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breathers of the public schools are, almost without exception, dull and stupid and from no other cause than this vicious habit of breathing through the mouth.

Athletes keep the mouth closed while under great physical exertion. The mouth is closed in any feat requiring great physical power.

"Upton's Tactics" which has been adopted as the official drill book of the United States Army contains the following- "In marching double time and at the run, the men breathe as much as possible through the nose, keeping the mouth closed. Experience has proved that by conforming to this principle men can go much further with less fatigue. "

The face of the mouth breather is branded with an expression that grows more and more repulsive the longer it is practiced. Dr. Clinton Wagner gives a picture of this face. "The habitual mouth breathers can at once be recognized, there is no mistaking them as the practice stamps itself indelibly on the physiognomy. The retracted lips, open mouth, receding gums, protruding teeth - especially the upper ones-shrunken alæ, diminished size of the orifices of the nostrils, wrinkles at the outer angles of the eyes, giving the wearer an idiotic and silly expression, which is by no means agreeable to look upon." The student will not need to search long among the wretched, who are not to be found entirely among the poor and ignorant for such faces as described above. When once the attention is called to the cause of such ugly faces and conditions, we should find here a warning in the impression of mouth breathing on the countenance, if it had no other, to prevent any sane person breathing through the mouth either asleep or awake.

It has been proven beyond a doubt that a long list of lung, throat, nose and ear disorders, difficulties in other parts of the body, are traced directly to mouth breathing as a cause.

We are told that insanity and diseases of the mind are unknown among tribes of Indians who breathe through the nose only.

EXPRESSIONS OF THE BREATH.

Says Delsarte- "Logical respiration constitutes respiration itself. Suspension expresses reticence, disquietude. Inspiration is an element of dissimulation, concentration, pain. Hence, we have normal, oppressive, spasmodic, superior, sibilant, rattling, intermittent, crackling, and hiccoughing, respiration. Expiration is an element of trust, expansion, confidence and tenderness. If the expression contains both pain and love, the inspiration and expiration will both be noisy; but the one or the other will predominate according as pain predominates over love, or vice versa.

The source of passional respiration lies in the heart. The effect of respiration is most powerful, for the slighter and more imperceptible the phenomena are, the more effect they have upon the auditors. "

Respiration and silence are a means of falling exactly upon the suitable tone and inflection.

As the breath has a powerful influence over the pulse to quicken or quiet its action the breath plays an important part in pause and pitch in expression. There seems to be a rhythmic relation between the pulse and breath and the pulsations of attention. Some verse we find is so arranged as to breathe out a single idea with each expiration.

The action of the breath may have some influence over the average length of sentences used by some writers. The "long winded" sentences are tedious and tiresome, while the sentences just suited to a gentle respiration with its proper pulse or accent charms the ear and holds the attention.

BREATHING EXERCISES.

In breathing, nearly all of the muscles of the trunk of the body, both front and back, should be brought into action. The DIAPHRAGM is the great motor muscle in breath. ing and to the training of this muscle as the center of the breath we now turn our attention. A study of the physiology of this muscle would be helpful at this point. The active part of this muscle is in the middle of the organ. It has the power to contract and relax like a puckering string; or it is a round muscle like the muscle around the mouth and can, like the mouth, pucker up at will, gently or forcibly. It is also an involuntary muscle and does its work so quietly many are never aware they own such a muscle; but there it is waiting like a willing servant all ready to be trained for our service. Let us come into our possessions and train this dormant muscle and make of it a voluntary muscle, strong and active ready to help the breath, the circulation and the digestion.

As we begin to train this muscle let us remember that "it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks." With some the wrong way of taking the breath has become so settled and established through long practice, it is difficult to draw a breath save in the same old way. The involuntary is so much easier than the voluntary, besides the old servants cannot be turned out of business so easily. We also find that even when the new way is supposed to be settled and the new habit fixed, unconsciously the muscles fall back to the old way. There are a number of wrong ways with only one right way. The farther you travel on the wrong road, remember at this point, the farther you are from the destination even farther away than before you ever started. The old adage "Well begun is half done," is particularly applicable in learning the Breathing Exercises.

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