School exercises are continued for two hours daily during the summer, and the teachers, or a majority of them, remain at their posts.

The city residence of the institution is very complete and well planned. The buildings are elegant, and the interior arrangements as perfect as any I have seen in Europe-more so than any that have come under my notice in America. The director of the institution is Mr. C Selesneff, a gentleman who has had many years of practical experience in teaching, and evidently fitted in an eminent degree for the position he now holds.

The number of teachers employed, including two inspectors not confined to classes, is sixteen. Hence it appears that the average number of children placed under the charge of one instructor does not exceed twelve; an arrangement highly conducive to the progress of the pupils.

The basis of instruction in this establishment is the sign language and the manual alphabet. Articulation is, however, accorded a prominent position, being attempted with all and persistently continued until plain evidence appears of the inability of the pupil to succeed, when all further attempts to teach it are abandoned, and undivided attention devoted to the other essential branches of education.

My examination* of the pupils in their literary attainments satisfied me that the instruction they received was thorough, and as successful as in our best institutions.

In articulation I was accorded an opportunity of testing the vocal powers of more than sixty boys, beginning with the youngest pupil and proceeding in regular order up to pupils of four and five years' standing Of all these pupils there was not one who did not succeed in uttering articulate sounds, or who failed to imitate more or less perfectly the expressions given him by the director. That some had harsh uumusical voices did not surprise me; that there should be occasional failures was to be expected; but that a very large proportion were able to pronounce words which Mr. Timerazoff declared to be especially difficult, and that so many read and imitated with ease words spoken by the director containing a great number of aspirate, hissing, and dental sounds, (which are the most puzzling to a deaf person,) did, I may say without exaggeration, astonish me.

From the upper classes Mr. Selesneff selected pupils who were required to read from books, to converse with him and with their teachers, to write on their slates from his oral dictation, and also to recite in signs.

The oral exercises Mr. Timerazoff pronounced very creditable, remarking that he could understand all that was said by the pupils, but that some of them gave incorrect and indistinct pronunciations in certain instances.

The sign exercises I could myself readily comprehend, the mimic language used here having been derived originally from the Paris institution.

Unlike many teachers of articulation, Mr. Selesneff does not undertake to suppress signs, but admits their free use, and deems them an indispensable adjunct in the instruction of the deaf and dumb.

but

Teaching articulation in this institution was commenced nine years ago, it has been only since eighteen bundred and sixty-five, on the accession of Mr. Selesneff to the directorship, that all the pupils have had the benefit of instruction in this particular.

Articulation, however, is not here made the main end and object; the system

My companion and interpreter in this institution was a young Russian gentleman who bad acquired a thorough knowledge of English from his mother, she being of English birth. To Mr. Timerazoff, on whom I had not even the claim of an accredited introduction, but whose acquaintance I made through the kindness of an English resident of St. Petersburg, to whom I was a self-introduced stranger, I feel myself under many obligations for his patient labors, extending over two entire days, and with whose intelligent assistance I was enabled to pursue my investigations as readily as though I had perfectly understood the language of the country.

of instruction rests rather on the broad foundation of the natural method, with so much of the artificial in the superstructure as may be effectively and reasonably employed.

Mr. Selesneff kindly furnished me with copies of works published in St. Petersburg, relating to the instruction of the deaf and dumb, involving much of historical interest. For the translation of portions of these books, I made arrangements before leaving Russia, and shall hope, hereafter, to present them to you and the public in our own language.

THE INSTITUTION AT ABO, FINLAND.

A flourishing school of forty-eight pupils, founded in eighteen hundred and sixty, exists in this distant city, where I spent a few hours on a Sunday night in July, as the steamer in which I was proceeding from St. Petersburg to Stockholm paused to receive and discharge freight.

The appearance of the buildings, and the admirable arrangement of school appliances, fully equal to that in our best institutions, led me to regret greatly the absence of the pupils, and of the director, Rev. C. H. Alopaeus.

This gentleman was, however, kind enough to send me, some weeks after my call, detailed information as to the existing condition of deaf-mute instruction in Finland, including a translation into French of his last annual report.

From the documents thus furnished, I learn that the sign language and manual alphabet with written language, are mainly relied on as the means of instruction. Articulation has been taught for the last two years; not, however, being attempted with all the pupils.

A somewhat unique arrangement exists here in respect to the division and employment of time. The hours of school are daily from eight to one o'clock; and in the afternoon the pupils are engaged in manual labor; the girls in the institution, and the boys, some in the shops of the establishment, and others as apprentices to mechanics in the town.

The history of deaf-mute instruction in Finland, as I have gathered it from various sources, presents many features of unusual interest, not the least surprising of which is the fact that schools were in operation here for years before any provision was made by private charity or public appropriation for the education of mutes in the capital of the United States.

