This type of incurable is very numerous.  They usually start in childhood with a case of simple stuttering which, if treated then, could be eradicated quickly and easily.  From this stage they usually pass into the trouble of a compound nature, known as combined stammering and stuttering.  Here, also, their malady would yield readily to proper methods of treatment, but instead of giving it the attention so badly needed, they allow it to pass into a severe case of Spasmodic Stammering, and from this into the most chronic stage of that trouble.  The malady becomes rooted in the muscular system.  The nervous strain and continued fear tear down all semblance of mental control and in time the sufferer is in a condition that is hopeless indeed, a condition where he is subject for the pity and the sympathy of every one who stammers, and yet a condition brought on purely by his own neglect and wilfulness.

I recall the case of a father who brought his boy of 16 to see me some years ago.  At that time, the boy represented one of the worst cases of stammering I ever saw.  He could scarcely speak at all.  He made awful contortions of the face and body when attempting to speak.  When he succeeded in uttering sounds, these resembled the deep bark of a dog.  These sounds were totally unintelligible, save upon rare occasions, when he would be able to speak clearly enough to make himself understood.  I gave the boy the most searching personal diagnosis and very carefully inspected his condition both mental and physical, after which I was convinced that he could be cured, with time and persistent work.  The father was given the result of my findings and told of the boy’s condition.  He decided to take the boy home, talk the matter over and place him under my care the next week.  Ten days later he wrote me saying that the boy had secured a job in a garage at $6 a week and could not think about being cured of stammering at that time.

Two and a half years later—­the boy was nearing twenty—­I saw him again, and even after all my experience in meeting stammerers, could hardly believe that stammering could bring about such a terrible condition as this boy was in at that time.  His mental faculties were entirely shattered.  His concentration was gone.  This poor boy was merely a blubbering, stumbling idiot, a sight to move the stoutest heart, a living example of the result of carelessness and parental neglect.  Needless to say, I would not consider his treatment in such a condition.  There was no longer any foundation to build on—­no longer the slightest chance for benefiting the boy in the least.