76 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
(ce) The practice of the sign Janguage hinders the aquisition of 
the English language. 
(d) It makes deaf-mutes associate together in adult life, and 
avoid the society of hearing people. 
(e) It thus causes the intermarriage of deaf-mutes and the 
propagation of their physical defect. 
5. Written words can be associated directly with the ideas they 
express, without the intervention of signs, and written English can 
be taught to deaf children by usage so as to become their ver- 
nacular. 
6. A language can only be made vernacular by constant use as 
a means of communication, without translation. 
7. Deaf children who are familiar with the English language in 
either its written or spoken forms can be taught to understand the 
utterances of their friends by watching the mouth. 
8. The requisites to the art of speech-reading are: 
(a) An eye trained to distinguish quickly those movements of 
the vocal organs that are visible (independently of the meaning of 
what is uttered.) 
(6b) A knowledge of homophenes ;* that is, a knowledge of those 
words that present the same appearance to the eye; and 
(ec) Sufficient familiarity with the English language to enable 
the speech-reader to judge by context which word of a homophe- 
nous group is the word intended by the speaker. 
If we look back upon the history of the education of the deaf, 
we see progress hindered at every stage by fallacies. Let us strive, 
by discussion and thought, to remove these fallacies from our minds 
so that we may see the deaf child in the condition that nature has 
given him to us. If we do this, I think we shall recognize the fact 
that the afflictions of his life are mainly due to ourselves, and we 
can remove them. 
Nature has been kind to the deaf child, man cruel. Nature has 
inflicted upon the deaf child but one defect—imperfect hearing ; 
man’s neglect has made him dumb and forced him to invent a 
language which has separated him from the hearing world. 
Let us, then, remove the afflictions that we ourselves have caused. 
* This word was suggested to me some years ago by Mr. Homer, lately Prin- 
cipal of the Providence (R. I.) School for Deaf-Mutes, and has now been per- 
manently adopted. 
