Paris, Nov. 14. 1804. I REMEMBER having put into your hands a little book, intitled, Le Sauvage d'Aveiron,' the history of a wild boy, caught in the woods of France, and committed to the care of the celebrated Abbé Sicard. I recollect that the perusal of this book led you to inquiries, relative to the Parisian establishment for the education of the deaf and dumb, which I was then unable to answer. Since my arrival in this city I have obtained some further information of the rise and progress of this philanthropick insti

tution.

The seminary, now under the patronage of government, was originally instituted by the Abbe L'Epee, who having undertaken the education of two young ladies, born deaf and dumb, was excited, by a contemplation of their unhappy condition, to devise a system of instruction, by methodical signs, which should not only prove a substitute for speech in the conveyance of common ideas, but should also embrace every term, or idea, usually expressed by oral communication. To extend the benefit of this system, he founded a school, in which he received as many of

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the deaf and dumb as he was enabled to superintend, and, reserving the bare means of subsistence, (even denying himself, in his old age, the comforts of a winter's fire) devoted his private fortune and the remnant of his days to the sup port and instruction of his pupils.

For a particular account of his mode of education, and the progress of this establishment, I refer you to a publication, intitled, The true method of educating the deaf and dumb, confirmed by long practice.' By an attentive perusal of this book you will perceive, that the author has succeeded in introducing to the mind, through the medium of the eye, what is usually received through the medium of the ear that this communication is not effected by the simple and ordinary use of the fingers, but by regular methodical signs, not merely significant of letters and single words, but conveying ideas of the most abstruse and metaphysical nature that the pupil is conducted from sensible to abstract ideas by a simple analysis;-that he is not only taught the meaning of words, but is also instructed in their grammatical position as to tenses, modes, genders, and cases, and is thoroughly initiated in the

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>sements, prefet.'vernment,' > the meanIt is that 1 at the head maintain its iding for its ling it against s if dissatisfied n, or desirous of e added, (as nearly nslate,) It is one al, acting as the soul politick, and serving as ter, the guide, and deits members.'

may well imagine that the .ors testified their pleasure and prize. You are pleased with y pupil,' said the Abbé, I will hank you to try his resources. Ask him any question, and I will engage that his answer shall be prompt, clear, and correct.' Ask him what is musick? said one of the audience. The question, with luctance, was proposed. hook his head, and wrote blet: It is extremely if not impossible, for a to answer this question orily; our conceptions of must be very imperfect. only say, that I conceive it e an agreeable sensation of the al, excited by the voice, or the oise (bruit) of instruments."

rules of conjugation and de

clension.

On the death of the abbe L'Eppee, the charge of this seminary was assumed by the abbe Sicard, a character equally distinguished for his understanding and benevolence, and who, with a zeal no less fervent than that of his predecessor, is the actual preceptor of the national institution for the education of the deaf and dumb.

Having recently attended one of his monthly lectures, I shall endeavour to give you a summary of that interesting exhibition, and the manner in which it was conducted.

The room, appropriated for this purpose, affords accommodation for three or four hundred spectators. At one end is a small stage, erected for the teacher and his pupils, and on the back of this stage, fastened to the wall, is a large tablet, painted black, on which the scholars write their lessons with white crayons. Soon after the appointed hour the Abbé made his appearance. I have been waiting,' said he, to introduce to you a new subject, almost an infant, a little savage, a block of unchisselled marble, or rather a statue, yet to be animated and endowed with intellect; a child, who has received no instruction, of whose capacity I am yet ignorant, and whose future prospects will be determined by the experiment I am about to make. I shall begin with one of my elementary lessons, and you will at once judge of my system and its effect.'

A young man (born deaf and dumb) by the name of Massieu,who at an early age had been brought from an obscure village in the south of France and partially instructed by the abbé L'Epee, was directed to commence the lesson of experiment. He drew on the

tablet, I have mentioned, the form of a key, a hat, and a pair of spectacles, and at the foot of each of those figures he placed the article represented by the drawing.

The child, who had been announced, (a boy of about five years of age) was now brought into the room, and by the allurement of a bauble attracted from the arms of his mother, carried to the tablet, and held up to the objects which Massieu had delineated. He appeared, for some time, to regard them with an air of total indifference, and, by his vacant and inattentive manner, excited an evident distress in the mind of the Abbé; but at the moment when the instructor, as well as the audience, were beginning to doubt his capacity, and despair of his salvation, he clapped one hand to his head, and pointed (with a smile) to the hat, which had been drawn on the board. Enough! exclaimed the Abbé; this child may be snatched from the abyss of night, from the cheerless and insulated solitude in which thousands of his unhappy brethren are doomed to suffer "

This experiment happily con cluded, the Abbé proceeded to shew by what method the names of the articles, described by the painter, are first impressed on the mind and memory of the pupil. In order to do this he caused the letters K-E-Y to be distinctly writ ten on the figure of the key; H-A-T on the hat, &c. Those characters, united with the figures, are left for the study of the pupil, as another sign of the thing they describe, and when they are firmly imprinted on the memory, the drawing is erased, and the letters alone remain as the symbol, or representation of the object. This is one of the introductory lessons to the art of reading and writing.