The Senses and the Mind

by Anonymous

The grand object for which the sense of hearing was given to man was for understanding, acquiring, and using language, or speech, for the enunciation of which the lips, the teeth, the tongue, the palate, in fact, the whole organization of the mouth and lower part of the face, is expressly modified, as is also the conformation of the larynx; but, be it observed, that without mind man could never have been a speaking animal. Here, then, we see a design often overlooked by those who study the economy of man. The ox hears, but it could not talk or utter language—that is, sounds modified in accent, in termination, in length—even if it would, for the organization of the vocal organs would prevent the required intonations; but as the lower animals are not destined to think, to argue, to admonish, to persuade—in short, as they are not destined for immortality—in them the faculty of speech would be out of harmony with their real condition and destiny. Language is a mental as well as corporeal exercise, for we have to learn what each sound uttered means, till at length it becomes natural to us, if we may use a popular expression. We have already alluded to the pleasure which the mind derives from music. Now, there are a few observations regarding deafness, or the deprivation of hearing, which cannot be out of place. Total deafness from various causes may take place in a person of mature years, or after he has advanced in life to years of adolescence; in such cases language will be retained, but the voice will be under no control, no modulation—one sentence may be shouted, another spoken in a whisper.

We may adduce a case in point: an officer (a nobleman) in the battle of Waterloo had his auditory nerve destroyed by the concussion of the air from the bursting of a shell, or from the report of a cannon. He became totally deaf, and consequently lost all control over his voice, which became discordant, and difficult to be understood even by those who were his intimate associates. A similar instance is mentioned by an American writer, in which entire deafness, taking place at the age of eighteen, so affected the articulation, that the individual was no longer intelligible, even to his nearest friends. But, besides total loss of hearing, whether congenital, (that is, from birth,) or occurring at any future period, auditory incapacity manifests itself in various degrees, and under singular modifications. For example, a friend of the writer, who is extremely musical, and plays brilliantly on the piano, is so deaf that she scarcely understands a word of the conversation of persons around her; yet let a discordant note be struck, and she feelingly appreciates it. Another lady, with whom the writer is acquainted, cannot hear the shrill high-toned squeak of the shrew-mouse; and the writer knows some who cannot hear the cries of other shrill-toned animals, as the bat, or mouse, while to deeper, not louder notes, their ears are perfectly awake.

"Dr. Wollaston constructed a small organ, whose notes began where the notes of ordinary instruments end; the notes of his organ increased in sharpness till they became inaudible, though he was certain that it continued to give sound, from feeling the vibrations equally with the lower notes. He thus found that some people could hear seven or eight notes higher than others, and that children could generally hear two or three notes higher than grown-up people. In some persons, the accuracy of the ear is merely impaired in distinguishing faint sounds, and sounds somewhat similar; instances of this kind are particularly evident in infants, whose first attempts at speech are a very remote similarity to the sounds they hear, and become more perfect as their ear is educated, and in some cases remain imperfect through life, in consequence of defect in the organs of hearing. All imperfections of speech do not arise from imperfect hearing; an indistinct articulation may result from various other causes; from carelessness, from defective organs of speech, or from an imperfect formation of those organs; from irregular respiration, producing hesitation, and in some instances proceeding from nervousness."[34]

[34] See Dr. Arnott's "Elements of Physics," 1827.

The writer is acquainted with a lady, whose organs of hearing are in full activity, but she cannot distinguish one tune from another; her ear appreciates piano, forte, or fortissime, but neither modulation nor rhythm. The defect here must be in the mind, (a phrenologist would say that the organ of music in the brain was undeveloped,) yet this lady is sensible, pious, and strenuous in her exertions for the extension of the knowledge of Christ.

To revert, however, to the deaf and dumb (or deaf-mute) not deprived of eyesight, we may observe, that these persons, formerly neglected and deemed incapable of instruction, are not now excluded from the school of knowledge and of religion. Men have at length confessed that they possess rational souls—that they are capable of receiving information—and that the mind may be made the recipient of a certain amount of knowledge, varying of course according to the natural powers of the intellect. Not that the amount of knowledge acquired by such persons can ever, cæteris paribus, equal that which may be acquired by those who labour under no defect; nevertheless, the inferiority is only one of degree, and is easily accounted for. An able writer makes the following pertinent remarks: "From the advantages which instruction has afforded to a certain proportion of the deaf and dumb for the last half century, a tolerably correct estimate may be formed of their capabilities for improvement. The deaf-mute, living in society, but without instruction, must be regarded as one of the most solitary and melancholy of beings. He is shut out from all but the most imperfect intercourse with his species, and the very intellect, by the possession of which he is raised above the lower creation, serves only to heighten his calamity, and render the sense of his deprivation more acute. His perceptions of external objects are indeed accurate, but superficial, and confined to a very small sphere.

"Of the various arts by which the necessaries and conveniences of life are produced, he can have no knowledge beyond that which is included in the range of his own vision. Animal desires he feels, and he is led by the conventional usages of society to the performance of moral duties, and the avoidance of open and flagrant crime. Thus he becomes experienced, as other human beings are, in what is right or wrong. He sees that virtuous actions have a certain amount of reward in the opinions of good men, for he learns to discriminate between those whose actions are proper, and those who do wrong; and, again, he sees that in many cases vice meets with disapprobation and punishment among mankind. How this kind of experience shall affect his own conduct, must depend not only on the circumstances in which he is placed, as to example, and the moral influence of those with whom he has to associate, but also on his own natural tendencies. The performance of moral duties implies the exercise of intellectual faculties, and from his birth the deaf-mute makes use of his reasoning powers. He is subject to changes of purpose, to changes of feeling, the pleasures and the infirmities common to his species. He is sensible of kindness; he gives proof of affection. That such is the uneducated state of the deaf and dumb might be proved by the observations of their parents, friends, and instructors, in hundreds of instances. That such must necessarily be the case, supposing them not to be idiots, it would be easy to show. We affirm, in contradiction to those who contend that deaf-mutes are naturally more debased than other men in intellect and in morals, that there is not an individual deaf-mute, now under instruction, improving, and thereby evincing rational faculties, who, previous to his instruction, however disadvantageous the circumstances which attended his earlier years, did not evince moral sentiments and intellectual operations. We have traced the history of many of this class, in different ranks of society, down to the period when the deprivation under which they have laboured was first ascertained; and we have invariably found that mixture of good and evil in their actions and tendencies, which is seen amongst other children. We have also had sufficient proofs of the exercise of intellect even while they were in a state of childhood. The parents of deaf and dumb children can sufficiently attest the truth of these observations."

The writer can attest them: he can adduce facts within his own knowledge, proving the correctness of the views entertained by the author just quoted; reasons, however, sufficiently obvious prevent him expatiating on this part of the subject, and, indeed, have influenced him in adopting the words of another, whose means of observation have been very extensive. We cannot here enter into the modes of instruction employed in order to illuminate the minds of the deaf-mutes; all we need say is, that it is by a system of apt signs, or of hieroglyphics, at least in the commencement; but minds of capacity soon advance still further; reading and writing are acquired—nay, even the power of articulate speech. But we must pass from this part of our subject, on which indeed much might be said.