It is a singular coincidence that your editorial on Sir James Mackenzie's heart (July 22, p. 178) should appear in the Journal after the publication of three letters on control of functioning, as the last time I saw my friend, which was just a few months before his death, we had an argument about the way he was "using" himself ­ that is, controlling his functioning in relation to his anginal pain. I was a fellow sufferer, as he and others had diagnosed that the incapacity from which I suffered was anginal; he had ordered me a long rest and to live within my limitations. At that time I had broken away from all orthodox treatment and was receiving re-education lessons in the use of myself by conscious control from F. Matthias Alexander. Sir James Mackenzie was very scornful about this, and to my remark that he was "using" himself very badly in the way he was sitting he replied: "And why can't I sit like this?"

The point of this letter is to draw attention to the fact that now when I am entering my 78th year and after sixteen years of "using" myself according to the principles laid down by Alexander, I have kept free from angina, am still in practice, and am able to lead an active life with, of course, some of the limitations due to my age. I would like to add that whereas Alexander's theory and technique were based on empirical ideas at first, they are now known to be based on definite anatomical and physiological principles.

Dr. A. Murdoch
(Bexhill on Sea)