222 MEMOIES OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



data. Steps should be taken towards tlie collection of special statistics, and tlie institutions should 

 be urged to publish the materials in their possession. I wrote to the principals of all the institu- 

 tions in the country, requesting them to forward to mo such of their published reports as contained 

 any of the required statistics. Although my request was honored by a response from a large num- 

 ber of institutions, the information contained in the reports in reference to tlie subject of inquiry 

 was generally of the most meagre description. 



Among repressive measures should perhaps be included the influence of friends to prevent 

 undesirable intermarriages. While such action inight ati'ect individual cases it could not greatly 

 influence the general result. For there is no subject on which a man will so little brook interfer- 

 ence as one of this kind where his affections are involved. 



A due consideration of all the object ion.s renders it douhtful whether legislative interference with the 

 mnrriaf/e of the deaf icould he advisable. 



(2.) Preventive measures. — The most promising method of lessening the evil appears to lie in 

 the adoption of preventive measures. In our search for such measures we should be guided by the 

 following principle: (1.) Determine the causes that promote intermarriages among the deaf and dumb; 

 and (2) remove them. 



The immediate cause is undoubtedly the preference that adult deaf-mutes exhibit for the com- 

 panionship of deaf-mutes rather than that of hearing persons. Among the causes that contribute 

 to bring about this preference we may note: (1) segregation for the purposes of education, and 

 (2) the use, as a means of communication, of a language which is different from that of the people. 

 These then are two of the points that should be avoided in the adoption of preventive measures. 

 Nearly all the other causes I have investigated are ultimately referable to these. 



Segregation really lies at the root of the whole matter; for from tbis the other causes have 

 themselves been evolved by the operation of the natural law of adaptation to the en\ironment. 



We commence our efforts on behalf of the deaf-mute by changing his social environment. 

 The tendency is then towards accommodation to the new conditions. In process of time the 

 adaptation becomes complete; and when, at last, we restore him to the world as an adult, he finds 

 that the social conditions to which he has become accustomed do not exist outside of his school life. 

 His efforts are then directed to the restoration of these conditions with the result of intermarriage 

 and a tendency to the formation of a deaf-mute community. 



The grand central principle that should guide us, then, in our search for preventive measures 

 should be the retention of the normal environment during the period of education. The natural ten- 

 dency towards adaptation would then co-operate with instructiou to produce accommodation to 

 the permanent conditions of life. 



The direction of change should therefore be towards the establishment of small schools, and 

 the extension of the day-school plan. The practicability of any great development of day schools 

 will depend upon the possibility of couducting very small schools of this kind economically to the 

 State: for the scattered condition of the deaf and dumb in the community precludes the idea of 

 large day schools, excepting in the great centers of population. The principle referred to above 

 indicates that such schools should be of the minimum size possible; for the school that would most 

 perfectly fulfil the condition required would contain only one deaf child. It also points to the 

 advisability of coeducation with hearing children— but this is not practicable to any great extent. 

 No instruction can be given through the ear, and complete coeducation would only therefore be 

 possible by a change in the methods of teaching hearing children. It is useless to expect that such 

 a change would be made for the benefit of the deaf and dumb on account of their limited number. 



rartial coeducation is, however, possible, for some studies are pursued in the common schools 

 in which information is gained through the eye. For instance, deaf-mutes could profitably enter 



