p. 12; vii., 1904, p. 183; Report of New York
Institution, 1853, p. 70.

[144] The foregoing illustrate some of the most striking misconceptions
regarding the deaf. On the other hand, no doubt the deaf as well as the
blind suffer from sentiment on the part of the public, and from the
sensational accounts which appear from time to time in the newspapers
and magazines concerning what the deaf have been found able to
accomplish. Many things are referred to as "wonders", as though it were
strange that they could be done by people without hearing, some of the
achievements of the deaf being set down as most remarkable. Such
writings are usually in a kindly spirit, and may often serve a useful
purpose in making known the similarity of the capabilities of the deaf
and of the hearing; but when they make the deaf appear as a peculiar and
unlike part of the race, their effect may be most misleading. The worst
result is that the public becomes ready and willing to believe almost
any thing about the deaf.

[145] In 1908 the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf
appointed a committee to consider the question of the dissemination of
knowledge regarding the attainments of the deaf. Proceedings, xviii., p.
210.

CHAPTER VII

PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS INTERESTED IN THE DEAF

GENERAL SOCIETIES INTERESTED IN THE DEAF

We have now considered the interest of society in the deaf in its
several relations, together with the treatment that has been extended to
them. It remains to be noted whether there have been any private
undertakings organized in behalf of the deaf or interested in their
welfare, and what has been done by such bodies.

In America virtually the only organizations composed of persons not deaf
and formed for the purpose of advancing the interests of the deaf have
been those more or less closely related to the education of deaf
children, and with their exception practically no movements in respect
to the deaf may be said to have been undertaken.[146]

These organizations interested in the instruction of the deaf are of two
divisions: bodies actively engaged in the work of this instruction, and
bodies only indirectly concerned. The first division includes, on the
one hand, associations of instructors of the deaf, and, on the other,
societies or corporations formed to promote and establish schools, which
have either passed out of existence, their mission being fulfilled, on
the taking over of the school by t