means the deal have of perceiving sound, which to them is a vibration they can feel. The deal are taught to speak by touch, and to hear by sight. Having taught the child its letters with their many phonetic modifications, words and simple sentences are formed, the child always writing what she has said on a blackboard. The patience demanded of the teacher is almost unique, and would be quite unique if greater patience still had not succeeded in breaking down the barrier which shuts off from their fellow-beings those who are blind as well as deaf and dumb. In the course of an hour I had ample cause to admire the spirit which, day after day, year after year, is shown by the teachers of the oral system, whether at Ealing or elsewhere. For instance, a little girl who is quick to learn is selected, and the teacher, pointing to another pupil named Winne, asks "Who is that?" The children are taught for practice sake to repeat questions before answering, and the response is—
"Who is that? That is Win-die."
"No! no!" says the teacher, with a look of surprise, which tells the child immmediately that she has not spoken correctly: "not Windie—Win-nie."
"Win-die," the child repeats again, and the teacher takes her hand and places it to her throat as she pronounces the name. The result is that the child says "Winnie" instantly. I would commend to those who would care for an object lesson in the teaching of the deaf to speak and to understand what others speak to say, "Winnie" and "Windie." There is, of course, a difference in the movement of mouth and tongue, but it is very subtle indeed. Then watch a friend's mouth whilst pronouncing the two words. The difference in the position of the lips is almost imperceptible. The difficulty about this name having been got over after many failures the teacher says, "Run to the door," and the child, repeating "Run to the door," suits the action to the words. Then she is told to "Walk to the window." She walks to the door. The teacher sitting at the opening in the circular desk, which is found useful in oral classes, because it enables all the pupils easily to follow not only her lips, but each other's lips, has been carefully read by the child named Winnie, and, having told the first child she is wrong, turns to Winnie, and says: "You walk to the window," which the child does without hesitation. I then admire the excellence of the writing of several of the pupils and the teacher, turning to a very bright boy, says: "Go and get me two of Winnie's exercise-books." The boy leaves the room, and returns in a minute with the books. Handing them to Winnie, the teacher tells her to "Take them to the gentleman," and, as the child brings them over to me, I simply cannot realise that I, wide awake as I am, am saying "Thank you" to a child who will know only by her eyes I have said it. Pictures are very useful in educating the deaf. A card, illustrating the nursery rhyme "This is the House that Jack Built," is chosen, and the teacher points to the house, the man, &c., and the child names them. Then the teacher indicates a plot of grass in front of the house.
"That is a field," the child remarks.
"It is not a field," the teacher says; "what is it?"
The child shakes her head, and the teacher takes her to the window, and points to the garden. "What is that?"
"That is a garden," answers the child, and she then understands that the grass around the house in the picture represents a garden, and not a field.
Mrs. Kinsey some time ago secured a canvas fire-escape. The children find it great fun getting out of the window and shooting down to the ground. Presently, therefore, we went into the garden to see some practice. Mrs. Kinsey tried an experiment soon after she received the escape, and found that she could get the dozen or more children out of the house in the event of fire in less than five minutes. As they came down one after another, they laughed and talked, saying how they liked it. I did not notice a sign during my two visits to Ealing College, and it seemed to me, rightly or wrongly, that what the pupils could not say by word of mouth they simply left unsaid.
The question now to be asked is, of what practical value is the oral system? Does it enable the deaf who have been thoroughly trained under it to take their place in the world on anything like equal terms with the hearing? Some oralists would not hesitate to give an affirmative reply. Mr. Ackers, to whom, as I have said, the existence of Ealing College is chiefly due—as another well-known oral school in Fitzroy-square is due to the munificence of the late Baroness Meyer de Rothschild—went into the matter thoroughly when his little girl, at three months old, lost her hearing. Mr. and Mrs. Ackers travelled in
