DEAF AM' DtTIB. EDfi ATInX (iK THF- 



I' AND WMn, IXSTITITIOXS FOR THK. 4U 



mwU M in the fanner year ; in arithmetic. Geography commenced 

 with ground-plan* of school-room, house, and neighbouring ground., 

 streets, nvk.li. fields. *o. Lessons' on farm, introductory to geometry. 

 Mural and religious duties. Composition, ooaunenoed by pupil* writing 

 down Ujeirown observations on fct and occurrences in short sen- 



Drawing nommen 



TUrd )'mr. Language continued ; the two former yean are chiefly 

 given to nomenclature; syntax will now more especially demand 

 attention. Lessons oontinued in geometry, geography, arithmetic, 

 physio*, and compaction. Scripture history and drawing continued. 



Po*rlJ> Yrar. Language oontinued. and especially applied to com- 

 position. Direct inntruction continued on all the subject* named for 

 the preceding year. 



/VU Year. In adilition to bringing the branches of knowledge com- 

 menced to a close, abstract idea* and figurative language ; doctrinal 

 religion ; the physiology of the human body ; the moral and social 

 duties of man, hi* dispositions and faculties, should be brought under 

 consideration during this year, and continued for as long a period as 

 the pupil remain* under instruction. Most of the new subject* here 

 mentioned would necessarily be the work of a sixth year. Thoae 

 parents who can afford to continue their children as private pupils 

 might have them instructed in every department of a sound Rnglixh 

 education, and, if they thought proper, qualified for the more liberal 

 arts and professions ; for there exists no insurmountable barrier to the 

 acquisition of rlaimirsl learning, mathematical and scientific attain- 

 ments, and a knowledge of the modern languages. 



After the explanations into which we have entered on the modes and 

 subjects of instruction, no lengthened remarks on the processes seem 

 to be requisite. In teaching substantives the object is pointed out, 

 and the name is written, spelled on the fingers, articulated, or signed, 

 ss the medium of communication may be; all these are so many 

 modes for expressing the object referred to. Thus if man be the 

 object, it is pointed to, or the word man is presented before the eyes 

 of the pupils, or it is spelled by means of the manual alphabet, or it ia 

 pronounced, or the beard is touched, and the height of man ia in- 

 dicated. In the same manner other names of objects are conveyed to 

 the pupils, who soon see that a connection exists between our conven- 

 tional signs and objects, as well as between their conventional signs and 

 objects. Adjectives are taught in a somewhat similar way ; the colours 

 are as easy as any other qualities to introduce pupils to this class of 

 words. A few wafers, all of the same size but of different colours, are 

 good mechanical aids. When the colours are known the teacher will 

 pass on to other adjectives. The nature of the indefinite article is 

 easily exhibited ; the definite can only be acquired by practice, in the 

 manner of hearing and speaking children. Verbs of action are easily 

 imitated by signs, and the pupils are prepared to expect that there are 

 words to indicate action, as well as objeflt, number, and qualities. 

 Adverbs, which indicate the manner of an action, naturally follow 

 verbs; to run quietly, to trait quiftly, to trait duu-ly, may, it will be 

 seen, be accurately conveyed by the means employed to bring instruc- 

 tion so immediately under the cognizance of the senses. The posses- 

 sive, demonstrative, and personal pronouns are exemplified by real 

 facts which come under the observation of the pupil, or which are 

 purposely contrived to arrest his attention, Many of the prepositions 

 and conjunctions can be rendered sensible and intuitive ; other par- 

 ticles are taught by diagrams, and by examples produced as occasion 

 requires, and reproduced by the pupils from instances supplied by 

 themselves. The moods and tenses of verbs, and the auxiliary verbs, 

 can only be taught effectually by the events and casualties which bring 

 them into use in ordinary life ; these are constantly occurring, and it is 

 the business of the teacher to turn them to account for the improve- 

 ment of his pupils. Abstract ideas must be traced downwards to 

 those simple ideas from which they originate, as well as from the 

 simple idea upwards ; indeed the constant application of analysis or 

 induction, which is continually called forth in conveying instruction 

 as far as may be through a sensible vehicle, renders this office of 

 language more easy than can be conceived by those not accustomed to 

 employ such powerful instruments in the process of education. Figu- 

 rative expressions, comparisons, similes, metaphors, require a series of 

 progressive lessons, in which language should be employed to illustrate 

 each step from the easiest to the most complicated figures of speech. 

 Examples might be taken from the Scriptures, from fables, allegories, 

 and parables; they should be especially written with a view to utility, 

 and adapted for the explanation of such subjects as occur in any course 

 of education. Though in the plan marked down we have given two 

 yean to numndalttrt , and have not recommended the commencement 

 of lyntax till the third year, it is not intended that this shall interfere 

 with the pupil's gradual introduction to small sentences expressive of 

 sensible ideas. Indeed the progress in language of a deaf and dumb 

 pupil, to be successful, must be assimilated as nearly as possible to the 

 progress of other children, and he must be continually accustomed to 

 those ordinary exemplifications of language, affirmative, negative, and 

 interrogative, which other children use, and which advance in com- 

 plexity as their years increase and their minds become enlightened. 

 As the manner and substance of a child's conversations indicate thn 

 society in which be has been brought up, and the educational advan- 

 tage* he has received, so will the ordinary remarks and compositions 

 of the deaf and dumb exhibit the benefits they have derived from the 



nplnyed to bring them into communion with society, and to 

 elevate their thoughts and understandings to the level of those who 

 labour mi-l.-i no Mich deprivations. 



