In 1552, Peter Ponce, a Benedictine monk, commenced the instruction of a deaf and dumb

person.

In 1620, John Paul Bonet published a work, after having taught several deaf and dumb persons.

In 1648, Dr. Bulwer published his "Philocophus; or, Deaf and Dumb Man's Friend."

In 1659, Dr. William Holder taught one young gentleman in this country to make some proficiency, and published a work on the deaf and dumb in 1669.

In 1660, Dr. John Wallis, F.R.S., and Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford, instructed two, in some degree, having previously written a work on the subject.

In 1680, George Dalgarno, of Aberdeen, published a similar work.

In 1700, Dr. Amman published his treatise, "Dissertatio di Loquela."

Some other instances are also on record of philanthropic individuals endeavouring to ameliorate the condition of the deaf and dumb;

but nothing of any moment was accomplished until Mr. Braidwood, of Edinburgh, in the beginning of the year 1760, opened an establishment for this afflicted portion of our fellow creatures, from which have sprung all the present institutions of the kind in Great Britain and Ireland.

At the latter part of the same year (1760), the Abbe de l'Epeé also opened a school for the deaf and dumb; and each of these philanthropists carried on their respective establishments for the space of five years, without being conscious of the existence of a competitor in any part of the world.

It would be presumptuous in me to attempt to speak of the merits of these great and good men; suffice it to say, that Arnot, in his history of Edinburgh, Dr. Johnson, in his tour to the Hebrides, Lord Monboddo, in his origin and progress of language, and Pennant, in his tour through Scotland, have each individually made most honourable mention of the former, and France has erected a national monument to the

latter, in Père la Chaise; and richly did he deserve this mark of a nation's gratitude, for such was his zeal and love for the deaf and dumb, that for a long period he denied himself every comfort, and almost the necessaries of life, in order that his annual income (which was very limited,) might enable him to support and educate a greater number of his less fortunate brethren; and, during a very severe winter, his pupils, finding that for the same reasons he did not allow himself a fire, went in a body, and, with tears in their eyes, most earnestly besought him not to injure his health by so great a privation.

It will be seen by the following calculation, extracted from the third circular of the Paris Institution, published in 1832, that the proportion of deaf and dumb is unfortunately more than is generally supposed :

During the first fourteen years of my professional career, I took every means and opportunity of ascertaining the cause of deafness, which I found principally to arise from measles, scarlet fever, hooping cough, small pox, paralysis, epileptic fits, water on the brain, enlarged tonsils, and scrofula. I also found that deafness prevailed more in some counties than in others; thus in Derbyshire, I met with one in every 500 persons, whilst on an average throughout England there was one in every 1,500; so that, according to the census taken in 1841, of a population of 15,911,757, the aggregate number of deaf and dumb would be 10,607. Since the opening of the first public institution, in 1792, 2,300 deaf and dumb have been educated, and about 600 are receiving education; therefore supposing all the educated are still living (which is by no means likely), there are 7,707 in England and Wales, without the least knowledge of their moral responsibility.

Much is done in various ways to ameliorate the condition of man, and I cannot refrain ex