224 MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL AOADEMY OP SCIENCES. 



scbool-iooin as the language of (ioinmnnicatiou with their teachers; IS per cent, were taught to 

 speak as an accomplishment, and OS per cent, received no instruction whatever in articulation. 



Nearly one-third of the teachers of the deaf and dumb in America are themselves deaf,* and 

 this must be considered as another el<>ment favorable to the formation of a deaf race — to be 

 therefore avoided. 



The segregation of deaf-mutes, the use of the sign language, and the employment of deaf 

 tea(!hers produce an environment that is unfavorable to the cultivation of articulation and speech- 

 reading, and that sometimes causes the disuse of speech by speaking pupils who are only deaf. 



Having shown the tendency to the formation of a deaf variety of the humau race in America, 

 and some of the means that should be taken to counteract it, I commend the whole subject to the 

 attention of scientific men. 



* See American Aimals of the Deaf anil Dumb (Jannary,' 188:i), vol. xxviii, VP- 5G-57. Out of 481 teachers 154, 

 or 'i'Z per cent., were deaf. 



