The North-Carolina standard., 1846-03-18


.. From the Lowell Courier.
Deaf and Dumb Institutions Of Germany, &c.
VIENNA Oct 3Olh, le45.
Mr.. chouler-My Dear Sir: will devote my
present letter principally to description OF my
visit to the German institutions for teaching the
deaf and dumb to speak. l must confess, that be-
fore leaving home, I had but small faith, will
not say exactly in the possibility or the practca
bity of this achievement, in individual instances,
but in its general usefulness and applicability, as
system of education for the deaf and dumb. A
visit to the institutions in Leipsic and Berlin has
wholly changed my opinions, which were, before
these visits, the offspring of ignorance, but which
are now founded on positive knowledge. 1 went
10 the establishment at Leipsic, one of the oldest
and best in Germany, accompanied by DR.. Vogel,
and by n. P. Willis and his brother. We were
shown by the excellent director, and by several Of
the teachers, the processes and operations made
use of in enabling the deaf and dumb TO give dis
tnct, vocal utterance to their thoughts. 1t would
not be easy to convey to you clear and adequate
conception of the processes, by any description
that l can send you in my letter, and | will not
attempt to do so 1t will be sufficient for me to
say, that the pupil, by placing his hands or fin
gers the throat OF the teacher so as to feel the
voice, and then by placing them on his own, for
the same purpose, by Initiating the motions Of the
teachers lips and tongne and iaws-and by sirni-
lar means, comes at last to utter the elementary
sounds He is then carried along from the easier
and simpler elements Of speech TO their more diff
ficult and complex combinations until, finally. as
witnessed in several cases. he is enabled TO speak
with readiness and dstinctness sufficient for all
the daily and important purposes of life 1t is
hardly necessary for me 10 say, that as they have
no hearing to guide them, there can be neither
musical modulation nor expressive accent in their
speech; but was agreeably surprised at the gen.
era absence of every thing positively disagreeable
or offensive You will be satisfied that they can
be taught to speak distinctly enough, when tell
YOU that at Berlin, understood at once and with
out difficulty, the short and simple sentences of
little girl in answer TO her teacher. He asked
her how many brothers and sisters she had, to
which she readily answered and then gave their
names She then told him the color of the table,
its shape, saying it is not round, II is square,-the
kind of wood of which it was made, and so on
1t requires long time, and good deal of prac-
tice, for an Englishman or American to become
enough accustomed to German, merely 10 catch
and make out the words although their enuncia-
ton is generally much clearer and more distinct
than our own. l was few days ago, in The
Catholic Church in Dresden, while the priest
with very clear voice and sharp clean utter
ance was preaching, and l could make out only
few of his words; and still understood readily
the simple sentences oe the little deaf and dumb
girl at Berlin; L. and Mrs. S. were with me
during my visit to the Berlin school, and were
both of them more delighted and interested than
with any thing that they have seen in Europe.
We were all very much struck with the un-
firing patience of both teachers and pupils, and
with the eager animation also of the latter. One
little fellow at Leipsic with most striking and
intelligent face, who MIR. Willis thought would
make capital Puck, interested US exceedingly by
the cheerful and obstin ate pertnacity with which
he hammered away at his difficult sounds, and the
hardest of which. to his manifest delight as we'll
as our own, he finally succeeded in expressing.
The time occupied in this discipline is very con-
siderable, usually some six seven years; and
the patience and perseverance, on the part of both
teachers and pupils, such it seems to me, as can
hardly he looked for anywhere except among
these untiring and devoted Germans. The moral
and religious training of the children is assidu-
ously and Systematically attended to; and as
stood in the rooms at Lei psic, where the teachers
unknown to fame, in their quiet seclusion, with
their moderate salaries are occupied year after
year in plying their humble but heavenly task, l
was seized with overwhelming sense of the
utter and melancholy emptiness of the mummeries
both Protestant and Catholic, which pass for rel-
eion, when compared with such labors and such
! lives as these. Truly, as Dr. Vogel remarked,
this was better than long prayers Still, a fippant
EngIishman, said to me the other day in the cars
with an air. and tone-not as though it was his
opinion merely, but as if it was quite settled and
determined, and he had been chosen and annoint-
ed as the oracle to make proclamation thereof
that there was no religion in Germany, neither
among Protestants nor Catholics
/ Ny own opinion, although the Germans 60 to
church less than we do, and spend their Sundays
verv nn-PuritanicallV is quite different from that