer with less wind than the two other types. — It has not the disastrous effects attributed to it. — Refutation of Mandl's ideas as to lowering of the larynx, glottic dilatation, relaxation of the curds as the consequence of this defective practice. — Clavicular respiration cannot be recommended to man or woman, although the latter breathes with the summit of the chest in ordinary life pp. 46 — 61

CONTENTS. XXI

/CHAPTER MlJ

ABDOMINAL RESPIRATION.

It permits the storing of a greater volume of air than clavicular respiration ; but it only utilises the contraction of the diaphragm, and leaves the thoracic muscles inactive. — Whatever the method of respiration, muscular fatigue is in direct relation to the effect produced ; it is manifested less quickly when the work is divided between a large number of agents. — Why has nature given us a mobile thorax, if it ought to remain in a condition of fixity in the deep respirations needed for singing ? — Abdominal » respiration submits the stomach, uterus, and other \ viscera, to strong pressure. Morbid accidents in .consequence pp. 62 — 78

Chapter VII. Costal Respiration

The movement of dilatation is general, and the chest pari icipates as a whole in the inspiratory amplification.— The thorax is enlarged in its greatest diameter, the transverse. — Geometrical formula relating to the valuation of the thoracic volume. — Spirometric researches prove that it is the costal method which provides the greatest amount of air for the ."•inger pp. 79—9° xxii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VIII. COSTAL RESPIRATION (continued)

The artist can regulate the exit of air with precision, — Vocal effort, muscular antagonism, and synergy. — Insufficiency of abdominal force. — Respiratory mechanism of the mezza di voce. — On thoracic resonance ; the sonorous properties of the pectoral cavity are brought into play by the costal type pp. 91 — 109

CHAPTER IX. COSTAL RESPIRATION {contimud)

Movements of the ribs in costal respiration. — Role of the diaphragm. —Doctrines of Magendie, Duchenne, Paul Bert. — Retraction of the abdominal wall, limited to its inferior portion, favours elevation of the ribs by the diaphragm. — The old Italian mastr;rs advised the costal type. — Professors and physicians who recommend this respiratory process, and a.ttists

who practise it pp./lio — 130

Chapter X. Education Of Respiration

Importance of good respiration in singing. — Characters of inspiration and expiration in an experienced arti.st. — Necessity of beginning respiratory studies early. — Methodical exercises applied to costal respiration — Duration of the exercises ; avoidance of fatigue.— Ordinary gymnastics augment the respirator)' power pp. 13' M7

CONTENTS. XXll

CHAPTER XL

HYGIENE OF RESPIRATION.

Necessity of good hygiene. — Influence of vitiated, humid, dry air. — Action of dust : nasal inspiration. — Dwellings : apartments, heating and lighting. — Clothing : flannel, corsets, braces, belt=. — Food : nitrogenous and carbonaceous ; spirits, coffee. — Hours of repose. — Muscular exercise .... pp. 148 —168

CHAPTER XH.

RELATION OF THE MOTOR TO THE VIBRATING ELEMENT OF PHONATION.

Height of a sound. — Aerial pressure in laryngeal intonation.— Agreement between the muscular agents of respiration and the larynx. — Vocal compensation. — ■ Respiratory insufficiency robs the voice of its freshness, purity, agility, and extent. — Laryngeal fluxions, acute and chronic laryngitis . . . pp. 169 — 183

CHAPTER XIIL

ETIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS CAUSING LOWERING OF THE VITAL CAPACITY.

Utility of spirometric measurements. — Respiratory feebleness due to change of method. — Nasal affections : obstruction, reflex phenomena. — Hypertrophy of the palatine and lingual tonsils ; chronic pharyngitis. — Onset cf emphysema and pulmonary tuberculosis. Gastralgias, flatulent dyspepsias. — Gaseous distension of the intestine .... pp. 184 — 198

XXiv CONTENTS.

Appendix

The resonance of the thorax. — The influence of odours and perfumes upon the voice. — Local conditions leading to impairment of the voice. — Laryngitis in singers. — Cocaine ..... pp. 199 — 208

Introduction

THE subject which we are about to study is not concerned exclusively with physiology ; it has an artistic side, the importance of which cannot be misconceived. We should never, however, have ventured to write this book if we had not been able to supplement our scientific acquirements with some vocal and musical knowledge, and, moreover, if we had not been able to apply ourselves personally to the art of singing.

