was avowedly introduced in order to straighten out the language of children who gained their first ideas thru the sign language. As you doubtless know, in the early days of the education of the deaf the pupil was first taught the sign language as a means of conveying ideas and developing thought, and all written language was translated from this into English or the vernacular, whatever this may have been.

When methods improved, the sign language ceast to be the medium for the development of thought, and children were taught directly in English, without such a medium, because such a device as the Five Slate System would seem to have ceast to exist. So it did, for a while, but eventually it was resurrected and put to use in the Pennsylvania Institution and elsewhere, and since its revival has gained currency until now it is in popular use in practically every school for the deaf. Its resurrection was not with oral classes, but with manual classes; by manual classes I mean classes taught without speech, that is, by finger spelling or the sign language. Its transference to oral classes was coincident with the transference of manual teachers to oral classes in a school for the deaf in which both silent and oral methods were at that time in use.

I believe that by a more rational system, one conforming more nearly to methods by which hearing children learn language, practically fifteen months of a child's school life could be saved. We must get away from the idea that grammar was invented before language, and impress upon ourselves the fact that grammatical principles in the beginning must be learned unconsciously if we expect the deaf child to use language with the readiness that is possible under the most favorable conditions.

THE PHYSICAL SIDE OF THE DEAF CHILD

GEORGE B. MCAULIFFE, M.D., SPECIAL PHYSICIAN, PUBLIC SCHOOL, NO. 47, DAY SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, NEW YORK, N.Y.

No longer is the deaf child sent to institutions to be instructed by attendants, but the stream of pedagogy is turning its best branches into this training.

This work has been fostered greatly by the Department of Education in School No. 47, which has grown beyond its original scope in a short time. The exigencies of financial stringency have hampered as yet the better housing of the pupils and their proper medical care, but an effort has been made by some of the commissioners, as Dr. McDonald, to facilitate the betterment of the physical side of the pupils and thereby to increase their efficiency.

The field of instruction is a very large one and necessitates a better specialization of the pupils. There are brought to the school those who are congenitally deaf; those who have acquired deafness thru systemic dis

eases; those who are partially deaf; those who are slightly defective, in a mental fog, and appear to be deaf; those who are defective and deaf; and those who are defective and ignorant.

It is a hard problem to weed them out without appearing unjust. Even in the proper sphere of deafness there are many specific differences that necessitate specific training. This specialization is a development of the future. How can a teacher or principal determine the physical and mental status of the applicant? Does it not imply, therefore, the absolute necessity for proper medical inspection? The doctor should be an integral part of the staff in every school for the deaf.

In the year 1915-16, in an analysis of 293 cases of deaf children-159 boys and 134 girls, almost one-half-123-were found to be totally deaf, 8 could distinguish words at short distances, and the balance-162-could hear loud sounds. About 100 were congenitally deaf, 103 acquired deafness between infancy and three years, 51 between three and six years, while the balance one-seventh-became deaf after six years.

On receiving these statistics we find the sexes are fairly divided; that all but eight are practically hopeless, as regards aural improvement; that more than two-thirds have no word or sound memories; that congenital deafness forms the largest number, with that form, cerebrospinal meningitis next, followed by catarrh, scarlet fever, and injuries, in the order named.

It is painful to be compelled to give a bad prognosis as to hearing in so many. Parents go from one doctor to another with the hope of a cure. They feel sure that their children hear better, and relate instances to prove their statements. They have the adenoids and tonsils removed, the nose corrected, and spare no money, if they have it, upon quackeries from vibrations to unknown radium therapy.

As alluded to in another paper, the deaf develop an appreciation of vibrations that practically amounts to another sense. A great many of their judgments are based on the association of vibrations. Inasmuch as lip reading constitutes the basic instrument of instruction, it implies the best eyesight possible.

THE UTILIZATION OF RESIDUAL HEARING

JOHN DUTTON WRIGHT, WRIGHT ORAL SCHOOL, NEW YORK, N.Y.

The fact that many of the pupils of our schools for the deaf possess some residual hearing is well known to everyone connected with the education of the deaf.

The extent to which this imperfect hearing can be made of service to the pupils is not so well known, and in the vast majority of cases no effort is made at present to develop and educate this residual hearing.

This failure to utilize a valuable aid to mental development and language- and speech-teaching is due primarily to the lack of the necessary

helpers to do the work. Most of the auricular training, in order to be effective, requires the services of at least one teacher for each two pupils receiving instruction at the same time. During the five hours of the school day, one teacher could, under the most favorable conditions, give a minimum of necessary instruction to twenty pupils, allowing half an hour to each two pupils. Nothing less than this would be worth doing. In a school maintaining three hundred pupils there would certainly be found fifty who could be really benefited by intelligent auricular training. That would require from two to three additional teachers, unless some other work was sacrificed in order to supply the time and teachers required for the education or re-education of residual hearing.

The second reason for the general failure of the schools to do an adequate amount of this auricular training is the lack of a true appreciation of the possible benefits to the pupils. If all those in authority in our schools fully realized what could be accomplisht, they might find a way of providing the time and the teachers to do the work.

Last year 61 per cent of the pupils in my school received daily auricular training and 42 per cent benefited very greatly from it. The difference in the percentages is because some of the pupils are so young-four years of age that just what the ultimate benefit may be cannot be definitely stated at the end of the first year.

