New York and Its Institutions, 1609

This valuable property, purchased at different periods for about $54,000, was afterwards disposed of at about $325,000. The rush of the rapidly expanding city now began to disturb the operations of the Institution, and the managers began to cast about in quest of Heights, of more eligible quarters. Fanwood, at Washington eights, nine miles north of the City Hall, was finally selected, and thirty-seven and one-half acres of ground purchased in 1853, at a cost of $115,000. The buildings, which are the largest and finest in the world for the instruction of the deaf and dumb, cover about two acres, are of brick, with basement, copings, and trimmings of granite, and have cost several hundred thousand dollars. A mortgage of $175,000 has just been removed by the sale of nine and one-half acres of the land for $263,000, leaving a balance to complete other needed improvements. The front walls, which are panneled, are faced with yellow Milwaukie brick, to save the expense of painting. The main edifice, which contains the apartments for the officers and teachers, the reception-rooms, offices, the library, and mineralogical cabinet, etc., is flanked by two vast and well-arranged wings, one of which is devoted to the male, and the other to the female-pupils. A central building, separated in construction from the others, but united to them with covered passageways,. contains in the basement kitchen and appendages, on the-first floor the dining-room, and on the next the chapel. The sexes are carefully separated, and meet only for meals, instruction, and divine worship, under the oversight of their instructors. The buildings are capable of accommodating over five hundred pupils, and are about equal to the demands of the deaf and dumb of this State, which are believed to amount to about two thousand one hundred of all ages. They occupy one of the most commanding locations on the entire island, overlooking the beautiful Hudson, and have been universally admired for their beauty and exquisite arrangement.

This Institution was at first designed for a private charity, but the good sense of the public soon awoke to the fact that the State owed the means of instruction to all its children, whether blind, deaf and dumb, or possessed of all the five senses. As these unfortunates are widely scattered, and to enjoy the advantages of an institution are compelled to reside far from home in an expensive city, it becomes the duty of the State to provide for their maintenance during the period of their instruction. From these considerations it was early taken under State patronage, which has since formed its principal support. The annual cost of the Institution amounts to about $300 per inmate, exclusive of permanent improvements. Application for admission as a State pupil must be made to the Superintendent of Public Instruction at Albany, accompanied by a certificate from the Overseer of the Poor in the town where the applicant resides, certifying that his parents or guardian are unable to pay for his board and tuition. State pupils must be between the ages of twelve and twenty-five. Pupils are admitted at the charge of counties between the ages of six and twelve. Pay pupils are also received from families of means. The regular course of instruction lasts eight years, with three years additional for those selected for good conduct and capacity for higher studies. An untaught deaf-mute is the most ignorant creature in the human family. To him all the past is a blank, all the present an inexplicable mystery, and all the future a profound uncertainty. He has no proper conceptions of the Supreme Being, which affords one of the clearest evidences of the necessity of a Divine revelation. There have been three principal systems employed in their instruction: 1. Articulation, or the theory that articulation is indispensable to the clear comprehension of thought. This system is believed to have been founded by Pedro Ponce, long practised by Wallis, Pereira, and the Braidwoods, has been for a century the common system taught in Germany, but has not been much practised in this country until quite recently. 2. Gesticulation, or the theory that every idea of which the mind is capable may be expressed by signs. This was taught by Sicard, Bebian, and others. 3. The American system, which combines the best fundamental principles of the two preceding, with practical additions. The language of gestures is clearly the only universal channel of intelligent communication in the world, and savages from all countries have in this way been able to hold some conversation. This can be learned by deaf-mutes spontaneously, and in all systems is more or less employed. At the New York Institution the beginner, when introduced into the class-room, finds placed before him cards containing the printed names of objects. Either the object or its picture is placed by the side of the card. The teacher points first to the name and next to the object, and thus the connection between names and things soon becomes familiar. They are then taught to spell with their fingers by the Manual Alphabet a few short words, and the names of familiar objects.