70 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
The Fallacy that a Gesture Language is the only form of Language 
in which a Congenitally Deaf Child can Think. 
Now what do we mean by a language being “ natural” or not? 
I cannot believe that in this 19th century any one really entertains 
the fallacy that there is a natural language per se. So I presume 
that that language is considered natural to a person in which he 
thinks. Under this meaning the proposition assumes this shape: 
The sign language taught in our institutions, or a gesture language 
of some kind, is the only form of language in which a congenitally 
deaf child can think; that is, it is the only language of which the 
elements can be associated directly with the ideas they express. 
In this form the fallacy is easily exploded, for in the course of 
the last one hundred years so many experiments have been made 
in the education of the deaf that we now know with absolute cer- 
tainty that deaf children can be taught to associate written words 
directly with the ideas they represent; and when they are taught 
to spell these words by a manual alphabet, the movements of the 
fingers become so natural a method of giving vent to their thoughts 
that even in sleep their fingers move when they dream. 
Not only has written English been made the vernacular of con- 
genitally deaf children, but the same result has been achieved with 
written French, German, Spanish, Dutch, and other languages. 
Congenitally deaf children who have been taught articulation 
move their mouths in their sleep and give utterance to words when 
they dream. 
Laura Bridgman, the blind deaf-mute, was taught by the late 
Dr. Howe to gather ideas through the sense of touch. English 
words printed in raised letters were presented to her sense of touch 
in connection with the objects which they represented, and she 
associated the impressions produced upon the ends of her fingers 
with the objects themselves. The English language in a tangible 
form became her vernacular. 
All these facts assure us that any form of language may become 
natural to a deaf child by usage, so long as it is presented to the 
senses he possesses. There is only one way that language is natu- 
rally acquired, and that is by usage and imitation. Any form of 
language that can be clearly appreciated by the senses the deaf 
child possesses, will become his vernacular if it is used by those 
about him. 
