The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-19 00:00:00

THE GAELIC LANGUAGE.

The following are passages from a petition recently
presented to the House of Commons on the Gaelic Lan-
guage, (respecting the Appointment of Professors,) &c.
It states
" That the Gaelic language is the vernacular tongue
of the Scottish Highlanders, who amount to 400,000, a
great proportion of whom understand no other.
" That a proper knowledge of Gaelic is indispensable
for the efficiency of those who officiate as clergymen,
and the persons to whom is committed the instruction of
Highland youth.
That there is not in any university or national semi-
nary a teacher of Gaelic, nor any acknowledged means
forimparting a grammatical knowledge of the lan-
guage, &c.
" That your humble petitioner, having written seve-
ral works illustrative of the history and present state of
the Highlanders, found exceeding inconvenience in there
being no professor from whom instruction in their ver-
nacular language could be obtained, without a know-
ledge of which the historical and antiquarian literature
of Britain must remain defective.
" Your petitioner, impressed with the importance of a
proper knowledge of Gaelic, particularly by those to
whom is consigned the temporal and spiritual instruction
of so many, he most humbly prays that your honourable
House may see it right that the instruction of students
destined to labour in the Highland districts in the lan-
guage of the people shall be part of their qualification,
and that a Professor of Gaelic be established in one of
the northern colleges, or elsewhere, and in such way as
in your wisdoms may appear right.
(Signed) " JAMES LOGAN."

EDUCATION OF IDIOTS.
A German newspaper contains the following :
"The instruction of idiots has succeeded; the problem
th,,oretically, and practically, has been solved by Mr.
Sargent, in conjunction with M. Sacks, first teacher
of the Deaf and Dumb Institution of Berlin. So
fully assured are the Prussian Government of the
complete efficacy of the system, that a portion of the
Deaf and Dumb Institution of Berlin is to be set
apart as an hospital for idiots, where the most effect-
ive methods of education can be tested and carried
out. All were imbeciles intrusted to the care of M.
Sargent : they were twelve in number. After. a
lapse of some months those who could hear were
learning to speak, some were beginning to draw and
write, and some to sew : some played more cor-
rectly, and sang and danced as other people ;
all appeared neat and cheerful, improved in mind 1
and body. A deaf boy, who was one of the worst cases,
washed and dressed himself daily without assist-
ance, and was learning to draw ; he made his picture
upon a slate, and evinced quite a passion for his em-
ployment. Most of them appeared in a hopeful way
to attain ultimate restoration to the rank and society
of rational beings. M. Sequin, of Paris, was also in-
trusted with the care of ten idiots, who were inmates
of the Hospital of Incurables, and who formed the
subject of his experiments. In his observations or
treatise, he gives a lucid statement of the moral and
intellectual condition of his eleves' also accurately
describing their habits. His task was an arduous
one, and such as would have made many an indi-
vidual shrink from attempting it. He had to en-
counter a Babel of discordant sounds, hideous and
unearthly cries, and the most determined resistance
at first to controul, on the part of almost all these
children. But in spite of every difficulty, his
labours were attended with the most marked success,
as the following will show in his own words. lie says-
-Ist. I have developed and applied, as much as the
material means permitted, the muscular system of the
childreh. 2d. The nervous irritability of several has
disappeared or sensibly diminished. 3d. They have
learned to run, jump, and perform several gymnastics
so useful in early life to young children. 4th. They
have learned to seize hold of, handle, throw, and carry
burdens, the weight of which surpassed even the ordi-
nary strength of their age. sth. Five among them
have learned to read, write, count, to a certain limit,
which encourages the hope that they are yet capable
of being further improved by instruction. The no-
tions of the children, too, have become precise and
exact : ideas have begun to form themselves in their
minds, and to manifest themselves in their conduct
and speech ; obedience and morality, principles which
had to be entirely created in them, have begun to re-
gulate a portion of their actions and their existence.
On a calm review of the labours of this excellent man,
one cannot but be struck with the fact that obsta-
cles which formerly appeared insurmountable, in the
education of idiots, have been overcome, and the de-
velopment of hidden powers have been made apparent,
to an extent quite beyond human calculation. Doctor
Guggenbuhl, a young German physician, has devoted
his talents and his property, likewise, to the great and
noble purpose of ameliorating the condition of the
youthful idiots. Such is his zeal to alleviate the con-
dition of this unhappy class of sufferers, that he has
sold his property in order to purchase a house and
premises where he may be enabled to conduct his
benevolent object with great prospects of success.
Theana by mostthe
published
There he resides with his family of idiotic children.
encouraging
be
have
ee
puts
ffollowedforth
h;
of the working of his institution,
mony of those who have visited there, he has
earned a great name in Germany, among such as are
best able to appreciate his disinterested
labours. 'What
an amount of misery may be relieved in this our
kindred
fallen world by the establishment of
institu-
tions, to elevate the creature from his
isolated, forlorn,
and hopeless condition, to the social pleasures of life,'
the pursuits of science, and the advantages of edu-
cation. The public mind, through the press, needs
only to be informed of the rise and progress of such
institutions which have done so much for the benefit
of mankind, and the alleviation of misery in one of
its worst forms, to be awakened to the importance of
raising one of a similar character in this country
commensurate' with the wants of the population. It
is not too much to hope that a benevolent Christian
people,
whose aims and purposes in the cause of phi-
lanthropy embrace the
universe,
will be alive to the
appeals that are made on behalf of the poor, neglected
and wretched idiot, and, by a generous impulse of
noble and right-hearted feeling, decide that England
shall no longer remain in the back ground, forgetful
of these outcasts of society.—Correspondent of the
Medical Times.

A correspondent of the Morning Chronicle gives
the King of the
at some length a statement of the alleged intention of
destitute of foundation. Belgians3. to abdicate his throne—a
statement which we
health is given as the motiven.reason to believe is entirely
Leopold
for this strange proceeding.
The state of his Majesty's
The illness of King
then ed
the time. It never amounted to greatly exaggerated at
after satisfied
and his Majesty's
to more than a slight
, withttisfied his friends that
bilious attack, as was
presence in London soon
red no. other evil effects
redaction of the system.
he was then in sound health
consulted the Go-
from the attack than a trifling
tpropriety of
to London
It is specially mentioned that he has
Go-
vernments of England and of France ont.
august rela-
his intended abdication. His Majesty's vi
was for a very different purpose ; indeed Nwas no more
than his usual friendly re-union with his
tions. We believe that the consultation with the King
of the French respecting a step which is neither -
medi-
tated nor necessary, is equally erroneous.—Observer.
Nothing is settled respecting the person to be
selected for the new see of Manchester. The rumours
in the public papers are, therefore, premature, and only
calculated to excite unpleasant.feelings in some quarters.
No appointment can be considered until the Bill for the
creation of the Bishopric of Manchester shall be passed.
The Commissioners of the Merchant Seamen's
Fund had a meeting on Saturday at the Board of Trade,
Lord Ellenborough in the chair,