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.

    80/324 (page 68)
    as to lead to the supposition of some existing con- nection between them and that abnormaUty. INSANITY IN THE FAMILY OF THE DEAF-MUTE.—Sauveur found from the Belgian census of 1835, that about 5 per cent, of the deaf- mutes in Belgium suffered from idiotisme on alien- ation mentale [67, p. 29]. It was, therefore, natural to suppose that there was a relationship between these two abnormalities, due not only to more immediate causes—especially acute brain-diseases—but also to others more remote, and that consequently there would be found a certain frequency of idiocy and insanity in the relatives of deaf-mutes.* Since Sauveur's work, however, but little has been written upon this subject, and most investigations have given but poor results. Lemcke's, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, form an exception. This author found in 33 of 405 families which produced deaf-mute children, i.e., in 8 per cent, of the cases, one or more relation—altogether 42—with insanity [210, p. 124]. This result is very much the same as that found for the 553 Danish deaf- mutes mentioned on p. 45, as there were relatives with insanity in 36 of the 514 families, i.e., in 7 per cent. Lemcke found a greater number of cases of insanity among the deaf-mutes' brothers and sisters, the reason being that he dealt with deaf-mutes of all ages, while the Danish statistics refer principally to children and young persons. Table VII. shows a greater frequency of insanity among the relatives in the ascending collateral, and a ♦There is, perhaps, another connection between deaf-mutism and brain- disease, viz.,' that the latter may be the result of the former. This will be entered into more fully when discussing the sequelaj of deaf-mutism.