Juan Pablo Bonet, a Spanish instructor of the deaf and dumb, held by some authors to have been the inventor of their first alphabet and means of communication, born in Aragon in the latter part of the 16th century. He was attached to the secret service of Philip III., but the greater part of his time was occupied by his efforts in behalf of the class in which he had become interested early in life. His system is explained in his work on the subject, Reduccion de las letras y artes para enseflar d hablar a los mudos (Madrid, 1620). His claim to the actual invention of the first means of communication for the deaf and dumb is rejected by the majority of writers, who give the credit to a Spanish Benedictine monk, Pedro Ponce, who lived some 50 years before Bonet. Ponce wrote nothing of the art, however, and the' honor of first diffusing this important knowledge seems to belong entirely to the latter teacher.

Boneset.