i6o 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XL No. 270 



HELEN KELLER. 

 In Science of Feb. 24 we gave an account of Helen Keller, a 

 second Laura Bridgman, who, although blind and deaf, is making 

 wonderful advances in her education. This week we give her 



the first instruction to her pupil, who was then six years old. In a 

 month the little girl learned to spell about four hundred words, and 

 in less than three months could write a letter unaided by any one. 

 In six weeks she mastered the Braille (French) system, which is a 



portrait and that of her teacher, Miss Annie Sullivan, a graduate 

 of the Perkins Institute at Boston, and also reproduce in facsimile 

 a letter written by Helen Keller to A. Graham Bell of Washington. 

 It was only in March, 1887, that Miss Sullivan was engaged to give 



cipher for the blind, enabling them to read what they have written. 

 She has also mastered addition, multiplication, subtraction, andj 

 geography. The illustration shows the method in which all this in- 

 formation has been transmitted, — solely through the sense of touch.; 



