I. 



DEAF AND DUMB, EDUCATION OF THK. 



DEAF AND DUMB, EDUCATION OF THE. 



intellectual, moral, and religion* truth. Thw> two objecU are generally 

 nude to accompany each other ; the communication of knowledge in 

 uy language familiarises him with the form, of language, and the 

 exercises themselves are made the vehicle of valuable knowledge. In 

 teaching vocal sounds to the deaf, the eye and the aenae of touch are 

 chiefly employed ; the letter, of the alphabet are clarified ; the sounds 

 that are labial, dental, lingual, guttural, nasal, and thoae which are 

 -"inHn**^- of two or more of these, are taken in such an order that 

 the pupil mar discern difference* in their similarities, and in some 

 instance* the organ* of apeeoh are shown, by means of drawings, in the 

 required positions for the euiusion of certain sounds. 



The open mouth, the widening lips, and part of the tongue, may be 

 shown in the pronunciation of a, the nearly closed lips, hiding both 

 tongue and teeth in * ; in 6 the compression of the lips can be accu- 

 rately shown, and the labial-nasal sound m, may be said to be exhibited 

 in the closed li| s, and by a line of dots to show the emission of air 

 through the nostrils. It must be clearly understood that such draw- 

 ings are chiefly useful in showing the positions of the organs. 



Accompanying the exercise, the pupil must be made to notice the 

 external organs of speech in his teacher, to feel the vibration with his 

 own hand which sound creates in the trachea, and also to feel those 

 emissions of breath which are caused by the production of certain 

 sounds. He will be made to imitate such utterance ; and by the ex- 

 ercise of patience and ingenuity on the part of the teacher, ingenuity 

 chiefly directed to those little arts which refer to the mechanism of 

 speech, and patience that will not be discouraged by repeated failures, 

 the pupil will succeed in imitating what he observes, and in time he 

 will accomplish what is required. In Wilkins's ' Essay towards a Real 

 Character ' there is a diagram of the positions of the organs for pro- 

 ducing vocal sounds, which may be consulted with advantage, though 

 not in every instance accurate. While a pupil is engaged in acquiring 

 the articulated sounds he may also be employed in writing letters 

 which they indicate, and in learning their shapes by the eye; he may 

 also be initiated in the manual alphabet. In teaching the deaf articu- 

 lation, the name* of the letters are not taught, but their poicert ; thus 

 in the sentence, " Fame can charm all ;" the vowel a has a different 

 sound in each combination, and each sound must be taught and 

 practised separately till it is acquired, and so on with the other vowels ; 

 the consonants are classified too, and whether a breathing is required 

 ns in f, th, s, sh, p, Ac., or a murmuring as in v, th, z, b, d, g, &c., care 

 U taken not to call them by their ordinary alphabetical names. In 

 Edgeworth's ' Practical Education ' the consequence of teaching hear- 

 ing children alphabetic sounds is thus exhibited. A child having 

 learned the alphabet, and having to read the words, Here is tome apple 

 /lie, would, it is fairly enough suggested, pronounce thus : Achtare ie> 

 (toenu apepele pewit. This is not exaggerated; with hearing children, 

 constant reading corrects the tendency ; but numerous instances of 

 this nature must and do occur among the deaf, who in many cases 

 retain the first impressions they receive as to the sounds of letters. 



Another primary auxiliary in the education of deaf-mutes is that 

 modification of the language of gesture called natural signs. In this 

 language the deaf and dumb take great pleasure ; if unrestrained, it 

 would be their only mode of communication with each other; and they 

 appear to find in its resources all that is necessary to give life and force 

 to their ideas. The quick changes of countenance which they exhibit, 

 the sparkling eyes, the lighted-up features, the sarcasms, the sensi- 

 bilities thus expressed ; the transitions " from grave to gay, from 

 lively to severe," all faithfully portrayed In the ever-varying index of 

 their mind, speak at once in favour of this language as the truest 

 mirror of their thoughts, hopes, wishes, and feelings, and inform us that 

 this language is nature's most perfect, most expressive interpreter. To 

 this rude though powerful mode of intercourse, which all the deaf 

 possess in a higher or lower degree, those who are more intelligent add 

 signs of description, by which they are able to explain facts and 

 circumstances which have been brought under their observation. The 

 teacher takes advantage of this method of communication to add to 

 their stores of knowledge, to enrich and extend the sphere of their 

 thoughts, to give them new food for the mental operations, all of 

 which may be accomplished during the time that words and the 

 language of their country is imparted to them. Thus a conventional 

 language U formed which assists in their intellectual culture, in- 

 creases their happiness, and shows them in some degree the con- 

 nection which exists between themselves and the objects by which 

 they are surrounded. In many institutions this use is made of signs : 

 new knowledge is most effectually communicated by their aid. The 

 sixteenth report of the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb 

 furnishes an example of which we can avail ourselves to show the 

 great benefit of signs in the business of instruction. The natural signs 

 for the words in which the sense of the sentence is comprised will 

 readily occur to the reader. " Let it be supposed that an instructor 

 should wish to produce the following sentence : ' A horse runs away 

 with a boy, throws him off, and kills him.' It is not at all probable 

 that such a combination of circumstances would occur at the moment, 

 and thus enable him to take his pupils to the window and point 

 them out He must have recourse, then, to signs. It is immaterial 

 what selection of place and circumstance is made, provided only that 

 the facto to be enunciated are clear and prominent. The scene of the 

 occurrence may be laid in the city. The boy is riding slowly along, 



staring at the multitude of new objects which meet his view, and 

 wholly forgetful of his hone. Suddenly a military company appears 

 from a cross-street, with drums beating and colours flying. The 

 hone becomes frightened and beyond control : he dashes through the 

 street at a furious rate. The boy clings to the saddle, but is at length 

 thrown with violence on the pavement. The blood is seen spouting 

 from his mouth and nostrils. People gather around and raise him up. 

