608 



DEAF AND DUMB. 



classes of men. In some countries of Europe, there 

 is one for every 1500 or 1700; in others, one for 

 every 1000 ; and, in some locations, the proportion is 

 three or lour times as great as this. The proportion 

 has been found greatest in some districts or portions 

 of cities remarkable for the dampness and impurity 

 of the air. The greater number of these unfortu- 

 nate persons is found among the poorer classes ; ;md 

 hence it has hem sii]p[x>-,ed, that the defect is fre- 

 quently caused by the want of the necessary supplies 

 and attentions during infancy or disease. 



Causes and Cure. The immediate causes of ordi- 

 nary dumbness are known to be various. In some few 

 cases, it is owing to an imperfection or injury of some 

 part of the organs of speech, and, of course, is irre- 

 mediable. In oilier cases, it seems to arise from 

 ili ructions in the external or internal passage of the 

 ear. Cures have sometimes been effected by remov- 

 ing these obstructions by means of instruments or 

 injections, especially, of late, by doctors Itard and 

 Deleau, of Paris, who tlirow injections into the Eu- 

 stachian passage, by means of a flexible tube passed 

 through the nostrils. Doctor Deleau is reported, by 

 a committee of the French institute, to have relieved 

 or cured several deaf persons, by injections of air, 

 long continued ; but he doe not estimate the proba- 

 ble number of cures in deaf mutes at more than one in 

 ten. Perforation of the tympanum is sometimes use- 

 ful in rendering it more easy to remove obstructions 

 which may be discovered ; and for this purpose, it is 

 deemed important to perform it by means of circular 

 . closing with a spring, which remove a portion 

 of the membrane, and leave a permanent opening. 

 I n other cases, and in the usual mode, this operation 

 ofien produces great suffering, and lias not been 

 generally useful. In eighty-one cases of perforation 

 at Groningen, in Holland, only three were perma- 

 nently relieved, and these in a very partial degree. In 

 the greater proportion of deaf mutes, no defect is visi- 

 ble, and no applications appear to be useful. In a 

 number of anatomical examinations of deceased deaf 

 mutes, at Paris, the ear was found perfect in all its 

 parts. The inference has therefore been made, that 

 the disease consists in a paralysis of the auditory 

 nerve a conclusion which seems to be sustained by 

 the fact, that, in some cases, a cure has been effected 

 by actual cautery on the back of the head, and that 

 galvanism has sometimes given temporary relief. The 

 number of deaf mutes in Europe is not less than 

 140,000; all of whom, by their deafness (which we see 

 is usually beyond the reach of remedies), are shut out 

 from the intercourse of society, and the ordinary 

 means of acquiring knowledge. The situation and 

 character of such a large class of unfortunate persons 

 are subjects of deep interest. 



Communication. Natural Language. The neces- 

 sity of communication, and the want of words, oblige 

 the deaf mute to observe and imitate the actions and 

 expressions which accompany various states of mind 

 and of feeling, to indicate objects by their appearance 

 and use, and persons by some peculiar mark, and to 

 describe their actions by direct imitation. In this 

 way, he and his friends are led to form a dialect of 

 tliat universal language of attitude, gesture, and ex- 

 pression, by which the painter and the sculptor con- 

 vey to us every event of history, and every feeling 

 of the soul ; which becomes a substitute for words in 

 the hands of the pantomimic actor, and which adds 

 force and clearness to the finest effusions of the ora- 

 tor ; in other words, the natural sign language. 



Description of the Language. The terms of this 

 language are of two kinds, the descriptive and the 

 characteristic or indicative signs. Descriptive signs 

 involve an account, more or less complete, of the 

 appearance, qualities, and uses of an object, or the 



circumstances of nn event, for the purpose of descrip- 

 tion or explanation ; and must, irom their nature, 

 be varied, like a painting, only by the point of view 

 frcm which the objects are described, or the capacity 

 and accuracy of the person that describes. The in- 

 dicative signs, on the contrary, which are employed 

 in common conversation, are usually mere ;>l>bre\ ia- 

 tious of these, involving a single striking feature !>f 

 the person, or object, or event ; as an 'elephant is 

 indicated by its mink, a flower by its fragrance, or 

 a town by a collection of roofs. The signs of per- 

 sons are usually conventional, and derived from some 

 feature, or mark, or habit, but often from an a< < i 

 dental circumstance in dress, &c., which struck the 

 deaf mute on first seeing the person, and is still re- 

 ferred to when it no longer exists. It is obv ions t hat, 

 in this class of signs, there is great room for dialers, 

 according to the situation, capacity, and habits of 

 observation of the individual, and that much may he. 

 done for its improvement, by a proper selection. 



Extent of the Sign Language. The sign language, 

 like every other, varies in its extent with the intelli- 

 gence, the wants, and the circle of ideas of those who 

 use it. When employed by an insulated deaf mute, 

 it will usually exhibit only the objects of the first ne- 

 cessity, and the most common impulses, like the lan- 

 guage of a savage tribe. When his ideas expand, 

 from age or observation, he will find new modes of 

 expressing them ; ;u:d, when his education is begun, 

 an intelligent deaf mute will often express ideas in 

 this language, for which it is difficult to find expres- 

 sions in words. When a number of deaf mutes are 

 brought together in a single institution, selection 

 and combinations of their various dialects are formed ; 

 the best are gradually adopted by all ; and a new 

 and more complete form of the language is the. re- 

 sult as in nations collected by civilization. This 

 process, carried on for half a century in the institu- 

 tion of Paris, and some others in Europe, under the 

 observation and direction of intelligent men possessed 

 of hearing, has produced a language capable of ex- 

 pressing all the ideas we convey by articulate sounds, 

 with clearness, though not always with equal brevity, 

 and which those who value it least admit to surpass 

 speech in the force with which it communicates the 

 feelings and states of mind. Like painting (as Con- 

 dillac observes), it has the immense advantage of 

 presenting a group of ideas at once, which lose much 

 of their force and beauty by being detailed in the 

 successive words and artificial arrangements of writ- 

 ten language. The eye, the hand, the whole body, 

 speak simultaneously on one subject ; the represen- 

 tation changes every moment, and these peculiarities, 

 with the elliptical form of expression which is adopted 

 in conversation, give a rapidity to communication 

 by the sign language, which, on common subjects, 

 among those familiar with it, surpasses that of 

 speech. If we remark the new shades of meaning 

 given to the same words, by the varying attitude 

 and general expression of the speaker, and the accu- 

 racy with which a nice observer will discover, in 

 these signs, the thoughts, and feelings, and inten- 

 tions, even of one who wishes to conceal them, we 

 shall find reason to believe that they are capable of 

 conveying the most delicate shades of thought. Ge- 

 neric and abstract terms, as their objects do not exist 

 in nature, have no corresponding terms of equal 

 clearness in the sign language ; and the abbreviated 

 manner in which we express relations by conjunc- 

 tions, prepositions, relatives, and inflections, can 

 only be imitated by adopting similar conventional 

 signs, which do not easily fall in with the idiom of 

 the language. In these respects, therefore, the sign 

 language wants the algebraic brevity and accuracy 

 which are found in artificial languages, and whicii 





