Deaf-mutism / by Holger Mygind.

  • Mygind Holger, 1855-1928.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Deaf-mutism / by Holger Mygind. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    of deaf-mutism. Everything, however, tends to prove that it is entirely, or principally, in congenital deafness that consanguinity is an important etiological factor. It is, however, undecided whether consanguinity in itself is a remote cause of deaf-mutism, or whether it is through the intensified transmission of hereditary morbid conditions or tendencies prevalent in a family, that it makes itself felt. Theoretical considerations are strongly in favour of the latter supposition, but it is but fair to say that up to the present there have not been many or convincing facts brought forward in its support. Of these, the following are the most im- portant. W iLHELMi could only find hereditary influences in two of 18 consanguineous marriages with deaf-mute children [io8, p. 72], and Mygge only in two out of 15 P- 275], both authors merely having looked for deaf-mutism or partial deafness in the family. In Dr. W. Meyer's clinic, in Copenhagen, hereditary influence was found in five of 12 consanguineous marriages [189, p. 38], and in 13 of the 28 marriages of which the 33 congenital deaf-mutes mentioned in Table VIII. were born. The figures are only slightly increased (14) by including the nervous diseases men- tioned on p. 68 and following. Finally, Lemcke found serious bodily and mental defects in 51 per cent, of his cases [210, p. 99], but he includes drink and tuberculosis, both of which are found in a very large number of families. The circumstance that, while 23 deaf and dumb children were born in the 14 consanguineous marriages in Denmark where no here- ditary influence could be discovered, i.e., on an average, 1-64 in each, the fact that 30 such children
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