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S. G. HOWE.

APPENDIX E

I have received an account of a deaf, dumb, and blind boy, resident in Ohio, but have not ascertained any interesting details of his case.

In Governor Winthrop's Journal for 1637, is found the following: -- "There was an old woman in Ipswich who came out of England, blind and deaf, yet her son could make her understand any thing, and know any man's name by her sense of feeling. He would write upon her hand some letters of the name, and by other such motions would inform her. This the Governor himself had told of when he was at Ipswich." This woman had probably lost her hearing and sight after she had learned to read and write.

At a late meeting of the British Association at Plymouth, "Dr. Fowler gave an account of a young woman, now in Rotherhith workhouse, who has the threefold infirmities of being deaf, dumb, and blind. The unfortunate individual, who is about twenty years of age, was born deaf and dumb, and blinded by small pox, when three years old. She does not hear the loudest efforts of the voice, but starts on a poker, hung by a string against her ear, being struck against a grate; touch is the only sense by which others can communicate with her, or which she employs in examining objects and persons, and though she possesses both taste and smell, never appears to have used them. Until within two or three years since, her existence appeared to be merely animal; but then a marked difference took place in her habits, and she became as attentive to her dress and personal decorum, as other girls of her age. She feels her way without a guide to every part of the workers; recognizes all its inmates by the feel of their hands; makes her bed; and sews not only plain work, but even the more intricate parts of dress. She is very tenacious of what she deems her own, and was much pleased with a shilling which was put into her hand, smiling, courtesying, and feeling it eagerly for some time after."