based upon a thorough study of the vocal organs and of the elements of speech, has been practised with admirable results in the Boston School for Deaf Mutes, and has been partially acquired by several of our teachers who have taken lessons of Mr. Bell. It will be more perfectly taught to them by Mr. Bell, in March, 1872, and we shall then, if it is found to be successful, assign the use of it to a special teacher of articulation in the Clarke Institution. Mr. Philbrick, the superintendent of Public Schools in Boston, and others who have observed the new system as practised by Mr. Bell's pupils, are warm in its praise, and trial of it is to be made, we understand, in the American Asylum at Hartford. The attention of the Corporation has been called, at various times, to the importance of some preliminary examination and classification of the deaf-mute children of Massachusetts, who apply for admission to the three deaf-mute schools now open to them, namely, the Clarke Institution, the Boston Deaf Mute School, and the American Asylum at Hartford. In each of these schools a different method of instruction is pursued, and each of these methods is better adapted to the needs of certain classes of children than the other. Those who can be taught articulation with advantage, and who, belonging in Boston or its vicinity, can live at home and enjoy the benefits of parental care, should enter the Boston School; those who are unable, or whose parents are unwilling to take this course, should be received at the Clarke Institution, if they are suitable subjects for our instruction; while those (of whom there are many, no doubt,) who are not likely to profit by instruction in articulation, or who cannot be received at Boston or Northampton for want of room, should go to Hartford. The choice of a school is left by law with the Board of Education; and it seemed proper to the Corporation to propose to this Board, and to the authorities of the Hartford Asylum a joint committee to examine applicants and assign them to the several schools according to their fitness and the wish of their parents. This proposition has not yet been accepted by all the parties consulted, but we are still of opinion that joint action on the part of the three schools would be best. Our hope that the United States census of 1870 would give a more complete enumeration of the deaf-mute inhabitants of Massachusetts, and of the country, than had formerly been made, seems likely to be disappointed. The preliminary census tables as first published, allowed but 538 deaf mutes in Massachusetts; and though these have since been revised so as to increase the number, we have reason to believe that this is still too small by three or four hundred. A member of our Corporation, during the year in which the Clarke Institution was chartered (1867), made a special census of deaf mutes in about threefourths of the State, and obtained the names of about 800, which, with some additions, were deposited with the Board of Education in 1868. From this list it was estimated that the number in the whole State could not then be less than 1,000, when the population of Massachusetts was not more than 1,350,000. In 1870, the. population had risen to 1,457,351, and the number of deaf mutes must have been at least 1,050. On the list above mentioned, 752 were entered with particulars of age and sex, and, in many instances, the occasion of deafness, and the time of its commencement were returned. It may be doubted whether a perfect enumeration of deaf mutes, particularly of children under ten years, was ever made in any country; if such a census should be taken in the United States, we believe it would show the whole number of all ages to be more than 25,000. The whole number of children and youth of this class under instruction in the 38 schools, large and small, reported in the United States in 1871, was about 4,000, of whom about 200 were from Massachusetts, or one-twentieth of the whole number. During the year a new day school, with about a dozen pupils, taught by articulation, has been opened at Cleveland (O.), and a small family school, taught by the same method, at Ledyard (Ct.), where one of the teachers is that veteran instructor of a few deaf-mute pupils, Jonathan Whipple. The day schools at Boston, Pittsburg, and Chicago have been continued, and attended with gratifying success. In the absence of Miss Rogers, our own school is going on vigorously and successfully in its first term of the school year 1871-2; the teachers have labored diligently, and the classes were never in better training than at present. Our list of pupils, on a subsequent page, is that of the present school year, which began Sept. 20th, 1871, and will close with the long vacation, July 23d, 1872, Of the 44 on the list, two are day pupils, and 33 are aided by the State of Massachusetts. Several of our more advanced pupils in former years are no longer with us, and one of them, Roscoe Greene, of Providence (R.I.), who entered the school of Miss Rogers, at Chelmsford, in 1866, and continued here until the summer of 1870, has died during the past summer,-the first of all our pupils whose death we have learned. He was a young man of much intelligence and promise, and had acquired a very ready use of articulation, and a good English education, by the method pursued at this institution. We record his death with much regret. As usual our school has been visited by