DUMB AND DEAF. 



193 



Dumb and had laid down in his letter to Boyle, and by which he had 

 Deaf. actually regulated his practice nearly twenty years be- 

 ""^Y"" ' fore. His method, however, when considered in de- 

 tail, is inferior to that of VVallis, both in arrangement 

 and perspicuity. 



The treatise, taken as a whole, is spirited and amu- 

 sing ; and is, obviously, the production of an original 

 mind. 



About the year 1690, a Swiss physician, named John 

 Amman. Conrad Amman, was requested to undertake the educa- 

 tion of a young girl at Haerlem, who had been born 

 Deaf and Dumb. He succeeded so well in this task, 

 that, in two months, she could not only read distinctly, 

 but could write down whatever was slowly spoken to 

 her ; and at last could support a conversation on any 

 subject, and reply with promptness to those who in- 

 terrogated her ; hearing, as it were, by the eyes. 



He published an account of the method he employed 

 on this occasion, in 16'92, entitled, Sun/us Loquens. 

 But after having occupied himself occasionally, as it 

 would seem, in this species of education, for several 

 years, during his residence as a physician at Amsterdam, 

 he published this essay under an enlarged form in 1700, 

 entitling it Dtsserlatio de Loqucla. In this Disserta- 

 tion he treats, not only of the means by which the Deaf 

 and Dumb may be taught to speak, but of Voice and 

 Speech in general, and of the nature and treatment of 

 certain impediments or imperfections of Speech. The 

 treatise is inferior, we think, in all its branches, to the 

 writings of Wallis on the same subjects, but superior to 

 the work of Holder. The author does not seem to have 

 been aware when he composed it, that so much had 

 been written before him relative to the Education of the 

 Deaf and Dumb. He only became acquainted with 

 what Wallis had done in this department, when his Dis- 

 sertation was printing. 



A Her this period, the numl>cr of teachers of the Deaf 

 and Dumb seems to have increased very rapidly on the 

 continent. 



In 1749, the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, report 

 Fereire. very favourably, of the exertions of a M. Percire, who 

 seems to have been employed for some time previously, 

 in educating the Deaf and" Dumb in that city. 



They state, that M. 1'ereire had presented to the Aca- 

 demy, two young persons bom Deaf and Dumb, whom 

 he had instructed to understand whatever was addressed 

 to them, either in writing or by signs, and to reply ei- 

 ther in writing, or viva vocf ; that they read and pro- 

 nounced all sorts of expressions in French; that they were 

 acquainted with Grammar and Arithmetic ; and knew 

 a little of Geography : That Pereire, in addressing his 

 pupils, employed either Writing, or a Manual Alpha- 

 bet ; but that he hoped to teach them, in time, to 

 comprehend what was said to them, merely by the mo- 

 tions of the lips : That the progress of his pupils shew- 

 ed the goodness of his Method of Instruction, which, 

 however, he kept a secret; and that the Academy con- 

 ceived they could not too much encourage M. Pereire to 

 cultivate so useful an art. (See Hitt. del'Acad. Roy. des 

 Sciences, 174-9, 8vo. p. 2(>!>.) 



It does not appear that Pereire ever published a sys- 

 tematic account of his mode of Instruction. But De 

 1'Epee asserts (with what truth we know not) that he 

 had profited by the labours of Wallig, and Bonnet, and 

 Amman, (p. 277- of Work quoted at n. 187.) A well 

 written memoir of his, however, will be found in the 

 5th volume of the Memuires Presents <) I' Academic 

 Royalf, (4to, Paris 1768,) in reply to one inserted in 

 the game volume by M. Ernauld. In this memoir, be. 



VOL. VIII. PART I. 



sides vindicating his claim to the discovery of a very Dumb and 

 curious fact relative to the Deaf and Dumb, namely, v 

 that they may be taught to distinguish sounds to a cer- 

 tain extent, merely by the impressions produced on 

 their skin by the breath of the person speaking, Pereire 

 points out several very important distinctions in the de- 

 gree of Deafness, with which different Deaf-mutes are 

 affected. 



M. Ernauld, who called forth this Memoir from Pe- Ernauld. 

 reire, undertook the education of two Deaf-mutes at 

 Bordeaux in 1756, and the following year they appear 

 to have been presented to the Royal Academy of Sci- 

 ences. But there is every reason to suspect, that he 

 hadderived hints of the method he pursued from Pereire, 

 and that he acted uncandidly towards this person. 

 The Memoir, besides some general observations, con- 

 tains an account of his successful progress with a third 

 pupil. 



From the report of the Royal Academy, it would ap- 

 pear that, prior to Pereire's lessons, Emmanuel Ramires, Ramircs, de 

 Pierre de Castro, and Father Vanin, had been employed Castro, Va- 

 in teaching the Deaf and Dumb in Paris ; and Ernauld ' ^ ct - 

 mentions, in 1768, that Rosset, Professor of Theology scti 

 at Lausanne, and Rousset, residing near Nimes, had 

 then devoted themselves to this occupation. None of 

 these individuals, however, seem to have communica- 

 ted either their methods, or the results of their exer- 

 tions, to the public. 



No person, perhaps, has ever conducted the education 

 of the Deaf and Dumb, in all its branches, with more 

 distinguished success, than Mr Thomas Braidwood. Mr Braidwood. 

 Braidwood was the first person who kept a regular aca- 

 demy, for this purpose, in Great Britain. He entered 

 on the profession, with a single pupil, at Edinburgh, 

 in 1 764 ; but the number of his scholars increased with 

 his reputation, and he continued teaching a large 

 school, for many years, in this city, and afterwards at 

 Hackney, near London, until his death in 1806. In- 

 numerable testimonies might be produced as to the 

 great proficiency of his scholars; but we shall content, 

 ourselves with selecting one or two sentences from 

 Dr Johnson on this subject, who visited Mr Braidwood's 

 academy, while in Edinburgh, on his return from the 

 Western Isles, in 1773. 



" There is one subject of philosophical curiosity," 

 says he, " to be found in Edinburgh, which no other city 

 has to show ; a college of the Deaf and Dumb, who are 

 taught to speak, to read, to write, and to practise arith- 

 metic, by a gentleman whose name is Braidwood. The 

 number which attends him, is, I think, about twelve, 

 which he brings together into a little school, and in- 

 structs according to their several degrees of profi- 

 ciency." 



" This school I visited, and found some of the scho- 

 lars waiting for their master, whom they are said to 

 receive at his entrance with smiling countenances and 

 sparkling eyes, delighted with the hope of new 

 ideas." 



" The improvement of Mr Braidwood's pupils is 

 wonderful. They not only speak, write, and understand 

 what is written, but if he that speaks looks towards 

 them, and modifies his organs by distinct and full ut- 

 terance, they know so well what is spoken, that it is 

 an expression scarcely figurative to say they hear with 

 the eye." 



He afterwards adds, in his characteristic manner : 

 " It was pleasing to see one of the most desperate of hu- 

 man calamities capable of so much help : whatever en- 

 larges hope, will exalt courage ; after having seen the 

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