In the case of another young man, he found himself unable to control the movements of his muscles.  In describing his trouble, he said:  “At one time, when I was talking particularly bad, I was out with some other fellows driving our car.  I started to talk, found it almost impossible and noticed a sharp twitching of the muscles of face, arms and limbs.  Try as I might, I found I could not control these movements and in another minute I had steered the car into the ditch and wrecked it.  And now,” adds the young man, “although father has a new car, I am never allowed to drive it!”

Here was a case where the spasmodic action of the muscles had gotten so far beyond control as to make the ordinary pursuits of life dangerous to the young man who stammered.  These spasmodic movements were always present—­he told of one occasion when he was in a barber’s chair being shaved.  He attempted to say a word or two while the barber was at work upon him, with the result that he lost control of the muscles of face and neck, causing the barber to cut a long gash in his neck.

This was, of course, an abnormal case of spasmodic stammering, evidencing extraordinary muscular contractions of the worst type.  In practically every case of stammering some such peculiarity is evident, resulting from the inability of the stammerer’s brain to control physical actions.

CHAPTER IV

THE INTERMITTENT TENDENCY

Paradoxical as the statement may seem, it is nevertheless true that one of the symptoms of least seeming importance marks one of the most dangerous aspects of both stuttering and stammering.

This is the alternating good-and-bad condition known as the Intermittent Tendency or the tendency of the stutterer or stammerer to show marked improvement at times.

This seeming improvement brings about a feeling of relief, the unreasoning fear of failure seems for the time to have left almost entirely; the mental strain under which the sufferer ordinarily labors seems to be no longer present; there is but little worry about either present condition or future prospects; the nervous condition seems to have very materially improved, self-confidence returns quickly and with it the hope that the trouble is gone forever or is at least rapidly disappearing.  With these manifestations of improvement come also a greater ease in concentration, a greater and more facile power-of-will and an ambition that shows signs of rekindling, with worth-while accomplishments in prospect.

Hope now burns high in the breast of the stutterer or stammerer.  They go about smiling inwardly if not outwardly, happy as the proud father of a new boy, at peace with the world.  The sun shines brighter than it has for months or years.  Every one seems much more pleasant and agreeable.  Things which the day before seemed totally impossible seem now to come within their range of accomplishment.  Such is the feeling of the confirmed stutterer or stammerer during the time of this pseudo-freedom from his speech disorder.