Page:The education of the deaf and dumb practically considered.djvu/13

 by the agency of sign, or written, printed, or spoken language.

My attention was early drawn to this subject, and my sympathy aroused, through the circumstance of my father having, in the course of a long and wide-spread medical practice devoted much time to the study of scarlatina; and his being frequently consulted in such cases, too often followed as they are by the loss of hearing and consequent impairing of speech in the sufferer. As a child, the story of Laura Bridgman affected me deeply, and even then my mind revolved various expedients whereby such calamity might be alleviated, and the imprisoned mind instructed.

The yearning to aid was not, however, to remain a passive emotion of my heart. In 1863, I became acquainted with a case in my neighbourhood, which, from the very intensity of its distress, had an increased interest for me.

M. A., the eldest daughter of H. , Esq., born in Australia, was deprived of hearing at seven years of age, by an illness, previous attacks of which had left her lame and almost blind, and a subsequent attack of scarlet fever paralysed the left arm. In June of that year, 1863, I was introduced to her mother, and undertook her education. At this time she had been two years deaf, her speech was very imperfect—incomprehensible to strangers—her vocabulary consisting of some twenty words or so, for the most part names of familiar objects, and a few active verbs. She had no power of communication with her parents, nor they with her. The sight of one eye was partially restored, so that she could see to read letters of half-inch type; she knew her alphabet, and could repeat portions of the Lord's prayer and 23rd Psalm; but that was the extent of her