405 DEAF AND DUMB, VITAL STATISTICS OF. 



DEAF AND DUMB, VITAL STATISTICS OF. 408 



been taught to speak Although I have no recollection of physica 



pain in the act of speaking, I felt the strongest possible indisposition 

 to use my vocal organs. I seemed to labour under a moral disability 

 which cannot be described by comparison with any disinclination 

 which the reader can be supposed to have experienced. The disin- 

 clination which one feels to leave his warm bed on a frosty morning is 

 nothing to that which I experienced against any exercise of the organs 

 of speech. The force of this tendency to dumbness was so great, thai 

 for many years I habitually expressed myself to others in writing, even 

 when not more than a few words were necessary ; and when this mode 

 of intercourse could not be used, I avoided occasions of speech, or 

 heaved up a few monosyllables, or expressed my wish by a slight 

 motion or gesture." 



When Kitto was voyaging to the Mediterranean, his kind-hearted 

 and intelligent companions had recourse to a very justifiable artifice to 

 induce him to use his vocal powers. His account of it, and its results, 

 show what may be accomplished in cases of unwillingness to speak on 

 the part of the deaf, who have once acqiiired the knowledge of lan- 

 guage and the power of speech. " After much reasoning with me on 

 the matter, they entered into a conspiracy, in which the captain of the 

 ship joined, not to understand a word I said, otherwise than orally, 

 throughout the voyage. In this they persevered to a marvel ; but as 

 I had much to ask, since I had not before been at sea, I made very 

 great progress with my tongue during the six weeks' voyage, and by 

 the time we reached our destination had almost overcome the habit of 

 clutching a pen or pencil to answer every question that was asked me. 

 From this time I usually expressed myself orally to those whom I 

 knew, in the ordinary intercourse of life ; but when my communication 

 required many words, it was usually conveyed in writing. This, also, 

 I at length dropped, and strangers only were addressed in writing. 

 Finally, I ventured to accost even strangers with the tongue, and it 

 was only when not understood that I resorted to the pen. At first, 

 strangers could rarely understand me without much difficulty ; but under 

 the improvement which practice gave, my voice was so much bettered 

 that the instances in which it was not readily understood gradually 

 diminished, and at the present day I rarely find even a foreigner to 

 whom my language is not clear." 



The importance of inquiries into the causes of deafness has been 

 recognised in all our institutions for the deaf and dumb, and ought to 

 lie urged upon the registrar-general when the next census for Great 

 Britain is taken. The report on the ' Status of Disease ' in Ireland has 

 to a certain extent cleared the way and shown the value of such 

 inquiries. The series of questions issued by the commissioners in that 

 country is given below, and might be adopted in future investigations. 

 They show the data on which the tables in the report were constructed. 

 They were kindly received by the community, and in only one instance 

 was the required information refused. 



1. Whether the person was born deaf and dumb, or became go 

 afterwards. 



. If he (or she) wag born deaf and dumb, to what cause is such 

 defect attributed by the friends or relatives ; whether to fright, here- 

 ditary predisposition, or the near relationship of parents such as the 

 intermarriage of cousins ? If attributed to any of these causes, state 

 the degree of relationship existing between the parents, and specify 

 the nature of the fright or accident experienced. 



3. If he (or she) became deaf and dumb since birth ; state at what 

 age, and to what cause or disease hag such been attributed. 



4. Is he (or she) paralytic, idiotic, or in any other way mentally 

 or physically affected ? 



5. Whether any other members of the family, parent or parent*, 

 or grandparents, uncles, aunta, or cousins, have been deaf and dumb, and 

 whether they were by the father's or the mother's side. If such relatives 

 were living on March 30, 1851, please state their names, and the 

 barony, parish, and townland in which they were then residing. 



6. Whether other members of the family, either dead or absent, 

 such as brothers or sisters, were affected with deaf and dumbness ; and 

 if so, state the number and the position of each in the family, such as 

 first, second, or third child, &c. If they were alive upon March 30, 1851, 

 state where they lived : and if dead, give the date and cause of death, 

 and the age at which they died. 



7. If the person is educated, state where, and by what means such 

 education was acquired. 



8. State 's position in the family, whether first, second, or third 



child in a family of living, and dead. N.B. State the number 

 of living and dead required in this query. 



9. If he (or she) has been married, state the result of such marriage 

 in males and females, and whether any of them have been mute from 

 birth, or became so by accident or disease. 



The efforts made by our institutions, those of different countries of 

 :, and in some instances by their governments, and by America, 

 have from time to time thrown considerable light on the causes of 

 deafness ; but, except the Report for Ireland above referred to, nothing 

 of importance or authority hag yet been published in this kingdom ; 

 the medical and social aspects of deaf-dumbness have therefore been 

 very partially considered. It is proposed in the present article to 

 bng together such tables and facts as are trustworthy, and available 

 for the purposes of comparison, together with a body of statistics which 

 have recently been collected for the same object. 



TABLE I. 

 PROPORTIONS OF CONGENITAL AND ACQUIRED DEAFNESS. (UNITED KINGDOM.) 



The discrepancies in this table are not greater than might be ex- 

 pected, some of them may arise from imperfect knowledge on the 

 part of those who furnished the information, but it is highly probable 

 that if there are errors in one column they are balanced by opposite 

 ones, and we may come to the very safe conclusion that three-fourths 

 of the aggregate cases which are brought to our institutions are of con- 

 genital deafness. This is the largest number of cases that has ever been 

 accumulated for comparison, connected with the institutions for the 

 deaf and dumb in this kingdom. 



The report on the status of disease for Ireland presents a very dif- 

 ferent proportion, which cannot be reconciled with the result obtained 

 in any other country. It gives us a total of 4747 (excluding the dumb 

 not deaf, the paralytic, and the idiotic) ; of this number 3885 were bom 

 deaf, and 535 only became so after birth ; 327 cases are, however, re- 

 ported as uncertain or unknown ; still if these were added to the cases 

 of acquired deafness, the proportion would remain very large of con- 

 genital cases. The Belfast institution proportions, in Table I., are to a 

 considerable extent confirmatory of the large number of congenital 

 cases in Ireland. 



TABLE II. 



PROPORTIONS of CONGENITAL AND ACQUIRED DEAFNESS. (UNITED STATES.) 



This table shows that more than tKO-ffth of the cases are of acquired 

 deafness, leaving out of consideration the uncertain ones. Three- 

 fourths of the English pupils and not quite one-half of the American 

 ones were born deaf and dumb. One-fourth of the English pupils and 

 two-fifths of those of the United States became deaf by accident or 

 disease. The European table which follows (excepting Germany) offers 

 somewhat similar results to that for Great Britain, namely one-fourth 

 acquired to three-fourths congenital. 



TABLE III. PROPORTIONS OF CONGENITAL DEAFNESS. (EUROPE.) 



