which appeared to me the shortest and easiest in the application of their principles.*

* From what I have already observed as to the inutility of teaching the deaf and dumb utterance, it cannot be supposed I shall recommend it more than I have done, although I here publish the Instructions of the Abbé de l'Epée for that purpose. No person can read these Instructions without being convinced of the very great difficulty and trouble there must be in teaching these unfortunates utterance, and how painful it must be to them to learn. I shall be happy if I can accomplish the means of teaching them to speak in a manner pleasant to themselves and agreeable to those about them who can hear.

The editors of the Encyclopædia Edinensis positively say the Abbé de l'Epée did not teach his pupils to speak.What could they mean by this?

CHAP. I.

How we may succeed in teaching the Deaf and Dumb to pronounce Vowels and simple Syllables.

WHEN I am about to teach a deaf and dumb person to pronounce, I begin with making him wash his hands thoroughly clean. This done, I trace an a upon the table; and taking his hand, I introduce his fourth or little finger, as far as the second articulation, into my mouth; after which, I pronounce strongly an a, making him observe that my tongue lies still without rising to touch his finger.

I next write upon the table an e, which I likewise pronounce strongly several times, with my pupil's finger again in my mouth, and make him remark that my tongue rises and pushes his finger towards my palate;

then withdrawing his finger, I pronounce anew the same letter, and make him observe that my tongue dilates and approaches the eye-teeth, and that my mouth is not so open. I shall show him hereafter how to pronounce our different es.

After these two operations, I put my finger into my pupil's mouth, making him understand, that he is to do with his tongue what I have done with mine. The pronunciation of a commonly suffers no difficulty. That of e succeeds also, for the most part: but there are some pupils to whom the mechanism of it must be shown over again, two or three times, taking care to testify no impatience at their unskilfulness.

When the pupil has pronounced these two first letters, I write down and show an I; and having again put his finger into my mouth, I pronounce it strongly. I make him observe, 1st, That my tongue rises more and pushes his finger against my palate, as if to fix it there; 2nd, That my tongue dilates

Q

more, as if it were going to issue between the side teeth; 3rd, That I make a kind of smile, which is very perceptible to the eye.

Withdrawing his finger from my mouth, and putting mine into his, I engage him to do what I have just done; but this opera-tion rarely succeeds the first time, or even the first day, although repeatedly attempted; and some deaf and dumb persons can never be brought to execute it, but in a very im-. perfect manner. Their i has too close a resemblance to their e. I pass over, at present, the y pronounced like i.

There is no further occasion for the fingers to be introduced into the mouth. In forming a sort of o with my lips, and making a little grimace, I pronounce an o; and my pupil pronounces it directly without difficulty.

Doing next with my mouth as if I were blowing a candle or a fire, I pronounce an u. The deaf and dumb are apt to pronounce ои. To correct this, I make the pupil feel

upon the back of his hand, that the breath which issues from my mouth in pronouncing ou is warm, but that the breath produced by pronouncing u is cold.

The letter h creates a sort of sigh in the pronunciation of vowels which it precedes, and sometimes is not sounded at all; the pupil will learn by use when to give and when to suppress this aspiration.

It will not be amiss, before I proceed, to mention an imprudent expedient which I adopted when I first set about teaching the deaf and dumb to speak, that other instructors may be warned not to fall into the

same.

Having attentively studied and clearly understood the principles of my two masters, Bonnet and Amman, I undertook to explain and teach them to my scholars, by the method of question and answer; thus very indiscreetly entering into a long and intricate route. I was throwing away my time and