USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > Columbus, Ohio, city directory.. 1843-4 > Part 5
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"The history of the art of teaching the deaf and dumb, goes back three hundred years. It is first
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spoken of in Germany, but it is not known what was the process of education. The first definite account is from Spain, in which it is said, that Pedro de Ponce, a Benedictine monk, of Ona, in the kingdom of Leon, taught the deaf and dumb, about the year 1570. Lit- tle is known as to his modes of instruction; and if the half he says of his success be true, he was emi- nently successful. He states, that his pupils would have passed for learned men in the eyes of Aristotele himself. It is, however, known, that he taught articu- lation; and his success was undoubtedly such, that it is not surprising that, in those days of ignorance, he should have been looked upon as almost a worker of miracles. During the next two hundred years, vari- ous teachers, in various countries, taught with vari- ous success. These were, Bonet, in Spain; Holder and Wallis, in England; Amman and Van Helmont, in Holland; Deschamps, Ernaud and Vanin, in France; and, more recently, Heinicke, in Germany; Braidwood, in Scotland; and De l' Epee, in France. Charles Michael de l' Eppe may be regarded as the founder of the mode of instruction which obtains in this country, though the Abbe Sicard, his successor, at Paris, with the light which he received from l' Epee, added to his own great talents and zeal, was able to far outdo his master. Sicard may be called a bene- factor of mankind; and among the fanciful or gorge- ous sepulchral monuments of Pere la Chaise, there is none so attractive to the philanthropist or true phi- losopher, as that of Roch Ambrose Cucurron Sicard.
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"On the introduction of this system in this country, it underwent many important modifications, by Mr. Gallaudet. He pruned the system of its scholastic- isms, and adapted it to the idioms of the English, and the wants of the American deaf and dumb. It can- not be believed, that the system is, by any means, perfect; yet it is conceived that little improvement has been made for several years past, only as indi- vidual teachers, in various institutions, have excelled by their own tact and skill, and which they can no more communicate to their fellow teachers as they employ it themselves, if it would be received by the others, than they can impart the native energies of their own minds. Thoughts and views on deaf and dumb instruction are, however, interchanged by vari- ous institutions, by means of reports. A common channel of communication has, most happily, been projected and carried into execution, by the Royal Institution at Paris, in the form of a voluminous peri- odical circular, published triennially, at the expense of the French government, and distributed over the world by the same liberal hand. This most valuable periodical has reached its fourth number.
"There are about one hundred and fifty institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb now in exis- tence, containing from ten to two hundred and thirty pupils each. They are variously supported. Some of them national, and some are State institutions .-- Some are sustained by subscription, by departments
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in which they are situated; many are private, and others are sustained in various ways; and the length of time which pupils remain at school, varies from four to nine years.
"The subjects of instruction are quite unlike those of any others. The uneducated mute is a most pitia- ble object. Here we find mind, stamped with the broad seal of immortality, and, with a capacity for endless progression in knowledge, confined within the narrow limits of its prison-house, and its intercourse with its fellow minds, in a great measure, cut off .- ' Though the mute may have arrived at the age of manhood, and, to the casual observer, there may be nothing different in his appearance from others; yet, in his being, there is a moral and intellectual desola- tion, of which it is difficult to conceive, and impossi- ble fully to convey an accurate idea of, in language. His ideas are confined within the narrow limits of the neighborhood in which he lives; he knows nothing of the past, nor dreams he of the future; his mind is in a chaotic state, and he may be said to little more than vegetate. But this mind must have form given it; it must be beautified and polished. His attention is ar- rested, and the business of education is commenced, and a gradual influx of ideas into the mind takes place, and his progress in the various stages of transformation, from stupid and cheerless ignorance to his enlightened state, is marked on his countenance, that index of the mind. He learns to write, and
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learns that the letters of the alphabet can be made to represent things; that what he did not before know, he finds that he has a name, represented by these let- ters, and that he, and every thing he can see, taste and smell, have different names; that all his emotions have names, formed by the various transportations of these letters; and he awakes from his reverie, and, much to his astonishment, he finds himself a thinking being. By long continued exercise of patience in his teacher, and by all the aids he can lay hold of, the scales of the eyes of his understanding are, one by one, removed, and he stands out, a redeemed and en- lightened man, and his intellectual existence, in truth, commences. How is this change effected? How is the human mind, with the avenues to it thus obstruct- ed, made accessible to the lights of knowledge? It is through the eye. Signs are addressed to the mind, through the eye, instead of sound, through the ear .- Through this channel, and in this manner, light is thrown in on the darkness of the moral and intellec- tual midnight that reigns within. Signs employed, either singly, or in variously necessary combinations, express all the thoughts, and all the nice distinctions of thought, that the human mind is capable of com- municating or entertaining, relating to matter or to mind, to time or to eternity. The process is slow .- Its object is to enlighten and to elevate, and its result certain, by adapting means for accomplishing it, suited to the extraordinary exigencies of the case.
