"It is commonly said, that a consonant cannot be pronounced without a vowel, and in fact, its name was given probably from this theory, but it is altogether a mistake; for the consonants, p, t, k, have no vocal sound at all, and yet can be pronounced with an s before or after them, without any vowel, or any vocal sound, as in ps, ts, ks; sp, st, sk: whose whole compound sound is an affection of the breath alone, and not of the voice :-Again, b, d, g, have a slight vocal sound in their essence, but that sound is not a vowel, and these letters can be united to z, without any vowel, as in bz, dz, gz; zb, zd, zg. Thus too m, n, ng, have a vocal sound, essential to them, but it is emitted through the nose, and therefore cannot possibly be a vowel sound; and besides they can be united with s or z, without any vowel, as in ms, mz; ns, nz; ngs, ngz; or in sm, zm; sn,zn; sny, zng. Besides, f, th, s, sh, lh, rh, kh, have no vocal sound, being mere affections of the breath, yet they can be united with each other and with other consonants, in various ways, without any vowel, as in fs, ths, &c.; sf, sth, &c. The corresponding vocal consonants, too, v, dh, x, zh, l, r, gh, have a vocal sound essential to them, but that sound is not a vowel, and they also can be united with each other, and with various other consonants, without any vowel at all, as in vz, dhz; ls, lz; rs, rz ; &c., &c., and even w consonant, and y consonant, and h, which are the three aspirates, can be sounded alone, and without a vowel, though in words they always precede a vowel.

"The truth is, that the possession of a vocal sound is not the characteristic distinction of a vowel, for we can articulate vowels, in whispering, as well as consonants, though we then use only non-vocal breath, and not vocalized breath or voice, at all. Each vowel, as it is called, has therefore a specific sound of its own, arising from the mere expiration of breath, though not vocalized, through the peculiar mechanism in the mouth, used as its articulation; and hence, in this point of view, there is no real distinction whatever, between vowels and consonants, both being, in whispering, affections of mere breath; but in common speaking, wherein voice is always used, there is this distinction between vowels and consonants, that in the former we use a distinct musical sound in the larynx, along with each of them, and emit it through their peculiar mechanisms, while even in the vocal consonants there is only a non-musical murmur of the voice.

"The fact, that the mechanisms of the consonants are much more distinct than those of the vowels, and consequently more easily observed and learned by the deaf and dumb, would seem to imply, that they should be taught first; and undoubtedly it is chiefly by observing the consonant mechanisms, used by the mouth of a person who is speaking, that a practised deaf and dumb person is able to read his words off his lips, just as in writing short hand, it is almost exclusively the consonants that we write down or read." p. 127, et seq.

Finally our author lays down some rules to guide in teaching deaf and dumb to use their organs of speech. These observations also afford some good hints to aid the adult in learning a new language. For two reasons he thinks attention should first be directed to the vowels: because vowels can at once be made serviceable, and because the sound of the voice depends much more on the vowels than on the consonants. On the consonants, he has the following remarks

Speaking of the double and triple vowels-diphthongs and triphthongs, he says, Take care always to pronounce first, distinctly each of the simple vowel sounds, which form the diphthong or triphthong itself, in which these two or more sounds are run into each other, Make the second follow the first, or the third follow the second, as quickly as it is possible to utter them, just as in striking the notes of a running chord in music, the notes follow each other as rapidly as the fingers can strike them.

We will conclude our extracts by quoting, Dr. Orpen's account of the mechanism of the vowel sounds, &c., in which he has particular reference to his mode of teaching the deaf and dumb.

“Now, as ee, ai, aa, form one trio, articulated between the tongue and hard palate, merely by a lesser, great, or greater aperture, or distance between them— and as awe, owe, oo, form another trio, articulated by a retraction of the tongue, with either a wide opening of the lips, or a gradual contraction of their aperture, more and more-it is best to teach these two trios first; and as the two letters, viz., aa and awe, which stand, the one at the end of the first trio, and the other at the commencement of the second trio, are both formed with a wide, and therefore more apparent, aperture of their respective organs of mechanism, we should teach the sound aa before the sounds ai and ee, and the sound awe before the sounds owe and oo. As, also, the mechanisms of aa, ai, ee, are simpler than those of awe, owe, oo, and more easily seen and made intelligible, we should commence with the trio, aa, ai, ee;-and then proceed to the trio awe, owe, o0.

