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THE  EXCEPTIONAL 
CHILD 


M.P.E.GROSZMANN 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/exceptionalchildOOgrosiala 


THE    EXCEPTIONAL    CHILD 


THE 
EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 


BY 
MAXIMELIAN  P.  E.  GROSZMANN,  Pd.D. 

EDUCATIONAL    DIKECTOR     OP     THE     NATIONAL    ASSOCIATION     FOR     THE     STUDY     AND 

EDUCATION   OF   EXCEPTIONAL  CHILDREN 

AUTHOR  OF  "a  WORKING   SYSTEM  OF  CHILD   STUDY  FOR   SCHOOLS" 

"THE  COMMON  SCHOOL  AND  THE  NEW   EDUCATION" 

"THE  CAREER  OF  THE  CHILD  FROM  THE  KINDERGARTEN  TO  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL" 

"some  fundamental  VERITIES  IN   EDUCATION" 

"THE    STUDY    OF    INDIVIDUAL    CHILDREN,"    ETC.,    ETC. 


CONTAINING  A 

MEDICAL     SYMPOSIUM 

WITH  CONTRIBUTIONS  FKOM  A  NUMBER  OF  EMINENT  SPECIALISTS 


CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

NEW   YORK  CHICAGO  BOSTON 


Copyright,  1917,  by 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Ed./PsycB, 
Library 


THIS   BOOK   IS   DEDICATED   TO 

MY  WIFE 

WHO  HAS  NOT  ONLY   INSPIRED  ME  WITH  THE  COURAGE 

OF   HER  OWN   CONVICTIONS 

WITH    THE    UNSELFISH    NOBILITY    OF    HER    DEVOTED    SOUL 

BUT   WHO   HAS   GIVEN   HER  LIFE   AND   HEALTH 

TO  THE   WORK  WHICH  HAS  MADE  THE   WRITING  OF 

THIS  BOOK  POSSIBLE 


FOREWORD 

In  discussing  the  problem  of  the  "exceptional"  child, 
these  pages  employ  the  term  in  its  broadest  sense,  as 
a  general  term  in  a  scheme  of  classification  such  as  I  sub- 
mitted to  the  educational  and  medical  world  a  number 
of  years  ago.  In  their  efforts  to  find  smooth  and  in- 
offensive app>ellations  for  children  of  mentally  defective 
development,  some  educators  and  school  systems  have 
loosely  used  this  term  (as  they  had  used  the  term 
"atypical"  previously  suggested  by  me  for  a  special 
group  of  exceptional  children)  as  a  euphonic  designation 
of  those  children  who  are  really  abnormal.  In  this 
book,  the  term  is  used  strictly  in  the  sense  of  a  general 
term  for  all  types  of  deviation  from  the  "average." 

The  schedule  of  classification  underlying  the  discus- 
sion in  this  book  is  given  on  page  60. 

The  purpose  of  the  book  is  to  give  a  perspective  of 
the  entire  situation,  and  to  suggest  ways  and  means  of 
coping  with  the  problem  in  its  various  aspects.  It  is 
plain  that  the  problem  is  one  which  presents  more  than 
one  feature.  It  is  concerned  with  educational  procedure, 
indeed.  But  the  character  of  the  human  material  which 
is  to  be  educated  plays  a  fundamental  part.  Thus, 
questions  of  heredity  and  family  history;  of  environment 
and  social-economic  conditions;  of  child  hygiene  and 
public  sanitation;  of  medical  inspection  and  clinical 
work;  of  psychologic  and  psychopathic  investigation, 
and  other  elements  too  numerous  to  state,  enter  into 

vii 


viii  FOREWORD 

the  discussion.  Our  investigations  will  take  us  into 
juvenile  courts  and  into  the  hovels  of  crime  and  prosti- 
tution; into  the  almshouses  and  charity  bureaus,  and 
wherever  humanity's  woes  and  shortcomings  are  studied 
and  methods  of  relief  are  considered. 

It  has  been  my  endeavor  to  write  the  book  in  simple 
language  and  in  a  style  which  will  appeal  even  to  readers 
who  have  but  a  modicum  of  scientific  training  and 
vocabulary.  The  average  teacher  and  parent  cannot 
be  expected  to  be  an  expert  along  the  various  lines  of 
research  which  are  followed  in  this  book.  Yet,  I  hope 
that  this  book  will  be  helpful  to  them  in  opening  up 
the  problem  to  their  consciousness,  and  in  stimulating 
them  to  do  their  share  in  bringing  about  possibilities  for 
its  solution.  On  the  other  hand,  the  material  is  so  pre- 
sented that  it  gives  the  reader  who  is  anxious  and 
capable  to  make  professional  use  of  it  the  opportunity 
to  do  so.  An  effort  has  been  made  to  avoid  mere  asser- 
tions, and  to  refer  in  every  case  to  sources  and  expert 
counsel.  The  classified  bibliography  presented  at  the 
close  of  the  book  will  facilitate  these  references. 

I  wish  to  thank  those  who  have  assisted  me  in  the 
preparation  of  the  manuscript,  by  advice  and  co-opera- 
tion, by  encouragement  and  actual  help;  who  have 
placed  their  own  material  at  my  disposal,  and  helped  me 
with  the  permission  to  use  their  illustrations  and  cuts; 
also  those  publishers  who  have  provided  large  collections 
of  their  books  for  my  study  and  information.  I  am 
particularly  grateful  to  those  eminent  specialists  who 
have  given  their  valuable  co-operation  in  the  compila- 
tion of  the  Medical  Symposium.  I  desire  to  acknowledge 
the  services  of  my  son,  Waldemar  Heinrich  Groszmann, 
who  has  not  only  helped  in  the  preparation  of  parts  of 


FOREWORD  IX 

this  manuscript,  but  has  for  years  devotedly  assisted  me 
in  my  practical  work  with  atypical  children. 

May  the  book  find  a  modest  place  in  present-day 
educational  literature,  so  that  it  can  help  where  such 
help  is  needed. 

Maximilian  P.  E.  Groszmann. 

Plainfield,  New  Jersey, 
September  ist,  191 7. 


CONTENTS 


Foreword vii 

PART  I— THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL 

CHILD 

Chapter  I — ^The  Educational  Problem  in  General      i 

The  Public  School  and  Its  Critics,  p.  i.  Public  and  private  schools.  Na- 
tional consciousness.  Failure  of  school  education.  Exaggerated  de- 
nunciation. Fundamental  objects.  Education  and  National  Ideals, 
p.  3.  Superficial  teaching  of  history.  Tremendous  national  problems. 
A  conglomerate  mass  of  races  and  peoples.  Public  School  Education 
and  Community  Problems,  p.  5.  The  business  of  life.  Utilitarianism  vs. 
race  development.  Human  by-products.  Efficiency.  Salvation  of 
failures.  Excessive  cost  of  caring  for  human  dereUcts.  The  Human  Raw 
Material,  p.  7.  Exceptional  children.  Potential  derelicts.  Physical 
defects.  The  Public  School  and  the  Child,  p.  10.  Individual  differ- 
ences. Administrative  Problems,  p.  10.  Shifting  of  the  population. 
Immigration.  Equipment.  Mass  teaching.  Extensive  vs.  intensive 
methods.  Repeaters.  Wasted  expense.  Education  and  the  Individual 
Pupil,  p.  12.  No  equality  of  endowments.  Different  typ)es.  Differen- 
tiation. Small  percentage  of  abnormals.  Criminality.  The  exception- 
ally fit  vs.  the  exceptionally  unfit.  Many  variations.  The  Problem 
of  the  Exceptional  Child,  p.  16.  Variation  from  type  as  a  factor  of 
progress. 

Chapter  II — ^The  Problem  of  Efficiency     ....     i8 

Standards  of  Efficiency,  p.  18.  Efficiency  experts  and  efficiency  tests. 
Efficiency  vs.  SkiU,  p.  18.  Definition.  Efficiency  is  the  quality  of  the 
leader.  Individual  Competency,  p.  19.  Combination  of  endowments. 
Potential  and  actual  competency.  Hereditary  and  environmental  fac- 
tors. Individual  Increment,  p.  19.  Few  individuals  produce  large 
increments;  most  people  cultivate  only  a  small  part  of  their  potentials. 
Types  of  Men  and  Mind,  p.  20.  Individual  combinations.  Perform- 
ance levels.  Intellectual  quality.  Complexity  of  Modern  Life  Con- 
ditions, p.  21.  Rapid  changes  of  conditions.  Machinery.  Inventions. 
Travel  and  transportation.  Immigrants.  Tearing  away  of  old  props. 
Comp»etition.  Difficulty  experienced  by  the  masses.  Struggle  for  ex- 
istence. Skill  vs.  Efficiency,  p.  23.  Definition.  Ordinary  life  tasks 
require  mostly  skill  only.  Different  grades  of  skill.  Sktll  Quantita- 
tive; Efficiency  Qualitative,  p.  24.  Efficiency  and  worldly  success. 
Community  Efficiency,  p.  25.  Mastery  of  resources.  "Law  and  order." 
Higher  and  more  specialized  performance  levels.  Different  combina- 
tions in  competency.     Individual  types  and  community  types.    Oc- 


xii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

cupation  centres.  Localization  of  Industries,  p.  26.  Narrowing  of  op- 
portunities. Wage-earners.  Loss  of  potential  increments.  Restriction 
of  variations.  Factory  Methods,  p.  27.  Machinery.  Minute  division 
of  labor.  Human  automatons.  Efficiency  and  National  Ideals,  p.  2g. 
National  resources.  National  competency.  National  trend.  Demo- 
cratic eflBciency  still  in  its  infancy.  Taking  stock  of  national  endow- 
ments. Special  interests.  National  aims  to  be  clearly  recognized. 
Democracy  and  Efficiency,  p.  31.  Differentiating  citizens  into  groups 
representing  types.  Cultivation  of  group  and  individual  endowments. 
Conservation  of  competency.  National  Tendencies  and  the  Public 
School,  p.  31.  Vocational  training  and  guidance.  Specialized  vs. 
broad  education.  "Practical"  vs.  "Cultural"  subjects.  Skill  vs. 
eflSciency.  The  best  individual  increment  is  the  efficiency  increment. 
The  Public  School  and  Individual  Efficiency,  p.  33.  Machines  vs.  human 
beings.    Efficiency  produces  self-realization.    National  and  world  ideals. 

Chapter    III — Different    Civilization    Levels    in 
Modern  Society 35 

Many  Different  Types' of  Men',  p.  35.  Deeper  causes  of  differences.  Levels 
of  civilization.  Primitive  Man,  p.  36.  Impulse.  Reflex  actions.  Early 
human  achievements.  Small  individual  increments  through  long  periods 
of  time.  No  "degenerates"  among  savage  peoples.  Primitive,  or  re- 
tarded, development  vs.  deterioration.  Fitting  the  misfits.  Simpler 
Mental  Constitutions,  p.  38.  Modern  life  handicaps  the  simpler  and 
more  primitive  mind.  Transmission  of  acquired  weakness  to  offspring. 
Economic  pressure  causing  psychoses.  Individual  Evolution,  p.  40. 
Culture  epochs.  Periods  of  development:  infancy  period,  primitive 
period,  race  period,  pubescent  period,  adolescent  period.  Different 
rates  of  sjjeed.  Uneven  development.  Individual  combinations.  Abo- 
riginal traits  vs.  modern  potentials.  Influence  of  the  Environment,  p.  44. 
Repression,  perversion,  lack  of  exercise  and  opportunity.  Racial  dif- 
ferences. Convention.  Civilization  Levels,  p.  45.  Reversions  to 
type.  Modern  Reverberations,  p.  46.  Idea  of  property,  of  the  sanctity 
of  human  life.  Cruder  forms  of  conduct.  Superstitions.  Upheavals. 
Selfishness.  Gambhng.  Strata  vs.  Individuals,  p.  49.  Survivals.  Primi- 
tive recklessness.  Composite  American  Stock,  p.  50.  Our  contemporary 
ancestors.  Fragments  and  relics  of  bygone  times.  Mixture  of  pro- 
gressive and  primitive  elements.  Colored  school  children.  The  Amer- 
ican negro.  Race  differences.  Primitive  Conduct,  p.  54.  Mental  and 
social  maturing.  Thought  vs.  reflex.  Panics.  Wars.  Dissolutions  of 
the  soul  units.  Psychopathic  conditions.  Relapses.  Civilization  Levels 
and  Democracy,  p.  56.  Difficulty  of  assimilating  the  backward  types. 
Americanizing  the  immigrant.  The  American  type.  Individual  Ad- 
justment, p.  58.  Position  of  the  individual  in  the  cultural  scale.  Varia- 
tions.   Period  of  childhood  the  starting-point. 

