The Opelousas courier., 1891-01-31
eOpKs CURE SUFFERING
j. srprpLE DEVICE FOR THE RELIEF
OF s-TAMMERERs. {
sFhat Makes People stutter-Tongue-
tied Women Are Rare-A Majority
Of Etammerers Are Teutons.

#E& VA
Curiously enough, from statistics it an
ssars that the Germans, though reported
be such a slow-speaking people, have
sjsrger percentage of Sufferers mon
asmt than any other nation. Next to
Hem are the English. Americans are
mticeably free from this failing. It is
aobably because Of this that there are
st twG training schools for Sufferers in
whole country. One is in New York
Ia the other is in Chicago, The one in
Es city was started three months q by
III. I6thar Schwarz, a young German
u~eciaiist, who gathered practical expert
I've IN his chosen line in soma Of the
kst institutions of this character In Ger
sang. He has had twelve resident pa-
ents, some Of whom are from neighbour
ID States. He has been able tie effect a
amber Of cures during the brief time he
managed his institution.
nr. Schwarz says that the causes of
Ammering are varied. In a majority of
nses the trouble originates during baby
sod, the child being either too lazy to
initate sounds correctly or else some-i
s Inst deaf and unable to hear sounds
nOperly. Sudden fright, diseases like
phtheria, typhoid or scarlet fever often
hing about q partial inability of the tom
gHe to enunciate clearly. Again, a de-
: lrtive formation of muscles or OF organs
such as the larynx, the tongue, the palate
b the mouth is often the cause of the
heuble. In a number of cases, too, the
angs are not trained to perform the func-
tons properly during speaking, so that
He sufferer attempts to breathe while
aseaking, thus causing an interruption of
lie voice. The forcefui grimaees made
" 30 many Sufferers while trying to-
wonounce difficult letters, such as std'a
nd g, !" s'f" and ap," I'm" and I'M,
nd u.s. are due to the violent contrae-l
Ion of the facial muscles. In regard to
cure to be effected the doctor said.
The first means to be employed-that
the means which are most effective and
apid in nearly all cases-is the one
Ought into a system and first made
nblic by Professor Koen. This is d
gstem by which the tongue above all Is
arefully trained to perform its manifold
uties. The tongue is exercised, made
liable, and is taught to do always that
Fhich the owner means TO have It do,
70 accomplish this the sufferer is sub
scted to a regular course Of exercises,
pine Of them quite disagreeable and
Fearisome. For instance, he has to hold
i cork between his teeth, and then his
bOngue must try and pronounce words,
Wllables, letters, and ever whole sem
lanees distinctly without dropping the
York. By all sorts of tricks the tongue
forced to attain proficiency in pros
bouncing just those letters or combina-ff
Hons Of letters which it was formerly UNI
bic TO pronounce, except perhaps with
reat difficulty.
While the specialist was talking he
uttered q room in which the handsome
lWeIye-year-old son of o well known
College professor in Iowa was just under
going n of those exercises the doctor
vas discussing. The boys organs of
speech had normally developed until a
gear ago, when he met with an accident
80 heavy fall from his velocipede. Since
that time he was unable TO speak two
words in succession without feeling pain
and discomfort. The muscles of his
face contracted and his cheeks and brow
became suffused with blood in his violent
efforts to speak. As he stood before the
specialist his eyes were fixed upon the
Wall, and he repeated for the hundredth
time: aDon't do wrongl Where will
you be to-morrowan and other phrases
difficult for him to enunciate. He pro-
bounced them after a fortnight's treat
ment, plainly, but very slowly and-With
evident effort. Before each word no
drew q deep breath and there was a queer
khizzing sound from his lips. "That
will D disappear said the doctor,
but with all this brave boys persistence
IL will require at last another month TO
I'D him completely of his abnormal
peculiarities of speech"
Girls have this affection much more
rarely than boys. Their tongue appears
ID be more elastic than is the tongue OF
The opposite sex. Women who are una
sble to speak quickly and plainly are very
sare, according to scientific writers on
the subject. The largest percentage Of
sufferers is furnished by boyhood, es1
~pecially between the tenth and fifteenth
gear. This is due, in part, to an 1mpet-
nosity of speech, which gradually dlsap1
pears as the boy learns q little more
sense and reserve. There are no reliable
statistics to show the percentage OF those
having some impediment in their speech
ID the different countries on tho globe.
But tho fact is sufficiently established
that this percentage il much smaller IN
sIl the Latin countries, such as France
Italy, SPAN, Portugal and e6outh Amer
ica than it Is IN tho Teut0nic lands:
This Is sa;7 to be largely due to the fact
that the Germanie tongue is Less volubla
than the Latin one; that the languages
derived III part from the old Latin are
moro easy Of pronunciation than those
descended from the old Teuton Enguls-
kc stock, and that there are o voWeia
snd less difficult combinations of conso-
aants In them. This theory seems td
hnd support ii the fact that the English
npeaking people, who talk . tongue
shout evenly made up O Teuton and
Latin words, have far less Sufferers
aHsong them than the Germans and Scan
alaavians, while there are at the same
ane mere sufferers among them than
saaong the French Or Italian or Spanish
nking nations Chicago Herald