Remarks on the deaf and dumb / by Ebenezer Chalmers.

Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the deaf and dumb / by Ebenezer Chalmers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Beautifully as the above piece exhibits the influence of education upon the mind of the mute in raising it from its native ignorance to compre- hend the loftiest of all subjects, it must not therefore be inferred that it forms a criterion by which to judge of the acquirements of the deaf and dumb in general, for she who wrote it was under Mr Kinniburgh’s able tuition for more than ten years, double the usual period allowed for the education of mutes in our institutions. It however affords ample proof that time is only required to enable the mute, who at the outset of edu- cation has to labour incessantly to acquire a few simple nouns, to become so thoroughly acquainted with the meaning and structure of language as to rival in imagination and power of expression the majority of those in the full possession of all their faculties. In institutions for the deaf and dumb articulation is taught to such as have any idea of sound. In cases in which children have not been deprived of hearing till they have acquired a certain knowledge of oral language, articulation is useful so far; but to those deaf from infancy it is of no benefit. Even those who are taught to articulate, but rarely retain in their speech that distinctness requisite to make a stranger com- prehend their expressions ; aud if understood, their voices are harsh and monotonous to the ear. With reference to the natural capabilities of the deaf and dumb we would observe that they are similar in this respect to those who hear. In the various classes, as in common schools, some are more intelligent than others, and the girls are equal to the boys in every department of edu- cation. The deaf and dumb are acute physiognomists. In consequence of not having the sense of hearing they depend upon the power of vision. Through the eye they receive all instruction, and by it they endeavour to read the countenance as the index to the mind. One great fault of mutes in this respect is that if not checked they are apt to carry their skill in physiognomy too far, so as to engender a groundless suspicion of all around. More especially is this the case with those who are only partially educated. In drawing these remarks to a close we would observe that in putting forth effort and devoting means to educate the deaf and dumb, the bene- volent have the satisfaction of knowing, that, unlike some charities, their gifts do not tend to increase the objects of their sympathy. None is so far from the fountain of knowledge as the illiterate mute. Those deprived of vision are indeed debarred the pleasures of the material world, but they can nevertheless be instructed through the ear concerning