24- THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The question whether this can be avoided, while the system as a 

 whole is retained, is one upon which there may well be a difference of 

 opinion ; and the fact that the publication in 1868 of a paper on "He- 

 reditary Deafness," by the Principal of the American Asylum, the 

 Rev. W. W. Turner, has been followed by a decrease in the number 

 of marriages between the pupils of that institution, seems to show that 

 it may be possible to accomplish much by repressive influences. Our 

 author believes, however, that the defect is inherent in our system, 

 and that a complete change is necessary ; and that the segregation of 

 deaf children in institutions, where they are kept by themselves, really 

 lies at the root of the matter ; and that the grand central principle, 

 which should guide us in our search for preventive measures, should 

 be the retention of the normal environment during the period of edu- 

 cation. The direction of change should therefore be toward the estab- 

 lishment of small schools and the extension of the day-school plan. 

 The average cost of the education of a deaf child in an American in- 

 stitution is $223.28 per annum, and a small day-school could be main- 

 tained at no greater cost, although the parents would be compelled 

 to furnish, in addition, the industrial training which is now provided 

 by the State ; but this would give no concern, for so many deaf-mutes 

 are now earning their livelihood by trades which are not taught in 

 the institutions as to demonstrate the practicability of apprenticing 

 deaf-mutes in ordinary shops. 



The employment of the gesture-language and lack of articulate 

 speech are efficient elements operating to separate deaf-mutes from 

 hearing persons, and Professor Bell advises that all deaf pupils should 

 receive instruction in articulation and in speech-reading. In the 

 schools of Europe more than 65 per cent of the deaf and dumb were, in 

 1882, receiving efficient instruction in this way, and were taught to 

 speak and understand the speech of hearing persons, while in our in- 

 stitutions 4,241 pupils received no instruction whatever in articulation, 

 and only 886, or 14 per cent, were under oral instruction. 



The question whether these remedies are the best and most prac- 

 ticable ones or not may safely be left to the judgment of the able men 

 who have devoted their lives to the subject ; but all those whose 

 sympathies for this unfortunate class are strongly excited must bear 

 in mind that the interests of the whole community are also to be con- 

 sidered, and no one could, in the interest of humanity, or even in the 

 interest of that small portion of the human race most directly con- 

 cerned, advocate measures which lead to the perpetuation and increase 

 of the evil. 



Whether we approve of Professor Bell's recommendations or not, all 

 persons, those who hear as well as those who do not, must feel that he 

 has done good service to the community by calling attention to the 

 danger which now attends our system, but his paper is far more than 

 a warning : it is a promise, and its direct practical bearing is a very 