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"To represent letters, we employ a manual, or fin- ger alphabet; thus effectually substituting the fingers for the tongue. We use the single handed >alphabet. This can be traced to Spain for its origin, and is said to have been invented by mischievous school children, for the purpose of silent whispering in school, but which becomes to us a valuable auxiliary. In the British and Irish schools, the double-handed alphabet is used; and in some of the schools on the continent of Europe, writing in the air is used, instead of the hand alphabet. In our general instruction, letters which represent words are but little used, and the language of action employed, which directly express- es ideas or things themselves."
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The officers of the institution are as follows:
OFFICERS.
His Excellency, WILSON SHANNON, Ex-officio, President. ROBERT W McCoy, Esq., Vice President.
REV. JAMES HOGE, D. D., Secretary.
BELA LATHAM, Esq., Treasurer.
TRUSTEES.
R. W. McCoy, Esq.,
HON. J. R. SWAN,
REV. JAMES HOGE, D. D.,
BELA LATHAM, Esq.,
SAMUEL MEDARY, Esq.,
REV. H L. HITCHCOCK,
ROBERT THOMPSON, M. D.,
ASAHEL CHITTENDEN, Esq.,
REV. CHARLES F. SCHAEFFER.
A. P. STONE, Esq.,
ELIAS GAVER, E=q.,
THOMAS KENNEDY, Esq.
H. N. HUBBELL, A. M., Principal and Superintendent.
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INSTRUCTORS.
1st class-THOMAS MACINTIRE, A. B.,
2d do MOSES A. HOGE, A. M.,
3d do 'THOMAS OFFICER, A. B.
Assistants.
4th do HORACE S. GILLET,
5th do JAMES S BROWN,
6th do DANFORTH E. BALL,
ROBERT THOMPSON, M. D., Physician.
GEORGE GOBEY, Steward.
MRS. MELISSA COOK. Matron.
JOHN METZ, Shoemaker
As the closing remarks of the Superintendent in the 16th annual report of the asylum, to the Ohio Legislature, have a local reference to Columbus, it may not be inappropriate to make the following ex- tract therefrom for the use of the Directory:
"In all time previous to the establishment of the Ohio Institution, no means were in existence for the education of the deaf and dumb, northwest of the Ohio. Taking into view the prospects of the west. . in its career of glory and of greatness, high is the honor of being pioneers in this, and other Godlike enterprizes, which are destined to tell so immeasurably on the condition and happiness of the unfortunate. This is the peculiar honor of the founders and friends of the Ohio Asylum for the education and instruction of the deaf and dumb, and the other public institutions of Ohio, which are destined to bless, in a peculiar manner, so long as the curse of the apostacy, in any of the forms which these institutions are designed to remove and alleviate, shall rest on the posterity of
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Adam. The spirit and enterprize which so early in the history of the State led to their establishment, augurs so well for the future, as to shed a mellowing and hallowing radiance on her glory down through the vista of coming years. But no prophetic vision is re- quired to foresee the future glory of the west, which, so soon, in her greatness and strength, is designed to wield the political destiny of the Union, not by the sword, but by the ballot box.
"The vicissitudes and reverses of commerce and manufactures in the Atlantic States, and their deteri- orating soil, will annually drive thousands and tens of thousands to seek a home and a competence in the boundless regions of the west, while the millions flee- ing from the grinding despotism of the old world will here, in these broad lands, abounding in every com- fort of life, and every facility for human improvement, and stretching from the Gulfs of Mexico and California to the Artic Circle, and from the Alleghenies to the Pacific, together, hold the great jubilee of freedom, and enjoy the millennium of exalted human happiness and social refinement.
"The sublimity of this vision is heightened in interest by the reflection that in so early a stage of the history of the west the deaf and dumb, the blind, and the lu- natic, were not forgotten; affording a pleasing earnest . that they will continue to be the objects of sympathy and benevolence.
"But it was incumbent on the State of Ohio, now the third in the Union, and so soon to be the second,
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yet whose settlement, and the organization of whose State Government, were but the events of yesterday, to lead in these enterprizes, and set an example worthy of herself, and of being followed by her fair sisterhood of western states. And nobly has she per- formed the task. From the dome of the Capitol, as the eye sweeps around the beautiful panorama, it rests with lively and most benign satisfaction on the humane institutions of Ohio; and if it once was the height of honor to be able to exclaim ' I am a Roman citizen,' with equal pleasure, and with more reason, may any now exclaim, 'I am a citizen of Ohio.'"
OHIO INSTITUTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE BLIND.
This Institution, one of the creations of modern philanthrophy, which have marked the humane spirit of our age, and of this State in particular, was estab- lished by an act of the Legislature, passed in the session of 1836-7, and was first put in operation in one of the "Eight Buildings," so called, on Town street, below High, on the 4th of July, 1837, under the direction of Mr. A. W. PENNIMAN. It consisted at first of but five scholars, which increased during the first year to eleven.
The law creating the Institution permits the recep- tion annually of twelve blind children, between the ages of six and twenty one, who may remain five
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years. But an amendment was passed in the session of 1842-3 extending the time, in certain cases, two years, for the purpose of finishing their trades or pro- fessions, at the discretion of the Trustees.
The REV. DR. JAMES HOGE, N. H. SWAYNE, Esq. and DR. WILLIAM M. AWL, were appointed the first Trustees to carry the provisions of the law, for or- ganizing the school, into effect.
Measures were immediately taken to erect a suit- able building for the Institution. The citizens of Columbus generously purchased a platt of nine acres of ground, on the National Road, nearly one mile east from High street, on which a handsome and commodious structure is erected. The building is of brick, with an elevated finished stone basement, about ninety feet in front, with two wings, each near ninety feet in depth. It is five stories high, including the basement and attic, containing in all fifty rooms, one of which is a large and beautiful apartment, about forty by thirty feet, with a gallery on three sides, supported by eight fluted columns of a chaste style of architecture. This chapel is used particularly for public exhibitions and examinations of the pupils, during the Legislative sessions, and on the occasions of public conventions, which assemble in Columbus from time to time, from all parts of the State.
The whole cost of the building was about twenty- eight thousand dollars --- and including the furniture, fixtures, grading the grounds, &c., somewhat over
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thirty thousand dollars. It was first occupied in Oc- tober, 1839, with seventeen pupils. In the following year the number increased to thirty six; in the next to fifty, and in 1842 to fifty eight, which was the num- ber remaining in July, 1843.
MR. WILLIAM CHAPIN, the present Superintendent, was appointed in December, 1839, and entered on his duties in May, 1840. There are four other teachers engaged in the several departments of literary, musi- cal and mechanical instruction, besides a matron, a lady who has the special charge of the female pupils and of their instruction in various branches of needle and worsted work, braiding, knitting, &c. These specimens of skill, on the part of the blind pupils, surprise all who witness them. The most beautiful flowers, baskets, lamp mats, &c. are woven together in variegated colors by those who never beheld the beautiful in nature, and whose eyes are forever sealed from beholding the fairy work of their own fingers. Visitors from all parts daily purchase these ornamental productions and carry them abroad as evidences of the astonishing success which has attended this branch of benevolent instruction.
The other branches of mechanic art are not less interesting, though less attractive to the eye. In a large and commodious brick workshop, fifty feet long, and two stories high, may be daily seen, between 3 and 5 p. m., eighteen or twenty pupils industriously engaged in the manufacture of brushes, baskets, door
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mats and carpets. The most beautiful specimens of these useful arts are wrought by them. They are thus preparing themselves, under the benevolent pro- visions of the State, and kind and patient instructors, for future usefulness, and, consequently, permanent happiness and independence. This is, perhaps, the leading object of the Institution. For, while the pupils are thoroughly instructed in the elements of a good and sound education, they are taught by the school of experience, the best in the world, that they are no longer a class of helpless dependants, to be thrown as incumbrancess upon their friends or the community.
The Institution is thoroughly organized on the plan of the best modern Institutions for the Blind in Europe and the United States, modified to suit our own pecu- liar circumstances. The discipline is efficient, and the system of instruction comprehends a thorough practical course of English education, moral, intellec- tual, and physical; and, as far as practicable, with such limited apparatus and experiments as may be used with the Blind, a practical knowledge of the popular and abstract sciences.
The studies embrace all that are usually taught at our best select schools, viz: reading, by means of em- bossed or raised letters; arithmetic, mental and on slates, with moveable figures; geography with the globe and maps, the rivers and boundaries being raised; grammar, including a critical analysis of lan-
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guage, parsing, composition, rhetoric and elocution; also, natural philosophy, geometry, algebra, and as- tronomy; political economy, moral and mental phi- losophy, evidences of revealed religion, physiology, logic, geology, bellesletters, ancient and modern his- tory, biography, &c., &c.
Some of these subjects are taught in class, others by daily familiar lectures and reading to the pupils, with examinations and reviews.
The exercises commence at six o'clock in the morn- ing, and continue, with frequent recesses, until one. No lesson continues over an hour, and music inter- venes in the middle of the forenoon. The afternoon, from two to five, is devoted to work, except by the smaller pupils, who have one lesson, and spend one hour in listening to entertaining and useful reading.
The following extract from the last annual report, thus suins up a notice of the studies:
"We have short lessons alternating through the day, all arranged to exercise the various mental powers in due proportions; frequent recesses, in which the pupils rush out into the fresh air to play and exercise, or promenade our ample halls, engaged in cheerful conversation, music, vocal and instru- mental, intervening in the forenoon, and lastly, me- chanical and other handicraft employments occupying an important part of the day, having distinct refer- ence to the usefulness of labor and the necessity of. industrious habits, as the foundation of all real inde- pendence."
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It is thus, by an application of the various mental and bodily faculties to their own peculiar objects, with such frequent changes as prevents the overpow- ing of any one class, that we approach to the true philosophy of education, and best develope each in beautiful and proportionate harmony with the rest.
In addition to the literary studies there is an ex- cellent choir of singers, who practice three times a week, and a band and orchestra composed of twelve of the pupils under an accomplished leader, MR. MACHOLD, well known in this community as a pro- fessor of music. A number of the pupils have made remarkable progress on the piano under MR. CHURCH- MAN, who has charge of the singing also.
A beautiful and splendid toned organ has recently been added to the Institution, on which it is proposed to prepare several of the pupils for church organists, as well as teachers on the pianos, a profession for which some of the Blind are admirably calculated. Music is also a source of enjoyment to most of the Blind.
Visitors are not excluded at any hour of the day. But the most interesting time to call is between the hours of ten and half past eleven-during the musi- cal exercises.
It needs only to be added that the Institution, in all its departments, is in successful operation, and happily fulfilling the humane and benevolent object for which · it was founded.
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OHIO LUNATIC ASYLUM.
We are indebted to the annual reports of the Di- rectors and Superintendent for the following descrip- tion and account of this institution.
This noble structure occupies an elevated position in an open space of ground, immediately north of the eastern extremity of Broad street, and is about one mile distant from the State House. The buildings front to the south, and present a grand and imposing appearance as seen from almost every part of the city. They were finished in 1838, having been built entirely at the expense of the State, and chiefly by the labor of convicts from the Ohio Penitentiary. The princi- pal edifice consists of a centre structure 95 feet 3 inches in width, with a handsome columnniated facade, and a wing on each side 99 feet 9 inches long, pre- senting an entire front of 296 feet above the basement: or about 300 feet measuring along the foundation .- The centre building is three stories and an attic in height, ornamented in front with an Ionic por- tico. There are four columns of freestone, which stand upon a platform of the same materials, and upon a level with the top of the basement story. The wings are of the same height, with the exception of the attic. The basement of cut limestone is 7 feet .above the surface of the earth.
There are, also, two lodges for violent patients, in the rear of the main buildings, each measuring 30 feet. They are both two stories high.
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All the buildings are coverd with tin, and are of brick, except the basement, the cornices and architec- tural decorations, which are all of cut freestone.
