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ONE of the first teachers of the deaf and dumb was Bonet, a priest, secretary to the constable of Castile. He undertook the tuition of his younger brother, who had lost the sense of hearing at two years of age; and he published an account of his system in 1620, at Madrid. Amman, a Swiss physician, was the next systematic writer on this subject. He printed at Amsterdam a treatise in Latin, about 1692, intitled Surdus loquens. Wallis, a few years after'ward, published his Method of Instructing Persons who were Deaf and Dumb, in Britain; and he was followed by Holder, Dalgarno, and Bulwer.

In recent times, this art has been exercised in Paris by father Vanin and Mr. Perreire; in Leipsick by Mr. Heinich; in London by Mr. Baker; and in Edinburgh by Mr. Braidwood.

By a contingency, such as destines multitudes to particular studies or avocations, the abbe de l'Epee engaged in it. Vanin had under his tuition two young ladies, who were VOL. VI. NO. XXXIV.

twin sisters, both having the misfortune of deafness and dumbness. Death soon deprived them of his lessons; and as an instructor to supply his place was sought for in vain, the abbe de l'Epee undertook to continue their education. The contemplation of their condition excited his tenderness, and his tenderness inflamed his philanthropy towards all in the same afflicting circumstances. His mind, thus turned to the subject, was, by degrees, wholly absorbed in it; till, at last, incited by religion and humanity, he dedicated himself entirely to their tuition. He instituted a seminary, in which he received as many of the deaf and Dumb as he could superintend, and he formed preceptors to teach those in distant parts. The number of his scholars grew to upwards of sixty; and, as the fame of his operations extended, persons from Germany, from Switzerland, from Spain, and from Holland, came to Paris to be initiated in the method he practised, and transfer it to their several countries.

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The philanthropic exertions of this excellent man, in behalf of his unfortunate pupils, were unwearied. The greatest part of his income was appropriated to their support, and he refused pecuniary assistance in every shape; of which the following is a remarkable instance.

When the Russian ambassador at Paris made the abbe a visit, in the year 1780, he offered him a present in money proportioned to the customary magnificence of the empress. This the abbe declined to accept, saying, he never received gold from any one; but that since his labours had obtained him the esteem of the empress, he begged she would send a deaf and dumb person to him to be educated, which he should deem a more flattering mark of her distinction.

An asylum for the support and education of the deaf and dumb children of the poor, was instituted in 1792, in the Grange road, Bermondsey, under the patronage of the marquis of Buckingham, a nobleman whose encouragement of literature and the fine arts hath justly entitled him to the reputation of taste and knowledge, as this office has done to the superior character of philanthropy. Of this asylum, Mr. Thornton, member for Southwark, is the treasurer; the Rev. Mr. Mason, of Bermondsey, the secretary; and Mr. Watson, formerly the assistant to Mr. Braidwood, the zealous and industrious teacher.

The abbe de l'Epee gives the following sketch of the method he pursues with his pupils.

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It is not by the mere pronunciation of words, in any language, that we are taught their signification: the words door, window, &c. in our own might have been repeated to us hundreds of times, in vain : should never have attached an idea to them, had not the objects designated by these names been shown to us at the same time. A sign of the hand or of the eye has been the sole mean by which we learned to unite the idea of these objects with the sounds that struck our ear. When

ever we heard these sounds, the same ideas arose in our minds, because we recollected the signs made to us when they were pronounced.

Exactly similar must be our measures with the deaf and dumb.— Their tuition commences with teaching them a manual alphabet, such as boys at school make use of to hold conversation at one end of a form with their companions at the other. The various figures of these letters strike forcibly the eyes of deaf and dumb persons, who no more confound them than we confound the various sounds that strike our ears.

We next write in large characters with a white crayon, upon a black table, these two words, the door, and we show them the door. They immediately apply their manual alphabet five or six times to each of the letters composing the word door, they spell it with their fingers, and impress on their memory the number of letters and arrangement of them; this done, they efface the word, and, taking the crayon themselves, write it down in characters, no matter whether well or ill formed; afterwards they will write it as often as you show them the same object.

It will be the same with respect to every thing else pointed out to them, the name being previously written down; which being first on the table, in large characters, may afterwards be inscribed in characdifferent ters of ordinary size, upon cards; and these being given to them, they amuse themselves in examining one another's proficiency, and ridicule those that blunder. Experience has manifested that a deaf and dumb person possessing any mental powers will acquire, by this method, upwards of eighty words in less than three days.

Take some cards having suitable inscriptions, and deliver them one by one to your pupil; he will carry his hand successively to every part of his body conformably to the name on the card delivered to him. Mix and shuffle the cards as you please; he will make no mistake; or if you

chuse to write down any of these names on the table, you will see him, in like manner, distinguish with his finger every object whose name is so offered him; and thus clearly prove that he comprehends the meaning of every one.

By this process the pupil will obtain, in very few days, a knowledge of all the words which express the different parts of our frame, from head to foot, as well as of those that express the various objects which surround us, on being properly pointed out to him as you write their names down on the table, or on cards put into his hands.

