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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVII. No 424 



SCIENCE; 



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MAERIAGE.' 



It always gives me pleasure to respond to the invitation of 

 the members of the Literary Society of Kendall G-reen, and 

 it will always be my object in addressing you to choose sub- 

 jects that will be of interest and importance to you in your 

 future lives. Tou have come together here from every part 

 of the United States to receive in the National College for 

 Deaf-Mutes that higher education which you cannot obtain 

 in the States from which you came. 



In a very little while — it may be in one year, or two years, 

 or more — you will separate from one another, and each go 

 back singly to the places from which you came, to begin the 

 battle of life. Tou will go out into the great "world, — the 

 world of hearing and speaking people, a world of people 

 who cannot spell upon their Angers or make signs. Are you 

 prepared for that change, and what is to be your position in 

 that world ? 



I would have you all remember that you yourselves are a 

 part of that great world of hearing and speaking people. You 

 are not a race distinct and apart, and you must fulfil the 

 duties of life, and make your way to honorable positions 

 among hearing and speaking people. 



Now, I have considered what subject I could bring to your 

 attention to-aight the consideration of which would be of as- 

 sistance to you when you go out into the world ; and there is 

 no subject, I am sure, that lies closer to your hearts than the 

 subject of marriage. 



It is a very difficult thing for me to speak to you upon 

 that subject, because I know that an idea has gone forth, 

 and is very generally believed in by the deaf of this country, 

 that I want to prevent you from marrying as you choose, 

 and that I have tried to pass a law to interfere with your 

 marriages. But, my friends, it is not true 1 have never 

 done such a thing, nor do I intend to; and before I speak 

 upon this subject I want you distinctly to understand that I 

 ha-se no intention of interfering with your liberty of mar- 

 riage. You can marry whom you choose, and I hope you 

 will be happy. It is not for me to blame you for marrying 

 to suit yourselves; for you all know that I myself, the son 

 of a deaf mother, have married a deaf wife. 



I think, however, that it is the duty of every good man 

 and every good woman to remember that children follow 

 marriage, and I am sure that there is no one among the deaf 

 who desires to have his affliction handed down to his chil- 



1 An address delivered to 1?he members of the Literary Society of Kendall 

 Green, Wasliington, D.C., March 6, 1891, by Alexander Graham Bell. 



dren. You all know that I have devoted considerable study 

 and thought to the subject of the inheritance of deafness, 

 and if you will put away prejudice out of your minds, and 

 take up my researches relating to the deaf, you will find 

 something that may be of value to you all. 



We all know that some of the deaf have deaf children, — 

 not all, not even the majority, but some, — a comparatively 

 small number. In the vast majority of cases there are no 

 deaf offspring, but in the remaining cases the proportion of 

 offspring born deaf is very large, — so large as to cause alarm 

 to thoughtful minds. Will it not be of interest and impor- 

 tance to you to find out why these few have deaf offspring ? 

 It may not be of much importance to you to inquire whether 

 by and by, in a hundred years or so, we may have a deaf 

 variety of the human race. That is a matter of great inter- 

 est to scientific men, but not of special value to you. What 

 you want to know, and what you are interested in, is this: 

 are you yourself liable to have deaf offspring ? Now, one 

 value in my researches that you will find is this: that you 

 can gain information that may assure you that you may in- 

 crease your liability to have deaf offspring or diminish it, 

 according to the way in which you marry. 



The Eev. W. W. Turner of Hartford was the first, I think, 

 who showed that those who are born deaf have a greater lia- 

 bility to have deaf offspring than those wlio are not. He 

 showed, that, where a person born deaf marries another per- 

 son born deaf, in this case about one-third of the children are 

 deaf. Mr. Job Williams, the present principal of the Hart- 

 ford Institution, has still more recently examined the subject; 

 and, in a letter published in Science a short time ago, he 

 arrives at the same conclusion, — about one-third are born 

 deaf. In 1888, Mr. Connor, the principal of the Georgia In- 

 stitution, made an examination of the results of the marriages 

 of his pupils, and his statistics are published in " Facts and 

 Opinions relating to the Deaf." He also comes to the same 

 conclusion, — about one-third are born deaf. 



The following table will show you the exact figures: — 



Table I. — Concerning the Offspring of Couples Both of 

 Whom were born Deaf. 



It is obvious that persons born deaf run considerable risk 

 of having deaf offspring if they marry persons who are also 

 born deaf. 



If we take all the marriages of congenitally deaf persons, 

 without reference to whether they married deaf or hearing 

 persons, we have five independent sets of statistics from 

 which we may derive information regarding the effects upon 

 the offspring. (1) My own researches indicate that where 



' For Eev. W. W. Turner's results, see ray Memoir, p. 20. For Mr. Connor's 

 results, see Facts aud Opinions relating to the Deaf, p. 61. For Mr. Job Wil- 

 liams's figures, see Science, vol. xvil. p. 76, published Feb. 6, 1891. Dr. Gillett, 

 in Science (vol. xvil. p. 59, Jan. 30, 1891), says there were thirteen couples In the 

 Illinois Institution in which both parties were born deaf. One of these couples 

 had two hearlDg children and one deaf child. He does not state how many 

 children were born to the other twelve couples, but says they could all hear. 



