ItKAK ASP IH'MII. F.nrCATloN 'F Till: 



''KIN OK TIIK. 



and that the manual alphabet k* convenient IDMM of supplying the 



In the Mowing description* Mr. Hill'* eourwt ha* been generally 

 prrirrml.M Mng.-n the wholeas.uewwfulasany. In order to be 

 oeeestful teacher of articulation, according to the German measure of 

 ncem, it b neceeaary to hate,.Vf, well-Yormed organ* of speech, and 

 * correct pronunciation ; ttnmdlf, an accurate knowledge of the vocal 

 organ*, and of their position* and motion* in the production of dif- 

 ferent wand*; rAmtf*. skill in making the deaf-mute perceive the 

 different motion of the month, and touching him to imitate them 

 hianrlf; and finally, infinite patience. In urder to > make the pupil 

 acquainted with the" portion of the <rgan* necessary for the production 

 of the sounds required, the teacher place* hi* own organs in the neces- 

 sary position, make* the scholar by right and feeling notice these 

 petition* ; encourage* him to do the *ame himself ; help* him when 

 he aoe* not succeed ; and finally, proceed* from eimple to composite 

 found*; that is. to syllable* and word*, and from these to sentences. 

 A* apparat*!, a looking glass, in which the pupil may view the position 

 of hi* own mouth, a* compared with that of the teacher, and a paper- 

 folder used to direct the motion* of the pupil's tongue, are generally 

 employed. The process of instruction i* exceedingly slow, and requires 

 that only one scholar be taught at a time. In Germany, both in the 

 schools for hearing children, and the deaf and dumb, the powers of 

 the letters of the alphabet are taught instead of the name-sounds. For 

 deaf-mate*, indeed, no other course would be practicable. 



The beet order in which to teach the alphabet varies somewhat with 

 different pupils, and hence it is the practice of the best teachers, as 

 early as possible, to try all the sounds of the alphabet, in order both 

 to te*t the pupil's capacity and ascertain to what points attention 

 must be specially directed. Generally, however, experience has shown 

 the following order to be as successful as any, namely, h ; a (ah), n 

 (on), i (ft), p, I, I, or &, d, g ; o, e (a in fate) ; an (on), at (' in lion) ; 

 /, i, rk (the last a peculiar sound) ; c (nearly r), /, j (y) ; & (or <r) ; 

 b, d, g, or p, t, k; trh (th); m, , *g ; I ; r; 8; A (the two last have 

 peculiar sounds). Next follow the consonant* placed it/to- the vowels, 

 and the forming of significant words, as af, of, mf, ohr, Ac. The main 

 object here is rather mechanical readiness in speaking than acquaint' 

 ance with the meaning of words. 



Mr. Day comments on the patience required, the mistakes into 

 which pupils fall from the want of ear to guide them in pitch and 

 intonation, the high sounds amounting to a scream, the low one- lit i !> 

 better than a growl, while others are extremely nasal, which all re- 

 quire time and labour to remedy even imperfectly. He also gives 

 instances of the errors of pronunciation into which the pupils con- 

 tinually fall, and the endeavour to rectify them, and he concludes this 

 portion of his report by saying that " this process is correctly called 

 by the German writers .mechanical f/natiy ; that much time must 

 necessarily be devoted to it, and that with the greatest efforts, only 

 a defective utterance can be reasonably expected, even under the labours 

 of the most experienced instructors." 



Rraditt'i <m the lips is carried on at the same time with articulation, 

 its difficulties are confessed by the German teachers to be peculiar 

 and great. The object of articulation is to enable the deaf-mute to 

 express his own idea* In others, while this is to teach him what in 

 said by others, by watching the motions of their lips. How formidable 

 the attempt will appear from considering the following circumstances, 

 mentioned by the German teachers themselves : 1. Many sounds 

 demand positions of the organs so entirely similar to each other, a* it 

 respects external observation, that only a rtry practised eye can dis- 

 he difference. 2. No peculiar opening of the lips is necessary 

 in the pronunciation of most of the consonants. In such cases it is 

 usually decided by the vowel immediately preceding, and a* the lips 

 then conceal, for the most part, the interior of the mouth, the scholar 

 must hence, in respect to many consonants, remain in uncertainty. 

 8. In the flow of discourse, sounds run so much into one another that 

 only a practised eye can seize hold of the individual parts. 4. The 

 pronunciation of different persons has to the eye so many variations, a 

 sorely to puzzle the deaf and dumb. 5. In connected discourse, many 

 Bound* which properly belong to words arc lost, which greatly increases 

 the difficulty of understanding by means of sight. For instance, in the 

 sentence fAi liayrr ran nineteen milet, few persons pronounce go dis- 

 tinctly a* to make the , r, and tt twice pcixvptiH.-. even to t 

 much les* to the rye. So great are these difficulties, both singly and 

 in combination, that it is not pretended that deaf-mutes ever become 

 abl; in ordinary Biscourse, to make out each word, or even the greater 

 number. All they do is, to make out a few words and guess at the 

 remainder. 



In learning to utter sounds himself, the deaf-mute has the aid of 

 two tense*, sight and feeling : in learning to read on the lips however, 

 he must trust exclusively to his eye. Hence the need of special exer- 

 ci.*e to thi* department. The following are the most noticeable tilings 

 in the courae : 1 . At first the teacher speaks as slowly as possible, open* 

 hi* mouth wide, and distinctly utter* every sound. The con*> 

 i, that the pronunciation of many teachers to their scholars is very 

 unnatural, and such as is o-rr heard in general society. This probably 

 i* one reason of the unnaturalnee* observable in the pronunciation of 

 the educated deaf-mute*. 2. The most experienced teacher* divide 

 the sentence* they utter into small groups of words, wHh pauses 



between them ; sometime* thi* division goe* so far as the making of 

 a pause after every word, or even syllable. 3. Occasion is taken a* 

 often a* possible, to make speaking a medium of communication. 

