1801.] 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
- SIR, 
O impart inftruétion to the deaf and 
dumb, and, by rendering them ca- 
pable of mental improvement,, to refcue 
them from the moft humiliating and me- 
Jancholy degradation, is one of the nobleft 
efforts of human ingenuity. The tafk 
indeed is arduous, and was long deemed 
impracticable. Credulity itfelf could hard - 
ly be perfuaded, that a perfon born deaf 
could be taught, not only to read and 
write, but alfo to communicate with others 
by the medium of oral language. Expe- 
rience, however, has incontettably prov- 
ed the fact ; and we may behold fome of 
thofe, whom Nature, as if ina malignant 
mood, would have excluded from the rank 
of human beings, enlarging the fphere of 
human knowledge, and aflerting their 
claim to literary honours. A phenome- 
non fo extraordinary naturally excites 
amazement. 
Accuftomad to obferve, that thofe who 
are born deaf are likewife dumb, we are 
prompted to infer, that between the fenfe 
of hearing and the power of. {peech there 
fubfifls an infeparable or neceflary connec- 
tion. The conclufion however is precipi- 
_tate and erroneous. An infant may pof- 
fefs the fenfe of hearing, and the organs of 
fpeech, in full perfection, and yet, if fe- 
cluded from fociety, would never {peak ; 
as, op the contrary, where the fente of 
hearing is denied, the ufe of articulate lan- 
guage may be acquired. For as certain 
contormations of the organs are the chief 
requifites for the produétion of articulate 
founds, and as thefe conformations may be 
rendered objeéts of fight ; fo articulation 
may be learned without the fenfe of. hear- 
ing. It is likewife abfervable, that as 
there fubfifts no natural cofinestion between 
the vifible fign and the found which it de- 
notes, fo the aflociation between audible 
figns and the objects which they fignify, 
is purely arbitrary. Hence the inter- 
-change of fentiment may be effected with- 
out audible figns, or alphabetical fym- 
bols. . 
The perfe&tion to which the Abbé de 
PEpée has carried the art of dadylology 
and methodical defignation, were it not 
amply authenticated, would exceed belief, 
The moft abftrufe ideas he could correétly 
communicate; and his pupils, with a 
promptitude and accuracy truly wonder- 
ful, could tranfcribe from a book or letter, 
without feeing it, any paflage not involv- 
ing technical terms, merely by the medium 
of methodical figns exhibited by the Abbé, 
MontTuLy Mac, No, 80- . 
inftruétion of the Deaf and Dumb. 
389 
The firft attempt to teach the deaf ahd 
dumb was made by one Peter Ponce, a 
Benedictine Monk, who lived near the end 
of the fixteenth century. After him, this 
art was confiderably improved by the las 
bours of Bonet, Amman, Wallis*, Holder, 
and a few others. 
Thefe, however, muft yield the palm 
to the illufrious Abbé de l’Epée, whole 
eminent fuccefs in his arduous office, com- 
bined with that pure and fingular benevo- 
lence with which he difcharged it, have 
juftly immortalized his name, and entitled 
him to rank among the higheft benefactors 
of the human kind. 
In this country, the art of inftru@ing 
the deaf and dumb has been cultivated by 
Mr. Braidwood with confiderable fuccefs. 
This gentleman’s plan of education dif- 
fers, I underftand, from that which was 
adopted by the venerable Abbé. The 
latter began with the communication of 
ideas, affociating them with appropriate 
vifible figns ; the former adopts the com= 
mon elementary mode of infiruftion, com~ 
mencing with alphabetical characters, as 
denoting certain conformations of the or- 
gans. Of. the fuccefs accompanying this 
mode of inftruction, the writer had this 
feafon, during a fhort ftay at Margate, 
the moft ample evidence in the pupils of 
Mirs.J.Braidwood, who, with her fons, fu- 
perintends a moft refpectable feminary at 
Hackney for teaching the deaf and 
dumb. / 
To one of her pupils I propofed in 
writing the following queftions, the an= 
fwers to which he wrote with furprifing 
promptitude, and, for his years, with won-~ 
derful neatnefs : 
What is your name ?——Thomas Pooley. 
How old are you °—I am eight years old, ™™ 
Where were you born?—JI was born in 
Dublin. 
What is Grammar ?—=Grammar is a collec= 
tion of rules for Speaking or writing any language 
correéily. a 
How long-have you been at fchool ?—=T ze 
years. 
- © How many months are there in a year ?-—= 
There are twelve months in a year. 
How many weeks are there in a year Pome 
There are fifty-tzvo weeks ina year. i 
OO I C—O AP ee 
* Wallis relates a curious inftance of 2 
*deaf woman, who could hear diftinéily if a 
drum were beaten in the room with her 3 and 
informs us, that when fhe was married, her 
hufband hired a drummer for a fervant, that, 
by the help of the drum, he might be able te 
converte with her, 
35 Where 
