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inflexions of which it is capable, depend on the good conformation of its 

 organs, on the flexibility of the glottis, the elasticity of the cartilages, the 

 particular disposition of the different parts of the mouth and nasal canals, 

 8cc. It would be enough that the two halves of the larynx, or the two 

 nasal canals, were unequally developed, to prevent precision and distinct- 

 ness of voice. 



Stammering is a vice of pronunciation too well known to make it neces- 

 sary to define it. A tongue too bulky and thick, a remarkable diminu- 

 tion of irritability, as in drunkenness, at the approach of apoplexy, and 

 in certain fevers of a malignant kind, the too greatlength of the frxnum 

 of the tongue, by hindering the readiness and ease of its motions, be- 

 come causes of stammering ; or it may be produced by the want or bad 

 arrangement of several teeth. The same causes, but especially the length 

 of the fraenum of the tongue, keep down this organ against the lower pa- 

 rietes of themouth, and hinder its point from striking the anterior part 

 of the roof of the mouth with the quick stroke, requisite for the pro- 

 nunciation of the letter R. The name of burr is given to this defect of 

 speaking. 



As for dumbness^ it may be either accidental or from birth. When by 

 any accident, as from a gun-shot wound, a cancerous tumour which has 

 rendered necessary the extirpation of part of the tongue, that organ, so 

 far destroyed, is no longer able to apply itself to the different parts of the 

 parietes of the mouth, and combine its motions with those of the lips, 

 then the persons becomes dumb, that is to say, deprived of speech. He 

 has still voice, or the faculty of uttering sounds : he may even articulate, 

 if he supply, by mechanical means, the parts of the tongue, lips, or roof, 

 the want of which hinders his pronunciation. 



It is not so with the dumb from birth. Frequently, all parts of the 

 mouth are perfect in their conformation, and yet the child cannot attain 

 to speech. Such is the case of a little boy of three years and a half old, 

 who has been brought to me, to divide his frasnum linguae. Sometimes, 

 however, the tongue adheres to the lower part of the mouth, because the 

 internal membrane of that cavity is reflected over its upper surface, long 

 before it reaches the middle line of the inferior. In other cases, the edges 

 of the tongue adhere to the gums. 



Sometimes, also, the tongue is really paralytic : such was the case of 

 the son of Croesus, whose wonderful story is related by Herodotus*. 



In the deaf and dumb from birth, the dumbness always arises from the 

 deafness : this, at least, is what M. Sicard has observed in the great num- 

 ber of pupils committed to his care, which has led him to say, that in 

 them, the want of speech should bear the name, not of dumbness, but of 

 silence. It is owing entirely to the absolute ignorance of sounds, and of 

 their force represented by the letters of the alphabet ; the organs of voice 

 show no trace of injury ; they are well fitted for fulfilling the purposes to 

 which they were allotted by Nature ; but they remain inactive because the 

 deaf child cannot be taught to use them. 



It was necessary, therefore^ as the ear was closed, to address to other 

 senses the speech he must endeavour to imitate. His eye must be made 



This is the author's solution of the story, not Herodotus's statement, who says ex- 

 pressly the boy was deaf. But the conjecture is ingenious, and shows a possibility in 

 the story, which, as Herodotus tells it, is impossible Tram, 



