v DEAF AND DUMB, INSTITUTIONS FOR THK. 



IH-: AT AM> I'l'Ml!, INSTITUTIONS FOR THK. 410 



fulu ascribed by Dtgmndo to Maaueu's ' Nomenclature,' which 

 criticum applies rory forcibly to it in iU present form 



Annual subscriptions, together with payment* on behalf of pupils, 

 flhet much toward* the rapport of thu claw of butitaUons, an.l the 

 dfleinc>* are generally mipplir.1 by donatioiui and legacies. Still the 

 idea is pining ground that u gorernmeut aid U to freely rendered to 

 all educational purposes for which it u sought, iU Application to our 

 deal and dumb establishments would be desirable, and would not be 

 rafmad The form in which inch grants ahoukl be asked U a question 

 for consideration, perhaps that of paymenU to assistant-masters would 

 be one eligible mode of help. If each provincial institution could 

 reoeire. aooording to iU magnitude, from 601. to 100/. a year in aug- 

 mentation of the salaries of assistant-masters, a better payment to thu 

 claw of teacher* would be aecured, and a succession of teachers might 

 thus be relied on. There are no prizes in thu department of education, 

 the few J*"*"** of advancement to head-masterships are not sufficient 

 to tempt young men to remain attached to institutions when so many 

 openings for them occur in commercial houses, in joint-stock com- 

 panies, and in the public service. Many good teachers would be re- 

 tained in institutions, who at present seek places of greater emolument, 

 if they could see the prospect of a second-mastership with such an 

 addition to their salaries as would insure them 801. or 1001. a year, 

 bi*V* board and lodging. Another boon the committee of council 

 might confer on these institutions is the privilege of grants of books, 

 maps, pictures, and diagrams, or the purchase of the same as by 

 ordinary schools. Grants in aid of buildings, and extensions of ex- 

 isting establishments are also needed in many localities, but not so 

 much for the purpose of additional institutions, as to render those in 

 operation more efficient. Schools of fewer than 50 pupils do not carry 

 on the work economically, and it is not desirable to multiply such 

 schools. But it must be borne in mind that one-eighth of the deaf 

 and dumb population should be provided for. It has been shown that 

 Great Britain and Ireland contain 17,300 deaf and dumb persons ; that 

 1650 only are under instruction, while 2175 is the due proportion; 

 the deficiency therefore amounts to 625, yet to be brought into our 

 school*. 



These grants would probably not be conceded unless accompanied 

 by government inspection ; to this we apprehend no objection would 

 be raised either by committees or by principals of institutions, provided 

 the inspector was himself a teacher of the deaf and dumb. No other 

 inspector could go through the examinations required satisfactorily to 

 all parties, nor make due allowances for the difficulties attendant on 

 such a course of teaching ; each child would have to be examined in 

 every branch of instruction, and from a week to a month, according to 

 the number of pupils, would be required in the examination of each 

 institution, and reporting thereon. 



Besides the ordinary public institutions for the education of the 

 deaf and dumb, another class has arisen in London, Manchester, and 

 Leeds during recent years, while their especial object is met in other 

 localities also, as at Birmingham, Glasgow, Belfast, and Bath. A 

 description of one of them will show the operation of all, and that of 

 London may be taken as their type, premising, thnt in the metropolis 

 some objects are pursued which are not called for in the provinces. 

 The chief feature of the association in aid of the deaf and dumb, in 

 Bedford Row, London, is to supplement the work commenced in ordi- 

 nary schools. The deaf and dumb are certainly more isolated than 

 any ordinary class of persons, while they are naturally inclined to seek 

 each other's society. By assembling them for week-day lectures, and 

 Sunday instruction, the powers of mind of adults, especially those of 

 the inferior class in intellect, are prevented from collapsing, or falling 

 into a state of normal weakness. When they meet on Sundays the 

 prayers of the church of England are read by signs, and plain explana- 

 tions of some portion of the Liturgy, and of a passage from the Bible, 

 are given, so that they can understand such instructions. Another 

 important sphere of usefulness is home-visiting, by which the mis- 

 sionary employed becomes acquainted with their personal habits and 

 wants ; work is procured for the unemployed, and this part of the 

 operations of the association has been attended with considerable 

 success, for during the last three year* regular employment has been 

 obtained for about forty. Pecuniary loans have been advanced to 

 about sixty, in times of temporary want or distress, and though on 

 Una these loans become gifts, there is generally much good 



ben evince much interest ; in many cases drunken habits have been 

 superseded by temperance, and steady industry has taken the place of 

 an idle life. These are no trifling effects to produce, and they are all 

 of that tendency which must increase the self-respect and self-depend- 

 [ the class thus benefited. At Manchester and Leeds several 



of the above objects are also carried out ; at Glasgow, Birmingham, 

 Bath, 4tc., Sunday services are held for the former pupils of those 

 localities. 



Within the last few years the literature which concerns the deaf and 

 dumb, has received a valuable accession by the publication of two 

 works in the French language, on* by the AblxS Carton, director of the 

 institution for the deaf and dumb, of Bruges ; and the other by M. 

