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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 412 



speech. If it be urg-ed that theii- vocal organs are not suited 

 to formulate sjieecb, I reply that idiots have perfect human 

 organs of voice and heariag, but have not sneech for tlie 

 same reason that lower animals have not, — the want of in 

 telligence. Not only are the organ of voice and the organ 

 of hearing, with intelligence, necessary for speech, but they 

 must be in a healthy condition, even to maintain perfect 

 speech after it has been acquired. This is plainly shown by 

 a fact noticed by every observant person, that individuals 

 whose auditory apparatus becomes impaired (though the 

 vocal chords remain in good condition) in middle life, after 

 speech has been fully acquired, and possibly several languages 

 mastered, suffer deterioration of their speech, despite the 

 greatest watchfulness of themselves and their friend. Hear- 

 ing is a constant monitor, correcting the errors of enuncia- 

 tion, as conscience is, correcting wrong impulses and acts. 

 As surely as searing of the latter results in debasement of 

 the moral life, so surely the failure of the former results in 

 deterioration of speech. If it is difficult for one who once 

 heard perfectly and spoke fluently to retain exactness of ut- 

 terance with iaipaired bearing, how much more difficult it. 

 must be for one who never enjoyed the advantages of the 

 hearing sense to acquire speech ! Yet some do this to a 

 limited degree; but they are marvels of ingenuity and per- 

 severance on the part of their teachers as well as of them- 

 selves. It may be safely asserted that no more difficult task 

 can be assigned to mortals than to effect this. To teachers 

 it is a most exhaustive and death-dealing process, when fol- 

 lowed up with cases not specially gifted with an unusual 

 aptitude not readily accounted for. Such cases are rare and 

 exceedingly interesting; much more rare than Dr. Gallau- 

 det's admission that "all, or nearly all, deaf children can be 

 taught to speak; but this is precisely as all, or nearly all, 

 normal children can be taught to sing." This is not at all a 

 just comparison, if the doctor means speech intelligible to 

 general society. Congenitally deaf persons who readily use 

 speech are more nearly analogous in number and production 

 to good poets than to singers. " Poeta nascitur non fit" is 

 a universally accepted adage, whose underlying principle 

 may well be applied to good users of speech who never heard. 

 These statements are made in a spirit of the utmost friendli- 

 ness to the instruction of such deaf persons in articulation 

 as can acquire it, and are willing to make the necessary effort 

 to that end, and after more than twenty years of earnest 

 labor in this work, in which I have seen more than one 

 faithful teacher give up life as a martyr to it, and after 

 placing a thousand pupils in classes for such instruction, and 

 now having two hundred engaged in it. I have met some 

 very gratifying results, but have experienced many disap- 

 pointments. This was especially true in my first endeavors 

 in articulation work, for I had not then learned that many 

 deaf children who can easily be taught to utter elementary 

 sounds, and associate them with letters, symbols, and dia- 

 critical marks, are completely frustrated when they come to 

 use them in combination, and in the intricacies of continuous 

 speech, with punctuation, intonation, and inflection, which 

 give to speech for those who hear its musical quality and 

 pleasurable effect, but of which the congenital deaf-mute has 

 no conception. Speech in a monotone vfould be very insipid 

 to those who hear, but for the deaf person it has not even a 

 monotone. 



Dr. Gallaudet's statements, in his excellent article upon 

 the proper place for the sign language in the education of 

 the deaf, are so just and true, and the authorities he cites 

 are so reliable and conclusive, as to leave no demand for 



further urging that point But in Science of Oct. 17, Mr. B. 

 Engelsman, speaking upon the nature of the sign language, 

 so egregiously blunders in the statement that one is not able 

 to express or receive abstract ideas through the medium of 

 the sign-language, that I am forced to believe, upon the 

 hypothesis that he is a truthful man, that he knows nothing 

 about it, though the temerity of such a procedure, if not ad- 

 mirable, is certainly astounding. It may be safely assumed 

 that two intelligent, well-educated persons, each having an 

 accurate knowledge of two languages, will, in their daily 

 intercourse with each otlier, use the one which best suits 

 their purpose and expresses their thought with most pre- 

 cision, I now have in mind two gentlemen, one of whom 

 lost his hearing at six years of age, the other at twelve. Each 

 bad good use of speech before becoming deaf, and has re- 

 tained it. Both liave received excellent educations, having 

 mastered the literature of several languages, ancient and 

 modern, and also the mathematics and metaphysics of a col- 

 lege course; yet in their daily association, whicli I have 

 closely observed for years, they invariably use the sign lan- 

 guage, notwithstanding both would be considered good 

 speakers for deaf persons. In answer to my inquiry, one of 

 them says, ''I do not use lip-reading or vocal utterance at 

 all when I meet very well educated semi-mutes. I consider 

 such a method a bore." The other of thcbe gentlemen, in 

 reply to the same inquiry, says, in view of his own experi- 

 ence, ■' Between two deaf persons, sign making, interspersed 

 with finger-spelling, is by far the easiest, readiest, and most 

 satisfactory medium of conversation that man can devise. 

 This mode of conversation is extremely delightful to me, I 

 use in written conversation English, German, and French. 

 By means of signs I can have a discourse addressed to me in 

 philosophy, history, literature, science, theology, or any 

 other topic, and can reproduce it very fully in writing." I 

 know this to be true: for I have repeatedly known him to 

 take notes of my unwritten addresses given in the sign-lan- 

 guage, and afterwards furnish them for publication without 

 the omission of a thought, and in better language than I 

 could have expressed it myself, or than was in my mind at 

 the time of delivery. I inquired of a deaf friend whose wife 

 as well as hinjself has been taught articulation, and is a 

 most acute lip-reader, how much they use speech and lip- 

 reading together. His reply was, "In asking me if I habit- 

 ually converse with my wife by means of lip-reading, you 

 might as well ask me if we walk down town together on our 

 hands. We do relatively as much lip-reading as that kind 

 of walking." A very intelligent gentleman, living in the 

 city of Chicago, whose wife as well as himself is a semi-mute, 

 one having lost hearing at seven, the other at thirteen, yearsof 

 age, and both while at the institution having received careful 

 instruction in vocal utterance and lip reading, says, in answer 

 to my inquiry, "Mrs. G. and I never carry on articulation 

 with each other." He goes on to say, " As supplementary in- 

 formation, I may add, that, of the many semi-mutes in the 

 city from the various schools of the country, only three of the 

 whole number are known to use articulation as a sole and 

 constant means of communication with hearing people." A 

 lady congenitally deaf, who is unusually expert in the use of 

 speech, whose husband is a semi-mute and speaks well, re- 

 plies, "My husband and I use vocal utterance in our daily 

 conversation a great deal, almost half as much as the sign- 

 language. At meal-time we use our voices in such expres- 

 sions as 'Please pass the bread,' 'Pass the butter, if you 

 please,' etc., in short sentences; but when we talk at length, 

 we have to use the sign-language, as it is quicker. I have 



