The returns gave the following particulars of the number of the deaf and dumb at that date, and the proportion which they bore to the whole population: This result of 1 in 1590 for all the British population was very remarkable, on account of its close approximation to the average for the whole of Europe, which was stated in the same returns to be 1 in 1593. In the course of the next ten years, the whole popu lation had increased from 27,511,801 to 29,321,288, and the deaf and dumb had also in creased, from 17,300 to 20,311.
The distribution of the deaf and dumb, varying, as it does, so much in different dis tricts, has always pointed to the fact that the affliction must be to some extent influenced by local causes, whatever these may be. The census of 1851 showed that, for one deaf mute in there were two in Herefordshire; for one in Huntingdonshire, three in Herefordshire; for one in the east riding of Yorkshire, two in Worcestershire; for one in Durham, two in Derbyshire and two in Cornwall.
The results of the inquiry made ten years later, were, in the main, conformable to these. Then, as previously, the south-western division showed the largest proportion of the deaf and dumb in all England, and Herefordshire occupied the same position among the counties; and though, in the next decennial period (1861-71), the absolute number of the deaf and dumb had actually decreased, the relative distribution of the whole remained about the same. The numerical decrease, as compared with 1861, was found in every district iu England. except the north-western (Lancashire and Cheshire), the northern, and Yorkshire. In London. and some other places, the ratio of the deaf and dumb to the whole population was affected the residence of large numbers of deaf-mute children, collected from various parts of the country, into the institutions there established for their education, - Taking tho general. proportion for the whole of England and Wales (as shown in table C) to have been one deaf person in 1972, we find the average was considerably exceeded in the counties of Worcester, Cornwall. Derby. Sussex, Hereford, Devon—then, in a somewhat less degree in Bucks, Westmoreland. Northumberland, Somerset, Gloucester; with a still further reduction in Salop Suffolk. South Wales, Norfolk, Hertford, Dorset, west riding of York, Lincoln, Rutland. and Oxford. After this, the proportions are considerably below the average in Huntingdon. Leicester, Durham, Surrey (extra-metropolitan), Hants, Middlesex (extra-metropolitan), north riding of York, Berks, and Notts. How are these differences to be explained? Is this affliction inevitable? Or is it in any degree preventable? The fact that in 1871 there were fewer deaf-mutes in the united kingdom by more than a thousand (1074, actually) than there were ten years before, though the general population had increased more than two millions and a half in the same time, is very significant. If we may
regard it as the consequence of direct sanitary improvements, general attention to the laws of health, a more skillful treatment of the diseases which result in deafness, and the avoidance of consanguineous and other undesirable marriages, we have certainly gained a great blessing, and made a grand discovery for posterity to profit by. Guided by the light thus given, we may hope to see the number of this afflicted class brought down to the point at which it may be considered due to causes which are beyond man's control, subject alone to the will of the All-wise, who revealed himself in the earliest ages of the world as the maker of man's mouth, of the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind (Exod. iv. 11). But while social science is prosecuting this important inquiry, philanthropy has before her the work of educating these " children of silence," to whom the ordinary means of instruction are obviously inapplicable, and for whom, until a century ago, there existed no available means of education at all. Mentioned. as we have just seen, at the outset of RM'S history, by Moses, spoken of frequently in the writings both of the Old and New Testaments; alluded to by the poets, philosophers, and lawgivers of antiquity—we have no account of any attempt at educating the (leaf until the 15th c.; no school existed for them until the middle of the 18th; nor could it be said that education was freely offered, and readily accessible, until within the last fifty years. There are now in Europe and America more than 200 schools for the deaf and dumb. In the same countries where this provision is made, there cannot be fewer than 100,000 deaf-mutes. Of these about 16 per cent are children of the proper age to be at school. Nowhere is this proportion fully reached, nor can it fairly be expected, but there has been a great improvement the twenty years from 1851-71. The chil dren at the schools of the united kingdom rose from 1300 in 1851 to 1640 in 1861; and had almost reached a total of 2000 in 1871. In Scotland, the proportion rose from 11 per cent in 1851 to 14 per cent in 1871. England, which stood at 8 per cent, and Ireland, as low as 5 per cent, at the earlier date, had both reached 10 per cent and upwards, in 1871. The actual number at school at the three dates was as follows, as nearly as can be ascertained.