ii8 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 395 



sort of craze, and that teachers in the art were everywhere 

 in demand. The Clarke Institution at . orthampton and the 

 American Asylum at Hartford were fortunate in securing 

 the personal services of Professor Bell, to give special in- 

 struction in introducing the Bell method. The number of 

 adherents increased rapidly, and at Worcester, Northamp- 

 ton, and Boston enthusiasts in the cause held conventions to 

 promote the new evangel to the deaf. The sweet optimism 

 of the first disciples was delight^'ul. But this system, from 

 which so much was expected, of which we believed so much 

 and knew so little, has, after nearly twenty years, ended 

 with the quantities inverted. For all purposes of articula- 

 tion, if not already dead, it is certainly moribund. It has 

 been tried and dropped in the following schools: the Ameri- 

 can Asylum at Hartford, the Clarke Institution at North- 

 ampton, Pennsylvania State Institution at Philadelphia, 

 Western Pennsylvania Institution, Wisconsin Institution, 

 Minnesota, 'Missouri, Ohio, Kansas, and Tennessee State 

 schools, and at Belleville. Ontario. It is true that ia the 

 statistics presented to the Royal Commission, visible speech 

 is still made to hold a place in our American schools, but a 

 glance at some of the remarks accompanying the affirma- 

 tive answers found in the table on page 2 of "Facts and 

 Opinions'' reveals the fact that some of the questions 

 concerning visible speech would have been more correct- 

 ly answered in the negative. " It is used," says Dr. 

 Gillette of Illinois, "to a very limited extent. It is of ad- 

 vantage to teachers, as it enables them to comprehend physi- 

 ological facts involved in speech ; but for pupils, while it is 

 thus helpful, it requires an amount of time and labor to ac- 

 quire that can be better improved by the use of diacritical 

 maiks.'' The principal of the school in Florida answers 

 " No " to the question concerning visible speech, but be- 

 cause he uses a method of line-writing adopted by Professor 

 Bell, he is classed among those endorsing the Bell system. 

 Even among those schools where the symbols are still used 

 there is a wide difference of opinion as to its utility. The 

 principal of the Kendall School, Washington, reports that it 

 is used only in the initiatory steps, while in the Horace Mann 

 School, Boston, it is used only with th :■ older pupils. It is im- 

 possible to understand the ditEculties involved in this system 

 of " visible speech " without some examination of the charac- 

 ters to be studied, and they are here submitted. 



These characters, deaf children of eight and nine years of 

 age, coming to school for the first time, never having heard 

 a word of sound in their lives, with minds a complete blank 

 to all the world of sonal thought, were obliged to master 

 and at the same time begin the work of reading and writing 

 English. The wonder is not that the best schools have given 

 it up, hut that it was permitted to hold its place among us 

 so long. 



The former advocates of visible speech now fall back upon 

 the consolatory reflection, that, although impracticable for 

 children, yet every teacher ought to have a knowledge of it; 

 but unfortunately our best authorities on vocal physiology 

 are not agreed even on that point. There is no one better 

 qualified to speak on questions of this character than Mr. 

 David Greenberger, principal of the New York City School 

 for Improved Instruction, and this is what he says of the 

 Bell symbols: "These hieroglyphs could no more assist a 

 mute in his attempts at vocal utterance, than the signs of tBe 



Zodiac." The directive power of the symbols, upon which so 

 much sti'ess was laid. Principal Greenberger declares to be a 

 myth. Every one is willing to admit that a kno^jledge of 

 vocal physiology is an absolute pre-requisite to all successful 

 teaching of articulation, but this attainment is in no way 

 contingent upon the study of visible speech. If there are 

 those who care to study phonetics, freighted with an alphabet 

 of visual mnemonics, they cannot do better than take up the 

 system propounded by Professor Bell, but that there is any 

 logical connection between the two things, is a contention 

 that has not a foot of ground to stand upon. 



The second distinctive educational device which Professor 

 Bell advocated for the deaf was a system of line-writing, a 

 form of visible speech put into short-band. An experimental 

 school was formed at Washington by the Professor, and at 

 the Convention held iuNew York City in 1884 line- writing was 



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explained by one of his teachers, and great things claimed 

 for it. Line-writing was, in fact, a system of short-hand. It 

 is possible that those versed in visible speech may find some 

 connection between the uncials of that system and the strokes 

 used in line-writing. It must be set down to the credit of 

 the six hundred teachers of the deaf in the United States,. 

 that, with the exception of one case already noted, all have 

 united in re.iecting the use of stenography for young deaf- 

 mutes. The experimental school lived a very transitory life; 

 and in the literature of teaching, only one writer has ven- 

 tured to utter a word on this last expedient advocated, but 

 not originated, by our enthusiastic friend. 



On the quesl^ion of heredity, Professor Bell has collected a 

 large number of interesting facts. Men may differ as to some 

 of the conclusions drawn from the statistics he has gathered, 

 but there can be no question in regard to the industry and 

 care with which he has devoted himself to this particular 

 line of inquiry. So thoroughly has the danger of deaf-mute 

 offspring from deaf-mute marriages been preached, that 



