Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/149

 *ment. Each case must be carefully examined and treated according to its own nature. If this is done, and if the sufferers will make a most determined resolution to recover, they will do so.

Demosthenes was a stammerer when young. He used to stand for hours on the sea-beach of Attica, and with his mouth full of pebbles, declaim loud enough to drown the roaring of the surf. He cured himself. We have heard of a young gentleman who imitated his example with praiseworthy persistence. He was not in the least benefited. He did not reflect that his stammering had quite a different cause from that of the great Athenian orator.

The letters which are pronounced with difficulty often betray the seat of trouble. If the k sounds like g hard, there is rigidity of muscle present; if the r sounds like an l, the tongue is at fault; if the b, p, or v, is mispronounced, the lips or teeth may be the cause.

The stammerer has no child's play before him, but in the majority of cases he can confidently expect decided amendment or complete restoration, if he is diligent, patient, untiringly vigilant. The cure should not be commenced before the sixteenth or seventeenth year, as self-control is wanting; nor is it favorable after the age of thirty has been passed, as then inveterate habit has grown into nature.

The entire loss of the voice, so that one cannot speak above a whisper, is a common affliction. It is gene