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4:0 Horfe-Chefnuts.... Urs. Bufby on Impediments in the Speech. [Dec. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SLRS 
ESIROUS to give your correfpon- 
dent A. B.C. the information he 
withes for on the fubje& of horfe-chefnuts, 
¥ have looked through the «* Eiudes de la 
Nature,” of the ingenious St. Pierre, for 
2 paflage which I am confident I met with 
in that work, and though I have not 
fucceeded in finding it, yet I think my 
memory will enable me to give him its 
fubftance. Walkino one day°in the 
park of Verfailles, he obferved the cows. 
greedily eating the horfe-chefnuts a3 they 
fell trom the trees; this furprifed him 
Very much, as inall the ingenious en- 
quires he had heard of, as to the ufe of 
that nut, he had underftood that it was 
taken for granted, to be reje&ted as food ; 
by all domeftic animals. Upon queftion- 
ing the cow-keepers upon the fubje&, 
they anfwered him, that it was not only 
a favourite food with the cows, but alfo 
fupplied chem with more milk than any 
eiher they were acquainted with. 
AAs to the value of the wood, I can fay 
nothing from my own obfervation, but I 
have heard that it is more capable of re- 
Hfting water than that of any other tree. 
Ef this be found true, it might be con- 
¥erted to many ufeful purpoies, particu- 
Jarly that of making the wooden-{oled 
Zhoes fo much ufed-in the northern parts 
ef England. Yaur’s, &¢, 
CiBen 
Bath, Sept. 11, 1798. 
fo the Edztor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
BSERVING that your interefting 
and valuable Magazine is devoted 
to topics of real and extenfive utility, I 
2am induced to ofr tor your ‘infertion a 
few remarks on the fubje&t of oral im- 
pediment, in order to evince the neceflity 
of attending to the earlieft indications of 
fo great an inconvenience. 
in the courfe of my praftice I have al- 
mcf confantly been fuccefsful in a ipcedy 
removal of every defect of this nature, 
when the cafe has not’ been too long ‘neg- 
feéted: .bat after inattention in child. 
hood, have generally found that the. or- 
sans had acquired an obduracy of ob- 
Sru€tion which increafed the cifticulty, 
2nd retarded the cure. 
From the neceffity of early education, 
children labouring under defe&ive utter. 
ance are generally fent to fchool in com- 
mon with others, where, from the want 
of a conftant attentionto their misfortune, 
sogether with the utter incapacity of their 
teachers to properly treat their cafe, the 
evil not only daily acquires new firength, 
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but foon forms a powerful obftacle te that 
literal and {cientific improvement for 
which they have been placed from home. 
The infruments of fpeech, like the 
joints of the limbs, become every day leis 
flexible, and if not liberated and brought 
into proper ation as early as poffible, are 
in danger of aifuming a ftiffneis and non- 
elaiticity like that which frequently dif- 
covers iti¢lf in the fingers of late begin- 
ners on the piano-forte, or any other mu- 
fical inftrument. But I would farther re- 
mark, that even if the lingual organs did 
Rot acquire fome degree of rigidity by 
age, il] habits, and continued obftruc- 
tion, ftill the particular exercifes necef- 
fary to the rentoval of impeded utterance 
would always be more eiteCtual, and of 
quicker operation with the juvenile pupil 
than with the adult. That feafon of men- 
tal aptitude, eafy fubmiffion, and freedom 
from forzign thoughts and cares, on which 
we fo much depend for improvement in 
the one cate, is equally favourable to fuc- 
cefs in the other. $e 
Parents are too apt to flatter themfelves 
with the expetation of the removal of 
this inconvenience, svithout the affiftance © 
ofart; and to fuppofe that adefe&@ which 
appears to them tut the refult of a care- 
lefs habit, will find a remedy in unaided 
nature ; and trufting 10 this fallacious 
hope, expofe their offspring to the danger 
of never enjoying, in perfe€tion, one of 
the nroft important of human bleffings. 
My confidence, Sir, in the truth of 
thefe obiervations, not being founded on 
my own practice alone, but in that of my 
father and grandfather, I am the more 
induced to prefs them on the attention of 
your numerous readers : wifhing, how- 
ever, at the fame time, to have it under- 
food, that Impediments in {peech are not 
rendered irremediabie by the neglect of 
which I have been {peaking, but that they 
generaliy become lefs manageable, flower 
of removal, and frequently {uperfede that 
perte& freedom and volubility which an 
earlier attention might have infured. In- 
deed, Thave met with infkances in middle 
aged perfons, of an eafy, and evena {peedy 
recovery cf their utterance, but it is not 
often that the delicate mechanifm of 
waich a fluent pronunciation depends, re- 
tains its duétility fo long. And ina cafe 
where fo much may be effected by timely 
attention, and fuch trouble and danger 
incurred by negle&, not to delay the re- 
medy is obvicufly the higheft intereft of 
the individual, and a benefit to fociety. I’ 
am, Sir, refpecitully your’s, &c. 
China-Terrace, 
Vauxhall Read, PriscILha Buss Ee 
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