190 



DUMB AND DEAF. 



Oumbind tcncd to him speaking out. I aw a gentleman put 



P**^' nuny pieces of paper mi the de-k, and the ju ' 



"""V" ' them ; \\hcn the gentleman took them from tin- desk, 



and put tin-in on anotlu-r desk. \Vlu-n the jud^i- had 



done writing them, he loaned his luck on the h.ick of 



the chair at the wall, and listened tn the ad\o.-.ile> 



speaking. Do you know what the advocates were 



speaking to the judge? Many large pictures hang on 



the wall of the Court of Session. An image of a judge* 



sat up on the chair at the wall." 



The next is an extract of a letter from the same. It 

 describes, with no snr.dl degree of poetic feeling, one of 

 the most pleasing cans of a pastoral life. 



"Sir, Edinburgh, Wlh March 1814. 



Another ' "' ils a keeper of bees. My mother told me that I 



!IT was a good boy to watch the bees flying round the bee- 

 tle tame, hives ill the garden, in the summer or autumn of year 

 1808 and 1809- It was pleasant; for bees flew round 

 the hives. She told me, that ' you must watch the 

 bees flying round them, if they fly away in the air from 

 the l>ec-hives.' When (upon which) I ran to my mo- 

 ther's house, and told her that the bees flew away in the 

 air ; and then we went to her garden, to see the bees 

 flying in the air. I threw at the bees flying with clay, 

 and my mother beat the iron pan with one iron stick ;t 

 for the bees sat on the trees in my father's field, and 

 they did not fly. She told me to go and bring another 

 bee-hive, and a table. 1 went away to the house, and 

 I took them to the field, and I gave them to her. And 

 she put the bee-hive on the tree or the bush near the 

 bees ; and I saw she covered her face with a white veil, 

 and she shaked them into the bee-hive from the bush 

 with her right hand. In the evening, I and my father 

 went to his field, and took the bee-hive to his garden, 

 and put it on the broad stone ; and we went into his 

 house and rested ourselves. 



Yours, &c." 



These specimens have been copied literally from the 

 manuscripts of the pupils, and have not undergone the 

 . slightest correction from the master. The general turn 

 of the expression in some parts, but particularly in the 

 last specimen, seems to us to bear a striking resemblance 

 to the language of scripture ; and yet we are assured, 

 that all these compositions were written before either of 

 the boys had begun to read from books of any sort. 

 F.xplana- ^ n concluding the consideration of this department, 

 tion of we have only further to remark, that it is quite unne- 

 wnnls, when cessary to delay beginning the explanation of words, 

 b *8 un * until a certain progress has been made in Writing, and 

 Dactylology, and Speech. It might even be entered 

 on, before any of these departments are commenced. 

 The connection betwixt objects and the written charac- 

 ters which represent them, can be established equally 

 well, whether the pupil to whose organs of vision they 

 are addressed, is or is not, able to speak or to write them. 

 The explanation of words, therefore, ought to be begun 

 as soon perhaps as the scholar enters on his education, 

 although but a very small portion of -his time can, at 

 this early stage, be devoted to that object. 



We have now gone through, with all the minute- 

 new that appeared requisite to ourselves, and per- 



haps with more iha'i may have scMneil neces-arv !> H 

 some ol'inir rc.id'Ts the different departments of the 

 education of thr Deaf and Dumb. We shall be h.-ippy " """V" 

 if our rem.-irln .in- found calculated to afford the slight- 

 istance to any humane individual, who may have 

 recolxcd to attempt the instruction of any Deaf and 

 Dumb relation or friend, in the privacy :.nd retirement 

 of his own home. Hut we much fear that private tui- Pulilic prc. 

 tion, in the ca.-e of the Deal and Dumb, as well as in fern 

 that of other children, can seldom be conducted with so ''" 

 much judgment as to afford advantages to t!i" pupil, """ 

 equal to the method of public instruction. We should 

 wish, therefore, to regard all the early don i< 

 which tl:e natural affection of a parent may lead him to 

 bestow on his Deaf and Dumb child, in the light merely 

 of preparation for his introduction into some public 

 school. 



There is much reason to regret, that the public in- 

 stitutions for this purpose in Great Britain are so few 

 in number. We are acquainted only \\ith two that hau- 

 yet acquired any reputation, one in London, and the 

 other in Kdinburgh. 



The former is entitled, the " Asylum for educating London 

 the Deaf and Dumb Children of the Poor," and was in- .\-\Um- 

 stituted in 1792. This asylum contains at the present 

 time, if we are not misinformed, about 100 pupils; and 

 these are fortunate enough to have for their instructor, 

 the very judicious person whom we have had occasion 

 so often to (mote, Dr Joseph Watson. It does not, how- 

 ever, admit any children on the charitable foundation 

 until they arc nine years old. " The reason for fixing 

 upon this age," says Dr Watson, " was not any idea 

 that it was the earliest at which regular education could 

 be advantageously begun ; but Jire yi(ir$ being deemed, 

 generally speaking, sufficient to accomplish that course 

 of instruction thought most essential to children, desti- 

 ned to earn their bread by the labour of their haml^, 

 and fourteen being the earliest age at which they could 

 be apprenticed, it was judged best, for the economical 

 purposes of the institution, not to receive them before 

 the age of nine years." 



That he may not be misapprehended, Dr Watson af- 

 terwards states precisely what he understands by an 

 education most essential to deaf children of the class 

 mentioned. " I deem it essential," says he, " that they 

 should have such a knowledge of language, as to enable 

 them to express their ideas on common occasions ; to 

 understand the commands or directions it may be ne- 

 cessary to give them in ordinary cases, &c. ; to read 

 with intelligence the precepts, the examples, and the 

 promises, which are contained in the scriptures, parti- 

 cularly the New Testament : that they should write a 

 good hand, spell correctly the words they use, and un- 

 derstand the principal rules of arithmetic. When I say 

 that these acquirements may be attained in_/r'w years, I 

 mean to state that as the mottat time, even where the 

 capacity of the learner is good." 



The'" Kdinburgh Institution for the Education of Edinburgh : 

 the Deaf and Dumb Children of the 1'oor," was esta- Institution. 

 blished only in 1 S 1 0. Its objects are precisely the same 

 as those of the London Asylum. It does not admit chil- 

 dren before eight, nor after fourteen years of age. It 



A marble statue of the Lord President Forbes. 

 \ Our readeri will recollect that this practice ) at kjsl as old as Virgil t 

 " //uc 



" Trlta mclitpliyUa, rt cerintluc ignobilc gramen : 

 " Tinnitusyut cie, et Matrii yvatc cymtata circi/w." 



iv. v. 03. 





