In France, too, there were great names, though they were late in appearing; Pere Vanin, Rousset, Ernaud, de Fay, Pereire, Abbe de l'Epee, Abbe Deschamps, and others.[162] Of these Vanin, Pereire, Deschamps, and de l'Epee are the most notable. Vanin about 1743 instructed some children by means of pictures and a manual alphabet. Rodriguez Pereire, a Portuguese Jew, had several pupils at Bordeaux before the middle of the eighteenth century, and though his methods were kept secret for the most part, he appeared to have met considerable success, in 1749 giving an exhibition before the Academy of Sciences. Abbe Deschamps in 1779 published at Orleans a work on the instruction of the deaf, largely favoring the oral method. It is to Charles Michel abbe de l'Epee, however, that is given the highest reverence of all the initial workers for the deaf, being the founder of the first regular school, and receiving nearly equal distinction for his impression on early methods of instruction--this being especially true in respect to America, where his influence in the introduction of the sign language has been greater than any other man's. The abbe had become interested in two deaf orphans in Paris, whom he attempted to teach, and in 1755 established a school near the city, conducting it at his own expense. This proved a success, and he decided to give his whole life to the instruction of the deaf. He wrote several works on their education, the chief one being "_La Veritable Maniere d'Instruire les Sourds et Muets_," published in 1784. The achievements of de l'Epee were soon far-famed, and the people were taken with their novelty. Many honors were offered him, and his work was brought to the notice of the French Academy and approved. In 1791 his school was adopted by the state. The successor of abbe de l'Epee was abbe Sicard, and the work continued to flourish in France. Not long after de l'Epee and Heinicke had started their schools in France and Germany respectively, Thomas Braidwood, in 1760, opened a school in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1784 a school was established in Rome, in 1788 in Madrid, and in 1801 in Genoa. In the early years of the nineteenth century other schools were started over Western Europe. Thus by the time that the work for the education of the deaf was to enter America, in the establishment of the first school in the second decade of the century, there were already in Europe a number of schools in existence.[163] FOOTNOTES: [162] In 1751 Diderot published his "_Lettre sur les Sourds et Muets_," in which there is reference to the education of the deaf.