RRIIKJMAN.
RRIDGMAN.
" Procession of the Bull A]iis and the "Women of
Biskra." In 1S81 he was eleetetl an academician
by the National academy of design of New York.
Tlie great majority of liis siilon pictures after
1881 were of oriental or southern subjects, as:
" The Embroiderer " (1886); " On the Terraces,
Algiers " (1887); " In a Country Villa. Algiers "'
(1888); "Bill chez le Gouverneur d'Alger"";
(1889); "Cairo Horse - Market "' (1889). Mr.
Bridgman exhibited about three hundred studies
of his paintings in New York in 1881 and 1899.
He ojHjned in Paris a large studio for women in
0<- tuber. 1890.
BRIDGMAN, George H., educator, was born at Oiiiario. L'anada. Aug. 2, 1841. He was gradu- ated at Victoria university, Canada, A.B. 18G4, A.M. 1867, and entered the Methodist Episcopal ministry. He was married in June, 1873, to Mar}' B. Eilititt of Braiitford, Ont., and was president of Wesleyan seminary, Lima, N. Y., 1873-'83,and of Hamline university, St. Paul. Minn., from 1SS3. He received the degree of D.D. from Syra- cuse imiversity in 1878.
BRIDGMAN, George Herbert, diplomatist, was born in Keene. N.H.. Jan. Hi. 18o3. He was gradu- ated from Dartmouth college in 1876 and from Harvard medical school in 1881, and was liouse surgeon at the City hospital, Boston, Mass., 1881-'82. He practised at Keene, N.H., 1882-'87; and at Elizabeth, N.J., l887-'97. He was ap- pointed U. S. minister to Bolivia by President Mc- Kinley in October 1897, and re.sided at La Paz, Bolivia.
BRIDGMAN, Laura Dewey, blind deaf-mute, wasl)orn:it Hanover, N. H., Dec. 21, 1829. In 1831 an attack of scarlet fever left her a deaf-mute, with sight, taste and smell almost destroyed. By crude arbitrary tactual signs her mother taught her to knit and sew, and to perform light household duties. Dr. Samuel G. Howe visited her in 1836. and pursuaded her parents to place her in the Perkins institution for the blind. She became totally blind about this time and but for her abnormally keen sense of touch and her in- quisitiveness the task of educating her would have been liopeless. The first step was to teach her the names of objects with which she was familiar. To do this, several articles upon which the names were pasted in raised letters were given her to ex- amine, after she had examined the names printed in raised tyj.e on a .slip of paper. She was next given the individual letters and taught to form them into words, and while engaged in this work awoke to the fact that the manoeuvres she had been so stupidly fierforminghad for their ulti- mate object the interchange of thought between herself and her fellow-beings. Tlien her soul awoke, horface became radiant, and her intellect was enlisted on the side of Jier teachers. The
manual alphabet u.'^ed in communicating with
deaf-mutes was next taught her, and after that
her progress was phenomenal. Every thought
that flashed through her ever-active brain seemed
to connect itself with the signs for its expression
through her fingers. Even the fugitive ideas
that jumbled through her brain when she was
asleep were reflected on her fingers, and so swift
and fleeting were these motions that they could
not be followed bj' the most expert reader of the
finger language. She learned nothing by intu-
ition or imitation, as other children do, and each
word had to be taught to her separately; but step
by step, with infinite patience on her own part
and on that of her devoted teachers, she pro-
gressed until she had learned to read and write
and to converse intelligently with any one who
understood her finger language. She at times
assisted in teaching other children similarly
afilicted, and in a diary which she kept she has
recorded her great joy at the success of her efforts
in this direction. She became a good seamstress,
could operate a sewing machine, and make all
her own clothing; and the sale of various fancy
articles which she crocheted, and to which she
attached her autograph, netted her a neat little
sum each year. She experienced all the various
passions and emotions, being especially subject
to fits of anger in her yoimger days; she had a
high moral sense, was tractable, extremely
modest, cheerful, sociable and very fond of fun.
Her ability to read character by touching persons
with her fingers was one of the most remarkable
of her special gifts. She was very devout, and
after the nature of God and his relations to man
and the universe were explained to her, she
became a sincere and earnest Christian, joining
the Baptist church, to which her parents be-
longed. There is little room for doubt in the
light of to-day's improvements in the pedagogical
methods employed with deaf-mutes, that Laura
might have been tauglit the art of speech, for
" by accident," she frequently uttered words.
" I can say father, motlier, doctor,, baby, pie and
ship with my mouth." wrote she to Mrs. Julia
Ward Howe, and this testimony is corroborated
by that of her teachers. She was visited by
many distinguished persons, and her case was
watched with the keenest interest by people in
all parts of the world, especially after the appear-
ance of Dickens's " American Notes, " in which he
described his impressions u]>on visiting her.
After her death her brain was submitted to scien-
tific examination, for the purpose of determining,
so far as possible, the effect of her peculiar aftlic-
tion upon its shape, size and structure. See
articles by H. H. Donaldson, Ph.D., in volumes iii.
and iv. of the " American Journal of Psychol-
ogy," also " Life and Education of Laura Dewey
