INFIRMITIES OF SPEECH. 463 



down from the snow-field. -From the opposite side of the valley it 

 appears like a cascade suddenly congealed in its fall ; and the wonder 

 of the spectator is excited by the apparent impossibility that such a 

 mass of ice should thus remain suspended in mid-air. A nearer ap- 

 proach dispels the illusion, but scarcely the amazement of the be- 

 holder ; for, after all, tlie inclination of the glacier is at least 45 with 

 the horizon, nor could it maintain itself in this position but for the 

 steep banks that inclose it, and the large mass of ice at its base which 

 props it up. 



All the glaciers of the first class are remarkable for the circum- 

 stance that their lower extremities are so little raised above the level 

 of the ocean. While the glacier of lokuls-fiord, in Northern Norway, 

 is the only one in Europe, we believe, which actually comes down to 

 the water's edge, there are several around Justedal that reach to 

 within a few hundred feet of the sea's level, and one, that of Suphelle, 

 to within 140 feet of it. 



Of many other points developed in the valuable papers of Prof. 

 Sexe and M. de Seue, which are of more interest to the student of 

 physical geography and geology than to the general reader, we can 

 enter into no discussion liere. 



INFIKMITIES OF SPEECH. 



WHAT is necessary in order to our communicating ideas by 

 speech? It is necessary, first of all, that ideas call np their 

 approj^riate symbols ; secondly, that we remember how to say words ; 

 and, thirdly, that our organ of speech be entire by which is meant, 

 the whole of the muscular apparatus which is brought into action when 

 one articulates. 



Now, each of these three capabilities is liable to injury from dis- 

 ease. When the first is affected, the patient forgets words, or uses 

 wrong words, in which a connection with the right ones may be more 

 or less traceable. In the second case, an individual may have lost 

 speech entirely, or he may retain a few words. It is no use helping 

 him out : having forgotten how to use words, he cannot repeat them 

 when they are used in his hearing. In the third case, there is paraly- 

 sis, it may be, of muscles of the mouth, of the tongue, the larynx, etc. 

 This last form we will exclude from consideration here. The two 

 former constitute the disease called a])hasia (as at least understood 

 by some writers), and the study ol" it makes us acquainted with some 

 curious facts connected with the working of that wonderful organism 

 with which we have been endowed. 



There are well-authenticated instances of persons who suddenly 



