HARTFORD HARTSHORN. 



043 



to undertake the establishment of an institution at 

 Hartford tor their relief, having previously stipulated 

 for means of personally examining the European in- 

 stitutions for the relief of persons thus afflicted. Mr 

 Gallaudet embarked for Europe in May, 1815. He, 

 returned in August, 1816, accompanied by Mr Laur- 

 ent Clerc, a distinguished pupil of the abbe Sicard. 

 The course of instruction commenced, with seven 

 pupils, in April, 1817, and, in 1829, there were 143 

 pupils in the institution, under the care of Mr Gal- 

 laudet and nine assistant instructors. One great ob- 

 ject, that the asylum has aimed to accomplish, is, 

 the diffusion of a uniform system of instruction 

 throughout the Union, and to satisfy candid and in- 

 telligent minds, that experience in teaching the deaf 

 and dumb, as in all other pursuits, mechanical or in- 

 tellectual, is of primary importance. Its efforts, in 

 this respect, have met with great success. It has 

 furnished the Pennsylvania institution, at Philadel- 

 phia, with its present principal and two assistant 

 teachers ; it afforded instruction to the principals of 

 the two institutions in Kentucky and Ohio ; and the 

 principal of the one at Canajoharie, in the state of 

 New York, himself deaf and dumb, was one of its 

 earliest pupils. In addition to these institutions, 

 all of which have derived their system of instruction 

 from the American asylum, there is but one other in 

 the United States, that in the city of New York. 

 Among the 318 pupils, who have been members of 

 the asylum, consisting of 178 males and 140 females, 

 134 were born deaf; 154 lost their hearing in infancy 

 and childhood ; and of thirty no certain information 

 could be procured. Among the causes of this ca- 

 lamity, were the following : fevers, more particularly 

 the spotted fever ; canker rash ; measles ; inflamma- 

 tion of the brain ; dropsy in the head ; small pox ; 

 hooping cough ; palsy ; in one instance, discharge of 

 cannon ; and sudden falls. In only two cases has 

 either of the parents of the pupils been deaf and 

 dumb ; and, in each of these, it was the father; 

 while, among several instances of marriage that have 

 come to the knowledge of those connected with the 

 asylum, where either one or both of the parties were 

 deaf and dumb, their children were in possession of 

 all their faculties. The physiology of the deaf and 

 dumb is a subject of the most curious kind, and, if 

 thoroughly investigated, might shed much additional 

 light upon that of our species in general. It would 

 serve very much to promote this object, if the clergy 

 and the physicians, in their respective towns, would 

 institute inquiries on this subject. The result of such 

 inquiries could be communicated to some of the 

 public ecclesiastical or medical associations, and 

 thence transmitted, free of expense, to the officers of 

 the asylum. If a single association would commence 

 inquiries of this kind, on some well digested, regular 

 plan, it would soon be more generally, and, it is to 

 be hoped, at length universally, adopted. Among 

 these inquiries, the following are the most important: 

 the sex, age, place of nativity and residence of the 

 individual ; whether the deafness is owing to some 

 original defect, or was produced by disease or acci- 

 dent, and, if so, in what way, and at what time ; 

 whether there are other cases of deafness in the same 

 family, or among any of the ancestors or collateral 

 branches of kindred, and how and when produced ; 

 if a part of the children hear and speak, and a part 

 are deaf and dumb, what is the order of their ages ; 

 whether the deafness is total or partial, anu, if 

 partial what kind of sounds can be heard, and to what 

 extent ; whether any medical means have been em- 

 ployed to remove it, and the result. ; whether the in- 

 dividual can utter any articulate sounds, and to what 

 extent ; whether any instruction has been given, and 

 with what success ; whether the individual has been 



taught any mechanical art or trade, or is engaged fn 

 any regular occupation ; if married, to whom, to n 

 deaf ami dumb person, or to one who can hear and 

 speak, and, if there are children, whether they are in 

 possession of their faculties ; what are the circum- 

 stances of the individual, or of the parents or friends, 

 and, more particularly, whether they are able to fur- 

 nish the means of education at some institution for 

 the deaf and dumb. With regard to the course of 

 instruction pursued in the American asylum, we will 

 only add to what has already been said in the article 

 Deaf and Dumb, that the period, for which pupils 

 are sent to the asylum, does not usually exceed four 

 years ; and, in this time, it is expected that they will 

 receive sufficient instruction for all the useful pur- 

 poses of life, and also that amount of religious know- 

 ledge, with which, as immortal beings, it is of essen- 

 tial importance that they should be made acquainted. 

 A moment's reflection will show the difficulty of the 

 task imposed on the instructor. Other children have 

 to pass through a much longer course of instruction, 

 counting from the time when they first begin to learn 

 their letters, before they acquire what is termed a 

 common education. In the four years, however, be- 

 sides being taught the prominent facts and leading 

 truths of the Bible, the pupils generally acquire the 

 ability to read books in an easy and familiar style, 

 and to express their thoughts intelligibly in writing ; 

 and they make some progress in arithmetic, geo- 

 graphy, the outlines of history, orthography, and the 

 practical part of grammar. The male pupils also ac- 

 quire some mechanical art. 



HARTLEY, DAVID, an English physician, princi- 

 pally celebrated as a writer on metaphysics and 

 morals, was born in 1705. At the age of fifteen, he 

 was sent to Jesus college, Cambridge, of which he 

 became a fellow. He engaged in the study of medi- 

 cine, and practised as a physician in Nottinghamshire, 

 and, subsequently, in London. When Mrs Stephens, 

 a female empiric, professed to have found out a spe- 

 cific for the stone, doctor Hartley contributed towards 

 her obtaining the grant of .5000 from parliament for 

 her discovery. He spent the latter part of his life at 

 Bath, and died there, Aug. 28, 1757. His fame as 

 a philosopher and a man of letters depends on his 

 work entitled Observations on Man (1749, 2 vols., 

 8vo). This treatise exhibits the outlines of connected 

 systems of physiology, mental philosophy, and theo- 

 logy. His physiology is founded on the hypothesis 

 of nervous vibrations. The doctrine of association, 

 which he adopted and illustrated, explains many 

 phenomena of intellectual philosophy ; and this part 

 of Hartley's work was published by Dr Priestley, 

 in a detached form, under the title of the Theory of 

 the Human Mind (8vo). 



HARTLEY, DAVID ; distinguished as a politician 

 and an ingenious projector. He was for some time a 

 member of parliament, and uniformly displayed liberal 

 views. His steady opposition to the war with the 

 American colonies, led to his being appointed one ot 

 the plenipotentiaries to treat with doctor Franklin, at 

 Paris ; and some of his letters on that occasion were 

 published in the correspondence of that statesman, in 

 1817, and are contained in the Diplomatic Corre- 

 spondence of the American Revolution (Boston, 1831). 

 In the house of commons, Hartley was one of the 

 first promoters of the abolition of the slave-trade. 

 This benevolent philosopher died at Bath, Dec. 19, 

 1813, aged eighty-four. 



HARTSHORN ; the horns of the common male 

 deer, to which many very extraordinary medicinal 

 virtues were attributed ; but the experience of late 

 years gives no countenance to them. The horns are 

 of nearly the same nature as bones, and the prepara- 

 tions from them by heat are similar to those from 

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