42 Original Articles. [Jan., 



number of them, especially many of those whose affliction is accidental 

 (the result of illness in infancy), have a remnant of hearing left, and 

 though that may be exceedingly slight, it cannot escape the notice of 

 the teacher after a few weeks' practice with the organs of speech. It 

 did not in this case, for scarce a fortnight had passed over, when the 

 ring of her voice, while emitting sound, made the fact clear that 

 though for all practical purposes as deaf as F. E., still as regards the 

 pliancy of her vocal organs she was more fortunately situated than her 

 school-companion. We knew from experience in Eotterdam, that in 

 time she would be able to imitate words with greater precision, and 

 that the tuition of her speech would cause us less labour and less care- 

 ful deliberation. These expectations were not raised in vain. 



It took little more than four months to make her pronounce the 

 vowels, complex vowels as i, oi, ou, you, &c, and consonants, with 

 clearness. 



And notwithstanding that her tendency to close the nasal channel 

 necessitated caution in the practice of m, n, ng, and nh, and enforced 

 upon us the obligation to continue the exercises with these letters for 

 a longer period than usual, after a lapse of nine months, she not only 

 knew to combine them satisfactorily with all others, but could do so 

 without the teacher's interference. 



The exercises for labial instruction were the same as of F. E. The 

 results showed again that from any part of the room, single letters, 

 syllables, and words could be distinguished or understood, and that 

 when in the open air, close by or at a distance, it was possible to in- 

 terchange thoughts with her by uttering the words in a strongly-marked 

 manner. It may be said then that the greater part of the first year was 

 principally taken up in preparing this pupil, and that as soon as she 

 was enabled to express her simple ideas by speech or writing, and 

 could understand the thoughts of others by reading spoken or written 

 words, the sole object of the following years would be the development 

 of the mind. But as mechanical speeeh can be taught with exercises 

 which have meaning as well as without them, it is natural that we chose 

 those which were calculated to store the mind with names of useful 

 objects ; and it is evident, therefore, that the mental faculties even 

 during the preparatory course were not altogether dormant. In this 

 manner the youthful memory had been accustomed beforehand to 

 retain a variety of names, long and short ; a circumstance which was 

 of great service when we undertook in the second year to instruct her 

 in the art of reading and writing easy sentences. It would be tedious 

 to enumerate here the various sets of exercises that were given to ini- 

 tiate the pupil in easy language, but it may be worthy of notice that 

 the descriptions of pictures or events usually given to the deaf were 

 read by the pupils in an audible voice, and that we repeatedly invited 

 them to relate to us slowly and as distinctly as possible, whatever in- 

 cidents they had witnessed on their way to school. 



Thus they were encouraged to talk, the exercise of their powers of 

 observation and reflection was most direct, and the opportunities for 

 correcting their grammar and mode of articulation were manifold and 

 fruitful. 



