GENERAL MEETING. 51 
for the deaf and dumb express unfeigned astonishment at the bright- 
ness and intelligence displayed by the pupils. 
Why Hearing Children who become Deaf also become Dumb. 
I have stated above that children who are born deaf do not natu- 
rally speak because they cannot hear. For the same reason chil- 
dren who lose their hearing after having learned to speak naturally 
tend to lose their speech. They acquired speech through the ear 
by imitating the utterances of their friends and relatives, and when 
they become deaf they gradually forget the true pronunciation of 
the words they know, and have naturally no means of learning the 
pronunciation of new words; heace their speech tends to become 
more and more defective until they finally cease to use spoken 
words at all. 
Adults who become deaf do not usually have defective speech, 
for in their case the habit of speaking has been so fully formed 
that the mere practice of the vocal organs in talking to friends 
prevents loss of distinctness. We can learn, however, from the 
case of Alexander Selkirk how important is constant practice of 
the vocal organs. This man, after about one year’s solitary resi- 
dence upon an island, was found to have nearly forgotten his mother 
tongue; and we find that deaf adults who shrink from society and 
use their vocal organs only on rare occasions acquire peculiarities 
of utterance that are characteristic of persons in their condition, 
although the general intelligibility of their speech is not affected. 
Fallacies Regarding the Nature of Speech. 
The fallacies I have already alluded to respecting the difference 
between those who become deaf in’ childhood and those who become 
deaf in adult life have their origin in a fallacy concerning the nature 
of speech itself. To most people, who do not reflect upon the sub- 
ject, it appears that speech is acquired by a natural process similar 
to that by which we acquire our teeth. Ata certain age the teeth 
make their appearance, and at another age we begin to talk. To 
unreflecting minds it appears that we grow into speech; that speech 
is a natural product of the vocal organs, produced without instruc- 
tion and education ; and this leads directly to the fallacy that where 
speech is wanting or imperfect the vocal organs are defective. 
I have already stated that this cause has been assigned in expla- 
