Case No. 465.722—­This was the case of a man born in Ireland, who came to this country as a boy, and the original cause of whose trouble was a blow over the head in a street fight soon after landing in America.

When he came to me, he was 52 years of age and not only had one of the most severe cases of Spasmodic Stammering I have ever seen, but was in the first stages of Thought Lapse.  He was practically speechless all of the time and his trouble instead of manifesting an Intermittent Tendency as it had formerly done, was now constant, indicating that he was in the chronic stage of his difficulty.  Aside from his Spasmodic Stammering, he seemed unable to think of the things which he wished to say.  In other words, his trouble had been affecting him so long that he had lost the power to recall and control the mental images necessary to the formation of words.

I not only gave him the usual examination but applied the special Bogue test, both of which convinced me that his case was far into the incurable stage.  There was little or nothing I could do for him at that late date and so I told him.  He acted as if dazed for a few moments, and when the full force of the truth dawned upon him, it was as if a cord had snapped and broken.  Hope was gone.  He was an incurable—­and knew it now, only too well.  And as he turned and left me, I knew from the droop of the shoulders and the hang of the head, that life meant but little to him now.  He was merely waiting—­waiting for the last page to be written and his book of despair to be closed.

Case No. 34.444—­This young woman was very talented, had a beautiful singing voice and could not understand why she was unable to speak fluently when she could sing so well.  The cause of her trouble was distinctly mental and did not lie in any defective formation of the vocal organs but rather in a lack of co-ordination between the brain and the muscles of speech.  In her case, the speech disorder had not materially affected her health, although she admitted it had impaired her power of will and her ability to concentrate.  Six weeks put her in good condition and gave her the opportunity to use her beautiful voice to excellent advantage in speaking as well as in singing—­much to her satisfaction.

Case No. 667.788—­This man came to me for assistance and relief from a severe case of Combined Stammering and Stuttering.  He shook like a leaf when he talked, was very nervous, and could hardly sit still.  His speech was marked by loose and hurried repetitions of syllables and words, alternating with a slow and seemingly dazed repetition of words, as though he did not know what he was saying.

In a few moments, I learned that he was a habitual alcoholic, that he was acquainted with the Delirium Tremens and that he frequently went upon sprees lasting a week, which left him a physical wreck.  He had no backbone, there was no foundation to build on and his case was declined as incurable, not altogether from the condition of his speech, but because it is useless and hopeless to attempt treatment of the stammerer who is also a chronic dissipator.