Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/36

24 The question whether this can be avoided, while the system as a whole is retained, is one upon which there may well be a difference of opinion; and the fact that the publication in 1868 of a paper on "Hereditary Deafness," by the Principal of the American Asylum, the Rev. W. W. Turner, has been followed by a decrease in the number of marriages between the pupils of that institution, seems to show that it may be possible to accomplish much by repressive influences. Our author believes, however, that the defect is inherent in our system, and that a complete change is necessary; and that the segregation of deaf children in institutions, where they are kept by themselves, really lies at the root of the matter; and that the grand central principle, which should guide us in our search for preventive measures, should be the retention of the normal environment during the period of education. The direction of change should therefore be toward the establishment of small schools and the extension of the day-school plan. The average cost of the education of a deaf child in an American institution is $223.28 per annum, and a small day-school could be maintained at no greater cost, although the parents would be compelled to furnish, in addition, the industrial training which is now provided by the State; but this would give no concern, for so many deaf-mutes are now earning their livelihood by trades which are not taught in the institutions as to demonstrate the practicability of apprenticing deaf-mutes in ordinary shops.

The employment of the gesture-language and lack of articulate speech are efficient elements operating to separate deaf-mutes from hearing persons, and Professor Bell advises that all deaf pupils should receive instruction in articulation and in speech-reading. In the schools of Europe more than 65 per cent of the deaf and dumb were, in 1882, receiving efficient instruction in this way, and were taught to speak and understand the speech of hearing persons, while in our institutions 4,241 pupils received no instruction whatever in articulation, and only 886, or 14 per cent, were under oral instruction.

The question whether these remedies are the best and most practicable ones or not may safely be left to the judgment of the able men who have devoted their lives to the subject; but all those whose sympathies for this unfortunate class are strongly excited must bear in mind that the interests of the whole community are also to be considered, and no one could, in the interest of humanity, or even in the interest of that small portion of the human race most directly concerned, advocate measures which lead to the perpetuation and increase of the evil.

Whether we approve of Professor Bell's recommendations or not, all persons, those who hear as well as those who do not, must feel that he has done good service to the community by calling attention to the danger which now attends our system, but his paper is far more than a warning: it is a promise, and its direct practical bearing is a very