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the Thing to the Eyes os him that is Deas ; by which others Express thcSound or Name of It to those that Hear. So that, indeed, that (hall be, toHim, a Real CharaÜer, which Expreflcth toanother a Vocal Sound : but fig-nifieth, to both, the fame Conception ; Which is, To Vnderstand the Lan-guage.

These were the Fundamental Grounds of Poflibility in Nature: to whichI Added the following Considerations, which made me think it MoraliyPoilible; that is, not ImpDibble to socceed in Practice. I considered fromhow Few and Defpicable Principies the whole Body ot Geometry , by conti-nua! Consequence, is Inforc’d : and if so Fair a Pile, and Curious Structuremay be Raised, and stand fast upon so sinall a Büttom, I cou’d not think itIncredible, that we might Attain some Considerable Succeß in this Design,howlittle soever we hadat first to begin upon, and, from those little Aui-ons and Gestütes , which have a Kind of Natural Significancy, we might, ifwell manag’d, proceed Gradually to the Explication of a Compleat Language yand withal, Direct to those Curiosities of Motion and Tosture in the Organsof Speech , requisite to th e Formation of a Sound Desir’d ; and so to Effectboth parts of what we Intend. I was further encouragcd by the Considera-tion of the Person who was very Ingenious and Apprehensive, and so farat least a Mathematician as to Di aw Pictures, whereby he was already ac-custom’d to Obscrve and Imitate those little Niceties in a Face, withoucwhich it is not Poslible to draw a Picture well. I (hall add this also, thatOnce, hecould have Spoken, though so long ago, that (I think) he dothscarce Remember it. But having |by Accident, when about 5 Years of AgeLost his Hearing, he consequenrly Lost his Speech also; not all at once, butby degrees, in about half aYear’s time, which tho’ it do confirm what Iwas faying but now, How needful it is for the Ear to Guide the Tongue inSpsaking , (since that Habit of Speaking, which was Attain’d by Hearing ,was also Lost with it,) and might cheretore discourage the Undertaking ; yetI was thereby very much Secured, that his want of Speech was but a Gon se-quent of his want of Hearing, and did not proceed originally from an In-disposition in the Organs of Speech to Form those Sounds.

But though I did believe it Poflible for him to Learn so to Speak as to beUnderstood: yet 1 could not promisc my seif, that he should Speak so Accy-rately, but that a Critical Ear might easily Discern some Failures, or littleDifferences from the ordinary Tone or Fronunciation of other Men Becausethe Neglect of it in his Younger Years, when the Organs of Speech , beingyet Tender, were morc Pliable, might now render them lesi Capable tstthat Accurateneß which those of Children attain unto, whereof we havedaily Experience, it being found very Difliculr, if not ImpoffibJe, to Teacha Foreigner well in Years, the Accurat tVronotmcing of that Sound or Lan-guage, which in his Tender Years he had not Learn’d. Besides, the Earbeing so neceflary to Guide and Corrcct the Tongue , it is not reasonably tobe expected, that He whp cannot Hear, though he may Know how toSpeak Truly, should yep pcrform it so Accurately, as if he had the Ad-vantage of his Ear also.

Nor