jo MY LIFE 



was to the National Deaf-Mute College, founded in 1857, 

 and one of the best institutions of the kind in the world. The 

 president, Dr. (ialaudet, learnt to speak by signs before he 

 spoke audibly, his mother being deaf and dumb, while his 

 father was the first teacher of deaf-mutes in the United States. 

 There arc about one hundred and twenty students from all 

 parts of the Union, and the buildings stand in one hundred 

 acres of beautifully wooded grounds, within ten miles of the 

 Capitol. The more advanced students learn every subject 

 taught in the best colleges, such as mathematics, the ancient 

 and modern languages, the various sciences, moral philoso- 

 phy, etc., and all these subjects are taught as thoroughly and 

 as easily as to those who possess the power of speech. 



But besides being taught to use the gesture language as 

 easily and as quickly as we use ordinary speech, and to read 

 and write as well as we do, they are also now taught to 

 speak — a much more difficult thing, and long thought impos- 

 sible, because, not being able to hear either the teacher's voice 

 or their own, they have to be taught by watching their tutor's 

 mouth while speaking, and then trying to imitate the move- 

 ments of the lips and tongues, aided by feeling the throat w T ith 

 their ringers. It is a very slow process, and success depends 

 much on the special initiative faculties and vocal organization 

 of the learner. Even in the best cases there is a hardness and 

 want of modulation in the voice, but they learn to say every- 

 thing, even to make a speech in public, and at the same time 

 they learn what is termed lip-reading — that is, to know what 

 a person is saying by watching the motions of the lips and 

 throat. But in this there is, of course, a good deal of guess- 

 work, and unless they know the subject of conversation, they 

 are likely to make great mistakes. 



Many persons cannot understand how it is possible to 

 convey all kinds of abstract ideas by means of gestures or 

 signals as quickly and as certainly as by vocal sounds. But 

 in reality the former has some advantages over the latter, 

 and is equally capable of unlimited extension and the ex- 

 pression of new ideas, by a modification of familiar symbols. 

 If we consider how easily we convey the idea, " Don't speak," 



