Translations:Victor of Aveyron/29/en

Before I present to the reader the particulars and results of this measure, I must state the point from which we set out, recall, and describe the first stages, in order better to appreciate the value of the progress we have already made; and, by thus opposing the past to the present, we may be better able to ascertain what may be expected in the future. Obliged, then, to return to facts already known, I shall unfold them in few words; and, that I may not labor under the suspicion of having exaggerated them with a view of enhancing the importance of those which I shall oppose to them, I may be excused if I give an analytical description of the case, which a physician, as highly esteemed for his genius and skill in observation, as for his profound knowledge in the diseases of the mind, read to a learned society, to which I had the honor of being admitted.