Stammering

a defect of speech, due, it is now thought, to a want of exact connection between certain nerves and their appropriate muscles. It was thought formerly that stammering and stuttering, which is really akin to it, were caused by some malformation of the orange of speech; but investigation does not support this theory. Some sounds are harder to utter than others. T and S sounds, if any, are likely to occasion hesitation in speech. A recent writer states that stammerers are common throughout the British Islands and among all English-speaking people, in Germany and in Scandinavia, but are almost unknown in Italy and France. He raises the question whether the greater difficulty of uttering the Anglo-Saxon speech, as compared with the soft speech of southern Europe, may not be one of the causes of stuttering. Speaking in rhythmic movement in time with some musical instrument, as well as diverting the mind by waving the arms, are suggested as helpful to the stuttering speaker.