Archives: Letters and articles

Letters and articles promoting the Alexander Technique 1923 – 1973. (Not all are yet available to read here).

Long articles are in pdf format. (About pdf, see Sample pages in pdf). Brief summary is given in square parenthesis. Technique or T. = the Alexander Technique.
Introduction


Atkinson, Carla
Forwards and Up at Fifty pdf   1943 article. 4,354 words. [Descibing the handicap of shortened Achilles tendons and how the Technique helped.]

Bagguley, Alice

 

Progressive Muscular Relaxation   1945 letter in The British Journal of Physical Medicine.
322 words. [The superiority of the T. over relaxation methods.]



Barlow, Dr Wilfred

(pending permisssion)

 

 Just Suggestion?  1944 letter in the British Medical Journal.
 Psychology of the "Presser"  1944 letter in the British Medical Journal.
 Stress Fractures  1945 letter in The Lancet.
 Posture  1950 letter in The Lancet.



Beck, Dorothy
What Does 'Mental Age' Mean?   Third of four letters in The Times Educational Supplement about 1928-31. 581 words. [Dorothy Beck, a headmistress, gives an example of an "under-developed" boy sent to Alexander for re-education.]


Busch, Arthur J.
I Was Thinking –   1930? article in The Brooklyn Citizen. 1,146 words. [Comparing Gerald Stanley Lee's discoveries with Alexander's.]
The Nature of Disease    1931 article in The Brooklyn Citizen. 944 words. [Dr. McDonagh's support for Alexander in The Nature of Disease.]
Modern Psychology Rushes On pdf    1929 article in The Brooklyn Citizen. 2,804 words. [A criticism of modern psychology compared to the Technique.]



Douglas, Dr Mungo
Prevention of Scoliosis   1929 letter in the British Medical Journal.
192 words.
Nutrition and Living Habits   1932: first of two letters in the Medical World. 346 words. [Alexander's work as an alternative to the germ notion.]
Nutrition and Living Habits   1932: second of two letters in the Medical World. 433 words. [Responding to Major Austin, placing habit over nutrition.]
 The 'Aged' Child    1935 letter in the British Journal of Physical Medicine. 631 words. [Posture to be improved by Alexander's work, confirmed by Magnus.]
Physical Culture   1936 letter in the British Medical Journal. 457 words. [Response to report of the Physical Education Committee.]
Reorientation of the View Point Upon the Study of Anatomy   1937 article, published as leaflet. 1,777 words. [Description and influence of sub-occipital muscles.]
Control of Functioning   1939; second of three letters in the British Medical Journal. 391 words. [Response to Macdonald's letter, scientific confirmation of Alexander's work in Coghill's work.]
Integrated Conscious Man   1940 article in the Literary Guide. 1,084 words. [Introduction to the Technique; the Technique as co-ordination.]
The Atlanto-Occipital Joints   1942 article published as leaflet. 1,054 words. [The importance of equipoise of the atlanto-occipital joints and their influence.]
Breathing and Coronary Circulation   1945 letter in the British Medical Journal. 318 words. [Making a correction to a letter by Dr. Halstead Dixon.]
A Unique Example of Operational Verification during Scientific Experimentation   1946 article in The Medical Press and Circular. 1,968 words.
[Arguing that Alexander's work on himself in evolving the Technique is scientific and verifiable.]
Mr. Hamilton Fyfe and the Belief in Man   1948 letter in The Literary Guide. 560 words. [Responding to Mr. Fyfe's pessimism by explaining the potential of the T.]
The Alexander Libel Action   1950 letter in The Lancet. 527 words. [Referring to Barlow's article on the Action; suggesting that Magnus' term Zentralapparat has been prejudicially translated.]
Posture   1950 letter in The Lancet. 324 words. [Referring to a letter by Barlow; pointing out a connection between Dart's work and Douglas' article "Reorientation."]
Use of the Self   1951 letter in the British Medical Journal. 433 words. [Suggesting the T. as an alternative to Dr. Halstead Dixon's method of deep breathing for coronary thrombosis.]
Primary Control   1951 letter in the British Medical Journal. 292 words. [Addition to above letter, describing the primary control.]
Joint-Strain in Sleep   1952 letter in The Lancet. 435 words. [Why joint-strain can be avoided by a correct employment of the primary control.]
A Philosophy of Medicine   1953 letter in The Lancet. 247 words. [Responding to Sir Russell Brain's oration and comment that a philosophy should be based upon the living organism as a whole.]
Control of Reaction   1954 letter in The Lancet. 1,117 words. [Description of Magnus' Zentralapparat; seeing it as the anatomical background for some of Alexander's work.]
"De-tensing"   1954 letter in the Manchester Guardian. 506 words. [Introduction to the Technique as a means of controlling muscular tension.]

 


Drew, Dr. Radcliffe
The Work of F. M. Alexander and the Medical White Paper    1944 article in The Medical Press and Circular. 1,167 words. [National health to be found in Alexander's technique, not in administrative reorganisation.]

 


Griffith, I. G.
The F. Matthias Alexander Technique and Its Relation to Education pdf   1943 excerpts from an Address delivered to the Annual Conference of the Transvaal Teachers' Association.
2,521 words.


Köllerström, Oscar
A New Expression of the Self    1936 article in The New Era. 1,755 words. [Description of the "little school" – how the children are taught.]



Lawrence, Esther
What Does 'Mental Age' Mean?   1928: first of four letters in The Times Educational Supplement. 646 words. [The principal of the Froebel Institute draws attention to the importance of Alexander's work for education.]



