Page:Memoir upon the formation of a deaf variety of the human race (microform) (IA cihm 08831).pdf/57

48 school-room as the language of communication with their teachers; 18 per cent. were taught to speak as an accomplishment, and 68 per cent. received no instruction whatever in articulation.

Nearly one-third of the teachers of the deaf and dumb in America are themselves deaf, and this must be considered as another element favorable to the formation of a deaf race — to be therefore avoided.

The segregation of deaf-mutes, the use of the sign language, and the employment of deaf teachers produce an environment that is unfavorable to the cultivation of articulation and speech-reading, and that sometimes causes the disuse of speech by speaking pupils who are only deaf.

Having shown the tendency to the formation of a deaf variety of the human race in America, and some of the means that should be taken to counteract it, I commend the whole subject to the attention of scientific men.