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It is asserted in the Encyclopaedia Americana, that the New York Institution originated its own system of instruction. This statement, here first made in a standard work, is not indeed novel, neither is it true. The teachers at New York endeavored, to the best of their ability, to walk in the footsteps of Sicard. If, in the mere form of their signs of reduction, they differed from the school of Paris, nothing more was true of them, than is true of half the European institutions at the present day. Uniformity among many institutions, however desirable, is not essential within the walls of one.

It has been asserted that signs do not admit of description, and that those employed by Sicard cannot be gathered from his works. His Théorie des Signes, it is true, is far from being a dictionary of such as deserve to be called methodical; or such as were used by him to abbreviate the indication of words in practice. But this reasoning, as applied to the New York Institution in its infancy, rests upon a false basis. The pupil is the book in which the teacher must read. He brings with him all the signs which are available to him, in the commencement of his education. The number of these may be increased as the circle of his ideas expands; but their particular form is far from being essential to the purposes which they are to fulfil. The Abbé Jamet, at Caen, has instituted his own system of methodical signs, rejecting those of Sicard. In like manner, the instructers at New York had theirs, many of which are still held in recollection among the pupils, and are still intelligible.

But the real evils under which the New York Institution labored, the real points of difference between it and the institution at Hartford, were the incompetency of its teachers, in the artificial nature of the instrument on which they chiefly relied, or their neglect to avail themselves of any 'thing like logical method in the teaching of language. They erred, in encumbering the memory of the pupil with isolated words, designated, each by its methodical sign, while the proper use of those words, in connected discourse, was yet but imperfectly understood. We have had visible evidence, in a multitude of instances, that their pupils were accustomed to regard written language, not as a practical instrument of communication, available under all circumstances, but as a possible means of exhibiting particular propositions.

We must admit, therefore, that the New York Institution did not early fulfil the purposes of its charitable founders. The year 1830 was, however, the era of a radical reformation. It was during this year that Mr. Vaysse, from the Institution of Paris, entered upon his duties at New York; and that Mr. Peet, the principal, previously for nine years an instructer in the American Asylum, concluded to accept the situation, which he has since continued to fill.

Mr. Vaysse and Mr. Peet brought with them the methods and the signs, in use at Paris and at Hartford. As a natural consequence, the institution ,at once assumed a character, which it had never before possessed; and which immediately won for it anew the confidence, which had before been partially withdrawn. Uniformity, too, in the sign language, if that be considered an advantage worth mentioning, was, by means of this revolution, rendered universal among American institutions. There now exists but a single sign dialect, in the schools for the deaf and dumb on this continent.

The system of methodical signs, early, as we have seen, in use at New York, was, after the arrival of Mr. Vaysse, gradually abandoned. The advantages, consequent upon thus shaking off the yoke of an artificial system, have been strikingly perceptible. Thus France, at whose hands our country first received the art, has furnished us with its most decided improvement here, in the correction of her own great original error.

The New York Institution, on its new basis, is now proceeding with remarkable success. In addition to the methods already employed, it is seriously considering the expediency of Introducing articulation; the number of its pupils, capable of acquiring such a means of communication in some degree through the ear, being sufficient to warrant the attempt.

Beside the establishments already noticed as existing in America, there is a school for the deaf and dumb in Kentucky; another in Ohio, a third at Canajoharie, New York, and a fourth in Quebec. AH these have derived their methods from the American Asylum. That at Canajoharie; having been established merely for temporary purposes, by the Legislature of the State of New York, will probably be discontinued in 1836.

In reviewing the labors of American teachers, we cannot but be surprised that so little has been done by them towards the preparation of books. It is an admitted fact, that the deaf and dumb need exercises, written expressly for their use. Yet, among us, nothing has been done, worthy of note. Seixas and Gallaudet published, indeed, some disjointed exercises, but upon these, we presume, they did not desire to stake their reputation. In the year 1.821, there appeared, at New York, a course of lessons by Dr. Samuel Akerly, which from its extent might seem to challenge criticism. Had the doctor, in preparing his work, fully understood the nature of his undertaking, we should have been disposed to meet the challenge. To do so under existing circumstances, however, since his book has neither been found practically useful in the New York Institution, for which it was originally designed, nor any where else, would be a mere waste of words.