The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-01-23
TEACHING THE DEAF.
THE FIRST SCHOOL FOUNDED IN THE
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
Earliest In the United States Established
by DIR. Thomas II. Gallaudet at Hart
ford In 1s17-systems of Instruction
and Their Friendly Rivalry.


ford In 1s17-systems of Instruction
and Their Friendly Rivalry.
The earliest recorded attempt to found a
school where the deaf could be educated
was made In the early part of the seven
tenth century by the learned John But
Ter, contemporary of Milton and Bacon.
He, however, says of the project: 81 soon
perceived, by falling into discourse with
some rationale men about such designe,
that the attempt seemed so paradOxicall,
prodigious, and Hyperbolcall that 1t did
rather amuse than Statistic their under
standings" Indeed, 1t was not until more
than century later, when De pEpee,
Heinicke and Braidwood founded schools
In France, Germany and Great Britain re-
spectiyely, that any permanent institu-
tions were established for the education Of
the deaf.
1t Is o very rare occurrence when deaf
person is mute for any other reason save
the lack Of the instruction which hearing
child receives through his ears. Recognize
ing this fact and that speech is the most
distinctive gift Of man, Heinicke and
Braidwood devoted themselves to the
and to teaching them to read the speech of
others by noting the movements of the lips
and tongue. On the other hand, the Able
De l'Epee based his method of instruc-
ton upon the fact that all human beings,
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
a code of signs by which they can COM
municate with one another and with the
surrounding tribes. He therefore conven-
tionalzed and systematized signs and In
vented new ones when natural gestures
failed to convey the idea.
With this system of conventionalized
signs, brought to this country by DR.. Thorn
as H. Gallaudet, school was opened in
Hartford In the year 1917. 1t had been
found, however, that the sign language
did not solve the problem Of giving the
deaf means of communication with the
world in general. Very few people under
stood this language, while Its construc-
ton, so far as there was any, and its con-
ciseness-a single gesture frequently rep
resenting complete sentence Of spoken
ernaoular-rendered it unfit for repre-
senting dramatically constructed lam
guage. The method Of spelling the
words with the fingers by means of fin
ger alphabet was then pressed into service
In conjunction with signs. This is the
same as writing in foreign characters on
the blackboard or upon paper, except that
1t is more rapid and more convenient In
this way the reading and writing of gram
NAUTICAL English could be taught, and both
the manual alphabet and 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 articu-
lation Is an important factor in the
work In 1867, largely through the efforts
of Horace Manu. who some years previous
ly had visited the schools of Europe two
institutions were established In this coun-
try 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 Northampton, Mass,
and they are today large and Furnishing
institutions
After the establishment of these institu-
lions there sprang up in this country in
the ranks of the teachers Of the deaf a
division which already existed In Europe
On the one side were the ardent advocates
of the sign language as means OF instruc-
ton and explanation, while on the other
were the opponents of signs, who employed
the manual alphabet, writing and speech
only. The controversy has been waged
with more or less energy ever since; but
like all the ideas of cruder and less ad-
vanced age the sign language has been
gradually crowded out, until now it Is en-
tirely excluded from many schools and
used but sparingly in others
A single argument brought forward by
the son of distinguished advocate Of the
ancient method in support Of this lam
guage Is enough to indicate Its ultimate
fate, though 1t has served noble purpose
in it's day. He says, 1T is fact worth
noting that the signs used by the Indians
of North America are identical In many
instances with those employed by the deaf
mutes Of today" No one will question
the truth of this observation nor deny
that it Is worth noting but we have reached
a stage in the world history when we can
lay aside the tools of savagery. Through
progress In enlightenment we are fortu-
nately able now to give our deaf children
better means of communication with men
than that employed by the American In
dian or the African savage. 1t is friendly
struggle, in which the old school advocates
of the sign language are the defensive party
and the oralists the aggressors. Both are,
however, engaged in the great work of
ameliorating the condition of an unfor-
tunate class and have much that is COM
mon ground where they can clasp hands
with hearty approval.
In the schools for the deaf in the United
States today three systems of instruction
arc used. The methods employed are, in
the first system, signs and the manual
alphabet second system, speech and the
manual alphabet; third system, speech
only Writing Is of course employed in
all the systems. Button Wright in
Century