409 



DEAF AND DUMB, VITAL STATISTICS OP. 



DEAF AND DUMB, VITAL STATISTICS OF. 



410 



TABLE VII. 

 DISEASES ON WHICH DEAFNESS HAS SUPERVENED. (EUROPE.) 



It is impossible to say from any existing data, whether boys or girls 

 are more Liable to the infirmity of deafness arising from other diseases. 

 The Irish Report gives 419 cases of acquired deafness, in which the sex 

 is distinguished ; of these, 216 are males, and 203 females. It is, how- 

 ever, remarked, " that according to the present census there is rather 

 an undue proportion of males over females in Ireland." Parents and 

 nurses have the popular opinion that it is more difficult to rear boys 

 than girls that a girl will battle through a severe illness, where a boy 

 would fail to do so that a boy would be left with disease upon him, 

 when a girl would be free from any secondary complaint ; there are 

 doubtless cases, where life is saved at the expense of one or other of 

 the organs ; but which sex most readily yields to the lesser deprivation 

 to prevent the greater, must at present remain uncertain. The York- 

 shire Institution has had under instruction 300 boys and 234 girls, 

 among them were 141 cases of acquired deaf ness ; 84 of these cases 

 were boys, and 57 were girls a fair relative proportion of either sex, 

 namely, 60 per cent, of boys, and 40 per cent, of girls. 



Efforts can only be made to prevent a recurring calamity, when its 

 extent and the external circumstances tending to produce it are known ; 

 the various diseases favourable to the supervention of deafness have 

 been named, and the next circumstance which claims notice is the 

 age at which experience has shown the greatest liability to the 

 influence of disease arises. It might be wished that all institutions 

 supported by the state or by public benevolence were required to 

 record such facts, as far as possible, for the general welfare, then would 

 our information afford more conclusive results 

 TABLE VIII. 



AOIS AT WHICH 11KAUXO WAS LOST. 



Provided the due proportion of the 120 under the age of 3 years, for 

 Ireland, were distributed under 1 and 2 years, it would be at once 



manifest that the most fatal time of a child's life for the acquisition of 

 deafness is that between 1 and 2 years of age, and that the next most 

 dangerous period is between 2 and 3 ; after 5, the liabilities decrease 

 materially. It will be evident then, that great care should be ex- 

 ercised by parents during the continuance and development of all 

 diseases to which children are subject during the first quinquenial 

 period of their life, and more especially with reference to those 

 diseases which are shown in the previous tables to be favourable to the 

 supervention of deafness. 



The tendency of deafness to run in families is well known. The 

 Report of the Belfast Institution for 1854 shows, on a list of 68 pupils, 

 one instance of 5 (all) in a family deaf and dumb, four cases of 3 in a 

 family, and ten cases of 2 in the same family. The 534 pupils who 

 have been received into the Yorkshire Institution have arisen out of 

 416 families; of this number, 342 had only a single case of deafness 

 among their children, the other cases arose out of 74 families 45 of 

 which had two each (90), 18 had three each (54), 7 had four .each (28), 

 and 4 had Jjre each (20), making 192 cases. Of the Birmingham pupils, 

 412 were received out of 369 families ; of these, 305 had each one deaf 

 and dumb, 43 families had two each (86)', 15 had three each (45), 4 had 

 four each (16), one had five (5), and one had seren (7). The 239 pupils 

 of the Exeter Institution have been received out of 164 families, 149 

 were single instances in the family, 20 families had each too (40), 12 

 had each three (36), and 4 had each four (16). The thirty-fourth 

 Report of the Glasgow Institution shows that in 298 families there was 

 one case in each, in 36 families, two in each (72), in 20 families, three 

 in each (60), in 3 families, four in each (12), hi one family Jive (5), and 

 in one teven (7), making 454 cases of deaf and dumb in 369 families. 

 The Report of the London Asylum for 1859 shows a selected list of 

 23 families, containing 160 children, of whom 105 are deaf and dumb. 



The thirty-fifth Report of the New York Institution contains much 

 interesting information of the tendency of deafness to run in families, 

 with especial reference to the pupils of that and other institutions in 

 the United States, but space forbids our extracting any portion ; enough 

 has been shown above to illustrate this part of the subject, except that 

 it seems desirable to insert the following table (in col. 411) from the 

 census of Ireland, which is introduced in the Report by these observa- 

 tions : " In 3415 instances of deaf-mutes, concerning whom the par- 

 ticulars were available, we have acquired the information shown in 

 the annexed table, with respect to the numbers of which the families 

 consisted in which one or more mutes were born in each. From it 

 we perceive that families consisting of five, six, seven, and eight, 

 presented the greatest number of mutes. The family position of the 

 deaf and dumb is also shown in it, as well as in the foregoing Table. 

 In one instance, two mute children, one the tenth and the other the 

 last, occurred in a family of twenty-nine, all born of the same parents ; 

 the twenty-ninth child, now aged fifty-five, is still living in the county 

 of Cork." 



We have now to consider some of the causes which are productive 

 of deafness. The laws which influence the physical condition of man- 

 kind are becoming better known than they were formerly, and all new 

 discoveries which tend to the amelioration of "the ills which flesh is heir 

 to," are appreciated and applied as opportunities arise. Some of these 

 evils are transitory, and yield to the efforts made for their relief ; others, 

 though permanent, may in many instances be divested of their worst 

 character; some are to a large extent preventible, and among this 



