728 DEAF AND DUMB by physicians, except the few who make aural surgery a specialty. When noticed they are too often regarded as merely symptoms of more general disorders, and neglected until too late. The demands made upon the ear in ordinary life do not require such acuteness of perception as to render immediately sensible a diminution of its power ; imperfect apprehension is often ascribed to mental rather than physical defects ; and the decay of hearing in old age is regarded as natural and inevitable. Yet Von Troltsch says that in childhood earache and discharges are very common, and in middle life fully one third no longer hear perfectly and normally with one ear. It is not known to what extent the " hard of hearing " have been enumerated with the " deaf and dumb " in censuses ; but very few who lose their hearing after the age often come to the institutions for the deaf and dumb, whose registers are almost the only sources whence statistics of the causes and ages of deafness are derived. Enumerations of the deaf and dumb are made in the decennial cen- suses of the United States and Great Britain, and have been taken in most of the countries of continental Europe at different dates. From the rest of the world no statistics have yet been procured. The data thus obtained in Europe and America give ground for the surmise that deafness is more prevalent in cold than in hot countries, and among the Caucasian than among other races. The following will serve as in- stances of the differences in the proportion of deaf mutes to the total population : COUNTRIES. Date. Proportion. 1 in Switzerland : Aargau 1836 189 " Vaud 1836 1,112 Sardinia 1834 769 Norway 1835 977 Sweden 1840 1,528 Denmark .... 1834 1,942 Holland 1833 2,000 Belgium 1835 2,226 Luxemburg .... 1835 2,295 Prussia 1849 1,364 .France 1853 1,212 T "eland 1861 1,176 Scotland 1.311 Isles in British seas 11 1,649 England (i 1,640 1871 1,971 United States 1830 1,954 1840 2123 11 u 1850 2,152 11 M 1860 2,276 11 II 1870 2,380 The true proportion, in the United States and Great Britain, is probably 1 in 2,000 ; the older estimates made it 1 in 1,600; and 1 in 1,500 may be taken as the average of the United States and Europe. Some of these discrepan- cies are doubtless due to the errors and omis- sions which have been detected in even the latest and most carefully taken censuses. Thus in 1870, out of 294 pupils in the Illinois insti- tution, only 97 were enumerated. The two following tables show the numbers recorded in the United States census of 1870, and the proportions deduced thence; to which, for comparison, is added the number of pupils re- ported by the various institutions during the same year : NUMBER OF THE DEAF AND DUMB IN THE UNITED STATES AND TEEEITOEIES, 1870. STATES. Proportion, 1 in J 5 jj 186 103 89 376 47 117 9S4 145 777 34 229 92 298 125 858 118 168 29 205 145 105 146 865 804 389 142 709 467 484 258 276 815 99 22 72 79 13 2 2 1 2 1 1 4 80 8 ! 1 1 1
- 5
2 4 15 9 8 7 78 26 183 4 177 90 89 16 139 111 48 47 89 94 89 29 16 7 10 1 'i i
- 7
2 1 'i i 'i Is 1* o "" 125 54 56 313 28 84 748 119 654 15 198 70 222 79 289 103 155 80 180 99 73 110 320 248 436 182 658 468 417 207 280 257 110 24 61 97 11 4 8 2 1 's 9 16 4 I ^ 59 15 15 198 5 53 613 50 193 7 88 100 100 22 120 27 57 55 31 85 79 9 176 86 343 246 293 147 141 115 C6 21 50 59 Maine 1786 1720 1979 2238 3061 2431 2447 3921 2441 2049 1845 982 2294 2044 1730 3328 3632 8911 2486 8469 3689 8528 1827 2207 2178 1828 1987 1927 8049 2602 2079 2174 2642 2235 8011 8973 8953 10622 8545 4119 4559 14999 9966 4821 1914 8992 351 188 167 656 71 221 1783 277 1438 61 884 184 534 218 619 212 826 48 401 245 197 .232 723 570 790 265 1889 872 883 455 459 549 166 55 121 141 23 4 4 5 2 1 4 18 48 6 165 85 78 280 24 104 799 132 656 27 155 42 236 93 261 94 158 19 196 100 92 86 858 266 401 123 CSO 405 8i9 197 1&3 284 67 83 49 62 10 2 2 4 '8 14 18 8 851 188 167 651 69 217 1768 268 1425 54 811 108 401 214 442 122 237 82 262 134 154 185 634 476 751 286 1823 805 823 454 459 548 165 55 114 189 22 4 4 4 1 1 4 18 48 5 New Hampshire . . Vermont Massachusetts ... Rhode Island. ... Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania. ... Delaware Maryland Dist. of Columbia. Virginia West Virginia.... North Carolina.. . . South Carolina . . . Georgia Florida Alabama . . . Mississippi Louisiana Texas Kentucky Tennessee Missouri Arkansas Ohio Indiana Illinois Michigan Wisconsin . Iowa Minnesota Nebraska Kansas California Oregon Nevada . Dakota Montana Wyoming Idaho Colorado Utah New Mexico Washington Total 8916 7289 14907 1298 7562 8713 2380 16205 AGES OF THE DEAF AND DUMB IN THE UNITED STATES AND TEEEITOEIES, 1870. AGE. Total. Male. Female. White. Col'd. Indian. Unknown Under 1 55 12 21 6 84 6 54 12 1
1-5 . 895 206 189 854 46 5-10 2051 1 168 888 1,891 187 10-15 3,087 1,634 1,403 2.820 246 2 15_20 2,560 1,406 1,154 2,418 165 1 20-80 8211 1 810 1,401 2.S99 252 80-40 1,845 1,025 820 1,724 146 3 40-50 1,270 710 560 1,181 99 1 50-60 . . 924 522 402 855 79 60-70 574 288 291 543 87 70-80 213 105 108 191 24 80-90 90-100 . . 47 9 18 2 29 7 43 6 4 8
100 and over 2 2 2
Total 16,205 8,916 7,289 14,907 1,291 7