For a long time we have been occupied with the interesting question : how is it necessary to breathe for singing ? At the commencement of our medical career, more than" twenty years ago, we were greatly impressed by reading the famous memoir of Dr. Mandl, and our personal experience has since placed

I

2 INTRODUCTION.

US in opposition to the doctrine of abdominal respiration. But it then seemed to us rash to take part in favour of the old Italian method, and to combat the new doctrines accepted in France by most professors of singing.

Our opposition was quite Platonic until 1885, an epoch when we had the good fortune to enter into relationship with M. Jean de Reszke, who, himself an ardent partisan of costal respiration, persuaded us to break a lance for the good cause. This illustrious artist has never ceased to give us his excellent advice, and has permitted us to put under great contribution his large experience and remarkable erudition in the art of singing ; and we are glad to recognise this by dedicating this book to him.

We lean upon the indisputable authority of M. Jean de Reszke in recommending singers to take their breath according to the following rules : —

1. Not to raise the clavicles or the upper ribs.

2. To fully dilate the lower portion of the thorax.

3. To depress the abdominal wall in its

INTRODUCTION. 3

lower portion, about the umbilical and hypogastric regions.

We shall begin by recalling some anatomical and physiological ideas necessary to the comprehension of the subject. We shall study the different respiratory types, showing the inconveniences and the advantages of each method, and establishing the superiority of the costal type over the clavicular and abdominal. Then we shall glance at artistic respiration from the points of view of its education and hygiene. Lastly, having indicated the vocal troubles engendered by respiratory feebleness, we shall add some words upon the morbid states which diminish the pulmonary capacity. Our aim will be obtained if we succeed in convincing our laryngological confreres, professors of singing, and artists, of the justice of our ideas, and if we are able to lead them back to the wise traditions of the old Italian masters.

Chapter I

THE RESPIRATORY ACT. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY.

The Thorax : its form ; bones which constitute it, bronchi, lungs, pleural cavity. — Inspiration : elevation of the ribs, external inspiratory muscles, diaphragm. — Expiration : function of the thoracic wall, quiet in simple expiration, active in forced expiration.

THE apparatus of phonation is composed (i) of the nasal fossae, the mouth, the pharynx, a vocal tube which modifies and re-enforces the sound ; (2) of the larynx, of which the inferior cords produce the sound, vibrating under the influence of the current of the expired air ; (3) of the trachea and bronchi, which constitute a veritable portevent ; (4) of the thorax and lungs, which have a double function, viz., that of furnishing the air and that of re-enforcing the sound ; their action is comparable to that of the bellows of the organ, and at the same time to that of the sounding board of the piano. We have no need here to occupy ourselves with the upper portions of the human instrument— the nose, mouth, pharynx, and larynx. We shall limit ourselves to stating some elementary anatomical and physiological ideas concerning the constitution and the function of the respiratory bellows, which alone interests us at this moment.

If we examine the chest of a well-constituted individual, it presents the form of a quadrangular pyramid, the base of which is formed by the shoulders, and the summit of which is lost in the abdomen.

But this chest, deprived of its soft parts and of its muscular masses, is of quite different aspect : the thoracic cage then represents a cone slightly flattened from before backwards, the summit of which is at the shoulders. The cone is limited, behind by the dorsal portion of the vertebral column, in front by the sternum and clavicles, and laterally by the ribs, which, on the skeleton, are separated from one another by spaces, but which, on the living subject, are united by the internal and external intercostal muscles, thus making all these osseous arcs continuous one with another. The base of the cone is formed by one large muscle, the diaphragm, which is attached entirely to the inferior edge

A. Clavicle.

B. Scapula, c. Sternum.

Fig.

