tion, the construction varies according to the exigency. Most frequently, the nature or circumstances of the case show which is the subject, and which the object. It is, of course, the cat that devours the mouse; it is the wounded and disabled man who is carried. When the natural relation is reversed, or no clue is found in the nature of the case, it is not difficult to indicate the meaning correctly, by methods which vary according as the scene can be most successfully pictured. One is, to have a strict regard to the relative position and location of subject and object. Or, both the agent and the recipient of an action may be personated in turn. Having represented the stripling in the act of hurling the stone from the sling, we may immediately act the part of the giant receiving the blow on his forehead, and falling to the ground. So, a horse may be shown in the act of kicking, and a man as receiving and feeling the effect of the blow. Another method, like this, but more artificial, yet altogether common, is to use the sign for give in the figurative sense of agency or causation, or that for first, or both at once; and on the other hand, the sign for receive, or some other denoting passivity. These auxiliary signs answer the end of an active and a passive voice. The signs for some actions, how ever, mark this distinction by a change in their form, the motion being, for the active sense, from the person, and reversed for the passive.

There is nothing in the language of signs corresponding to the tenses of verbs. The time of an action or event is generally indicated at the outset, definitely or indefinitely; it being once fixed, the narration may proceed, events in succession being simply represented, and time reckoned from the starting point. We are not, however, confined to the direct order, but may at any point refer to other events, at any distance of time previous. As the relation of events gives them an actual presence to the imagination, each one of a series narrated becomes in turn present; and the interval between this and the one next succeeding, is hence represented by the sign of futurity. Thus this sign becomes a connective between successive events, when separated by any appreciable interval; the relation between two successive events past, being in fact the same as that between the present and the future.

There is here a remarkable cor

respondence with a peculiar usage of the Hebrew tongue. The commencement of Genesis, literally translated, reads thus : "In beginning created God as to the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and waste, and darkness upon face of abyss, and spirit of God moving upon face of the waters. And will say God, be light, and will be light. And will see God as to the light, that good," &c. This usage prevails in all the narrative parts of the Hebrew Scriptures. It still forms a questio vexata for grammarians; one theory that has been advanced for its explanation, is confirmed by the comparison now made. This is only one instance among many, in which this language of nature may throw light upon the studies of the philologist. It is well known to those acquainted with the Hebrew, that it has but two forms of tense, and that the past (so called) is extensively used for future time, as well as the future for past. This also may be explained, by considering the tense called the past as really an aorist, representing the action simply, and without relation to time at all-just as it is pictured by an imitative sign-the relation of time intended being determined by the connection, or by circumstances. Thus the first of Genesis would read: In the beginning create, instead of created.

Modifications corresponding to the potential, subjunctive, and imperative moods, are indicated, sometimes or partly by an accompanying expression of feeling, and further by auxiliaries consisting of distinctive signs for the modifying ideas. By both these means also, are expressed the relations between the members of conditional, disjunctive and causal propositions. A causal proposi tion is sometimes put in the form of the question why? and the answer because. There are also signs for the ideas expressed by the other conjunctions. Indication upon the fingers serves instead of and.

Little use is made of anything corresponding to personal pronouns of the third person, or relatives. Yet their end can be answered, by fixing and referring to the location of objects, or by indicating them respectively on the fingers, which may be employed to represent them. The several pronominal adjectives have in general corresponding signs.

Ă very marked and important differ

scent. In the year 1333, Casimir took possession of the throne of his father, Wladislas, who, on his death-bed, gave him this remarkable advice: If you have any regard for your honor or your reputation, take care to yield nothing to the Knights of the Teutonic order, and the Marquis of Brandenburg. Resolve to bury yourself under the ruins of your throne, rather than abandon to them the portion of your heritage which they possess, and for which you are responsible to your people and your children. Do not leave your successors such an example of cowardice, which would be sufficient to tarnish all your virtues, and the splendor of the finest reign. Punish the traitors, and, happier than your father, drive them from a kingdom where pity opened an asylum for them, for they are stained with the blackest ingratitude." The succeeding history warrants the justice of this animadversion against the Knights. Had his successors borne it in mind sufficiently, the Prussians would not now be the masters of Poland.

Casimir gave, for the first time, a code of laws to Poland, and saw justice impartially administered; the condition of the peasantry was improved by him, for which he received the title of King of the Peasants. He encouraged learning, and was the founder of the University of Cracow, in 1347, which rose to such an eminence that Pope Urban V. considered it, in 1364, as equal to any of the Universities of Europe.

