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England, in the seventeenth century, presents us with the names of Bulwer, Wallis, Holder, Dalgarno and Sibscota, all of whom directed their attention either to the theory or the practice of this art.

Wallis, by common consent, seems to occupy the first rank among the early English instructers. He was the author of a treatise on speech, and of other occasional papers, relating to our present subject. In a few instances he took the trouble to teach articulation; but this instrument he afterwards abandoned; not, however, because his views of its utility were altered. He avowed himself to be, as he believed, the original inventor of the art; a claim which was disputed by William Holder of Blechington. Holder had, in fact, taught articulation to a single deaf and dumb person, who, having; afterwards lost the faculty, attained it a second time under Wallis. But of him little is known, except that his views were rather superficial than otherwise.

In passing to Holland, we meet with the name of Peter Montans, who is said to have offered some remarks upon the subject of teaching the deaf and dumb. Those, however, whose opinions are best known, and most remarkable, are Mercure Van Helmont and John Conrad Amman. These men, both distinguished for the singularity of their views, appear, notwithstanding the wildness of their notions, to have been moved by a spirit of philanthropy. They agree in attributing to language a divine origin; in supposing the original language of man to have possessed properties, for which we search in vain in the degenerate dialects of modem days. They beheld in speech, not merely a conventional instrument of thought, but one possessing privileges, high, mysterious, inexplicable. Van Helmont held the opinion, that there exists a language natural to man; -- a language more simple in its construction and in its pronunciation, than any now in use; that this language is the Hebrew, in the characters of which he seems to discover a resemblance to the positions of the vocal organs, requisite to give them utterance. The boldness of these assumptions is a little remarkable, when we recollect that the pronunciation of Hebrew is forever lost. 'Van Helmont,' says Degerando, 'pretended, in three weeks, to have put a deaf and dumb person in a condition to answer, (by articulation) questions addressed to him.' This person, if we believe Van Helmont, learned afterwards, in very brief space, the Hebrew language, by his unaided efforts, in comparing the Hebrew text with a German translation of the Bible. Of the probability of this statement we leave teachers to judge.

Conrad Amman undertook the education of the deaf and dumb, without being aware that others had preceded him. He became afterwards acquainted with their works, and engaged in a correspondence with Wallis. We cannot better convey an idea of his peculiar notions respecting the human voice, than by quoting his own words. 'There is in us,' he says, (no faculty, which more strikingly bears the character of life, than speech. I repeat it, the voice is a living emanation of that immortal spirit, which God breathes into the body of man at his creation. Among the immense number of gifts from God to man, it is speech, in which eminently shines the imprint of Divinity. In like manner as the Almighty created all things by his word, so he gave to man, not only, in an appropriate language, to celebrate worthily his Author; but, farther, to produce by speed) whatever he desires, in conformity with the laws of his existence. This divine mode of speaking almost disappeared from the earth, along with so many other perfections, at that unhappy epoch, the fall. Hardly, in the long course of ages since elapsed, has the precious prerogative been accorded to a few privileged individuals. These were no other than souls, sanctified and united to God by fervent and continual prayer; who, interrogating the very essences of things, have been endowed with the gift of miracles. These holy personages have exhibited to the view of other men traces of an empire, once common to all, but which most have suffered to escape.' (13)

If such notions excite surprise, we cannot but smile, when we find the same writer gravely questioning, whether the apostles, on the day of Pentecost, really spoke in different tongues; or attained by immediate inspiration that efficacious speech, by means of which the well disposed of every kindred and people and tongue and nation, simultaneously comprehended their thoughts.

In Holland, as in Spain and England, the art fell during a long period into total disuse, after the time of its first inventors. Our attention is next attracted to Germany. Names here begin to multiply. We are presented with those of Kenger, Ettmuller, Wild, Niederoff, Raphel, Pascha, Pasch, Schuize, Conradi, Solrig, Lasius, Arnoldi, and Heinicke. Among such a multitude we can notice only individuals.