D. Sterno-costal cartilages.

E. Sixth rib.

r. Vertebral column.

of the thorax, thus separating the thoracic from the abdominal cavity. The summit of the cone is entirely occupied by the organs which proceed from the neck to the thorax. Among these structures must be mentioned the tracheal tube, which puts the thoracic cavity, closed in every part, into communication with the atmospheric air. It is in this chamber with its osseo-muscular walls, and occupying the greater portion of it, that the lungs are lodged ; one portion of the cavity being reserved for the heart and great vessels. The lungs, completely separated from one another, and of different volume, have the form of a cone at the summit. Each of them is essentially constituted of numerous canals, which divide and subdivide to infinity, and successively bear the names of large, median, and small bronchi, and respiratory canaliculi. These last ramifications end in a cul-de-sac, a small cavity called the pulmonary lobule, and composed of the pulmonary vesiculi. These vesicles are like the leaves of the respiratory tree ; it is upon their surface that the gaseous exchanges are made between the blood and the atmospheric air.

It has been calculated that the lungs of an adult man contain not less than six hundred millions of these vesicles. Between the lungs

S THE RESPIRATORY ACT.

and the thoracic walls exists a serous cavity, the pleural cavity, which, in its normal state, is entirely empty, containing neither water, gas, nor liquid. The two surfaces of the pleura can play and glide over one another ; but they cannot be separated, since the atmospheric pressure which is exercised upon the internal surface of the lung maintains them applied one to the other.

The lung, according to Matthias Duval,* adheres to the thorax, and ought to follow each movement of it, just as a stone, to which has been exactly applied a piece of wet leather, follows the latter when it is raised. This well-known children's device represents the mechanism by which the thoracic cone forces the pulmonary cone to dilate at the moment of inspiration^ the first act of respiration, which it is now necessary for us to study.

The inspiratory movement effects an increase in the capacity of the thoracic cage, separating the base from the summit, and the lateral walls from each other, or, as may be said, augmenting it in three diameters ; the antero-posterior, transverse, and vertical dia- * Cours dc Physiologic. Paris : Baillierc.

meters of the thorax. The antero-posterior and transverse diameters are enlarged by one and the same movement, namely, the elevation of the ribs.

The ribs, which are osseous arches, obliquely directed from above downwards, from behind forwards, and from within outwards, are supported behind upon the vertebral column, which is immovable, and are united in front with the sternum, which is a movable point. It appears to us easy to understand that if the anterior extremities of the ribs are raised, the sternum is carried forward and must be separated from the vertebral column, thus enlarging the antero-posterior diameter of the thorax.

It is the same as in the case of the two uprights of a ladder with oblique steps ; when the uprights are separated from one another the steps approach the horizontal. Moreover, the inclined plane from within outwards, and from above downwards, which the rib forms, is raised, turning round an oblique axis, which passes from the sternum to the vertebral column, and which represents the chord of the arc formed by the rib ; the convexity of this is then carried outwards, and from lO THE RESPIRATORY ACT.

thence results the transverse dilatation of the thorax. These movements of the ribs are dependent upon the action of certain muscles called the elevators of the ribs. These, in ordinary inspiration, are : the external intercostals (levatores costarum), the scalenes, the serratus posticus superior, and the cervicalis ascendens. In more ample inspiration there is super-added the action of the serratus magnus, the pectoralis major, the pectoralis minor, and the latissimus dorsi. Lastly, in forced inspiration, there also come into play the sterno-cleido-mastoidei, the trapezius, the rhomboids, the levatores anguli scapulae, the splenius, the recti capitis antici major and minor.

The lengthening of the vertical diameter is due to the contraction of the diaphragm. This large muscular septum is inserted behind to the lumbar vertebra by two large muscular bundles, having a vertical direction, and called the pillars of the diaphragm, upon the six last ribs, and anteriorly, to the point of the sternum. All the fibres issuing from these points of insertion converge towards a common centre, aponeurotic, and having the .shape of a trefoil leaf, and called the phrenic

THE RESPIRATORY ACT. I I

centre.* The surface of the diaphragm is much more extensive than the circle formed by its points of insertion, which presents the aspect of a vault with a convexity upwards, upon which rest the heart and neighbouring parts. It is generally supposed that this muscle straightens its curvature upon its contraction, and that it then augments the vertical diameter of the cavity of which it forms the base, the latter being convex towr.ds the upper part during the repose of ae muscle, and almost plane during its cor raction. But we shall remark, '*^^^ ^^ x.ias Duval, that the curvature of ic^phragm is exactly

moulded upon that oi -. . ' luial viscera, to the right, for exampi^, . pon that -of the liver ; therefore, when the muscle is contracted, it can only feebly modify this convexity or curvature, which it displaces rather from above downwards, pushing before it the viscera. It therefore acts after the fashion of a piston of convex form, which moves in the body of the pump represented by the thoracic cavity.

We shall see further on that to this action

* Called by English anatomists the " central or cordiform tendon of the diaphragm." — Ed.

of the diaphragm upon the vertical diameter of the chest there is added a second, and more disputable, action upon the other diameters.

The arched centre of the muscle would then become comparatively fixed, taking support from the abdominal viscera ; and its periphery, of which the points of costal insertion are movable, would be carried upwards, from whence arises elevation of the ribs, and, secondly, increase of the transverse and antero-posterior diameters. In a word, during inspiration the dilatation of the thorax is effected in every sense, and it is produced by the intervention of muscular power. The lungs are here purely passive, the active role belonging entirely to the thoracic cage.

In expiration, which constitutes the second period of the respiratory act (expulsion of air), the active role is reserved to the lungs, the thoracic walls becoming in turn passive. The pulmonary organ is indeed contractile and elastic.

Its contractility is due to the presence of smooth muscular fibres (muscles of Reisseissen) in the walls of the small bronchi. Elasticity is a property which the pulmonary tissue

THE RESPIRATORY ACT. I 3

possesses in the highest degree, and which is easily demonstrated in the following manner: —

The respiratory organs of a calf having been obtained from the butcher, the lung is insufflated through the windpipe. It is dilated by the air, but returns suddenly upon itself, immediately insufflation ceases. It acts, in fact, like a caoutchouc ball. From this the mechanism of expiration will be easily explained.

At the moment of inspiration the lungs accompany the movements of the thoracic wall only in spite of themselves, their elasticity struggling against the inspiratory muscles. But when these muscles cease to contract, and immediately the pulmonary elasticity, the play of which is no longer impeded, regains its liberty of action, the lungs return on themselves, and, owing to the pleural vacuum, draw with them the thoracic walls. Expiration is thus effected in the ordinary conditions of life.

On the contrary, in forced expiration the thoracic walls do not merely follow the movement of the retreat of the lungs ; they assume an active role^ and compress the lungs, augmenting the speed and energy of the current of air. Certain muscles then come into play, and act in a sense inverse to the inspiratory forces, lowering the ribs. These inspiratory muscles are the internal intercostals, the infra-costals, the triangular muscle of the sternum, the serratus posticus inferior, the quadratus lumborum, and the muscles of the abdominal wall in certain conditions. We shall see that, in singing, expiration is always active.

Chapter II. Respiratory Types

Clavicular, abdominal, costal types : their definition. — In ordinary respiration the child adopts the abdominal method ; the adult • man sometimes uses the abdominal method, sometimes the costal. — The female employs the clavicular method. — Influence of the corset. — Pneumographic tracings obtained from non-civilised women. — Preponderance of the action of the diaphragm in tranquil respiration.

IN the ordinary movements of respiration the enlargement of the chest does not equally affect the three diameters of the thorax. In different individuals dilatation is effected in different ways by the thoracic walls, occurring either over the upper region, the median portion, or the base of the chest. It is sufficient, in fact, to glance'at some persons to state that some breathe with the abdomen, others with the chest.

The method of inspiration can be varied

I 6 RESPIRATORY TYPES.

experimentally. By strongly compressing the thorax in its inferior portion, the enlargement of the chest is effected particularly at the expense of its upper portion.

If the thoracic enlargement is principally manifested in the region of the upper ribs, the respiration is called claviadar.

In the costal type the respiratory movement is especially marked over the region of the median and inferior ribs.

In the abdominal type the enlargement of the chest results chiefly from the action of the diaphragm.

Most authors admit these three respiratory methods ; for example, Beau and Maissiat,* who in 1842 first gave an excellent description, from which we quote the distinctive characters as follows : —

"Clavicular type. — The greatest extent of movement is over the upper ribs, and especially the superior, which are carried upwards and forwards. The clavicle and the sternum participate in this movement, which diminishes as we descend from the superior to the inferior ribs. The abdomen is drawn in during inspiration.