During the reign of the family of Piast, the Poles frequently had to fight their battles with their neighbors; but with the introduction of the Teutonic Knights into Pomerania-a Polish province-in the beginning of the thirteenth century, greater demands were made upon their vigilance and valor. The Knights were offered this abode, with the view that they should defend the northern frontier of Poland from its pagan neighbors, among whom they should propagate Christianity. But no sooner had they established themselves, than they threw aside the ostensible purpose of the mission; and in the end, verified the story of the man and a frozen adder, which, on being warmed by the fire, sprung upon his benefactor.

Casimir leaving no immediate heirs, his sister's son, Louis, King of Hungary, was called to the throne in 1370. This period is remarkable on account of the King's being made by the nobles to sign

the Pacta Conventa, curtailing royal prerogatives, before ascending the throne. But here we approach a more eventful epoch. Hedwiga, succeeding to her father, Louis, in 1384, took for her husband Yagellon, Duke of Lithuania. Thus the fortunes of the two nations, once enemies, were forever united by the bond of conjugal love. The family of Yagellon swayed the Polish sceptre happily for nearly two centuries. At this time, Poland was on the ascent to her highest glory.

After we have taken notice of our new acquaintances, the Lithuanians, we shall put on seven-leagued boots, and will pass quickly through the space of time that separates us from more interesting though awful events in the life of the Polish nation.

The Lithuanians and Samogitians are different clans of common origin, who are believed not to have sprung from the Slavonic stem. They were Pagans; believed in a Supreme God, whom they called the All-wise-Spirit, and they worshiped other gods besides. Their language resembles none of the Slavonic dialects, but approaches Greek and Latin, not only in words, but in its construction. The common people speak the language to this day, while the nobility have adopted the Polish. A perfect harmony subsists between the Poles and Lithuanians, as among children of one mother, of which they have given abundant evidence in the last struggle for independence.

But to return to the Yagellons. Casimir IV., who ascended the throne after the death of his brother, in 1444, reigned happily nearly forty-five years, (1492,) extending the territory of his kingdom, framing its constitution, and fostering arts and learning.

Under the last of the Yagellons, Sigismund Augustus, Poland reached the pinnacle of her glory; she took the first rank among the nations of Europe in power and learning. A galaxy of great names shone in Polish literature in the reign of the two Sigismunds, father and son.

After the demise of Sigismund Augustus in 1572, the Polish nation maintained its elevated position for half a century longer, for the seeds of her ruin were slowly sown. The elective system of monarchy was introduced after the death of that king, and the inglorious Henry de Valois was its first fruit. Fortunately

nished by pronunciation. In written language he has the key to mental treasures, inexhaustible and always accessible, in books; and may find in them an invaluable compensation for those social enjoyments and advantages, of which he is necessarily in a measure deprived. That course of instruction which will put the deaf mute most completely in possession of this instrument, may, without hesitation, be pronounced the best.

The manual alphabet is available to the deaf mute, for communication with all who know how to spell correctly, and who will devote an hour or two to the acquisition of the character. It may, by means of practice, be used with great rapiditygreater than that of writing, and exceed

ing any but the rarest attainments in articulation and reading on the lips. It may, especially the one-handed alphabet, be used in a great variety of circumstances, where writing is impossible or inconvenient. It admits of emphasis and accompanying expression; and is of constant use, intermixed with natural signs. It is perfectly distinct, and may be read at a distance and by a whole company at once; which is not the case with the labial alphabet. It may also be felt in the dark.

We are now to consider these several instruments, as to their use in imparting the knowledge of a language of words; and for the purpose of general mental and moral cultivation, in the hands of the teacher; as instruments of thought and of mental improvement on the part of the deaf mute; and as furnishing him a medium of intercourse with society at large; and then to indicate that combination and use of them, which in our judgment is to be preferred in the education of deaf mutes. The matter is more or less complicated, in reference even to any one of these ends, and becomes still more so when we bring them all into view.

We may lay down three distinct methods, or rather theories of method, for the education of deaf mutes, which will cover the whole ground. One relies upon the language of action, to give a knowledge both of words and of other things, and for general cultivation. Another rejecting signs of action, or restricting them to the narrowest possible limits depends upon the constant use of words by writing or the manual alphabet, as the true way to acquire language-as in accordance with the manner in which nature teaches hearing children to learn it in the spoken form-employing, of

course, the aid of definition and of explanation by means of words already acquired, as far as practicable and desirable. A third resorts to articulation and reading on the lips, as still more in accordance with nature; depending, like the preceding, mainly upon use to instill the meaning of language; and aiming to furnish a readier means of communication with the mass of mankind, and a form of language more manageable for the mind of the deaf mute himself. These methods, thus distinct in theory, are, however, in practice nowhere distinct; but exist in every variety of combination, and also with important subordinate modifications in each.

