82 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Col. Mallery said they were classed by Constanfine with the in- 

 sane. 



President Gallaudet stated that no extended history of the matter 

 for the whole world existed. He had once undertaken such a work 

 but had been compelled by other duties to suspend it. He said that 

 records on the subject, in Europe, date back four or five centuries, 

 and schools had existed in France, Germany, and Italy for one 

 hundred and fifty years. He was certain no such institutions existed 

 in China. Japan has two small schools. He was invited, in 1867, 

 to go to China and establish a school, and had accepted the in- 

 vitation, when the rebellion broke out there and put an end to the 

 scheme. 



Dr. Welling desired to learn in what sense deaf-mutes are 

 capable of receiving and expressing ideas of the higher class ; 

 whether deafness was a bar to the intellectual acquirements made 

 by other persons. 



President Gallaudet replied that it interposes no obstacle to men- 

 tal development, except that connected with acoustics. He had 

 even questioned whether it did not tend to quicken thought by the 

 forced absence it imposes of the multiform distractions which enter 

 other people's minds through the ear. 



In reply to Mr. Bigelow's question, whether the mere jar 

 produced by some sounds did not furnish a sort of substitute for 

 hearing in some cases, he said that this was simply feeling and not 

 hearing, and that deaf people were able to make some use of it. 



Mr. Gilbert inquired whether there was a universal system of 

 signs, so that deaf-mutes of all nationalities could understand one 

 another. 



President Gallaudet said that this was the nature of the true 

 sign language, but that besides this, special arbitrary signs were 

 used by different schools ; there was also an alphabetic language, 

 and this he regarded as really the most complete system. He 

 spoke of lip-reading, and said that Prof. Bell was now preparing a 

 list of words of different meaning and spelling, but requiring the 

 same position of the lips (Jwmophem.es). 



