Thence I learned, that that common belief, (that so soon as Hearing is
restored to Deaf Persons, they will speak) to be false, for it seems
not to me, that there is so great a consent betwixt the Organs of
_Voice_, and of Hearing, that at the first blush they can imitate a
_Voice_ that is heard; but by often imitating a _Voice_ or _Breath_
received from another, and also by hearing their own at the same time,
we find at length a likeness between both, and after this manner we
all learn to speak; for he who learns to speak, it is all one, as if
he did learn some other Art; for by a long accustoming, the Organs are
rendered apt and pliable: Hence it is, that sometimes we come not to
pronounce aright Foreign Letters but after a long time. Now, it would
be well observed or considered, that I presently prescribe all the
Letters to Deaf Persons, or else they could not fix in their Minds
their _Idea's_ of them, and I seldom teach more than two or three
Letters in one day, least the _Idea's_ be confounded; but I bid them
very often to repeat them, and to write them down as they are
pronounced by me.
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