Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1897-04-16
SHOOTS FOR DEAF.
THE EARLIEST RECORDED At
TEMPT TO FOUND ONE.
Systems Of Instruction Now Used
Struggle Between Tho Old-School Ad-
vocates of the Sign Language and the
Oralists.


vocates of the Sign Language and the
Oralists.
HE earliest record
IRR ed attempt to found
IN school where the
MT8E deaf could be edu-
lSvAHky Gated was made in
MySXxE the early part of
N&AAN the seventeenth
)MLs1N century by the
MW<1FM learned John But
-@NRV% Ter, contemporary
T. ~ of Milton and Ba-
con, says the Cen
fury. He, however, says of the project:
Il soon perceived, by falling into dis
course with some rational men about
such a designe that the attempt seemed
SO paradoxical, prodigious and Hyper
bolicall, that 1T did rather amuse than
satisfy their understandings" Indeed,
1t was not until more than a century
after. when De lEpee, Henicke and
Hardwood founded schools in France,
Germany and Great Britain respect
lively. that any permanent Institutions
were established for the education of
the deaf. 1t is a very rare occurrence
when deaf person is mute for any
other reason save the lack of instruc-
ton which a hearing child receives
through his ears. Recognizing this
fact and that speech is the most dis
tinctive gift of man, Heinicke and
Braidwood 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 Able de
IEpee based his methods of instruc
ton upon the fact that ALI human be-
ings, when deprived of speech, either
through deafness or ignorance of the
language spoken about them, resort to
signs to make known their wants. All
savage races have code of signs by
which they can communicate with one
another and with the surrounding
tribes. He therefore conventionalized
and systematized signs and invented
new ones when natural gestures failed
to convey the idea. With this system
of conventionalized signs, brought to
this country by DR.. Thomas H. Gallau-
Diet, school was opened in Hartford
Conn, in the year 1917. 1t had been
found, however, that the sign lam
guage did not solve the problem OF
giving the deaf means of communi.
cation with the world in general. Very
few people understood this language,
while its construction. so far as there
was any. and it's conciseness-a single
gesture frequently representing com.
plete sentence of spoken vernacular--
rendered it unfit for representing gra.
matically constructed language. The
method of spelling the words with the
fingers by means of a finger alphabet
was then pressed into service in con.
junction with signs. This is the same
as writing in foreign characters on
the blackboard or upon paper. except
that it is more rapid and more con-
venient. In this way the reading and
writing of grammatical English could
be taught, and both the manual alpha.
plOyed in certain schools today. For
many years after the founding of the
Hartford school no speech vas taught
there, though today the teaching OF
articulation is an important factor 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 es-
tabffshed in this country where the
deaf could not only be taught to speak
but be taught by speech without the
Use of the manual alphabet or the sign
language. One of these was in New
York city and the other in Northamp-
ton. Mass. and they are today large
and flourfshing institutions. After the
| establishment Of these institutions
there sprang up in this country, in the
ranks Of the teachers of the deaf. a
division which already existed in Eu.
rope. On the one side were the ardent
advocates Of the sign language as a
means Of instruction and explanation
while on the other were the opponents
OF signs, who employed the manual al.
phabet, writing and speech only. The
controversy has been waged with more
or less energy ever since; but like al
the ideas Of cruder and less advanced
age. the sign language has been grad.
TALLY crowded out. until now it is en-
tfrely excluded from many schools ant
used but sparingly in others. A singl.
argument brought forward by the sou
Of distinguished advocate of the an
cient method in support of this Ian
guage is enough to indicate its ulti
mate fate. though 1t has served a nobl,
purpose in its day. He says: 1T is
fact worth noting that the signs uset
by the Indians of North America ar,
identical in many instances with thos
employed by the deaf-mutes of today.
No one will question the truth of thi
observation. nor deny that it is wortl
noting: but we have reached a stag
in the worlds history when we cal
lay aside the tools Of savagery
Through progress in enlightenment