86 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



under the writer's notice, it has not appeared that the ideas of the 

 pupils are dwarfed by the process ; rather does it seem as if, with the 

 first spoken word, a spell were broken and they were free. 



Professor Bell's system of visible speech has been used in the Hor- 

 ace Mann School from the beginning ; but an attempt is being made, 

 with apparent success, to do away with even this artificial method, and, 

 keeping it as an occasional aid, to teach the English language directly. 



The teacher in beginning her work writes a word on the black- 

 board, pointing to the object in the room for which it stands ; and the 

 child is made to understand by constant repetition that that written 

 word and that object are always meant for each other. A number of 

 such nouns are written and rehearsed until the pupil will point readily 

 to the object when the written characters .corresponding to it are 

 shown him, or will write the word when the object is placed before 

 him. These children often learn to point to the nouns wholly by the 

 looks of the written words before the little fingers can use the pencil, 

 though they naturally write quickly and well earlier than children 

 who hear. 



Perhaps the child's first vocal attempt is to close his lips, and make 

 the humming sound produced by an effort to speak the letter m ; and 

 he does so by feeling the curious vibrating sensation in his teacher's 

 lips and chin, and trying to imitate it. In nine cases out of ten he 

 does this the second time he tries, no one knows why. The instant he 

 succeeds, the letter m is written triumphantly for him on the black- 

 board, and he feels that his oral education has begun. After this, very 

 probably the long sound of e is attempted, the mouth open, the tip of 

 the tongue pressed against the lower teeth, and the vibrations again 

 felt. The pupils are early shown, however, that the mass of vibratory 

 tone must come from the base of the chest by the action of the dia- 

 phragm, for otherwise the register of sound is apt to be unpleasantly 

 placed either in the throat or head. 



The vowels are usually taught first, and each of these elements 

 sometimes requires weeks of patient work to get perfectly. Having 

 succeeded, the consonants are added, fe^ re, he, sa, ta, no, so ; and 

 words naturally follow. 



There are always two classes of children in schools of this kind, 

 the congenital mutes who have never heard, and a large number who 

 were not born deaf but became so in different stages of their age and 

 development, either by disease or accident. Scarlet fever alone is 

 computed to cause one third of the deafness in America. These two 

 classes are separated as far as possible, for the semi-mutes usually re- 

 tain a few words or sentences upon which to build, while the congeni- 

 tals must begin far behind them, everything being artificial. 



As all the teaching must be objective, the class-rooms present an 

 animated appearance, gay with pictures upon the walls and colored 

 crayon drawings upon the blackboards. 