* Archives generates de Medecine, 1842-43.

RESPIRATORY TYPES. I 7

*' Abdominal type. — In this method there Is nearly complete fixation of the thorax. The movement is made by the abdomen especially over its median aspect. The diaphragm contracts, taking a point of assistance from the ribs. The phrenic centre is lowered and the abdominal viscera are pressed downwards, pushing forward the abdominal wall during inspiration.

" Costal type. — The changes occur especially over the inferior ribs. The sternum moves downwards, while its upper portion remains immovable, like the first rib. The abdominal wall is not pushed forward as in inspiration, and, in certain subjects, it is even flattened."

In ordinary calm and tranquil respiration, individuals, then, make use of one of these three types. It is interesting to seek what physiological conditions may influence the inspiratory method.

Numerous observations and repeated experiments have proved that the method of inspiration varies according to the age and sex of the subject. Authors are unanimous in maintaining that the child uses the abdominal type. But as to the adult man there is a divergence of opinion. The majority of

I 8 RESPIRATORY TYPES.

physiologists profess an opinion which is generally accepted in the scientific and artistic world ; to wit, that man employs the abdominal type. On the contrary, Dally, Witkonski, Bergonie, and Viault attribute to man the employment of the inferior costal type. These latter authors * thus express themselves in their recent work, the result of researches undertaken by means of the graphic mxCthod — that is to say, with registering instruments : —

" If there are applied successively in a man, a woman, and a child, three identical pneumographs, placed on the body at different heights, the first surrounding the chest at the level of the upper ribs, the second at the level of the inferior ribs, the third at the level of the umbilicus, it can be demonstrated that the curves traced by the three pneumographs have very different amplitudes on the same subject, and vary even with the subject.

" In a man respiring calmly, the first pneumograph, at the level of the upper ribs, inscribes only feeble amplitudes ; the second, at the level of the inferior ribs, inscribes * Traite de Physiologie hiunoinc. Paris, 1884 : Doin.

RESPIRATORY TYPES. I 9

amplitudes comparatively greater ; the third inscribes intermediary amplitudes. The inspiratory movement is then effected especially at the level of the inferior ribs.

" In a woman it is otherwise ; the amplitudes inscribed by the upper pneumograph surpass all the others.

" Lastly, in the child it is the pneumograph round the umbilicus which furnishes the greatest amplitude."

Which of these two opinions ought we to adopt ? Does man breathe, in the normal state, by the abdomen or by the inferior part of the thorax ? In order to determine this point we have examined a large number of subjects, and, with Longet, Kiiss, and Matthias Duval, we adopt the opinion of Beau and Maissiat, who wrote in their remarkable memoir in the Archives Generates de Medecine : " According as individuals advance in age, there is observed the predominance of the superior costal type in the feminine sex, and t/ie nearly equal proportion of the otJier types in the masculine sex!' That we believe to be the truth.

As to \.h.Q female, we have just seen, by the two preceding quotations, that she respires with the upper region of the chest, and that she expands particularly the upper ribs. All agree in recognising this fact.

Mandl,* however, takes exception to this, and writes : " It is an error to believe that the clavicular type is natural to women. On the contrary, it never exists in the normal condition. . . . The natural type, if it is not abdominal, is lateral."

To what physiological condition can we attribute the difference of the respiratory method in the two sexes ?

According to some authors it is because clavicular respiration is the only method which does not impede the genital functions of the female ; in fact, during pregnancy, the diaphragm cannot, without inconvenience, fully contract and press upon the gravid uterus.

These physiologists remark that this method of respiration constitutes a true sexual characteristic, since Haller and Boerhaave have stated its occurrence in little girls one year of age. Bdrard, Longet, Hutchinson, Kiiss, and Duval, accept this view. Other scientists,and amongst them Beau and Maissiat, Walshe, Sibson, and Regnard, incriminate, on the contrary, the * De la fatigue de la voix. Paris, 1855 : Ed. Labb6.

constrictive action of the corset ; but the influence of this article of clothing was never demonstrated. To-day, however, the problem appears to have been determined, thanks to the researches undertaken during recent times by two American physicians.

