DEAFNESS AND HEREDITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18214, 7 November 1922, Page 4

DEAFNESS AND HEREDITY.

RELATION TO MARRIAGE. Discussing the question of congwiital . deafness in relation to marriage at ths British.Deaf and Dumb Association Congress at Birmingham, Dr. Kerr Lots, of V Glasgow, said he had met deaf-born chil-' :,.y dren with the remains or islands of hear- ! ing. No deaf person was entirely devoid •■" ", of hearing, but-it w*» not sufficient to be serviceable. Dr. Love tabulated bis > experiences of heredity in drawing a parallel with Mendel's experiments on tall ■; and dwarf edible peas. He showed there | muat be no marriage with blood relations. .; because that increased the occurrence of •;; defects. The union of. the deaf-born wal • -■• more disastrous still. ' Ail! their children would suffer the same affliction. Deaf-born people should not marrj v " hearing members of a deal fraternity, "i nor should members of trha- latter class ;- intermarry, because of what Mendel called the recessive factor* aMiougb this . might not manifest itself for jjenerations. It was difficult to tell who wore hybridhearing people or carriers of deafness ,; without their family history. Mendel had .;>-; emphasised and defined th.3 conditions of -r 7 heredity, the principles of which two 4 American doctors and himself had pre- :| viously enunciated. Mendel had thoreby ;'; pointed the way to an enormous di«un*- ■%}% Uon of congenital deafness, > '; Dr. Love urged the deaf to havo con- ? sideration for their successors. To that- -- end he recommended instruction on heredity to deaf children in their last school year.