been established, and is in successful operation, under the presidency of Dr. E. M. Gallaudet, the youngest son of the founder of the American asylum. In New York, an elder brother of this gentleman, the Rev. Dr. Thomas H. Gallaudet, has ever since 1852 conducted services in his church in the sign language, and in 1872, organized a commission to promote the temporal and spiritual welfare of adult deaf mutes, in which he has the co-operation of three clergymen and one layman, who, during the year ending Oct. 29, 1873, held services for deaf-mutes in 31 churches in the principal cities of the United States.

In London, a church has been built to meet the same necessity, and religious services are conducted by two chaplains and four laymen, in various parts of the metropolis; Manchester also posseses a chaplain and lay-helpers employed in the same work; in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin, also in Birmingham, and the large manufacturing towns of Yorkshire, special funds are raised, and special agents employed, to promote in like manner the social and religious benefit of the deaf and dumb. In Liverpool the same results are aimed at by voluntary agency, where, besides the Sunday services, lectures are given during the week, when a library and reading-room are thrown open, a penny-bank has been brought into successful operation, and a benevolent society visits the sick, helps the needy, and buries the dead.

These are the means at present employed for the benefit of the deaf and dumb, and it is no small honor to the present century, which has won so many proud distinctions in other fields of enterprise and usefulness, that it should have done so much for those who for so many generations were utterly excluded from light and knowledge.

DEAF AND DUMB (ante). The organization of institutions to educate the deaf and dumb in the United States dates from the early part of this century. An essay on Teaching the Deaf to Speak, by Dr. W. Thornton, of Philadelphia, was published in 1793, and in 1811, a grandson of Braidwood tried to establish a school in New York and Virginia, but failed in both instances. The circumstances which led to the opening of the Connecticut asylum at Hartford, April 15, 1817, are as follows: A deaf-mute little girl in the family of Dr. Cogswell, an eminent physician in Hartford, attracting some attention, it was soon afterward found that there were other deaf-mutes in the country. It was decided to send some one abroad to acquire the art of educating them; and to establish a school for this purpose funds were raised, and the Rev. F. F. Gallaudet, D.D., was selected for this work. He left the United States May 15, 1816, to execute this mission. The institution was incorporated by the Connecticut legislature in May, 1816, with an appropriation of $5,000. Dr. Gallaudet returned to America in August of the same year, accompanied by Laurent Clerc, a deaf-mute pupil of the abbé Sicard, and they immediately commenced collecting funds to start the school. The enterprise excited general interest; individuals and churches contributed liberally, and the sum of $12,000 was raised in the course of a few months. Early in 1819, the government of Massachusetts followed the example of Connecticut by providing for the education in the asylum of twenty indigent pupils from that state. The appropriation was afterwards enlarged so as to meet the demands of this entire class. New Hampshire made a similar provision in 1821, and Vermont and Maine in 1825. In 1834, South Carolina and Georgia decided to send their indigent deaf-mutes to the asylum, and in 1848, Rhode Island came into the same arrangement. In 1819, congress made a grant to the institution of 23 acres of wild land, the proceeds of which now form a fund of $339,000. It was owing to this munificent gift that the name of the school was changed to the "American Asylum." Before the school at Hartford was in operation, efforts had been made to establish a similar institution in the city of New York; a society was formed which was incorporated April 15, 1817, as the "New York Institution for Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb.' Watson's book was taken as a guide, and articulation was taught in cases where the scholar appeared to possess the necessary aptitude, but this method did not prove very successful; and in 1827, the legislature, which had provided since 1822 for the support of 32 pupils, authorized an investigation by the superintendent of common schools of the state, who recommended in his report the introduction into the New York school of the improved methods in use at Hartford and Philadelphia. In consequence of that recommendation the directors finally succeeded in engaging, in 1831, the permanent services of Harvey P. Peet, LL.D., then one of the most efficient instructors in the American asylum. He served as principal from 1831 to 1867, and has a worthy successor in his son Isaac Lewis Peet, LL.D. Under the management of these two able teachers the institution has taken its place among the most successful schools for deaf-mutes in the world. Its grounds comprise about 26 acres, upon the banks of the Hudson river at Washington heights. The institution has a shoe-shop, tailorshop, and carpenter-shop, a printing-office, garden, and seamstress rooms connected with the school, in which the pupils receive competent instruction to prepare them for self-support by manual labor, as in all our large asylums. Prof. E. Henry Currier, a leading teacher of this establishment, has secured better results than are usually met with in giving articulation to the dumb and lip-reading to the deaf. Most of his pupils have attained such distinctness of pronunciation and such quickness in recognizing the fleeting indications of words which are made in ordinary utterance, that they have given their instructor a reputation which is attracting more and more pupils of this class to