In reference to the acquisition of language, it will aid our inquiry, if we consider the manner in which hearing children learn their mother tongue. They are introduced to it, always through natural signs. Objects are designated by pointing to them. The qualities and acts, which the child first learns to call and to recognize by name, are indicated in great part by gesture and expression of countenance, together with tones of voice. The most important means of all, is however, the observed connection between actions, facts and occurrences, and the language used to express them. After a sufficient foundation has been laid, the meaning of words may be inferred from their connection with others, or be taught by direct explanation. Practice in the use of language must be added, to give the learner a command of it himself.

The method which would rely mainly upon the actual use of words, in the forms of writing and the manual alphabet, depends on principles virtually the same, but employed at great disadvantage. To the success, or even the trial, of this method, it is absolutely essential, that language in these forms should be made the ordinary medium of colloquial intercourse for the pupils of an institutionthat words may be caught by new comers from their more advanced companions, so as to be available for the explanations of the school room. But the inferiority would be immense, not only to the living voice, but to signs of action, in rapidity, ease of apprehension, convenience, and expressiveness; and again, and as a consequence, there would be adopted an elliptical and irregular use of language, which would form a peculiar dialect.

It is indeed most true, that nothing but putting language into actual service, will lead to a firm grasp and an effective

wielding of the instrument, and skill in its management. There is nothing like being forced by stern necessity to the constant use of a particular mode of communication, to give it a firm adhesion to the mind. But with instruments slow and cumbrous like these, if command of them is to be acquired by use alone, there must be constant use, and a necessity admitting no alternative. That it is possible to acquire language in this manner, has been demonstrated in the remarkable instance of Laura Bridgman-the deaf, dumb and blind girl at the Perkins Institution for the Blind, at Boston; who has literally felt her way to the new world of ideas, into which she has been introduced through the medium of finger language alone the manual alphabet of the deaf and dumb, and the raised letters used by the blind. With the increased disabili ties consequent on the loss of sight-the necessity which has shut her up to alphabetic language as the only available means of communication, must, on the other hand, be reckoned an important advantage for its acquisition in the mode now in question. Although her attainments reflect deserved credit upon Dr. Howe, under whose direction they have been made, yet it is manifest that, by the favor of a rare mental and physical constitution, she is enabled to fly where others would creep, and she has had for a long course of years, the almost exclusive attention of a competent individual devoted to her instruction. Her case is far from proving that the deaf and dumb, supposing signs of action abandoned, would acquire alphabetic language as rapidly or perfectly as by the methods now in use; while to force them, in a community by themselves, to do without signs, may be safely reckoned an absolute impossibility.

The work of learning a language involves two processes, distinct, though conjoined the acquisition of the external forms and of their meaning. For a child acquainted with language as spoken, to learn the same in another form, as spelled and written, is usually a work of considerable labor; but it would be a hundredfold greater, were not the sound of the words a guide to the spelling, and the spelling to the sound. A person who should attempt to learn a foreign language in a strange character-as Hebrew or Arabic-by the eye and the pen alone, giving no sound to the letters or words, would be in a condition to estimate the difficulty presented to the deaf mute in

the mere external form of language; but still without experience of the consequent disadvantage for acquiring its meaning in the mode now in question. Yet, while signs should be subsidized to make amends for this disadvantage, this method should have the fullest scope consistent with realizing their benefits.

