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"5. Loud speaking is of great use to the deaf and dumb, not only as a means of learning, but of imparting their knowledge. They learn by imparting, and thus obtain more definite ideas of what they already know."

What are the peculiar advantages of loud speaking as a means of imparting knowledge, except, as before remarked, in the case of those who are only hard of hearing? And what knowledge is to be acquired by loud speaking, besides the knowledge that other people have sensitive ears ? We may, indeed, say, that knowledge is fixed more firmly in the memory by imparting it, and that ideas often become clearer and more definite in the mental effort of placing them intelligibly before other minds; * but any mode of communicating ideas, whether loud speaking, whispering, writing, or signs made by the fingers, may be useful as a means both of receiving and imparting knowledge. We see, therefore, no exclusive advantage that "loud speaking," or vocal speech, possesses in this respect. It is certain, that the ideas of the deaf and dumb expand more rapidly, in other words, these persons acquire more ideas, and even more definite ideas, in a community where the language of gestures is the usual mode of communication, than under any other possible circumstances. "Loud speaking," or, more properly, the labial and oral alphabet, may be advantageous to a deaf mute in familiarizing him by more frequent practice with the colloquial idioms of language. Whether the advantage is equal to the cost of acquiring it, is another question.

* Mr. Mann, however, disapproves of the Lancasterian system.

After admitting, as we have already remarked, that the articulation of the deaf and dumb may be "wearisome, monotonous, inexpressive, or absolutely disagreeable," it is added, that "people soon become accustomed to such imperfect speech." So do people become accustomed to converse by means of signs made with the fingers ; and we apprehend, that the latter mode of communication is, to those accustomed to it, much more agreeable than the wearisome and disagreeable speech of the deaf and dumb. In the case of a little child, its imperfect speech is far from being unpleasant, and soon perfects itself with little effort, by merely imitating the utterance of others ; but in the case of the deaf and dumb, their wearisome and disagreeable articulation usually grows continually more wearisome and disagreeable from the time they leave the care of their instructer.

"The peculiar advantages even of a low degree of acquisition are: 1. The exercise and strengthening of the lungs."

This may be true. It is a common opinion, that the crying of children strengthens the lungs; and the sounds which deaf mutes utter by natural impulse doubtless serve the same end.

"2. The aid it gives to the comprehension and retaining of words, as well as to the power of recalling them to the memory."

It is admitted, that the tone in which words are uttered in earnest conversation is a very important help to the comprehension of words. Otherwise, it were difficult to conceive how the blind from birth could readily learn the meanings of words. But these tones of the voice have no existence for the deaf and dumb; and that the mere ability to articulate a word is any aid to the comprehension of that word is an idea too absurd for serious refutation. We need only refer Mr. Mann to his own account of those schools in which the entire book of Psalms in the Latin language was committed to memory, without "either teachers or children understanding a word of the language which they were prating."

It is possible, that the word "comprehension "may be an inadvertence of the translator, and that we should read conception. Whether the labial and oral alphabet is any advantage to the "conception, retention, and recalling of words," we have already briefly considered. The German teachers do hold it to be important in this respect; but they seem to have confounded, as we have already noticed, the power of articulating words with the conception of words as sounds. The two faculties are quite distinct, and the deaf and dumb from birth can never possess the latter.

"3. It has an extraordinary humanizing power, -- the remark having been often made, and with truth, that all the deaf and dumb who have learned to speak have a far more human expression of the eye and countenance than those who have only been taught to write."

A very extraordinary power, indeed! It would be difficult to disprove a remark expressed in terms so vague, and so evidently depending on the imagination; but we much doubt, whether any one not previously possessed with the idea of the humanizing power of speech, would have observed this more human expression. If the habit of watching the motion of another's lips gives any peculiarity of expression to the eye, it must be an expression different from that of human beings in general. Whether articulation has any other effect on the eyes of the deaf and dumb, we leave to those skilled in the occult sciences. It is not impossible, that the habit of exercising the muscles of articulation instead of those of pantomimic expression, by favoring a fuller development of the former set of muscles, may create a perceptible difference of expression in those deaf mutes who are taught to articulate. If this is a "more human" look, then we should expect the greatest babblers to have the most human look. Whether this "more human expression" is a sufficient equivalent for the unhumanness of articulation which usually accompanies it, to say nothing of the labor of giving this last finishing touch to the "human face divine," we leave the reader to judge.