234 American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb. 
nage the upright stick in the same manner as the gimlet or borer 
which they employ in their work. They hold and draw the string, 
which is twice wound round it with both hands, the upper end 
turning in a piece of wood, which they hold with their mouth. 
In this way, I have seen a piece of fir turned on another piece of 
fir; produce fire in a few seconds; whereas, in general, a much 
longer time is required. The Aleutians also make fire by taking 
two stones with sulphur rubbed on them, which they strike to- 
gether over dry moss strewed with sulphur.—(Kotzelue’s Voy- 
age, 3. 259.) ee 
AMERICAN ASYLUM FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB. 
An examination of the pupils of the New York Institution, 
for the instruction of the deaf and dumb, took place at that city, 
on the 25th of October 1821. The number of unfortunates were 
sixty, who excited much interest by the manner in which they 
went through their exercises. A Miss Barnard from Utica ex- 
pressed in signs the Lord’s prayer, and no one could fail to under- 
stand her. Her attitude was devotional, her gestures graceful 
and significant, her countenance expressive, and her whole per- 
formance indicated a knowledge of what her signs expressed : 
she had only been under instruction fourteen months. 
The exercise which followed was one of memory, and in this 
several took part. Among the rest Miss Barnard reduced to 
writing the Lord’s prayer, which she had previously rendered by 
signs.. Another pupil wrote the history of the creation—a third, 
the food—a fourth, the ten commandments—while another wrote 
from memory the character of Christ—and a sixth, the miracle 
of Christ curing the deaf and the blind. 
Next followed two small girls, not more than nine or ten years 
old, who conjugated, by writing on the black board, two verbs 
through several of the tenses, in connexion with the personal 
pronouns, and a noun, forming a complete sentence; as, I curl 
my hair—I curled my hair—I wash my hands, &c. This was 
explained by Mr. Loofborrow, the principal teacher, as the me- 
thod practised in the New York school for the deaf and dumb, 
and as involving a principle not adopted in common schools, and 
which might be beneficially introduced. Children generally learn 
grammar by rote; but as the object of grammar is to teach them 
the structure of language, it would be better, in going through 
the moods and tenses of the verbs, to prefix the pronouns and 
add a noun as in the instances above. 
The exercise which followed was the fable of the Bear and the 
Bees, froin AXsop, told in signs by Richard Sip, the son of an able 
farmer in New Jersey. This went to show that the deaf and 
dumb understand the nature of a fable and its application. 
MEASURE- 
