Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-03-14
MARRIAGES OF THE DEAF.
alexander Graham Bell Explains His Views
in Lecture at Kendall Green.

HIS ADVICE ABOUT MARRIAGE TO THOSE AFFLICTED
WITH DEAFNESS - RESULTS OF HIS RE-
sEARCHEs-How THE TENDENCY TO INHERIT
ANCE MAY BE WEAKENED By yuDIcIous MATING
DROP. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL. IN
Il an address delivered on the 9th instant
before the Literary Society of Kendall Green.
spoke on the subject of marriage. He denied
at the outset what he said was generally be-
lieved, that he wa1 ted to prevent the deaf from
marrying as they chose You can marry
whom you choose" he said, '.and hope you
viii be happy. 1t is not for me to lame you
for marrying to suit yourselves, for you all
know that myself. the son of a deaf mother,
have married deaf wife. 1 think, however,
that it is the duty of every good man and
every good woman to remember that children
follow marriage, and / am sure that there is no
one among the deaf who desires to have his
affection handed down to: his children. You all
know that l have devoted considerable study
and thought to the subject of the inheritance
of deafness, and if you will put away prejudice
out OF your minds and take up my researches
relating to the deaf you will find something
that may be of value to you an
After referring to researches in this field,
made by various investigators. he said:
1T IL obvious that persons born deaf run con-
siderable risk of having DEAF offspring if they
marry persons who are also born deaf. II we
take all the marriages OF congenitally deaf per-
sons. without reference to whether they mar
ried deaf or hearing persons We have five indie
PENDENT sets of statistics from which We NAV
derive information regarding the effects upon
the offspring % My own researches indicate
that where ore or both of the parties were born
deaf there will be fifteen deaf children in every
hundred families: GU DIR. Gilletts statistics
give eighteen deaf children TO every hundred
families; 90 Dr. Turner's. thirty-two; az Mr..
Williams. forty-seven, and 90 Mr.. Connors 8,
ninety-fve
The FAMILY AND NOT TIE ISDIyIDUh-
persons who are reported deaf from birth. as
a class. exhibit tendency to transmit the
defect; and yet, when we come to individual
cases. We cannot decide with absolute GER
tainty that any one was born deaf. Some who
are reported deaf from birth probably lost
hearing Ill infancy. others reported deaf in
infancy were probably born deaf. Fog educa-
tional purposes the distinction NAV be imrna-
;erial, but in the study Of inheritance il
makes all the difference IN the world whether
the deafness occurred before or after birth.
VOW. in my researches think have found a
sarer and more safe guide TO those cases that
an liable to transmit the defect
The new guide that would give YOU is this:
Look at the family rather than at the indiyid-
u.d. lOa viii hnd in certain families that one
child is deaf and all the reet hearing the an
eestors and other relatives also being free from
deafness. This il what is known as .'spo-
radio case o: deafness deafness which affiicts
one only d family.
We'll. the deafness in such cases may be acct
dental There Is no proof that such deafness is
liable 10 De inherited. excepting where the per-
son Is reported deaf rom birth In the vast
majority OF eascs reported deaf from birth
there Is an undoubted tendency to inheritance.
But where the deafness j. caused BIZ meningitis.
scarlet fever CT like causes--and no other case
Of deafness exists in the family-there is proba-
bly, little any. tendency To inheritance But
wnen you have two members of one family deaf
or three or four or tive there YOU have the
PROOF that a tendency to deafness exists in the
family What term family deafness exists
there Something has been transmitted from
the parents TO the children that has caused
deafness or helped to cause it, remember
= case in which there were four chill
dren in one family deaf and none Of
them were born deaf. One child became deaf
perhaps, from measles. another from scarlet
fever &c. do not now remember exactly what
causes were stated. They became deaf, how
eye-. at different times and from apparently
accidental causes But can consider that Il
vas accidental that there should have been
four children in one family deaf? The fac,
thar a number Of children in the same family
are deaf points TO an Inherited tendency to
deafness In the family. One result of my re-
searches il to show the great importance OF
studying the results of marriages OF persons
uho come from families OF that kind Ny TO