to restore the Deaf and Dumb to hearing. 323 



No man in Europe was better prepared to make such a report than 

 Itard. For nearly thirty years he had been at the head of the med- 

 ical department of the Institution, and during that time, had been 

 unwearied in his efforts to restore the deaf and dumb to hearing. 

 He had made himself acquainted with all that had been known by 

 his predecessors on the anatomy and diseases of the ear, and had 

 written the most elaborate work which had ever been published on 

 this difficult subject. 



In consequence of his report, it was decided that a certain num- 

 ber of the mutes in the Institution should be subjected to medical 

 treatment. As nearly every other remedy had previously been em- 

 ployed in vain, Itard determined to make a thorough experiment of 

 the utility of injecting the Eustschian tube. He therefore, perform- 

 ed . the operation m one hundred and tioenty cases, the results of 

 which were, to use his own language, "just nothing, with regard to 

 hearing, in the great majority of the mutes, and in the rest, tempora- 

 ry and of little advantage.^* 



With this conclusive experiment, the great efforts which for sev- 

 eral years, had been made in France to restore the deaf and dumb 

 to hearing, may be considered to have ended. M. Deleau, indeed, 

 still continues to practice in cases of deafness, but no important facts 

 of a more encouraging nature, so far as is known, have since been 

 brought to light. It is now, we are informed, the general opinion 

 among those in France, who are capable of judging on the subject, 

 that these numerous and long continued experiments have proved 

 that the sense of hearing cannot be perfectly restored to the deaf 

 and dumb, although it is admitted that it may sometimes be impro- 

 ved. This conclusion, the efforts of both Itard and Deleau, we 

 think, have abundantly shown. Although a few cases of perfect 

 recovery have undoubtedly occurred, they can be regarded only as 

 isolated exceptions, and do not destroy the general principle, that 

 congenital deafness cannot be cured. 



* Deuxihme rapport, lu, le 9 Jivricr, 1827, an Ccnscil d' Administration, etc., 

 p. 11. 