 Yaladc-Uabel, honorary director of the Imperial institution for the deaf 



and dumb, at Bordeaux. We must explain how these two works 

 originated. In 1833 the central society for the education and assist- 

 ance of the deaf and dumb of Paris, declared tli.-ir intention to award 

 a price for a work on the education of the deaf and dumb which should 

 be applicable to home instruction and to common schools. In answer 

 to it only two competitors appeared, while it was considered that 

 neither of the works fulfilled the conditions of the utter, and no award 

 was made. In 1855 the proposal was renewed, and produced eighteen 

 competitors, to one of these, the work by the AbW Carton, the prize 

 was adjudged ; another by M. Valade-Gabel, was considered entitled 

 to very high distinction : these are the two works before ua, four 

 others were honourably mentioned. 



The AbUS Carton's is distinguished by much simplicity and great 

 clearness ; it is not merely instructive, but it is also attractive I n .en 

 interesting and somewhat dramatic story the processes of tMiing are 

 unfolded in logical sequence, and connected with each other throughout 

 the work. Petit Paul, the hero of the process, is the deaf and dumb 

 child of the mayor of a commune in France, and a great favourite with 

 M. Thomas, the modest and enlightened teacher of a common school, 

 who had been the teacher of most of the fathers and mothers of the 

 young generation, and who was universally esteemed for his useful life, 

 as well as for his personal merits. A professor of the art of instructing 

 the deaf and dumb takes especial pains to persuade M. Thomas, against 

 his own will, that it is his duty to undertake the instruction of little 

 Paul ; that such a work would not only be easy but also pleasant. He 

 undertakes the task, and step by step his efforts are conducted to a 

 successful issue under the guidance of the professor. The work 

 abounds in philosophical interest, it is written with great elegance of 

 style, and displays an accurate knowledge of the difficulties to be 

 surmounted, but it does little more than trace the outline of the plan 

 to be pursued, and it would require a more practical development of 

 every step taken to moke jt a useful guide to French parents and 

 schoolmasters. 



The work of M. Valade-Gabel enters largely upon the whole theory 

 and practice of instructing deaf-mutes, and is one of the most able, and 

 at the same time, interesting works which a teacher, whether of the 

 deaf and dumb, or of an ordinary school could study. It will be sug- 

 gestive to both, it may make a teacher of a common school, who enters 

 into its spirit, forsake his vocation to become a teacher of the deaf and 

 dumb, but it can never make him fulfil the scholastic duties which 

 would devolve upon him with both these classes of pupils. The work 

 comprises a series of practical lessons superior to any others we have seen 

 in the French language, but we do not consider that either this work or 

 the Abb6 Carton's fulfils the proposal of the central society, nor do we 

 consider that object an attainable one. The AbUS Carton's volume is 

 entitled to high commendation as an attempt to popularise the instruc- 

 tion of the deaf and dumb, and it will serve to show parents and 

 others how difficult is the art in practice, while it may encourage a 

 few who have leisure and inclination, to prepare their children's minds 

 for the professor. M. Valade-Gabel's work is a truly philosophical 

 treatise brought down to the comprehension of common minds, but not 

 to the practice of common schools. 



On this subject we must refer again to Mr. Day's report on the Gci -MUM 

 schools. He found some common schools in which the instruction of 

 the deaf and dumb is carried on with that of children in the possession of 

 all their senses. This theory was advanced in England abou 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 y t i v i 

 years ago by the friends of a deaf and dumb person named Arrow-mint h. 

 The n -Milts in Germany are far from nattering ; it was found that two 

 years of separate preparatory instruction were first necessary, ami tin -n 

 two hours of additional instruction daily, and the result was, that th,- 

 deaf and dumb scholars were taught with the other pupils only in a 

 few mechanical exercises; such as arithmetic, writing, and copying from 

 dictation. There is another class of schools for deaf-mutes in some of 

 the German States, connected with seminaries for the education , f 

 teachers for the common schools, but in the operation of this plan two 

 very important preliminaries are overlooked : 1st, that long exp< 

 and peculiar qualifications are necessary to form an accomplished 

 teacher of the deaf and dumb ; and 2ndly, that in order to succeed, 

 the teacher's whole attention must be devoted to the work. Another 

 attempt to popularise the education of the deaf and dumb in Prussia 

 is the advocacy of day-schools instead of boarding-schools ; it is con- 

 tended that on the German system of teaching articulation and reading 

 on the lips, any newly-acquired power of sj>eaking may be put into 

 immediate practice, and that thus their facilities of utterance w. m 1.1 

 be increased and improved, as well as their power of reading from t In- 

 lip* of others. But this is mere theory, for which present results 

 should not be compromised; by its adoption none of the advantages 

 looked for would be realised, while the deaf-mutes, as a class, would 

 lose that careful training, watchfulness, and moral guidance which a 

 residence in a boarding institution confers. Mr. Day mentions that 

 some of the German schools are designed for the deaf and dumb and 

 the blind. It is said that this unnatural union is rendered necessary 

 only from economical reasons ; this is scarcely a sufficient excuse for 

 either these schools or those in the United Kingdom, in which the two 

 classes are received. We doubt if it is a wise economy, for there is no 

 common union either in the modes of instruction or in the other 

 processes of education. 



Institutions for the deaf and dumb have been established for r.-itln T 



