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With regard to the sex distribution, the number of males reported deaf is 3,733, or one in 213 of the male population; the number of females is 3,508, or one in 244. Here, again, as in the case of the blind, the greater exposure of men impresses itself.

The age distribution of the deaf is exhibited in the follow table: --

The progressive increase in the proportion of deaf persons in each vicennial period of life, is suggestive of the decay of power and impairment of function which come with advancing years.

The observation illustrated in the last table, that age is an important factor in the matter of deafness in any community, finds further exemplification in an analysis of the assigned causes of the defect. Of the 7,241 persons avowing them deprived of hearing, 4,815 give their opinion of the circumstances in which their deprivation occurred. Nearly a fourth of this number (1,067) assign advanced age as the cause of their deafness. Scarlatina is next to old age in the list, 951 cases being charged to the account of this scourge of childhood. Inflammatory action, variously described as otitis, sores in the head, ulcers in the head, abscesses in the ear, catarrh, was the cause of deafness in 878 persons. Fevers of various kinds, typhoid being the chief, are charged with 280 cases. Congenital cases numbered 280, and hereditary cases, 211. Measles are the assigned cause of 216 instances. Among the 283 cases of deafness caused by accidental injury, are 44 which are ascribed to the "discharge of cannon," or to "cannonading"; a number add the clause, "in the army." The "noises of trip-hammers" and, other "factory noises," chiefly in boiler-works, founderies and cotton mills, are blamed by 50 persons. Others among the assigned causes are as follows: scrofula (144); neuralgia (48); disease of throat (32); cerebro-spinal meningitis (36); exposure (57); cold bathing and diving (40); erysipelas (30); diphtheria (31); sunstroke (17); whooping-cough (19); small-pox (15); thunder storms (11); cancer (5). Among the improbable and fanciful causes are: mumps (16); vaccination (4); asthma (2); hay fever (1); cholera (1); chicken-pox (1); fright (1); abuse (1).

The Dumb.

Of this class, comprising presumably those persons who can not talk, but who can hear, and who are otherwise in the possession of unimpaired faculties, 129 were returned, -- 81 males and 48 females. It is highly probable that a careful inquiry into these 129 cases would result in a very material change in these numbers. Dumbness without deafness is very rare, and when not due to malformation is almost invariably a sign of idiocy; with the exception of a few instances of loss of speech due to anatomical defect, these 129 cases of so-called dumbness may fairly be assigned to idiocy or to deaf-mutism. Some support to our inference, that these statistics of the so-called dumb should be redistributed upon a new classification, is given by the fact that 81 of these cases, nearly two-thirds of the whole number, are under twenty years of age, and 43, or more than one-third the entire number, are under the age of ten years. There is no apparent reason why dumbness should be found in the young so exclusively, and the presumption is that careful investigation would correct such an observation. Seventy-five of the cases are reported as congenital. Very little information is afforded upon the schedules to guide judgment as to the causes of the loss of speech as alleged; one individual is recorded as "born without a tongue"; another was made dumb by shock; another, a Chelsea lad, was rendered permanently speechless by "fits caused by fear of the Pomeroy boy "; and, finally, another attributed his loss of speech to an "overdose of medicine."

The Deaf and Dumb.

According to the returns, the number of deaf-mutes in Massachusetts, in May, 1875, was 654. The census of 1865 ascertained 561 of this class of unfortunates. The enumeration of the deaf and dumb has always been found to be a task of considerable difficulty, but it is noteworthy that the several enumerations in this State have not been greatly at variance, one with another, when the proportion of deaf mutes to population is regarded. This proportion in 1875 was one to 2,536; in 1865, it was one in 2,258. There are many good reasons for believing that the census of 1875 is not less accurate than that of ten years ago; if this be granted, we find that the proportion of the deaf and dumb is diminishing. We are certainly more highly favored in this regard than are most of the countries of Europe. The following table, copied from the report on the Irish census of 1861, gives some suggestive statistics upon this point: --