46 Original Articles. [Jan., 



tone at the boy's ear (that one with which he hears the best) before 

 instruction, he would perceive a noise but could not repeat it, but 

 at present, when the word was called out aloud and close to his ear, 

 he would be able to do so, for two reasons : firstly, because by practice 

 his hearing may have become intrinsically slightly better ■ and se- 

 condly (and this we consider the main if not the sole reason), because 

 he has learned to imitate the sound with the aid of the sense of touch, 

 and was therefore sufficiently acquainted with its nature and its meaning 

 to distinguish it from all others, when it reached the mind through 

 the medium of the ear. 



Nevertheless, the reader must not hastily conclude that the pupil 

 would thenceforth be enabled to understand any word that is spoken 

 loudly to him. Far from it. He can only do so when it is short, 

 the meaning well understood, and the word pronounced by itself. 

 When he has become more intimately acquainted with the various 

 meanings of the majority of ordinary words, it may be expected that 

 his hearing will be of greater practical utility, and it is sure that 

 it will be a still more valuable support to his indispensable acquire- 

 ments of " lip reading." 



The results, then, of oral tuition with this and other children, induce 

 us to express the earnest wish that the Directors of Institutions for 

 the " Deaf and Dumb " (whatever their views on the method of articu- 

 lation may be) will consider seriously when mutes thus circumstanced 

 are introduced to them, whether or not it be advisable to have them 

 educated according to the principle of dactyology,* inasmuch as these 

 results clearly prove that instead of being capable of learning a few 

 sentences, as some have presumed, they can be made acquainted with 

 a whole language whilst they may be much benefited by a careful 

 treatment of their impaired sense of hearing. 



The mental growth of this pupil has been an object of great 

 interest to his relatives and to his teacher, for the rapidity with 

 which he has gained and is gaining grammatical knowledge and prac- 

 tical information is surprising— a fact which can only be explained 

 by the laudable care his parents bestow upon him, and by the due 

 attention they have paid to any friendly advice we have had to 

 offer them. Explanations of words or sentences which slipped the 

 memory after the time of instruction, were renewed, whilst others 

 originated from conversation and literary occupation at home, so that 

 the reasoning faculties were not merely usefully engaged during school- 

 hours but profited him much after them. 



The poverty in language which Dr. Kitto has called " the distress- 

 ing dearth of matter in the letters and other writings of the deaf" and 

 its cause, we pointed out to his parents, and it had the desired effect of 

 making them still more determined to correct his errors, to keep up 

 the greater part of what he learned at school, and to redouble their 

 efforts to make him conversant with colloquial phrases and the com- 

 prehensive parts of any newspaper or children's book that seemed to 

 interest or amuse him. The result is, that though his memory lacks 

 much of its retentive power, he has acquired during the short time of 

 * Speaking or communicating with the fingers. 