THE INSTITUTION AT STOCKHOLM, sweden.

After Bordeaux I found here more beautiful buildings than in any institution I have seen on the continent of Europe. Founded in the first decade of the present century by Mr. P. A. Borg, (the father of the present director,) this establishment secured in eighteen hundred and ten the assistance of the government of Sweden, which has from that time to the present recognized by liberal grants the obligation resting on a state to make provision for the education, even by unusual outlays, of such of its children as may be found laboring under natural defects. The location of this institution, on the banks of the river forming the principal entrance to the harbor of Stockholm, remiuded me strongly of that of the New York institution; and in the large grounds, more extensive than any I have met in my tour, ample range is afforded the pupils for exercise and recreation.

A fine swimming pool, enclosed and surrounded with dressing-rooms, has recently been built on the shore of the river, wherein the pupils are required to bathe daily during the summer months.

I will not occupy space in giving any description of the admirably planned and constructed buildings, further than to allude to the arrangements for the care of the sick..

A corridor in the upper story of the main structure is set apart for hospital

purposes. At one end is a nurse's room; at the other end the surgeon's room, and on either side the passage are the apartments for the pupils-for boys on the one hand and girls on the other. For each sex there are three bedrooms and a sitting room, all well furnished-the parlors being ornamented with pictures and flowers to an extent which gave them a very cheerful and homelike appearance. I have not seen in any institution I have visited hospital accommodations so worthy of imitation as these.

The system of instruction pursued here, based on the natural method, involves the teaching of articulation to all who evince an ability to succeed.

I here made a careful examination of the schools, where every facility was afforded me by Mr. Widen, acting as director in the absence of Mr. Borg, in which the pupils gave evidence of excellent training and faithful attention to study. I cannot, however, from my notes of this inspection,* add anything which has not already appeared in one form or another in this report. I will, therefore, pass to a description of

THE INSTITUTION AT COPENHAGEN, DENMARK.

I found here an arrangement entirely without a parallel elsewhere in my travels.

During a stay of some days in Copenhagen, I had several interviews with Rev. R. M. Hansen, the principal of the Royal Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and with Mr. John Keller, principal of an articulating school.

The first-named establishment has one hundred and thirty-two pupils, and the second one hundred.

The Royal Institution was founded in 1807, and, until about two years ago, followed substantially the old French method, using the same alphabet and a similar language of signs..

In 1846, a teacher in this institution, named Dahlerüp, made a tour in Europe, visiting many German schools.

He formed the opinion that the German method was preferable to that then pursued in the Royal Institute at Copenhagen, and endeavored to secure the assistance of the government for the support of a new school wherein articulation should be made the basis of instruction.

Some little assistance was accorded him, but as he was opposed by the authorities of the old institution, he met with no marked success. The school which he established in 1847 remained quite small, and after six or seven years its founder left it and returned to the exercise of his profession, which was that of a clergyman.

He was succeeded by a gentleman whose name I could not learn, and he, in 1857, by Mr. John Keller, the present director of the school.

Under Mr. Keller's management the school grew in favor, and some years since an arrangement was effected by which certain deaf-mutes were to be sustained in this school by the government, while others were to be educated in the Royal Institution.

The plan now pursued is this: all deaf-mutes seeking the bounty of the government for their education, go first to the Royal Institution. After remaining there about one month, a commission, consisting of the directors of both schools, with the cabinet secretary, under whose control all the state institutions of benevolence are placed, examines the mutes thus admitted to the Royal Institution, transferring all who are found to hear a little or speak a little, or who show any special facility in acquiring artificial speech, to Mr. Keller's school, authorizing the payment to him of the same amount per annum, per capita, as

* I am indebted to Lieutenant Colonel Elfwing, formerly of the United States army, and now occupying an important position under the Swedish government, for valuable assistance in my examination of this institution.

is allowed to the Royal Institution. All pupils not falling under the abovenamed conditions are retained in the Royal Institution.

The relations between the directors of the two institutions are entirely friendly, and, so far as I could judge, in both establishments active, effective labor was carried on for the benefit of the deaf and dumb.

A natural inference on learning the above stated facts would be that in the Royal Institution no attempts would be made to teach articulation. So far, however, from this being the fact, I found Mr. Hansen one of the most enthusiastic advocates of articulation for the deaf with whom I have met. When I told him that nearly every teacher I had conferred with claimed only one-half of the deaf and dumb as being capable of success in articulation, he responded that this was owing to the mal-arrangement of institutions generally. He thought that great care should be taken to separate those mutes described as going to Mr. Keller's school from such as were retained in the Royal Institution. The former might be urged forward with all possible rapidity in articulation; the others must be most carefully handled so that they be not disheartened.