the institution. The method of teaching articulation by visible speech was invented by A. Mellville Bell in England about 1848, and consists of a species of phonetic writing based on the action of the vocal organs in producing sound. The Pennsylvania institution was organized at Philadelphia in 1820 by Joseph Seixas, a Jew of Portuguese descent. Among its first instructors were Laurent Clerc and Lewis Weld, the latter filling the office of principal till 1830, when he was recalled to Hartford to succeed Dr. Gallau det. The Kentucky asylum at Danville was incorporated in 1823, and the Ohio asylum at Columbus was opened in 1829. Virginia, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Michigan incorporated institutions, in the course of the next 25 years, and at the present time every state has provided for the education of the deaf and dumb who are adopted as wards of the commonwealth;" the state regarding it as a primary duty that they shall not be excluded from those educational privileges accorded to every member of the community. Most of these institutions derive their whole income from annual legislative appropriations. The usual term of attendance is 5 years, but the legal term of instruction in most states is 7 years, and may be extended in cases of good scholarship; the average annual cost for board, lodging, and tuition for each pupil supported by the state is $325. There are 51 institutions in the United States, a national college at Washington organized by E. M. Gallaudet, LL.D., and 6 institutions in Canada. Religious services have been conducted since 1850 by the Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, D.D., eldest son of the founder of the American asylum, at St. Ann's chapel for deaf-mutes, in New York city, but he and his assistants preach frequently in other parts of the country. The American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb, a quarterly periodical, has been published since 1847; conventions of the principals and instructors have been held every few years since 1850, at which papers containing valuable information have been read. Elementary manuals for the deaf-mute have been written in this country by H. B. Peet, J. S. Hutton, Jacobs, Keep, and others. An enumeration of the deaf and dumb is made in the decennial census of the United States, and the proportion is about 1 in 2,000. Of the post-natal causes it has been found that scarlet fever has since 1830 produced 20 to 25 per cent of the total cases; scrofula and spotted fever have also caused a large proportion. The following table gives statistics for the year 1879: (In 1881, there were 55 institutions in the U. S.; 7117 pupils.)

INSTITUTIONS FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB, 1879.

INSTITUTIONS FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB, 1879-(CONTINUED).

Both in

DEAF AND DUMB (in law). From the imperfect methods formerly in use for the education of the deaf and dumb, they were almost everywhere held to be legally in the same position as idiots and madmen. The Roman law held them to be incapable of consent, and consequently unable to enter into a legal obligation or contract. England and Scotland the amount of their capacity is now a question of fact, which, in cases of doubt, will be referred to a jury. In the same manner, a mute will be examined as a witness in regard to a fact to which he is capable of bearing testimony, and the examination will be conducted in the manner which seems most likely to elicit the truth. (Best, Law of Evidence, p. 201.) The same principle will govern the estimate of his responsibility for crime. (Stephen's Com. iv. 461.) It is of course legally, as it is physically, impossible that a mute should act as a juror.

DEAFNESS may be complete or partial, may affect both ears or only one, may date from birth, be permanent or only temporary, and is but too often one of the distressing symptoms of advancing age. The causes of deafness are numerous. On glancing at the article AUDITORY NERVE, the reader will at once remark the extraordinary intricacy of the hearing-apparatus there described, and will easily conceive that although it be contained in a little nut of densest bone (the petrous portion of the temporal), still it is exposed to many deteriorating influences, and that very slight causes may disarrange the exquisite adjustment of its parts. 1. The auditory nerve may itself be unsusceptible to the stimulus of sound, from some diseased condition at its origin in the brain, or at its final subdivision in the labyrinth. This is termed nervous deafness. 2. The structures which conduct the vibrations of sound to the labyrinth may be faulty, from accident or disease. 3. The passage leading to the tympanum or drum may be blocked up. 4. The cavity of the drum may have ceased to be resonant, owing to deposits from inflammatory attacks, to loss of its membrane, or air being excluded, from obstructions in the passage between it and the gullet (the Eustachian tube).

Nervous deafness may be caused by a sudden concussion, as from a "box on the ear," or a general shock to the whole body, as in the case of the celebrated Dr. Kitto, who lost his hearing, when a boy, by a fall from the top of a house. The concussion from loud sounds suddenly taking the ear unawares, before its small muscles have time to prepare themselves for the shock, causes the deafness which follows the firing of cannon. Even a loud yell close to the ear has been sufficient to destroy the hearing power on that side. As such an accident is generally accompanied by an increased flow of blood to the part injured, it may be relieved by the application of leeches, applied behind the auricle, and the car should for some time be protected from loud sounds as carefully as possible. In some of these cases the nerve gradually recovers its sensibility, but in many the deafness continues, and is accompanied by a distressing singing in the

ears. Exposure to cold affects the auditory nerve; and gouty persons, or those who are suffering from the poisons of typhus fever, scarlatina, measles, mumps, etc., frequently become deaf. Some medicines, as quinine, produce nervous deafness; so do debility and mental excitement; but all these causes seem to act in one way-viz., to increase the flow of blood to the ear, and should be treated accordingly.

