NECESSITY OF A HIGHER STANDARD OF EDUCATION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB. We may safely venture upon an adaptation of the words of Shakspeare, and say, "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy." Progress is the watchword and battle-cry of the present age, the most striking characteristic of the times in which we live. In every department of human knowledge and human industry, in philosophy, in science and in the arts, we find the same onward tendency, the same spirit of progressive improvement. Nature is put to the torture and compelled to give up her secrets, and no sooner are they discovered to the earnest search of the scholar than they are seized upon and applied to some practical purpose to increase the sum of human power, wealth and happiness. And we acknowledge fealty and allegiance to this idea of progress. Not that progress which finds so many advocates among the shallow thinkers of the present day, which sneers at the experiences of the past, which would remove the old land-marks and throw into chaos and confusion all things human and divine, under the pretence of evolving a new order of things better adapted to human necessities, and more fitting the dignity of human nature. No, the progress to which we hold, gathers up the teachings of the former ages, cherishes the truths that have stood the test of time, and seeks to build upon the foundations that have been laid deep and strong, new forms of beauty and utility, and to discover new adaptations of the principles of philosophy and the laws of nature. Such is our idea of true progress. In the earlier ages of the world, before the means for the dissemination of knowledge were multiplied, when the results of learned investigations and of profound thought were locked up in manuscripts and monastic cloisters, and were accessible only to the few, the popular thought flowed on, century after century, in the same narrow and unvarying channel, believing only that which it was taught to believe, and relying with unquestioning faith upon the traditions of the fathers. But the dawn of a brighter day was near. Deep and earnest thinkers, roused from their inactivity by the power of truth upon their own minds, came forth from the cells and cloisters where they had for so long a time been immured, to pour the light of that same truth upon the minds of others. The world woke from the sleep of the dark ages, and the march of progress commenced. As the hasty spark, short-lived itself, faltering upon the dry, inflammable grass, speedily envelops the broad prairie in its fierce embrace, so truth, falling upon minds prepared for its reception, rapidly spreads from nation to nation, till the world is filled with the blaze of its glory. The ancient mariner timidly crept from head-land to headland, never venturing to lose sight of the friendly shore, till a Columbus, relying upon the mysterious needle, which, vibrating and oscillating, ever tended to one resting place, boldly launched upon the trackless ocean and showed the wondering nations the way to a new world. The bubbling urn, lifting and dropping its cover, attracts the notice of the studious philosopher, and the tea-kettle becomes a nursing mother to commerce and the arts. Roused like a young giant, to feel its strength, the universal mind threw off the shackles of the past, and casting away the old moulds and matrices, thought began to assume new forms, and to appear under new combinations. Philosophy became more profound, science extended her researches into new and wider fields, and the arts, like like an eager pack, followed close upon her track to apply her discoveries to some useful purpose. It is only by this tenacity of opinion and faith in the past, that we can account for the neglect which the deaf-mute suffered through such long ages of the world's history. Possessing, in the pantomimic representations of the stage the very germ of the language of signs, it is passing strange that the thought of applying it as a means of communication with the deaf-mute, never suggested itself to the minds of the ancients. It was reserved. for the more vivacious Frenchman to develope this idea, and to achieve a conquest over nature by ushering in the dawn of light upon the long night of darkness that had enshrouded the mind of the deaf-mute, to break the adamantine chain that had bound him to remediless ignorance, and to restore him to the sympathies and joys of social life. A precious boon, who can estimate its value, or write down its numberless advantages? Let it be our work and labor of love to expand and perfect the system, and extend its benefits in the greatest possible degree. To bring these preliminary remarks to a practical bearing, I would ask if we have reached in our own profession the point of perfection? Are there no more new methods for us to discover? Is the education of the deaf mute carried to the utmost attainable point? Is there no tendency to rest upon the achievements of the past, and to imagine that we have accomplished all that can be done towards perfecting the system of deaf-mute instruction, and all that remains for us to do is to carry into practice the plans that we have devised. Is there not a disposition to rest satisfied with the methods handed down from those who have preceded us, without subjecting them to the test of rigid experiment and analysis? Cannot the means be furnished for the mute to prosecute his education into some of the higher branches of knowledge, and his ambition be excited to avail himself of the opportunity? I do not propose to answer or even to discuss these questions, but throw them out merely for the purpose of bringing the subject into notice and discussion. My present purpose is to advocate a more elevated standard of education for deaf-mutes. this point, I take and intend to maintain, so far as I am able, the highest possible ground. None, I presume, will deny that the On |