CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



indispensable, how infinitely more incumbent is it upon us to pro- 

 vide institutions for the education of those of our fellow-creatures 

 whose unhappy lot it is to be deprived of the powers of hearing and 

 speaking. When we consider that in Britain alone there are at 

 this time many thousands of deaf and dumb persons ; when we 

 remember that, perhaps, one tenth of these are uninstructed, and 

 consequently wholly ignorant of the existence of the Deity and of a 

 future state, shall we imagine it an affair of no moment to draw 

 these wretched beings from the brutal state in which they must 

 otherwise live and die ! But the fact is, that few persons ever be- 

 stow a thought on these their unfortunate fellow-creatures ; and, 

 being unaware of the frequency of the malady, do not reflect on the 

 evils necessarily consequent thereon, without the lights of education. 

 In Ireland, the deaf and dumb population amounts to four thousand, 

 and only one hundred and twenty of these are educated. What 

 then can become of the immense majority that must be as the beasts 

 of the field ! The misery caused by the mere abstraction of the 

 powers of hearing and speaking is comparatively of slight impor- 

 tance, when contrasted with the utterly uncultivated condition of 

 the deaf and dumb. Having never enjoyed the pleasures of con- 

 versation, this may not be felt by them so great a privation as it na- 

 turally appears to be to us ; but how awful and terrific is the idea that 

 they will first become aware of the existence of God when they shall 

 be summoned at the last day to appear before his judgment seat, 

 whence there shall be no appeal. When all these matters are taken 

 into consideration, it is surely not too much to say that it is the 

 duty of every one, according to his ability, to give substantial evi- 

 dence of his willingness to aid the benevolent institutions establish- 

 ed in various parts of Europe and America for the education of the 

 deaf and dumb. Let those who yearly spend their thousands and 

 tens of thousands on racing, gambling, and other vicious and demo- 

 ralising sports — to which too many are driven solely from the want 

 of some rational employment, and with the view of killing time — 

 follow the bright example of the Abbes de L' Epee and Siccard, 

 and turn their attention to the education of the deaf and dumb, 

 or at least provide schools and instructors for the purpose. Then, 

 indeed, they will be " useful in their day and generation ;' J and 

 when their mortal body shall be shrouded in the cold clay, their 

 memories will still be cherished and revered by succeeding genera- 

 tions, when ages shall have passed over their tombs, and when, but 

 for this true patriotism, their names would long since have passed 

 into oblivion, unremembered and unregretted. We have given our 

 readers some idea of the frequency of this distressing calamity ; we 

 have mentioned the exceedingly small number of those which receive 

 instruction ; and we have alluded to the expediency and necessity 

 of adopting some means of alleviating their misery : we shall now 

 proceed to shew the awful effects which may be, and frequently are, 

 the result of leaving the deaf and dumb, but more especially females, 



