In terms of urgency and interest generated, this post may fall short of "This world is getting crazy". Nevertheless, I now have the definitive answer to the question first posed by Michael S. concerning a possible speech defect of Charles Darwin. Please restrain your enthusiasm.
In my last post I reported that a Darwin website run by David Leff (http://www.aboutdarwin.com/darwin/WhoWas.html) said this claim was true, and cited "The Autobiography of Charles Darwin", edited by his son Francis, as the source. I said: > Now I suppose Allen's going to want me to trot over to the library to > check it out. Even as I prepared to do just that, a helpful TIPster told me it was unnecessary because the work in question was available on-line. Sure enough, if you go to: http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Life-and-Letters-of-Charles-Darwin2.htm and do a "find" search on "stammer", you get this (Remember, this is Francis Darwin talking about his father): ---------------------------- When puzzled in talking, he had a peculiar stammer on the first word of a sentence. I only recall this occurring with words beginning with w; possibly he had a special difficulty with this letter, for I have heard him say that as a boy he could not pronounce w, and that sixpence was offered him if he could say "white wine," which he pronounced "rite rine." Possibly he may have inherited this tendency from Erasmus Darwin, who stammered. (My father related a Johnsonian answer of Erasmus Darwin's: "Don't you find it very inconvenient stammering, Dr. Darwin?" "No, sir, because I have time to think before I speak, and don't ask impertinent questions.") -------------------------------- So among the many spurious claims floating through cyberspace (Einstein was dyslexic, for example), this one, for once, turns out to be true. Darwin did have a "peculiar stammer". And while we're on that topic, please raise your hand if you know what disability Moses had. It was a speech problem, because he admitted to God "I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue" {Exodus 4:10, King James ver.] But a little-known fact is that Moses had another disability--a rubber _tuchis_ (behind). Because it is written, "Moses tied his ass to a tree and walked across the desert." Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
