The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campell Part 2

When the deaf child has learned by these motions a good stock of words, as children that hear first learn by sounds, we may, methinks, call not improperly, the fingers of such a dumb infant, its mouth, and the eye of such a deaf child, its ear. When he has learnt thus far, he must be taught to write the alphabet, according as it was adapted to the motions of his fingers; as for instance, the five vowels, _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _u_, by pointing to the top of the five fingers, and the other letters, _b_, _c_, _d_, &c., by such other place or posture of a finger, as in the above-mentioned table is set forth, or otherwise, it shall be agreed upon. When this is done, the marks B, R, E, A, D, and so of all other words, corresponding with such fingers, conveys through his eyes, unto his head, the same notion, viz., the thing signified, as the sound we give to those same letters, making the word 'bread,' do into our head, through the ears.

This once done, he may be easily taught to understand the parts of speech, as the verb, the noun, p.r.o.noun, &c., and so, by rules of grammar and syntax, to compound ideas, and connect his words into a language.

The method of which, since it is plainly set forth in Doctor Wallis's letter to Mr. Beverly, I shall set it down by way of extract; that people in the same circ.u.mstances with the person we treat of, and of the like genius, may not have their talents lost for want of the like a.s.sistance.

When once a deaf person has learned so far as to understand the common discourse of others, and to express his mind tolerably well in writing, I see no room to doubt but that, provided nature has endowed him with a proper strength of genius, as other men that hear, he may become capable, upon farther improvement, of such farther knowledge as is attainable by reading. For I must here join with the learned Doctor Wallis in a.s.serting, as to the present case before us, that no reason can be a.s.signed why such a deaf person may not attain the understanding of a language as perfectly as those that hear; and with the same learned author I take upon me to lay down this proposition as certain, that allowing the deaf person the like time and exercise, as to other men is requisite in order to attain the perfection of a language, and the elegance of it, he may understand as well, and write as good language, as other men; and abating only what doth depend upon sound, as tones, cadences, and such punctilios, no whit inferior to what he might attain to, if he had his hearing as others have?

_An Extract from Dr. Wallis, concerning the method of teaching the Deaf and Dumb to Read._

It is most natural, (as children learn the names of things), to furnish him by degrees with a nomenclator, containing a competent number of names of things common and obvious to the eye, that you may show the thing answering to such a name, and these digested under convenient t.i.tles, and placed under them in such convenient order, in several columns, or other orderly situation in the paper, as by their position best to express to the eye their relation or respect to one another. As contraries or correlatives one against the other, subordinates or appurtenances under their principle, which may serve as a kind of local memory.

Thus, in one paper, under the t.i.tle mankind, may be placed, not confusedly, but in decent order, man, woman, child (boy, girl).

In another paper, under the t.i.tle body, may be written, in like convenient order, head (hair, skin, ear), face, forehead, eye (eyelid, eyebrow), cheek, nose (nostril), mouth (lip, chin), neck, throat, back, breast, side (right side, left side), belly, shoulders, arm (elbow, wrist, hand,--back, palm), finger (thumb, buckle, nail), thigh, knee, leg (s.h.i.+n, calf, ancle), foot (heel, sole), toe.

And when he hath learned the import of words in each paper, let him write them in like manner, in distinct leaves or pages of a book, prepared for that purpose, to confirm his memory, and to have recourse to it upon occasion.

In a third paper, you may give him the inward parts; as skull (brain), throat (windpipe, gullet), stomach, guts, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidney, bladder (urine), vein (blood), bone (marrow), flesh, fat, &c.

In another paper, under the t.i.tle beast, may be placed horse (stonehorse, gelding), mare (colt), bull (ox), cow, calf. Sheep, ram (wether), ewe (lamb), hog, boar, sow, pig, dog, (mastiff, hound, greyhound, spaniel), b.i.t.c.h (whelp, puppy), hare, rabbit, cat, mouse, rat, &c.

Under the t.i.tle bird, or fowl, put c.o.c.k, capon, hen, chick, goose (gander), gosling, duck (drake), swan, crow, kite, lark, &c.

Under the t.i.tle fish, put pike, eel, place, salmon, lobster, crawfish, &c.

You may then put plants or vegetables under several heads or subdivisions of the same head; as tree (root, body, bark, bough, leaf, fruit), oak, ash, apple-tree, pear-tree, vine, &c. Fruit: apple, pear, plum, cherry, grape, nut, orange, lemon. Flower; rose, tulip, gilliflower herb, (weed), gra.s.s, corn, wheat, barley, rye, pea, bean.

And the like of inanimates; as heaven, sun, moon, star, element, earth, water, air, fire; and under the t.i.tle earth,--clay, sand, gravel, stone.

Metal; gold, silver, bra.s.s, copper, iron (steel), lead, tin (pewter), gla.s.s. Under the t.i.tle water, put sea, pond, river, stream; under that of air, put light, dark, mist, fog, cloud, wind, rain, hail, snow, thunder, lightning, rainbow. Under that of fire; coal, flame, smoke, soot, ashes.

Under the t.i.tle clothes, put woollen (cloth, stuff), linen (holland, lawn, lockarum), silk, (satin, velvet), hat, cap, band, doublet, breeches, coat, cloak, stocking, shoe, boot, s.h.i.+rt, petticoat, gown, &c.

Under the t.i.tle house, put wall, roof, door, window, cas.e.m.e.nt, room.

Under room, put shop, hall, parlour, dining-room, chamber, study, closet, kitchen, cellar, stable, &c.