The solid conductors of sound to the auditory nerve may be injured or diseased, so that the vibrations are interrupted. One curious cause of deafness has been recently shown to exist by Mr. Joseph Toynbee of London-viz., an increasing stiffness in the little joint by which the stirrup-bone moves in the oval window of the vestibule; this stiffness prevents the base of the stirrup pressing inwards sufficiently to affect the contents of the labyrinth, therefore it ceases to keep the auditory nerve en rapport with the membrane of the drum. This condition may be recognized during life by the patient losing the power of adapting his hearing to varying sounds. Two persons speaking at once prevents his hearing the voice of either; there is a constant buzzing in the ear, and he gets deafer and deafer day by day. This curious disease is frequently associated with gout and rheumatism, and in its earlier stages may be influenced by the same remedies as these; but if once established, it is incurable.

Sound reaches the auditory nerve through the vibrations of the bones of the head, but chiefly through the external opening in the auricle, the passage leading from which is shut at the depth of an inch and a quarter from the surface by the membrane of the drum stretching across it. Should this passage be blocked up, so that the sounds can no longer pass along it to impinge upon the membrane, either total or partial deafness must result.

The most common obstruction is an accumulation of the wax secreted by a small ring of glands near the orifice. The object of this cerumen or wax is to catch the particles of dust floating in the atmosphere; but sometimes it is harder than usual, and is no longer gradually expelled by the movements of the jaw in speaking and eating. At last, it fills the passage in the form of a hard plug, and sounds can neither pass through it nor by its side; if left, it gradually causes serious changes in the shape of the passage, and even symptoms resembling diseases of the brain. Sometimes foreign bodies find their way into this passage, or tumors grow in it, and no unprofessional attempts should be made to remove them, lest the membrane of the drum be injured. It is but seldom that any instruments are necessary in addition to a stream of water thrown briskly in by means of a syringe, with a nozzle smaller than the circumference of the passage. Should the wax be very firm and hard, is is well to soften it by dropping in some oil or an alkaline solution. But even a stream of water, unless great care be taken, may injure or burst the delicate membrana tympani, and the proceeding leave the patient suffering from a more serious condition than before.

A membrane, to be resonant, must have air on both sides of it, and the membrana tympani obtains this essential by means of the Eustachian tube, the lower orifice of which, on each side of the gullet, opens for a brief period at each act of swallowing, and admits a small quantity of air, which ascends into the tympanic cavity, if the tube is in a healthy condition; but frequently in persons suffering from relaxed mucous membrane, the Eustachian passage becomes swollen and impassable, or blocked up by some thickened mucous secretion. During a common cold, persons often suffer from this cause of deafness. It has been supposed by some, that enlarged tonsils may interfere with the pharyngeal opening of the tube, and with that view they cut portions off them occasionally with great benefit to the condition of throat in which these glands are enlarged; but the latter are situated below and in front of the Eustachian tubes, and cannot be the immediate causes of the obstruction.

In some cases, the membrane of the drum may be perforated; and though the mere perforation is not sufficient to cause more than a slight degree of deafness, if the mucous membrane lining the tympanic cavity be thickened at the same time, the person is usually able to hear only the loudest sounds. If the perforation be stopped up, however, the air confined in the tympanic cavity vibrates sufficiently to stimulate the auditory nerve, through the round window of the labyrinth, and a useful degree of hearing is restored. In 1848, Mr. Yearsley of London showed that a small pellet of cotton-wool might be used for this purpose. It should be moistened with fine oil, and inserted on the end of a probe. Patients generally learn how to stick it neatly into the aperture themselves. It should be removed every three or four days, or oftener, should cleanliness require it.

Mr. Toynbee has invented an artificial membrana tympani of vulcanized india-rubber, attached to the end of a fine silver wire, by which it can be inserted or withdrawn. These beautiful little instruments may now be obtained of every surgical instrument maker, and are at least worth trying in cases of perforated membrana tympani, as they often do good, can do no harm, and are very cheap. The india-rubber having been pared to the size likely to fit the individual's ear, it is moistened with warm water, and gently passed down the auditory passage; the sensations of the patient will easily decide when it has gone far enough, and he gladly discovers, by the sound of his own voice or that of the surgeon, that his hearing has been suddenly improved.

The deafness of aged persons has been shown, by Mr. Toynbee, to be generally caused by the effects of previous inflammatory attacks, and may irequently be much

Deal.

relieved by counter-irritation behind the ear, alterative medicines, and washes which restore the healthy condition of the throat and the external auditory passage.