Dr. Mays * (of Philadelphia) has studied by the graphic method the respiratory movements of eighty-two girls of from lo to 22 years of age, belonging to an uncivilised race. Thirty-three of these girls were Indians of pure breed ; thirty-five were half-breeds. In all these subjects an abdominal and a costal tracing were taken. Seventy-five times out of eighty-two the pneumograph revealed a method of respiration purely abdominal. The girls exhibiting the costal type were found to come from tribes comparatively civilised, such as the Mohawks and Chippawas. A Michigan confrere, Dr. Kellog, made similar researches upon forty women, of whom twenty were Chinese and twenty Indians, and the registering instruments always demonstrated the abdominal method. This physician has, moreover, examined a certain number of women of the Cherokee and Chukassaw tribes.

* Journal of Physiology, March 1890. Cambridge.

Those who wore corsets respired with the chest, and others who were not so compressed with clothing breathed by the abdomen. From these facts the direct intervention of the corset appears no longer to be doubtful. Consequently it is natural to attribute to the same influence the development of the clavicular type in young girls of our country.

The continual use of the corset, worn during nearly three hundred years by many generations, has led to modifications of the respiration, at first temporary. These have been transmitted by heredity, and have ended in constituting what Hunter and Darwin call a secondary sexual cJiaracieristic — that is to say, a character which has no immediate relation to the act of reproduction.

If we put on one side the respiratory method of the woman, which is vitiated by the use of the corset, it results from the preceding physiological facts relative to the man and child, that in ordinary tranquil respiration the movements of amplification are observed at the base of the thorax, that the increase of volume of the chest occurs principally in the vertical and tranverse diameters, enlarged especially by the contraction of the diaphragm.

Certain authors even consider this muscle to be the inspiratory muscle almost exclusively, and maintain that it alone acts in the abdominal and inferior costal types. In the first case, the lowering of the diaphragm is pronounced, the compressed viscera are pushed downwards and forwards, producing extrusion of the abdomen. In the second case the descent of the muscle is less marked ; \}ci^ pJirenic centre maintained by the liver, the stomach and the spleen, becomes a fixed point of contraction ; it is the peripheral insertions which are movable, and which, projected outwards, determine the elevation of the ribs.

According to the individual subject the abdominal wall is then immovable in inspiration, or is slightly flattened. We think that the external inspiratory agents — that is to say, the muscles of the thoracic wall — intervene to raise the inferior ribs when, in the inferior costal type, we observe flattening and retreat of the abdominal wall.

However that may be, we do not hesitate to recognise that the diaphragm plays a preponderating role in the mechanical phenomena of ordinary respiration,

Chapter III. Ordinary Respiration And Artistic Respiration

The aim of ordinary respiration and of artistic respiration ; the latter necessitates deep inspirations, which require the intervention of the thoracic muscles. Opinion of physiologists upon this point. — The great development of the chest in gymnasts and in singers.

THE play of the thoracic cage is the principal act of respiration in singing, from the fact that, in ordinary respiration, movement of the ribs does not constitute the most important factor of thoracic dilatation, and from the fact that the work of the external inspiratory muscles is relegated to a secondary place. Certain physicians and professors of singing have deduced an argument in favour of the abdominal method which they recommend to artists.

Respire naturally, say without cessation to their pupils these masters who repel as unphysiological every inspiration not

ORDINARY AND ARTISTIC RESPIRATION. 25

characterised by swelling of the abdomen. It, however, appears to us (i) That the act of respiring to oxygenate and purify the blood is not the same as the act of breathing for singing ; (2) That the mechanism of simple, tranquil respiration differs from the mechanism of complex respiration with effort.

In ordinary respiration we introduce atmospheric air into the chest. This air penetrates into the pulmonary vesiculi, of which the walls, excessively thin, are clothed with a very fine network of small capillary vessels. It is there that the gaseous exchange is produced between the blood and the air necessary for life ; the blood absorbs fresh oxygen and throws off carbonic acid in excess, which could not remain in the organisation without poisoning it. Each respiratory movement causes the entry of a small quantity of air, on an average half a litre, into the pulmonary cavity. These movements are repeated fifteen times a minute ; that is to say, they have a medium duration of four seconds for inspiration and expiration, the former being a little, shorter than the latter. By the effect of inspiratory dilatation the intrapulmonary