Note 546 — Chapter XIX

In America the one-hand alphabet is used practically altogether, which is also the case with most of the countries of Europe. In England the double-hand is employed mainly. Finger-spelling, as well as sign-making, is very old with the human race. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans are said to have made use of a system of finger notation. In the Middle Ages monks in their enforced silence often resorted to a finger alphabet. Dalgarno, one of the early English writers on the deaf, had an alphabet in which the letters were represented by parts of the hand. See J. C. Gordon, "Practical Hints to Parents concerning the Preliminary Training of Young Deaf Children", 1886, p. 34ff.; W. R. Cullingworth, "A Brief Review of the Manual Alphabet for the Deaf", 1902.