Chapter  IV — Classification  and  Terminology   .   .     60 

Traditional  Confusion  in  Terminology,  p.  60.  Arbitrary  and  indefinite  use 
of  terms.  Classification,  p.  60.  Normal,  subnormal,  abnormal  children. 
Social  strata.  Limitations  of  Classification,  p.  63.  No  absolute  classi- 
fication possible.  Mixture  of  types.  Normality,  p.  64.  Normal  changes 
in  development.  A  normal  child  different  from  a  normal  adult.  Nor- 
mality impUes  the  presence  of  all  human  potentials.    Potentially  Normal 


CONTENTS  xiii 

PAGE 

Children,  p.  66.  Modifications  of  type.  Direction  of  potentials.  Sub- 
normaliiy  and  Abnormality,  p.  67.  Subnormals  not  mental  defectives. 
Vagueness  of  ordinary  terminology.  Mistaken  statements  about  sub- 
normals and  defectives.  A  Caution,  p.  69.  Children  vs.  adults.  No 
Rigidity  of  Types,  p.  70.  Meumann's  rigid  types.  EfiFect  of  training. 
Backsliding.  The  ascending  and  the  descending  scale.  Terminology, 
p.  71.  Dictionary  terms  lack  precision.  Definite  content  given  to 
each  term.  The  Diagram,  p.  72.  The  non-himian  group:  abnormak. 
The  typical  child.  The  importance  of  variability.  No  "average"  chil- 
dren. National  types  and  levels.  Variations  upward,  downward,  and 
sideways.  Sexual  differences.  Grades  of  efficiency  and  performance 
levels.    Neurotics  and  genius. 

Chapter  V — ^The  Normal  Child 77 

The  Wail  of  the  Well,  p.  77.  Evil  of  concentrating  on  mental  defectives. 
Definitions  of  Normality,  p.  78.  Negative  scales.  Method  of  inference. 
What  is  a  Normal  ChUdf  p.  79.  School  standards.  "Average"  indi- 
viduals. School  Success  Not  a  Safe  Standard,  p.  80.  Conformists  vs.  non- 
conformists. "Mental  Age,"  i>.9io.  Scales  of  intelligence  and  their  fallacy. 
No  "Average"  Normality,  p.  81.  Normal  individuals  differ  widely  in 
kind.  Common  sense.  Normality  vs.  Maturity,  p.  82.  Differences  be- 
tween stages  of  growth.  Sex  differences.  Racial  Standards,  p.  85.  Folk 
and  race  psychology.  Temperamental  types.  Various  Conditions  of 
Normality,  p.  86.  Occupational  differences.  Efficiency  and  Normality, 
p.  86.  Individual  efficiency  and  competency.  Plasticity  and  capacity 
for  growth.  Occupational  efficiency.  Parental  efficiency.  Social 
efficiency.  Cultural  efficiency.  The  normal  child  must  have  the  ca- 
pacity of  healthy  growth. 

Chapter  VI — Potentially  Normal  Children  ...     90 

Pseudoatypical  Children,  p.  00.  Change  of  Schools,  p.  go.  Different  stand- 
ards in  different  school  districts.  Other  Causes,  p.  91.  Slower  mental 
and  physical  growth.  "  Distinguished  dunces."  Speed  as  an  element  of 
weakness.  Illness  and  accidents.  Immigrants.  Rapid  growers.  Neg- 
lected children.  Lack  of  Breadth  in  School  Organization,  p.  94.  Defects 
of  the  school  vs.  defects  of  the  child.  Novices  as  teachers  of  young  chil- 
dren. Professional  Training,  p.  95.  Teachers'  training.  No  training 
for  parenthood.  Spoiled  and  miseducated  children.  Sense  Defects, 
p.  96.  Unsuspected  impairments.  Observational  Attitude,  p.  g6.  Symp- 
toms must  be  studied.  Causes  must  be  discovered.  Distinction  be- 
tween fact  observed  and  opinion.  Discipline  and  punishment.  Atypical 
Children,  p.  97.  Sense  reactions.  Various  groups.  Neglected  senses. 
Blind  and  Deaf  Children,  p.  97.  Often  possessing  considerable  compe- 
tency. Helen  Keller.  Danger-signals.  Priruiples  of  Growth,  p.  99. 
Irregularities.  Chronological,  physiological,  anatomical,  psychological 
age.  Body  measurements.  Early  Observations,  p.  100.  Opportunities 
of  parents.  Functional  Defects,  p.  100.  Teeth.  Respiration.  Heart 
action.  Grip.  Digestion.  Intestinal  intoxication,  etc.  Growing  pains. 
Left-Handedness,  p.  loi.  Not  necessarily  a  danger-signal.  Speech  de- 
fects. Difficulties  of  the  Nervous  System,  p.  102.  Nervous  disorders  and 
psychoses.  Habit-tics.  Epilepsy.  Hysteria.  Children's  lies.  Retarded 
Brain  Development,  p.  104.  Pathologically  retarded  growth-rate.  Re- 
peaters. 


xiv  CONTENTS 

KAOZ 

Chapter  VII — Exceptionally  Bright  Children  .    .   io6 

Four  groups.  First  Group:  Children  Endowed  with  Good  Memory,  p.  io6. 
Mechanical  school  work.  Often  not  really  bright,  but  mediocre.  Mem- 
ory and  skill  vs.  higher  competency.  Later  failures.  Second  Group: 
Children  of  Accelerated  Physical  and  Mental  Growth,  p.  107.  Rapid  rate 
of  development  without  pathological  precocity.  Winifred  Sackville 
Stoner,  Jr.  "Natural  Education."  Other  cases.  They  need  tasks 
commensurate  to  their  strength  and  advancement.  The  physical  basis. 
Caution.  Third  Group:  Children  of  One-Sided  Development,  p.  118. 
Distinct  types.  Pronounced  and  unusual  gifts.  Danger  of  loss  of  bal- 
ance. Concentrated  potency.  Illustrative  cases.  Fourth  Group: 
Children  of  Neuropathic  and  Psychopathic  Tension,  p.  122.  Genius  vs. 
crank.  Psychic  defects.  Genius  and  insanity.  Criminals.  Idiots- 
savants.  Wimderkinder.  An  Early  Reade",  p.  125.  Exceptional  visu- 
alization. Motor  ideas.  The  Artistic  Type,  p.  127.  Artists  and  poetic 
geniuses.  Non-pathological  genius.  The  Mathematical  Prodigy,  ■p.  \29). 
William  James  Sidis.  Other  Cases,  p.  130.  General  Discussion,  p.  132. 
Normal  possibilities.  Second  breath.  The  Proper  Method  at  the  Right 
Time,  p.  132.  Nascent  periods.  Rise  of  instincts.  Suggestion,  p.  133. 
Its  positive  value.  Second  Breath,  p.  133.  Overcoming  of  premature 
fatigue.  Unscientific  methods  of  teaching.  Increasing  the  number  of 
functioning  brain  cells.  Subconscious  Self,  p.  134.  Space  and  Time 
Concepts,  p.  134.  Mere  abstractions,  or  methods  of  conception.  Defy- 
ing time.  Anatomical  Structure,  p.  134.  Higher  and  lower  brain  centres. 
Automatic,  motor,  visual  memories  and  their  centres.  Favorable  con- 
ditions of  growth.  Pathological  Complications,  p.  136.  Mortgaged  in- 
heritance. Neuropathic  tension.  Dangers  of  Artificial  Stimulation, 
p.  137.  Adolescence.  Normal  growth  a  process  of  maturing.  An 
International  Problem,  p.  138.    Japanese  researches.    Conclusion,  p.  139. 


Chapter  VIII — Psychopathic  Disorders  and  Psycho- 
pathic Constitutions 140 

Dementia  vs.  Amentia,  p.  140.  Absence  of  mental  endowment  vs.  destruc- 
tion of  endowments.  Lack  of  development.  Arrest  of  development. 
Principiis  Obstal  p.  141.  Resist  the  beginnings  of  mental  derangement  in 
children.  Educational  mistakes.  Balancing  power  of  ethical  standards 
and  of  emotional  discipline.  Effect  of  Injudicious  Training,  p.  142.  Ex- 
cessive instructional  demands.  Psychopathic  delinquents.  Early  child- 
hood. Various  Special  Defects,  p.  143.  Word-deafness  and  Word-blind- 
ness, p.  143.  Speech  Defects,  p.  144.  Various  speech  centres.  Agraphia 
Caused  by  Auditory  Defect,  p.  144.  Difl&cult  diagnosis.  Lichtenheim 
speech  schema.  Stammering  and  Stuttering,  p.  148.  Imitation,  habit, 
nervous  causes.  Defects  of  Number  Conception,  p.  148.  Localized  de- 
fects. Psychology  of  number.  Counting  and  space  concepts.  Me- 
chanical element.  Memory  defects.  Dementia  Precox,  p.  151.  Group 
of  symptoms.  Predementia  precox.  Psychopathic  personalities.  Sexual 
Neurasthenia,  p.  151.  Sexual  precocity.  Pubertal  development.  Group 
of  symptoms.  Prostitution.  Other  Psychopathic  Symptoms,  p.  152. 
Fatigue.  Timidity.  Negativism.  Excessive  reaction.  Frights.  Tan- 
trums. Illusions,  etc.  Tics.  Vasomotor  disturbances.  Balance.  Tro- 
phic disturbances.  Illustrative  Cases,  p.  154.  The  Educational  Clinic, 
p.  158.    Psychopathic  clinics.  , 


CONTENTS  XV 


Chapter  DC — ^The  Feeble-Minded  Group     .   .   .    .159 

Vagueness  of  Definition,  p.  159.  Various  attempts  at  definition.  Amentia 
vs.  Dementia,  p.  161.  Diflference  between  the  insane  jind  the  feeble- 
minded. Difference  between  dulness  and  feeble-mindedness.  Common 
sense.  Feeble- Mindedness  vs.  Retardation,  p.  162.  Confusion  between 
retarded  and  arrested  development.  Causes  of  retardation.  Inade- 
quacy of  ^'Mental  Age,"  p.  165.  Idiots,  imbeciles,  morons.  Moral  im- 
beciles. Industrial  classification.  Factor  of  growth.  Growth  periods. 
Stretching  the  Binet  scale.  Arguing  in  a  circle.  Specific  tests.  Feehle- 
Mindedness  vs.  Primitiveness,  p.  170.  Feeble-minded  may  be  trained  in 
skill,  but  not  intellectually  improved.  Civilization  levels.  Negroes, 
Indians,  Eskimos,  etc.  Are  lower  races  comparable  to  the  feeble- 
minded.^ Feeble- Minded  vs.  Lower  Strata,  p.  173.  Environmental  con- 
ditions. Basic  disorders.  Retarded  groups.  Exploiters  of  the  weak. 
Necessary  Distinctions,  p.  175.  The  term  feeble-minded  is  deceptive. 
Factory  methods  and  skill.  Disposition  of  the  lower  levels.  Problems 
of  democracy.  Human  machines  to  be  replaced  by  real  machinery. 
Uplift  of  the  submerged.  The  function  of  the  aments.  Methods  of 
Diagnosis,  p.  178.  Development  of  right  criteria.  Benefit  of  the  doubt. 
Difference  of  reaction  in  adults  and  children.  Observation  classes  and 
schools.  Physical  tests.  Mental  tests.  Common  sense.  Illiteracy. 
Judgment.  Characteristics  of  the  feeble-minded.  The  Prayer  of  the 
Defective  Child,  p.  183. 

