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a a ne ee ne 
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On teaching the Surd, or DEAr and confequently DumB, 
to Speak. : 
HE difficulties under which thofe ‘have laboured, whe 
| have attempted to teach the furd, and confequently 
dumb to {peak, have prevented many from engaging in a 
labour that can fearcely be exceeded in utility ; for fome of 
thofe to whom nature has denied particular faculties have 
in other refpeéts been the boaft of the human {fpecies; and 
whoever fupplies the defe&s of formation, and gives to man 
the means of furmounting natural impediments, muft be 
confidered as a benefactor, There have been many fuc- 
cefsful attempts, in divers nations, to procure to the deaf 
and dumb the modes of acquiring and communicating 
ideas. —The methods however are flow and imperfe&t.— 
The written and fpoken languagesare fo different, that they 
become to fuch pupils two diftin& ftudies. It is neceflary 
that they acquire a knowledge of objects, by feeing their 
ufe, that they alfo become acquainted with the feveral 
words which when written become the reprefentatives of 
thefe objeéts, and befides the difficulties which prefent 
themfelves in pronunciation, they are to remember that 
the different words which are written, and fometimes 
with nearly the fame letters, are of different fignification ; 
and in fpeaking require different pronunciations of the 
fame charaéter—this is an obftacle that cannot be poflibly 
avoided by the prefent mode of writing, and the langua- 
ges become as difficult as Hieroglyphics. 
Some of the difficulties of acquiring a language when 
deaf, may be conceived by thofe that are experienced in 
learning foreign tongues, where they are not commonly 
fpoken, although aided by tranflations and dictionaries; 
, but 
