that the adult deaf on leaving school will find the manual of assistance in acquiring a more certain and accurate command of their natural language.
Another hope of the author is that it will help to preserve this expressive language, to which the deaf owe so much, in its original purity and beauty, and that it will serve as a standard of comparison in different parts of the country, thereby tending to secure greater uniformity.
The list below, I believe, includes practically all of the root signs used by the deaf. It is by the use of these in combination and for definition that the signs for other words are made. It is not feasible in a work of this kind to indicate the combination for every word, owing to the fact that it is an ideographic and not a word language.
The words have been grouped under certain heads or classes into which they seemed most naturally to fall. At times the relation of certain words to their head may appear far-fetched and the classification somewhat arbitrary, but such words have been so placed on account of suggestion or association.
In making acknowledgments it is a pleasure to name first of all the one who has ever been my greatest inspiration and help in the preparation of the work—my wife. In taking up the task I had her prompting and encouragement, and during its progress her suggestions, advice and help were of the greatest value. She alone made the additional drawings on the photographs which amplified and completed the illustrations.
I am also indebted to Rev. Dr. Philip J. Hasenstab, of Chicago, who carefully went over the manuscript, verifying the descriptions, pointing out errors, and offering many suggestions which have added to the value of the completed material. Dr. Hasenstab received his early education in the Indiana school under early masters of the Sign Language who learned it at Hartford. This gives the assurance, therefore, that the descriptions conform to the original manner of making the signs.
In the preparation of the second edition I am further indebted to Rev. Father F. A. Moeller, formerly of Chicago, but now of Kansas City, for the descriptions of distinctively Catholic signs which are here added. Father Moeller is president of the Catholic Deaf-Mute Conference which approved his sign vocabulary. In addition to furnishing the descriptions he posed for the pictures used in the illustrations.