We are not, however, even in this early stage, to confine ourselves to this single species of instruction, amusing as it is to our pupils. The very first or second day we guide their hands to make them write down, or we write down for them ourselves the present tense of the indicative of the verb to carry.

Several deaf and dumb pupils being round a table, I place my new scholar on my right hand. I put the forefinger of my left hand on the word I, and we explain it by signs in this manner: showing myself with the forefinger of my right, I give two or three gentle taps on my breast. I then lay my left forefinger on the word carry, and taking up a large quarto volume, I carry it under my arm, in the skirts of my gown, on my shoulder, on my head, and on my back, walking all the while with the mien of a person bearing a load. None of these motions escape his observation.

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I return to the table; and in order to explain the second person, lay my left forefinger on the word thou, and carrying my right to my pupil's breast, I give him a few gentle taps, making him notice that I look at him, and that he is likewise to look at me. I next lay my finger on the word carriest, the second person, and having delivered him the quarto volume, I make signs for him to perform what he has just seen me perform he laughs, takes the vo.

lume, and executes his commission extremely well.

This method is adapted to the conception of the pupil, in his progress through the intricacies of grammar. The following description of the means of initiating him in a knowledge of the tenses of verbs will convey a sufficient idea of the plan:

The pupil, though deaf and dumb, had, like us, an idea of the past, the present, and the future, before he was placed under our tuition, and was at no loss for signs to manifest the difference.

Did he mean to express a present action? He made a sign, prompted by nature, which we all make in the same case, without being conscious of it, and which consists in appealing to the eyes of the spectators to witness the presence of our operation; but if the action did not take place in his sight, he laid his two hands flat upon the table, beating upon it gently, as we are all apt to do on similar occasions: and these are the signs he learns again in our lessons, by which to indicate the present of a verb.

Did he design to signify that an action is past? He tossed his hand carelessly two or three times over his shoulder: these signs we adopt to characterize the past tenses of a verb.

And, lastly, when it was his intent to announce a future action, he projected his right hand: here again is a sign we give him to represent the future of a verb.

It is now time to call in art to the assistance of nature.

Having previously taught him to write out the names of the seven days of the week, one directly under the other, we desire him to set them down in that order, and we then put on each side of his writing what follows before and after the same words under different heads.

Present-To-day, Sunday, I arrange nothing.

Imperfect. Yesterday, Monday, I was arranging my books.

Perfect.-Day before yesterday, Tuesday, I arranged my chamber. Past perfect.-Three days ago, Wednesday, I had arranged my closet.

Future.-To-morrow, Thursday, I shall arrange my papers.

Future.-Day after to-morrow, Friday, I shall arrange my drawers. Future. Three days hence, Saturday, I shall arrange my cupboards. Yesterday, day before yesterday, three days ago, are explained by the number of times we have slept since the day of which we speak.

To-morrow, day after to-morrow, three days hence, are explained by the number of times we are to sleep till the day in question arrive.

We next teach our pupil to lay a restriction upon his motions. Το express a thing past, he used to throw his arm backwards and forwards towards his shoulder, without rule: we tell him he must throw it only once for the imperfect, twice for the perfect, and three times for the past perfect; which in truth is analogous to what is signified, the past perfect announcing an action longer past than the perfect, and the latter being in the same predicament with regard to the imperfect.

Mr. Tooke's principles of grammar, now his learned work is completed, will perhaps enable teachers of the deaf and dumb to substitute signs still more simple and expressive than those which are here indicated.

No attempts of this kind have hitherto been made in America. To what cause is this owing? The want of benevolence, or talents, or of pupils ?

For the Literary Magazine.

ON THE PICTURESQUE. MEN of true taste do not suppose all beauty to consist in picturesque beauty, and the face of nature to be examined only by the rules of paint

ing. They speak of the grand scenes of nature, though uninteresting in a picturesque light, as having a strong effect on the imagination, often a stronger than when they are properly disposed for the pencil. They every where make a distinction between scenes that are beautiful and amusing, and scenes that are picturesque. They examine and admire both. Even artificial objects they admire, whether in a grand or in a humble style, though unconnected with picturesque beauty; the palace and the cottage, the improved garden-scene and the neat homestall. Works of tillage also af ford them equal delight; the plough, the mower, the reaper, the hay-field, and the harvest-wane. In a word, they reverence and admire the works of God, and look with benevolence and pleasure on the works of men.

At the expence of no other spe cies of beauty, they merely endeavour to illustrate and recommend one species more; which, though among the most interesting, has seldom been made the set object of investigation. From scenes indeed of the picturesque kind, they exclude the appendages of tillage, and in general the works of men; which too often introduce preciseness and formality. But excluding artificial objects from one species of beauty is not degrading them from all.

Of all kinds of travellers, or pedestrian hunters, those that travel in search of the pleasure of the picturesque are the fewest in number, particularly in America, but perhaps they are the most judicious in their choice of an object of pursuit. Let us hear what a great traveller of this kind has to say in favour of his own taste.

From the objects of picturesque travel, we may consider its sources of amusement, or in what way the mind is gratified by these objects.

We might begin in moral style, and consider the objects of nature in a higher light than merely as amuse, ment. We might observe, that a

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