SCIENC 



[Entered at the Posi-Offiee of New York, N.Y., as Seeoad-Class Matter.] 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Eighth Year. 

 Vol. XVI. No. 411. 



NEW YORK, December 19, 1890. 



Single Copies, Ten Cents. 

 3.50 Per Year, in Advance. 



INTRODUCTION OF THE ARTrCULA.TING SYSTEM 

 FOR THE DEAF IN AMERICA.' 



We are jratliered to-day to celebrate tbe twenty-first anni- 

 versary of the opening- of tlie Horace Mann School and the 

 dedication of this building to its use. The many friends 

 that surround us, the band of experienced teachers, the large 

 number of pupils, this new and beautiful building, mark it 

 as the day of our prosperity. 



It seems fitting on this occasion to spend a few moments 

 in recounting the causes that led to the establishment of this 

 school, in showing what it has accomplished for the education 

 of the deaf at home and abroad, and in recalling the memory 

 of him through whose instrumentality it was founded. 



This was the first public day-school ever opened to deaf 

 children. Before this, they had been gathered into institu- 

 tions apart frona friends, isolated from the world around 

 them, a distinct and separate community. This plan was 

 thought necessary to their education. Our experiment, car- 

 ried on for twenty-one years, has proved, by its continued 

 and growing success, that to the deaf as well as to others all 

 the advantages of school education can be extended without 

 the severance of home and family ties. As the direct off- 

 spring of this ihe first day-school, similar schools have grown 

 up in other States, and its inflvience is felt through the length 

 and breadth of our land. 



Have we not reason to be glad of the past, and take cour- 

 age for the future? But this school represents not merely 

 the opening of the first day-school, but, with the Clarke In- 

 stitution, the introduction and development of a system of 

 education for the deaf until then unknown in this country. 

 Before that time the education of the deaf had been carried 

 on by the sign-language. That this system had accomplished 

 great and good results we gratefully acknowledge; but in our 

 midst was growing up a distinct race, using a language of 

 their own, unknown to their friends, without literature, and, 

 though perhaps often beautiful and expressive, still vague 

 and indefinite. 



Perhaps but few who rejoice with us to-day can go back 

 in memory to the time when, in doubt and anxiety, but with 

 courage and hope, our little school was opened, and still 

 further back to the introduction into this country of the oral 

 system of deaf-mute education which this school has helped 

 to develop. 



Let us briefly review the history of deaf-mute education 



in this country from its commencement; and, if my narrative 



becomes somewhat personal, may I be excused. AH great 



movements start from a small centre. Our broadest charities 



have grown from some individual human need. My own 



interest in the education of the deaf, and my earnest efforts 



to introduce what I believed a better method of instruction 



' Address delivered by the Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbari at the twenty-flrst 

 anniversary of the Horace Mann School, Boston, Mass. 



than the one then in use, sprang first from my anxiety for 

 my little deaf child. 



Early in the present century the parents and friends of a 

 little deaf girl in Hartford, Conn., sought for her some 

 means of education. There were no schools for the deaf in 

 this country, and the Rev. Thomas Gallaudet was sent abroad 

 to visit the various institutions in France and Germany, and 

 study the methods of instruction. He brought back the 

 French system of the Abbe de I'Epee. On inquiry, a num- 

 ber of deaf children were found, and the American Asylum 

 at Hartford was incorporated. An appropriation was ob- 

 tained from Congress and from each State from which 

 pupils were sent. Other schools were opened in different 

 States from time to time, and in all the sign language was 

 used. 



Vague reports were occasionally brought to this country 

 of another system, used in Germany, where the deaf were 

 taught to speak and read from the lips. Nothing definite 

 was known in regard to this system untill843. In that year 

 Mr. Horace Mann, then secretary of the Board of Education 

 from Massachusetts, and Dr. Howe, went to Europe to study 

 the various systems of education. They visited several 

 schools for the deaf in Germany, and were surprised to find 

 deaf children taught to speak and read from the lips. On 

 their return, Mr. Mann published a report, and strongly ad- 

 vocated the adoption of the German oral system of instruc- 

 tion in this country. 



His report excited such general interest, that the Americ.n 

 Asylum and the New York Institution sent gentlemen abroad 

 to investigate the subject. They reported that the sign-lan- 

 guage was used in France, Itao', and Great Britain, and the 

 oral system in Germany only; " that in the case of the great 

 majority, instruction in mechanical articulation was attended 

 by too little benefit to compensate for the serious efforts 

 made in attempting it," and therefore no material change 

 should be made in the American schools. A teacher of 

 articulation was employed for a short time at the American 

 Asylum ; but the results were not satisfactory, and the system 

 was abandoned. Earnest and devoted teachers labored 

 faithfully to develop the mind and train the faculties through 

 the medium of the sign-language. Much was accomplished, 

 many a darkened mind was brightened, many lives enriched, 

 many a saddened heart made glad ; but the child was a foreigner 

 in its own land, comprehending and using a language known 

 only to the institution. It was taught to r(!ad and write the 

 English language, but it remained always an unfamiliar 

 tongue. The medium of instruction met the natui"al expres- 

 sion of its thoughts and feelings. 



In 1860 my little girl lost her hearing through a fearful 

 illness. She was a bright, intelligent child of four years, 

 but her language was lisping and imperfect. When con- 

 vinced of her deafness, our great anxiety was to retain hep 



