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 EDUCATION

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EDUCATION

next they should be taught the meaning of these words by being shown the objects signified, and gradually be made acquainted with the meaning of those which re- late to the functions of the senses, the arts, the under- standing and the will" (Arnold). Lorenza Her\'as y Panduro (1735-1S09), a celebrated Spanish philologist and missionary in America, took an active interest in the education of the deaf in Rome and published a learned work in two volumes entitled "Escuela Es- panola de Sordo-mudos, o Arte Para Enseiiarles a Es- cribir }' Hablar el Idioma Espaiiol " (Madrid, 1795). The work consists of five parts, "the first dealing with the deaf in the political, physical, philosophical, and theological aspects of the subject and the linguistic questions it gives rise to; the second is a historj- of their education up to that time, which is the first com- plete account written; the third explains the practical method of teaching idiomatic language by writing; the fourth that of teaching speech; and the fifth is on the instruction of the deaf in metaphysical ideas and in moral and religious knowledge" (.A.rnold).

Among other writers in the interest of the education of the deaf and dumb must be mentioned John Bul- wer (1645); Deusing (d. 1666), who in his writings recommends writing, signs, and, on occasion, lip-read- ing as the helpful instruments in the education of the deaf; William Holder (1616-169S), and his contem- porary, John Wallis (1616-170-3); George Dalgarno (1626^1687), of Aberdeen, Scotland, who published, in 1661, "Ars Signorum" and, in 1680, " Didascaloco- phus" (or "Deaf and DumI) Man's Tutor"), and de- vised a double-handed alphabet; Baron ^'on Helmont (1618-1699); John Conrad Amman (1669-1724), a na- tive of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, who pubUshed (1700) "Dissertatio de Loquela", in which are de- scribed the means by which the deaf and dumb from birth may acqviire speech.

Although Ciermanj' cannot claim originality in the field of the education of the deaf and dumb, several works published in other countries were translated into German, and their teachings put in practice. Among the earUest to take up this work were Kerger (1704), Raphel (1673-1740), Lasius (1775), and Arnoldi (1777). The first public institution for the deaf in Germany was established by Samuel Heinicke (1729- 1790), the great advocate of the oral method of in- struction, which has generally been followed in Ger- man schools for the deaf. To Friedrich Moritz Hill (1805-1874), regarded as one of the greatest teachers of the deaf, is due what is distinctively called the " German System", which has found an able critic in J. Heidsiek, of the Breslau Institution for the Deaf, in a work entitled " Der Taubstumme und seine Sprache ". Jacob Rodriguez Pereire (1715-1780), a Portuguese Jew, gave an exhibition of ins skill in teaching the deaf before the Academy of Science In Paris. " His efforts were confined to a privileged few, and, from this circumstance, as well as his keeping his methods se- cret, his work, unlike de I'Epee's, had no lasting effect upon the deaf as a class" (.\rnold). Ablje Dcs- cliamps, of Orl^-ans, devoted his life and fortune to the education of the deaf-mutes and, in his instructions, relied chiefly on reading and ^\Titing together with speech and lip-reading.

Up to the middle of the eighteenth centun.', it was believed that speech was indispensable to thought. The practical utility of pantomime had not been fully shown before the days of Ablie Charles-Michel de I'Epee (1712-1789), the father of the sign-language and founder of the first school for the deaf. The de- plorable condition of the two deaf-mutes whom he chanced to meet on one of his missionary errands ex- cited his compassion and awakened in him zeal for their religious instruction. He discovered others of the same class, especially among the poor, and to these he devoted his time and fortune. In his first attempt to teach his silent pupils he tried the method of pic-

tures used by Pere Vanin before him; but, finding this method unsatisfactory, he tried the articulation method, which he found discouragingly slow. Notic- ing, as every instructor of the deaf has noticed, that deaf-mute children, even before having received in- struction from anyone, will, at play and at other times, communicate with each other in pantomime and make use of certain natural gestures indicative of objects, their quality and action, he came upon the idea of using a sign-language as the means of instruction. Since words are conventional signs of our ideas, why could not conventional gestures be signs of ideas? He concluded that the natural language of signs, which the deaf-mutes themselves invent, would be of great service in their instruction. He accordingly made himself familiar with the few signs already in use and added others more or less arbitrarj'. He opened a school for deaf-mutes in Paris, about 1760. which soon won international fame. De I'Epee died in 1789, leaving as his successor the Abbe Sicard, who made important improvements in the system of de I'Epee. At about the same time a school for the deaf was opened by Samuel Heinicke at Dresden, which was afterwards removed to Leipzig, and another by Thomas Braidwood, at Edinburgh. The successful results obtained in these schools prompted other cities and countries to establish similar ones under the di- rection of persons trained by de I'Epee, Heinicke, or their disciples.

In Italy the first school for the deaf was established in 1784 at Rome, by the .\bbate Silvestri, a disciple of Abbe de I'Epee. Among other Italian educators must be mentioned Tommaso Pendola (1800-1883) and his brilliant associate, Enrico Marchio; Abbate Pales- tra and Abbate Giulio Tarra (1832-1889), who acted as president at the ililan International Congress in 1880 and saw his most cherished ideas regarding oral teaching practically approved by the resolutions that were adopted, and which hastened the progress of oral teaching, especially in France.

Francis Green, a native of Boston, 1742, whose son was a deaf-mute, was the earliest advocate of deaf- mute education in America. In his " Vox Oculis Sub- jecta", published in London, 1783, he describes the method by which the deaf-mute maj' be taught to speak. In about 1S12, John Braidwood, Jr., a grand- son of the founder of the Edinburgh school, attempted to establish schools in Virginia, Xew York, and Balti- more, but failed. "The immediate effects", says the "Hist on,' of .American Schools for the Deaf" (1, 10), " was to hinder and delay the opening of the first per- manent school; for the members of his family in Great Britain, who controlled the monopoly of deaf-mute in- struction in America, placed obstacles in the way of Dr. Gallaudet, when he sought to acquire the art of in- struction in the mother countrj'. " An exceptionally large number of deaf-mutes having been found in the State of Connecticut by Dr. M. F. Cogswell, whose daughter was deaf, a corporation of several gentlemen was enlisted for the purpose of establishing a school at Hartford, under the care of Dr. Thomas Hopkins C!al- laudet. For the purpose of mastering the art of in- structing the deaf. Dr. Gallaudet sailed for England; but the exorbitant and humiliating terms imposed by the Braidwood-Watson family, which held the mo- nopoly of the art, repelled him. Happening to meet Abbe Sicard, who vrith his pupils was visiting London, he accepted an invitation to visit the school in Paris. Here he received everj' assistance. The abbe gave him several hours of instruction everj- week and gener- ously allowed Laurent Clerc, one of his distinguished pupils and valuable associates, to accompany him on his return to America. In the contract dra-mi up be- tween Dr. Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc, it is stipu- lated (article 11): "He [Laurent Clerc] is not to be called upon to teach anj'thing contrary to the Roman Catholic religion", and in his letter to Bishop Cheve-