Reflections on the Old Year! 
tliat only by various contortions of the lips, 
and numberless experiments on his organs 
efspeech. It was then that, proud of the 
acquisition.of what had cost him so much 
painful effort, he considered himself en- 
titled to rank with those who could hear 
and speak, and. looked with disdain upon 
his former companions in misfortune. The 
very day the operation was performed on 
this boy, his ear became sensible to the - 
noise made by a person walking in the 
room, to the opening and shutting of the 
door, the sound produced by crushing 
paper between the hands, and beating the 
crown of a hat. During the first month, 
howeyer, his hearing made but a very slow 
progress ; the vowels and sonorous conso- 
- pants seemed alone to make any impres- 
sion on him; and it was only in the course 
of the second month, that his ear could be 
taught to distinguish the first syllables 
given to children to learn. He then suc- 
ceeded in comprehending entire words, and, 
at length, phrases more or less complicated. 
He was a long time before he was able to 
judge of the direction from whence a sound 
came. Four months after the operation, 
Doctor Deleau concealed himself in a 
closet belonging to the room into which 
Honoré was about to enter. After the 
boy had been in the room for some time, the 
Doctor called him ; at first, he looked be- 
hind the curtains, the tables, chairs, &c., 
and did not discover the Doctor till his 
name had been pronounced four several 
times. On another occasion, his eyes be- 
ing bandaged, he was called from an oppo- 
site corner of the room, but could not, 
without great difficulty, point out from 
whence the voice came. [t was remarked 
that he found it much more difficult to 
pronounce the letter 7 than the a@ and the 
uw, the vowel ¢ requiring for its utterance 
the closing of the glottis. A similar diffi- 
culty occurred with regard to certain syl- 
lables: those which necessitated only a 
simple movement of the tongue and lps, 
such as ba, pa, fa, ta, he soon learned to 
pronounce; but others, such as ka, gna, 
#a, he only aequired by repeated and vio- 
lent efforts... When he was made sensible 
that, by the junction of syllables, words 
might be formed with which he could com- 
municate his ideas, he redoubled his 
efforts to acquire a correct pronunciation, 
which was for him an effort of no little 
time and labour. For three months 
after he had first learned to speak, he 
could not pronounce a compound -word 
without a disagreeable distortion of the 
lips—he uttered with difficulty the nasal 
sounds, laid too great a*stress upon the 
gutturals, and drew his breath at each 
syllable, which he pronounced in a different 
tone. These blemishes have, however, 
been effaced by his continued efforts, and 
he can now repeat one of Lafontaine’s 
Fables in a distinct and flexible voice. If 
it be recollected, that eight months before 
Montutry Mac.—Supp. 
497 
he was entirely deaf efid dumb, this con- 
quest must be looked upon as not an un- 
important one. _ A remarkable  circum- 
stance observed by Dr. Deleau was, that 
this boy could repeat, with much greater 
facility, syllables or words pronounced in 
his hearing, when he had, at the same time, 
the words or syllables written on a board 
before him ;—from thence it would appear, 
that, at that period, his sight communicated, 
much quicker than his hearing, an impres- 
sion to the larynx. Something of this 
even still exists, for he pronounces much 
better when he reads than when he speaks. 
According to Dr. Deleau’s statement, the’ 
result of ten months’ education of the boy. 
is as follows :—He hears distinctly all man- 
ner of noises, even at a great distance, 
and can judge accurately of the quarter 
from whence they come: he is sensible 
to musical rhythm, and takes great plea- 
sure in listening to vocal and instrumental 
music, and even endeavours to repeat the 
airs which more particularly please him: 
he hears distinctly whatever is’said to, him, 
and replies to it with facility. It is true, 
that in the latter case he finds still some 
difficulty in conversing with strangers, 
with the tones of whose voice he is not 
familiar, or whose utterance may be more 
rapid than that of the persons with whom 
he is in the habit of speakmg. Whether 
the subject of the present experiment will 
ever be enabled to converse as readily as 
other men, we must leave to the decision 
of time—whatever the issue may be, the 
facts we have here detailed evince the ne- 
cessity of performing the operation at as 
early a period as possible, in order that the 
vocal organs may not become, in a manner, 
paralyzed. by long inaction. 
a 
‘RerLections on the Orv YEAR. 
PARTING. 
OWEVER just the observation 
may be, that thoughtlessness is a 
distinguishing character of the age, there 
are readers who are not enemies to re- 
flection; there are times when few men 
ean banishit. The conclusion of a year 
naturally leads us to a retrospect of 
our conduct, and in some measure also 
bends our eye to the future. 
It is not necessary that our thoughts 
should be, on this occasion, entirely 
filled with melancholy, nor that we 
should damp the joys of the season 
by a suspicious dread, lest we never see 
another. Gratitude and thankfulness 
ought principally to guide our reflec: 
tions. As ‘every year adds to our 
knowledge of the value of worldly 
things, so from the various dispensations 
of Providence towards others, we may 
derive comfort and satisfaction. The 
ways of men are not in general so de. — 
35 sirable, 
