and his little neighbours see. He sees more even than they, his vision making up to a certain degree for his deficiencies otherwise, and whilst he devours in a manner all he sees. his insatiable curiosity within applying all the powers of his mind to this raw material, as it may be called, that he has received from without, he works it up by the various intellectual operations of attention, comparison, abstraction, and generalization that are going on, although often unconsciously, in all minds and producing our stock of rational knowledge. Add to all this his communications with father and mother, with brothers and sisters, and all around, and their particular attention to him, which, indeed, is sometimes excessive, considering, at the same time, that they have access to his mind by the conventional signs, which have come from the participation of a common life with him, the effect must be a sharing on his part with those of his own age in mental cultivation and progress, according as their minds are being developed and acquire knowledge. And in this communication of mind with mind, will not the mind of the Deafmute child go up to its Creator as to the original WHENCE' of all things, as well as the minds of his young associates with whom he lives his daily life?"

Having replied to the four questions already mentioned, the Author disposes of a variety of objections commonly made to his positions. After this he proceeds to the other Sacraments, delaying considerably on the Blessed Eucharist, to show, from the institution of this adorable mystery, from the teaching of St. Paul, and the traditional doctrine, and practice of the Church from the beginning, how the claim he advocates is established on the most solid footing.

The Author, however, desires throughout that the case he states be kept steadily in view according to the terms in which he lays it down; and he is careful to distinguish it from the case of the poor Deaf-mute brought up in a family careless as to their religious duties, whose parents fatally considered him not to be a subject for any religious practice, and who, therefore, resigned himself to this false and sad position, allowing himself as an outcast from human society to be spoiled and befooled as he was growing up, and so continuing through life an object, at best, of sterile compassion, but utterly neglected as if the poor creature had neither a God to serve nor a soul to save.

For these poor children of affliction the Author has, nevertheless, words of consolation, and he points out how, notwithstanding the way in which they have been neglected, and discarded, and spoiled, they can still be recovered and restored to the rights of their Baptism in the

participation of the Sacraments. This portion of the Pamphlet, as being quite distinct, we will reserve for future notice.

Having treated of those poor outcasts at considerable length, and with great practical effect, the Author takes up the cause of the Deaf and Dumb children at home, before they are sent to the Institution, and shows what parents can do, and are therefore bound to do for them whilst in their hands. As he observes, there may be some delay in obtaining admission into the Institution, which though through God's goodness and the bounty of a generous Catholic public, the largest in the world, is incapable of receiving more than one-half of the Deaf Mutes who, according to ascertained statistics, are of a school age in the country; and, consequently, a moiety of these poor objects must be deprived of the advantages of a systematic education. On this account he urges the parents to do all they can for their poor Deaf and Dumb offspring, as if they were never to be admitted into the Institution.

In this portion of his Dissertation the Author would address himself in terms of earnest sympathy to the parents themselves, pointing out to them their duty, and exhorting them to employ the means he lays down in detail for its fulfilment. He speaks as follows:

"From speaking at such length of the uninstructed and adult Deaf-mute, I come now to speak of the Deaf-mute child. I would address myself to the parents immediately, and say to them, I sympathize with you most earnestly, and feel with you, that you have, humanly speaking, a great family calamity. But you are Christians, and you will lift up your thoughts on high, and think that it is God Himself that has sent you this dear little one, Deaf and Dumb though he is. Listen to His own words- Who made man's mouth? or who made the Dumb and the Deaf? Did not 1?'-Exod. iv. 11. Joint parents, therefore, as you are, say together, and say to God. THY WILL BE DONE.' You will not be satisfied with a mere act of resignation to the Divine will, but considering God is good and merciful in what He wills, although for the moment we may not see it, you will say to each other, God has intended a blessing for us in this dear child, and let us lift up our hearts to Him and thank his Divine goodness.' I knew a good mother who had an idiot child, and taking a Christian view of the poor creature, she accepted it. and regarded it as 'the blessing of her family. It engaged, therefore, more of her attention than the other children, and God repaid her richly in the multiplied blessings He poured down upon her and her whole house.

"When your little one begins to notice things as they come

within its view, the time is come for you, its mother, to begin the forming of its heart and the training of its affections. God Almighty has made our countenances and particularly our eyes the mirrors of our souls. and it is from the looks of the mother and of its nurse the child receives its first impressions and the first moulding of its heart. This is more especially so for the Deaf and Dumb child, as on account of its privations it is less distracted than other children, and therefore exerts the eyes all the more to gather meaning from the looks of others. As the mother, therefore, of your child, begin at the earliest moment to speak to it by your looks, and speak to it according to the affections of a Christian heart; and you, father, join your wife in this exercise of parental affection and duty towards your common offspring.

"Later on, you will follow up your task by gestures, recollecting that, even with your speaking children, your first language is gestures, and you will find that you and your child will understand each other nearly as well as the other children upon all the little matters their minds are capable of taking account of. Your other children will join you, and help you in this Deaf-mute language with their little brother or sister, and he or she will thus become the little idol of the house.

"You will accompany your signs and gestures with words, merely moving your lips, as if whispering, your little one looking at your lips, and at the same time looking at your signs and gestures. By this practice your child will come by degrees to understand your words. Make the other children do the same. This is a matter of the greatest importance. I knew a man who was quite deaf, so as not to hear the loudest sound, but he could speak, having lost his hearing some time during life. He and his wife could converse upon any subject, she merely articulating the words in the lowest voice, which he understood most correctly from the habit of observing the motion of her lips. This is called lip-reading, and it is practised as a system in several schools for the Deaf and Dumb.

