dumb nettle

dummy II. Path .: Inability to speak; incapacity to articulate sounds. In a very large number of cases dumbne arises from no malformation of the organs of speech, but is a nece ary sequence of congenital deafne , the latter arising from some morbid affection of the ear. A child acquires language by listening to and imitating the speech of its relatives or other people who talk in its presence, and picks up not merely the language of its country, but the exact pronunciation of the locality in which it for the time is. If, however, it labors under total deafne , the proce now described is impo ible, and the infant naturally remains dumb. If disease or accident produce total deafne when the child is four or five years old, it will gradually lose the power of speech which it has already acquired, and become dumb. Dumbne without deafne is a much more rare affliction. Hence the institutions designed for the benefit of this cla of sufferers are generally said to be for the "deaf and dumb," or for "deaf-mutes." Dactylology, or the use of finger alphabets, affords a ready means of enabling these afflicted persons to communicate with each other; besides which they can be taught to take note of the exact movements made by a speaker, and imitate them. The first school for the deaf and dumb was opened in Edinburgh about 1763. Lately a great deal of at Bot .: Lamium album . Its ordinary name is the tention has been given to teaching the deaf to White Dead-nettle. dumb-plate, s . Steam Eng .: The dead-plate or portion of the furnace bottom close to the doors, which has no air apertures or spaces. dumb-show, s. them. "Who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb - shows and noise."- Hamlet , iii. 2. 2. Gestures without speech; pantomime.