Facts and opinions relating to the deaf from America.

Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Facts and opinions relating to the deaf from America. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    65/212 (page 53)
    and dumb, and two or tlu-ee cliUdren in each deaf and dumb. I have known of four families in this city (Raleigh) where the parents are deaf and dumb, and several children in each, none of whom are deaf. , „ ^ ^ -n • • t 'W. J. Young, PnncipaL 10. ILLINOIS INSTITUTION. 'I do not discom-age the .intermarriage of the deaf, as they are usually more happily mated thus than where one of the parties only is deaf The, deaf need the companionship of married life more than those-who hear, and it is a gross wrong to discourage it. ' Deafness is not so frequently inherited by the offspring of deaf parents as by the offepring of parents who have deaf rela- tives other than children. There is a susceptibility to deafness in some kindreds which asserts itself whenever favouring condi- tions present themselves. These may occur in a family where both parents are deaf, or in some other family of the kindred. But the fact of the presence of deafness in the parents does not render the susceptibility more intense than in other families of the same kindred. ' I enclose some extracts- from my last report, which may be of some aid to you:— .... ' I have been endeavouring te collect vital statistics concern- ing the deaf and duipb for thirty-two years, but, notwithstanding my favourable -situation, I have-often found it very difficult to obtain the truthful Information ^hich is of so great importance. The strange reluctance of some jDersons to give information of their personal and family history is of such strength, that neither a corkscrew could draw, nor an hydraulic press could squeeze it out of them. Others have no intelligent knowledge of the circumstances which induced the deafness we seek infor- mation about, and sometimes assign causes purely imaginary. These statistics, I fear, are not entirely ezact, for I frequently