Lytton, The Earl of
What Does 'Mental Age' Mean?   1928: second of four letters in The Times Educational Supplement. 1,154 words. [Lord Lytton argues that Alexander's principles should be "in force in every school in the country."]



Macdonagh, Dr J. E. R.
What Does 'Mental Age' Mean?   Fourth of four letters in The Times Educational Supplement about 1928-31. 838 words. ["Over-excitation" as the cause of wrong balance in the brain-stem and subsequent organic trouble.]


Macdonald, Patrick J.
 Physical Education   1936 letter in the British Medical Journal.
383 words.

 


Macdonald, Dr Peter
Discussion on the Nervous Child   1923 extract from a report from a discussion of the Section of Neurology and Psychological Medicine of the B. M. A., published in the British Medical Journal. 704 words. [Introducing the "unorthodox" technique of Alexander.]
New Thought on Health and the Prevention of Disease   1924 extract from an opening paper in a "Discussion on the Role of the General Practitioner in Preventive Medicine" from a meeting of the B.M.A. 557 words. [Introducing the T.]
Instinct and Functioning in Health and Disease pdf   1926 lecture delivered to the Yorkshire Branch of the B.M.A.
3,448 words. [Introducing the T.; the dominance of instinct and its influence on functioning; Magnus' work.]
Function and Posture   First of four letters in the British Medical Journal,1928.
624 words. [The importance of "erect posture".]
The Curability of Asthma   1929 letter in the British Medical Journal. 350 words. [M. concludes asthma is associated with bad functioning.]
Control of Functioning   1939: first of three letters in the British Medical Journal. 615 words. [Coghill's work as confirmation of Alexander's.]



McGowan, Dr R. G.
Function and Posture   1928: second of four letters in the British Medical Journal,1928. 270 words. [The importance of Alexander's work for preventive medicine.]



March, Michael
An Open Letter to Dr. Alexis Carrel   1935? article in The Brooklyn Citizen. 1,832 words. [A critic of Carrel's Man, the Unknown in the light of Alexander's work.]
The Plight of the Educators   1937 article in The Brooklyn Citizen. 1,082 words. [A critic of Kilpatrick's pamphlet "A Reconstructed Theory of the Educative Process" in the light of Alexander's technique.]
Important Dilemma Facing Mankind   1938 article in The Brooklyn Citizen. 957 words. [Referring to Raymond Fosdick's Review of the Rockefeller Foundation and the subject of the whole man.]
The Basic Error of Psychology   1939 article in The Brooklyn Citizen. 975 words.[The study of wholeness in Coghill's and Alexander's work.]



Murdoch, Dr. Andrew
Function and Posture   1928: second of four letters in the British Medical Journal. 711 words. [Alexander goes further than Dr. Mackenzie in his lecture on the importance of posture.]
The Use of the Self   1932 letter in the British Medical Journal. 542 words. [An addition and comments to the review of The Use of the Self.]
The Function of the Sub-Occipital Muscles pdf   1936 paper read to the Hastings Division of the B.M.A.5,856 words. [The influence of sub-occipital muscles on the cranial globe as the anatomial basis for the primarcy control.]
Control of Functioning   1939: third of three letters in the British Medical Journal. 448 words. [Coghill's work is a confirmation of primary control.]
Sir James Mackenzie's Heart   1939 letter in the British Medical Journal. 263 words. [Sir James was scornful of Alexaner's ideas; Murdoch's angina disappeared with the Technique.]
Physical Training - 1   1940 letter in the British Medical Journal. xx words. [A criticism of Army training methods. No mention of the T.]
Physical Training - 2   1940 letter in the British Medical Journal. 714 words. [The importance of head balance for Army training.]

Rolph, C. H.
Self-Management   1955 article in The New Statesman and Nation. 1,506 words.
[A visit to Charles Neil at the Isobel Cripps Centre].



Rugg-Gunn, Dr A.
A New Profession   Article in Women's Employment c. 1932. 848 words. [Advertising Alexander's training course for teachers.]
 F. Matthias Alexander and Problem of Human Behaviour pdf   1940 article. 2,118 words. [Sherrington, Magnus, Coghill, and the importance of reflex action and inhibition in behaviour.]
Physiological Gradients pdf   1960 or 1961 F. Matthias Alexander Memorial Lecture.
3,458 words. [Growth and differentiation of physiological functions or activities; the cephalo-caudal development in fetal life; Coghill's work on reflex development.]

Tinbergen, Nikolaas
Ethology and Stress Diseases pdf link   1973: Tinbergen's Nobel Prize acceptance speech [The second half describes the Alexander Technique and his experiences with it - also published in More Talk of Alexander.]


Yearsley, Dr Macleod
Man's Future   1925 article in the Literary Guide. 1,571 words. [Introduction to the T. – a key to "the reconciliation of reasoned conviction and its behaviour counterpart."]
Is Civilisation a Failure?   1926 letter in The Lancet. 234 words. [A comment on Sir Arbuthnot Lane's discourse of same title.]
Racial Degeneration   1926 letter in The Lancet. 150 words. [A comment on Dean Inge's lecture of same title.]
The Science of Everything   1928? letter in The Times Literary Supplement. 874 words. [Alexander's work meets the demand for radical new concepts in psychology.]
Recent Advances in the Treatment of Chronic Deafness   1927 extract from lecture. 188 words. [The self-control technique of Alexander as an important part of preventive medicine.]
Function and Posture   1928: third of four letters in the British Medical Journal.
183 words. [Endorsing Macdonald's support for Alexander.]