If we are to arrive at sound conclusions on this most interesting subject, no means of information may be neglected. I believe this to be one full of promise, and quite "within the scope of the assumed duties" of the Historic Society, and would therefore respectfully apply to it a suggestion contained in the letter lately published by one of ourselves—what we need is more general, systematic, and combined observation. If the present communication, written, I trust, in the spirit of that admirable letter, shall be the means of forwarding, in this respect, the high objects for which we are associated, and to which each member should feel himself individually committed; if it shall induce more vigilant attention hereafter to these minute but altogether admirable works of Him who "giveth snow like wool, and casteth forth his ice like morsels," it will receive an ample reward. ON INSTITUTIONS FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB THEIR OBJECTS, DIFFICULTIES, AND ADVANTAGES.* By David Buxton, Esq., PRINCIPAL OF THE LIVERPOOL SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB. (READ APRIL 19TH, 1855.) Whenever the history of the present century shall be written, it will record a succession of the most signal triumphs of mind over the obstructions of matter, which have ever been achieved by man, since the Almighty Creator of the world made it subject to his dominion, and commanded him "to replenish the earth, and to subdue it." (Genesis i. 28.) To the accomplishment of these results, we have not only employed the marvellous discoveries of our own times, but have appropriated and improved upon those which had been transmitted to us from former ages. Some of these had been left by their authors, after many a weary year of painful speculation and research, little better than crude and impracticable theories. The present paper originated in the offer of a Prize by the Lord Bishop of St. David's, for the best Essay upon this subject, in connexion with an Esteddfod, for the promotion of a literary object, which was held at Morriston, Glamorganshire, in September last. It was previously agreed that, if not published in the Principality, the paper should be at the disposal of the writer, for presentation to the Historic Society. As it received the award, it is now published, with the simple omission of some local allusions, and the substitution of other details, which seemed more appropriate to this place. Others, though promising success, waited for the conditions which should be favourable for their application. Our fathers "laboured, and we have entered into their labours." (John iv. 38.) They investigated and discovered what we have appropriated and applied; they worked out the theory which we have reduced to practice; they ascertained what might be done, and we have done it. For example, it was discovered as a matter of theory-and even proved as a matter of fact-more than three centuries ago, that the instruction of the deaf was possible: but the application of that discovery has been the work-as it must be admitted to be one of the honours-of the last hundred years. Though there are now not fewer than two hundred Schools for the education of the Deaf and Dumb, in various parts of the world, a century ago there was not one. Opportunities of instruction are now offered to this afflicted class in every country of Christendom; but at that time not a single individual of all the living thousands amongst them, was under instruction, nor was such an advantage attainable in any country upon earth. To what is the change owing? To the establishment of separate Institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb. This brings us to our subject. I am required to shew what are "the objects, the difficulties, and the advantages of Institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb." Now it is not possible that the "advantages," or even the "objects," of these schools, can be thoroughly and correctly estimated, without some previous acquaintance with the " difficulties" which have to be overcome in communicating knowledge to the deaf. And as all these "difficulties" arise out of that peculiar mental condition which results from the absence of hearing, it will be necessary that we should first see what is the natural condition of the deaf and dumb previous to instruction. Our own experience and daily observation, shew us the relation which exists between spoken and written language. Children first learn to speak, and then to read. The words which we find in books are those which we habitually use in our ordinary conversation. But if a person cannot hear, neither can he read; for when a child learns to read, he merely learns to recognize by the eye, the written form of words, which, as vocal sounds, are already familiar to the ear. Thus it will be seen, at once, that the great deprivation of the deaf is not merely, or so much, the exclusion of sound, as it is the complete exclusion of all that information and instruction which are conveyed to our minds by means of sound. The deaf know almost nothing, because they hear nothing. We who do hear acquire knowledge through the medium of language every hour. Language, we must remember, is a means of impression, as well as the vehicle of expression. By it, we both tell what we want, and have learned what we know. The individual mind is insulated, and this is the channel of communication both to it, and from it. If we reflect upon what we know, and trace out the way in which it has been acquired, we shall find that nearly all the information we possess has come to us through the medium of spoken or written language. Then we shall be able to form some notion of what they have lost who cannot be addressed in either of those ways. Speech tells them nothing, because they cannot hear and books teach them nothing, because they cannot read. One of our most common and descriptive phrases for a very ignorant person, is to say that he "can neither read nor write." But this phrase, significant as it is, utterly fails to describe the mental condition of the uneducated deaf. There are some men in every community who are well informed on many subjects, or who are, at any rate, able to pass through life, and to perform its duties, creditably, though they cannot either read or write. This is because they both hear and speak. By speech they can ask for information, and through the hearing they can receive it. But the deaf and dumb cannot do this. If, therefore, you can realize what must be the mental and spiritual state of one who can neither read nor write, nor hear, nor speak, you have then arrived at a true estimate of the natural and inevitable condition of a person born deaf, who is without education: and you will then be able to recognize the striking fidelity of the painful picture in which the eminent Prelate-whose interest and sympathy originally called forth this Essay-has described the lot of those who suffer under this calamity, as one of "neglect and destitution, of wasted faculties, of a stunted moral and intellectual growth, * * a stagnant, profitless, joyless, and hopeless existence."