The North British Review

In einer Publikation mit diesem Titel würde man den Namen Weyach nicht erwarten. Genausowenig wie in einer Enzyklopädie namens Les Français peints par eux-mêmes (siehe den gestrigen Beitrag).

Dank Google Book Search ist nun seit einigen Tagen eine weitere Nennung des Ortsnamens bekannt. In einer Besprechung des Buches Kitto's Senses in der Zeitschrift The North British Review, erschienen zwischen November 1846 und Februar 1847, wird exakt dieselbe statistische Anomalie besprochen wie in Les Français peints par eux-mêmes.

Daten des Institut Royal des Sourd-Muets de Paris

Die Quelle scheint für beide dieselbe zu sein; die Daten seien vor allem von einer Institution erhoben worden, wird in der Fussnote auf Seite 358 ausgeführt: «Chiefly by the active exertions of the Paris Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, which has for several years taken upon itself the laborious duty of collecting information respecting the deaf and dumb from all parts of the world, and which it again disseminates, in a systematically arranged form, in occasional publications, under the title "Circulaires de l'Institut Royal des Sourd-Muets de Paris." Its well-directed efforts deserve the highest commendation from all the friends of the deaf and dumb.»

Nach der eigentlichen Buchbesprechung folgt ein Anhang mit statistischen Angaben: «We shall terminate our remarks on this interesting subject by offering a few statistical facts which have been collected with great care; [Hier folgt ein Verweis auf die oben zitierte Fussnote] and which will help to show the extent and general prevalence of deafness, more especially of congenital deafness; which, we shall see, sometimes prevail in the same family, to a fearful extent.»

Überdurchschnittlich viele Taubstumme in der Schweiz

Und weiter: «The proportion of the deaf and dumb to the entire population has been found to be 1 in 1585, in the following countries: viz. Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Saxony, G. Duchy of Saxe Weimar, Principality of Lippe Schaumburg, Hanover, Duchy of Oldenburg, Frankfort, Hamburg, Bremen, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Poland, and Great Britain. In Switzerland, the average proportion is about 1 in 500; a proportion which considerably exceeds that furnished by any other country, except the Grand Duchy of Baden, which numbers 1 in 559. In different districts of Switzerland, the prevalence of the calamity very much varies; and even in different parishes of the same canton. In some places, (as the Vallais,) the proportion is 1 in 328 of the inhabitants; in others, (Peterlingen,) 1 in 244; and in others, (Moudon,) 1 in 153; whilst, in the commune of Weyach, in the canton of Zurich, the proportion of deaf and dumb is so great, as to amount to 1 in 63 of the inhabitants. In this single canton there were (in 1832) nineteen families, in each of which two of the members were deaf and dumb; two families, in each of which there were three deaf and dumb; and one family with four deaf and dumb. The causes of the extraordinary prevalence of deaf-mutism in Switzerland - whatever they be - must be allied to those which occasion goître; as it is among the goîtred population, and the children of goîtred parents, that the affliction so greatly abounds: but not only the ear, but the brain, and the animal functions generally, seem to be greatly impaired in the unhappy community.»

Ist Taubheit eine Erbkrankheit?

Dann folgen Hinweise, aber keine Beweise für die Vererbbarkeit von Taubheit: «The remarkable prevalence of deaf-mutism in families deserves especial notice. From the records of the Paris Institution we extract the following: One of the deaf-mutes (congenitally deaf) has a maternal grandmother affected with the same infirmity: another, who lost the sense of hearing a the age of four years, is the child of a father who became deaf at the age of seven years. (...)»