322 Dr. Felix Semon [Marcli 13, 



of illumiiiatini. The picture thus resulting during qniet respiration 

 you see here on the screen. 



(Demonstration.) 



Now, what I am particularly anxious to say as the result of long 

 observation is that whilst you can, as just showu, see in this way the 

 larynx in its entirety, and whilst you can judge with certainty ;is to 

 any pathological change that may exist therein, not even the most 

 cxperiencdd larjngologist can say from mere laryngoscopic examina- 

 tion whether the larynx he sees is in any way that of a siuger or not. 

 Of course he will be able to pronounce that, if there are any organic 

 congenital or acquired defects in the ai;atomical configuration of the 

 jiart, the owner of this organ will be incapable of producing musical 

 sound, but if he sees merely a normally constituted larynx, it is 

 absolutely impossible for hiui to say whether this belongs to the 

 greatest singer living or to a person absolutely unendowed with the 

 faculty of producing melodious sounds. I can assure my hearers 

 that the laryrges of some of the greatest living singers look so 

 common-place that nobody seeing one of these organs without knowing 

 who its owner is would ever venture for a moment to believe that this 

 could be the organ tj which he has been indebted for many a time 

 of the highest artistic pleasure, whilst, on the other hand, magnificent 

 looking larynges are frequently found in the possession of individuals 

 who not only are utterly unmusical, but at the same time incaj^able 

 of pioducing anything like an average singing voice. 



Nor is it possible, from the mere aspect of a laiynx, to say with 

 absolute certainty even so much as what tlie general cluirncter of the 

 singing voice prcduced by it may be. It is perfectly true that in the 

 majority of cases soprani and tenors have comparatively S2)eaking 

 short and narrow vocal cords, whiL; those of contralti aud bassi are 

 broad and long. But to this rule so many exceptions occur that 

 anybody who trusts blindly to this sign will be exposed to very 

 frequent mistakes. To give but one example, I have never seen any 

 larger and longer vocal cords than those of a well-known tenor who 

 has often enchanted London audiences, whilst I am perfectly certain 

 that every larjngologist who was asked without knowing anything 

 about the owner to pronounce merely from the larynx, would pro- 

 nounce tliis vocal organ, if at all exercised for singing, to be that of 

 a basso profundo. I mention this point more i)articularly because it 

 has more than once occurred in ray practice that students have been 

 brought to me in order that I should decide from laryngoscopic 

 examination what the true character of their voice was, a demand 

 which, as 1 think 1 have just shown, it is absolutely impossible to 

 comply with. But the general gist of the foregoing remarks is to 

 show that an instrument which unfortunately fails to give us any 

 clue as to the very elementary points just mentioned with regard to 

 the character of the voice of the j^erson examined, can certainly not 

 claim to have laid down on its authority the rules for singing 



