Dr. Marshall Hall on Stammering. 255 



or lesson, with an example, to a person, who before would 

 have required half an hour to read a page, but who imme- 

 diately afterwards read it almost as smoothly as was possible 

 for any one to do ; and who then, on transferring the lesson 

 to the speech, by continued practice and attention, obtained 

 the same facility with respect to it. There are many persons 

 not accounted peculiar in their speech, who, in seeking words 

 to express themselves, often rest long between them on the 

 simple sound of e mentioned above, saying, for instance, hesi- 

 tatingly, " e I e think e you may," the sound 



never ceasing until the end of the phrase, however long the 

 person may require to pronounce it. Now a stutterer who, to 

 open his glottis at the beginning of a phrase, or to open it in 

 the middle after any interruption, uses such a sound, would 

 not even at first be more remarkable than a drawling speaker, 

 and he would only require to drawl for a little while, until 

 practice facilitated his command of the other sounds. Al- 

 though producing the simple sound which we call the e of 

 berry, or of the French words de or que, is a means of opening 

 the glottis, which by stutterers is found very generally to 

 answer, there are many cases in which other means are more 

 suitable, as the intelligent preceptor soon discovers. Were it 

 possible to divide the nerves of the muscles which close the 

 glottis, without at the same time destroying the faculty of 

 producing voice, such an operation would be the most im- 

 mediate and certain cure of stuttering ; and the loss of the 

 faculty of closing the glottis would be of no moment. 



* The view given above of the nature of stuttering and its 

 cure, explains the following facts, which to many persons have 

 hitherto appeared extraordinary. Stutterers often can sing 

 well, and without the least interruption, for the tune being 

 continued, the glottis does not close. Many stutterers also 

 can read poetry well, or any declamatory composition, in which 

 the uninterrupted tone is almost as remarkable as in singing. 

 The cause of stuttering being so simple as above described, 

 one rule given and explained may, in certain cases, instantly 

 cure the defect, however aggravated, as has been observed in 

 not a few instances ; and this explains also why an ignorant 

 pretender may occasionally succeed in curing, by giving a rule 



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