Influence of Heredity in Stammering 



47 



original stammerer. The affection had 

 skipped the grandson, WilHam, to ap- 

 pear again in the great-grandchildren. 

 Fortunately, I, with the aid of good 

 sensible parents, was able to take them in 

 hand within a few weeks after it first 

 appeared in each case, and it was soon 

 cured. These children are now 12 to 

 15 years of age, and they are now and have 

 been ever since their early treatment, 

 absolutely free from any trace of stammer- 

 ing. In fact, the boy is quite a young 

 orator. 



Henry, the younger son of the original 

 stammerer, although constantly asso- 

 ciated with his stammering father and 

 stammering brother Robert, never showed 

 any signs of the disorder, but curiously 

 enough, his son James became a bad 

 stammerer. This boy James, whose father, 

 Henry, was skipped, was a grandson of 

 the original stammerer. He also was 

 cured, but not until some years after it 

 made its first appearance. 



The individuals referred to were all 

 native born intelligent Americans, en- 

 joyed good health, had no stigmata, 

 no bad habits, were not "nervous" 

 people, and occupied stations in busi- 

 ness and professional life rather above 

 the average. The facts as related are 

 authentic, for I saw all the persons 

 mentioned; and I believe it to be a true 



example of the effect of heredity in 

 causing stammering. 



SUMMARY 



Stammering, in most if not all cases, 

 being due to an unusual excitability and 

 instability of those cells of the cortex 

 which preside over the function of 

 speech, it follows from the general prin- 

 ciples of heredity that when such a 

 condition exists in a parent it is likely 

 to be reproduced in the child. 



Statistics confirm this expectation, 

 showing a family history of stammering 

 in a majority of cases. 



The affected relative is often one 

 whom the child has never seen. This, 

 with the fact that stammering often 

 appears at the first attempts to speak, 

 precludes the idea that the defect is 

 due solely to imitation, and proves that 

 we are dealing with a true germinal 

 trait. When a parent stammers, part 

 of the children may stammer and the 

 rest speak normally, a further proof 

 that association and imitation will not 

 necessarily cause stammering unless 

 there is a inherited predisposition. 



Cases of inherited stammering, if 

 treated early, are usually curable. 



Japanese Tests of Tree Seeds 



In 1902, the International Association 

 of Forest Experiment Stations arranged 

 a cooperative research to extend over 

 ten years. The Japanese section of 

 this was concerned with three important 

 forest trees : Cryptomeria japonica, Pinus 

 densiflora, and Pinus thunbergi. Among 

 the interesting conclusions published by 

 H. Shirasawa and Koyama are the 

 following : 



1. Seeds obtained from a young seed- 

 tree (20 to 30 years old) are large and 

 seedlings grown from such seeds show 

 a better growth. 



2. Seedlings from the seeds produced 

 in localities warmer than that of the 

 nursery, will grow better than those 

 obtained from colder districts, so that 

 it is always advisable to bring seeds from 

 warmer places; if there is fear of frost, 

 care should be taken to protect well 

 against it, since the seeds from warmer 

 localities continue their vegetation later 

 in the fall, so that new buds^coming 



late may suffer from an early frost and 

 perish in winter. 



3. Forest trees, grown from seedlings 

 originating in warmer districts than the 

 nursery, bear many flowers and fruits 

 in their early years; trees grown from 

 the seeds of a climate colder than that 

 of the nursery bear few flowers and 

 fruits and are very slow in growth. 



As to the influence of the age of the 

 seed-tree, old trees give rise to a smaller 

 number of fertile seeds capable of 

 producing saplings, but which are of 

 slower growth. This is particularly 

 true in the case of Cryptomeria japonica; 

 but in the case of Pinus densiflora and 

 P. thunbergi, the difference is hardly 

 recognizable. 



For the reasons above stated, the 

 best tree seeds shotild be taken from a 

 young seed-tree grown in a locality 

 similar in climate to the place where the 

 seeds are to be sown. — Abstract from 

 Int. Inst, of Agric. 