 They feel his pulse ; but it has oeased, and the breath of life is gone : 

 the boy is dead. During this description, the class are looking most 

 intently on the instructor. Every eye is fixed, and every countenance 

 full of expression. He has now obtained everything for which be 

 laboured. Their ideas and notions of the fact are as clear and explicit 

 as his own ; and it only remains to express them by written language. 

 To imagine, as some have done, that this process of writing is a 

 tnuulatioH of signs into language, is wholly erroneous. It is no more 

 a translation than the same expression of a speaking child would be, 

 when the casualty should actually occur." To this we will only add, 

 that the rapidity with which such a description is conveyed to the 

 pupils is inconceivably great, and takes very little longer than the com- 

 munication of the occurrence vocally, in its shortest form. But the 

 disadvantage attending such a mode of intercourse, when a language 

 has to be taught, is not recompensed by its rapidity, as the words and 

 the syntax of spoken languages are not employed in such descriptions ; 

 the pupils are consequently left ignorant of the grammatical con- 

 struction of sentences. It is therefore found necessary to unite natural 

 and descriptive signs with writing or dactylology, in the use of which 

 the idiom of the maternal language is preserved. Most of the English 

 and American institutions employ the signs we have described ; this 

 auxiliary is also employed at Paris, at Yverdun, at Vienna, Toulouse, 

 Nancy, Besancon, Bachtelen, Pisa, and at several other institutions. 

 Mimic signs will always possess this advantage to the deaf over every 

 other mode of intercourse, that they present to them a lively picture, 

 in which facts and circumstances can be constantly and instantaneously 

 reproduced; they address themselves immediately to their perceptive 

 powers, and lead them intuitively, and by a direct process, to form 

 just connections and conclusions ; while our conventional tongues, 

 whether addressed to them by articulation, by writing, or by dactylo- 

 logy, act upon them by the circuitous paths of association, and the 

 habit which they long follow of converting our language into their 

 own. 



One important influence which the mimic language exercises on the 

 intellectual development of the deaf has yet to be noticed. This results 

 from its employment among themselves. Much of the knowledge 

 which the younger pupils of an institution obtain is through this 

 medium. The lessons of the teacher for many months have less 

 influence on the minds of his pupils than the intercourse with their 

 associates. This is a powerful argument for bringing up the deaf and 

 dumb in public rather than in private schools. Independent of the 

 stores of knowledge which an assemblage of deaf-mutes bring from 

 the district* in which they have lived, the fruits of their personal 

 observation and experience, the events that have occurred within the 

 walls of the institution, particularly as they bear upon actual occur- 

 rences, are handed down by mimic and descriptive signs from one 

 generation to their successors ; and a very valuable and available store 

 of intelligence is thus preserved, which at the same time contributes to 

 the formation of character and familiarises the pupil with the use of 

 this species of language. Respecting methodical ligia, we need add 

 nothing to what has already been said of the method of the Abbe's de 

 I'Epee and Sicard. We think they are not much used at the present 

 time in the education of deaf-mutes. 



Writimj is employed in all institutions ; it is an art which is goon 

 acquired sufficiently well for all school purposes. At first it engages 

 the attention of the pupils, while they endeavour to form on their 

 slates those combinations of letters, the meaning of which has been 

 conveyed to them ; and thus it relieves the teacher and employs a new 

 set of faculties in the pupils. This slow but permanent repetition of 

 their lesson assists in fixing the forms, and the matter conveyed by 

 them, in their minds. At a later stage, it exercises similar influences 

 upon them in a higher degree ; and it is, besides, the instrument by 

 which they give permanency to their thoughts and observations in 

 those compositions which form an important exercise in these semi- 

 naries. It is also the medium to which they chiefly have recourse 

 among strangers, and among their friends, if they find their articulation 

 is imperfect, and their signs not well understood. 



Dactylology is another auxiliary in almost universal use. For a more 

 particular view of the utility and value of this instrument of instruction 

 we refer to the article DACTTLOLOOT. 



J'icturet and the art of drawing are valuable helps at the commence- 

 ment of instruction. A collection of all objects cannot be made, nor 

 can objects be so conveniently referred to as representations of them. 

 Either by reference to pictures or real objects, the first lessons are 

 conveyed to the deaf, and they impart an interest to the exercises 

 which no other means could supply. To those who have not well con- 

 sidered the subject, it is a matter of surprise how much of language 

 can be represented by a graduated series of engravings, or even by the 

 rude sketches which a teacher can draw upon his tablet whenever they 

 are wanted, to elucidate the subject which he is desirous to impress on 

 the minds of his pupils. la the work of Bcbian, the successor of Sicard 



