THE MARRIAGE OF COUSINS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 322, 4 December 1875, Page 4

THE MARRIAGE OF COUSINS.

The following startling statement appears in the Wakefield and West Riding Herald :— Mr Samuel Smith, chaplain of the Royal Association in aid of the Deaf and Dumb, recently wrote to the Times as follows : — "I beg permission to give the testimony of my experience as regards the sad results attending the marriage of first cousins, referred to by Sir Thomas Chalmers in his speech on the Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister Bill which consequences ought to be well known, ao that they may be avoided; and you will confer a benefit on humanity by giving warning in the Times. The marriage of first cousins is undoubtedly the most prolific cause of congenital deaf-mutism known, and it frequently affects the sight, the general constitution, and the mental capacity as well. lam personally acquainted with numerous instances of this affliction in families. In one, that of a working man, out of nine children eight were deaf and dumb, and were moreover, of such weak constitutions that at one time the the three youngest (ail born singly) could not walk. In another, a clergyman's, out of eight children four were afflict9d, one being deaf and dumb, with imperfect sight; another deaf, and dumb, and blind; the two others deaf, and dumb, and idiotic. In a third there are four deaf routes. In a fourth, two out of four caonot hear. In a fifth, three children deaf mutes, with imperfect eight. It is needless to multiply instances; is no doubt whatever on the subject. The only requirement is that these con- ' sequences may be universally known, that each calamities may not be entailed upon offspring."