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[.Entered at the Posi-Offlce o( New York, N.Y., as Second-Class Matter.] 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Eighth Year. 

 Vol. XVI. No. 393. 



NEW YORK, August 15, 1890. 



Single Copies, Ten Cents. 

 3.50 Per Year, in Advance. 



THE SCIENTIFIC TESTIMONY OF "FACTS AND 

 OPINIONS." ' 



Nearly twenty years have passed away since Professor A. 

 Graham Bell first appeared hefore the American public on 

 questions pertaining to the education of the deaf, and from 

 that time until now his interest in this class of people has 

 been deep and unremitting. There have been occasions when 

 his public utterances have drawn the fire of those who differ 

 from him; but it must be admitted that the popular leaders 

 of deaf-mute education in the United States have granted 

 Professor Bell the fullest liberty of investigation, have re- 

 sponded generously to his call for information, and at con- 

 ferences and conventions have cordially welcomed him to 

 co-operation in the debates and discussions which there take 

 place. This is the true spirit — the only spirit, indeed, which 

 we can afford to manifest toward this popular lay critic of 

 our American schools. The amenities of life have not been 

 altogether on one side. The professor has shown us marks 

 of his favor iu the shape of pamphlets and essays, which 

 have provoked discussion and made investigation necessary. 

 It is to be hoped that this spirit of mutual courtesy will con- 

 tinue to subsist. We do, however, venture to enter a gentle 

 protest against the broad charge made against us in the 

 British Medical Journal oi May 11, 1889, in these words: 

 "Philanthropy in" the United States is doing every thing 

 possible to encourage marriage among deaf-mutes. We 

 educate them together, teach them a language of their own, 

 so that they know nothing of English." The first part of 

 this charge is severe enough, but we believe that the author 

 of that statement would admit a little — just a little — hyper- 

 bole in "nothing of Englisbai? Whatever may be the delin- 

 quencies of the great body of men and women now engaged 

 in this noble work, it must be said in their defence that they 

 are as well equipped, as efiiciently active, as enlightened in 

 methods, and as fruitful in results, as the best that can be 

 found abroad. We are not, however, to shut our eyes to 

 the criticisms of one honestly seeking the improvement of 

 our methods of instruction. The vast array of facts pre- 

 sented to the public in "Facts and Opinions" are not to be 

 blinked at. They are to be met, if met at all, by a critical 

 consideration of all the facts in the case. 



In coming now to a discussion of the scientific testimony 

 of "Facts and Opinions," we ask that we may be permitted 

 to subject the evidence there given to that sifting process 

 which honors no name, respects no authority, which strips 

 itself of all preconceived notions, and chronicles only what 

 investigation proves to be the clean, filtered truth. 



* By W. G. Jenkins, H.A., instructor in the American Asylum, Hartford, 

 Conn, (from American Annals of the Deaf for July). 



The symposium collated by the editor in favor of his the- 

 ory of a deaf-mute variety is interesting mainly for the 

 weighty names by which the theory is indorsed, rather than 

 by any thing of value contributed to the discussion. The 

 presentation of this question before such associations as 

 those that met at New Haven, Washington, and Philadel- 

 phia, had this merit, that it won at once the attention of the 

 best thought of the country. Admitting all this, it is still 

 true that the estimable men who composed these scientific 

 bodies knew relatively nothing of the questions at issue; for 

 they were questions pertaining to a particular guild, the 

 members of which were conspicuous by their absence. 

 Nothing could be more presumptuous than for a body of 

 men to attempt to speak ex cathedra on questions which are 

 wholly outside of their experience and observation. This is 

 the criticism to which the men who appear in "Facts and 

 Opinions" have justly subjected themselves. Yet this must 

 be remembered in their favor: a member of their own fra- 

 ternity has asked them their opinion on a theory of his 

 own formulating; and, in complimentary deference to a 

 great name, they have indorsed the theory, on what ground 

 we shall immediately see. Such is the vicarious character 

 of a national reputation, that a man carries with him all the 

 weight of his special equipment, even when passing beyond 

 the limits of his particular field. So distinguished an 

 authority as Max Miiller recently gave expression to the 

 opinion that deaf-mutes, left to themselves, would rise no 

 higher than orang-outangs, although he immediately quali- 

 fied this by declaring himself an agnostic as to the inner life 

 of deaf-mutes. The statement is an illustration of how far 

 a man confessedly great in one branch of study may go 

 wrong when treating £>f questions outside of his specialty. 



The first place in this scientific testimony is held by Pro- 

 fessor Edward D. Cope, editor of the American, Naturalist'. 

 We are assured by him that a deaf-mute variety is possible; 

 In proof of this assurance, we are informed that "the evo- 

 lution of a deaf-mute variety is not more improbable than 

 that blind species of animals should arise and be perpetuated,- 

 — a circumstance which has often occurred in the evolution 

 of animals." Then, treating of the origin of such animals, 

 he tells us that "disuse is the cause of blind species." He 

 gives us a list of batrachians which are deaf, and whose 

 deafness is ascribed to what he calls "disuse." But what 

 possible analogy is there between the blind fi.shes of Mam- 

 moth Cave, whose conditions of life preclude the necessity 

 of sight; between the batrachians living in subterranean 

 and aquatic depths, where sounds do not enter, — and those 

 beings living in a world where light and sound are the things 

 most palpable to the senses? Species whose development 



