30 DECEMBER 1949, Page 4

How far can the deaf hear music ? The question

is raised by the article on Professor Samuel Alexander in the latest supplement to the Dictionary of National Biography. Here reference is made to Professor Alexander " overcoming the lifelong handicap of his deafness in the most charming manner imaginable," and a few lines later to his " delicate ear for verbal music." There is not necessarily a contradiction here. I don't know how deaf Professor Alexander was, and people who are unable to follow ordinary conversation can apprehend a good many other sounds. But that there is an

apparent contradiction is clear. * * *