The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-11 00:00:00

CURES OF DEAFNESS.

. (From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.) t
In the Journal for September 28, 1839 (No. 400),e,f4,v
peered a paragraph, quoted from a London :09
respecting some remarkable cures of deafness perfle
by Dr. Turnbull, of Russell-square. Being soon a te.
assured, by authority of the highest kind, that these
leged cures were an unreal mockery, and that the pee
graph must have been designed as a 'mere puff, We'ee,
ensuingour publication of the Bth of February, 0
pressed our regret for having admitted . it, desc4ingo
at the same time by the opprobious term which we jibe
heard applied to it. Thus the matter rested till the 01
ginning of the present winter, when we were some° be
surprised to be assured by a friend that, as far ai.ey
could judge, we had gone farther wrong in our rubella
don of the Bth February than in that of the 28th '-',:ii
tember, for he, having lately been in Aberdeen, ,"01
seen and conversed with persons who had been• curesd
congenital deafness by Dr. Turnbull; mid had also fu ore
that, in consequence of these eurese there was sr. the
than favourable opinion of him ameingst some °' ere
principal professors of the northern , university. re'
were induced by this information to hold our cceiden'd,
tion of the original paragraph as liable to: review ;401
being anxious that no remediable injustice should he
et
the door of this work, we determined to satisfy °lase si
of the character of Dr. Turnbull's practice, in orderw
make all possible reparation in the event of our bezel,
found in error. This opportunity occurred soon woe
on Dr. Turnbull visiting, or rather revisiting,' hid
burgh. We on that occasion went several times t° ible
surgical room, in order to witness and make all pos'nr
investigations into his mode of practice. It soon, re
peareethat, to arrive at thorough conviction, evoitla,ie
quire considerably more trouble than we had an`ty
pated, or could conveniently spare time for ; but .op
wish to do what was fair and proper on the oeeni
and the interest of the investigation itself, made d'
cheerfully overlook this difficulty. Amongst othete,P:ol,
cures which seethed necessary for making up - our PRO
we studied the most recent and approved 'worwle.
aural' surgery, in order to ascertain in what resPeespel
:urnbull'e practice differed from that whichie 0,11 e- r
ibeethe -profession: We also sought interviews wits'inet
'sons.: who *ere said to have been cured by Dr. '-rol' 10
with ~ their -friends, and with indifferent parties of
knewethem before as well as since these cures wel' the
rected; We -wrote 'to various places, to ascertain de,
present condition' of persons who had been cured illedil
early - part, of . elm past year. We carefully insreteo
written evidence subenitted to us. In short, we ora'oe;
no 'exertion which we thought at all likely eo hie:: re'
our means of forming a judgment for ourselves Wit'', i 0
pid to the character of this gentleman's practiciol
aural surgery: The conclusion at which we arriee
was, that Dr. Turnbull unquestionably had, in the 0101
of the year, in Scotland, performed many cures Viol!'
the scope of ordinary medical practice, and laeden 0„
several cures of congenital deafness. It appeared teoce
at the same time, that he had failed in several inst%e
where he had made the attempt, but that this u'i Dil
more than what might be reasonably expected from
own professions, which were, that 'his methods wernef
yet only probationary, and that he could not consequence
make sure of succeeding in every case. On these- grut re
we felt assured that the communications made to'n'tee
specting the original paragraph were, however liniPeet
tionally, unjust, in as far as a man capable of curing:oe,
genital deafness alone (to say nothing of his other,e off
was entitled 'to be respectfully, and:not-conturneh°
spoken of. belil
.
Being of this opinion, we feel it of course inctenor
upon us to lose rio time in begging our readers to CO
der the notice of the Bth of February, 1840, and n ee
tition of it oil the ensuing 4th of April, as withdrewfiee
Condemned. So earnestly do we feel on this pointeeer
we have ordered that not one other copy of the leun'bec'
containing those notices shall be given out to the pure.but that a new-edition of the numbers shall be pref.t"
tei
from which the notices in question shall be oralo.
