The Sun.
London, England, 1821-03-15 00:00:00

FOREIGN LITEItATURE.

Ne. XIX.I
tel?1:-IT AND DUMB.---The interesting article in-
pt.'`Qi in the Journal des DZbats, and which RP-
-11)::. in TnE SUN of the 19th ult: relative to .0
bh-ur'lP of the Abbe Janet on the Deaf and
rto,
fre,,n u, has suggested the following reflections
blbi, the pen of M. Paulmier. Baying given
Lust;city to the original article, we think it but
As 3 insert M. Paulmier's remarks and criti-
_ _
1„ le opinions of mankind are divided respect-
a :eat" and Dumb ; some regarding them as
Z--cies -of oracles, while others rank them be-
t: animals. 'Why outrage thus these unfortu-
tl. ate beings ? It is not necessary to exaggerale
dilliculty of affording them instruction in
°M e; to enhance the talents of their instructors ;
11171 t is 't, ' in the power of a single dash of
, Pen divest them of reason, while we fre-
,4ltly see, them in 'small hamlets supplying all
by the mere natural resources of
their own minds, to the great astonishment and
t°nfusion of their gi,:nderers. Increase the num-,
tier
of senses of the ii:.eot as ranch as you will,
give him the language.of the Gods ; suppose
~e wisest of men to have 'hen dopriVed at his
uirth of the .organs of hearing and 5-peecii, our
!frorts in both cases will proce equally vain ; for
the ideot would never loose his natural stupidity,
and Socrates on Other band .would still pos-
6ess his great mind and fine genius. Socrates,
deaf and dumb, would speak the language of ges-
tures, the natural, 'primitive, caul universal lan-
guage ; a language which even children begin to
use hefc,re they know how to speak ; and a lan-
gauge ivhicll the -instructors of the deaf and
fillyith have not created any more than philoso—
pllers have invented speech. Let us carry our
Lciuiries a little farther and observe the innate

Phihisophers make-the powers of the mind de-
pend-too much on the-external senses ; but it ap-
pears to us that it is this internal innate power
which gives impulsion to the senses when called
into action by external objects, and induces•imi-
tation, the principle of the fine arts, which com-
prehends the language of gestures. The instruc-
tor does not teach this language any more than he
invents it; on the contrary, it 1$ from his .pulpit
that he receives the lesson. The march of nature
and instruction is as follows : an object strikes
the senses of the pupil,. the master draws a pic-
ture of it, the image is impressed on the pupil's
mind, and instantly the idea is engendered ; the
sign immediately follows, with which the pupil is
inspired by nature, deriving its elements in the
sensations he has experienced from the object.
The general principle of every sign is to retrace
the forth of the object, and to imitate the uses to
which it is applied.

• Some years ago a deaf and diumb youth
(Cloche de Thionville) who taught several pu-
pils to speak and to distinguish the various in.
elections of the voice in the articulation of sounds,
was presented to the Royal Administration of
Deaf and Dumb at Paris. This young man still
receives lessons every morning from his master
in prosody, by reading aloud passages from Tele-
machus, the works of Homer, Buffon, or Racine,
which he understands very well ; and at this
moment he is engaged in revising the narrative
of a journey which he performed during his last
holidays.

In the month of .September, 1817, this inte-
resting pupil and the young Pages of Perpignan,
also a pupil of the Institution at Paris, had the
distinguished honour of being presented to the
King, and of conversing a short time with. his
Majesty, who encouraged the exertions of the
master by his approbation.