The art of instructing the deaf and dumb h.i* not been always free 

 from empiricism. ' Several attempts, some trifling, others heinous, have 

 been made to claim for them intellectual powers and literary attain- 

 ments to which they have not been entitled ; these attempts have for a 

 time been successful, tho public has been deceived, and the re-action 

 has been injurious both to the deaf and dumb and their teachers. We 

 trust the days for such deceptions have passed away, and that w.- liv . 

 in purer timed. Whether the celebrated answers of Massieu, the pupil 

 il. must be considered as more than liable to imputation, is too 

 diiti.-iilt a question to decide now. They are so apposite and beautiful 

 that we harbour suspicion with regret There in no doubt but Massieu 

 possessed powers of mind amounting to genius, but even allowing this, 

 there are few of the instructors of the deaf and dumb of the present 

 day who believe his brilliant definitions and exemplifications to be tin- 

 genuine productions of his own mind ; they know that time has been 

 when, emulating the fame of Massieu, definitions as poetical, compact, 

 and expressive, have been taught to pupUt ; that they have been fully 

 explained, fixed in the mind and memory, and reproduced when re- 

 quired; but they also know that these were not the ideas of the 

 pupils themselves, but of their instructors, though the pupils have 

 had the credit of them. Let us explain how such effects can be pro- 

 duced. The word eternity occurs in Massieu's lesson with Sicard. 

 The master illustrates the meaning by drawing a line, and represents 

 it as prolonged at both ends indefinitely ; he speaks of this line as 

 representing time past, of which there was no beginning, and time 

 future, of which there shall be no end. Hence, when Massieu gives his 

 answer or definition of eternity, he merely writes, as a less able class- 

 mate might do, " A line which had no beginning and shall have no 

 end," putting the illustration into language, with such others as he 

 had been taught, as, "A day without a yesterday or to-morrow." 

 AIM'O ;. .in was his answer to the question on time, " A line that has 

 two ends a path that begins in the cradle and ends in the grave." 

 The same explanation may be given of the answers on gratitude, " the 

 memory of the heart ; " a taut, " an idea carrier," Ac. But the best 

 evidence that teachers have of the process followed is in their own 

 experience. One of them has written thus, " Most of these answers 

 are highly figurative. But the deaf and dumb generally avoid figura- 

 tive language ; their compositions usually are eminently literal ; they 

 readily detect resemblances, and frequently employ comparison, but 

 they very rarely personify." The writer of this article has taught 

 500 deaf and dumb pupils during the lost 30 years ; but instead of 

 being able to testify, as some writers have put' forth, that the deaf and 

 dumb have "a natural aptitude for defining abstract terms," his 

 experience has shown him the reverse. Some of his pupils Imve gone 

 through a series of abstract nouns in their school-course, but though 

 they have attained a certain amount of skill in defining, illustrating, or 

 exemplifying such words, it was onlyochiov.il by dint of severe mental 

 application, by no means common in young people. In his after lit'r 

 Massieu exhibited none of that talent which mode his name, wit) 

 of Sicard, so famous, although opportunities were not wanting. H<- 

 conducted an establishment for the deaf and dumb at Lisle for many 

 years, with but little success. He published a nomenclatuir f. T tin- 

 use of the deaf and dumb, of which Degerando says, " It has the 

 double vice of being exuberant ; by its multiplicity of words useless to 

 the deaf and dumb, and of being destitute of all logical arrange- 

 ment;" and he adds that Massieu "could never write the 1 '.- 

 language with accuracy." He died at Lisle, in 1846. 



The most exaggerated notions prevail as to what may be accom- 

 plished for the deaf and dumb, in the limited time usually allotted to 

 their education. What is actually done for them in many of our 

 institutions is, however, sufficiently marvellous. Nature does not act 

 HO bountifully towards them as ia commonly believed, making amends 

 for the lost sense by greatly increased power in the remaining ones, 

 and it is but a popular mistake that the deaf and dumb experience 

 this quickening inlluencr. They ore, however, made happy under 

 instruction ; they have fellowa with whom they con hold converse ; 

 they acquire habits of study, care, and industry, which are useful to 

 them in after life ; their social, moral, and religious sympathies are 

 awakened ; and their minds are informed with knowledge, from which. 

 before the process of instruction commenced, they were shin 

 But all this U achieved by the pains-taking labour of the teacher, :ui<l 

 he must labour with much patience to ensure that success to whieh I..' 

 looks for his reward ; for there is no natural gift possessed by these 

 children of silence to ease him of a single burden borne by the 

 ordinary teacher, while he has many doubts and disquietudes which 

 are unknown in the schools for the ordinary population 



DEAF AND DUMB, INSTITUTIONS FOR THE. In ' Le Bien- 

 faiteur,' No. 4 (October, 1853), the Abbd Daras gives a list of 455 

 establishments, including public institutions, associations, and private 

 schools for the education of the deaf and dumb, with the dates of their 

 foundation. Mr. Day, in his Report (1844), gives a table of 1"'J insti- 

 tutions in Europe and America, namely : 16 in Great Britain and 

 Ireland; 44 in France; 9 in Italy; 10 in Switzerland ; 9 in Austria; 

 22 in Prussia; 10 in Bavaria; 6 in Wurtemberg and Baden; 15 in 

 Saxony, Hanover, and the other German states ; 4 in German free cities ; 



