When any place some imaginary object on one side. piece of work is finished it is generally laid on one side, hence the origin of the sign. On earth. The hands spread out over an imaginary globe. As. The two forefingers placed side by side and held "As like as two peas" is a proverb. The two fingers are the sign of resemblance. up. Give. The hand held out in a supplicating manner. Us. The forefingers of each hand approaching each other as if to enclose a number, and then touching the chest to indicate more than one "I." This Day or Day by Day. The finger travels round the face to indicate the sun or "day," and touches the cheek once for "this day"-twice for two days-and a succession of taps for daily, or an indefinite number of times. Our. See above. Bread. This word would be without meaning to an Esquimaux who has never seen "bread," and he would translate it "blubber an Irishman would think of potatoes and a Scotchman of oatmeal food, but all would understand "food to be taken by the mouth." The sign is therefore the finger put into the open mouth. And. The open fingers brought together to indicate unity. "But"-the fingers or hands moved apart, to indicate severance. Forgive us. "Forgive "Forgive "-Rub out from an imaginary slate or book the record of any account against us of whatever nature it may be, and then shake hands in token of complete forgiveness. "Us." See above. "Our" "Trespasses," or "Debts." Explained above. Imaginary bad record upon a slate or paper, shown to be a bad one, by the projecting little finger. "As" "we" "forgive." See above. Them, or Others. Touch the tips of a number of fingers to indicate many separate persons. (That) owe us debts, Hold out one hand empty, and strike it with the other fingers in a threatening manner, to indicate debt and insistance of claim. Or, that Trespass against us. Write upon imaginary slate or paper the items of debt or trespass, and hold it up to the debtor or offender, and then rub it out and shake hands. And. See above. Lead us. "Lead"-Take hold of some imaginary robe or garment, or the person's own hand, and move on one side, as if drawing the person after you. "Us." See above. Not. Shake the head, or move the hands as if in disapproval. Into. The finger put into a ring, formed by the thumb and finger. Temptation. Beckoning to an imaginary person with the finger, accompanied by a wink or expression of face to indicate evil. But. See above.-Separate the hands. Deliver us. Stoop down, and use the hands as if lifting some imaginary person up from the ground or out of a pit. "Us." See above. From. Not expressed. Evil. Little finger for "evil." A circle described in addition for "all evil." Two fingers held up and separated at their tips would indicate horns, and the little finger adding "bad" to the horns would imply "the Devil," "the Evil One" of the Revised Version of the N. T. For or because. Not usually signed in the Lord's prayer. It is difficult of representation by a simple sign, and it is represented arbitrarily in different ways by different speakers. Thine is. See above. "Is" is taken for granted. Glory. Waving of hands to indicate flickering light and glory, as shown in paintings. Ever and ever. Hands moved so as to represent a circle, and therefore something endless. Amen. Clap hands. SPREAD AND ULTIMATE DIFFUSION OF THIS "SIGN LANGUAGE." After the Abbé de l'Epée had worked for some years, his great success became noised abroad, and a Mr.* or Dr. Braidwood, of Edinburgh, went to Paris to learn the system from him; and in 1760 commenced a private school for the Deaf and Dumb of a class able to pay for the instruction; and his nephew, Dr. Watson, some years afterwards, commenced a similar school in London. Both countries thus deriving the system from the same French source. At a later period, a Mr. Gallaudet, of New York, a descendant of a Huguenot family which left France on the revocation of the Treaty of Nantes by Louis XIV, heard of the system and its success, and came to Edinburgh hoping to obtain instruction in it from Mr. Braidwood, that he might introduce it into America for the benefit of the Deaf and Dumb there. But Mr. Braidwood abruptly declined to teach him, and unreservedly alleged as his reason-jealousy, lest he might open a rival * I have not been able to discover which he was. school in Glasgow. Gallaudet therefore went to London to seek instruction from Dr. Watson, from whom he received a like refusal, though less openly explained. He therefore went to Paris, and remained for three years in the establishment of Abbé de l'Epée and his successor Abbé Sicard, who gave him the further valuable assistance of allowing him to take back with him to New York one of his own trained teachers, a Deaf and Dumb man named Clerc. On his return to America he opened the Harford School for teaching the Deaf and Dumb, and it became the parent stock from which every subsequent Deaf and Dumb School in America took its origin. He became eventually the official organizer of American schools, and his son, Dr. Gallaudet, from whom I heard this narrative, was, at his father's death, appointed the official inspector of all the Deaf and Dumb schools under the American Government influence. Thus it will be seen that England, Scotland and America all received the same "sign" system from the same source, viz., its French inventor; and as Belgium was at that time a part of France it also received it; and the "language" became cosmopolitan among all the French and English speaking peoples, with the following interesting result. In 1790 the Abbé died, and in 1890 it was decided to hold a centenary commemoration in Paris of this noble and wonderful man, to which a party of a dozen or more deaf and dumb youths went from Liverpool, headed by Mr. J. Wilson Mackenzie, also deaf and dumb, whose high reputation as an artist in this city shows what eminence can be attained even under such a serious drawback. When they arrived in Paris they found themselves in possession of a common language derived from their Parisian hosts, and they had no difficulty in mutually understanding each other, though on the one side none of them knew a word of French, and an equal ignorance of English existed on the other side. The case would have been different in Germany, or among German speaking people, for they have always favoured the "oral language," originated as it had been by Dr. Amman, as already mentioned, and subsequently brought to high perfection by the famous Heinicke (see p. 259). One universal language throughout the world, such as this "sign language" almost promised to be, is, therefore, still a desideratum, though it may possibly yet be realised; for both the sign and the oral systems are now being taught together in Deaf and Dumb Schools, though the preponderance is still in favour of the sign language in this country. The marked and incontestible difference in favour of the sign language is that it can be taught to large classes at a time, so that a comparatively small number of teachers, and a consequent moderate expense is involved. While the "oral system" requires such close observation and conscientious attention on the part of the scholar that only a very small number (half a dozen to a dozen at the most) can be taught at one time, and a very much larger number of teachers is therefore indispensable. Indifferent or idle scholars, and also those who are mentally sluggish or of limited brain capacity, make no progress in it, and there is no excitement in its machinery to keep the indifferent scholar amused or interested. It is also so much more difficult of attainment that, while five years careful work will produce a fairly competent "sign" scholar, seven years at least are requisite for even moderate competence in the " oral" language. And when acquired and practised with even more than average skill the sounds which pass for words are so slowly emitted and grasped, that the communication is a trying one on both |