I picked up a neat book: The Early Flute by John Solum. He uses many souces in the book and one of them is
Philibert Jambe de Fer, L’Epitome musical (Lyons: Michel du Bois, 1556), 47-55, facsimile edn., ed. Francois Lesure, Annales musicologiques, 6 (1958-63), 341-86.
In the book The Early Flute, as quoted by John Solum, Philibert Jambe de Fer writes…
“One must learn the art and manner of placing the flute exactly in the middle of the lower lip [blowing] with a soft and moderate wind, increasing it little by little in order to ascend; for descending one must lessen it little by little following the line of the music without being afraid of advancing the lips. Also I want to warn you that playing [the flute] is impossible for those who have no tongue, just as speaking is, for all notes that are spoken must be led by the tongue; therefore, those of you who take pleasure in playing [the flute] should guard your tongue against mould, which is to say, drink often. (p. 51)” 
So,…Apparently this holiday season we, as flute players, must do our part and protect our art, by protecting our valuable toungues…as we don’t want them to get moldy…we must drink often….as it is our duty to do so.
Ahahahaha…I love early writers. In their day they were the thinkers and respected authorities on all kinds of subjects. And to go back and read the kind of dripple they used to write is amazing. And what’s even more amazing is that people of their time believed their words.
I cannot escape the thought of how people trusted and believed the “respected authorities” of our “enlightened” time. Hundreds of years from now (if we are still around and can read) so many of these words by authorities that were believed and accepted as fact most likely will be regarded with eye-rolling wonder These people would believe anything served to them with a garnish.
It’s amazing I sleep at all at night. :roll: