1835, p. 365; _American Biblical Repository_,
viii., 1842, p. 269; _De Bow's Review_, xvii., 1854, p. 435; _National
Magazine_, ix., 1856, pp. 385, 487 (Sketches of Humane Institutions);
_Scribner's Magazine_, xii., 1892, p. 463; _Association Review_, ii.-v.,
1900-1904 ("Historical Notes concerning the Teaching of Speech to the
Deaf"); Proceedings of Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf,
i., 1850, p. 99; v., 1858, p. 275 (H. P. Peet, "Memoirs on the Origin
and Early History of the Art of the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb");
iii., 1853, p. 277; iv., 1856, p. 17; ix., 1878, p. 195; American
Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, v., 1896, p.
27 (P. G. Gillet, "Some Notable Benefactors of the Deaf"); National
Association of the Deaf, iii., 1889, p. 21; National Conference of
Charities and Corrections, 1907, p. 512; _Californian_, iv., 1881, p.
376; Iowa Bulletin of State Institutions, viii., 1906, p. 175; xii.,
1910, p. 24; Transactions of Royal Historical Society, viii., 1880;
Encyclopedia Americana, 1883 (History of the Education of the Deaf in
the United States, given in _Annals_, xxxi., 1886, p. 130); various
reports of the several schools for the deaf in America (as that of New
York Institution, 1839, p. 8; 1843, p. 11; 1876, p. 48; American School,
1844, p. 25; 1867, p. 13; Pennsylvania Institution, 1843, p. 9; 1892, p.
64; Kentucky School, 1857, p. 8; 1867, p. 13; Michigan School, 1858, p.
40; Illinois School, 1868, p. 42; New York Institution for Improved
Instruction, 1869, p. 26; Mississippi School, appendices, 1907, 1909,
1911); "Histories of American Schools for the Deaf", edited and with an
introduction by Dr. E. A. Fay, 1893 (containing accounts of individual
schools, and a most valuable work).

CHAPTER IX

HISTORY OF EDUCATION OF THE DEAF IN THE UNITED STATES

EARLY ATTEMPTS AT INSTRUCTION

The first instance of which we have record in America of an attempt to
teach the deaf was in 1679[164] when a man named Philip Nelson of
Rowley, Massachusetts, tried to instruct a deaf and dumb boy, Isaac
Kilbourn by name, in speech, though with what success we do not
know.[165] These, however, were the witchcraft days, and the work of
Nelson seemed such an extraordinary thing that the ministers of the
community are said to have made an investigation, fearing that witches
might be involved in the affair. The next instance of which we have
mention occurred in Virginia a century l