"In pronouncing, then, the sound aa, (as heard in the word b,aa) we should make the pupil observe, that our mouth is pretty wide open, that the tongue lies flat in the bottom of the mouth, neither retracted nor pushed forward, neither dilated nor contracted, but with its tip just behind the back of the lower front teeth, and its sides just touching the insides of the lower side teeth, on both sides. Thus we see, that by the under jaw being lowered, to open the mouth, the two rows of front teeth are separated from each other about three fourths of an inch; and the upper surface of the tongue, which itself descends of course with the under jaw, is distant from the arch of the hard palate, about an inch. While these parts of the mouth are in this position, we cause vocalized breath or voice to be formed in the larynx, by the vibration of its sides from the outward current of air, and emit it through this mechanism, which thus articulates the sound of aa. And as this sound is not either as bass as the vowel sound awe, nor as treble as that of ee, the larynx is not either much depressed towards the chest, or much elevated towards the throat; the former, viz., depression of the larynx, being essential to a bass sound, and the latter, viz., its elevation, being essential to a treble sound. In this way, the sound aa is to be articulated, and we should therefore endeavor, to get him to imitate its mechanism first, and then, while producing its vocal sound in the larynx, to emit this sound distinctly through that mechanism. We should next endeavor to make him understand, that this sound is used to express astonishment or admiration, as when it forms the word ah!

"The next vowel sound is a,-as heard in the words ai,r, b,ay, &c. The mechanism of it is produced, by raising the jaw so as to make the two rows of front teeth come within half an inch of each other, and the upper surface of the tongue, of course, come within about three-quarters of an inch of the arch of the hard palate, and by emitting vocalized breath or voice, through this mechanism, the larynx being a little more raised towards the throat, as the sound is a little more treble, than in ac. Make him first observe and imitate the mechanism, and then, while producing the vocal sound in the larynx, emit it distinctly through that mechanism. Next show him, that it expresses listening, as when

it is the sound of the word eh?-by putting on an expression and attitude of listening, and cocking your ear, and turning your head, so as to bring one of your ears opposite his mouth.

"The next vowel sound is ee,-as heard in the word b,ee, &c. In this, the lower jaw is so much raised, that the two rows of front teeth are only about a quarter of an inch separate, and the tongue also is of course so much raised, that its upper surface only leaves a shallow channel from back to front, about a quarter of an inch deep, between it and the arch of the hard palate. The larynx is also raised, as far as it can be, towards the throat, as this is the most treble of all the vowels, and the vocalized breath, now formed in the larynx, is emitted through the mechanism in the mouth just described. Make him, as before, imitate the mechanism, raise the larynx, and while producing the treble vocal sound, emit it through that mechanism. And then explain to him, that it means an exclamation of sharp acute pain, as expressed by the word ih! or igh!— such as a pin, just pushed against our finger, would make us utter. This is easily done, by pretending to stick a pin into our finger, and giving a start and drawing it away. It is also the name of the letter E.

"In this way, we have the first trio of vowels, formed, as you perceive, by a gradual closing of the mouth, by raising the under jaw higher and more high, and pushing up the upper surface of the tongue, nearer and more near to the palate, while, at the same time, we gradually raise the larynx more and more up towards the throat, and produce a gradually less and less bass, or rather more and treble sound, in the larynx, and emit it through the peculiar mechanism formed in the mouth for each of the three vowels.

“The other trio of vowels consists of the sounds, expressed by the words aroe, owe, and by oo in woo. These are all, in some measure, essentially bass sounds, and therefore the larynx is depressed in them all towards the chest, which both shortens and widens the windpipe, and also, which is its chief object, enlarges backwards the cavity of the mouth, into which the sound formed in the larynx enters. In all these three sounds too, the tongue is drawn back in the mouth, which must be the case, whenever the larynx, to which the root of the tongue is more or less attached, is drawn down, as just. described; but the chief object of it is, to increase still more the cavity of the mouth, in which the sound is reverberated and made bass.

"In the vowel sound, expressed by the word awe, the mouth is as wide open as it can be, the aperture between the lips, presenting a kind of upright oval, whose longer diameter is from top to bottom, the tip of the tongue is drawn rather away from the front teeth, and the whole tongue retracted back in the mouth; the larynx is lowered down towards the chest, and while producing a bass vocal sound in the larynx, we emit it through the above describod mechanism in the mouth. Make him observe and imitate the open mouth, the retraction of the tongue, the descent of the larynx, the production of a baes sound in it, and its emission through the mouth. Next, make him understand that this vowel, as it occurs in the word awe, expresses dread,-by assuming a fixed expression of awe and dread in the countenance.

"In the vowel sound, expressed by the word owe, the mouth is less open, the lips present a circular aperture between them, the tongue is more retracted back in the mouth, the larynx is drawn down more, and while making a more