sented before him, who shows himself susceptible, while unrenewed, of true love to God? Whatever susceptibility the unrenewed sinner may have, there is not the least evidence that he has this. If any one says, he is conscious of having this susceptibility while in his natural state; let him test the truth of his consciousness by a fair and thorough experiment. Surely if he has the susceptibility, he can prove that he has it. The proof is what I ask. Our being unsusceptible of holy emotions is, in my view, one of the forms of our depravity. It is hardness of heart. To remove this, is the object of that new-creating influence of the Spirit, which is one of the grand provisions of redeeming grace. The "heart of flesh" which the Spirit gives, is a feeling heart. It is an aptitude to pious emotions. And according to the common apprehension and the common phraseology of Christians, a man's having or not having this susceptibility, determines, not whether he is or is not a moral agent, but whether he is, or is not, renewed by the Holy Spirit.

ART. II. LANGUAGE OF SIGNS AUXILIARY TO THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY.

By Rev. T. H. GALLAUDET, late Principal of the American Asylum for the education of the Deaf and Dumb.

SOME years since, I was led to reflect upon the possibility of employing the language of signs, made use of in the instruction of the deaf and dumb, as an auxiliary in the intercourse between Christian Missionaries and those heathen nations which have no written or printed language; and I then published some thoughts on this subject in the CHRISTIAN OBSERVER of London. Subsequent reflection and observation have led me to regard the principles which I then adopted, as strictly correct.

I communicated my views on this subject to the Rev. Mr. Bingham, who went as Missionary to the Sandwich Islands, and afterwards received a letter from him, confirming my previous convictions. I have also stated these views to two other distinguished Missionaries, one of whom has laboured in Hindostan, and the other among the native Indians of this country; and from both of these individuals, after they had enjoyed the best advantages from their own

personal experience, for judging on such a subject, I received the fullest confirmation of the theory I had adopted, and of the useful practical results to which it might lead.

In this day of extending Missionary enterprise, in which our own country is bearing so conspicuous a part, I have thought the discussion of this subject might not be without interest to the readers of the Literary and Theological Review.

In the summer of 1818, a Chinese young man passed through Hartford, Connecticut. He was so ignorant of the English language, that he could not express in it his most common wants. As the principal of the deaf and dumb Asylum in that place, I invited the stranger to spend an evening within its walls, and introduced him to Mr. Laurent Clerc, the celebrated deaf and dumb pupil of the Abbe Sicard, and at that time an assistant teacher in the Asylum. The object of this introduction was, to ascertain to what extent Mr. Clerc, who was entirely ignorant of the Chinese language, could conduct an intelligent conversation with the foreigner, by signs and gestures merely. The result of the experiment surprised all who were present. Mr. Clerc learned from the Chinese many interesting facts respecting the place of his nativity, his parents and their family, his former pursuits in his own country, his residence in the United States, and his notions concerning God and a future state. By the aid of appropriate signs, also, Mr. Clerc ascertained the meaning of about twenty Chinese words. When the conversation began, the stranger appeared to be bewildered with amazement at the novel kind of language which was addressed to him. Soon, however, he became deeply interested in the very expressive and significant manner which Mr. Clerc used to make himself understood; and, before one hour had expired, a very quick and lively interchange of thought took place between these so lately entire strangers to each other. The Chinese himself began to catch the spirit of his new deaf and dumb acquaintance, and to employ the language of the countenance and gestures with considerable effect to make himself understood.

About a year afterwards, the principal of the Asylum visited Cornwall, in Connecticut, where upwards of twenty heathen youths were at that time receiving education under the patronage of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. With the consent of the principal of that VOL. I. 25

institution, I one evening gathered round me several of these interesting strangers, from the islands of the South Sea, and from different tribes of the North American Indians. The object of the interview was, to ascertain how far a conversation could be conducted with them merely by signs and gestures. The result was similar to that in the case of Mr. Clerc's intercourse with the Chinese. Questions were proposed to them on a variety of topics relating to their own individual history and that of their families, to the state of manners and morals in their respective countries, and to their early religious knowledge.

