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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



These are among his more important contri- 

 butions to medical science, and, with a large 

 number of pamphlets and magazine articles 

 on allied subjects, make up a volume of lit- 

 erary work it is rarely accorded to one man 

 to accomplish. And when we reflect that 

 behind much of it there lies a large amount 

 of observation and experiment on which 

 many of his views are founded, it becomes 

 apparent that Dr. Beard's was an exception- 

 ally busy as well as useful life. Yet, en- 

 thusiastic and indefatigable as he was in his 

 chosen field, it must be confessed that the 

 quantity of his work was too often at the 

 expense of the quality. His conclusions 

 were not always as thoroughly matured and 

 as accurately verified as the interests of 

 science demand ; or, as a personal friend 

 has said of him, while he had wonderful in- 

 sight as an investigator, "his defects were 

 too rapid generalization and too positive and 

 comprehensive assertion of results. . . . His 

 fame would be more enduring if he had 

 written five books instead of fifty." Al- 

 though his work is liable to these criticisms, 

 he undoubtedly did a valuable service in 

 calling attention to and throwing light upon 

 a class of ncrvo-mental affections which, 

 though very common and the cause of much 

 suffering, are not yet well understood. In 

 their further study the future investigator 

 will find much to aid him in the writings of 

 Dr. Beard, and, as the difficulties of the sub- 

 ject are more clearly realized, the work that 

 he has done will be better appreciated. 



Treatment of Stammering. Mr. J. E. 



Suitterlin has for eight years conducted an 

 institute in this city for the cure of stutter- 

 ing and stammering, with most satisfactory 

 success. His system is philosophical and 

 simple, and is based on the plainest common- 

 sense principles. Excluding reliance on med- 

 ical aids, it comprises chiefly careful drill 

 of the vocal organs, and such mental dis- 

 cipline as will contribute to the object. In 

 the first stage of treatment, the subject is 

 not permitted to talk, except to practice his 

 exercises, and to make such movements in 

 speech as can be guided and observed by 

 the teacher. During this time he is taught 

 to consider himself, not a patient, but a 

 student of speech. In the second stage, 

 which is begun when enough has been done 



in the first, the pupil is encouraged to talk, 

 for practice, at every opportunity, with a 

 " legato " movement (as in music) and a 

 strong accent. In the third stage he is al- 

 lowed to talk more naturally, but in a studied 

 manner ; and in the fourth stage he is per- 

 mitted to employ his normal way of speak- 

 ing, but is by this time relieved from the 

 impediment under which he formerly suf- 

 fered. The psychic part of the treatment, 

 which aims to divert the pupil's mind from 

 himself and his troubles, is the most diffi- 

 cult and, at the same time, the most essen- 

 tial part. The time required for success 

 depends very largely and, in fact, chiefly on 

 the mental constitution of the subject. 



From this brief description of an effec- 

 tive method of treatment, the parent may 

 gather the useful hint that, to remedy any 

 incipient tendency in his child to stammer, 

 he should exercise a mild and kind but 

 firm ruling, suppress all irritability of tem- 

 per, observe for the child all the laws of 

 health, and be careful as to his own manner 

 of talking and the patterns he may set for 

 the child. By attention to such matters, 

 even the most unskilled may correct the 

 evil before the child begins to be conscious 

 that he is a stammerer ; and, by a general 

 regard to such principles as are here laid 

 down, the affliction might be wholly re- 

 moved or its frequency greatly reduced in 

 the course of a generation or two. The 

 statistics collected and preserved by Mr. 

 Suitterlin show that the stammering habit 

 is contracted, with only very rare excep- 

 tions, between infancy and ten years of age. 



The First Dagnerrean Portrait. Pro- 

 fessor Charles E. West, who was a personal 

 witness of the event, has contributed to the 

 " New York Times " an interesting account 

 of the introduction of the daguerreotype 

 process into the United States, and of the 

 taking of the first portrait by Professor John 

 W. Draper, and not by Mr. A. S. Wolcott, 

 for whom the honor has been claimed. The 

 secret of the process having been bought 

 and published by the French Government, a 

 pamphlet describing it was brought to New 

 York by a Mr. Seger. Professor Morse, to 

 whom the pamphlet was given, employed 

 Mr. George W. Prosch to make an instru- 

 ment after the description in it. The first 



