The following extract from the correspondence of a deaf and dumb pupil
with his teacher is a fair specimen of the natural condition of the deaf
and dumb before receiving instruction:--
"Before I came to school I thought that the stars were placed in the
firmament like grates of fire, and that the moon at night was like a
great furnace of fire; I did not know how the stars and moon and heavens
were made; but I supposed that the people, like us above the firmament,
kindled the moon and stars; and I did not know whether the heavens was
made by art or not. I thought the world little and round like a table,
and was always intending to go to the end of it."