The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-01-23
CAN MAKE
one TALLER
Bold Statement Of Miss
Helen Merritt.
A SYSTEM OF HER OWN
She Speaks Before the Ministers Of
Honolulu on Her
Ideas.

The following paper was read Monday
morning before the Minister'S Associa-
ton of Honolulu by Miss Helen MERIT.
who seeks to introduce an original meth
cd of physical culture in this City, and
to have it adopted in the public schools
here:
Having had fifteen clergymen among
my pupils during the time 1 have been
teaching in the United States and Can
ada, | desire to give you a brief outline
of the new method of physical training,
which l have invented, SO to speak, and
taught with great benefit to many pu-
pills.
Very few people realize that it is
quite as important to teach children,
while very young, to breathe and to
speak as it is to teach them to eat and
to dress properly, and that without such
training they will never do these things
in the best manner. The adult pupil may
do well while under personal instruction,
Tor during special practice; but the habit
once acquired of bad breathing or speak
ing is very hard to break The longest
breathing animals are the strongest as
well as the longest-lived The mouse,
which breathes one hundred and twenty
times minute, and the elephant, which
breatheS eight times a minute, are good
Checkley tells US. The
law holds good throughout the animal
kingdom that strength is in proportion
Ito length of respiration The system
lis based my theory that all organs of
the human body should have their normal
space and position in which to perform
their functions, in order to insure health
full acton, and that whatever restricts
the space or changes the position OF
those organs produces unhealthful action.
fn-x y,hr-
sicans dared not give me anaesthetics,
fearing l might die under their influence
| of a form of heart disease from which
II then suffered. More recently / have
been told there is now no trace of heart
disease about me. l attribute this to
the fact that by rendering flexible the
muscles, and stretching them to their
normal length I am an inch and half
taller than 1 was ten years since, thus
giving the vital organs full play. now
Ibeleve the irregular action of the neart
CHI ring those years was caused by the
Icramped position of the body in the I'M
Ihealthful attitudes which, while stand
ling, sitting or sleeping then assumed.
Perhaps l can give no clearer idea of
1.-THE nature of the work / am dong IN
this City than by stating some of the re-
suits OF work being accomplished by pa-
lpils row under my instruction.
"a teacher who came to me with q DC
icided impeachment of voice caused first
iby lisping and later by partial paralysis
3of the vocal muscles resulting from
scarlet fever, after which she was sup
iposed to be tongue-tied, has gained
lnoticeably in clearness of articulation
land tells me she can do her school worh
much easier. She seems likely tic ac
Iquire absolutely clear articulation.
"A lad whose left lung was SO affect
ed as to cause a wheeling sound wher
he breathed has been relieved by his
lpractice, has more than doubled hi:
chest and waist expansion and gained
very perceptibly in general health anS
strength.
"A lady whose vocal cords We're par
lalyzed more than year since, many O
whose other muscles had become para
lived later and who had received M
benefit from the treatment of specialist
lin the cities of the United States, dur
ling the past month has improved great.
in every respect. The appetite is mucl
improved Natural heat and color hay
comeback to the cold, white hands AM
feet and the strength of the nerves an
muscles is very perceptibly increased
I'm her first lesson in articulation sh
was able to attempt only twenty sound
of letters-in her seventeenth lesson, sh
read twelve sentences, containing eighty
three words so every word was under
stood eighteen feet distant. The indica
tons are that she will fully recover tn
luse of her nervous and muscular sys
tenn. Other interesting cases might b
cited did space permit.
Some three years since a pupil afte
two months practice was able to tril
forty more notes of music in one breat
than at the beginning of her work, an
fstated that half an hour each day was
large estimate of the time she had de
voted to practice.
"A lady who wished to diminish tn
circumference of her body below tn
waist only, according to her own meas
urement decreased it five inches in thiT
ty-eight days. The unsightly accumula
ton of adipose tissue which inevitable
destroys the symmetry of an otherwis
fine figure may readily be reduced b.
! judicious and persistent exercise.
I'm several cases children who turne
the toes inward and in consequence
would stumble and fall while walking
have been so much improved in a shor
time as to be able to walk without diff
Guilty.
"a lady who had suffered painful
from asthma told me some two year
later she had never had another attack.
THE question was asked, Why does
iperson having a fine, erect figure an
full chest, suffer from asthma?' I an
swer because of stiff and inelastic lun
tissue, which is the inevitable result o
Hack OF proper use OF the lungS in breath
ing. The lungs should be so develope
that from four to six breaths per min
ute would suffice during the twenty fou
hours. The habit of properly exhaustin
the breath at each exhalation that tn
inhalation may be more full and pur
is very imperfectly understood and YER
little practiced. The carbonzed al
which remains in the lungs hour afte
hour prevents the inhalation of air tina
twill fha hxyn nnfa ~ xxri16 N
membrane covering the lung tissue. Muc
time might proftab1y be devoted to tn
consideration of this topic, it is so i'm
portant and wfde-reaehing in its results
"Will be glad to attempt an answer t
any question you may like to ask"
Drink a little Whiskey fnr/.hY stom