Memoir on the radical cure of stuttering, by a surgical operation / by J.F. Dieffenbach ; translated from the German by Joseph Travers.

Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoir on the radical cure of stuttering, by a surgical operation / by J.F. Dieffenbach ; translated from the German by Joseph Travers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    though the tip and body of a small tongue were grafted into the root of a larger one; as might be naturally expected where so large a portion of a gra- dually tapering organ is removed. The scar serves to make this peculiarity still more evident. In conse- quence of the removal of a portion of the tongue, the posterior part with its large papillae presents itself more anteriorly in the mouth than is usual. The wound when healed after either of these methods of operation, affords to the patient the sen- sation of a hard resistant elevation, which, however, softens by degrees, and possibly at a later period disappears. The movements of the tongue are free in every direction, and in those cases where a portion is removed, the patient experiences a sensation of shortening, and the tip of the tongue seems to be approximated to the palate. No permanent alteration takes place in the sense of taste, but for a few days it seems to be somewhat blunted. It cannot be supposed that an operation on the tip of the tongue would prove of benefit to stutterers, as then no alteration or breaking off of the abnormal nervous influence is effected. The shortening of the tongue, by amputation of its tip, and the excision of a portion of the anterior parts have, as might a priori be expected, no influence in diminishing stuttering. The division of the froenum I have certainly seen useful in some impediments of speech,, but not in stuttering.