* OBJECTS. To alleviate the burden of this sad condition is the "object" of Institu • Sermon by the Lord Bishop of St. David's, preached for the Cambrian Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, at Aberystwith, 1849, p. 19. I 66 tions for the Deaf and Dumb. On entering school, the deaf pupil meets, for the first time in his life, with persons whom he can understand, and who understand him; he finds a mode of communication (by signs and gestures) which is intelligible to him, for it is his own natural and only mode of expressing his own feelings and wants. As it is from the want of an intelligible language that his mind has hitherto remained "undeveloped and darkened by the absence of proper moral perceptions and useful information," the supply of this want, even in an imperfect degree, is quickly followed by an accession of knowledge and an expansion of the mental powers. The teacher takes advantage of this method of communication [among his pupils] to add to their stores of knowledge, to enrich and extend the sphere of their thoughts, to give them new food for the mental operations, all of which may be accomplished during the time that words, and the language of their country is imparted to them." It is, indeed, chiefly as a means to this end-instruction in the "language of their country "— that signs are to be valued and employed; and the same end is one of the principal "objects" of the Institutions for the education of the deaf. With this view, they are taught from the first, that words convey the same meaning to our minds which pictures and signs do to theirs: they are therefore required to change signs for words, until the written or printed character is as intelligible as the pictorial representation, and the pantomimic sign. This, of course, is a long process; little more than the foundations of such a work can be laid during a few years' attendance at school; for, if the best and largest part of a man's education is that which he gives himself-and if it is a work which continues through life, to every one amongst us, how vastly is its difficulty increased in the case of one deaf and dumb, who enters school knowing nothing, and of whom it has been held, that if, after five, six, or seven years' instruction, he has as much knowledge of language as an intelligent hearing child of five, six, or seven years of age, the intervening time has been well and profitably spent both by his instructors and himself. "Give them language," exclaims Dr. Watson,‡ “and you in a great measure do away their defect, and bring them on a level with those of their age and station in life." When once they have become * Population Tables. Census of Great Britain, 1851, Part II., Vol 1. Report, Section 5. The Blind and the Deaf and Dumb, p. cviii. + Knight's Cyclopædia; Article Deaf and Dumb. Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb. Introduction, p. xviii. masters of language, they possess the key to all those treasures of wisdom which were at one-and that the chief-"entrance quite shut out."* Their own diligence will enable them to make progress in whatever direction they may choose; all other obstacles are removed, when they are enabled to comprehend what language means, for they can then learn-if they have the disposition and the opportunity-all that language conveys.† Another "object" of these Institutions is moral training. The refractoriness of the deaf is proverbial; and where it is not exaggerated, it is often to be ascribed to causes for which they are more to be pitied than blamed. But how entirely does this fault disappear under the salutary discipline of an Institution, where the evil of inconsiderate indulgence is absent, and an intelligible means of communication is employed, and the little artifices. which have been successfully practised at home, are at once seen through, and have to be given up! 994 Further, if it is necessary to give them correct perceptions of things visible their knowledge of which, being superficial, is often erroneous— how much more necessary is it to carry their thoughts beyond the narrow boundary of things present to those sublimer objects which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard," neither could it have "entered into the heart of man,' + unillumined by the light of Divine Revelation, to conceive of. It has been well said" that the main end of the instruction of the deaf and dumb is to prepare them for this world and the next, for life and for death."§ Indeed, if any one penetrates into the darkness of man's fallen nature with the light of life, it is the Teacher of the deaf and dumb. The mental, moral, and spiritual darkness of his pupils, when they are first placed under instruction, is deeper and more dreadful than that of any other class of the human race. Heathen in the heart of a christian country-yea, even in the centre of a christian home-love them as you may, you cannot tell them of the goodness of God; you cannot tell them of the achievements of His omnipotence, or the miracles of His mercy. This beautiful world, the dazzling sun, the glowing sky, the thrilling spectacle of night, the moving majesty of ocean, the ever-varying, never-ceasing beauty of the speechless * Paradise Lost. Book III., line 50. + See Encyclopædia Britannica, page 675. Article Deaf and Dumb. 1 Corinthians, ii. 9. § Jaeger of Wirtemberg, quoted in Day's Report of the Schools of Europe. New York, 1845, p. 118. |