Adventures in SilenceCollingwood, Herbert W. (Herbert Winslow)
Science
Adventures in Silence
Collingwood, Herbert W. (Herbert Winslow)
Deafness
Some commercial travelers took it up, and soon nearly every restaurant
in the country began providing baked apple. There was one result which
we did not anticipate. The finer apples do not “stand up” well on
baking; they are delicious, but they flatten to a jelly. The public
demands something that stands up like an apple in shape. This has
created a great demand for the coarse-fleshed fruit of inferior quality,
which will stand up well in the pan.
We came upon another good office of the apple in this campaign. It is
an ideal toothbrush. We found that the bacteria which cause pyorrhea
are weakened by the mild acid, thus a wash of vinegar and water is an
excellent remedy. This has been verified by dentists, and a mellow, sour
apple eaten raw is likewise helpful. Using a sour apple as a toothbrush
ought to be a popular method of scrubbing the teeth.
I have perhaps spent unnecessary time over these matters, but in my
study of men who live in the silent world I have found a number who
consider the deaf man justified in finding solace in drink. It is a most
foolish prescription, but I fear the practice is all too common. The
deaf are subject to periods of deep depression, and the argument is that
the moderate use of alcohol will brighten their lives. I can think of
nothing more pitiful or ridiculous than an intoxicated deaf man. Alcohol
is the worst possible companion for the silence. There, if anywhere,
the faithless and deceitful comrades of life lead only to darkness and
misery. The deaf man needs every moral brace that life can give him;
no other character who tries to find a place and to adjust himself to
his fellow-men has greater need of the discipline which self-denial
alone can give. Only the finer and more substantial hopes are worth
considering when music no longer greets us and well-loved voices fade
away or lose all their tenderness, when they become harsh and discordant
sounds. Bottled sunshine, taken from coal or the electric wire, may be a
fair substitute for daylight, but bottled happiness will finally bring
nothing but misery to the deaf.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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