The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-07-25
INGENUITY OF THE AFFLIC ED.
Painters without Hands-The Tongue Not
Necessary to Speech.

INGENUITY OF THE AFFllC ED.
Painters without Hands-The Tongue Not
Necessary to Speech.
Few examples of human ingenuity
are more interesting than the devices
which have been employed by Grip
pies 10 enable them to pursue some
calling, and there are few subjects
more interesting and curious than the
means by which the deaf have heard
what was passing around them, and
the dumb have made themselves un-
derstOOd
Passing over the we'll known case OF
Miss Biffin, who, though born without
hands or arms, attained considerable
eminence as a miniature painter, 1t
may be noted that there are abundant
instances recorded of persons who
could not only write. but paint toler-
ably well, with their toes.
There was, for instance, at COgges-
hall, in Essex, a man named Carter,
who was so thoroughly paralyzed that
he had quite lost the use of his hands,
and was obliged to be on his back.
He partly supported himself by his
beautiful drawings, which he did with
his mouth; and he could copy an old
wood cut or plate so closely that it
was difficult tc distinguish it from the
original.
Sir Charles Bell, too, tells us of
Russian beggar born without hands,
who frequented the high road to Mos
COW, and committed many murders
before he was discovered and exc
cuted. His method of work was pc
culiar. He used to throw himself
against person who was giving him
aims, and, having stunned him, pro
ceeded to seize him with his teeth, and
so drag him into the wood. There are
therefore many occupations which can
be followed even if person have no
hands.
To prove that the tongue is not alb
solutely necessary for speech would be
an easy matter, since there are many
authentic cases of persons, who, hav-
ing lost their tongues owing to some
accident or operation, have yet man
aged to speak distinctly. But to con-
vey thoughts without speech, to speak
without words is another matter. Per-
haps the most curious example of this
form of ingenuity-either in fact or
fiction-is the means by which the
paralytic old Noirtier, in Monte
Cristo," was able to speak to anybody
who understood his system. He, it
will be remembered, had sight and
hearing left to him, and he expressed
appreciation by closing his eyes, his re-
fusal to any proposal by winking
them several times, and if he had
some desire or feeling to express he
raised them to heaven. By this code,
together with the aid of a dictionary
so arranged that he could see a page
as finger was rapidly run down it,
he cOntrived to hold converse on any
subject.
After such examples of devices to
supply the places of missing senses or
members of the body as those we have
mentioned, it would be indeed surpris
ing If there were no natural way of
overcoming the many disadvantages
Incidental to deafness. But as a mat
ter of fact there is method, and a
very simple method, by which many
deaf people can hear, and that, too
without artificial instruments. In
king john" Hubert says:
l saw smith stand with his hammer, thus,
The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool,
With open mouth, swallowing tailors news
Scott, too, has passages to the same
effect, and we often hear of a particu
lar person swallowing it all in
i. e.. listening with his mouth wide
open. Now, there is sound physio
logical reason for opening the mouth
under such circumstances. There are
two opposite openings in the ear
namely, the external opening, which
is known to all of us, and the internal
opening, called the eustachian tube,
which passes from the internal audi
tory organs to the back of the mouth,
just where the nostrils open into it.
1t therefore follows that person
who opens his mouth has a better
chance of hearing than if he keeps ii
shut In short, the inner opening is
an auxiliary to the outer one. There
Is at least one case in which the latter
opening alone has had to do service, as
the following advertisement from a
copy of The Daily Post of some thirty
years ago will clearly show: Missing
ON Sunday afternoon, a young man Of
weak intellect. The lobes of his ears
are closed, but when spoken to he
opens his mouth, and is then able to
hear" 1t is clear, then, that the ac-
cidental destruction of one or more
parts does not necessarily destroy the
sense OF hearing, provided that the
INJURY does not reach the more essen.
tai part of mechanism, the brain.
London Bits.