2GO Dr. Marshall Hall on Stammering. 



it is by the co-operation, the coadaptation, of parts anterior to 

 the larynx ; it is, in a word, not an interruption in the organ 

 of voice, but in that of speech. The paralysis of the laryngal 

 muscles could not, therefore, effect the good which Dr. Arnott 

 ingeniously supposes. 



But would no evil really result from this paralysis of the 

 muscles of the larynx ? Would the ' loss of the faculty of 

 closing the larynx " really ' be of no moment' ? On the con- 

 trary, the accurate closure of the larynx, not by the epiglottis, 

 but by means of its own muscles, is essential to the act of 

 deglutition. This is demonstratively proved by M. Magendie, in 

 his interesting memoir, ' Sur 1'usage de TEpiglotte dans la 

 Deglutition.' The fact is further proved by cases of actual 

 paralysis of the laryngal muscles occurring in the human body, 

 and by the effects of inflammation and contraction, and of 

 ulceration, of the internal parts of the larynx, in inducing 

 defective deglutition. 



The rule proposed by Dr. Arnott for remedying stammering, 

 does not attach itself exclusively to the view which that gentle- 

 man has taken of the subject. .On the contrary, the very same 

 rule was proposed by myself, in the paper to which allusion 

 has already been made; in the following words : ' Let a stam- 

 merer observe this r|ile : always to speak in a continuous or 

 flowing manner, avoiding carefully all positive interruption in 

 his speech ; and if he cannot effect his purpose in this way, let 

 him even half sing what he says, until he shall, by long habit 

 and effort, have overcome his impediment ; then let him gra- 

 dually, as he may be able, resume the more usual mode of 

 speaking, by interrupted enunciation. I am persuaded, that 

 this is the principal means employed by those gentlemen who 

 have undertaken to correct impediments in the speech, and it 

 is, undoubtedly, the most rational. In addition to this rule, 

 let the stammerer endeavour to speak in as calm and soft a 

 tone as possible ; for in this way the muscles of speech will be 

 called least forcibly into action, and that action will be least 

 liable to those violent checks or interruptions, in which stam- 

 mering appears to consist. It would, of course, be irrelevant 

 to the object of this essay, to allude to those other principles 



