DUMB, the most general, if not the sole cause of dumbness, is the want of the sense of hearing; and nothing is more fallacious than the idea, that the want of speech is owing to the want of mental capacity. The necessity of com munication, and the want of words, oblige him who is dumb to observe and imitate the actions and expressions which accom pany various states of mind and of feel ing, to indicate objects by their appear ance and use, and to describe the actions of persons by direct imitation, or panto mimic expression. _Hence what hits been called the natural sign language has been adopted by instructors of the deaf mid dumb, in order to express all the ideas we convey by articulate sounds. Tills language, in its elements, is to be found among- all nations, and has ever been the medium of communication be tween voyagers and the natives of newly discovered countries. The more lively nations of Europe, belonging to the Celtic race, the French, Ttalians, &e., make
great nse of it, in connection with words, and sometimes even without them. The more phlegmatic people of the Teutonic race, in England and Germany, are so little disposed to it, that they regard it as a species of affectation or buffoonery in their southern neighbors. The method of in:mulcting the deaf and dumb, which has been most, successfully employed, consists in teaching, the pupil the rela tion between the names of objects and the objects themselves, the analysis of words into letters of the alphabet, and the particular gesture which ho is to at tach to each word as its distinctive sign— showing to him also the meaning of col lective words, as distinguished from those denoting individual objects, or parts of objects.
DUN, of a color partaking of a dull brown and black.—To dun, to press for the payment of money by repeatedly calling for it. Hence an importunate creditor is called a dun.