I cannot come to his assistance by destroying the throat with lunar caustic, and then reconstructing it.

If the throat is really worn out, may it not perhaps be owing to the teacher, and to his mistaken management?
Nature does many things well, and before the introduction of this modern fashion of singing produced many beautiful voices: has she all at once become incapable of doing any thing right?
We will, then, simply return to the _three trifles_ above-mentioned; and in these we will live and work "with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind." [A] Reference is here made to Robert Schumann, who, in order to facilitate the use of the weaker fingers, employed a machine for raising the fingers artificially, which resulted in loss of power over them, and necessitated the abandonment of piano-playing .-- _Tr._.