144 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EDUCATION. 
make up even a short speech is therefore enormous, and these movements 
and sequences of movement occur rarely, and at intervals that are ex- 
tremely irregular. 
It is important to note here that the three sets of neuro-muscular 
mechanisms mentioned above are not of the same order. The organs of 
respiration are the most central or fundamental of the series. The 
organs of phonation, which give vocal character to the stream of expired 
air from the lungs, are intermediate, and their neural mechanisms are, 
;herefore, to be considered as accessory in comparison with those of the 
sreathing organs, but relatively fundamental in comparison with the 
senters which represent the movements of the more peripheral organs 
of articulation. It is indisputably certain that the young child learns to 
hreathe and cry aloud before it can speak, and that there is a progressive 
development in his power to imitate and reproduce the consonant sounds, 
after he has begun to speak. It seems to me that we may safely aver 
that the law of the evolution of the nervous system is of great pedagogical 
importance, since it suggests the natural order which should be followed 
in training the organs concerned in any complex co-ordinated move- 
ments. For instance, it is transgressing the laws of nature to emphasize 
the training of the fingers before the neuro-muscular mechanisms of the 
hand, arm, and shoulder have become thoroughly organized, and their 
respective movements been brought under control; or to attempt to teach 
a child to read aloud before he has learned to speak plainly and readily. 
Dr. H. Gutzmann declares that in fully half of the children who enter 
school the power of speech is undeveloped. 
Dr. Ross has criticised the tendency to follow an inverted or unnatural 
order in education, as follows : ¢¢ Until a few years ago the natural order 
of development was reversed in the education of youth, and especially in 
female education, so far as this could be accomplished by human contriv- 
ance and ingenuity. . . . No sooner had what is technically called 
aducation begun than the professional trainer began to exercise the small 
muscles of vocalization and articulation, so as to acquire the art of reading; 
she small muscles of the hand, so as to acquire the art of writing ; and, in 
she case of young ladies, the still more complicated movements necessary 
in running over the keyboard of the piano; while little attention was 
paid to the development of the larger muscles of the trunk and lower 
axtremities, upon the full development of which the future comfort of 
she individual depends.” 
Stuttering is generally recognized now, by all competent persons, as a 
neurosis or functional disorder of one or another of the neuro-muscular 
mechanisms concerned in vocal utterance. Professor Kussmaul, of Stras- 
burg, whose book, ¢“Die Stérungen der Sprache,” deservedly enjoys the 
highest reputation, defines it as follows—I quote from the English transla- 
jon of Ziemsen’s ¢¢ Cvelopedia.” vol. xiv. : ¢“ Stuttering is a spasmodic neu-