March 13, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



207 



This is emphatically a step in the right direc- 

 tion. Under the provisions of the act, much 

 valuable information in regard to either of the 

 diseases mentioned may be obtained ; and, if 

 either of them visits the country, it is to be 

 hoped that something of scientific value will 

 be added to our knowledge of the means of 

 fighting it. We should have been glad to 

 see an additional special clause providing for 

 the appointment of experts to investigate at 

 least the first cases which occur, for it is b}^ the 

 rigid inspection of these often doubtful cases, 

 by accurate diagnosis and successful isolation, 

 that an epidemic is to be arrested. Without 

 a special recommendation of this kind, there 

 seems to be too much danger of the omission 

 of rigorous measures at the most important 

 time. 



The rectification of public practice in ac- 

 cordance with scientific theory is alwa} T s grati- 

 fying. Attention was recently called to certain 

 results of the mode of educating deaf-mutes by 

 means of silent signs and in seclusive institu- 

 tions, — threatening no less a calamity than the 

 creation of a deaf-mute variety of mankind, — 

 and to the desirability of training deaf children 

 in the use of common speech, in association 

 with hearing children, and without removal from 

 family influences. The memoir on this subject 

 by Prof. A. Graham Bell, embodied in the 

 Report of the National academy of sciences 

 presented to congress last year, has led to 

 much discussion of the subject. The first 

 fruits are seen in a bill now before the legisla- 

 ture of the state of Wisconsin, which provides 

 for the establishment of small day-schools for 

 the deaf in any incorporated cit} r or village in 

 the state. These schools will be under the 

 control of the state superintendent of public 

 instruction. 



This is a movement in the right direction. 

 Existing institutions for the education of the 

 deaf are under the management of the boards 

 of state charities. But this pioneer legislation 

 of Wisconsin recognizes the obligation of the 

 state to provide education for all her children, 



not as a charity, but as a right. The estab- 

 lishment of these da3 T -schools was recommend- 

 ed by Gov. Rusk in his message to the legisla- 

 ture last January, in which he saj's, "There 

 were in Wisconsin, according to the census in 

 1880, 1,079 deaf-mutes, of whom 600 were of 

 school-age, between six and twent} r , and less 

 than one-third of these were receiving instruc- 

 tion." An equally large proportion of deaf 

 children are growing up in ignorance in all our 

 states ; and the question is forced on public 

 consideration, whether to enlarge and increase 

 the number of state institutions, or to supple- 

 ment those already existing by the provision 

 of day-classes for the deaf, in connection with 

 our common schools. The Wisconsin experi- 

 ment will be watched with interest : its results 

 can only be for good ; and the example of that 

 state in taking a new departure of this kind is 

 worthy of being generally followed, that the 

 tests may be conclusive for the whole country. 



Prof. A. G. Bell was invited by the commit- 

 tees on education, of the senate and assembly 

 of the legislature of Wisconsin, to present his 

 views for their information ; and, after complet- 

 ing his viva voce explanations, he addressed an 

 open letter to the committees, in which his 

 arguments are recapitulated clearly and com- 

 pactly. This document we commend to all 

 who are interested in the subject. We have 

 room for only one quotation : " Out of a total 

 of 33,878 deaf-mutes in the United States in 

 1880, 15,059 were of school-age ; and the 

 total number of deaf-mutes returned as then 

 in the institutions and schools of the United 

 States was only 5,393." This fact alone 

 shows the necessity, not only of doing some- 

 thing, but of doing it without delay. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*** Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The 

 writer's name is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



Decadence of science about Boston. 



I observe that this subject is still discussed in a 

 recent number, but that no one ventures to raise a 

 doubt as to the original assertion. Yet to a layman 

 in science it does not seem that any proof of such 



