New York and Its Institutions, 1609

THAT deaf-mutes have existed in the world since the early ages, is a fact clearly established by both sacred and, profane history. Speechlessness appears for the most part to have been the result of deafness; articulation resulting from imitation, a matter to which the mind of the deaf is not naturally directed. For many ages it was confidently believed that these persons were inexorably shut off from all social intercourse with their race, and the idea of restoring these faculties or of repairing their loss by education seems never to have occurred to the ancients. The civil authorities in many instances appear to have openly approved of, or connived at, the practice of destroying such children as did not bid fair to be of service to the State. If allowed to live, they were deprived by statute of their inheritance, of all right to buy or sell, make a donation or will, and were classed with the insane and the idiotic. The ameliorating influences of Christianity finally intercepted the blow, and they were no longer murdered as useless incumbrances of society; yet pitiable indeed was their condition through all the medieval ages, locked up to their own untutored musings, and enduring the most cruel neglect. In the seventh century John, Bishop of Hagulstad, is said to have with much pains taught a deafmute to speak a few sentences, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries numerous private efforts were made with some success. A Spanish monk, Pedro Ponce, who died in 1584, was the first teacher of deaf-mutes. Another Spanish monk, named Juan Pablo Bonet, published about 1620 the first treatise on deaf-mute instruction, and is believed to have invented the dactylology, or one-hand alphabet, used so generally in France and America. The numerous treatises on the education of deaf-mutes issued in various parts of Europe during this century show a general awakening on the subject among the learned. Dr. John Wallis, mathematical professor at Oxford, deserves the credit of being the first practical instructor of the deaf and dumb in England. He never had a large number of pupils, but continued it for nearly fifty years with tolerable success. The first school of this kind supported by government was established in Leipsic, in 1778, under the patronage of the Elector of Saxony, which continues to this time. Early in the present century John Braidwood, a member of a family who for sixty years had carried on a system of instruction for the deaf and dumb in England without disclosing its principles to the public, came to this country and attempted the establishment of a school. He was warmly supported by several gentlemen of wealth, but the enterprise soon failed through his habitual

The year 1816 is memorable for the organization of a society in New York for the instruction of the deaf and dumb. Samuel L. Mitchell, LL.D., the Rev. John Stanford, and Dr. Samuel Akerly, who at a later period rendered such efficient service in founding the Institution for the Blind, were its chief promoters. The wisdom of the, undertaking was by many questioned, because a similar institution was just then being opened at Hartford, one being supposed amply sufficient for the whole country. An inquiry, however, soon disclosed the fact that over sixty deaf mutes were then living in the city of New York, and subsequent investigations have proved that while one in twenty-three hundred of the general population is blind, one in about two thousand is deaf and dumb. The act of incorporation bears date of April 15, 1817, and in the following May the school was formally, opened in one of the rooms of the City Hall, with four scholars. During the first eleven years of its operations the society had no building of its own, but in 1829 the school was removed to East Fiftieth street, to the grounds now occupied by Columbia college. The success of the system of instruction led to an annual increase of students, and made necessary the enlargement of the building, which was three times accomplished during the quarter of a century spent at this location. The prudent sagacity of the board of management secured the title of two entire blocks of ground, lying between Forty-eighth and Fiftieth streets, Fourth and Fifth avenues.