and ever since, for ten years, I have stammered."

Here is a case where the blow on the head, or the succession of
blows on the spinal column as the boy slid down the stairs, might
have been the cause of the trouble. More probably, it was the
combined injury, undoubtedly resulting in a severe nervous shock
from which the boy probably did not recover for many days.

Another man said, in describing his case during an examination:
"At the age of 16, I was hit on the head with a ball. I lost my
memory for one week and when I regained it, I was a stammerer."
This is a plain case of injury resulting in immediate stammering.

Still another case is that of a boy who, at the age of three, was
shot in the neck by a rifle, the bullet coming out of his chin,
which resulted in his becoming an immediate stammerer. Here, as in
the case of the boy who swallowed the nail, it might be expected
that the cause was a defect in the organs of speech, but I found
stammering was brought on by the nervous shock.

From these few cases of actual occurrences, it will be seen that
practically all cases of stammering caused by injury can be traced
to the NERVOUS SHOCK brought about by the injury.

HEREDITY AS A CAUSE: There is little that need be said on the
subject of heredity as a cause of stuttering and stammering, save
that heredity is a common cause and that children of stuttering or
stammering parents usually stammer. In this, as in the case of any
malady hereditarily transmitted, it is difficult to say whether
the trouble is caused by inheritance or by constant and intimate