2l6 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 374 



respects so novel as to offer no precedents, wholly new to those 

 on whom the burden of the execution of the plan must fall,— as 

 well as the great expense of the undertaking, have been subjects 

 of long and thorough consideration by the council. These dilR- 

 culties account for the delay in replying to the last communi- 

 cation of the commissioners. Their deliberations have finally 

 brought the council to the assured conviction that it would be 

 neither feasible nor wise to attempt to begin the three proposed 

 divisions at the same time; and yet it is obvious that the work of 

 the society in building up the department of Natural History 

 Gardens should not be delayed. Although the sites proposed for 

 the Marine Aquarium and the Fresh Water Aquarium vi'ill not be 

 ready for occupation for some time, nevertheless it is the unani- 

 mous opinion of the council that the undertaking should begin 

 with the Marine Aquarium. The proposed site of this division, 

 the loss proportionate expenditure for installation and mainte- 

 nance, and its general interest to the public, combine to make it 

 likely that it can be made a financial success, and thus contribute 

 to the foundation and maintenance of the other departments 



In order to meet these difficulties and make a beginning with- 

 out unnecessary delay, the council suga;est the propriety of start- 

 ing a temporary marine aquaiium on grounds already under the 

 control of the commissioners, and therefore respectfully inquire 

 of the park commissioners whether the establishment of a tem- 

 porary aquarium at the Marine Park in South Boston would 

 meet with their approval; and, if so, what part of the grounds 

 and water-front now at their disposal could be allowed the society 

 for that purpose. 



The pumps, piping, and specimens would of course be service- 

 able for removal to the buildings and grounds of the permanent 

 establishment; and, if thought advisable, it might be practicable 

 to construct even the temporary building so that it could be taken 

 down and rebuilt in another place, or easily removed to a new 

 site. 



A temporary garden of respectable proportions would require 

 only a limited sum for buildings and machinery, and would prob- 

 ably prove remunerative; the society could also begin operations 

 sooner, if a limited sum devoted to such uses cnuld be ask^d for; 

 and they could thus effectively start the work of exciting public 

 interest in favor of their plans for the establishment of a fresh- 

 water aquarium and a New England zoological garden, and prob- 

 ably advance with surer steps toward the establishment of these 

 two divisions of the Natural History Gardens. 



In view of these considerations, the council of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History ask the approval of the park com- 

 rriissioners to the following proposition: namely, that they shall 

 be allowed to begin operations as soon as they have raised a third 

 part, more or less, as may be needed, of the proposed sura of two 

 hundred thousand dollars, for the purpose of erecting and equip- 

 ping a buOding for a temporary aquarium at Marine Park, on 

 land to be granted by the commissioners of parks; said sum to be 

 ultimately incorporated with the two hundred thousand dollars to 

 be raised by the society for the establishment of the Natural His- 

 tory Gardens, but for the present, and as long as the temporary 

 aquarium exists, to be considered as belonging to an independent 

 foundation. 



Little has been said about buildings in this communication, 

 because it has been considered essential first to settle what the 

 council as scientific men and the commissioners in their official 

 capacity, both being equally interested in the cause of public edu- 

 cation, would deem it best to do; and, second, because in all such 

 undertakings the true basis should be sought in the exposition and 

 teaching of principles. As will be seen, however, by all those 

 who have followed the history of this undertaking, the plans have 

 been made with due consideration of the advantages offered by 

 the localities proposed for the three divisions; and their unique 

 character and extent are fully justified by the unequalled oppor- 

 tunities offered by the commissioners for the founding of these 

 great institmions, devoted to the entertainment and instruction 

 of the people in the system of parks under their jurisdiction. 



We hope to publish nest week some account of the action 

 taken by the Boston Society of Natural History at its meeting on 

 April 3. 



STAMMERING. 



In the Provincial Medical Journal of Feb. 1, 1890. is an 

 anonymous letter from a physician, himself a victim to this 

 unpleasant habit, which contains so many points of practical 

 interest that portions of it are here reproduced from the 

 Medical Analectic. 



' 'Having lately received several circulars from different pro- 

 fessors who advertise their secret methods for the cure of stam- 

 mering, I have thought that a personal experience might be of 

 interest and value. I shall not attempt a learned physiological 

 analysis of the nerve-centres and nerves involved in the differ- 

 ent muscles, and sets of muscles, in stammering, but rather aim 

 at a simple statement. 



"Since twenty years of age, I have been, though not wholly, 

 yet fairly free from the trouble. In my earliest remembrance 

 of speech, and all through my boyhood, I was a terrible stam- 

 merer. I have only heard of two epileptics in my family, — 

 one a woman, a first-cousin ; the other a boy, a second-cousin, 

 — both on the father's side. 



"The occasions on which I have stammered for thirty years 

 past, and yet stammer, are about as follows : from habit ac- 

 quired in travel, and in India, and to save the legs of the maid, 

 I prefer to go out of my room, and call to the maid for what 

 I may want. For two years I had a favorite maid called Mary. 

 It was in vain for me to attempt to call out 'Mary ! ' My lips 

 would compress, the upper teeth seizing the flesh inside the 

 under lip. The word would not come without extreme and pain- 

 ful effort. But there was one way towards perfect relief: I 

 always called 'O Mary!' i.e., I placed a vowel-breathing be- 

 fore the consonant, and thus unlocked the complex and in- 

 harmonious co-ordination of brain, nerve, and muscle involved 

 in the production of m. In reading a lecture before a public 

 audience, a terrible word is 'method.' Within the last ten 

 years my upper teeth have made wounds inside the under lip in 

 getting out this word. I naturally avoided the ridicule of in- 

 serting a vowel-sound before an audience. Another occasion 

 on which I am still constantly bothered is in saying 'good- 

 morning,' as I am shown out of a front-door by master or 

 maid: something unduly glues my tongue over the g in 'good.' 

 I get over this difficulty by bringing into operation another 

 mental act, and the action of a different set of muscles, by the 

 act of lifting my hat. I can say 'good-morning' without stam- 

 mering while in the very act of lifting my hat. Here the same 

 principle is involved as in putting a vowel before m : spasm 

 of certain muscles is relieved by diverting nerve-energy to other 

 channels and other muscles. Again : if I feel that I am about 

 to stammer in any word, I try to substitute another word. 

 Often in public reading, if I avoid the difficult word by some 

 ■ substitution, the same difficult word may recur many times» 

 and I can speak it with little or no difficulty. 



"If I am reading a lecture in public which is legibly writ- 

 ten, and if I have previously read it aloud to myself, I shall 

 stammer little or not at all : in other words, I do not stammer 

 when the nervous system is calm. Similarly, if, speaking in 

 a public discussion, I confine my mind to one simple point at 

 a time, I do not stammer; but if the mind, in its active 

 tumultuousness, sees too much or too widely the other possible 

 relatives of the subject, and a fear of want of clearness comes 

 over the mind, then my speech is full of stammering. 



' 'The points which have seemed to me Important toward 

 avoiding stammering are to seek nervous calmness. If this be 

 not attainable by the will, the sufferer can do something to 

 divert the prce or present spasms; such as drawing in the breatti, 

 always keeping the lungs well filled with air in speaking, walk- 

 ing up and down the room, moving other parts of the body by 

 an act of will, taking up a book or ornament, etc. I have made 

 it a strict rule never to seek to force myself to say the difficult 

 words, but stop and use another word or substitute some other 

 words immediately preceding the difficult one. The sufferer 

 should read aloud when alone both poetry and prose. Stam- 

 merers rarely stammer in reading poetry aloud when alone: the 

 mind and nerves by poetry are induced into harmonic rhythm 



