The national Republican., 1869-06-25

rate to you the admirable school system OF
the District and the immense establishment |
Of the Government printing office; but what |
have said Is suficlent, think, to warrant |
the assertion which have before made as TO |
the Intellectual activity OF tho city, In COM |,
parison with that Of any other Of equal popu-
latlon In this or perhaps any other count y.
In making these remarks do not intend
10 forget the occasion on which we are as
sembled, nor to fail to express my herrty
approval Of the enterprise which has been so
worthily inaugurated, of establishing, under
the patronage Of the Government, q college
or Institution for the higher education Of the
deaf and dumb. Our senses are the instru-
mentalities by which the soul takes cogni-
Eance Of the phenomena Of the outer world.
Without the senses, though the soul has
capacities, II has no innate propositions, and
the unfortunate individual, therefore, who ls
deprived Of any one sense, must be deficient
In q definite conception Of tho phenomena TO
which that sense Is specially adapted. II Is
true that man has been enabled through
science TO Improve his natural senses. He
has invented Instruments which, on the one
hand, reveal TO him sun In every star or q
world In every planet, and on the other, O
cosmos Of teeming life In every drop Of the
stagnant pool. He has invented acoustic
Instruments which add power 10 voice, and
| render otherwise inaudible sounds percepti-
bic. Even the sense Of smell Is In some in-
yestigatlons assisted by means OF instru-
ments which concentrate odors and the
sense Of touch Is rendered more acute by
physical appliances. Il is therefore not sur
prislng that In the advance OF humanity-a
higher civilization than that Of Greece or
Rome In their palmy days-that means should
y! adopted for the amelioratlon OF those who
are deficient In one sense by q higher cult
vstion Of tho senses which still remain.
The art OF the education OF tho deaf Is,
however, one Of modern date; In oldcn times
they were considered on level with idiots;
by the Roman law they were held incapable
OF consent and consequently unable to enter
into legal obligations. II was happy idea,
therefore, to substitute the sense Of sight
and touch for that Of sound In conveying In
tclllgence to this isolated portion OF the hu-
man family.
Whatever is presented TO the mind through
tho eye Is more definitely conceived and Is
more indellbly impressed upon the memory
than that through any other organ Of sense.
Facts thus acquired may also serve as per
manent nuclei around which to gather by
association thousands Of other impressions
received through other senses, and | see no
reason why the education Of the deaf should
he confined TO the ordinary branches OF cdu
cational training. They should have tho
means afforded them Of attaining the highest
mental development Of which their capaci
ties are susceptible. They are certainly
capable Of being trained as admirable OBJ
servers Of natural phenomena. In the vast
domain OF astronomy, where no voice mol
sound Is heard, whose eyes arc better ilttct
to mark the pecularitics aud study thu
changes Of the heavenly bodies than those oil
the deaf mutef
The science OF mathematics, In all ii;
various ramlGcations, Is fully open to thciI
Investigations, and as many OF the phcnom
cna OF sound are connected with visible
effects, they are not even entirely excluded
from knowledge Of these; and indeed Il
would seem that In the study Of abstract
science generally they have the advnntag,
OF an entire withdrawal, as II were, from tn
world OF sense to that of the relation Of th
IDEAS which have already been acquired. Al
, institution OF this kind Is, therefore, worth!
of tho patronage OF the Government, vhicl
, should foster higher as well as ordlnaT,
I common school education. There Is NJ
country in the world which, at the presen
time, so much requires the aid OF men o
profound thought and ready and correct cx
preston as our own. There are constant!
occurring questions which cannot be solve
except by minds accustomed to accurate ob
seryations stored with precise knowledge
and trained to logical deductions. We arc
, however, prone to look at the lmmediatel
practical, and to forget that all knowledg
Is useful, and that the purely abstract mus
be cultivated as well as the palpablc concrete
At the present time we lack men OF though
more than men OF action. Our country pro
duccs spontaneously largo crop Of the latter
while the former are ouly developed by Ia
borious culture.
8. C. MILLS, JusTICE OF THE PEACE
0fico and residence No. 5Ii II street north
! between Third aud Fourth streets west. \
I NOTICED. W. Anderson, the eoiore
. justice Of the pcacc-oiiicc 2l9 street, be
4 fwacn NInntaant nj TuonII,th n