9 to restore the Deaf and Dumb to hearing. 321 



former of these documents, the operation is said to have consisted in 

 the injection of liquids y in the latter we are told that it consisted in 

 the injection of air. k ^ 



The true subject of inquiry, however, and the only one worth set- 

 tling, is the actual degree to which the child acquired the sense of 

 hearing.. The operation was performed in April, 1824; and the 

 report we have cited above, was made in June, 1825. During this 

 period, he had learned, we are told, " to appreciate and repeat all 

 the articulations of the French language. He learns, analyses and 

 repeats a number of phrases at length, and obeys the spoken com- 

 mands of his instructor." But M. Berjaud, in 1827, two years af- 

 ter, gives a somewhat different account of his progress. " I have 

 seen Honore Trezel," he says, " at two different times. At my se- 

 cond visit, which took place a year after the first, the child was no 

 farther advanced in his education, than when I first saw him. He 

 continued to recite the three or four first verses of La Fontaine's 

 fable of the fox and the crow ; but when I distinctly asked him this 

 simple question : do you love sugar plums ? (bonbons) he was so 

 perfectly confounded that he could only look at his instructor, and 

 stupidly repeat 6o, 6o." # In one of Deleau's works, however, 

 published in 1830, we find the following note: " Honore Trezel 

 has forgotten his former language, (of signs) : he speaks and talks 

 with the greatest facility. He is constantly increasing his knowl- 

 edge by reading books, such as are usually put into the hands of 

 children of eight or ten years of age. "f 



The question still occurs, was an actual cure' in this instance per- 

 formed ? — was the child really restored to the full and perfect exer- 

 ercise of the sense of hearing ? Even if the most favorable account 

 of the child's facility in speaking be admitted not to be at all exag- 

 gerated, it by no means follows that the sense of bearing was really 

 recovered ; for nearly six years, it must be remembered, had passed 

 since the operation had been performed, and during the whole of 

 this period, he had been under constant instruction in articulation. 

 In this time, he might have learned to " talk and read juvenile 

 books," even if his hearing had not been in the least improved ; 

 since the same acquisition is made in half the Institutions in Europe, 





* Examen Critique, etc., p. 46. 



t Extrait cVnnouvrage inidit iniitiiU Trail e merit dcs maladies del 1 Oreille may- 

 enne qui engendrent la surdity. Paris, 1830, p. 25. 



Vol. XXX.— No. 2. 41 