While thus stating our own convictions, we are ne the
that many respectable persons persist in allegro dells
whole of 1)r. Turnbull's practice to be a system or
ci. If
sion. We do not quarrel with them on this gronneig
is a point on which conscientious men may fairly ';' (I°
We do not even ask-that any one shall believe aS,? V
upon our word, but would recommend all who feel Ire
terest in the matter to inquire and judge for theln'eofe
Let the case stand unjudged for any thing that w
el'
e '
to say about it ; but let us also lay before our read 1 tll
view of the evidence on which we have fornle'so6
opinion which induces us now to retract what we ecu:l Cl
an injurious statement. Having twice before anti er
mere authority, and been led thereby to bandy our colii'
ders backwards and forwards between two opposit:pe t''
elusions, we feel it to be necessary that a third ''"o•cer
the case should appear to have been adopted on a rep'
ably large basis of fact. s
Let us first explain that the deafness of the el°,,,e' '4
to'
persons called deaf-mutes has hitherto been quite in'file:
ble. 'With respect to certain modifications of de"
produced by cold, and other similarly accidental 0%40
there has long been- a medical practice attended ti:o4
some measure of success : for example, in London
eOO
is an institution called the Royal Dispensary for II , es
of the Ear, where, since its commencement in 181 erli'et
cording to a statement by its surgeon, Mr. Curtis,* t` 0,1
thousand cages have been cured or relieved. But for OP'
complete deafness which is born with a human being;; 55'
prevents the future acquirement of speech, there l','
knowledgedly no cure whatever upon the medical nyertic
This is fully owned by one of the first writers 501'1;0',
titioners of the day on aural surgery, Dr. Wilhelmeit,'
rner, of Berlin, who, in a work on the subject, o,t;ier`)l
an English translation appeared in 1837, says, ellY
are convincing proofs of the entire failure of all rem, 0
attempts hitherto made for the restoration of hear/el
deaf-mutes. !I` * * e * The deaf-dumb, wi' tit'
they be completely deaf, or merely dull of hearing"
incurable." • • . . I,,et,
The condemnation thus pronounced will appear],
distressing one, when it is known that, in civiliz.u'e`eo4l
munities, one person in about every sixteen hunaTieei
deaf-mute. It affords, by the wtee, a curious mince
illustration of what we lately explained under the tii 0:
" The Regularity of Irregular Things," that in 9101
six European states—France, Spain, Italy, Austrisecg iy
sia, and Prussia—the proportion given by statists hob
exactly one to every 1,585 of the population. The IV
number in Great Britain alone is 12,394, and in ffele"
20,189. We must the more deplore the despair curiee'',
dical. science on this subject, when we consider Yijet°'
serious drawback deaf-muteness must in every etiln otr
to the pleasures of life, and what an insurmountapeer(
struction it must be to nearly every effort of rowel
and a legitimate ambition. Even the partial- deaf° of
elderly persons and others is an evil to themselveseeh
magnitude of which it cannot be supposed that tleoi'ie 0
enjoy full powers of hearing are able to form an iq,e",c
Without further preface, we shall proceed to Pi. I',/
outline of the evidence on which we conclude thinses
Turnbull cures congenital and other extreme et.
ht
deafness.
During his recent brief residence in Edinbure'Db'eriPe
Turnbull effected the entire cure of Miss Cst4oll,tl
Walker, of Kelso, a young lady known to eerin;
Mends of our own as having been deaf and dun," ceolyf
her whole life up to that period, and who had f3r de?,
ingly received her education in the Institution 'l'o tVe,
mutes in Edinburgh. We saw this yonng Pers°, 'Orr,
a week, and next time about a month, after he pe ,
and found that she heard as well as any ordinnr,Y, ee.
,a
el
son. At the time when we saw her last, she !oriel ,
ginning to use her voice to some little purpose, in 'en Vi:
that her friends forbade her to speak to thein 1,31001:Pe
fingers, alleging that they could understand whstesdon n,
. Robert Kerse, a boy of ten years of 'age, gra'estouo
Sir Thomas M. Brisbane's fisherman at Macke
cio,
e,
had been to a great extent deaf from infancy, 'red,'
discharge of matter from his ears and frequent e,_ael.;.en
He came to Dr. Turnbull on "the 10th' of Noveniny 10 f!
--, 95t .li
ei
went home on the 16th, quite cured. Sir Thole oil
communication with which we have been felftee‘ie
him, says, "The clay after the boy's retpen, 1 e elig'ol
that he should be brought IP Pee, in eider the
sieel4:.,
examine him, In the hall of entry I heye RI the. d'e'l
clock, from which I gradually withdrew him till
but A „
tance was 24 feet, when be still heard its beats,
~w, ,01 it
, eii ~
farther :in fact, I could not well hear it InP rro
feet." Sir Thomas likewise induced Mr. Wee the roe
_ ,. e
vost of Kelso, and Mr. Armstrgul to county f) ---'
----, toi.prl
* The Present State of Aural Surgery, Sm. BY "° 'de
~i,
risen Curtis, Esq. London ; Churchill, 1841. _ d ".0"
t Kramer on the Nature and Treatment of Disea'noe'
Ear, translated by J. R. Bennet, M.D. louden : I' Tr;
and Co. .;,0,.:,IO -"