 4. The pupil i* gencnllT required to repeat after the teacher, either 

 silently or aloud. 6. Where the pupil fails to catch the won 

 i-itlu-r \\ritt. H in (In- air or on a slate to aid him. A few teachers 

 use the manual alphabet for thi* purpose. 



With regard to the results obtained in respect to articulation, Mr. 

 Day's report i* full and comprehensive, but by no means encouraging. 

 We include a few extracts in hi* own words : " As would naturally 

 be expected, the teacher* are able to make out what their pupil* 

 articulate better than any one else. They are acquainted with the 

 particular mistake* of each, and attach a "signification to what appear 

 to others only as Incoherent sound*.'' A passage being selected from 

 the Bible, containing no difficult words, but not in the ordinary school 

 exercises, " one of the best scholars who had been five year* nn.li r 

 instruction, read it twice over, but the teacher was unable to make out 

 any part of it ; on the second reading of another passage by a scholar 

 six years under instruction, the teacher repeated the whole. I 

 ments of this natui-e were made at other schools, and led to the con- 

 clusion, " that the instructors understand their pupils not so much in 

 virtue of the intelligibility of their articulation, as by being accustomed 

 to the circle of words they commonly use." This view i* confirmed 

 by the fact which the teachers acknowledge, " that they do not under- 

 stand the pupils of other school* so well as their own." 



A general impression prevails among intelligent Germans that the 

 articulation of the educated deaf and dumb is unintelligible. A 

 bookseller in one of the cities said, " when the deaf and dutn> 

 taught the manual alphabet, it was easy to converse with them, but 

 since that has been abandoned, and we have nothing but articulation, 

 conversation ha* become very difficult." Mr. Day comes to the three 

 following conclusions on the intelligibility of the articulation : 1. A 

 foreigner would find no difficulty in understanding the more common 

 forms of salutation, and a few simple questions and answers. After a 

 few months instruction the pupils are able to say ynte morye* (good 

 morning) and the like, in a way to be understood. 2. In hearing the 

 oldest class read, he would be able by looking on the book, in the 

 majority of cases, to keep his eye on the place. 3. In hearing the 

 same class read a passage, the book not being in his hand, or - 

 they attempt to speak anything out of the usual course, he would only 

 recognise a few of the more common words. 



''itcnri/ attained intending and speaking is in general very little ; 

 the articulation is slow and laborious. The reading resembles i 

 a young child spelling out his words. With regard to con-. 

 words are pronounced in three or four different ways, from failure of 

 memory of the position of the organs, or from want of sufficient < 

 over the organs ; the following are given as examples of mistakes in 

 pronunciation : hehe, for gegen ; Jed , for Jesus ; tprte, for sprach ; 

 nit'iand, for niemand ; fratt, for fragcst; steht, for stadt ; mparli. f. >r 

 s|uach: Tii>. for \Veide; pfdrte, for sedete ; Milr, for 8 

 for ging. " Of those whose articulation is better than has been 

 described, everywhere constituting exceptions, and everywhere also 

 naturally made prominent when strangers are present, a large part 

 learned to talk mart or lest before they became tlcaf. Kven in cage* 

 where the power of hearing is lost at two or three years of age, an idea 

 of articulate sounds is gained, and a flexibility of the vocal organs 

 possessed, which gives a certain advantage in subsequent instruction. 

 But when the child made use of language till four or five years of 

 age, or as sometimes happens, to seven, eight, or even ten, and stranger 

 still, m vi r lost the use of it, the case is a very wide remove from that 

 of ordinary deaf-mutes, and cannot properly be cited without an ex- 

 planation of the circumstances. It is very common in Germany to 

 refer to a (so-called) deaf-mute instructor in the school at Her] in, 

 named Habermaas, in proof of the degree to which the deaf and dumb 

 can be taught to articulate. That he stood very far above even the 

 best-instructed deaf-mutes, would be sufficiently evident from the 

 fiv<|iieiu-y with which his ability to eODTefM is icf.-iivil t... At tin- 



in- it alters the case entirely, to learn that not only was he not 

 born deaf, but that he actually lost his hearing at so late a period, 

 that when he entered the school at Berlin, he was still able to t.ilk. In 



I ntrtr lot! the UK ofujirrrh, and as the dircc 

 the Berlin Institution, who communicated these facts to me, ob^ 

 cannot properly l.,. referred to as an instance of the BI 

 tion in articulation. ' It. is precisely in this manner.' In' continued, 

 1 that erroneous ideas are circulated, and unfounded expectations so 

 often cherished, in respect to what can be done for d. 



There is another class who must be regarded us in 



respect to the general results of instruction in articulation, win.-!. 



consists of those who still retain a i-uflicicnt degree of hearing, to be 



derable extent available. The German teachers 



ledge that the power of distinguishing sounds i* of great 



-.;!; although tin- pupils, by the ,".-p.- of li.-.niu-, may be 

 unable to learn to talk, it insensibly makes the intonation more 

 natural and pleasant, beside* affording important assistance in teaching 



ial sounds. 



The results of instruction in reading on the lips was made a separate 

 inquiry. Mr. Day found that pantomimic signs were made use of 

 I y the teachers In this branch to a far greater degree than might be 



