ART. IV.

Of Words ending in al, in el, and in il.

We show the deaf and dumb, that in pronouncing the words natal, rebel, pupil, we leave our tongue in the position required by the labial alphabet for the prolation of the letter l, without letting it fall to give egress to the air; to demonstrate which we close ovr mouth with our hand. We then do the same to our pupils in the pronunciation of all syllables of the same species, whatever consonants they end with; by stopping the mouth so as to prevent the egress of air, these consonants receive their sound from the vowel which precedes them, and to which they are immediately united.

COROLLARY OF THE THREE FOREGOING

ARTICLES.

We have yet to mention another species of syllable terminated by two consonants, each of which gives a distinct sound, as cons in constant, trans in transport. We have only to apply to this species the three operations above described. By teaching the pupil to throw the voice into the nose, we cause him to pronounce con, as explained in Article iii. By teaching him the coalition of two consonants, we bring him to pronounce cans, as in Article ii. And by putting our hand upon his mouth, so as to arrest the organs in the disposition required for the prolation of the letters, we prevent him from uttering conseu, as mentioned in Article iv.

Such is, at present, the ne plus ultra of my ministry in the reading and the pronunciation of my deaf and dumb pupils. I have

opened their mouth and untied their tongue. I have enabled them to utter, more or less distinctly, syllables of all sorts. I may say, in short, that they can read, and that every thing is completed on my side. It remains with their fathers and mothers, and persons having the superintendance of them, to give them practice, whether by taking that care upon themselves, or by employing some simple reading master, who, after attending our elementary operations, shall very punctually make them go through a lesson daily. The object now is, to give flexibility to their organs by continual exercise. They should also be constrained into speech by having their wants attended to only as they utter them. If this line is not pursued, so much the worse for the deaf and dumb, and for those interested about them; as for me, it is not possible that I can do more.

Before I had to instruct the multitude of deaf and dumb that have been successively pressed upon me, my own application to the

rules here laid down, proved so effective as to enable Lewis Francis Gabriel de Clement de la Pujade to pronounce in public a Latin discourse of five pages and a half; and, in the ensuing year, to lay down a definition of philosophy, detail proofs of its accuracy, and defend it in regular disputation, answering, in all scholastic forms, the objections offered against it by Francis Elizabeth John de Didier, one of his fellow students: (the arguments were communicated.) I also enabled another deaf and dumb scholar to repeat aloud to his mistress the twentyeighth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, and to recite the morning service along with her every Sunday. These two examples must be sufficient.

It would not be practicable for me to do as much at present, for this reason:-the lesson given to a deaf and dumb scholar on the art of speaking, is necessarily personal, and serves for him alone. Now, having sixty scholars to instruct, if I allotted only

ten minutes to each, for the purpose of pronunciation and reading, it would take me up ten whole hours. And where is the man whose constitution is able to undergo this continually? And then, how could I continue to carry on the mental part of their education, that part which is the principal object of my concern?

The number of deaf and dumb children in a seminary cannot be brought to read and pronounce, with accurate distinctness, without masters devoted solely to this branch of instruction, to exercise them in it daily.

People of high talents are by no means wanted for the office; whoever brings to it good nature and zeal, and will faithfully put in practice what we have exposed, is amply qualified. The employment being purely mechanical, men of talents are rather to be feared than desired, as they would soon revolt at it, But in stooping to the level of common schoolmasters, we shall have a better chance of finding such as will give in

S