Chapter  X — ^Juvenile  Delinquency 185 

What  is  Crime?  p.  185.  Law  vs.  crime.  Artificial  offenses.  Success  as  a 
criterion.  The  Veneer  of  Civilization,  p.  187.  Primitive  modes  of  living. 
Man's  Inherent  Savagery,  p.  187.  Civilization  still  shallow.  Cruel 
treatment  of  offenders.  War  and  the  Primitive,  p.  189.  The  God  of 
Battles.  The  psychology  of  war.  Promptings  to  return  to  the  primi- 
tive. Reverberations  of  Primitive  Instincts,  p.  \gi.  Conceptions  of  right 
and  wrong.  Business  ethics.  Child  labor.  Souvenir  craze.  Gambling. 
Racial  Elements,  p.  192.  Different  moral  and  mental  attitudes.  Tor- 
tuous mental  methods  of  Orientals.  Black  Hand.  Chinese  societies. 
Harikari.  Juvenile  Offenders,  p.  193.  Caution  in  treating  the  problem. 
Delinquency  and Feeble-Mindedness,  p.  IQ2.  Moral  imbeciles.  More  ac- 
tive delinquency  in  the  higher  grades  of  mental  defect.  Percentage  of 
feeble-minded  offenders  small.  The  dangerous  criminal  is  intellectually 
endowed.  Psychopathic  Personalities,  p.  197.  Many  youthful  delin- 
quents victims  of  neurasthenic  disorders.  Adolescent  perversion. 
Epilepsy  and  Crime,  p.  igg  Padded  cells.  Epileptic  colonies.  Famous 
epileptics.  Medical  Relief,  p.  199.  Treatment  and  surgery.  Primitive 
Types,  p.  200.  Reassertion  of  primitive  instincts.  Customs  in  ancient 
and  modern  times.  Reverberations  of  aboriginal  cruelty.  Different 
codes  of  ethics.  Economic  Conditions,  p.  202.  Poverty.  Lack  of  recre- 
ation. Lack  of  privacy.  Slum  conditions.  Cruelty  to  children. 
Economic  helplessness.  Idleness.  Majority  of  juvenile  offenders  hon- 
est and  willing  to  work.  An  Interesting  Bit  of  Statistics,  p.  204.  Small 
percentage  of  mental  defectives.  The  Problem  of  Truancy,  p.  204. 
Misfits.  Faulty  home  conditions.  Wanderlust.  The  barefoot  boy. 
Periods  of  change.  Psychopathic  nomadism.  Children's  Lies,  p.  207. 
Many  causes.  Few  are  abnormal  and  morally  reprehensible.  Constitu- 
tional liars.     Misconceptions  of  Normal  Conditions,  p.  209.    Natural 


xvi  CONTENTS 

PAGB 

order  in  the  awakening  of  impulses.  The  child's  standard.  Normal 
toughs.  Difference  of  home  conditions.  Weak  Wills  and  Unsocial 
Instincts,  p.  210.  Temptations.  Prevention.  Opportunity  for  social 
endeavor.     Pronounced  individualism.     Unwritten  law.     Conclusion, 

E.  212.     Knowledge  of  conditions  necessary.    Reform  of  methods  of 
andling  juvenile  offenders. 

Chapter  XI — Sexual  Perversion  and  Prostitution  213 

Prostitution  and  Feeble- Mindedness,  p.  213.  Small  percentage  of  aments. 
Silly,  voluptuous  girls.  The  Tragedy  of  Woman's  Life,  p.  214.  The 
girl's  hazard  vs.  the  man's  escape.  A  new  social  conscience.  Puritan- 
ism is  not  normaUty.  Ignorance  and  Prudishness,  p.  215.  Sexual  de- 
railment can  be  prevented.  Children's  ignorance;  parents'  lies.  Sexual 
Education  vs.  Sexual  Hygiene,  p.  216.  Training  in  good  habits.  Truth. 
Spiritual  vs.  physiological  truth.  Stages  of  intellectual  growth.  Crea- 
tion in  religion.  Sexual  polarity.  Mere  knowledge  is  not  virtue. 
Home  and  Its  Influences,  p.  218.  Right  relations.  Spiritual  atmosphere. 
Parents  to  tell  the  secret  of  life.  Marital  Choice,  p.  218.  The  marriage 
market.  Promiscuous  Relations  of  Children,  p.  219.  Streets  and 
games.  The  darkened  parlor.  Tenement  Conditions,  p.  21Q.  Naive  con- 
ceptions in  southern  countries.  Lack  of  privacy  in  slums.  Morbid 
Sexuality,  p.  219.  Awakening  of  sex  instinct.  Masturbation.  Inver- 
sion. Early  Intercourse,  p.  221.  Early  marriages.  The  first  "fall." 
Former  concepts  less  refined  than  modem  ones.  Ancient  Sex-Worship, 
p.  222.  Prostitution  and  inebriety  in  relation  to  ancient  reUgious 
practices.  Racial  Differences  and  Their  Modern  Counterparts,  p.  223. 
Curious  family  arrangements.  Malpractice  with  Children,  p.  225.  Re- 
lapses into  savage  habits.  Demented  offenders.  Causes  and  Remedies, 
p.  227.  Causes  vary.  Improvement  of  educational  procedure  and 
social  conditions.  Illegitimate  Offspring,  p.  227.  Few  prostitutes  have 
offspring.  Superiority  of  illegitimate  children.  Conclusions,  p.  228. 
Guard  the  cluld's  sexual  life.  Warm-blooded  appreciation  of  con- 
ditions. 

PART  II— THE  PROBLEM  OF  CLINICAL  RESEARCH 
AND  DIAGNOSIS 

Chapter  XII — ^The  Determination  of  Exceptional 
Development  in  Children 230 

Different  Methods  of  Testing,  p.  230.  Obscurity  of  terminology.  Mislead- 
ing findings  due  to  loose  methods  of  testing.  Erroneous  percentages  of 
feeble-mindedness.  The  true  percentages.  Hereditary  and  Congenital 
Data,  p.  231.  Causes  of  exceptional  development.  Doubtful  value  of 
some  heredity  charts.  Need  of  a  national  system  of  vital  statistics. 
Co-operation  of  the  medical  fraternity.  Mental  Status  of  the  Child,  p. 
232.  A  mere  "scale  of  intelligence"  insufficient.  Fallacy  of  pseudo- 
exactness.  The  Author's  Own  Larger  System  of  Tests,  p.  233.  General 
divisions.  Child  History  Data,  p.  233.  Etiological  statements.  Family 
data.  The  child's  own  history.  Description  of  the  child.  Physical 
data.  Functions.  Moral  status.  Peculiarities  and  habits.  Mental 
status.  General  symptoms.  Body  Measurements,  p.  234.  Anthropo- 
metric data.     Pulse,  respiration,  temperature.    Special  observations. 


CONTENTS  xvii 

PAGE 

Medical  Examinations,  p.  234.  Cross-section  examination.  Laboratory 
tests.  Anatomical  data.  The  skeleton.  Musculature  and  character- 
istics. Functional  tests.  Regimen  and  diet.  Disease  and  treatment 
record.  Educational  Tests,  p.  237.  Tests  of  intelligence  and  judgment 
iw.  tests  of  physiologic  function.  Physiopsychological  Tests,  p.  237. 
Vision.  Hearing.  Touch.  Taste.  Smell.  Location.  Balance. 
Mental  Tests,  p.  238.  Counting,  naming,  association,  judgment,  co-or- 
dination, expression,  etc.  Arrangement  in  Periods,  p.  238.  Biological 
factors  of  growth.  Periods  of  development.  Five  periods.  No  hard  and 
fast  lines.  Retardations  and  accelerations.  Conditions  of  Testing,  p. 
240.  The  series  not  intended  for  general  office  practice.  Shorter  clinical 
set  of  tests.  Fallacy  of  rapid  tests.  Observation  clinics.  Tests  may 
take  the  place  of  traditional  school  examinations.  Use  in  special  in- 
stitutions for  exceptional  children.     Instructive  Cases,  p.  242. 

Chapter  XIII — As  to  Standardization 248 

Tendency  to  Establish  Standards,  p.  248.  Quantitative  terms.  The  work  of 
the  statistician.  Standardization  of  Mental  Tests,  p.  248.  The  popular- 
ity of  the  Binet  Tests.  Computation  of  "  mental  age."  Difficulties  En- 
countered, p.  248.  Difference  in  mental  type  vitiates  age  standards. 
Even  a  division  in  periods  can  never  be  absolute.  Hesitation  of  the 
author  to  standardize  his  tests.  Placing  of  Details,  p.  249.  Particular 
performances  may  be  graded.  Fallacy  of  "  formal  training  "  idea.  Tests 
will  reveal  performance  levels.  The  Personal  Equation,  p.  250.  It  enters 
into  the  valuation  of  results.  Tests  Merely  Methods  of  Approach,  p.  251. 
Complex  nature  of  the  child.  The  variable  elements  of  schooling  and 
education,  of  environmental  conditions  and  personal  experience. 

Chapter  XIV — ^The  Binet  Scale  of  Intelligence  .  253 

Its  Value  for  Comparison,  p.  253.  Employed  by  author  in  Huey's  modified 
form,  with  certain  amendments.  The  Author's  Amendments,  p.  253. 
Goddard's  pictures.  Enlarged  drawings.  Money  test.  Questions  of 
comprehension.  Nonsense  sentences.  Criticism  of  Binet  Tests,  p.  255. 
Language  Tests,  p.  255.  .Differences  of  type  and  opportunity.  Effect  of 
school  training.  Color  Tests,  p.  257.  Color  perception  and  verbalization 
of  color.  Weight  Test,  p.  258.  Indicates  a  special  kind  of  intelligence. 
Repetition  of  Words  and  Numerals,  p.  258.  Merely  a  memory  test. 
TheTestof  Sixty  Words,  p.  258.  It  depends  upon  the  verbal  type.  Binet 
Results  and  School  Standing,  p.  259.  Its  elusive  value.  Mechanical 
Computation,  p.  259.  Its  inadequacy.  Menial  Age  and  Judgment,  p. 
262.  Confusion  of  terms.  Binet  Tests  and  Feeble- Mindedness,  p.  262. 
Contrasting  views.  Judgment  of  the  Examiner,  p.  263.  The  scale  is  not 
an  automatic  weighing  machine.  Mental  Quality,  p.  264.  Not  mea- 
sured by  Binet  scale.  Other  Admissions  by  Binet-Simon,  p.  265.  What 
is  Intelligence  f  p.  265.  Confusion  of  elements.  The  conunon  sense  of 
the  examiner. 

Chapter  XV — ^The  Meajjing  of  an   Educational 
Clinic 268 

Various  Kinds  of  Clinics,  p.  268.  Psychological  departments  of  univer- 
sities. Medical  clinics.  Psychopathic  clinics.  Genetic  Psychology  and 
Child  Study,  p.  269.  Child  study  in  its  broader  sense  goes  beyond 
psychology.     Medical  inspection.     The  Psychological  Clinic,  p.  269. 


xviii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Its  functions.  Children  as  study  types.  Research  work.  Investiga- 
tions along  specific  lines.  The  Psychopathic  Clinic,  p.  271.  Difiference 
between  amentia  and  dementia.  Medical  Clinics,  p.  272.  Various 
kinds.  Their  special  functions.  Sociological  and  Ethnological  Research, 
p.  272.  Environment  and  social  conditions.  Family  life.  Race  and 
color.  The  Educational  Clinic,  p.  273.  For  the  individual  child  and 
his  problem.  The  educational  view-point.  The  expert  educator.  His 
limitations.  Co-ordination  with  medical  inspection  work.  Reaching 
out  to  all  children,  even  in  villages  and  rural  districts.  System  of 
Tests,  p.  274.  Simplification  of  schedules.  Inexpensive  equipment. 
Testing  to  be  done  by  well- trained  teachers  and  school  oflScers.  Net- 
work of  Clinics,  p.  275.  Educational  clinics  to  be  feeders  for  the  more 
centralized  psychological,  psychopathic,  and  medical  clinics.  Ar- 
rangements for  private  schools,  social  centres,  juvenile  courts,  etc. 

