CAN MAN BE MODIFIED BY SELECTION? 17 



from the rest of the world by the excessive development of the char- 

 acteristic upon which the selection was based. 



If the selection were a wise one, the result would be to the benefit 

 of mankind ; but the result would follow just as surely if an injurious 

 peculiarity or a defect were made the basis of the selection, for a 

 natural law produces its effect, whether it is applied wisely or un- 

 wisely. 



Professor Bell points out that our system of educating the deaf 

 brings all these influences to bear, and that the means which have been 

 adopted by philanthropists and others from the noblest and purest 

 motives to ameliorate the condition of the deaf and dumb are unfor- 

 tunately the most complete and efficient methods which it is possible 

 to employ for inducing deaf-mutes to marry deaf-mutes, and that it 

 would be difficult to devise a more certain means for increasing the 

 number of unfortunate persons with this infirmity, and for producing 

 by selection a deaf variety of the human race. 



We separate them from other children as early in life as possible, 

 taking them away from their homes and placing them by hundreds in 

 institutions where they are isolated from early childhood to the com- 

 mencement of adult life. Each deaf person is therefore intimately 

 acquainted with nearly all the others of his own generation, while 

 there are few opportunities for the formation of congenial and lasting 

 intimacies with outsiders. The graduates of the institution organize 

 themselves into societies or conventions for the promotion of social 

 intercourse in adult life, and these societies are to be found in all 

 large cities, in rooms where they meet for social intercourse, and for 

 religious worship. They hold State and national conventions, which 

 are attended by deaf-mutes of both sexes from all parts of the coun- 

 try, and they publish newspapers and periodicals of their own which 

 are filled with personal items. 



They are taught a special language which is as different from Eng- 

 lish as French or German or Russian, and they learn to think in the 

 gesture-language, so that English is apt to remain a foreign tongue, 

 while they often write in broken English as a foreigner would speak, 

 so that they are in a great measure cut off from all of our literature 

 except its very simplest forms, and they have imperfect sources of in- 

 formation upon topics which engage the interest of the rest of the 

 community, such as social and political matters. 



Although there is no compulsion or infringement of personal lib- 

 erty, all these influences combine to induce deaf-mutes to select for 

 their partners in life persons who are familiar with the gesture-lan- 

 guage, and with whom they have been thrown from childhood. We 

 have, therefore, adopted most of the means which tend toward the 

 formation of a deaf-mute variety of the human race, and time alone is 

 necessary to accomplish the result ; but there are still other means 

 which might be employed to hasten it. Professor Bell says that, with 



VOL. XXVII 2 



