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developeda long way towards its present state of comparative perfec- 
tion by a Samuel Heinicke, who opened aschool in 1778, in Leipsic. 
This system is a great improvement upon the others, because the 
so called dumb ones can be made or taught to produce sounds by 
which they can be understood by anyone, and so use the organs 
with which nature has supplied them. All the powers of the 
mind avd body are thus brought into action, and these unfor- 
tunate ones are placed in the natural position of hearing people 
instead of a position of almost perfect isolation. 
There is a still further advantage of the oral system, for in 
order to teach it the whole physical system of the body is 
developed, as they are taught by various healthy gymnastic 
exercises, which tend so much to prevent disease. 
The first requirement for deaf mutes is to teach them good 
behaviour, then large imitations such as sitting down, rising up, 
&e. After this, finer imitation is taught, such as lifting the 
arms, moving the body, motions of the tongue, &e. Then follow 
the lessons how to breathe, by deep, superficial, quick and slow 
respirations, letting them fill what is called the air bag again and 
again ; you then let them blow a feather or light ball suspended 
by a string, showing them what breath is and how it can be used 
and controlled. They are instructed to blow over the hand placed 
on a level with the lips, and you also blow over theirs with 
different degrees of velocity and volume, carefully observing that 
they see exactly the motions of the lips and the force used to 
propel the air and how it can be restrained by withholding it, 
letting the pupil’s hand be on the teacher’s chest at the time to 
feel the movements. 
Next the motions of the tongue must be taught, taking care 
that the pupil is placed in such a position that he can see the 
motion of the teacher’s tongue. 
Voice must then be got, and it is to be remembered that 
voice is nothing more than air passed through the vocal cords 
into the mouth and then vibrated by the tongue, cheeks, lips, &c., 
in such a manner as to produce a musical note; to get this the 
pupil must be tickled, or any other method may be adopted to 
excite him to make a noise; when he makes a noise one hand 
must be placed under the teacher's throat and the other under his 
own, so that he may feel the vibrations of the vocal cords and the 
motions of the larynx ; the teacher will get him to imitate the same 
in his own throat. After having got voice the articulations are 
taught. Let the hand be placed against the teacher’s lips, and let 
him feel the force and volume of the air passing over it. Certain 
signs are used to show the value of a letter as 4 in father, a as 
in paid, 4 as in far. Then are taught those letters requiring 
little breath, as f sounded phonetically, then the 17 vowels; then 
yoeal and non-vocal are combined both initially and finally, and 
