Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-12-20
Wnh Believe and Valves . Mute Is En-
ablad TO Sneak tn an Andianea


abled TO Speak to an Audience.
At one of the recent sessions OF the
French academy of medicine DIR. Per-.
Ter, surgeon of the Lariboisere hos
pital, presented for the examination
OF his colleagues a mute who ex-
pressed all his ideas by speech, that
is to say Dy modulated sounds. The
history of this man is most curious
and interesting from a scientific
point of view
He was habitually enjoying robust
health when he was stricken with an
lncurable affection of the larynx, the
first symptoms of which were OBJ
served in January, 1891. Tired of
the treatment that he had to under
go for two years. he expressed a de-
sire to be operated upon as radically
as possible.
Fortified with such authorization
DIR. Perier proceeded on the 18th of
June last to operate upon him for
the total extirpation of the larynx.
Everyone knows that the region of
the larynx contains the very organ
of the voice, and that the vocal ap-
paratus of man, if it is indisputably
the most delicate. is the most perfect
of that of the higher beings. Its
destruction through disease or acct
dent is consequently followed by
aphony. Ike operation once ter
minated according to the rules of
art, the skillful surgeon formed In
the anterior wall of the neck, a sNall
tlrifiOn Uhinh no 10
opening. consequently communicate
ing with both the exterior and the
pharynx, was reserved for expert
'ments upon the re establishments of
the voice by means of an artificial
larynx. Convalescence proceeded
quickly, and on the 28th of June the
health of the patient was sufficiently
r%establlshed to permit of such ex-
periments.
In concert with Mr.. Aubrv. manu-
facturer of surgical Instruments. DR..
Perler directed these tentatives
toward the adaptation of an artificial
larynX, actuated by blowing device,
and not by the air issuing from the
trachea. The apparatus, relatively
simple, that they decided to adopt.
consists OF metallic reed inclosed
In tube, and the plates of which,
arranged in contrary directions, OBJ
llterate half of the light at each ex-
tremity
This tube terminates above in a
spherical surface, capable of being
applied Theoretically to the orifice in
the front of the neck. Below it is
connected with two elastic reser-
volrs, coupled aud mounted upon a
metallic S-shaped armature, permit
ting oil one communicating with the
other, in order to obtain continuous
current of air of mean intensity.
One OF the reservoirs Is put in com
munlcation with blowing device
formed OF bulb similar to those that
actuate Vaporizers. Under the effect
OF the current of air, tho metallic
reed enters into vibration and cmits
a constant note of uniform tonality.
which is approximately that of the
ordinary diapason. The sound thus
produced is led, so to sneak, into
the buccal cavity
1t remains, then, i'll order to con-
vert 1t into true spoken language.
only to make it undergo, through the
intermedium of the tongue, lips and
teeth, as in ordinary phonation, the
series of modulations that produce
the nuances and the difference in the
pronunciation of words. These
nuances, as Incredible as the fact
may seem at first sight, are, it ap-
pears, obtained quite easily. An
education of a few days suffices.
The individual who was the object
OF the communication made to the
Paris academy of medicine was able,
amid the plaudits Of the whole as
semblage, after receiving his opera
tor with emotion, to retrace the his
tory and detailed phases of his pain
full disease with voice that was dis
tlnct, although of a low and monoto-
nous tone