Notwithstanding these striking testimonials in
favour of the mode of instruction pursued at the
Royal Institution at Paris, M. Jamet still thinks
there is something wanting, which is, that the
deaf and. dumb should be able to speak the lan-
guage which •he studies. The pupil has indeed
(ho. says). a written—language, but uut a enansial
language : he can only converse in it with a pen
in his !laud. We wish M. Jamet would tell us
what he 'means by this manual language, which
he has brought to perfection. Can it be the ma-
nual alphabet, which is so happily and frequently
used at the Institution ? We do not believe it.
Can it. be only natural signs simplified ? That
is not probable. If M. Jarnet means by signs
brought to perfection, the conibination of several
signs into one, he cannot be ignorant that this
operation has been carried into practice in the
classes at the Institution, since the first existence
of this language, not only as the channel of in-
struction, but particularly in the conversations
between. the masters and pupils, which are car-
ried on by gestures and signs quicker than could
be done by words.- -
The signs expressive of the words historian,
and to prophecy, cited in the article which we
are answering, are the same as those used in the
classes of the institution at Paris. ,We could not
employ any others, since signs in general express
ideas and not words. We only ask M. Jarnet to
inform us whether, when he holds the fore-finger
of the left hand over the shoulder while the right
hand writes down the word, the pupil invariably
translates this sign precisely by the word histo-
rian, and does not hesitate between this part of
speech and the other words of the same gramma-
tical family, such as history, historical, historically,
historiographer, R:c ? M. Jamet will doubtless
perceive the necessity of finding a sign to desig7
nate the part of-speech to w:deh this word belongs.
To make the thing more clear, let us consider
-sig:” in two points of view : Ist. as doctrinal
signs or signs of instruction : 2d. as signs of usage
or conversation.

For instance, take the word animal. The
functions of an animal are respiration, action,
watching, sleeping, drinking, and eating. We
call the attention of the pupil to these different
functions ; ideas arise at the same time that w,‘
make the signs of these functions, to which we
add that of the genus or species. The collection
of all these signs concurriog to represent the cha-
racter of one kind of beings, forms a single com-
plex sign, which we call a doctrinal sign Ora sign
of instruction.

Again, if the pupils wish .to speak of an animal
in conversation, they make ellipses, according to
the practice in languages, in aid of analogy, and
preserve only the single characteristic sign, which
in this case is that. of respiration.
'We ought, however, to remark, that the lan-
guage of gestures and signs, like the spoken lan-
guage, is not only an analNtic method, as observed
by Condi'lac, but also a •ytzthetic method.
Is not then this operation of reducing several
signs into a single one, That is to say, to the
simplest expression, that which M. Jamet would
consider as the pelfeclion of signs ? If so, the
honour due to it: may be justly claimed by the
pupils themselves, since it is partly their own
invention.

We have no other motive for publ4hing these
reflections, than the great interest we take in
whatever concerns, the deaf- and dumb, our love
of truth, and the desire of. being useful to science.

Freight on ditto ...

1 19 3
9 10 0

4 9

Being a loss to the Importer for every Load ' • 1 4 3
NOVA SCOTIA, OR NElir BRUNSWICV, TIMBER.
Present sale price per Load of 50 Feet £3 0 0
Charges.
Prime cost. in the country • , '£l 0 0
Insurance on Ditto 0 0 5 .
Rafting
Ponding 0 1 0
Brokerage, del credere, and Commission
Duty as proposed

Freight

1 16 5
2, 5 0

4 I 5

Being a loss to the Importer of per Load 1 1 5

BALTIC TIMBER.

Memel sells at present for per Load £6 5 0
Charges. •
First cost at Memel £l 7 0
Insurance on Ditto
Duty as proposed 2 15 0
Rafting
Ponding three months 1 0 0
Commission, Brokerage, and del, credere

Freight on ditto

• 4 11 7
1 1 0

5 12 7

Leaving a Profit to Importer of per Load Ol2 5
The Ship Owners are at.present navigating thdir Ships at a
positive Loss ; and it is absolutely necessary to have an increase
on the present Rates of 25 per cent. and assuming the same to
be obtained, the statement will stand thus :
QUEBEC.
Loss to the Merchant as above
Add 25 per cent. on Freight

Shears a loss to the Importer of 1:1 16 9
NOVA SCOTIA; OA NEW BRUNSWICK.

Loss to the Merchant as above v
.1:1 1 5
Add 25 per cent. on Freight 0 11 3

Loss to the Importer -C1 12 8

MEMEL.
Profit to the linporter as above _ 14, 1:0 p 6
Deduct 25 per cent. on freight

Leaving still a profit of £0 7
By 'adding the present Sale Price of the Colonial Timber
(from the respective places), to the loss as stat,4 before, and
subtracting the profit on the Memel Timber frorit the present
sale price above, it will show the price at which they can be
sold without profit, and the comparative price they will bear to
each other : viz. :