large numbers of persons interested in the instruction of deaf mutes, and we perceive no change in the friendly feeling with which it is regarded by the public and by individuals. Our thanks are due to Drs. Fisk and De Wolf for professional services; to the Connecticut River, Boston and Albany and New Haven and Northampton Railroads, for carrying members of the institution at reduced fares; also to Messrs. Marsh, Lawrence, Slate & Baker and Hamlin, for goods sold at a discount. The following publications have been sent to the institution, free:-" Hampshire Gazette," "Child at Home," "Deaf-Mute Chronicle," "Deaf-Mute Pelican," "" Our Dumb Animals," "Silent World." Attention is invited to the annexed Report of the School Committee, the financial statement, the list of pupils, and the arrangement of hours of study and recreation. For the Corporation, GARDINER G. HUBBARD, NORTHAMPTON, January 1, 1872. President. REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE. To the Corporators of the Clarke Institution. GENTLEMEN:-In the absence of any report from our Principal, who is abroad, it seems to devolve upon your Committee to supply somewhat in its place. To make the school year and the financial year more nearly correspond, and to bring the report of the Clarke Institution into harmony as to time with the official reports of other institutions, you will remember that it was voted. to consider October 1st of each year the beginning of the financial year. Hence the fifth annual report will cover the period from October 1st, 1870, to September 30th, 1871, inclusive. But of this period, no small part was embraced in the fourth annual report, and for a list of new pupils and their characteristics, as well as for interesting details given by the Principal as to the classification, progress and compositions of the school down to January 1st, 1871, reference should be made to that document. From the official record of the Principal, made up at the close of the school year, July 18th, 1871, it appears that, with the first special class, the same course of instruction was continued, and with gratifying results. The record says:-" The whole class has made very satisfactory progress during the term." Of the "second special class," it says:-"They have improved considerably in speaking during the term, and in their use of language also. They have reached the 242d page in Jacobs' Reader. They quite readily, except" [two pupils named] " recognize the language of arithmetic. so as to tell which principle is involved both in mental and written exercises. They can perform and analyze examples in the four elementary rules, but know nothing of long division. They have completed [the little book called] Learning to Talk,' and in 'Learning to Read' they have reached page 20. spelled, defined and formed sentences on 260 words. had lessons on measurement; on locality, from the map of the United States, and in Guyot's Elementary Geography have reached They have They have page 25. The other exercises of last term have been continued. They have also had occasional lessons on inflection, description of pictures and in learning the names of the bones of the human body." The "class of 1867," so called, really consists of a few who have since joined, and the very young pupils who entered that year without a knowledge even of the alphabet: the pupils more advanced in age or culture, who entered at the same time, having been transferred to one of the special classes. Of this class it is recorded, that "the exercises have been about the same as those of last term. Its members can perform the mechanical operation of addition, and some of them that of multiplication. They know considerable of the multiplication table, and can solve examples in mental arithmetic in addition and subtraction when language is used. They have taken about 270 new words, and have made marked improvement in their use of language." No class of 1868 is mentioned, because the pupils who then entered, after some months of instruction, were distributed into other classes for which they were severally fitted. Of the "class of 1869," the record says:-"Its members, during the term, have taken about 400 words [to write, pronounce and make the basis of sentences]. Most of the class can write quite a passable description of a picture. In numbers they read from the lips and answer, and explain such questions as, How many things are four apples, three books, two oranges, five pencils and six stones? They add a column of numbers amounting to one hundred. They can ask and answer a variety of questions. Their improvement in all directions has been very good during the term " Of the class of 1870, the names of, and particulars with regard to, eight, as well as their progress during the first three months, are given in the fourth annual report. After that report was made up, two others came-Ida L. Frost, of Washington, a deaf mute, uninstructed, 14 years of age, and George M. Bradley, of Lenox, a semi-mute, who could read a few sentences, 10 years of age. Of the progress of this class during its second session, the report says: "The seven small children have, during the term, learned 180 new words. They can answer a variety of such questions asIs the door open?' by saying, 'No, ma'am, the door is not open, it is shut.' Is the chair on the table?' 'No, ma'am, the chair is not on the table, it is on the floor.' Most of them can write a |