1825. ] 
Nor is this organ to be considered as 
limited in its operations to the mere 
production, variation and admeasure- 
ment of time: to a certain extent, at 
least, it is capable of performing the 
functions of elementary, or literal enun- 
ciation also; and, indeed, in cases of 
privation, or imperfection of certain or- 
gans of the mouth, it has been found 
capable of performing the functions of 
enunciation altogether.* Even in cases 
* In one of my published letters, ad- 
dressed to Henry Cline, esq. (Resulis of 
Experience, Arch, 1814. pp. 3—6), I 
have thus expressed myself on the subject 
of artificial organs :—‘‘ In my former let- 
ter, p. 75, &c., in speaking of those inte- 
rior and complicated deformities which 
sometimes accompany the Hare Lip, I have 
admitted a necessity for supplying such de- 
ficiencies by an artificial palate: but with 
my present experience, I should decidedly 
pronounce that no attempt should, in such 
cases, or in any cases of primary mal-confor- 
mation be made to supply, by mechanical 
application, the deficiencies of the roof, 
uyula, and velum palati; but that the de- 
fects of utterance resulting from such parts 
of the mal-conformation, should be con- 
signed entirely to elocutionarymanagement : 
since elocutionary science, if properly ap- 
plied, will be found fully competent to the 
remedy of such deiects. In cases of fissure 
of the front of the mouth, I should, indeed, 
still recominend (in addition to the opera- 
tion for the Hare Lip) the application of ar- 
tificial teeth and gums, so as to render the 
mouth as perfect as possible; and it might 
be matter of consideration, dependent, in a 
great degree, upon the particular circum- 
stances of the case, how far such artificial 
apparatus might be permitted to be carried 
backward into the mouth: but as for the 
functions of the palate, uvula, &ec. they can 
be better supplied by a proper training and 
education of the other organs of the throat 
and mouth, than by any mechanism I am 
at present acquainted with; or any that I 
can imagine within the sphere of human 
invention. My former publication, indeed, 
had scarcely issued from the press, before I 
began to doubt the propriety of that degree 
of countenance it might seem to give to the 
practice of introducing mechanical substi- 
tutes for these deficient organs. To say 
nothing of the danger of serious accidents 
from the more complicated, and apparently 
perfect of these superficial palates, &c. there 
are, as you have very judiciously observed, 
insuperable objections, on the score of 
health and comfort, from the almost utter 
impossibility of preserving such interior ap- 
paratus in any tolerable state of cleanli- 
ness. The absorption that must take place 
in the spunge, usually made use of to sus- 
pend the silver plate that forms the artificial 
The Anatomy of Speech. 
307 
of the most perfect formation of the 
mouth, the speaker will do well to place 
his principal reliance on the precision, 
clearness and force of its impulses ; for 
that utterance will always be most easy, 
most harmonious, and most impressive, 
in which the respective elements (the 
labial mute [p.] the dental [¢.] and 
the sybillants alone excepted) are ac- 
tually formed in the larynx itself, and in 
which the tongue and other organs of 
the mouth rather assent to, than origi- 
nate the enunciative impulses. They 
must, however, assent where they ex- 
ist, and assent with the nicest accord- 
ance and precision: for the tongue or 
the lip that is not in the right place, or 
position, will be in the wrong; and 
when it is in the wrong, it will obstruct 
and impede the enunciation, which it 
ought, at least, to assist. 
End of the First Lecture. 
> It has been asked why this series of 
articles has not been explicitly avowed as 
lectures, delivered at the Institution for the 
Cure of Impediments of Speech, &c. hereto- 
fore established in Bedford-place, and after- 
wards removed, and for several years con- 
ducted by me in Lincoln’s-Inn Fields ?— 
To which, in the first place, it is answered, 
that I had some doubts how far the subject 
(especially in the abstract, and even tech- 
nical way, in which it was necessary that it 
should commence) might be interesting to 
the generality of the readers of the Monthly 
Magazine; and, consequently, how far it might 
be proper to hold out the prospect of any 
continued series: for although urgent ex- 
hortations, from quarters which rendered 
the application sufficiently flattering, have 
been repeatedly made to me for the publi- 
cation 
roof, can scarcely be alluded to without of- 
fence to delicacy ; and though some have 
substituted valves of leather, or of elastic 
gum, the evil, though somewhat palliated, 
must still exist to an offensive degree. 
Even where the whole apparatus, by the 
assistance of a more elaborate mechanism, 
is made entirely of gold, the trouble (in 
this case considerable) of a daily removal 
and refitment can scarcely be competent to 
the prevention of disgusting annoyance.” 
A recent discovery and successful expe- 
riment have, it seems, demonstrated the 
practicability of remedying, by chirurgical 
operation, the defect of internal organiza- 
tion here alluded-to (See the previous No. 
M. M., Vol. 59, pp. 247-8.) I have not 
yet seen the details of the cases in which 
this experiment has been tried; but, if 
these are satisfactory, the discovery is of 
great importance, 
2R2 
