Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
CHAPTER I I . M A R R I A G E S OP T H E D E A F . Having shown that a large proportion of the deaf and dumb possess hereditary tendencies toward deafness, the question naturally arises- "Do many of the deaf and dumb marry?" I t is the custom in some of our institutions to hold periodical reunions of former pupils, and in some cases advantage has been taken of the opportunities thus presented to obtain information con- cerning the marriages of the pupils, &c. A n examination of the reports of the Americad Asylum, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Hlinois institutions, yields the following results: TABLE XVIII. Total number Total number recorded to Name of institution Date of Date of of pupils Percent- opening report have mar- age admitred * ried American Asylum 1817 1877 2,106 642 30 5 New York Institution 1818 1854 1,165 191 16 4 Ohio Institution 1829 1854 560 56 10 0 Indiana Institution 1844 1854 287 26 9 1 Illinois Institution 1846 1882 1,620 174 10 7 Total 5,738 1,089 19 0 *The totnl iiuml^er of pnpili noted mclades tbe children who were in attendance at the dates of the reports I n the Appendix I have presented in tabular form a critical analysis of all the cases mentioned in the reports of the American Asylum and Illinois Institution, classifying the pupils according to the decades in which they were born. The labor involved has deterred me from making a similar examination of the pupils of the New York, Ohio, and Indiana institutions untd m*ore complete materials can be obtained than are to be found in reports published m 1854. The American Asylum and Illinois Institution, however, as I have stated before, may be may be taken as repre sentative institutions, and an examination of the tables in the Appendix leads to the conclusion that a very considerable proportion of tlie deaf children admitted to our institutions mairy. This will be ob- vious, from the following considerations: Pupils of the American Asylum, born in the year 1840, were 37 years ot age in 1877 (the date of the report), and the pupils of the Illinois Institution, born in 1840, were 42 years of age in 1882 (the date of the Illinois report), hence we may safely assume that, of the pupils of these institutions who were born before 1840, all, or nearly all, who intended to marry had married before the dates ol the reports; and in most cases it is probable that the fact of marriage had been recorded. If, 15
16 MEMOIRS O F T H E NATIONAL A C A D E M Y OP SCIENCES. then, we eliiniuate from the totals given in the above table, all the pupils of these institutions who were born since the year 1839, we obtain the following results T A B L E X I X âProportion of the pupils of our institutions for the deaf and dumb wlio marry. Total number Total number of these re- Date of i Date of of pupils corded to Percent- Name of mstitatiou opening j report born belore have mar- age 1840 ried American Asylum . 1817 1877 1,100 522 47 4 Illinois Institution 1846 1882 159 49 30 8 Total 1,259 571 45.4 Whatever may be the exact percentage for the whole country, the indications are that a considerable proportion of the adult deaf-mutes of the United States are married. INTEEMAEBIAGES OP T H E D E A F AND DUMB. When we attempt to form an idea of the extent to which interuiarnage tabes place among deaf-mutes, we are met by the difiQculry of the imperfection of the institution records I n very few cases is it specifically stated that a deaf-mute has married a hearing person.* The record usually stands that the pupil has "married a deaf mute," or that he is simply "married," leaving it uncertain whethei the marriage was contracted with another deaf-mute or with aheauug person. When we eliminate all the uncertain cas>es we obtain from the institution reports the following results: T A B L E XX.âProportion of the deaf and dumb toho marry deaf-mutes. Total number Total number of pupils re- lecordcd to Date of Date ot coided to have mar Perceut- Name of institution openiug repoi t have mai- ried deaf- â¢*ge ried niutea American Asylum 1817 1877 642 502 78 2 New Yoik Institution 1818 1854 191 142 74 3 Ohio Institution 1829 1854 56 39 69 6 Indiana Institution 1844 1854 26 21 80 a DlinoiB Institution 1846 1882 174 152 87 3 Total 1,089 856 78 C The large percentage of marriages with deaf-mutes reported from Indiana and Illinois suggests the explanation that intermarriages among the dea} and dumb may perhaps have become more common of late years Both institutions arc of comparatively recent origin (the one founded in 1844, the other in 1846); and the report of the Illinois Institution, which exhibits the largest proportion of deaf-mute intermarriages, contains the record of much later marriages than those mentioned in the Indiana report, for the Indiana record stops at 1S54, whereas the Illinois report gives the statistics of the institution to October, 1882. Unfortunately we are unable to ascertain from the reports the dates of the marriages. I f we assume, however, that as a general rule the older deaf-mutes were married before the younger, we *Only one case m the American Asylum and ten in the Illinois Institution. I t is piobable, however, that in most cases where the pupil is simply recorded as "married" the record means marriage with a hearing person.
