diluted are the best. Acid wines, cider, and malt liquors are the most treacherous. On the subject of smoking I shall only say that, if unduly indulged in, it is apt to set up catarrh, superficial inflammation of the tongue and throat being among its many evil effects. IL SPEECH. INTRODUCTION. SPEECH is the utterance of the articulate sounds of which a language is composed in such a way as to convey the ideas of one person to another. To do this effectively, to enable a speaker to interest, convince, or arouse those who are listening to his utterances, is the aim of the art of Elocution. The interchange of thought and feeling between man and man in its earliest stage was, no doubt, confined to the utterance of mere animal cries and onomatopoetic sounds, assisted by facial expression and gesture; but how the marvellous instrument of definite speech and language originated in man is still as great a mystery to us as is the origin of life itself. Speech long preceded the art of writing: its elements are the sounds of which words are composed. These sounds, in course of time, were graphically represented by characters which are called letters, and by their aid all vocal utterances are stereotyped into the silent language of writing and print, by means of which the expression of our thoughts and sentiments |