ASSOBTATIYE MATING IN MEN 



485 



Bell laid great emphasis upon the influence of educational segrega- 

 tion, especially upon the use of a sign language, with its subjective 

 influence on thought, in bringing about the intermarriage of the deaf. 

 That this is a factor appears from Fay's elaborate records. He classified 

 7,277 deaf individuals according to the method of education and found 

 that of those who attended boarding schools for the deaf, 86.2 per cent, 

 married deaf mates, while of those who attended day schools, or both 

 day and boarding schools, for the deaf 77.8 per cent, married deaf 

 consorts. ^° In contrast are the records of those who attended no school 

 for the deaf: in this class, 62.4 per cent, married deaf individuals. The 

 difference between 62.4 per cent, and 86.2 per cent, probably indicates 

 roughly the influence of scholastic segregation. 



Fay also finds that of the pupils who attended exclusively oral schools 

 78.2 per cent, married deaf partners, while of those who were educated 

 at schools not exclusively oral, or partly at schools exclusively oral and 

 partly at schools not exclusively oral, somewhat over 86 per cent, of 

 marriages were homogamous for deafness. Perhaps these figures indi- 

 cate a sensible influence of the method of instruction.^^ Nevertheless, 

 one cannot but be impressed with the intensity of the assortative mating 

 that occurs independent of this factor. With no such isolation 62 per 

 cent, of deaf individuals marry those who are deaf. Considering the 

 intensity of the inheritance of deafness,^^ we see what grave social results 

 may be expected from this tendency. 



Apparently unions where both members are deaf are more happy 

 than those where only one is so afflicted. Table IV. gives the best avail- 



TABLE IV 



able records indicating the " success " or " failure " of like and unlike 

 matings. Of course divorce, separation or number of children do not 

 tell the whole tale; they give rather a lower limit to the measure of 

 domestic infelicity. 



^ In the eases where the mode of education is not known, 77.3 per cent. 

 chose deaf partners. 



^^ If the probable error of the percentages were calculated, their distinctness 

 would appear much more open to question. 



" See besides Fay 's analysis of his data, a paper by Schuster, Biometrika, 

 Vol. 4, pp. 465-482, 1906. 