THE FOEMATION O F A D E A F V A R I E T Y OF T H E HUMAN E A O E 17 may be able to approximate to the order of the marriages by classifying the pupils according to their period of birth. Although I have not attempted a minute classification, excepting in the cases shown in the Appendix, it is comparatively easy to arrange all the married pupils referred to above into four classes (I) those born before 1810; (2) those born in the period 1810-1839; (3) those born in the period 1840-1859; (4) those born since the commencement of 1860. The results are shown in the following table. TABLE XXI, Total Total recorded recorded Period of birth to have Percent- to have married age married deaf-mutes Before 1810 129 1 72 55 8 1810 to 1839 715 1 577 80 7 1840 to 1859 233 ' 196 84 1 1860 aud after 12 1 11 91 7 ., 1 The number married who were born since 1869 is too small to be relied upon for a percentage. I t IS only to be hoped that the percentage given above is excessive. The indications are very clear, however, Jbh at of the deaf and dumb who marry, the proportion wlw marry deaf-mutes has steadily increased. This conclusion is strengthened vhen we find that the above result, which has been deduced from a summation of all the cases recorded in the reports of the American Asylum, New York, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois institutions, is also true of the cases recorded in each report taken separately. This will be obvious from the following table: TABLE XXII. Total Total Name of institution, with date of opening Period of birth recorded to recorded to Percent- and of report have mar- have mar- age . ried ried deaf- mutes Before 1810 100 55 55 0 Date of opening, 1817 Date of report, 1810to 1839 . . . 422 350 82 9 1877 1840tol859 . . . . 120 97 80 8 Before 1810 . . . . 29 17 58.6 Date of opening, 1818 Date of report, 1810to 1839 . . . . 102 125 77.2 1854 1810 to 1832 .. 56 39 69 6 Date of opening, 1829 Date of report, 1854 1822 to 1836 . . 26 21 80 8 Date ol opening, 1844 Date of report, l!j54 1810to 1839. . . . 49 42 85 7 Date ot opening, 1846. Date of report, 1840tol859 . . . 113 99 87 6 1882. 1860 and after.. 12 11 91 7 The only institution that gives any indication of a decrease lu the proportion of pupils mar- ried to deaf-mutes is the American Asylum. The pupils born in 1859 were only 18 years of age 99 A â B E L L 3
18 M E M O m S O F T H E N A T I O N A L A C A D E M Y OP S C I E N C E S . in 1877, tbe date of the report, so that it is certain that a considerable number of the pupils born between 1840 and 1859 were married after the date of the report, and so escaped enumeration. It 18 questionable, however, whether this could affect t\\G proportion who were married to deaf-mutes. I t IS more reasonable to suppose that in this case the apparent decrease is real, for an entirely different method of investigation leads to a similar result. In the years 1843, 1857,1867, and 1877 the directors of the American Asylum published in their reports the statistics of tbe institution, giving the names of those pupils who had married. I f we assume that the pupils who were not recorded as married m the 1843 report, but who were recorded as married in the 1857 report, were married between the j ears 1843 and 1857, &c., we can divide the marriages reported from the American A s j l u m into four classes: (1) Marriages contracted before 1843, (2) marriages contracted between 1843 and 1857, (3) mariiages contracted between 1857 and 1867, and (4) marriages con tracted beiwceii 1867 and 1877. The results are shown in the following table: T A B L E X X I I I . â M a r r i a g e s of the pupils of the American Asylum. Total Total recorded Presiiined date of marriage lecorded as to have Percentage married married deaf-mutes Before 1843 143 95_ 66 4 Between 1843 and 1857 217 175 80 6 Between 1857 and 1867 131 110 84 0 Between 1867 and 1877 151 122 80.8 In this case we find that although the number of pupds presumed to have married between 1867 and 1877 is greater than the number who married m the preceding decade, the proportion who married deaf-mutes is less. I t is evident from a comparison of all the tables that of the deaf-mutes who marry at the present time not less than 80 per cent, marry deaf mutes, while of those who married during the early half of the present century the proportion who married deaf-mutes was much smaller. I t I S of course a matter of impostance to ascertain to what extent congenital deaf-mutes intermarry, but unfortunately the institution records are too imperfect to allow us to draw con- clusions on this point. Six hundred and fifty-four pupils of the American Asylum and Illinois Institution are each recorded simply to have "married a deaf-mute," without one word of expla. nation as to the name of the deaf-mute or the cause of deafness.* I t will thus be understood that the records of deaf-mute marriages are very imperfect, and it is to be hoped that some of our large institutions may publish fuller information concerning them. I n the case of a deaf-mute partner it should be stated whether the deafness was congenital or not. * Since the reading of this paper it occurred to iiie that some light might be thrown upon the subject by the theory of Probabilities I therefore submitted the question to Prof Simon Newcomb, who not only agreed with me in this idea, but was kind enough to present a solution of tbe problem deduced from the data given in this paper. He thinks the most probable conclusion to be this 1. Of the congenitally deaf who married deaf-mutes one-half married congenitally deaf and one-half non-con- gonitally deaf 2 Of the non-congenitally deaf who married deat-mutes three-sevenths married congenitally deaf and four sevenths uon-coiigeni tally deaf The full text of Piofossor Newcomb'N letters will be found in Appendix Z
T H E FOKMATION O F A D E A F V A R I E T Y O F T H E HUMAN K A C E . 19 I would also suggest that, wherever possible, the names of the husbands and wives of the pupils should be given, and the fact recorded as to whether they belong to famihes containing more than one deaf-mute or not. This is important even in the case of marriage with a hearing person, for in most of the cases of such marriages that have come under my personal observation the hearing partner belonged to a family containing deaf-mutes^ However imperfect may be the records of the marriages of the deaf it is abundantly evident, (1) that there ts a tendency among deaf mutes to select deaf-m,utes as their partners tn mart lage ; (2) that this tendency has been continuously exhibited during the past forty or f i f t y years, and (3) that there- fore there is every probability that the selection of the deaf by the deaf in marriage will continue m the future. I t 18 evident, then, that we have here to consider, not an ephemeral phenomenon, but a case of continuous selection. For instance, should it appear that there are in this country any considerable number of deaf-mutes who are themselves the offspring of deaf-mutes the indications are that a large proportion of these persons will marry, and that of those who marry, the majority will marry deaf-mutes. Thus, there is every indication that in the case of the deaf and dumb the work of selection will go on from generation to generation.
