SPEECH AND SONG. 109 



holds from twelve to fourteen thousand people, and one can liter- 

 ally hear a pin fall. When I was in the Temple, with some other 

 travelers, in 1882, the functionary corresponding to the verger of 

 ordinary churches stood at the farthest end and dropped a pin into 

 his hat. The sound of its fall was most distinctly audible to all 

 present. The scratching of the pin against the side of the hat was 

 also plainly heard across the whole breadth of the building. The 

 Temple was designed by Brigham Young, who professed to have 

 been directly inspired by the Almighty in the matter, as he knew 

 nothing of acoustics. The resonance of the building is so loud 

 that branches of trees have to be suspended from the ceiling in 

 several places in order to diminish it. It is likely enough that 

 Brigham Young's inspiration had a not very recondite and purely 

 terrestrial source, for his Beehive is only a slight modification of 

 the whispering-gallery in St. Paul's. The bad acoustic properties 

 of buildings may be remedied by what doctors call " palliative 

 treatment." Charles Dickens's experience as a public reader made 

 him a man of ready resource in meeting such difficulties. On one 

 occasion, when he was going to lecture at Leeds, Mr. Edmund 

 Yates, who had spoken in the same hall the evening before, sent 

 him word that the acoustic conditions of the place were very bad. 

 Dickens at once telegraphed instructions that curtains should be 

 hung round the walls at the back of the gallery ; by this means 

 he was able to make himself more easily heard. 



The speaker should take the greatest care of his voice, which 

 is the instrument both of his usefulness and of his fame, but of 

 course it is not always easy for him to do so. Still, he should, if 

 possible, make it a rule not to speak when his voice is hoarse or 

 fatigued, and, when he has a great oratorical effort to make, he 

 should reserve himself for it. Tobacco, alcohol, and fiery condi- 

 ments of all kinds are best avoided by those who have to speak 

 much, or at least they should be used in strict moderation. I feel 

 bound to warn speakers addicted to the " herb nicotian " against 

 cigarettes. Like tippling, the effect of cigarette-smoking is cumu- 

 lative, and the slight but constant absorption of tobacco juice and 

 smoke makes the practice far more noxious in the long run than 

 any other form of smoking. Our forefathers, who used regularly 

 to end their evenings under the table, seemed to have suffered 

 little of the well-known effects of alcohol on the nerves, while the 

 modern tippler, who is never intoxicated, is a being whose whole 

 nervous system may be said to be in a state of chronic inflamma- 

 tion. In like manner cigarette-smokers (those at least who inhale 

 the smoke, and do not merely puff it " from the lips outward," as 

 Carlyle would say) are often in a state of chronic narcotic poison- 

 ing. The old jest about the slowness of the poison may seem ap- 

 plicable here, but, though the process may be slow, there can be 