Chapter  XVI — Schedule  of  Tests 276 

Completer  Schedule,  p.  276.  "The  Study  of  Individual  Children."  The 
Briefer  Schedule,  p.  276.  Simple  and  inexpensive.  Attractive  environ- 
ment. Child  History,  p.  278.  Detailed  explanations.  Conditions  of 
birth.  Diseases.  Moral  status.  Special  characteristics  and  tendencies. 
Mental  status.  School  record.  Physical  Examination,  p.  283.  Height 
and  weight.  Lung  capacity,  grip,  push.  Tables  for  comparison. 
Vital  capacity.  Other  findings  and  recommendations  of  the  examining 
physicians.  Educational  Tests,  p.  2gi.  Distinction  between  tests  of 
physiologic  and  psychologic  function,  of  individual  experience,  and  of 
effect  of  school  training.  Visual  Tests,  p.  295.  Visualization  of  prob- 
lems. Distance  tests.  E-fork  tests.  McCallie's  vision  tests.  Color 
p)erception.  Color  blindness.  Naming  of  colors.  Visual  memory. 
Auditory  Tests,  p.  304.  Distance.  Identification  tests.  Pitch.  'Audi- 
tory memory.  Word-pictures.  Tactile  Tests,  p.  311.  Physiological 
integrity  of  the  tactile  sense.  Faculty  of  interpreting  percepts.  Experi- 
ence. Sense  of  Smell,  p.  312.  Identification  and  acuteness.  Sense  of 
Taste,  p.  314.  Recognition  and  acuteness.  Motor  Co-ordination,  p. 
314.  Threadmg  needles.  Sense  of  Location,  p.  315.  Muscular  sense. 
Balattce,  p.  316.  Disturbances  in  the  static  apparatus.  Train  of  Ideas, 
p.  316.  Three  circles  of  experience:  occupations,  school,  home.  Imi- 
tation, p.  317.  Movement.  Knox  Tests.  Peg-board.  Concentration, 
p.  321.  Following  directions.  Remembering  objects.  Test  of  100  A's. 
Naming  of  Objects,  p.  324.  Pictures.  Language,  p.  325.  Story  told 
from  picture.  Written  reproductions.  Completion  test.  Ciphers, 
puzzles,  secret  languages.  Opposites.  Classification.  Reading,  p.  334. 
Writing,  p.  334.  Copying,  spelling,  composition.  Number  Concept,  p. 
336.  Counting.  Space  conceptions.  Courtis  Tests.  Problem  in  judg- 
ment. Puzzles.  Discrimination,  p.  347.  Matching  pictures.  Com- 
paring lines.  Picture  arrangement.  Illusions.  Construction,  p.  349. 
Form  boards.  Reconstructed  pictures.  One  hundred  dots.  Color 
cubes.  Anchor  puzzle.  Building  blocks.  Construction  of  houses.  Me- 
chanical construction.  Expression,  p.  359.  Esthetic  attitude.  Art 
instinct.  Parallelism  between  children's  art  work  and  that  of  savages 
and  ancients.  Drawing,  painting,  modelling.  Minimum  Requirements, 
p.  364.  Abbreviated  set  for  rapid  testing.  Summary,  p.  366.  Response. 
Fatigue.  Individual  experience.  Period  of  development.  Educational 
status.  Avoidance  of  generalized  conclusions.  Suggestions  for  in- 
dividual cases. 


CONTENTS  xix 

PART  III— THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PREVENTION,  AD- 
JUSTMENT, AND  ORGANIZATION 

PAGE 

Chapter    XVII — The    Problem    Stated — Its    Per- 
spective   372 

Various  Aspects,  p.  372.  Variations  vs.  deviations.  Adjustments  in  home 
and  school.  Four  aspects:  normality,  opportunity,  measures  of  relief, 
prevention.  Various  Provisions,  p.  374.  New  standards.  Legal  status 
of  child.  Eugenics.  Home  life.  Ethical  and  religious  elements.  En- 
vironment. Scientific  valuations  of  individual  children.  Medical  ex- 
aminations. Professional  training  of  parents,  teachers,  social  workers. 
Adjustment  of  school  curricula.  Ample  space  and  opportunity.  In- 
stitutional schools.  Custodial  care.  Forest  schools;  farm  schools; 
camps. 

Chapter  XVIII — Legal  Provisions  for  Exceptional 
Children ,380 

Compulsory  Education  Laws,  p.  380.  States  not  having  such  laws.  Racial 
segregation.  Non-compulsory  States  do  not  exclude  any  class  of  chil- 
dren; compulsory  States  exclude  the  "physically  and  mentally  unfit." 
Failure  to  Provide  for  Excluded  Children,  p.  382.  Poverty  plea.  The 
delinquent  child.  Truants.  Children's  Courts,  p.  385.  Probation  sys- 
tem. Legal  Provisions  for  Subnormal  and  Abnormal  Children,  p.  386. 
Deaf.  Blind.  Incorrigible.  Delinquent.  False  economy  practised  by 
legislative  bodies.  The  policy  of  "laisser  oiler."  Extension  of  the  Com- 
pulsory Education  Laws,  p.  388.  N.  E.  A.  resolutions.  Chronological 
age  vs.  maturity.  Control  of  mentally  immature  persons  by  society. 
Modifications  of  law  of  majority. 

Chapter  XIX — Eugenic  Considerations,  Marriage, 
AND  Heredity 393 

Scarecrow  Eugenics,  p.  393.  The  world  not  a  stock-farm.  Complexity  of 
problem  of  heredity  in  human  matings.  Restriction  of  Marriages,  p.  394. 
A  two-edged  sword.  Love  defies  reasoning  God-given,  it  is  a  reliable 
guide  to  selection.  Makeshift  laws.  Venereal  diseases  to  be  made  re- 
portable. Sexual  Education,  p.  396.  Hysterical  sensationalism.  Sad 
eflfects  of  improper  sex  instruction.  A  problem  of  the  home.  Steriliza- 
tion of  the  Unfit,  p.  398.  Segregation  vs.  sterilization.  Who  are  the  un-  • 
fit?  BafQing  facts.  Feeble-mindedness  and  heredity.  Collection  of 
Data,  p.  401.  Overestimation  of  the  feeble-minded  danger.  Methods 
of  collecting  data  faulty.  Unreliability  of  family  histories.  Construc- 
tive Methods,  p.  404.  Most  "misfits"  can  be  saved.  Direful  effect  of 
sensational  propaganda.  Positive  vs.  negative  methods.  Early  mar- 
riages of  the  fit.  Practical  Eugenics,  p.  406.  Responsibility  implied  in 
marriage  vow.  Caution  in  selecting  life  partner.  Evil  of  headlong 
marriages.  The  divorce  evil.  Overcoming  of  hereditary  tendencies. 
Early  Marriages,  p.  408.  Economic  pressure  tending  to  postpone  mar- 
riage. Unwillingness  to  accept  marital  duties.  Love  of  luxury.  Evil 
of  postponement. 


XX  CONTENTS 


Chapter  XX — Home  Life  and  Home  Education     .  410 

Unwelcome  Children,  p.  410.  Abortion.  Regulation  of  births.  Still- 
births and  miscarriages.  Tke  Sacrament  of  Matrimony,  p.  411.  Re- 
sponsibility of  parenthood.  Health  of  the  Prospective  Mother,  p.  412. 
Starved  working  girls.  Gay  women.  Proper  nutrition  and  exercise 
during  pregnancy.  Emotional  and  mental  condition.  The  father's 
part.  Care  in  Labor,  p.  414.  Midwifery.  Infection  in  labor.  Obstetric 
physicians  and  nurses.  Maternity  hospitals.  Care  of  mother  and 
child.  A  Healthy  and  Happy  Home  Life,  p.  415.  Woman  the  home- 
maker.  Family  hotels.  Most  homes  are  for  adults,  not  for  children. 
Children  in  the  way.  The  Profession  of  Parenthood,  p.  416.  Parental 
functions  must  be  learned  like  any  other  business.  Complex  conditions 
of  modern  life.  Doll  play.  Herbert  Spencer's  and  Frobel's  demands. 
Parents'  and  mothers'  clubs.  Schools  of  mothercraft.  Fundamental 
Realities,  p.  418.  The  home  is  for  the  child.  Heredity  and  environ- 
ment. Hereditary  Elements,  p.  4.18.  Child  the  last  link  of  a  long  chain. 
Infinite  variations  and  combinations.  Effect  of  imitation.  Environ- 
mental Factors,  p.  420.  The  passive  environment.  Example,  tradition, 
experience;  The  social  atmosphere.  Spirit  of  the  community.  Pol- 
itics and  graft.  Child  labor.  Children  Are  Not  the  Property  of  Their 
Parents,  p.  422.  Children's  rights.  Individualization  in  the  Home,  p. 
424.  Justice  means  recognition  of  difiFerences.  Child  study.  Education 
in  the  Nursery,  p.  425.  A  world  in  miniature.  A  laboratory.  Opportu- 
nity of  parents.  Education  through  play.  Children's  Growth  and  Health, 
p.  427.  Light,  fresh  air,  freedom,  and  nourishment.  Infant  mortality. 
Malnutrition  a  potent  cause  of  abnormal  development.  Fatigue  period. 
Pubescence  and  adolescence.  Infectious  diseases.  Danger-signals. 
Hygiene  of  the  nursery.  Abnormal  Developments,  p.  430.  Various 
causes.  Misunderstanding  a  Child,  p.  432.  Adult  standards  out  of 
place.  Truthfulness  and  Obedience,  p.  432.  Causes  of  children's  lies. 
Obedience  is  not  a  duty,  it  is  a  result.  A  True  Family  Government,  p.  433. 
Discipline  to  be  adjusted  to  the  varying  needs  of  growing  children. 
A  home  democracy.  Mutuality.  Confidence  between  parent  and  child. 
The  True  Home  Spirit,  p.  436.  The  most  potent  educational  factor. 
Human  vs.  divine  fatherhood.  The  memory  of  a  happy  childhood. 
The  City  and  Her  Boys,  p.  438. 


Chapter  XXI — School  Problems 439 

A  Powerful  Arraignment,  p.  439.  Criticism  of  present-day  school  educa- 
tion. Fundamental  Verities,  p.  440.  Civilization  has  not  come  through 
books.  Philosophy  of  the  tool.  First-hand  vs.  vicarious  experience. 
Different  types  of  eflBciency.  An  Experiment  and  Its  Lessons,  p.  442. 
A  school  without  the  Three  R's.  The  Springfield  papers.  Another 
Experiment:  The  Play  School,  p.  445.  The  University  of  California's 
experiment.  Classification  of  activities.  A  Contrast,  p.  447.  State 
examination  questions  for  public-school  graduates.  Unprofitable, 
superficial,  and  ill-adjusted  work.  Essentials  vs.  unessentials.  The 
"common  branches."  Home  work  credits.  Differentiation  of  cer- 
tificates. The  Problem  of  Methods,  p.  45 1 .  Errors  and  abuses  in  method. 
Artificial  production  of  stupidity  in  schools.  The  first  steps  most  im- 
portant. 


CONTENTS  xxi 


Chapter  XXII — The  Kindergarten  Period     .   .    .  455 

A  New  Gospel  of  Freedom,  p.  455.  A  new  outlook.  Disappointments. 
Tyro  teachers.  Genetic  Psychology  vs.  Stereotyped  Forms,  p.  455.  Two 
great  mistakes.  Uniform  Standards,  p.  456.  Rigidity  of  practice.  Too 
much  group  work.  Traditional  patterns.  Penalty  of  Success,  p.  456. 
Classroom  arrangement.  The  child  prematurely  civilized.  Primitive 
tendencies.  The  Young  Child  Is  Individualistic,  p.  457.  Socializing  a 
slow  process.  Montessori  Influence,  p.  458.  Not  a  new  practice.  The 
teacher  as  an  observer.  Racial  Differences,  p.  4Sg.  No  mere  copying 
allowable.  Individual  Types  of  Mind,  p.  460.  Even  babies  differ  in 
tyjje.  Differences  in  Growth  Rate,  p.  460.  Diversity  of  sjjeed.  Mental 
Attitudes  and  Aptitudes,  p.  460.  Originality  vs.  imitativeness.  Misun- 
derstanding of  children  of  initiative.  Conventional  Symbolism,  p.  461. 
Drawing  and  sewing  in  outline.  Pictography.  The  teacher  as  an  ex- 
ample. Illustrative  Cases,  p.  463.  The  kindergarten  at  "Herbart 
Hall."  The  Kindergarten  Principle,  p.  464.  Principle  vs.  practice. 
The  Montessori  Cult,  p.  464.  No  new  principles.  The  Principle  of 
Freedom,  p.  465.  The  child  the  real  centre  of  instruction.  German  edu- 
cation. Frobel  and  Pestalozzi.  Wise  Teachers  Required,  p.  466.  A  sore 
need.  Objectivity  of  Instruction,  p.  466.  Sense  training.  Didactic  ma- 
terial. Facts  vs.  Imagination,  p.  468.  Montessori's  mistake.  Culture 
Epochs,  p.  468.  Montessori's  admission.  Her  failure  to  appreciate  the 
meaning  of  this  development.  Premature  Scholastics,  p.  46g.  Early 
reading  and  writing.  Methodical  Devices,  p.  470.  Clever  practical  ma- 
terial. An  Ideal  Plan  for  the  Kindergarten  Period,  p.  471.  Atmosphere 
of  freedom  and  encouragement.  Outdoor  work.  Learning  by  doing. 
Virility.    No  lockstep.    Touch  with  real  life.    Enfranchised  individuals. 