His idea with these is (and he is working it out in his institution, with what success time must determine, for he has been but two years director) that they should have during the first three years not more than one hour a day of articulation, never enough to tire, worry or discourage them. That for the remaining hours of school they should be taught by what may be termed the "sign method," and that they should be allowed the freest use of the sign language. He deemed it important that while they should never be made weary with articulation, still they should have a daily exercise therein, be it ever so short.

He holds that after two or three years of instruction carried on thus the pupils may be pressed forward much more rapidly, and that in a reasonable time all except the actually imbecile may be made to speak and read from the lips well.

He gave me a number of exhibitions of the success of his efforts, bringing forward six pupils, all of whom had been born deaf, and were not deemed proper subjects for Mr. Keller's school. These pupils spoke with considerable fluency, considering that they-had been but two years learning articulation, and that they were born deaf.

While I am led, from what I know of deaf-mutes, and from what I have seen and heard in my present tour, to regard Mr. Hansen as much too sanguine in his anticipations, I cannot but admire his discrimination in rejecting the old German idea of " suppressing" signs, and in his special care never to overtax the feeble powers of the congenitally deaf for oral speech and visual hearing. A few years will serve to test the practicability of his theories, and much interest attaches to the result of his experiments.

In Mr. Keller's school vacation was in progress at the time of my visit, which I much regretted; for in his institution ought to be found a greater proportion of successful articulators than in others where no such opportunities for selecting favorable cases are enjoyed.

EDUCATION OF MUTES IN COMMON SCHOOLS.

The idea has been brought rather prominently before the public in the United States during the past two years, that special institutions for the deaf and dumb are unnecessary, and that this class of persons may be educated with little difficulty in schools for hearing and speaking children.

The opinions and writings of a certain Dr. Blanchet, of Paris, have been cited in support of this theory, and it has been claimed that success has attended efforts exerted in this direction.

for

To one who has made the instruction of the deaf and dumb his daily labor any extended period, the discussion, or even the suggestion, of an idea so

impracticable seems the height of absurdity. The public generally, however, understand so little the condition and capabilities of the deaf mute, that they may be led to believe the most impossible things as quite feasible, provided he who recommends them be ingenious and persistent in his efforts.

In several countries of Europe have attempts been made to effect the education of mutes in the common schools, ending uniformly in failure, the highest end attained being the preparation of the child in some small degree for the essential work of the special institution.

The recommendations of Dr. Blanchet have been followed in certain schools for a considerable period, with results so decided as to lead to the hope among the true friends of the deaf and dumb that all future experiments in this direction may be abandoned.

A single incident which came to my notice in Paris will serve to show how entire has been the failure of the so-called "Blanchet system." On entering the office of the director of the Paris institution one day, I found there a mother He was deaf and dumb, and had been and son, the latter fifteen years of age. attending a common school in Paris for eight years, the teachers in the school having endeavored to instruct him on the Blanchet system. He had attained no success in articulation, and in his attempts at written language committed errors that would be regarded as inexcusable in a pupil of two years' standing in His mother was seeking to secure his admission into the our special schools. Paris institution that he might, before he became too old, be educated; and I feel justified in claiming, from what I saw and heard, that the benefit he had derived from his eight years' instruction in the common school was less than would have been secured by two years' enjoyment of the advantages of the Paris institution.

Professor Vaisse informed me that this was but one of many similar cases which had been brought to his notice, and that the testimony of competent witnesses was agreed as to the entire failure of the Blanchet system in France.

CONFLICTING THEORIES CONSIDERED.

You will doubtless have observed, in following the notes I have now laid before you, that the interest of my investigations has centred on the different bases of effort. Details have by no means been disregarded, and many suggestions as to special appliances and methods of instruction are recorded in my note-book which, I trust, may be advantageously adopted in our institution.

But have deemed it of greater importance to study the substructures on which the several systems of deaf-mute education rest, discerning whether they be rock or sand; to test the quality of the materials entering into the superstructures, whether they be "hay, stubble, iron, gold, or precious stones;" and to determine, if possible, which edifice when completed, is best calculated to subserve the purpose of its construction.

A review of the history of deaf-mute education reveals the fact that great diversities of opinion as to the most desirable means of instruction have been coexistent with the work itself. A record of controversies, of angry disputes even, appears in a department of labor where, from its nature, and from the sad condition of its objects, one would naturally expect the gentlest feelings of the heart to be ever uppermost.

These differences seem to have had their origin in opposite conceptions formed of the psychological condition of the deaf-mute. This was thought, on the one hand, to be an abnormal state of being. Dumbness was considered as a positive quality, the presence of which rendered its subject a monstrosity. The command of spoken language was deemed absolutely essential to a devel-. opement of the intellectual powers. The possibility of education was therefore thought to depend on the ability of the pupil to acquire the power of speech. Hence all labor was directed primarily to the eduction of the mute from his