DUMB AND DEAF. 



183 



i and the four following heads, viz. Writing, Manual Speech or 



* Dactylologi/, Vocal Speech, and the Explanation of the 

 Meaning of Words. 



The very first step in the education of the Deaf-mute, 

 is, to teach him to write. Writing is a medium of in- 

 struction so necessary, in his situation, that it cannot be 

 too early acquired, No particular directions are requi- 

 site for this purpose. It may be taught first on sand 

 with the finger, or on a slate with the pencil, in the usu- 

 al way, and afterwards on paper with pen and ink. Com- 

 paratively little attention, however, need be paid at the 

 commencement to the nicety with which the letters are 

 traced. The chief object is to enable the pupil to connect 

 letters together with legible distinctness, as speedily as 

 possible ; and, this done, practice will gradual!}' give the 

 manipulation its necessary accuracy and precision. 



lo- Along with Writing, the pupil is to be taught the me- 

 thod of representing letters and words by the fingers, or 

 what has been called Dacti/lolosy. This is an easy task. 

 The Manual Alphabet, which is represented in Plate 



E CCXLI. seems to us very well adapted for the purpose. 



k It is that which is taught by Dr Watson, (Instruction of 

 the Deaf and Dumb, <fc. 8vo. Lond. 1809) 5 and which, 

 we should conceive, is both more easily practised, and 

 less liable to confusion, than the one employed by Si- 

 card, in which only one hand is employed. (Court & In- 

 struction d'un Saurd-Muet de Naissance, $c. 8vo. Paris, 

 2d edit. 1803.) 



The uses of this Manual Speech ore obvious. It 

 is much more expeditious than writing ; it can be prac- 

 tised in any situation, and without any such implements 

 as slate, or pencil or paper; it admits of being addressed 

 to several at a time ; and, what is a most important ad- 

 vantage, it affords a medium of communication between 

 persons who are placed at a considerable distance from 

 each other. Dr Watson, too, assures us, that it is intel- 

 ligible to the touch, as well as to the fight, and conse- 

 quently may be used in the dark (Work quoted above, 

 p. 121.) It is remarkable, that even those deaf and 

 dumb pupils who have been taught to speak vocally, 

 always employ this manual language alone, in address- 

 ing each other. Nor is it to be regarded merely as an 

 instrument of education. The Deaf and Dumb, in their 

 after intercourse with the world, will meet with many 

 persons who have taught themselves to speak on the fin- 

 gers, merely as an amusement, and not from any defect 

 in their organs of hearing or articulation. With such 

 persons, therefore, they may often enjoy the pleasure of 

 conversation in circumstances calculated to render Vocal 

 Speech both difficult and embarrassing. 



After the pupil has made a little progress in Writing 



' and Dactylology, the more laborious task may be entered 

 upon, of teaching him Vocal Speech. 



This, unquestionably, is the most extraordinary ac- 

 complishment which it is possible for a Deaf and Dumb 

 person to acquire. That it should be possible to instruct 

 such a person, through the medium of writing, as fully, 

 in every department of human knowledge, as those who 

 enjoy the sense of hearing, does not appear in the slight- 

 est degree remarkable; for it is not more difficult to as- 

 sociate our ideas with a system of visible than of audible 

 . signs. But that he should be capable of learning both 

 to emit sounds and to articulate them, merely by observ- 

 ing with his organs of touch and sight, those minute vi- 

 brations of the throat, and tho.se rapid and delicate mo- 

 tions of the parts belonging to the mouth, which accom. 



pany the speech of others, is a thing so singular, that, Dumb and 

 previously to experiment, we should suppose it almost im- ' '' 

 possible. Yet it is curious to remark, that this seems to ""Y"" 

 have been a chief object even with those to whom the idea 

 of instructing the Deaf and Dumb first occurred ; and that 

 the earliest attempts which are recorded to have been 

 made to teach Deaf-mutes to speak, appear to have been 

 attended with complete success. In truth, all those who 

 have enjoyed much experience in the education of the 

 Deaf and Dumb, agree in declaring, that this is a depart- 

 ment of it, in which anyone cannot fail to succeed, who 

 resolves to bestow sufficient time and patience on the 

 task ; and who has good sense and good nature enough 

 to encourage, by kind arts, the perseverance of his pu- 

 pil. 



In attending particularly to the phenomena of Speech, Consists of 



two things present themselves for consideration : in the M u , ' ?" 



, . , Modes of 



first place, the various Bounds which compose it ; and, beginning or 



secondly, different Modes in which these sounds are be- ending 

 gun or ended. these - 



The Sounds which enter into the composition of Speech Sounds di- 

 may be arranged into two classes ; and these we shall vide <i in *" 



distinguish by the terms laryneceal and oral. 



ana Oral. 



Lan/nscral sounds are those which are produced en- . , 



LarynijaMil 

 tirely by the larynx. Such, for example, are the sounds Sounds. 



of the letters a, o, I, n. A distinction exists among these, 

 which, of course, is familiar to every one ; namely, some 

 of them are Vocal sounds, or constitute what is called 

 voice; others are Whispering sounds, and occur only in the 

 whisper. 



Both these kinds of sounds, without doubt, depend How pr- 

 on vibrations produced in the expired air during its duced. 

 passage through the larynx ; though it is not easy to as- 

 certain the causes of the difference betwixt them. We may 

 remark, however, that Vocal sounds are susceptible, not 

 only of various degrees of strength or loudness, accord- 

 ing to the different degrees of force with which the air 

 is expelled from the lungs ; but also of the greatest va- 

 riations in tone, from changes in the dimensions of the 

 windpipe, or varieties in the shape or size of the rima of the 

 glottis. Whispering sounds, on the other hand, are sus- 

 ceptible of changes in point of loudness alone, without 

 the slightest perceptible variety in the quality of tone ; 

 and we are rather inclined to think, that the vibrations 

 on which they depend, are produced, not more by the 

 aperture between the vocal chords, than by the other 

 parts of the larynx. What is of more importance, how- 

 ever, to our present purpose to be known, is, that du- 

 ring the production of every Vocal sound, a distinct vi- 

 bration may be felt externally, by applying the fingers 

 to that prominence on the fore and upper part of the 

 neck which corresponds to the larynx, and which is often 

 denominated the pomum adami. But in the production 

 of a Whispering sound, no such vibration can be per- 

 ceived. 



It is not, however, by any changes of loudness or HOW diver- 

 tone taking place in the larynx, that the Laryngaeal sounds aified. 

 employed in Speech nre so much diversified ; but by dif- 

 ferences in what we call, physiologically, their expression, 

 and which depend on certain configurations voluntarily 

 given to the parts of the fauces and mouth, while the sounds 

 are emitting from the larynx. We are accustomed, in fact, 

 to observe a very great uniformity in the tones and in- 

 tensity of the sounds we employ in Speech ; but were 

 we even disposed to introduce more variety in these, 

 qualities, still the Sounds would not undergo any altcra- 



