The Washington herald., 1913-08-10
deaf taught ON PRINCIPLE
THAT MAN IS dumb animal
Speech and Language Regarded as Purely Matter Of Edu
cation-Muc l. Being Accomplished by the New
Method Of Reading the Lips.

proceeds to words Of one syllable, and
then to longer words. Colors are taught
with the help Of . box Of pretty pieces
of silk and velvet. or with colored cards.
beads, &c The hues Of these are read
from the teachers lips. and the child
writes the names. For. be II noticed.
while learning to talk and to understand
speech he acquires incidentally the art
of writing. Numbers he learns in much
the same way (the pupils counting the
buttons on each others jackets and
frocks as a simple exercised: and toys
and other objects of all sorts are used
for the teaching of words. Large cards
with small pictures pasted on them are
found most serviceable in this kind Of
educational work.
Sentences Made Up.
Later on, words are put together into
sentences. It is a kind of instruction
which. even with the most intelligent
deaf-mutes. Is painfully slow; but II
pays. 1t places the deaf-mute on level
with his fellow-men; he is no longer
either a quasi-imbecile or a freak. In this
age and genera ton il has come for the
first time to be realized that an infant
incapable from birth of hearing . sound
may. nevertheless. learn anything THAI
anybody else knows. and may therefore
as for speech, why. the children in the
teaf-and- dumb kindergartens of the pres
ent day are regular chatterbo1es,
To show that these statements are In
no way exaggerated. attention may be
called to the undeniable fact that men
born deaf are at the present time in
the front rank of many OF the profess
sions. They are lawyers, physicians.
tankers, and successful business men in
all walks How strange 1t IL to consider
the fact that these very individuals, u
born a century earlier. would have been
regarded as semi-idiots, and have spent
their lives in mental darkness, practically
shut of from human intercourse!
But those who have escaped from the
everlasting silence imposed upon them
at birth are not the only ones to thank
the new lip language for their emanci-
patton Many people become deaf lats
in life lowing in most Instances to a ca
tarrhal trouble of the inner earl, and
not a few OF these. dispensing with esr-
| trumpets and other such contrivances.
are restored to intimate social commun-
ion with their fellow beings through the
acquisition Of this means Of conversins
by sight The writer is well acquainted
with middle-aged lady who has nos
heard a sound for twenty years, but
whose misfortune would never be sus-
pected by casual stranger. inasmUch
as she hears with her eyes, as wei, as
normal persons can with their ears She
says that her accomplishment Is rather
embarrassing sometimes inasmuch as,
without in the least wishing to do 50,
she "overhears" whispered and very pri-
Nate conversations in street-cars and
other public places.
Cannot Reach Inner Ear.
There are plenty OF ear-doctors. and
people pay them big prices for treatment
Tor deafness. But did you. honestly now,
ever Know OF case where the patient
was much benefited? Nearly always they
imagine that they are getting better (for
the trouble Is variable. and at intervals
the hearing exhibits what seems like i'm
provemeno. but, slowly and inevitably,
they grow worse.
The real difficulty lies In the fact tia,
the inner ear. where the trouble lies, Is
physically unapproachable. The physician
cannot even examine it He can look
with ease into the eye: he can inspec,
at leisure, with the help Of an electric
liShf, the cavities behind the mask of
the face; he can even examine. by like
means, the stomach and the bladder. But
,ne inner ear Is beyond his reach. during
lie 1t Is even impossible to dissect IL
satisfactorily after, death. because the
parts collapse.
The drum. in living person. bars the
way TO observation; and. even though Z
De pierced. there is no possibility of
seeing through the winding passages be.
yond. On the further side Of the drum
are three little bones. the "mallet." the
stirrup,' and the anvil which act
upon each other as levers. The mallet.
Immediately in contact with the drum,
conveys the sound-waves through the
anvil and stirrup to the "ochlea''-a
spiral. shell-shaped chamber Just behind
and above the external opening of the
ear. This SHELF is composed of filament.
or the auditory nerve, coiled spirally, and
each one erect and waving temulously in
response to the slightest waves of sound
They carry the sound impressions directly
to the brain But. the moment life be-
comes extinct. the spiral shell of nerves
coilapses, and the marvellous organ il a
dead thing. RENE BACHk