DACTYLOLOGY. 



DACTYLOLOGY. 



was invonUd in Spain, and appears to have been first publUbed in 

 Booet's work. [Huxrr. in Bioti. Div.] 



At a conference of principals of institution* for the deaf and dumb, 

 held at the Yoriuhire Institution at Doncaster, on July 28th, 1852, a 

 paper ws read by Mr. Hopper, headmaster of the institution for the 

 deaf and dumb at Birmingham, ' On the One-Handed Alpha' 

 which he thus Hated it* claim* for more general adoption ; 



" It appears to POMCH every advantage that can be claimed for the 

 two-handed alphabet. The various positions by which it represents 

 the letters can be assumed as rapidly, and with as much facility, as 

 those employed in the two-handed method. It has besides many 

 advantages over its rival. It is more distinct The upright, down- 

 ward, and horizontal positions of the hand, enable one to distinguish 

 easily several of the letter* at a distance. The signs fur the vowels 

 being as distinct as those for the consonants, prevents the confusion 

 occasioned by the difficulty of observing which finger has been touched 

 in rapid spelling with both hands. By using the right hand, when 

 conversing with a person placed on one s left, and rift vend, what is 

 spelled can be easily read by those to whom it is addressed ; while, in 

 employing both hands, the positions of the fingers are leas obvious to 

 the person spelled to than to the person who spells. The employment 

 of one hand only, is in itself a great advantage ; for the other hand is 

 left at liberty to hold an umbrella, the reins in driving, and to perform 

 a number of offices that it would be tedious to enumerate. In walk- 

 ing, besides allowing those in conversation to be linked, it does not 

 attract the attention of strangers so much as the two-handed system of 

 upelling. In sickness, too, it requires comparatively very little effort 

 to hold out one hand, and to spell with it. I have found that our 

 deaf-mutes, though more practised in the two-handed method, invari- 

 ably use the other alphabet when confined to bed." 



" Should it be considered by the teachers present desirable to sub- 

 stitute the one-handed alphabet for the alphabet now generally used, 

 I would suggest that the greatest possible uniformity, both as to the 

 positions of the hand and of the fingers should be observed." 



A short discussion followed the reading of the paper from which the 

 above extracts are given, which concluded by the expression of a 

 unanimous opinion, that it would be desirable to accustom the pupils 

 in all the institirtions to the use of both the manual alphabets. 



A dactylology of syllables has been sometimes employed in the 

 instruction of the deaf and dumb. This was one of the means adopted 

 by Pereire, who lived in the middle of the 18th century, and who was 

 more successful in imparting a knowledge of language to his pupils 

 than any teacher who has since cultivated this difficult art. But his 

 modes of teaching were a mystery which he always refused to divulge, 

 and they were lost at his death. In more recent days, M. Recoing baa 

 employed syllabic dactylology in conjunction with stenography, and by 

 these means, combined with others more commonly pursued, he con- 

 ducted the instruction of his own deaf and dumb Bon with that success 

 which enabled him to convey to his son the words of a speaker as 

 rapidly as they were uttered. M. Recoing published two works on 

 this subject at Paris, in the years 1823 and 1829. A system of alpha- 

 betic and syllabic dactylology was also published by Dr. Deleau, the 

 younger, in 1 830. 



There remains to be noticed another application of finger-language 

 which, in the instruction of the deaf and dumb, is next in importance 

 to alphabetic signs ; it is in the designation of numbers, and in the 

 employment of the fingers in the first rules of arithmetic. The ten 

 fingers are the most ready and natural abacus, as they are doubtless 

 the most ancient. That they should early come into use for exhibiting 

 numbers, especially where speech was wanting, may be readily sup- 

 posed. The only system of manual notation which deserves that name 

 is the one which we shall now describe. It is used in several of the 

 American and English institutions for the deaf and dumb ; we con- 

 sider it perfect, and we believe it has never before appeared in any 

 English publication. Mr. David Seixas, of Philadelphia, improved the 

 Abbe* Sicard's signs for numbers, and his plan was used in the institu- 

 tion for the deaf and dumb in that city. The following system was 

 invented by Mr. O. Stansbury, a former superintendent of the New 

 York Institution ; it has received a few, perhaps unimportant, modi- 

 fications, and by it any amount of numbers may be expressed. One 

 hand only, the left is used, and the pupil's right hand is thus left at 

 liberty to record his calculations upon his slate. The nine digits are 

 represented one after another by elevating the fingers of the hand 

 successively, at represented in the annexed illustration. 



The thumb represents one, the other fingers being closed, the index 

 finger is added for too, the middle-finger is raised for three, the ring- 

 finger is added for /our, and the open hand represents fire ; the little 

 finger alone is raised for tir, the ring-finger is added for term, the 

 middle-finger for eight, and the fore-finger is raised to the others for 

 inc. Thus far for unite. To indicate tens, the position of the hand 

 is changed from perpendicular to horizontal; the thumb is pointed 

 forwards for ten, the thumb and fore-finger for twenty, and so on to 

 ninety. Hundreds are pointed downwards ; thus the thumb, fore- 

 finger, and middle-finger pointed downwards represent 300. If 572 be 

 the number to be designated, three position! of the hand are required ; 

 the five fingers are pointed downwards for 600, the little-finger and 

 ring-finger are* pointed forwards for 70, and the thumb and fore-finger 

 are held upright for two. During these changes the hand is kept in 



front of the body. To represent thousands, the left hand is placed 

 across the body towards the right shoulder, and the signs which were 

 used in front for unite, in this situation, represent thousands ; keeping 

 the hand in the same situation and pointing forwards or downwards, 

 tens of thousands or hundreds of thousand* are exhibited. By chang- 

 ing the situation of the hand to the left shoulder, and by exhibiting 

 the various positions of the fingers before described, millions, tons of 

 millions, and hundreds of millions are expressed. The same positions, 

 upright, forwards, and downwards, exhibited in other Kituations, may 

 be applied to the expression of notations to any extent. Though 

 rather complex in description, the whole U most easy and compre- 

 hensive in operation. The superiority of this system of manual nota- 

 tion for teaching arithmetic to the deaf and dumb, or for making 

 signals of numbers where silence is necessary, compared with the 

 clumsy resources of figuring the digit* in the air, of repetitions of tens 

 by the ten fingers, or even of arbitrary signs, will be at once acknow- 



The cipher is represented by the closed hand. 







The application of this arithmetical dactylology in teaching all the 

 simple rules to the deaf and dumb is very easy ; in addition, two hand* 

 are employed, one for representing the figures added, the other for 

 keeping an account of the results; in lubtrartion, the larger and tin- 

 lesser number may be shown on the two hands, and the difference 

 afterwards, or the two numbers by one hand, successively, and the 

 difference by the other; in mvlti]>liration, the factors are shown by 

 different hands by the teacher, and the product required from the 

 pupil ; and so with division, the product and one factor is shown, and 

 the other factor required. All this can be done without any perma- 

 nent figuring on slates or tablet*, and is better, because more rapid 

 both in explaining principles and in acquiring practice, than the i 

 or chalk. At the same time it is chiefly applied in explanations, in 

 early practice, and in mental arithmetic, and can never superset 

 usual methods in precision and permanence. 



