196 
NATURE 
[| DECEMBER 27, 1906 
and cannot be supposed to be a product of its aes 
integration. 
It is not necessary to dwell on the admirable 
lucidity and suggestiveness of Prof. Rutherford’s 
book, for that is no more than his readers have been 
taught to expect. The only doubt which can be felt 
is whether it meets any want which was not already 
satisfied by his previous work, ‘‘ Radio-activity.”’ 
Ra je ScRUDE 
VISIBLE SPEECH. 
Lectures upon the Mechanism of Speech. By Alex- 
ander Graham Bell. Reprinted from the Proceed- 
ings of the First Summer Meeting of the American 
Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to 
the Deaf. Pp. 129. (New York and London: 
Funk and Wagnall’s Company, 1906.) Price 
1-00 dollar net. 
HIS interesting book consists of a series of lec- 
tures by Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, whose 
name in the future may be as honourably associated 
with his labours in the education of deaf mutes as 
with the invention of the telephone. His father, A. 
Melville Bell, many years ago, devised a method of 
representing, or rather symbolising, positions of the 
vocal organs. To this symbolic method he gave the 
name of ‘‘ visible speech,’’ because anyone acquainted 
with the symbols could place his vocal organs in the 
desired positions, and then, on emitting the breath 
and bringing the vocal cords into action, could pro- 
duce the desired sound. 
‘““These symbols of visible speech,’? remarks Mr. 
Bell, ‘“‘ bear the same relation to phonetics that 
chemical symbols do to the science of chemistry. In 
dealing with the mechanism of speech, it is as neces- 
sary nowadays to make use of my father’s symbols, 
as it is to use chemical symbols in treating of the 
composition of matter.”’ 
The symbols, which are very simple and ingenious, 
indicate the position of the lips, the position of the 
tongue, the condition of the larynx, and the condition 
of the passage between the larynx and the tongue or 
lips. It is evident that to produce a given sound we 
might have a row of such symbols. Thus, to sound 
the vowel oo, at least three position symbols would 
be required, and to show how to pronounce the word 
moon would require nine symbols, namely, three for 
m, three for oo, and three for n. To avoid this diffi- 
culty the signs or symbols are abbreviated or con- 
densed, so that the word moon is now represented by 
only three symbols, curious looking things, like old 
Gothic letters, but quite intelligible when one has, as 
it were, already studied their evolution. The only 
comment I would make on the abbreviated symbols is 
that they should be printed on a fairly large scale, as 
a very slight mark may be of great importance, and 
a sharp eye is required if the symbols are printed 
small. 
Mr. Bell then proceeds to show how the meaning 
of the symbols may be conveyed to the deaf. They 
are exhibited on a large scale in a series of charts, 
and with infinite patience the teacher enables, by 
gestures and movements, the deaf mute to compre- 
NO. 1939, VOL. 75 | 
hend their meaning. Step by step the pupil is taught 
how to place the lips, the tongue, the soft palate, 
and how to modify the form of the mouth. The child 
has also explained how to produce various vowel 
sounds, which are divided by Mr. Bell into primary 
vowels, wide vowels, primary round vowels, and wide 
round vowels. Each of these is accompanied by a 
symbol. To show how much may be symbolised, take 
three of the primary round vowels, and we have 
symbols indicating (1) voice, back small aperture, lip 
small aperture; (2) voice, back mid aperture, lip mid 
aperture; (3) voice, back large aperture, lip large 
aperture. 
The teacher must have a feeling of great delight 
when he hears for the first time the required sound 
coming from the mouth of the deaf mute. Mr. Bell’s 
criticism of methods is both wise and interesting, as 
we show by the following quotation :— 
‘“ Now in teaching a deaf child you present to him 
a symbol for some difficult sound. If he has been 
taught to analyse the symbols in the manner shown, 
the symbol conveys to his mind a direction what to do 
with his mouth. That is what your pupil has to 
aim at, but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred he 
may not get it, at least at the first shot. Now what 
are you going to do? Are you going to say, ‘ No, 
no! that’s not right. Try again’! Let him try 
once more, and the chances are that he fails again 
to give the sound intended. The no-no method only 
aggravates the difficulty by discouraging the pupil 
and disgusting him with articulation. ... The deaf 
child must know what he did when he failed... . 
The knowledge of that realism will guide him in 
his next attempt. For example :—If he knows that 
his tongue was too far forward in the mouth, in his 
next attempt he aims at having his tongue further 
back, and probably gets too far in that direction. 
If, then, he is told the result of this attempt also, he 
makes due allowance the next time he tries. He may 
fail a hundred times. Now the position may be a 
little too far forward, now a little too far back, or the 
tongue may be too high or too low, but his knowledge 
of the effect of each effort causes him to approach 
more and more closely to the exact position desired, 
till at last he gets it. The time spent in studying 
and representing the incorrect positions is not wasted, 
for it gives the pupil mastery over the instrument of 
speech itself, and the struggle to get exactitude of 
position with one difficult sound gives him power to 
get any other, just as the ability to hit one bull’s-eye 
qualifies a man to shoot at any mark ”’ (p. 70). 
These wise remarks apply to many methods of prac- 
tical instruction, in the laboratory and elsewhere. Mr. 
Bell’s lectures were delivered to teachers of deaf 
mutes, and often at the close of a lecture Mr. Bell 
was interrogated. This Socratic method drew from 
the teacher many valuable remarks, and sometimes 
‘* asides,’’ which showed the fertility of the lecturer’s 
thought. Altogether this little bool: is full of interest 
to students of phonetics, a department of science 
often a wilderness of dreary discussion, but here, in 
the hands of Mr. Bell, a subject of living interest. 
To be able to teach deaf mutes how to communicate 
with their fellow mortals is an achievement worthy of 
one who has, in another province, made his mark on 
the technical science of the day. 
Joun G. McKenprick. 
