_Deaf-Mutism._ The child born deaf pays no attention whatever to sounds. An intellectual expression is seen on his face and by six months he is able to do all that a normal baby can do with the exception of hearing. The child should early be taken to an ear specialist in the endeavor, if possible, to correct the defect of hearing. Such little ones who are destined to a life without sound, should be given every opportunity to learn to read the lips and to secure a good education--to be taught a vocation where eyesight is of more value than hearing. Special institutions are in existence today which can take these deaf mutes when small and so teach them to make audible sounds that they can make themselves understood--at least partially. Lip reading is a wonderful improvement over the deaf and dumb alphabet, and should be taught early. _Congenital Blindness._ Perhaps not until the child is six months old can the observer distinguish between blindness and idiocy. The blind child of course will not fix his eyes upon any object; but the general lassitude and the inability to hold up its head, while seen in idiocy, is not present in blindness. _Feeble Mindedness._ A baby that is born with a weak mind is found to be very backward in all the normal developmental attainments of the growing child. A normal baby holds up its head at four months and should be able to sit erect at six months. The weak-minded baby will not do this, and often as late as two years it will not make any attempt to walk or to talk. There is an unnatural expression--a vacant look--to the face, while there is often much dribbling at the mouth. _Early Training should be Instituted._ It is necessary to call the attention of a physician to these facts, that the parents may be instructed in regard to the early training which is so essential in all these weak-minded little folk. In our opinion it is best to remove these children early to special institutions, where their education can be superintended by those thoroughly accomplished and accustomed to dealing with this class. There are varying grades of feeble mindedness--the backward child who requires a longer time to learn things, and the child who is slow at school and possibly cannot get through more than the fourth or fifth grade--but as soon as weak mindedness is discovered, it is best to transfer the child to some special institution. CHAPTER XXXII SKIN TROUBLES