And under each of these, as distinct heads, the furniture or utensils belonging thereunto; with divisions and subdivisions, as there is occasion, which I forbear to mention, that I be not too prolix.

And in like manner, from time to time, may be added more collections, or cla.s.ses of names or words, conveniently digested, under distinct heads, and suitable distributions, to be written in distinct leaves or pages of his book in such order as may seem convenient.

When he is furnished with a competent number of names, though not so many as I have mentioned, it will be seasonable to teach him under the t.i.tles singular and plural, the formation of plurals from singulars, by adding _s_, or _es_; as hand, hands; face, faces; fish, fishes, &c., with some few irregulars, as man, men; woman, women; foot, feet; tooth, teeth; mouse, mice; louse, lice; ox, oxen, &c.

Which, except the irregulars, will serve for possessives, to be after taught him, which are formed by their primitives by like addition of _s_ or _es_, except some few irregulars, as my, mine; thy, thine; our, ours; your, yours; his, her, hers; their, theirs, &c.

And in all those and other like cases, it will be proper first to show him the particulars, and then the general t.i.tle.

Then teach him in another page or paper, the particles, a, an, the, this, that, these, those.

And the p.r.o.nouns, I, me, my, mine, thou, thee, thy, thine, we, us, our, ours, ye, you, your, yours, he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, they, them, their, shoes, heirs, who, whom, whose.

Then under the t.i.tles substantive, adjective, teach him to connect these, as my hand, your head, his foot, his feet, her arm, her arms, our hats, their John's coat, William's band, &c.

And in order to furnish him with more adjectives, under the t.i.tle colours, you may place black, white, gray, green, blue, yellow, red, &c., and having showed the particulars, let him know that these are called colours. The like for taste and smell; as sweet, bitter, sour, stink.

And for hearing, sound, noise, word.

Then for touch or feeling, hot, warm, cold, cool, wet, moist, dry, hard, soft, tough, brittle, heavy, light, &c.

From whence you may furnish him with more examples of adjectives with substantives; as white bread, brown bread, green gra.s.s, soft cheese, hard cheese, black hat, my black hat, &c.

And then inverting the order, substantive, adjective, with the verb copulative between; as silver is white, gold is yellow, lead is heavy, wood is light, snow is white, ink is black, flesh is soft, bone is hard, I am sick, I am not well, &c., which will begin to give him some notion of syntax.

In like manner when substantive and substantive are so connected; as gold is a metal, a rose is a flower, they are men, they are women, horses are beasts, geese are fowls, larks are birds, &c.

Then as those before relate to quality, you may give him some other words relating to quant.i.ty. As long, short, broad, narrow; thick, thin; high, tall, low; deep, shallow, great, big, small (little), much, little; many, few, full, empty; whole, part, piece; all, some, none, strong, weak, quick, slow, equal, unequal, bigger, less.

Then words of figure; as straight, crooked, plain, bowed, concave, hollow, convex; round, square, three-square, sphere, globe, bowl, cube, die, upright, sloping, leaning forward, leaning backward, like, unlike.

Of gesture; as stand, lie, sit, kneel, sleep.

Of motion; as move, stir, rest, walk, go, come, run, leap, ride, fall, rise, swim, sink, drawn, slide, creep, crawl, fly, pull, draw, thrust, throw, bring, fetch, carry.

Then words relating to time; place, number, weight, measure, money, &c., are, in convenient time, to be showed him distinctly; for which the teacher, according to his discretion, may take a convenient season.

As likewise the time of the day; the days of the week, the days of the month, the months of the year, and other things relating to the almanack, which he will quickly be capable to understand, if once methodically shown him.

As likewise the names and situation of places and countries, which are convenient for him to know; which may be orderly written in his book, and showed him in the map of London, England, Europe, the world, &c.

But these may be done at leisure, as likewise the practice of arithmetic, and other like pieces of learning.

In the mean time, after the concord of substantive and adjective, he is to be showed by convenient examples, that of the nominative and verb; as, for instance, I go, you see, he sits, they stand, the fire burns, the sun s.h.i.+nes, the wind blows, the rain falls, the water runs, and the like, with the t.i.tles in the top nominative verb.

After this, under the t.i.tles nominative verb, accusative, give him examples of verbs transitive; as I see you, you see me, the fire burns the wood, the boy makes the fire, the cook roasts the meat, the butler lays the cloth, we eat our dinner.

Or even with a double accusative; as, you teach me writing or to write, John teacheth me to dance, Thomas, tell me a tale, &c.

After this you may teach him the flexion or conjugation of the verb, or what is equivalent thereunto; for in our English tongue each verb hath but two tenses, the present and the preter; two participles, the active and the pa.s.sive; all the rest is performed by auxiliaries, which auxiliaries have no more tenses than the other verbs.

Those auxiliaries are, do, did, will, would, shall, should, may, might, can, could, must, ought, to, have, had, am, be, was. And if by examples you can insinuate the signification of these few words, you have taught him the whole flexion of the verb.

And here it will be convenient, once for all, to write him out a full paradigm of some one verb, suppose 'to see,' through all those auxiliaries.

The verb itself hath but these four words to be learned, see, saw, seeing, seen, save that after thou, in the second person singular, in both tenses, we add est, and in the third person singular, in the present tense, eth or es, or instead thereof, st, th, s, and so in all verbs.

Then to the auxiliaries, do, did, will, would, shall, should, may, might, can, could, must, ought, to, we join the indefinite see. And after have, had, am, be, was, the pa.s.sive particle seen, and so for all other verbs.

But the auxiliary, 'am,' or 'be,' is somewhat irregular in a double form.