"All along, keep away from your minds, both father and mother, that hearing is necessary in order to obtain entrance into your child's mind. Sight-seeing is to do double work for it, the work of the ears as well as that of the eyes. Especially bear in mind that hearing, however useful, is not absolutely necessary for your child to know, love, and serve its God, who gave it to you, as it is, Deaf and Dumb. Therefore, as soon as it is able to govern the motion of its own little right hand, train it to make the sign of the Cross, and defend itself by this shield of faith against the fiery darts of the most wicked one.'-Ephes. vi. 16. Words are

not necessary for this. Also teach your little one from its tenderest years to sprinkle itself with holy water, and make itself thereby partaker of the multiplied blessings imparted to it by the Church.

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"When you, his mother, say your own prayers, have your child, as soon as he will remain steady, to kneel by your side. His poor mute lips, believe me, will be as much noticed as your words by that good God, who Himself declares,To whom shall I have respect but to him who is poor and little ?-Isaias lxvii. 1—whilst He complains of so many speaking people that honour Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him.-Matt. xv. 8. your family prayers you will see that your little Deaf and Dumb one is always in attendance, and be assured that He who has said that Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them' (Matt. xviii. 20), will take special notice of him or her, as He always did when on earth, with regard to the Deaf and Dumb. The closed lips will be no hindrance to the mercy of that bountiful Father, Who knoweth what is needful for us, before we ask Him'-Matt. vi. 7., and has declared by His prophet, And it will be before they call I will hear.'-Ps. lxv. 25. “Your child is now able to run about, to go out and in. You will send him out with his brothers and sisters to share in their recreations and amusements. They can have little plays, in which he can have part, and take care that they do not put him aside. As soon as he will be capable, send him upon little messages, and receive his account, as he will give it to you by gestures, of all he has seen on the way; and your manner on all such occasions is to be most kind and encouraging. But, observe to keep him away from naughty companions, who would spoil and befool the dear poor creature. You will take him with you yourself when visiting friends in the neighbourhood, and make him salute his friends and neighbours as he meets them. Especially if you meet the Priest, you will have him trained to the usual form of reverence, and you will engage the Priest's kind notice of him, telling him how intelligent the little creature is, how he blesses himself, joins you in prayer, and that you hope to have him prepared, in due time, to go to Confession, and to receive Confirmation when the Bishop will come round on Visitation. Then ask the Priest to give him his blessing.

"Bring him to Mass as soon as any of the other children, and keep him by you, and both you and your husband, as well as your other children, will satisfy his pious curiosity afterwards about everything, especially about the Elevation and Holy Communion. Remember that the piety and reverential demeanour of the people will instruct him better than all the words in the world apart from such example, for, as St. Bernard says so well, 'Louder is the sound of works than of words.'

He is now at an age to go to school. Send him, by all means, with the other children. You will try to interest the Master particularly in his regard. Make him understand that there is no mystery in teaching the Deaf and Dumb, and that with a little pains and superintendence on his part the work can go on by the kind services of the other scholars.

"There are five tasks or courses to be accomplished in the following order :-First, the alphabet; second, objects; third, qualities or kinds of objects; fourth, acts; fifth, numbers."

After having taken the ordinary school teacher through these five courses of elementary teaching, the Author shows how he is to convey speculative and moral ideas to the mind of his little pupil, after which, addressing the parents, he says to them:

"The time has now arrived when you should be thinking of sending him to the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. By all means, send him as soon as you can. But there may be some difficulty and delay, and, therefore, attend most earnestly to the advice I am going to give you. It is, that you are yourselves, father and mother, to whom I am speaking, to do everything for your child that you can do for him, up to the moment you place him in the Institution, just as if there were no such Institution in the world, or as if it were impossible to get him admitted into the Institution so happily existing in Ireland. The reasons are, because you can teach him yourselves, and therefore you are bound to do all you can to bring him up in the knowledge, fear, and love of God as well as your other children, and to do everything else for him that you are bound to do for them. In the next place, if you neglect him, in the idea that the Institution will do everything for him, you will have spoiled him before you can have him adınitted: and finally, it may happen that he may not be admitted at all, and then what is to become of him, and how can you stand before your God to account for your neglect ?

"Therefore, from the commencement, bring him up in every way you can, as if he were never to have the advantage of an Institution; and having done for him all we have pointed out already, you will prepare your dear child in due time for Confession. His Confessions for some time will be easy, like those of other children, and he will so prepare himself to make his Confession in regular form when necessary. You will have an understanding with the Priest beforehand, and you will send the dear child with his slate and pencil to the Holy Tribunal. On the slate you will write any faults you have observed in him, in the manner we have seen in an earlier part of this Dissertation, and the Confessor will write the penance, which you will see your child perform. If he still be with you, and be of an age for Confirmation, present him, by all means, to the Bishop through your Parish Priest. Have him also prepared as well as possible, at the usual age, for his First Communion, and do not postpone this the greatest duty of early life beyond the time for your other children.

If your Deaf-mute child be a little girl, you will do everything for her in the same way, and the schoolmistress will do all that we