Abstract:

This article is a critical review of a book by Sir William Wilde (better known as the father of Oscar Wilde) entitled On the Physical, Moral, and Social Condition of the Deaf and Dumb (1854). This book, which is based on the demographic and medical information that he collected from "deaf and dumb" people in the early 1850s, not only contains medical details on how people acquired deafness but also provides a social commentary on many related topics, such as how deaf and dumb people communicated, how they lived, hereditary deafness, and their marital status, intelligence, and education. Wilde's social commentary in the book is a central focus of this discussion.

Wilde, a well-known physician in Ireland and Europe, formed various opinions on the above topics and, even by nineteenth-century standards, adopted a somewhat open-minded attitude towards deaf people. However, he was still a product of his time. This article attempts to bring to light a heretofore unknown figure in deaf history and his views on sign language and the deaf to better understand how Irish society in the mid-nineteenth century perceived deaf people. This analysis of Wilde's book can play a significant role in this understanding.

摘要：

本文是对威廉王尔德爵士（更为人所知的是奥斯卡王尔德之父）的一本书的批判性评论，该书名为《论聋哑人的身体、道德和社会状况》（1854 年）。这本书基于他在 1850 年代初期从“聋哑人”那里收集的人口统计和医学信息，不仅包含有关人们如何患上耳聋的医学细节，还提供了对许多相关主题的社会评论，例如聋哑人如何交流，他们如何生活，遗传性耳聋，以及他们的婚姻状况、智力和教育程度。王尔德在书中的社会评论是这次讨论的中心焦点。

爱尔兰和欧洲著名的医生王尔德对上述话题形成了多种看法，即使按照 19 世纪的标准，他对聋人也采取了某种开放的态度。然而，他仍然是他那个时代的产物。本文试图揭开聋人历史上一位迄今不为人知的人物及其对手语和聋人的看法，以更好地了解 19 世纪中叶的爱尔兰社会如何看待聋人。对王尔德这本书的分析可以在这种理解中发挥重要作用。