The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-12-30
SCHOOLS FOR THE DEAF.
The Earliest Founded I'm the Seven
teenth Century.

The earliest recorded attempt to fount
school where the deaf could be educa
ted was made In the early part OF tn,
seventeenth century by the learned Johr
Butler. contemporary of Milton anc
Bacon. lie, howover,ssys OF the project
81 soon perceived. by falling into. dis
course with some rationall men about
sucn a designe, that the attempt stemed
so paradoxicall, prodigious, and Hyper.
bolical, that 1t dia rather amuse than
sstishe their understanding" Indeed i,
was not until more than O century later,
when De rEpee, Heinicke. and Braidwood
founded schools in France, Germany and
Great Britain respectively, that any per-
manent institutions were esta pli shed for
the education Of the deaf.
IL Is very rare occurrence when n
deaf person Is mute for any other rea-
son save the lack Of the instruction
which hearing child receives throug b
his ears. Recognizing this fact, and
that speech is the most distinctive gilt
OF man, Heinicke and traidwood devoted
themselves to the training of the vocal
organs of their pupils, and to teaching
them to read the speech of Others by
noting the movements of the lips and
tongue. On the other hand the good
Abte de PEpee based his metho of in
struction upon the fact that all human
beings, when derived of speech, either
through deafness or ignorance of the
language spoken about them, resort to
signs TO make know their wants. All
savage races have q code of signs by
which they can communicate with one
another ana with the surrounding tribes.
He therefore conventionalized and sys-
tematizeo signs, and invented new ones
wnen natural gestures failed to convey
the idea.
with this system of conventiopalized
signs, brought to this country by Dr.
Thomas III. Gallaudtt, q school was
opened in Hartford, Conn.,, in the year
1917. 1t tsa been found, however, that
the sign language did not solve the
problem of giving the deaf q means of
communication with the world in gen.
eral. Very few people understood this
language, while its construction, SO far
IS there was any, and its concisentss-
single gesture frequently representing
complete sentence of spoken yernacular
rendered 1t unfit for representing gram
matically constructed language. The
method of spelling the words with the
fingers py means OF q finger alphabet
was then pressed into service In coniunc-
tion with signs. This is the same as
writing In foreign characters on the
black board or upon paper, except that
1t 10 more rapid and more convenient. In
this way the reading and writing of
grammatical English could be taught,
and both the manual slphabet End the
sign language are employed in certain
schools today.
For many years after the founding OF
the Hartford school no speech was taught
there, though today the teaching of
articulation is an important fact9r in
their work. In 1867. largely through the
efforts Of Horace Mann, who some years
previously had visited the schools of
Europe, two institutions were esta blishsu
In this country where the deaf could not
only be taught to speak, but be taught
by spesch without the use of the manual
alpha bet or tie sign language. One of
these was in New York city and the |
other in Northampton, Mass, and they |
are today large AMI hourishing institu-
tions.
After the establishment of these insti- |
tutions there sprang up IN this country, [
la the ranks OF the teachers OF the deaf,
fuia w MI 4.
rope. On the one side were the ardent
advocates of the sign language as a m cans
Of instructions and explanation, while on
the other were the opponents of signs
who employed the man ual alpha BET, writ
Ing, and speech only. The controversy
has bsen waged with more or less energy
Bver since; out like all the ideas of a
cruder and less advanced age, the sign
language mas been gradually crowded out,
until now it is entirely excluded from
many schools and used but spariugIy in
others.
"A single argument brought forward by
he son of distinguished al socate of
he ancient method in support OF this
anguage is nough to indicate its ulti-
ubte lhte, tnouPut IL mas served n noble
purpose in it's day. He says: "It is a
act worth noting that the signs used by
he Indians OF North America are ieentj-
,al In many instances With thcs. en-
'lcyed by the deaf-mutss OF today" No
me will question the trutn of this obser-
'ation, nor deny that IL is worth noting;
'ut We have renchei stage in tho
worlds history when we can 10y aside
he tools OF savagery.T Through progress
n enli ghtenmsnt we are fortunately allie
low TO give our deaf childrpn n better
means Of communication with men than
hat employed by tie American Indian
r the African slvege. IL is friendly
tfugRle. In which the old school sdvo-
ates OF the sign language are the defen-
i've party and tire orsllsts the aggressors.
'oth are, however, engaged In the great
york of ameliorsting tho condit ion OF an |
class and have much that IL
ommon ground where they can clasp
Gnds with hearty approval.
10 the schools for the deaf in the
inited STATES TODAY three svsteroa ~ IN. /