EDUCATION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB. 273 



them, rather than to devise any language or code of 

 signals by means of which they might communicate 

 theirs to us. The former may be more important 

 from a utilitarian point of view, though even this is 

 questionable, but psychologically it is far less interest- 

 ing. Under these circumstances, it occurred to mo 

 whether some such system as that followed with deaf 

 mutes, and especially by Dr. Howe with Laura Bridg- 

 man, might not prove very instructive if adapted to the 

 case of dogs. 



A very interesting account of Laura Bridgman has 

 been published by Wright, compiled almost entirely from 

 reports of the Perkins Institution, and the Massachusetts 

 Asylum for the Blind, in which Dr. Howe, the director 

 of the establishment, details the history of Laura Bridg- 

 man, who was deaf, dumb, and blind, almost without the 

 power of smell and taste, but who, nearly alone among 

 those thus grievously afflicted, possessed an average, if 

 not more than an average, amount of intelligence, 

 although, until brought under Dr. Howe's skilful treat- 

 ment and care, her physical defects excluded her from 

 all social intercourse. 



Laura Bridgman was born of intelligent ana respect- 

 able parents, in Hanover, New Hampshire, U.S., in 

 December, 1829. She is said to have been a sprightly, 

 pretty infant, but subject to fits, and altogether very 

 fragile. At two years old she was fairly forward, had 

 mastered the difference between A and B, and, indeed, 

 is said to have displayed a considerable degree of 

 intelligence. She then became suddenly ill, and had 

 to be kept in a darkened room for five months. When 

 she recovered she was blind, deaf, and had nearly lost 

 the power both of smell and taste. 



