used without further explanation, they mean an activity 
     which, like chant and writing, requires the participation of 
     the whole body and the whole mind. Doctors of ancient 
     times used to recommend reading to their patients as a 
     physical exercise on an equal level with walking, running or 
     ball-playing. The fact that the text which was being 
     composed or copied was often written to dictation given 
     aloud, either to oneself or to a secretary, satisfactorily 
     explains the errors apparently due to hearing in medieval 
     manuscripts: the use of the dictaphone today produces 
     similar mistakes.

     Further on (p. 90), Leclerc discusses the ways in which 
the inevitable action of reading aloud entered into the whole 
conception of meditation, prayer, study, and memory: