158 



[Nov. 20, 



try to quote accuratel} 7 , but I am sure I caught his idea) is the great truth : 

 What she thought or believed about immortality is of less consequence, 

 lhan that she lived a life which must keep the soul near to God, here and 

 hereafter. 



EXTRACTS FROM A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MADAME EMMA SEILER, 

 BY CHARLOTTE MULLIGAN. 



"The death of Madame Seiler, which occurred in Philadelphia recently, 

 deprives the world of one of the most remarkable women of the century. 

 Every teacher of the voice in America, every student who has made a 

 specialty of the throat and vocal apparatus, knows the value of Madame 

 Seller's discoveries and her books upon these subjects are the standard 

 authority. ' Not one of us has improved upon her work, with all our 

 efforts,' said Dr. Lennox Browne to us, three years ago, in London, 

 'and she stands still the peer of the greatest of us all.' In this testimony 

 hundreds of other physicians would agree, and the world of science has long 

 known the importance of her researches, and accorded her an honor- 

 able position among its savans. Garcia was the discoverer of the laryn- 

 goscope, but Madame Seiler applied it, and followed out a course of study 

 that, when presented to the world, greatly facilitated the efforts of those 

 who were endeavoring to understand the vocal action. 'The greatest 

 living authority upon the voice,' Garcia himself, styled her his friend and 

 colaborer, and the encomium was rightly hers. 



a-********* 



"During her early life Madame Seiler becime deeply interested in the 

 study of medicine, her father being at that time physician to the court of 

 Bavaria. It was considered almost a sin in that age for a woman to learn 

 anything about the structure of the human frame, and every tendency 

 towards the acquisition of such knowledge was promptly checked. These 

 restrictions greatly hampered the young girl, but she found opportunity 

 to read books from her father's library, and before her marriage had 

 acquired an extensive knowledge. The voice appears always to have 

 interested her particularly, and she was first attracted to the subject by 

 the song of a pet bird. Her own description of the way in which she 

 arranged to see the throat of a human being after death, illustrates the 

 persistency with which she prosecuted her studies. Going to spend some 

 time with an aunt, she made friends with a medical student in the town, 

 and to him confided her desire. He, at the risk of being discovered, pro- 

 cured a throat and took it to the house late one night, when the old aunt 

 had retired. 'Two weeks we worked together,' she said, 'examining 

 the muscles, dissecting them with the greatest care and studying every 

 detail.' This study was always done at night, but the time Madame Seiler 

 counted as most precious to her, for it developed her understanding of a 

 subject that was of the greatest importance, yet not at all familiar even 

 to professional men. For several weeks after this experience her work 



