9 
GENERAL MEETING. 63 
assures us that, with all who are deaf from infancy, we can cer- 
tainly achieve the same results if only we can give them a sufficient 
knowledge of our language, at least in its written form. In the 
early stages of the education of the congenitally deaf it appears to 
me that written English should be made the vernacular of the 
school-room, and that all words or sentences written should also be 
spoken by the teacher and read by the pupils from the mouth. 
When the English language has become vernacular there is no 
reason why instruction should not also be given by word of mouth 
alone (as in the case of those who could speak before they became 
deaf’) without interfering with mental development. 
Before leaving this subject I would say that it is of importance 
to remember that speaking and understanding speech by the eye 
are two very different things. We can all of us speak very readily, 
but I fancy it would puzzle most of us to be called upon to tell what 
a speaker says by watching his mouth. The congenitally deaf can 
certainly be taught to speak intelligibly even by persons unfamiliar 
with the mechanism of articulation. Such pupils should therefore 
be taught to articulate, and their vocal organs should be continually 
exercised in the school-room by causing them to speak as well as to 
write. The congenitally deaf can be taught to articulate even be- 
fore they are familiar with English, but I do not think they can 
acquire the power of understanding ordinary conversational speech 
by watching the mouth, at least to any great extent, until after they 
have become familiar with our language. 
Gesture Language. 
I have already stated that the old fallacy, “ without speech there 
can be no reason,” prevented for hundreds of years any attempt at 
the education of the deaf and dumb, and now I come to the mem- 
orable experiment that forever exploded the fallacy. Towards the 
latter end of the last century the Abbe de l’Epee, during the course 
of his ministration in Paris, entered a room in which two girls were 
sewing. He addressed some remarks to them, but received no reply. 
These girls were deaf and dumb. At once the kind heart of the 
good Abbe was touched, and he determined to devote his life to the 
amelioration of the condition of the deaf and dumb. 
He gathered together quite a number of deaf children, who made 
their home with{him. He spent his time in their society and de- 
voted to their comfort all that he possessed, reducing himself even 