Chapter  XXIII — General  Provisions  for  Varia- 
tions FROM  Type  and  for  Deviations  from  the 
Normal 474 

Proper  Diagnosis  the  First  Requisite,  p.  474.  Educational  clinic.  Medical 
inspection.  Objects  of  Medical  Inspection,  p.  476.  Prevention  of  develop- 
ment of  disease  or  physical  derangement.  Recognition  of  existing  phys- 
ical difficulties.  Removal  of  ailments,  and  co-operation  in  overcoming 
educational  and  vocational  handicaps.  Need  of  well-trained  inspectors, 
school  nurses,  and  social  visitors.  Repeated  Examinations,  p.  478.  Chil- 
dren change  often.  Forestalling  derailments.  Co-op)eration  with  the 
home.  Observation  classes  and  schools.  System  of  Clinics,  p.  479. 
Pathological  laboratories.  Psychological  clinics.  Vocational  aptitudes. 
Psychopathic  clinics.  Orthopedic  work.  Open-air  schools.  Clinics 
for  Delinquents  and  Dependents,  p.  47Q.  Examination  of  children  in 
courts,  detention  homes,  charity  organizations,  etc.  Medical  Aspect, 
p.  480.    Medical  symposium. 

Chapter  XXIV — Provisions  for  Exceptional  Chil- 
dren IN  Schools  and  Institutions 481 

special  and  Ungraded  Classes,  p.  481.  Confusion  of  terms.  Dumping- 
grounds.  Repeaters.  Ungraded  Classes,  p.  482.  Misused  for  defectives. 
Their  true  function  to  serve  pseudoatypical  children.  Smaller  regular 
classes.    Special  Classes,  p.  483.    For  observation  and  "special"  chii- 


xii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

dren.  Various  Types  of  Special  Classes,  p.  484.  Children  difficult  of 
management.  Children  of  special  aptitudes  and  difficulties.  Children 
of  unusually  rapid  or  unusually  slow  development.  Cautions.  Insti- 
tutions/or Atypical  Children,  p.  485.  Insufficiency  of  private  tutorship. 
Sanatorium  treatment.  As  to  Methods  in  Special  and  Ungraded  Classes, 
p.  487.  Suggestions  from  clinical  findings.  Obstruction  of  re-education 
through  conscious  effort.  Motor  training.  Objective  methods.  Dis- 
cipline. Taking  child  on  his  own  terms.  Attention,  interest,  and  joy. 
Habit  training.  Truants  and  Incorrigibles  ;  Juvenile  Delinquents,  p.  491. 
The  visiting  teacher.  The  new  truant  officer.  Enforcement  of  com- 
pulsory education  laws.  Reform  of  the  reform  school.  An  educational, 
not  a  penal  problem.  Abnormal  and  Feehle-Minded  Children,  p.  496. 
Day  classes  do  not  solve  the  problem.  A  makeshift  arrangement. 
Custodial  care  cheaper  and  more  effective.  Special  Provisions,  p.  501. 
Classes  and  schools  for  the  blind,  deaf,  anaemic,  tuberculous,  crippled. 
Open-air  schools. 


Chapter  XXV — Sanatorium  Schools  for  Atypical 
Children 504 

Purpose  of  the  Sanatorium  School,  p.  504.  Tests  and  Records,  p.  $0^. 
Correlation  of  educational  and  medical  science.  A  continuous  child 
history.  Daily  Life,  p.  506.  Home  atmosphere.  Personal  hygiene  and 
self-care.  Discipline.  School  lessons.  Planning  of  individualized  in- 
struction. Instruction  and  Methods,  p.  508.  No  patent  methods.  Ob- 
jective and  creative  methods.  Native  experience.  Course  of  study. 
Methods  of  presentation.  Sense  training.  Articulation.  Music. 
Physical  training  and  games.  Art  work.  Manual  training.  Typical 
occupations  and  tools.  Shop  work.  Laboratory  work.  Sewing  and 
needle  work.  Domestic  work.  Nature  study.  Geography.  History. 
Number,  space,  and  form.  Language  teaching.  Reading  and  litera- 
ture. 


Chapter  XXVI — The  Training  of  Teachers  .   .   ,  533 

The  Teacher  as  an  Essential  Factor,  p.  533.  Self-adjustment.  Differences 
of  types  in  teachers.  Appreciation  of  differences  in  children.  The 
Teacher's  Function,  p.  534.  True  teaching  prepares  for  right  living. 
Meaning  of  Education,  p.  534.  Essential  considerations.  The  Child's 
Point  of  View,  p.  535.  The  child's  mental  vision.  His  apperceptive 
basis.  Misunderstandings  and  their  causes.  Qualitative  Differences  of 
Subjects,  p.  536.  Variations  in  their  power  to  appeal  to  a  child.  Differ- 
ent mental  processes.  Native  Differences  of  Individuals,  p.  536.  Emo- 
tional qualities.  Mental  types.  Intricacies  of  the  child  soul.  The 
teacher  must  reach  his  pupils.  Specialization  in  Teaching,  p.  538. 
Advantages  and  drawbacks.  Primary  teaching  a  delicate  problem. 
Individual  teacher  personalities.  Review  of  a  Suitable  Curriculum,  p. 
539.  Classification  of  child  types.  Teaching  as  a  profession.  Selection 
of  special  field.  Revision  of  the  teaching  of  "methods."  Personal 
equation.  Revision  of  educational  psychology.  Practical  experience 
with  children,  also  outside  of  classroom.  Broad  training  in  physiology 
and  hygiene.  The  medical  attitude.  Training  of  Teachers  of  Excep- 
tional Children,  p.  543.    Subdivisions.    Differentiation  of  courses. 


CONTENTS  xxiii 


Chapter  XXVII — Conclusion 545 

Survey  of  principal  parts  of  book.  Dreams  of  perfection.  Individualiza- 
tion not  a  cult  of  flabbiness.  Kant's  categorical  imperative.  To  thine 
own  self  be  true. 


APPENDICES 

Appendix  I — ^The  City  and  Her  Boys.    By  Albert 

B.  Hines 549 

Classification,  p.  549.  The  boys  of  wealth,  of  the  middle  class,  of  the 
semi-functioning  homes,  the  homeless  boys.  Tht  City's  Duty  Toward 
the  Boy  Problem,  p.  550.  A  child- welfare  department.  Streets,  parks, 
recreation  centres.  Civic  responsibiUty.  Street  Life,  p.  550.  A  test 
of  exposure.  Play  the  child's  pitfall.  Unguarded  leisure  time  of  the 
street  children.  Street  land.  Ten  thousand  truants  in  New  York. 
Adult  soUdtors.  Boys'  street  trades.  The  Law,  p.  552.  A  natural 
enemy  of  the  boy.  Probation  oflBcers.  Children's  courts.  Big  Brothers 
and  Big  Sbters.  School  retardation.  Delinquency.  Recreation,  p.  554. 
Insufficiency  of  provisions.  Element  of  excitement.  Imitation  of 
crime  in  games.  Winning  by  unfair  means.  Settlements.  Social 
centres.  Motion-pictures.  The  Part  0/  the  Schools,  p.  556.  Neglect  of 
their  opportunities.  They  should  make  thinkers  of  the  boys.  Used 
only  40  per  cent  of  the  time.  The  Church,  p.  556.  Adolescence,  the  time 
of  sex  development,  equally  fertile  for  the  development  of  crime  and 
of  the  religious  life.  Church  a  negative  factor.  The  religious  motive. 
Church  responsible  for  its  own  environment.  Boy  needs  a  reUgion 
natural  to  him.  The  Working  Boy,  p.  558.  Vocational  guidance. 
Monotonous  labor  causes  craving  for  excitement.  Unwholesome  amuse- 
ments. Club  Ufe  vs.  dance-halls.  Civic  efforts.  The  Unclubbed  Boy,  p. 
559.  The  homeless  boy  has  few  chances.  Little  provision  for  the  re- 
tarded, the  adventuresome,  the  defective,  and  the  delinquent  boy. 
The  mentally  defective  is  very  suggestible  and  therefore  apt  to  be  the 
tool  of  intelligent  criminals. 

Appendix  II — A  Medical  Symposium 562 

Introductiok,  Dr.  Abraham  Jacobi's  blessing,  p.  562. 
I — General  Procedure,  by  Dr.  A.  Emil  Schmitt,  New  York,  p.  563. 
Co-operation  of  teacher  and  physician.    Examinations.    Schedule. 

n — Physical  Causes  of  General  and  Mental  Deficiencies,  by  Dr. 
Thomas  D.  Wood,  New  York,  p.  567.  Statistics  of  physical  defects. 
Dental  defects.  Country  children  more  handicapped.  Physical  de- 
fects interfere  with  mental  development.  Early  detection  of  defects. 
Necessary  provisions.  Present  status  of  health  service.  Mentally 
backward  and  deficient  children. 

Ill — Prenatal  and  Natal  Causes  of  Exceptional  Development  in 
Children,  by  Dr.  Ira  S.  Wile,  New  York,  p.  571.  Beginning  of  Ufe. 
Exceptional  development.  Heredity  and  environment.  Redemption 
of  childhood.  Special  defects.  Racial  immunities.  Other  intrauterine 
anomalies.  Care  of  the  prospective  mother.  Natal  causes.  Adjustment 
to  individual  needs. 


xxiv  CONTENTS 

IV — Medicoeducational  Methods  in  the  Treatment  of  Atypical 
Children,  by  Dr.  C.  Hudson-Makuen,  Philadelphia,  p.  575.  Medico- 
educational  methods.  Principles  of  eugenics.  The  medicoeduca- 
tionalist.  Psychological  conditions.  Mind  and  brain.  Difference  be- 
tween normality  and  abnormality.  Psychophysical  education.  Con- 
centration. Two  important  elements.  Correct  postural  attitudes. 
Correct  breathing.    Speech  training.    A  forcing  process. 

V — Malnutritign,  by  Dr.  Ira  S.  Wile,  New  York,  p.  579.  Definition 
of  malnutrition.  Extent  of  malnutrition.  Causes  of  undernourish- 
ment. Effect  of  malnutrition.  Nutrition  records.  Interdependence 
of  conditions.  Solution  of  the  problem.  Determination  of  malnu- 
trition. 

VI — Clinical  Studies  and  Observations  in  the  Mouth  of  the  Ex- 
ceptional Child,  by  Dr.  Arthur  Zentler,  New  York,  p.  583.  Oral 
hygiene.  Meaning  of  oral  hygiene.  How  early  should  care  of  mouth 
begin?  Wrong  alignment.  Other  pathological  manifestations.  The 
mouth  as  a  cause  of  retardation.  Mouth  breathing.  Bottle-feeding. 
Illustrative  cases. 

VII — Habitual  Constipation,  by  Dr.  B.  Onuf,  Park  Ridge,  N.  J.,  p. 
590.  Constipation  and  exercise.  Mental  attitude  in  defecation.  The 
psychic  factor. 

VIII — Deformities  in  Children,  by  Dr.  E.  H.  Arnold,  New  Haven,  p. 
592.     Classification.    Etiology.    Diagnosis.    Treatment. 

IX — The  Role  of  Neuromuscular  Education  in  Training  Atypical 
Children,  by  Dr.  C.  Ward  Crampton,  New  York,  p.  596.  Three 
parts  of  conscious  reaction.  Handicap  of  habits.  Processes  of  deal- 
ing with  the  handicaps.  Process  i:  Strengthening  weak  powers. 
Process  2:  Objective-subjective  methods. 