The method which relies, for the acquisition of language, upon its use by articulation and labial reading, agrees in a most important respect, as has been observed, with the one just considered. As compared with this, it presents, however, essential disadvantages for which it has nothing to offer in compensation. The form of words, as represented by writing or the manual alphabet, is more easily learned, than as articulated and read on the lips. The latter requires a great expenditure of time in a mere mechanical exercise, to the hindrance of intellectual cultivation and of progress in learning the meaning of language. This mode of communication has, on the whole, no advantage in point of rapidity. Mr. Day says, he could generally spell with the manual alphabet, as rapidly as the most advanced deaf mutes in the German schools could read. It is less certainly and readily intelligible, especially in the intercourse of deaf mutes with each other. Instead of being fitted to aid in acquiring language by observation of its use, a previous knowledge of language is itself necessary to the successful guessing, by which chiefly speech is understood by the deaf mute. The advantage that can be urged with the most semblance of plausibilty, is that of being a better means of communication with the speaking world; which, of course, cannot be realized to any great extent by the pupil within the walls of an institution; while the imperfection of the attainment is, in the majority of cases, such as to render the advantage altogether imaginary. Instruction in writing is, of course, combined with this method, and is an auxiliary indispensable, in order to give anything approaching a correct and thorough knowledge of language. Indeed, the fact, that both signs and writing are everywhere, and of necessity, employed, where deaf mutes are instructed in oral language, demonstrates the exceeding imperfection of the latter, as a medium of communication for them. It is to be remarked that the irregular orthography of the English presents peculiar difficulties in the way of acquiring language by this means; such as do

not exist in the German, Italian and some other tongues.

What is the fitness of signs of action, for the purpose of instruction in a language of words? From the simplicity of their form, and their lightness and rapidity of execution, they are easily employed and readily perceived, and remembered without labor; while they are, for the most part, so naturally representative, that their meaning is perceived without explanation at all, or, once understood, is never forgotten. So far as precision in their use is given by instruction, it is done with no loss of time, but in the very act of teaching words. By this medium, the meaning and force of words and the laws of their combination, can be explained at once; and in many cases, if skillfully done, the knowlege thus imparted will be nearly complete and accurate from the outset; whereas, by the mere process of observing the occasions of words and expressions, their meaning would generally not unfold itself, till after many repetitions; would be established correctly only through the repeated relinquish ment of mistaken assumptions; sometimes after long groping in the dark, would still elude the grasp; and often would be only partially seized, and be but a dim and uncertain thing in the mind. Signs often shed immediate light upon what would otherwise either remain absolute darkness and chaos, or be long waiting the gradual dawning of day. Signs are, however, merely a staff to assist along those steps, which the deaf and the hearing must alike take in the acquisition of language; to leap or to fly being as impossible in the case, as to pass from one point of space to another without traversing the interval, or to support the upper part of a structure without the lower. To have a correct translation of a passage in a foreign tongue even, is by no means to have a knowledge of so much of the language as the passage embodies; while the genius of the signlanguage differs so essentially from that of a language of words, that the acquisition of the latter, by the help of the former, is altogether a different task from that of learning a foreign language by means of a mother tongue, constructed upon the same general laws. The process must indeed be essentially the same, as in the acquisition by the hearing child of his mother tongue itself. Signs, used as they should be by the instructor, supply the place of the actual presence

of things, by representing them to the imagination; and with two advantages: one, that by the multiplication of examples and illustrations, the experience which, in the use of language in real life, would be scattered over a long period, can be concentrated upon a point; the other, that this method admits of a regular and systematic procedure, in which one acquisition shall prepare the way for another. By proceeding thus, and engaging the pupil constantly in the alternate processes of translating words into signs and signs into words, language may be rapidly and thoroughly inwrought into his mind, in its twofold use, for communication actively, and reception passively. Again, signs are a means of rapidly enlarging the circle of the pupil's ideas, and the bounds of his knowledge; and as there is a sense in which ideas must go before their expression or apprehension in language, the advantage here is immense. They also awaken and give a spring to all the mental faculties; they give that kind of interest to the exercises of the school-room, which the mind of childhood especially needs, making what would otherwise be an intolerable drudgery, a pleasant occupation; by this means, the powers are more energetically and actively employed upon both the mechanical, and the more properly intellectual, labor of the acquisition of language. Cut off, as the deaf mute necessarily is, from the living voice, with the music and the eloquence of its tones, it would seem cruel to deprive him of that agreeable and expressive substitute which nature puts in his power, and to chain him down to a language literally dead to him.

It is true there is a tendency on the part of the pupil to be misled by the peculiar idiom of the sign-language-a point demanding skill and care in the teacher. Signs mislead by intervening between words and their meaning, and often imperfectly representing the latter. There is, again, a tendency for signs to be indulged, when words might be employed more to the advantage of the pupil. They are such a convenient staff, that the support must be judiciously and timely withdrawn, or the learner will never be able to go alone. The use of signs, on the other hand, in their improved condition, accustoms the pupil to the free and familiar use of a real language, embracing terms general and figurative; and thus, as far as it goes, forms an excellent preparation for the