The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1890-08-08
v TO SPEAKERS.
Sir Moren Mackenzie Gives Interesting In.
formation to Oratorical Gentlemen.

Sir Morell Mackenzie. the great En-
glish throat specialist, has just pub
lished in London a pamphlet, in which
he gives advice to public speakers.
1t is a great mistake, he says, in sub
stance, to think that speaking is a pure
ly instructive act which requires no
special training and. exercise. Even in
ordinary conversation speaking is an
art, and a difficult one, the supreme
development of which is oratory. A
man to spare his voice makes himself
heard with little or no effort, while an
unframed orator wears himself out
quite rapidly. The culture of the voice
ought to begin from the cradle. This
does not mean that q mother might find
the means of making her baby bawl ac-
cording to pre-established rules, az
though IL were q conservatory pupil,
but as soon as the child begins to pratt
tie it ought to be surrounded only by
persons who speak well, or at least pro.
nounce distinctly and correctly. The
ancients were exceedingly particular
on hat point.
Continuing, Sir Mackenzie says that
q speaker should make himself heard
by every one of his auditors, not by
bringing his voice to a high pitch, but
through a m~ethodical and constant re-
gulation of its volume, us did Mr..
Bright. whom you could not hear with
out feeling that he was keeping in re-
serve three-fourths of his vocal power.
An orator, too, must not hear his own
voice well. 1t is a somewhat general
mistake to think that the assemblage
does not hear you because you do not
hear your W voice very distinctly.
The reason is that when there is no
resonance in the hall your voice does
not come back to you, and consequent
ly, goes the surer to your listeners.
Moreover, you never hear your own
voice as others do, because it strikes
your sense of hearing not only through
the surrounding air, but also and di.
rectly through the 'trompe d~'eustache,"
the bones and the muscles of the head
and mouth. The monograph teaches
us the truth of that principle. We
easily recognize through it the voices
OF others, but not our own.
"One of the most extraordinary edi-
fees in the world, in an acoustical
point of view," writes Sir Mackenzie,
lis the Mormon temple of Salt Lake
City. Its form is hat of q beehive
and IA, 900 people can be comfortably
seated within its walls; still, from one
end of nave to the other, you can liter.
ally hear q pin fall. The demonstra-
ton of that fact is invariably made by
the sections.
"When visitors are present at the
services they are posted in some place
along the wall. A sexton walks then
to an opposite wall, stops, and drops Q
pin in his hat. Every one hears the
infinitesimal noise made by the fall of
the pin.
brigham Young boosted to have re-
ceived the plan of his temple from
heaven and never to have known any,
thing about acoustics. The truth was
that he had simply initiated the st.
Paul's cupola, SO famous for its re.
sounding gallery"
Sir Mackenzie ends his pamphlet by
warning public speakers never to drink
anything but water while delivering an
Grafton. Any other beverage is apt to
an irritation of the vocal chords,
which might become diseased in the
long run and be the source of much
discomfort.