X — The  Influence  of  Breathing  and  Speech  upon  the  Child's 
Mentality,  by  Dr.  Otto  Glogau,  New  York,  p.  S99-  Speech  and 
breathing.  Faulty  breathing.  Mechanism  of  respiration.  Human 
breathing  a  reflex  action.  Inarticulate  sounds  also  reflex  in  nature. 
Breathing  and  articulate  speech.  Process  of  speech.  The  psychic 
mechanism.  Normal  breathing.  The  two  types  of  breathing.  Rela- 
tion of  normal  breathing  and  normal  speech.  The  abnormal  breathing 
of  the  stutterer.  Abnormal  breathing  as  a  cause  of  psychic  disturbance. 
Defective  hearing  and  speech  troubles.  Other  causes  of  speech  dis- 
turbances.   Correction  of  speech  defects. 

XI — ^The  Deaf  Child  from  the  Standpoint  of  the  Educator,  by 
John  Dutton  Wright,  New  York,  p.  610.  Classification.  Effect  of  im- 
pairment of  the  auditory  sense.  Need  of  early  diagnosis.  Educational 
treatment.  Home  care.  The  second  group.  Lip-reading.  The 
third  group.  The  fourth  group.  Occupations  for  the  deaf.  Surround 
the  deaf  with  normal  conditions.  Methods  of  teaching.  Deaf  children 
with  defective  mentality. 

XII— The  Blind  Child,  by  Dr.  F.  Park  Lewis,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  p.  618. 
Fundamental  needs.  Early  recognition.  Early  impressions.  School 
training.  Need  of  normal  companionship.  Some  remarks  on  method. 
Varieties  of  work.    Amusements  and  special  inventions  for  the  blind. 

XIII — Hereditary  Weakness  Predisposing  to  Tubercular  Diseases 
and  Its  Prevention,  by  Dr.  Theodore  Toepel,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  p.  626. 


CONTENTS  XXV 

Predisposition  vs.  heredity.  Systematic  habits  of  living.  Exercise. 
Stimulants.  Mouth  hygiene.  Breakfast.  Professional  precautions. 
Other  matters  of  daily  routine.    Special  precautions.     Conclusion. 

XrV — Outdoor  Schools  and  Medical  Treatment  for  Exceptional 
Children,  by  Dr.  Edward  S.  Krans,  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  p.  629.  Routine 
of  medical  treatment.  Pedagogical  co-operation.  Outdoor  provisions. 
School  routine.  Practical  conditions.  Results  from  outdoor  school 
life.  Medical  treatment.  Ductless  glands.  Co-operation  of  medical 
and  pedagogic  science. 

XV — Ductless  Gland  Irregitlarities  in  Exceptional  Children  and 
Their  Treatment,  by  Dr.  E.  Bosworth  McCready,  Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
p.  633.  Importance  of  the  ductless  glands.  Various  functions  of  the 
glands.  Ductless-gland  irregularity  in  exceptional  children.  The 
hypoplastic  child.     Deformation  of  the  sella  turcica.    Treatment. 

XVI — The  Mentally  Backward  Child  from  the  Standpoint  of  the 
Neurologist,  by  Dr.  M.  Neustaedter,  New  York,  p.  639.  Children 
far  below  the  normal  standard.  Concomitant  factors  of  backwardness. 
Etiological  factors.    Amelioration  of  these  conditions.     Conclusion. 

XVII — Care  of  the  Neurotic  and  Psychopathic  Child,  by  Dr.  Fred- 
eric J.  Famell,  Providence,  R.  I.,  p.  645.  Infantile  roots  of  adult 
psychopathy.  The  make-up  or  personality.  Unconscious  elements. 
Early  represaons.  Relations  of  jiarent  and  child.  Interpretation  of 
misconduct.  Method  of  handling  patient.  Correction  of  faulty  mental 
habits. 

XVIII — A  Brief  Statement  of  the  Ttreatment  of  the  Psychopathic 
Personalities  Observed  in  Those  Who  Develop  Dementia  Pre- 
cox, by  Dr.  Howard  A.  Knox,  Ellis  Island,  N.  Y.,  p.  648.  Predementia 
pra^cox.  Four  types  of  personality.  Influence  of  adolescence.  Causa- 
tion and  type.    Toxic  origin.     Prevention  of  the  disease. 

XIX — ^The  Medical  Treatment  of  Exceptional  Children,  by  Dr. 
Tom  A.  WiUiams,  Washington,  D.  C,  p.  651.  Causes  of  deviation  from 
type.  Physical  causes:  the  air,  incorrect  food  and  drink,  inadequate 
or  improper  exercise,  imperfect  elimination,  disordered  glandular  ac- 
tion. Pituitary  disorder;  thyroid  disorder;  adrenal  disorder;  thymus 
disorder.  Psychopalhology:  mismanagement  of  attention,  results  of 
inattentiveness,  hysteria,  hysterical  anorexia,  why  a  child's  mind 
needs  work,  oversustained  attention,  overintensity.  Mismanage- 
ment of  emotion,  sentiment,  desires,  and  incUnations;  intemperance; 
hysterical  phobia;  emotions;  night  terror;  shame  and  anxiety;  mul- 
tiple manias;  malady  of  scrupulosity;  psychic  hardening;  shajne  of 
sex;  shyness.    Dehnitions. 

XX— Epilepsy,  by  Dr.  D.  C.  Main  and  Miss  Sarah  Bard,  Welaka,  Fla., 
p.  677.  Extent  of  the  epilepsies.  Causes  of  epilepsy.  Treatment  of 
epilepsy.  Dietetic  treatment.  Medical  treatment.  Potential  epilepsy. 
Mental  condition  of  epileptics.     Possible  improvement. 

XXI — Sexual  Hygiene,  by  Dr.  Arthur  W.  Weysse,  Boston,  Mass., 
p.  681.  The  rdle  of  the  sexual  instinct.  Masturbation.  Causes  of 
masturbation.  Sexual  education.  Sexual  abnormality  as  a  cause  of 
exceptional  development. 

XXII — Some  Sexual  Abnormalities,  by  Dr.  W.  F.  Blake-Burke, 
Plainfield,  N.  J.,  p.  684.  Atypical  children  and  sexual  problems.  In- 
fantile conditions.    Timely  training.    Constipation.    Other  irritations. 


xxvi         ,  CONTENTS 

XXIII — Treatment  of  Juvenile  Delinquents,  by  Dr.  John  Adams 
Colliver,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,*  p.  687.  A  medico-socio-psychological 
problem.  Etiology.  Pathology;  perversion.  Irritability  as  an  initial 
symptom.  Local  causes  of  irritation.  Other  curative  measures. 
Psychological. 

XXIV — Inherent  Immorality,  by  Dr.  Ross  Moore,  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.,  p.  692.  Heredity  vs.  free-will.  Types  of  character.  The  in- 
herently immoral.  Varieties  and  forms  of  non-altruism.  Anomaly  of 
character.  Two  distinct  types.  Type  first:  the  immoral  from  impul- 
siveness. Type  second:  the  immoral  from  deficiency  of  sympathy. 
Diagnostic  elements.     Treatment. 

XXV — The  Promise  of  Research  in  the  Anatomy  of  Feeble- 
mindedness, by  Dr.  E.  E.  Southard,  Boston,  Mass.,  p.  6g8.  The 
anatomy  and  pathology  of  feeble-mindedness.  Individual  problems. 
The  personal  attitude.  Mental  tests.  Blood  tests.  Somatic  and 
sociological  elements.  Brain  anatomy  in  the  feeble-minded.  Corre- 
lation of  findings.    Application  to  the  normal. 


PAGE 


Appendix  III — First  and  Second  Year  Data  of  P. 
E.  G 707 

Appendix  IV — Specimens  of  Reports  on  Children 
Examined 712 

Appendix  V — Bibliography  of  Some  of  the  Books, 
Pamphlets,  and  Articles  Consulted  in  the 
Preparation  of  this  Book  or  Suggested  for 
Collateral  Reading .  719 

LIST  OF  CASES 

1.  Johann  Heinrich  Pestalozzi,  p.  25. 

2.  Johann  Kepler,  p.  25. 

3.  Emiliano  Zapata,  p.  45. 

4.  Daniel  Webster,  p.  92. 

5.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  p.  92. 

6.  Friedrich  Frobel,  p.  92. 

7.  Carl  von  Linnaeus,  p.  92. 

8.  Alessandro  Volta,  p.  92. 

9.  Robert  Burns,  p.  92. 

10.  Honore  Balzac,  p.  92. 

11.  Thomas  Edison,  p.  92. 

12.  Walter  Scott,  p.  92. 

*  Just  before  this  book  goes  to  press,  the  death  of  this  distinguished 
physician  is  reported. 


CONTENTS  xxvii 

13.  Charles  Darwin,  p.  92. 

14.  John  Stuart  Mill,  p.  92. 

15.  Herbert  Spencer,  p.  92. 

16.  Helen  Keller,  p.  98, 

17.  Robert  Wiener,  p.  108. 

18.  Winifred  Sackville  Stoner,  Jr.,  pp.  108  jf. 

19.  W.  S.,  boy,  sj/i  years,  p.  113. 

20.  P.  E.  G.,  boy,  2  years  11  months,  pp.  115  ff.,  707^. 

21.  Michael  Angelo,  pp.  119,  127. 

22.  Friedrich  Riickert,  p.  119. 

23.  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow,  p.  119. 

24.  James  Clarence  Mangan,  p.  119. 

25.  W.  B.,  boy,  16  years,  p.  120. 

26.  H.  H.,  boy,  13  years,  p.  120. 

27.  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  p.  121. 

28.  Jacques  Inaudi,  p.  123. 

29.  Idiot,  mathematical  prodigy,  p.  123. 

30.  Tredgold's  feeble-minded  man,  p.  124. 

31.  Otto  Pohler,  pp.  125/. 

32.  Wolfgang  Amadeus  Mozart,  p.  127. 

33.  Franz  Joseph  Haydn,  p.  127. 

34.  Ludwig  van  Beethoven,  p.  127. 

35.  John  Milton,  p.  127. 

36.  Johann  Wolfgang  Goethe,  pp.  127,  281. 

37.  Francois  Marie  A.  de  Voltaire,  p.  128. 

38.  Isaac  Newton,  p.  128. 

39.  Karl  Friedrich  Gauss,  p.  128. 

40.  William  James  Sidis,  pp.  128  Jf.,  132. 

41.  W.  B.,  boy,  9  years,  pp.  130/. 

42.  A.  S.,  boy,  14  years,  pp.  131,  151. 

43.  H.  H.,  girl,  14  years,  pp.  131,  151  /. 

44.  N.,  boy,  pp.  145/. 

45.  M.,  boy,  pp.  145 /. 

46.  R.,  boy,  pp.  145/. 

47.  Farnell's  boy,  12  years,  p.  155. 

48.  Farnell's  girl,  16  years,  p.  156. 

49.  Williams's  girl,  8  years,  p.  157. 

50.  Williams's  girl,  p.  157. 

51.  Williams's  boy,  14  years,  p.  157. 


xxviii  CONTENTS 

52.  K.  B.,  boy,  14  years,  p.  157. 

53.  Charles  Lamb,  p.  158. 

54.  Napoleon  I,  pp.  186,  199. 

55.  George  Washington,  p.  186. 

56.  Louise,  18  years,  p.  202. 

57.  Newspaper  boy,  5  years,  p.  202. 

58.  E.  S.,  boy  (colored),  9  years  9  months,  p.  224. 

59.  X.  A.,  boy,  14  years,  p.  224. 

60.  F.  C,  boy,  15  years,  p.  242. 

61.  J.  F.,  boy,  16  years,  p.  242. 

62.  G.  S.,  boy,  15  years,  p.  243. 

63.  R.  F.,  boy,  17  years,  p.  244. 

64.  L.  D.,  boy,  17 >^  years,  p.  245. 

65.  D.  T.,  boy,  20  years,  pp.  246,  586. 

66.  Boy,  p.  305. 

67.  Armando,  p.  317. 

68.  Boston  boy,  12  years,  p.  341. 

69.  Edgerton  boy,  12  years,  p.  342, 

70.  Boston  girl,  13  years,  p.  342. 

71.  Boston  girl,  11  years,  p.  343. 

72.  Boston  girl,  10  years,  p.  344. 

73.  Miss  Haskell's  girl,  p.  432. 

74.  Kindergarten  boy,  A.,  p.  463, 

75.  Kindergarten  boy,  M.,  p.  463. 

76.  Kathryne  Frick,  p.  503. 

77.  C.  G.,  male,  26  years,  p.  585. 

78.  D.  L.,  boy,  14  years,  p.  587. 

79.  E.  K.,  girl,  14  years,  p.  587. 

80.  H.  H.,  girl,  9  years,  p.  588. 

81.  M.  A.,  boy,  14  years,  p.  589. 

82.  Williams's  girl,  11  years,  p.  656. 

83.  Williams's  girl,  11  years,  p.  659. 

84.  Williams's  boy,  1 1  years,  p.  664. 

85.  Woman,  "gnawing  fox"  case,  p.  667. 

86.  Williams's  girl,  p.  667. 

87.  Williams's  boy,  8  years,  p,  668, 

88.  Williams's  boy,  3  ^  years,  p.  669. 

89.  Williams's  girl,  16  years,  p.  669. 

90.  Williams's  boy,  14  years,  p.  672. 


CONTENTS 

91.  Williams's  case,  male,  30  years,  p.  673. 

92.  M.  P.  E.  G.'s  girl,  10  years,  p.  682. 

93.  Boy,  5  years  10  months,  p.  683. 

94.  Boy,  14  years,  p.  712. 

95.  F.  G.,  boy,  7  K  years,  p.  713. 

96.  A.  W.,  girl,  10  years,  p.  714. 

97.  D.  B.,  girl,  13  years,  p.  714. 

98.  W.  B.,  boy,  ii>^  years,  p.  715. 

99.  R.  B.,  girl,  13  years,  p.  715. 
100.  T.  B.,  boy,  loK  years,  p.  716, 
loi.  J.  U.,  boy,  13  years,  p.  716. 

