There is another very effective gymnastic exercise for strengthening and rendering flexible the wrist of the right hand. A movement resembling it has already been described above, but to prevent any misconception, I think it well to give explicit directions respecting it here. Take hold with your right hand of the extreme end of a long and rather heavy _Alpenstock_, and while continually keeping the hand in the same place, move it upon the upheld left hand vigorously up and down: 1. With the whole arm, 30 times; 2. The middle length, 25 times; 3. As near as possible to the lower end, with the wrist alone, without in any way moving the arm, 30 times; 4. As near as possible to the upper end, with the wrist alone, and especially up-stroke, without in any way moving the arm, 30 times. This exercise, on anatomical grounds, produces a considerable effect on the muscles and sinews of the wrist and the forearm, in imparting to them the wished-for strength and flexibility. Besides, it is a well-known fact that, having handled a heavy object, it is more easy skilfully to handle a lighter one. If it should be objected that the last-mentioned gymnastic exercises, being of rather a rough kind, might spoil the elegant stroke, my answer is, that those so-called rough exercises only last a very short time daily, and are undertaken for the special purpose of rendering the arm and wrist strong, easy, even, and flexible. Indeed, if these right-hand exercises are made _carefully_ and _according to the directions given_, a short time every day, they will strengthen the wrist of the right hand and render it pliant and flexible to such a degree, as to enable persons, in a comparatively short time, to play with the wrist almost as vigorously as with the arm. There is, moreover, another advantage attending these exercises, viz., that, if continued for some weeks only, and for a few minutes daily, they will soon give the proper position to the student’s arm, which, consequently, will not be required to be tied to the body, as was often done in former times. CHAPTER XVIII. CONTINUATION. STACCATO. A famous German chamber violinist once remarked to me, “I find that staccato playing is the best exercise for bowing, but I can’t say why.” The reason, however, lies in the fact that, by frequently playing with the end of the bow, or with the staccato-stroke, the muscles of the wrist are put in motion, thus undergoing a _gymnastic_ training by which strength and flexibility are acquired. It is impossible to perform the staccato-stroke well, unless the muscles of the wrist have become strong and agile; and the reason why the student finds this stroke in most cases so difficult is, that the wrist has not been specially trained and prepared, in consequence of which it remains weak and stiff.