Gallaudet College at Washington, D. C., was established in 1864 through the efforts of Ed ward Miner Gallaudct, who was its president have not been taken upon a uniform plan and therefore do not afford an exact basis for com to the returns it appears to be diminishing, and the progress that has been made within recent years in the prevention and treatment of the diseases that cause adventitious deafness gives us reason to hope that this appar ent diminution is real and that in the future such deafness will become more and more infrequent. Congenital deafness is more difficult to deal with; but this also appears to be diminishing, as it certainly ought to be. Syphilis is both pre curable; alcoholism is at least pre ventable; that the laws of heredity are becoming better understood Were should be fewer marriages liable to result in, off spring. In antiquity and through th,., Middle Ages the condition of the deaf was deplorable. Belonging generally to the lower classes,\1 io rant, unable to understand the speech of ot rs i) or to make themselves understood except y rude gestures, classed under the law with the idiotic and insane, popularly supposed to be possessed of a devil and so shunned as objects of contempt or superstitious dread, their lot, save in rare cases, must have been one of deg radation and wretchedness and always of isola tion and unhappiness. Girolamo Cardano, of Milan (1501-76), was the first to express the be lief that the deaf could be educated. In Me Surditate° and "Paralipomenon* he not only de clared that it was possible, though difficult, for deaf-mutes to learn to read and write, but also stated clearly the principle upon which their edu cation depends; namely, that ideas can be as sociated with written words without the inter vention of sound and so "the deaf-mute can hear by reading and speak by writing.* The from that date until 1910. It was named in honor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, the founder of deaf-mute education in America. Congress has made liberal appropriations for its grounds, buildings and support, and provides 100 free scholarships. It is the only institution in the world devoted to the higher education of the deaf. While it is possible for the deaf, with special help, to pursue courses of study in ordinary colleges, they can do so with much greater facility in Gallaudet College. Among its graduates are clergymen ministering to the deaf, editors, publishers, teachers, architects, artists, chemists and other specialists in science, successful. business men, fanners, etc.
Among the Americans who have been es pecially associated with the education of the deaf may be named: Dr. F. A. P. Barnard of New York, William W. Turner of Hartford,
Abraham B. Hutton of Philadelphia, John A. Jacobs of Kentucky, Harvey P. and Isaac L. Peet of New York, Edward and Thomas Gal laudet.
Notable cases of great proficiency among the deaf are those of Laura Bridgman, a celebrated blind deaf-mute and pupil of Dr. S. G. Howe, and Helen Keller of Boston, a lady of wide in formation and great intelligence.
Besides papers published at many of the resi dential schools, there are two American periodi cals devoted to the education of the deaf, both published at Washington, D. C.: The American Annals of the Deaf, established in 1848, issued bimonthly during the school year by the con ference of superintendents and principals of American schools for the deaf, and the Volta Review, issued monthly by the Volta Bureau for the increase and diffusion of knowledge relat ing to the deaf, which was founded and en dowed by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell in 1887. The work of this bureau is carried on by the American Association to promote the teaching of speech to the deaf, which was also endowed by Dr. Bell. Other important organizations working in the interests of the deaf are the convention of American instructors of the deaf, which meets triennially; the conference of superintendents and principals above mentioned; and the American Association of the Deaf, whose membership is composed of the educated deaf. One of the leading aims of this associa tion of the deaf is to promote the combined system of instruction; another is to suppress the vagrant impostors who beg from the public on the pretext that they are deaf. As a matter of fact the really deaf are scarcely ever ost of the larger cities in the United States have churches or missions for the deaf in which religious services are conducted in the sign language and much is done in various ways to promote the social enjoyment and ma terial welfare of the adult deaf as well as their moral and religious culture. The Episcopal Church under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Gallaudet, a son of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, was the pioneer in this work and still has the largest number of workers; but within recent years churches or missions have also been established by Methodists, Baptists, Presby terians Lutherans, Roman Catholics and Jews.
Bibliography, Arnold, 'Education of Deaf-Mutes' (1888) id., 'History of American Schools for the Deaf' (1893) ; Best, 'The Deaf) (1914) ' • Fay, 'Marriages of the Deaf in America' (1898); Horne, 'Hereditary Deaf }Autism) (London 1909) ; Winnie, 'History and Handbook of Day Schools for the Deaf and Blind in Wisconsin) (1912) ; and the Publica tions issued from time to time by the Volta Bureau, Washington, D. C.