102.  R.  U.,  boy,  II  years,  p.  717. 

103.  J.  E.  C,  boy,  7  years,  p.  717. 

104.  B.  C,  boy,  II  years,  p.  718. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

no.  PAGE 

1.  Percentage  diagram  of  exceptional  children 8 

2.  Diagram  of  social  strata 64 

3.  Winifred  Sackville  Stoner,  Jr.,  in  eurhythmic  pose 

Facing  page  108 

4.  P.  E.  G.,  making  believe  he  is  taking  a  photograph 

Facing  page  116 

5.  P.  E.  G.,  in  his  "barn" Facing  page  116 

6.  Sketch  from  life  by  A.  S Facing  page  130 

7.  Sketch  from  life  by  H.  H Facing  page  130 

8.  Water-color  sketch  by  A.  S Facing  page  132 

9.  Outdoor  sketch  by  H.  H Facing  page  132 

10.  Lichtenheim  speech  schema 147 

11.  Educational  clinic  of  the  National  Association  for  the 

Study    and    Education    of    Exceptional    Children, 

Plainfield,  N.  J Facing  page  270 

12.  Educational  clinic,  "  Herbart  Hall."      .    .    Facing  page  270 

13.  Doctor  Reber's  kindergarten  chart 297 

14.  McCallie's  illiterate  vision  test 299 

15.  The  Knox  Cube  Test 319 

16.  The  one  hundred  A's  test.     Test  in  concentration     .    .  323 

17.  Cipher  of  the  third  order 332 

18.  Boston  Graph  Chart   I     341 

xxxi 


xxxii  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PIG.  PAGE 

19.  Boston  Graph  Chart  II 342 

20.  "           "          "III 342 

21.  "            "          "IV 343 

22.  "            "           "V 344 

23.  Healy  form  board  No.  3 Facing  page  350 

24.  Healy  puzzle  No.  5  (pictorial  completion  test)    ....  352 

25.  Anchor  puzzle 355 

26.  Field  of  search — one  hundred  dots 356 

27.  Educational  Clinic:   building  of  houses,  steps,  bridge, 

etc Facing  page  358 

28.  Ancient  Egyptian  painting:  pond  with  trees 361 

29.  Child's  drawing  of  pond  with  trees:  radical  arrangement 

of  trees      361 

30.  Ancient  Egyptian  painting:  brickmakers 362 

31.  Indian  drawing  of  a  shaman's  lodge      362 

32.  Child's  drawing  of  pond  with  trees  in  symbolical  arrange- 

ment   363 

^:i.     Indian  drawing  of  medicine-lodge 363 

34.  Rectangular  pond  with  trees  on  opposite  sides.    Child's 

drawing.     Trees  in  perspective    .    .    .    Facing  page  364 

35.  Free-hand  drawing  by  K.  B Facing  page  364 

36.  Arbitrary  diagram  of  endowments 369 

37.  Main  court-room,  Children's  Court,  New  York 

Facing  page  386 

38.  Small  court-room,  Children's  Court,  New  York.    Judge 

Hoyt  sitting  in  "The  Heart  of  the  Children's  Court" 

Facing  page  386 


ILLUSTRATIONS  xxxiu 

no.  PAGE 

39.  May  festival Facing  page  506 

40.  Blue-print  design  from  nature:  Ferns    .    .    Facing  page  516 

41.  Blue-print  design  from  nature:  Violets      .    Facing  page  516 

42.  Exhibit  of  pupils'  work.    Carpentry,  basketry,  dressmak- 

ing, weaving,  etc Facing  page  518 

43.  Exhibit  of  pupils'  work.     Miscellaneous         Facing  page  518 

44.  Sand^table  work.    The  lake-dwellers  .    .    .    Facing  page  520 

45.  Pupils'  work.     Vocational  Training  School.     Building  a 

house  with  concrete  foundation    .    .    .    Facing  page  520 

46.  Dramatics:  Scene  from  "The  Sleeping  Beauty" 

Facing  page  530 

47.  Dramatics:  Dance  of  the  ice-bears.     From  "A  Dream- 

Trip  to  Northern  Lands " Facing  page  530 

48  to  54.     Casts  of  teeth Facing  page  586 

55  to  62.     Casts  of  teeth Facing  page  588 

63.    Judge  Wilbur's  graphic  cards 691 


PART  I 

THE    PROBLEM    OF    THE    INDIVIDUAL 
CHILD 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEM  IN   GENERAL 

The  Public  School  and  Its  Critics. — ^America's  greatest 
pride  has  always  been  its  public  school  system.  The 
American  public  school  is  the  expi:ession  of  democracy  in 
education.  It  differs  in  its  democratic  organization  from 
the  school  systems  of  other  countries,  pedagogic  Ger- 
many included,  where  the  public  elementary  school  is 
only  for  the  "  masses,"  and  where  other  kinds  of  schools 
exist  for  the  "classes." 

However,  for  the  last  few  decades  the  public  school, 
even  in  this  country,  has  in  many  instances  been  de- 
serted by  the  children  of  the  "classes."  For  them  a 
number  of  private  and  "finishing"  schools  have  sprung 
up.  This  development  has  one  cause  in  the  change  of 
social  conditions  and  standards  in  the  commonwealth. 
Another  cause  is  an  increasing  distrust  in  the  efficiency 
of  public  education. 

Of  late  years  a  great  outcry  has  been  raised  against 
the  public  schools.  The  question  is  asked  in  many  quar- 
ters: "What  is  the  final  value  of  our  school  system?" 
Criticism  is  voiced  against  conditions  of  immediate  con- 

1 


2  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

cern,  such  as  efficiency  in  administration,  efficiency  in 
the  methods  of  teaching,  efficiency  in  giving  the  indi- 
vidual child  a  "square  deal."  But  far  broader  and  more 
serious  considerations  are  causing  an  ever-louder  voice 
of  protest. 

Generation  after  generation  of  native-bom  citizens 
have  been  laying  the  foundation  for  an  American  people 
as  a  distinctive  national  unit.  This  new  people,  how- 
ever, lacks  racial  uniformity.  In  creating  a  new  nation 
out  of  the  mixed  blood  from  the  Old  World,  America 
has  a  gigantic  task  before  it.  Race  characters  of  divers 
kinds  must  be  blended  into  a  new  national  type  which  is 
really  international  in  essence.  In  this  process  the  main 
problem  consists  in  preserving  and  conserving  the  pro- 
gressive and  constructive  elements  of  each  racial  and 
national  constituent,  and  in  eliminating  the  backward 
and  antisocial  elements  as  far  as  possible.  These  in- 
clude physical  characteristics,  weaknesses  and  advan- 
tages, as  carried  and  developed  through  the  centuries; 
and  mental,  emotional,  and  ethical  factors  and  differ- 
ences as  well. 

With  the  development  of  industries  and  commerce, 
broader  national  interests  and  aspirations  are  being 
recognized  by  the  individual  citizens.  Questions  of  na- 
tional policy  within  and  without  the  country,  the  rela- 
tions of  groups  of  citizens  to  one  another,  and  of  the 
nation  to  other  nations,  are  occupying  the  minds  of 
thinking  men  and  women. 

A  national  consciousness  is  awakening. 

Thus  the  question  arises:  "What  are  the  public  schools 
doing,  not  only  to  conserve  the  nation's  young,  but  to 
prepare  them  for  efficient  citizenship  under  a  democratic 
government  which  will  permit  progressive  solidarity  of 


THE   EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEM  IN   GENERAL     3 

individual  interests  and  a  clear-cut  national  policy 
toward  the  world?"  Many,  and  oftentimes  appalling, 
are  the  failures  in  Ufe,  despite  pubhc  school  training. 
Many  and  undeniable  are  the  evils  of  our  national  life. 
Both  the  individual  and  the  national  failures  are  being 
laid  at  the  doors  of  the  schools  which  are  accused  of 
wrong  ideals  and  practices. 

Much  of  this  denunciation  is  exaggerated  and  unfair. 
We  are  apt  to  overstate  our  grievances.  But  we  must 
not  blind  ourselves  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  great  need 
of  new  educational  standards,  aims,  and  ideals.  Let  us 
look  into  the  situation  more  closely. 

In  considering  the  efficiency  of  our  whole  public  edu- 
cational system  it  may  be  well  to  pause  a  moment  and 
to  think  of  its  fundamental  objects.  For  what  is  edu- 
cation expected  to  prepare  the  nation?  What  should 
education  do  for  the  welfare  and  progress  of  the  com- 
munity? What  is  it  to  do  for  the  child  as  an  indi- 
vidual ? 

Education  and  National  Ideals. — It  is  not  the  purpose 
of  this  book  to  dwell  more  than  in  passing  upon  the  re- 
lation of  public  school  educatioli  to  national  aims.  It  is 
well,  however,  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  one  of 
the  primary  functions  of  education  is  to  supply  the 
moral  force  of  progress. 

When  we  stop  to  consider  that  our  schools  to-day  teach 
even  their  own  country's  history  so  superficially  that 
the  pupils  scarcely  know,  much  less  understand,  the  be- 
ginnings and  motives  of  American  political,  ethical,  and 
spiritual  evolution  and  their  relation  to  present-day  con- 
ditions at  home,  what  can  we  expect  of  the  citizen  of  the 
future  when  he  is  called  upon  to  deal  with  world  prob- 
lems ?    Of  what  value  to  him  is  the  costly  experience  of 


4  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

his  forebears?  How  can  his  moral  judgment  afford  to 
ignore  this  intellectual  background  ?  How  many  of  the 
pupils  of  to-day  are  taught  definite  ideals  for  the  nation, 
definite  in  the  sense  that  each  voter  will  help  mould  a 
national  policy  which  shall  be  the  outgrowth  of  an  im- 
proved democratic  form  of  government  based  on  his- 
torical influences?  Without  this  knowledge  of  his-tor- 
ical  forces  at  home  and  abroad,  past  and  present,  is 
not  the  voter  of  to-day  incapable  of  intelHgent  deci- 
sions, and  is  not  the  nation's  policy  largely  the  result 
of  experiment,  and  determined  by  the  genius  of  a  few 
leading  minds? 

This  is  a  day  of  commercial  and  industrial  supremacy, 
and  such  an  era  brings  with  it  tremendous  national 
problems.  How  does  the  school  help  the  individual 
consciousness  to  understand  the  mighty  tendencies  of 
to-day:  the  concentration  of  wealth,  the  organization  of 
labor,  etc.?  How  does  it  prepare  the  future  citizen  to 
deal  with  the  perplexing  difiiculties  of  correction  and 
relief  among  the  unfortunate;  and  with  that  host  of 
political  and  social  issues,  such  as  prohibition,  taxation, 
direct  voting,  etc.  ?  Every  one  of  these  problems  is  the 
result  of  a  growth  the  germ  of  which  dates  back  to  the 
very  foundation  of  our  republic. 