What should be the standards of the amount and the character of sound-perception required in order that the benefits from auricular training may be an adequate return for the time and effort expended? First of all I would suggest that, as the principal object of auricular training is to enable the pupils to understand spoken language thru the ear, and to clarify and improve their own speech, it is necessary that the islands of residual hearing should lie within the range of the speaking voices of men and

women.

The ability to perceive shrill sounds, like whistles, or very low sounds, like the organ bass, is of some value, undoubtedly, but unless accompanied by other islands of hearing in the range of human tones, I have not felt that the precious educational hours of the deaf child should be used in auricular training.

In my own work, unless I can develop the power of discriminating with 90 per cent of accuracy between at least five vowels when shouted within half an inch of the ear, I have not considered it advisable to devote further time to auricular training. I spend, however, from two to six months in the endeavor to teach this degree of discrimination before abandoning the effort, since the brain can be taught to hear just as it can be taught to add or multiply, provided there is an avenue of approach.

I test every pupil who comes to me, for ability to determine, first, how many times a sound is made near the ear. The sounds used at the start are those of a vibrating whistle, a bell, and clapping of the hands. If the

production of these sounds a foot from the ear can be perceived, I go on to test the ability to tell how many times the vowel ä (ah) is uttered very near the ear. If this can be done, then tests of increasing difficulty are given till the utilizable extent of hearing is approximately determined.

It is impossible at this time or place to go into the details of the process of building up in the brain of the child a working comprehension of language thru the ear. Our task this morning can only be the directing of attention to the very great and helpful possibilities that lie at our hands in the existence of residual hearing in the cases of many of our pupils.

DISCUSSION

ELBERT A. GRUVER, Central New York Institution for the Deaf, Rome, N.Y.Where shall we draw the line between a school for the deaf and one for the hard-of-hearing child? What degree of deafness qualifies a child for a place in a school for the deaf? I have given considerable thought to these questions in recent years. At one time I felt that no child with sufficient hearing to receive instructions thru the ear had any place in a school for the deaf. My opinion has changed in this respect, and now I think that any child whose hearing is so dull that he is unable to receive instructions easily belongs in a school for the deaf. I think it very necessary and proper that the children be given as much instruction thru the ear as possible, even if it is necessary to raise the voice.

The general use of oral methods in nearly all our schools has been a leading factor in the rapid advancement, in the development of residual hearing. These methods are almost entirely natural methods of education and have brought the hard-of-hearing child more closely in touch with the school for the deaf than in former years, and has also had its lasting effect upon our attitude toward the mentally slow child; for often our hard-ofhearing pupils are of this class. This has led me to another change of opinion. It has been generally conceded that the dull deaf child can be developt best thru a free use of a combination of all methods, and particularly that the mentally deficient deaf child is in a sorry plight when it is attempted to teach him in an oral school.

MEASUREMENT OF EFFICIENCY IN SCHOOLS FOR THE DEAF RICHARD OTTO JOHNSON, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE INDIANA STATE SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, INDIANAPOLIS, IND.

EDUCATION MEASUREMENT

Never in educational history has there been so much uncertainty as to values in the educational field as at present, never such aggressive dissatisfaction and earnest protests concerning the educational methods prevailing in schools ranging from the kindergarten to the university. This condition is the one great fact easily discernible by all who give the matter thought and reading; and another great fact is that at no time in the world have the people been more willing to give and more bountiful in giving, than now, to the cause of education.

With such thoughts in mind, the writer began an educational survey of the Indiana School which was, in efficiency, fully abreast of the best

accredited curricula and methods of similar schools thruout the United States and Canada. This survey was later merged into that of schools for the deaf generally now being conducted by the committee referred to below which is seeking some sort of standardization of efficient methods, measurements, etc., to be completed and publisht at a later date. While the compass of this paper will not permit of going into details of the Indiana survey, it will be of interest to refer to one part thereof-the pupilage, and to an age and grade classification as workt out, and therein, of retardation, etc. Of the thirty-two pupils admitted during the year 1914-15, the information is supplied in the accompanying table.

Of the parents, one father and two mothers are dead; five cases of separation or divorce occur; in one case only are either of the parents deaf (in this case both father and mother), but deaf relatives are shown in six cases. In three cases either the parents or grandparents were related before marriage. In a number of the families the history discloses tuberculosis (7), cancer (4), scrofula (1), epilepsy (1), feeblemindedness (1), and paralysis (5), with two of these defects occurring in the same family in one or two cases. In six instances there was difficulty at birth, instruments being used in two cases. Of the whole number, seven were weakly in infancy, three show a deranged nervous system, two physical malformation, or physical weakness, and thirteen were born deaf (40.6 per cent). Of the offspring of families disclosing cancer, three of the four were congenital cases, as were three of the seven with tuberculosis; and the two from families showing scrofula, epilepsy, and feeblemindedness were both adventitious

Of the seven reported as sickly babes, five were congenitally deaf; and of the five possessing deranged nervous system or malformation and physical weakness, all were adventitiously deaf.

The total number of children born to the parents were 146, including the deaf (32), who constituted 21.9 per cent, and those who died (24), who constituted 16.4 per cent, thus leaving 61.7 per cent (90) living and reported as not deaf and well. Of the children who died, fourteen died at