Stammering, considered with reference to its cure by the application of those laws which regulate utterance : in a letter addressed to George Birkbeck, M.D. F.G.S., President of the London Mechanics' Institution, etc. etc. etc. / by Richard Cull.

  • Cull, Richard.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Stammering, considered with reference to its cure by the application of those laws which regulate utterance : in a letter addressed to George Birkbeck, M.D. F.G.S., President of the London Mechanics' Institution, etc. etc. etc. / by Richard Cull. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    18/49 (page 19)
    placed under my care. His defect arose partly from defect of rhythm, although other causes operated also. You expressed yourself satisfied and pleased at the successful result which was obtained chiefly J by correcting his rhythm, and I have great pleasure in informing you, that notwithstanding his avoca- tion, his speech remains entirely free from inter- ruption. The fact that some with impediments of speech can sing, read poetry, and declamatory composition, without interruption, is well known; it is of common occurrence. But if such cannot read or even sing, while a friend is attentive to their attempts they can accomplish either, if a noise exist during their efforts. If a continued note be produced, as in draw- ing the bow across a violoncello-string, the power of utterance is augmented. If a piece of slow music of well-defined rhythm be played, the facility is in- creased. If a person read the same composition simultaneously with them in a rich sonorous voice, the facility is again heightened, which is rendered still more facile by simultaneously reading a third or fifth in the gamut below their tones; but while they are thus glibly reading, if the accompaniment cease, the impediment as instantly recurs. History informs us that Demosthenes harangued on the sea-shore with pebbles in his mouth, to correct his hesitation. This practice is generally believed to have effected a cure by the force of the magnifi- cence and sublimity of the scene, its poetry carrying