The most advanced expression of public opinion upon this subject will be found in the law enacted in the State of New York in 1917. This law requires the board of education of each city and of each union free school district to take a census of all the physically handi capped children in such city or district. In those cities or districts in which there are 10 or more children of one of these types, the law makes it obligatory upon school boards to es tablish a special class and to provide instruc tion adapted to the mental attainments of the children and to their physical condition. This law also authorizes the school authorities of a city or district in which there are less than 10 children of one of these types to contract with the board of education of another city or dis trict or with an established institution in the State for the education of such children.
Deaf There are recorded many early efforts on the part of individuals to teach some deaf friend or relative. The earliest rec ord is probably that of a deaf person taught by Bishop John of York in 691. It is also re corded that Girolamo Cardona, a distinguished physician of Pavia, invented the first manual alphabet about the middle of the 16th century. The first organized class of deaf pupils to re ceive instruction, of which there is a record. was probably in the convent of San Salvador de Ona in Spain, and was taught by Pedro PonCe de Leon in 1550. It is claimed that his pupils became proficient students in arithmetic, Spanish, Latin, Greek and astrology. It was not however until about 1750 that the education of the deaf began to receive general attention in the countrigs of Europe. Schools had been established in. England, Scotland, France, Ger many, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and Holland before the demand for their organization in America was created. In America as in Europe, the first effort was in an individual case when Philip Nelson of Rawley, Mass., was taught by Isaac Kilbourne in 1679. John Har rower, a teacher in Fredericksburg, Va., wrote in his diary that from 1773 to 1776 he had a deaf boy in his school. The real foundation of the education of the deaf in the United States was begun in the city of New York in 1810. John Stanford, a minister, had discovered sev eral deaf children in the city almshouse. He readily recognized the need of these children and believed that they could be taught. He undertook to give them instruction. Interest in behalf of deaf children was growing and, in 1816, a census showed that there were 66 deaf children in the city of New York. Public meet ings were held for the purpose of stimulating interest in these children and one of the meet ings took place in Tammany Hall. Private funds were collected to aid in this work. The legislature authorized a charter for the New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb in 1817 and in the following year- the school was organized. The city of New York showed its special interest in this work by making an appropriation to support it and pledging the city to maintain a limited num ber of pupils. The city also provided rooms for carrying on the work without cost to the institution. In 1819 the legislature made a special appropriation to aid the school and later appropriated a per capita sum for the support of each pupil. It was the initial work of the Rev. John Stanford therefore which led to the establishment of this institution.
Previous to this, Americans, who possessed the means and who had deaf children, sent such children to England or Scotland to be educated. Two families had controlled the education of the deaf in these countries and had found it profitable employment. They were the Braid
wood and the Watson families. One of the former, who had become involved in certain scandals, left Scotland and came to America in 1815 to organize an institution in this country for the education of the deaf. Various at tempts were made by him to organize an insti tution in New York, Baltimore and different places in Virginia. However, he did not suc ceed.
The man who did the great pioneer work in America in the development of institutions for the education of the deaf was Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (q.v.). He was a young minister in Hartford, Conn., and in that city lived a young deaf girl by the name of Alice Cogswell. Her father was a physician. Because of her fam ily's standing and of her intelligence, many per sons in that city had become interested in her. This interest led to a census of the community and more than 80 deaf children were discov ered. It was estimated that there were 400 deaf children in New England and 2,000 in America. The knowledge of this condition led to an effort to organize an institution to provide for the education of these children. Gallaudet was sent to Europe to investigate the subject and when he returned he brought with him Lau rent Clerc, a deaf teacher who had been em ployed in teaching the deaf in Paris. Upon his return Gallaudet undertook to raise the nec essary funds for the organization of a school. The principal cities of the country were visited, including New York, Philadelphia, Albany, New Haven and Boston. The legislature of Connecticut authorized the organization of an institution in 1816 by granting a charter. That State also appropriated $5,000. This was prob ably the first appropriation in America of pub lic funds for the education of deaf or other physically handicapped children. Twelve thou sand dollars had been raised by subscription previous to the opening of the school at Hart ford, on 15 April 1817, and soon after an addi tional $12,000 was raised by the same method. The institution soon obtained a national repu tation. Gallaudet went to Washington in 1819 to interest Congress in the movement. He met Henry Clay and, through the influence of that Southern statesman, Congress appropriated 23,000 acres of public land. From this appro priation the institution realized the sum of $300,000. The school was particularly regarded as a New England institution. Massachusetts instituted the policy of sending its deaf chil dren to this school to be educated. Each of the other New England States followed the exam ple of Massachusetts. Georgia and South Carolina did likewise and many private pupils were sent to the school from different parts of the country. Within the next decade institu tions were founded in New York, Pennsyl vania, New Jersey and Kentucky. These were all organized as private institutions. In 1823 Kentucky established an institution which was the first State school for the deaf in the coun try and this may be regarded as the beginning of a change of policy in the education of the deaf. Congress gave aid to this institution. For many years the deaf children from the Southern States and from many of the Western States were sent to this institution to be edu cated. From this time on the State recognized its obligation in providing for the education of these children by the establishment of institu tions as State institutions in nearly all the States of the Union. The schools thereafter established, except in Maryland, New England and some of the Eastern States, have been or ganized as State institutions.