712 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



should be an act of expiration. Some per- 

 sons begin to speak wliile they arc drawing 

 their breath, but arc compelled to halt as 

 soon as they have uttered the first syllables. 

 They spit out their syllables ; then, suffering 

 an oppression of the chest, are compelled to 

 relieve themselves from it, and the rest of 

 the phrase goes out in a gasp. Others speak 

 during the period of expiration, but do not 

 begin until the lungs have been nearly emp- 

 tied and have not air enough to keep up the 

 action of their vocal organs. Others speak 

 through their nose and fail in the utterance 

 of the stronger consonants. Stammerers 

 are not always equally liable to suffer from 

 their affliction, but the intermittence is not 

 regulated by any law. Sometimes they may 

 be helped over the difficulty by pronouncing 

 the embarrassing word for them ; sometimes 

 by a little diversion of attention. Children 

 who stammer much are often able to speak 

 with perfect freedom under circumstances in 

 which they are free from embarrassment, as 

 the stuttering boy playing with his dog, or 

 the girl with her doll ; but, if another inter- 

 rupt them with the most simple question, they 

 will begin to halt in their speech. The fault 

 may often be alleviated or made to disap- 

 pear by reading or speaking aloud when 

 alone. Some persons are accustomed to use, 

 before the syllables which give them diffi- 

 culty, certain words which seem to them to 

 smooth the way of the rebellious consonant. 

 One stammerer is mentioned by M. Chervin 

 who had the habit of saying et, mats, oui 

 (and, but, yes), before every difficult word, 

 whatever it might be, which often gave a 

 ludicrous turn of expression to his remark. 

 The same expedients do not, however, always 

 have the same operation with different per- 

 sons, and sometimes result oppositely with 

 the same person. Singing is nearly uniform 

 in its action. In chanted or rhythmic speech, 

 as in the recitative of operas, stammering is 

 very rare. Singing, reduced to its most sim- 

 ple element, cadence, enters largely into the 

 application of the means employed by M. 

 Chervin for the cure of the affliction. The 

 poetic cadence in the declamation of verse 

 and the variety of intonations which give to 

 poetic diction a character very different from 

 that of familiar conversation, are generally 

 effective in preventing halting in the speech. 

 More than this, it is often enough to speak 



or read in the same measure with a stam- 

 merer to make it more easy for him to speak 

 or read. The accompaniment serves as a 

 kind of support or guide, which affords in- 

 contestable assistance in a majority of cases. 

 Generally, reading and recitation are easier 

 than conversation, especially if they are 

 carried on in a low voice. It is proper to 

 remark, in connection with this point, that 

 with all stammerers whose difficulty is ac- 

 companied with glottic spasms, articulation 

 in a low tone, diminishing the play of the 

 vocal chords, operates as a restraint upon 

 one of the provocations to stuttering. There 

 is no resemblance between stammering and 

 what is called writer's cramp, which results 

 from the excessive use of an organ ; no con- 

 nection between it and paralysis. When it 

 occurs with paralysis, it is only as one of the 

 symptoms. In the majority of cases it ap- 

 pears as a single infirmity in subjects other- 

 wise healthy, is generally wholly curable, 

 and may be ameliorated in the most rebel- 

 lious cases. 



Turquoises. All the turquoises in Eu- 

 rope come from one mine, which is situated 

 in Persia, on the road from Teheran to He- 

 rat, not far from Meschid, the capital of 

 Khorassan. Two kinds of turquois are 

 distinguished in mineralog}': the real stone 

 turquois, or calaitc (in Persian, sengui), and 

 the osseous turquois or odontolite. The 

 latter is considered a false turquois, and is 

 supposed to be composed of a piece of bone 

 colored with phosphate of iron. The Persians 

 again divide the real turquoises into two 

 kinds the sengui, or stony, and the khaki, 

 or earthy, turquois accordingly as they are 

 incrusted with the rock, or are obtained by 

 washing the earth, and are clear of foreign 

 matters. The mines are at the village of 

 Maden, in the region of the salt-mines of 

 Doulct Aly. The salt district is like an im- 

 mense block of salt just covered with a thin 

 soil of red clay. The miners get out the 

 salt by making a hole, putting a ball of clay 

 into it, and striking upon the clay till a 

 block is detached. The hills in which the 

 turquoises are found have the same reddish- 

 gray aspect as is remarked in the salt-rocks ; 

 they are formed of rocks and an earth full 

 of pebbles, and are bored in their whole ex- 

 tent with galleries, tunnels, abandoned pits, 