For example, Thomas Hoopoo, a native of Owhyhee, was asked if his parents were living; how many brothers and sisters he had; when he left his native shores; whether his countrymen worshipped idols, and sacrificed human victims; how the women were treated by the men; what was the climate of his country; what its productions; with many inquiries of a similar nature, all of which he well comprehended, and to many of which he replied by signs. The meaning, too, of a number of Owhyhean words was ascertained by signs merely, and found to correspond with the import which had been previously assigned to them in a dictionary which had been for some time preparing in the school; and indeed, in a variety of instances, the most correct meaning of such words was established, by the medium of signs, in a more satisfactory way than had been previously attempted. Throughout this conversation, the heathen youths appeared to take a deep interest, and to have a peculiar aptitude, both in comprehending the signs which were proposed to them, and in inventing such as were necessary for a reply.

On the testimony of several of the South Sea islanders, it appeared, that not a few of the signs employed in the instruction of the deaf and dumb, are precisely the same which their countrymen use to supply the deficiency of, or to give emphasis to, their own comparatively barren language;-a fact which had indeed been anticipated, from the singular circumstance so often observed by the teachers of the deaf and dumb among their pupils, that mutes who meet for the first time are able to understand each other fully on many common topics; the Author of nature having laid the foundation in the very constitution of our species, and in the structure and processes of the visible creation, for a univer

sal expression of the same ideas, on a vast variety of subjects, by similar signs.

Not long after this interview, Thomas Hoopoo visited the Asylum for the deaf and dumb in Hartford. At my request he attempted, by the natural language of signs, such as his own feelings and conceptions at the time dictated, to give to a circle of pupils around him a sketch of his history. In doing this he occupied a half an hour or more, and secured the fixed attention and interest of the pupils. It was surprising to see the ingenuity and readiness with which he employed this language of signs and gestures, and not less so, to ascertain, as I did afterwards, that a very considerable part of what he said, certainly more than half of it, was fully understood by those to whom it was addressed.

Opportunities have occurred of intercourse by signs between the native Indians of our country, who have visited the institutions for the deaf and dumb, and the instructors, the results of which, in a greater or less degree, have corresponded with those mentioned above.

Now, I would ask, cannot the Christian philosopher make some important practical use of these singular and interesting phenomena? In this age of wonderful experiment, may they not furnish data from which successful principles may be derived and applied with reference to the instruction of those heathen nations who have no written or printed language? May not this curious language of signs and gestures be made subservient to the speedy acquisition of the oral language of such a people by the Christian missionary, or to the communication to them of his own language, or to their mutual intercourse with each other, not only on ordinary, but on the most momentous topics, even while they are entirely ignorant of each other's spoken language?---Who that is acquainted with the propensity of all rude nations to use signs and hieroglyphic symbols in their intercourse with each other, and in the preservation of their simple historical annals; or who that has read the narratives of voyagers who have discovered unknown islands or countries, and the great difficulties they have to encounter in their intercourse with the natives, and the continual necessity which they mutually feel of resorting to signs and gestures, when every other expedient has failed, can deem it an expectation too sanguine to be indulged, that a knowledge of that matured and systematized language of signs and gestures which is

employed in unfolding the latent intellectual and moral powers of that part of our species who are deprived of the organs of hearing, and consequently of the power of speech, might be employed with equal success among that other part of our species who are deaf to the words of our language, and who are dumb to us in attempting to make us understand the import of theirs?

To sum up this inquiry in a few words, Of what use would the language of signs and gestures be to the missionary who is sent to a heathen people, possessing only an oral language of which he is entirely ignorant, while they are equally ignorant of his?

In solving this inquiry, two undeniable positions may be premised; the one, that it is quite practicable to convey by the countenance, signs, and gestures, the import not only of all the terms employed to denote the various objects of nature and art, and the multifarious business and concerns of common life, but also those relating to the process of abstraction and generalization, to the passions and emotions of the heart, and to the powers and faculties of the understanding; or, in other words, that the language of the countenance, signs, and gestures, is an accurate, significant, and copious medium of thought. The other, that instances have occurred in the instruction of the deaf and dumb, in which, in the space of two years, five thousand words have been taught several intelligent pupils, who were previously entirely ignorant of them, and of all language, excepting that of their own natural signs, together with a command of written language, which would place them on an equality, with regard to the expression of their ideas, with the most intelligent persons among those heathen nations who have nothing but an oral language.

It is a curious fact, taken in connexion with what has just been stated, to show the power of natural sign-language, that the late Principal of the American Asylum for the deaf and dumb, while engaged in their instruction, was able to convey to an intelligent pupil whom he had taught for some time, and who had become very familiar with the expressions of his countenance, historical facts, without spelling any words on his fingers, or using his arms at all in making gestures. He would take, at the suggestion of a by-stander, any event in history, which could be pourtrayed on canvass, so as to make a graphical picture of it,—and