38 ACCOUNT OF A BOY 



in applying it to such a case as that of Mitchell. His fun- 

 damental principles are general, and deeply philosophical ; 

 being, all of them, deduced from a careful study of the steps 

 by which children gradually and insensibly acquire the use of 

 oral speech ; and of consequence, they are equally applicable 

 to every species of signs by which one mind can hold inter- 

 course with another. In the mean time, I beg leave to add 

 to the foregoing quotation, the account given by Sicard of his 

 first lesson to Massieu, as it touches on a very natural mistake, 

 which, with a few, if any exceptions, has misled all those who 

 have hitherto undertaken the education of the deaf and dumb ; 

 and which, in case any attempt should be made for the farther 

 improvement of Mitchell, it may be worth while to point 

 out, by way of caution, to his instructors. 



" My first lesson was employed upon the alphabet. I had 

 not yet reflected on the imperfection of this method, which, 

 from the first outset, counteracted that analytical procedure 

 which is natural to the mind, and by which alone the mind can 

 be guided to the use of its faculties. What information, in 

 1-eality, (as I afterwards began to question myself), can the un.^ 

 derstanding possibly derive from a series of abstract characters, 

 arranged in a particular order by chance or caprice, and to which 

 nothing equivalent can be exhibited in Nature ? But it was 

 thus that my illustrious Master began, and every step in his 

 system seemed to me then indispensable and sacred." 



In a subsequent passage, M. Sicard takes notice still more 

 explicitly, of the absurdity of teaching a pupil in such circum- 

 stances to read or to copy isolated letters, in that order which 

 our alphabet exhibits. " AVliat interest, (he asks), could Mas- 

 sieu have felt about characters signifying nothing, and occupy- 

 ing, without any conceivable reason, a certain place in an arbi- 

 trary series ? Accordingly, I directed his attention at once to 



words, 



