192 



MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



theu, we eliminate from the totals given in the above table, all the pupils of these institutions who 

 were born since the year 1839, we obtain the following results: 



Table XIX. — Proportion of the pupils of our institutions for the deaf and dumb who marry. 



Whatever may be the exact percentage for the whole country, the indications are that a 

 eonsiderabU proportion of the adult deaf-mutes of the United States are married. 



INTERMAKEIAGES OF THE DEAF AND DUMB. 



WTieu we attempt to form an idea of the extent to which intermarriage takes place among 

 deaf-mutes, we are met by the dififlcnlty of the imperfection of the institution records. In very 

 few cases is it specifically stated that a deaf-mute has married a hearing person.* The record 

 usually stands that the pupil has "married a deaf-mute," or that he is simply "married," leaving 

 it uncertain whether the marriage was contracted with another deaf-mute or with a hearing person. 

 When we eliminate all the uncertain cases we obtain from the institution reports the following 

 results : 



Table XX. — Proportion of the deaf and dumb who marry deaf-mutes. 



The large percentage of marriages with deaf-mutes reported from Indiana and Illinois suggests 

 the explanatiou that interinarrianes among the deaf and dumb may perhaps have become more common 

 of late years. Both> institutions are of comparatively recent origin (the one founded in 1S44, the 

 other in 1846); and the report of the Illinois Institution, which exhibits the largest proportion of 

 deaf-mute intermarriages, contains the record of much later marriages than tho.se mentioned in the 

 Indiana report, for the Indiana record stops at 1854, whereas the Illinois reiiort gives the statistics 

 of the institutiou to October, 1882. 



Unfortunately we are unable to ascertain from the reports the dates of the marriages. If we 

 assume, however, that as a general rule the older deaf-mutes were married before the younger, we 



* Only oue case in tlie American Asylum and ten in the Illinois Institution. It is probable, bowever, tbat in 

 most cases where the pupil is simply recorded as "married" the record means marriage with a hearing person. 



