S T A 
STA'MMEL, 5 . 0 stamel, old French], A species of 
red colour. 
Redhood, the first that doth appear 
In stammel: scarlet is too dear. B. Jonson. 
A kind of woollen cloth : perhaps a corruption of stamin. 
—His table with statnmel or some other carpet neatly 
covered. Comment. 
STA'MMEL, adj. Of a reddish colour. 
I’ll not quarrel with this gentleman 
For gearing stammel breeches. Beaum. and FI. 
STAMMEL, a small town of the Prussian province of 
Cleves and Berg; 6 miles from Cologne. Population 900. 
To STA'MMER, v. n. [jcameji. Sax. a stammerer; 
stameren Teut. to stammer; from the M. Goth, stamms, 
stammering. Serenius.] To speak with unnatural hesita¬ 
tion ; to utter words with difficulty. 
She stammers; oh what grace in lisping lies! 
If she says nothing, to be sure she’s wise. Dry den. 
To STA'MMER, v. a. To pronounce or declare im¬ 
perfectly. 
They are famed to be a pair of absolute men :—• 
Ry my troth, I think fame but sta>?imers them. 
Beaum and FI. 
STA'MMERER, s. One who speaks with hesitation.— 
A stammerer cannot with moderation hope for the gift of 
tongues, or a peasant become learned as Origen. Bp. Taylor. 
STAMMERING, an hesitation or interruption of speech, 
which seems generally to arise from fear, eagerness, or some 
violent passion, that prevents a child’s articulating rightly, 
by the confusion which it occasions in the vibrations that 
descend into the muscular system, so that, finding himself 
wrong, he attempts again and again, till he hits upon the 
true sound. It does not therefore begin, in general, till chil¬ 
dren are of an age to distinguish right from wrong in respect 
of pronunciation, and to articulate with tolerable propriety. 
A nervous disorder of the muscles of speech may have a like 
effect. When the trick of stammering has once begun to 
take place in a few words, it will extend itself to more and 
more from very slight resemblances, and particularly to all 
the first words of sentences, because then the organs pass in 
an instant from inactivity to action, whereas the subsequent 
parts of words and sentences may follow the foregoing from 
association ; just as in repeating memoriter, one is most apt 
to hesitate at the first word in each sentence. A defect of 
memory from passion, natural weakness, &c., so that the 
proper word does not occur readily, also occasions stammer¬ 
ing, and, like all other modes of speaking, it is caught, in 
some cases, by imitation. 
Sometimes stammering takes place only in the utterance 
of such words as begin with certain letters, which are gene¬ 
rally some of the labial or guttural consonants, as b, p, m, 
c, g, &c. Some persons, on the contrary, stammer in the 
utterance of all words indiscriminately, with whatever letter 
they begin, whether they be vowel or consonant, at certain 
times only; as e. g. when the speaker is placed in any situ¬ 
ation that occasions hurry or embarrassment. Agreeably to 
the observations already made, we find that persons of great 
nervous irritability, and lively consciousness, are most liable 
to stammering, This sort of impediment is a bad habit, 
founded upon this constitutional susceptibility: and in at¬ 
tempting to remove stammering, while every attention should 
be paid such means as physical and medical science will 
point out for the strengthening of the corporeal system, it is 
of the utmost importance to induce the persons affeeted with 
it to reason on the subject. Let them practise the formation 
of the component parts of words (that is, simple vocal sounds 
and the powers of the consonants), singly, and in combina¬ 
tion, alternately, till a facility and habit of subjecting the 
muscles concerned in speech to the will be acquired or re¬ 
gained. They should be accustomed to consider that which 
is true in fact, that the organs of speech are moved by muscles 
which, from the laws of animal economy, are the instruments 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1588. 
S T A 521 
of the will; though we are conscious of an act of the will 
only at the commencement of such actions. 
The following directions, with variations according to cir¬ 
cumstances, will be found to be attended with advantage, if 
duly and perseveringly complied with:— 
In order to raise a voice, or that material of which speech 
is formed, let the vowels be practised in a natural key, but 
with firmness and strength, for ten minutes or a quarter of 
an hour, at least, every morning. Then let the powers of 
the consonants be formed, in their order, singly, and variously 
combined with the vowels. 
After a little rest, if imagination supply a subject, by all 
means let an imaginary conversation take place for twenty 
minutes, half an hour, or even an hour, in a firm and natural 
tone of voice, using every effort of fancy, to suppose it di¬ 
rected to persons indiscriminately; that is, sometimes to ser¬ 
vants, sometimes to equals in age and rank, and sometimes to 
elders, or those considered as superior in consequence and 
rank in society, from whatever cause. But if imagination 
do not furnish a topic, then let the time be spent in reading, 
in a tone as nearly approaching to the ease of familiar con¬ 
versation as possible, taking care to manage the fancy as 
above. This will furnish the lesson :—and after an interval 
of a few hours, the same sort of conversation or reading 
should be repeated, two or three times more in the course of 
a day. And on mixing with real auditors, every exertion 
should be made to associate the ideas of their imaginary, 
with their actual presence. 
These directions, it will be perceived, are founded upon 
the principle of the association of ideas; than which a more 
powerful principle, in the formation of human habits, can¬ 
not be conceived. 
An ingenious writer, whose observations we are now citing, 
is of opinion, that it may be laid down as an incontrovertible 
position, that persons possessing an ordinary mental capa¬ 
city, with an adequate share of industry and strength, may 
certainly overcome the habit of stammering, by means such 
as here pointed out. See “ Instruction of the Deaf and 
Dumb,” &c. by Joseph Watson, LL.D. 2 vols. 8vo. 1809. 
STA'MMERINGLY, adv. In a stammering manner. 
STAMMERSDORF, a large village of Austria; 9 miles 
north of Vienna. 
STAMMHEIM, a small town of the Swiss canton of Ar- 
govia, divided into Upper and Lower, and containing 3000 
inhabitants. 
To STAMP, v. a. [stampen , Dutch; stamper, Dan.] 
To strike by pressing the foot hastily downwards. 
If Arcite thus deplore. 
His sufferings, Palemon suffers more: 
He frets, he fumes, he stares, he stamps the ground ; 
The hollow tow’r with clamours rings around. Dryden. 
To pound; to beat as in a mortar—Some apothecaries, 
upon stamping of coloquintida, have been put into a great 
scouring by the vapour only. Bacon.—[estamptr , Fr.; 
stampare, ital.; estampar, Spanish.] To impress with some 
mark or figure. 
Here swells the shelf with Ogilby the great; 
There, stamp'd with arms, Newcastle shines complete. Pope, 
To fix a mark by impressing it. 
Out of mere ambition, you have made 
Your holy hat be stampt on the king’s coin. S/iakspeare. 
To make by impressing a mark.—If two pennyweight of 
silver, marked with a certain impression, shall here in 
England be equivalent to three pennyweight marked with 
another impression, they will not fail to stamp pieces of that 
fashion, and quickly carry away your silver. Locke. —To 
mint; to form; to coin. 
We are bastards all; 
And that most venerable man, which I 
Did call my father, was I know not where 
When I was stampt. Shakspeare. 
To STAMP, v. n. To strike the foot suddenly down¬ 
ward. 
6 R What 
