Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/19

 system of articulation and lip reading prevails in the Ger man and other Continental schools, where this art has been cultivated with greater success than in England, which must be attributed to the adaptability of the German language to this peculiar mode of acquiring speech ; the decision of this question, as far as it concerns any particular individual, must, however, depend in a great measure on peculiar circumstances, such as condition in life and future destination, &c. Children congenially deaf, of good capacity, with a well-toned voice, can make surpriz ing progress in the hands of private tutors ; but the limited success which has attended this method of instruction with numbers has not induced teachers to introduce it generally into large institutions, but rather to restrict it to special cases: Most of the German teachers consider that arti culation is necessary for the acquisition of thought, and can be successfully taught to the majority of the deaf and dumb ; but most teachers of experience in England hold quite the opposite opinion, and teach it only to the semi- mute and semi-deaf. This subject continues to be much disputed, and the question, whether or not it should form a part of the course of the education of the deaf and dumb, and, if so, to what extent, is still keenly dis cussed. The American institutions have sent over to Europe from time to time some of their most distinguished instructors to investigate the methods carried on in the English and Continental schools. They made most minute examinations of the different systems, and were somewhat disappointed to find that the German system so-called did not possess such advantages over theirs, or the French system, as they had been led to expect. Mr Gallaudet, in his report to the board of directors of the Columba Insti tution for the Deaf and Dumb, says : &quot; Nothing in my foreign investigations has led me to question the character of the foundation on which the system of instruction pur sued in our American institutions is based. It is plainly evident, from what is seen in the articulating schools of Europe and from the candid opinions of the best instruc tors, that oral language cannot, in the fullest sense of tho term, be mastered by a majority of deaf mutes.&quot; The fol lowing is the opinion of the Rev. George Day : &quot; As a regular part of a system of public instruction, its introduc tion into our institutions, I am persuaded, would bo a serious misfortune.&quot; Mr Hawkins (for many years a teacher in the London school), who may be said, in this connection, to represent the consensus of English authori ties, says: &quot;Scarcely more than one in thirty attains anything approaching success.&quot; The experience of Dr Watson, for many years principal of the London Asylum, is decidedly in favour of its utility. In support of his opinion he states the following argu ment, which must doubtless be allowed to have some weight : &quot; The more numerous are the means of observation, the more per fect will be the recollection, or, in other terms, the more frequent the recurrence of words and their corresponding ideas to the mind. Thus, persons who can hear, speak, read, and write retain a discourse much better, and have far greater facility in expressing themselves, than, persons who possess only two of these faculties, that is, illiterate persons, who can hear and speak, but who cannot read or write. Now, as deaf and dumb persons educated without articulation can only have two of the means, viz., the third and the fourth, that is, the impressions made upon the eye by characters and the action of the hand in writing, can it be questioned that we render them an essential service by adding the actions of the organs of speech, a very powerful auxiliary, since by it words become, as it were, a part of ourselves, and more immediately affect us ? In learning the pronunciation of letters, a very important operation is going on in the mind of a deaf person, namely, the association and understanding of the figures of written or printed character with certain movements or actions of the organs of speech. The very habit of regarding the one as the representative of the other paves the way for considering combinations of those actions or characters, as the sign of things or ideas that is, significant words, written or articulate. We who hear consider words chiefly as sound ; the deaf who have learned to speak consider them rather as actions proceeding from themselves. And this gives language to them a sort of tangible property, which is of vast importance both as respects its retention in the memory, and one of its most important uses, the excitation of ideas in their own minds. On this account the time, the labour, and attention, necessary to articulate speech by those who are dumb through want of hearing, would be well bestowed, even if their speech were not intelligible to others.&quot; In America oral teaching is now receiving much atten tion. It has been introduced into several of the existing institutions, and two or three schools have been established in which the German system is exclusively carried out, and iu order to facilitate the acquisition of articulate speech, the ingenious method called &quot; Visible Speech,&quot; invented by Mr Melville Bell, has been introduced. 1 In England, also, there are several ardent advocates of the oral system.

Time of School Attendance.—After the foregoing sketch and criticism of the different methods which have been adopted for the education of the deaf and dumb, it is natural to inquire what general end in their education is proposed by teachers, and what principal aims in conformity with that end should be regarded. Obviously the funda mental object should be to qualify the pupils to hold ready communication with persons who, having the faculties of hearing and speech, employ the current language of the country for the purposes of mutual intercourse. They must above all things be taught the use of ordinary language, both as an instrument for expressing their own thoughts and for understanding those of others. This qualification, it is evident, is absolutely necessary to their becoming members of that community from which by nature they would have been excluded, and to which it is our chief aim to restore them. 2 Teachers are not agreed as to the age at which the deaf and dumb should com mence their education with the greatest benefit, nor yet as to the term required for school attendance. It is the opinion of some that infant schools for the deaf and dumb would prove of immense advantage in compen sating for the extra length of time requisite to acquire any thing like a perfect knowledge of the English language, but others are strongly opposed to these for social, physical, and intellectual reasons, socially, as it tends to alienate the children from their parents ; physically, as being naturally of delicate constitutions they require the years of childhood to be invigorated, and so to be fitted to undergo the strain of a regular and systematic course of instruction; and intellectually, as it has been found by experience _that children of an early age have not that power of compre hension or memory to enable them to advance with satis faction. Doubtless, they would benefit somewhat by coming to a school for the deaf and dumb for a short time daily ; but as the deaf-mute population is so scattered, very few would be able to avail themselves of such a privilege. The only available remedy would be their attendance at ordinary schools for a stated time daily, where they would be disciplined and taught the girls to sew, knit, and write, and the boys to write and draw. By this suggestion it is not meant to affirm the possibility of educating deaf mutes along with hearing children. The plan has been tried but has not been successful. The constant observation of the deaf mutes of the superiority of others over them tends to dishearten and depress them, and as they are at 1 Mr Bell has also invented an instrument called a Fhonautograph, which he says has been found useful for educational purposes, as was demonstrated by a young deaf and dumb pupil from the Boston insti tution. 2 &quot; Most institutions experience some difficulty in securing and then retaining able and efficient teachers, as the sphere of labour in the profes sion is so circumscribed and the salaries offered are far from being an equivalent remuneration for the sacrifice of brighter prospects and the depressing influence of the work. vir. 2