There are numerous 'cures for deafness" advertised from time to time; some are harmless if useless, others are useless, but very dangerous, owing to the readiness with which inflammation may be set up, and the liability of the latter to extend to the brain or its membranes. The diseases which affect the ear are the same as affect other organs, and require to be treated upon the same principles. It is advisable, as soon as the first symptoms of approaching deafness are felt, to apply to one of the regularly qualified practitioners who devote themselves entirely to the subject, and to have nothing to do with these so-called cures, which benefit only the vendors.

The best English works on the subject are Practical Observations on Aural Surgery, by William R. Wilde of Dublin, and The Diseases of the Ear, by Joseph Toynbee of London.

DEAF SMITH: co., Tex. See page 902.

DEAK, FRANZ, Hungarian politician, was b. in 1803 at Kehida, in the Hungarian co. of Zala. Having studied law at Raab, he began to practice as an advocate in his native county, and soon became noted for his eloquence and enlightened patriotism. Elected in 1832, to the national diet, he, as leader of the liberal opposition, opposed, by legal and constitutional means, every attempt of the imperial government to infringe on the constitutional rights of his country. This firm and moderate policy enabled him to effect more than one reconciliation between Hungary and the Austrian emperor as her king-temporarily in 1840, and in 1867 more permanently. While upholding the inde pendence of his country, he labored for its internal improvement, promoting measures for the elevation of the peasantry, and advocating the abolition of the odious exemption' from taxes enjoyed by the nobility. His views on this last point displeased the party of the nobles, and for some years after 1840, his county did not return him to the diet. He still, however, continued to guide the councils of the moderate liberal party, and in spite of his aversion to extreme measures, he promoted the association for national defense, in the view of a possible struggle with Austria. After the revolution of March, 1848, he became minister of justice in the cabinet of count Batthyanyi (q.v.), and had formed the project of effecting a general reform in the administration of justice in Hungary, which, however, the war rendered impossible. D. used every effort to ward off the war, and come to an arrangement with Austria. On Kossuth's coming into power (Sept. 17, 1848), D. resigned his portfolio, and retained only his place in the diet, In the last months of 1849, at the approach of prince Windischgrätz, he proposed to sue for peace, and was one of the deputies sent for this purpose to the Austrian gen. It is well known that that step failed, and that D. was even for some time a prisoner at Pesth; he then withdrew from public affairs, and retired to his estate. When the Hungarian revolution was suppressed, he refused the invitation sent him by M. de Schmerling, minister of justice at Vienna, to take part in the legislative conferences, as he disapproved of the Austrian policy with regard to Hungary. He did not return to public life till 1860, when a constitution was granted to his country.

On hearing of the arrest of count Ladislas Téléki, D. set out for Vienna with M. Eötvös, and procured the release of his countryman, as well as the promise of an independent Hungarian ministry. Returned by the city of Pesth to the diet in 1861, he became in it the leader of the moderate party, at the same time that the extreme party collected round count Téléki. The death of the latter (8th May) destroyed the only influence which could counterbalance that of D.; and the diet appointed him to draw up the address to the emperor. D. demanded, in that paper, the constitution of 1848, a Hungarian min istry resident in Pesth, the return, without restriction, of the exiles, and the restitution of their property. Rejected at first by the emperor, this address was again drawn up with some modifications in the details; the emperor answered it by a rescript which with difficulty dissimulated his repugnance to such an arrangement, and in his turn, D., in name of the diet, protested publicly against the imperial rescript. On the 23d, the emperor pronounced the dissolution of the Hungarian diet, which protested anew, under the direction of D., against the illegality of the measure which dispersed them Among the events consequent on the war between Austria and Prussia in 1866, was the final triumph of D.'s policy in the establishment of a constitutional relation between Hungary and Austria. At a general election in 1869, the results of which were favorable to his policy, D. was, by an overwhelming majority, returned again for the city of Pesth. D. died in 1876. His funeral was a truly national event, and was attended by every Hungarian of note. A memoir was published in London in 1880.

DEAL, a municipal borough, and member of the parliamentary borough of Sand. wich, maritime t. and sea-bathing place, in the e. of Kent, on a bold open beach, near the s. extremity of the Downs, between North and South Foreland, 18 m. e. s. e. of Canterbury, and 8 m. n.n.e. of Dover. It has three streets running parallel to the beach, and others stretching into the country. A fine anchorage extends 7 or 8 m. between D. and the Goodwin Sands. D. has mainly arisen to supply the wants of vessels which are often detained by the winds in the Downs to the number of 400 or 500 at a time. The chief branches of industry are connected with maritime pursuits, boat-building, sail-making, piloting or hoveling, victualing, and naval stores. Pop. '81, 8,422. D. returns two members to parliament with Sandwich and Walmer. It has been one of