The plan of the buildings was adopted by the first board of directors, appointed by the Legislature of Ohio, who personally examined all the approved insti- tutions of the kind in the United States, before com- mencing operations, or purchasing the ground for the location of the Asylum. This board was composed of SAMUEL PARSONS, M. D., and WILLIAM M. AWL, M. D., of the city of Columbus, and Gen. SAMUEL F. MACCRACKEN, of Lancaster. They appointed Maj. N. B. KELLEY, of Columbus, architect and general superintendent, who, under their supervision, had the immediate charge of the work.
The entire cost of the buildings, including the work done by the convicts of the Ohio Penitentiay, which constituted a large item in the account, was $80,000.
The Asylum contains 182 rooms, exclusive of the basement stories, and has been found capable of ac- commodating properly, about 145 patients, with all the officers, attendants and assistants necessary to take care of them; though from the urgent pressure of ap- plications, in particular cases, a few more have been occasionally received.
By permission of the Superintendent, we copy the following description of its interior arrangement and government from his first annual report. It was drawn up by a patient after his restoration to reason and health, and is believed to be entirely correct:
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"The centre of the edifice is reserved for the use and convenience of the officers and domestics. It contains the Doctor's office, the rooms and sleeping apartments of the superintendent and his family, of the assistant physician, steward, matron, and other functionaries or dependants, whose services are con- sidered essential to the well-being of the institution. The wings, with two rear buildings, are designed for the reception of patients, and are capable of accom- modating between 140 and 150 persons. The east wing is allotted for the females; the males occupy the west. Each wing contains 3 halls, all of which are now open and filled with patients. They are each upwards of 100 feet long, inside, commodious and well aired, plentifully supplied with good water, and provided with a fine reading room, convenient wash room and water closet. The sleeping rooms are com- fortable and furnished with firm and portable bedsteads, with clean and suitable bedding, and every facility for health and comfrot. To each hall is annexed a dining room of sufficient dimensions for accommodating 23 persons, and is fitted up with every thing requisite for , convenience and utility. The rear buildings, or lodges, as they are called, among other purposes, are for the reception of those patients whose excited and irritable state may render it necessary both on their own ac- . count, and for the safety and comfort of others, that they be kept in solitary confinement.
"The basement of the centre contains the kitchen,. in which the victuals are prepared, and from which
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they are transported to the respective dining rooms of the patients above, on a kind of portable cupboard, m an expeditious and safe manner. The kitchen is well contrived, and provided with the necessary cook- ing apparatus, and its operations are so arranged and timed as to supply in the same instant with its viands the different waiters that have been handed down, and which, after they have received their appropriate de- posits, are drawn up to their appointed places, when, . as it were, by a simultaneous movement, females and and males in their respective dining rooms, take their proper seats, and begin and finish their regular meals, much about the same time. The ringing of a bell an- nounces the degree of forwardness in which these things are moving; and when all is ready, each patient proceeds to the seat which has been regularly assignd to him. The table is generally supplied with an abundance of food, and of a good quality, which the patients seem duly to appreciate by the relish with which they discuss its merits, and by the sudden havoc which is made amongst its various dishes.
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"The present number of patients of both sexes, does not, I believe, exceed 145. The males are the most numerous. They have all been properly classi- fied and divided among the different halls, according to the symptoms of the mental disease, or nervous disorders with which they are respectively afflicted; or, according to"certain distinguishing features, of the various complaints; or for reasons best known and
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understood by the superintendent. In the hall in · which I am located, there are 22, who, with the in- mates of the other halls, as far as I can perceive, are tended with all possible care and humanity, and no pains are spared, and no means left unemployed, which may make their situation comfortable and agreeable. There is no unnecessary restraint im- posed; no tyranny exercised; no undue severity used; no unbecoming punishment inflicted. They are treat- ed with a mild, yet becoming firmness-but should any one evince an unruly spirit, or be guilty of any glaring or mischievous infringement of the rules of pro- priety, or so far forget the respect which is due to himself and others, as to indulge himself in any im- proper prank, and act so as may be injurious to him- self or to those around him, or make the atmosphere in which he moves too hot for himself and for others with whom he comes in contact, he is either confined to his own room, or perhaps conducted to the shower box, where water is admitted upon him from a cistern above, in such copious streams as may cool his blood down to a degree of temperature sufficient for ena- bling him to reflect on the impropriety of his conduct, and to train him for again becoming a harmless mem- ber of society.
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