The  demand  that  public  school  education  must  in  the 
future  take  the  large  national  issues  under  consideration, 
and  shape  its  instruction  accordingly,  may  seem  star- 
tling, but  it  is  a  problem  which  the  older  countries  have 
long  since  tried  to  solve,  each  in  its  own  way.  From  a 
conglomerate  mass  of  races  and  peoples  which  have  set- 
tled in  this  continent,  there  must  arise  a  real  nation,  not 
necessarily  homogeneous  in  stock,  but  harmonious  in 
aim  and  spirit.     National  consciousness,  national  ideals 


THE   EDUCATIONAL   PROBLEM  IN   GENERAL     5 

must  arise,  and  these  must  be  awakened  in  the  future 
citizen  while  he  is  at  school.^ 

Public  School  Education  and  Community  Problems. 
— The  industrial  world  has  long  since  learned  that  in  the 
process  of  converting  raw  material  into  a  finished  prod- 
uct, waste  must  be  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  older 
extensive  methods  of  production  are  giving  way  to 
highly  scientific,  intensive  forms.  Instead  of  fashioning 
but  one  kind  of  finished  product,  many  kinds  are  now 
developed  from  the  same  raw  material. 

We  are  beginning  to  discover  that  one  of  the  most 
important  raw  materials,  namely,  the  human  material, 
is  being  most  wastefuUy  treated.  For  the  sake  of  ob- 
taining a  single  article,  complacently  called  the  "aver- 
age" man  or  woman,  we  are  throwing  immense  quanti- 
ties of  unexploited  material  on  the  human  scrap-heap. 
The  business  of  life  is  not  primarily  the  attainment  of 
commercial,  industrial,  or  scholastic  success.  It  repre- 
sents fundamentally  the  age-long  effort  to  develop  the  race, 
that  is  to  say,  the  men  and  women  of  the  community, 
to  a  higher  level  of  human  intercourse  and  moral  relation. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  commerce,  industry,  and  all  other 
outward  forms  of  progress,  while  spelling  the  tangible 
elements  of  success,  are  not  in  themselves  the  goal. 
They  are  the  handmaids  of  community  development 

*  "  Great,  progressive  races  are  mixed  races.  Consider  the  ancient 
Romans  and  the  early  English !  The  original  Celts  of  the  British  Isles 
were  driven  back  before  the  Romans  and  the  barbarian  tribes,  but  the 
later  fusion  of  Celtic,  Norse,  Anglo-Saxon,  Jute,  and  Norman  elements 
has  swept  the  seas  with  its  mighty  fleets  and  has  conquered  large  spaces 
of  the  earth  with  its  sturdy  armies.  .  .  .  And  within  our  domain  prog- 
ress and  growth  have  followed  the  route  of  the  pioneer  and  the  immi- 
grant. Progress  has  been  slowest  to  develop  in  those  sections  where 
the  blood  of  the  people  has  remained  least  mixed." — Armour  Caldwell 
in  The  American  Leader,  May  27,  1915. 


6  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

along  the  lines  of  higher  civilization  and  culture.  From 
this  it  follows  that  education  must  never  lose  sight  of 
those  fundamental  purposes  of  national  growth.  To 
prepare  children  on  the  principle  of  narrow  utilitarianism 
for  personal  success  within  selfish  limits  defeats  the  very 
objects  of  education  as  community-serving,  and  from  the 
point  of  view  of  national  and  world  progress. 

As  in  the  conversion  of  crude  oil  into  petroleum  it 
was  found  that  the  by-products  (naphtha,  aniline  dyes, 
mineral  oils,  medicines,  etc.)  outvalue  the  first  product, 
so  by  an  analogous  process  we  are  beginning  to  find  that 
the  by-products  of  the  raw  human  material,  represented 
by  the  many  individual  variations,  are  far  more  valuable 
than  the  *' average"  person. 

It  costs  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  $1,100,000,000 
each  year  for  police,  courts  of  justice,  prisons,  charities 
and  correction,  and  similar  forms  of  self-protection 
against  the  festering  human  refuse-heap.  A  continued 
or  even  increasing  annual  outlay  of  such  an  amount 
under  the  heading  of  "losses"  on  the  debit  side  of  the 
ledger  spells  ruin  for  the  nation.  It  indicates  the  pres- 
ence of  a  highly  dangerous  social  cancer,  one  of  a  most 
malignant  and  progressive  nature,  one  whose  treatment 
is  most  costly  in  cold  terms  of  money. 

The  Business  of  Life  needs  to  be  placed  on  the  basis  of 
efficiency.  The  saving  is  not  merely  one  of  money  but, 
what  is  vastly  more  important,  one  of  human  souls. 
Life's  enterprise  must  be  conducted  like  any  other  busi- 
ness. New  methods  to  avoid,  to  reduce,  and  to  convert 
waste  must  be  found.  Capital  must  be  invested  in 
human  assets. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  nation  is  spending  only 
$600,000,000  annually  for  schools,  churches,  and  other 


THE   EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEM  IN   GENERAL     7 

constructive  agencies;  in  other  words,  $500,000,000  less 
is  spent  to  develop  human  assets  than  is  spent  to  keep 
up  the  human  failures!^  It  would  seem  reasonable  to 
expect  the  American  people  to  apply  their  recognized 
business  perspicuity  to  invert  these  figures,  investing 
more  for  constriictive  conversion  and  conservation.  Such 
investment  in  proper  methods  of  conversion  of  waste 
would  reduce  the  enormous  refuse-heap  now  accum.ulat- 
ing  in  the  form  of  human  derelicts,  causing  it  automati- 
cally to  shrink  to  reasonable  bounds. 

All  the  failures  in  the  Business  of  Life,  among  them  the 
500,000  or  so  of  criminals  "doing  time"  in  the  prisons 
of  this  land,  were  once  pupils  in  our  schools,  or  play- 
fellows in  our  city  streets,  in  the  villages,  and  the  rural 
districts. 

The  salvation  of  these  human  derelicts  is  a  social 
problem.  Better  methods  of  conversion  must  still  be 
studied  and  applied.  The  problems  of  the  future  can 
be  solved  only  when,  first,  we  recognize  existing  condi- 
tions, and,  second,  apply  the  remedy  intelligently.  Here 
is  an  educational  problem  in  the  widest  sense  of  this 
term. 

The  productive  power  created  by  right  education  re- 
leases social  and  economic  values  many  times  in  excess 
of  the  capital  invested.  The  aggregate  of  human  fail- 
ures which  have  to  be  kept  under  control  by  the  expen- 
diture of  enormous  sums,  represents  a  dynamic  force  of 
stupendous  magnitude.     It  can  and  must  be  converted 

*  Mr.  Edward  Morrell,  the  San  Quentin  convict,  who  has  been  helping 
Warden  Thomas  Mott  Osbom  to  put  Sing  Sing  under  the  honor  system 
of  self-government,  gave,  in  an  interview  in  the  Evening  Mail  (New 
York)  of  May  19,  1915,  much  higher  figures.  He  says:  "This  country 
is  spending  annually  $3,500,000,000  to  support  its  criminal  institutions. 
This  is  half  again  as  much  as  goes  for  training  in  schools  and  colleges." 


THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

255 


100* 


^^rtffl     ' 

l^*'^^>^ 

x!;S3S#¥= 

-  ''^^"^\ 

^  pS^friq'{iT= 

^  '    >^ 

igse 

Vv 

iJl^ 

'\ 

• 

/ 

/ 

90** 

vj 

li^ 

50* 


75* 
Fig.  I. 
Percentage  diagram  of  exceptional  children. 

The  circle  represents  the  entire  number  of  children  of  school  age  in  the  United 

States. 
The  white  quadrant  indicates  the  estimated  proportion  of  perfectly  healthy,  nor- 
mal children.     All  the  others  are  more  or  less  handicapped  and  in  danger. 
The  dotted  semicircle  (e)  indicates  the  pseudoalypical  children  who  are  laboring 

under  some  removable  disadvantage — scholastic,  physical,  and  otherwise. 
The  shaded  quadrant  includes  various  groups  of  truly  exceptional  children. 
(a)  Abnormal  children  (2  per  cent); 
{b)  Subnormal  children  (s  per  cent) ; 
(c)   and  {d)     Atypical  children  (18  per  cent); 
{d)  Exceptionally  bright  children  (3  per  cent). 

Presented  in  figures,  the  problem  would  appear  as  follows: 

Number  of  children  of  school  age 24,000,000 

Some  investigators  claim  that  90  per  cent  have  some  defect  or  ailment  2 1 ,600,000 
More  conservative  estimates  restrict  this  to  only  75  per  cent 18,000,000 

This  would  leave  only  25  per  cent  (6,000,000)  healthy,  normal 

children.    Among  the  75  per  cent  of  handicapped  children  are 

the  following: 
Pseudoatypical  children — about  50  per  cent 12,000,000 

Those  who  suffer  from  easily  removable  difficulties,  including 

physical  ailments. 
Atypical  children — about  18  per  cent 4,320,000 

Including  the  exceptionally  bright,  the  nervous,  the  difficult,  the 

retarded  child. 
Subnormal  children — about  5  per  cent 1,200,000 

Including  the  blind,  deaf,  crippled,  arrested,  economically  sub- 
merged, and  primitive  groups. 
Abnormal  children — about  2  per  cent 480,000 

Including  the  moral  perverts  and  imbeciles,  the  feeble-minded, 

insane,  etc' 
"The  figures  presented  in  this  chapter  have  been  compiled  from  a  large  number  of 
sources,  medical  reports,  special  investigations,  etc.,  and  are  conservative. 


THE  EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEM  IN  GENERAL     9 

into  a  helpful,  constructive  force  instead  of  being  a 
menace  to  society. 

The  Human  Raw  Material. — The  human  raw  material 
is  to-day  in  the  form  of  24,000,000  children  of  school 
age  (5  to  18  years).  Just  as  a  chemist  analyzes  rock 
or  ore,  so  this  material  can  be  divided  into  its  compo- 
nent parts.  The  diagram  on  page  8  represents  graphi- 
cally the  problem  of  the  child  as  outlined  in  the  classi- 
fication and  terminology  employed  in  this  book.  {Cf. 
Chapter  IV.) 

Any  one  of  these  truly  exceptional  children,  including 
the  exceptionally  bright,  the  "different,"  the  neurotic, 
the  retarded,  the  subnormal,  and  the  abnormal  children, 
is  a  potential  dereUct,  failure,  crank,  or  criminal.  Sav- 
ing him  depends  upon  timely  care  and  training. 

Even  the  pseudoatypical  chila  will  go  wrong  through 
neglect. 

Of  the  physical  ailments  alluded  to,  these  figures  will 
show  their  appalling  extent: 

50  to  75  per  cent  of  all  children  suffer 
from  defective  teeth  (with  all  the 
consequences  resulting  therefrom)  12,000,000  to  18,000,000 

30  per  cent  suffer  from  nasal  obstruc- 
tions   7,200,000 

26  per  cent  suffer  from  eye-strain^ 6,240,000 

20  to  25  per  cent  suffer  from  nervous 

disorders 4,800,000  to    6,000,000 

12  per  cent  suffer  from  some  deformity  2,880,000 
4  per  cent  suffer  from  defective  hear- 
ing   960,000 

2j4  per  cent  suffer  from  tuberculosis. .  600,000 

*  Doctor  Lewis  C.  Wessels,  ophthalmologist  of  the  Bureau  of  Health, 
Philadelphia,  published  an  investigation  of  visual  defects  in  school  chil- 
dren of  his  city  in  School  Progress  of  May,  1915.  He  writes:  "As  a  rule, 
the  position  in  class  was  in  direct  ratio  to  the  visual  defect,  the  worse 


10  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

It  will  be  readily  noted  that  we  have  in  this  raw  ma- 
terial the  makings  of  all  the  cankers  and  sores  of  our 
body  social,  and  that  it  is  the  problem  of  education  to 
convert  the  human  failures  into  human  assets,  reducing 
the  final  waste  to  an  irreducible  minimum. 

The  Public  School  and  the  Child. — In  the  preceding 
sections  we  have  discussed  education  as  a  national  and 
community  policy.  When  we  deal  with  education  in  its 
relation  to  the  individual  child  we  come  to  a  more  direct 
problem.  What  shall  education  mean  to  the  child  as  an 
individual  ?  This  is  a  question  which  can  be  variously 
answered,  and  its  answer  is  the  real  object  of  this  book. 
That  it  cannot  be  dismissed  with  a  simple  definition 
covering  all  children  equally,  the  author  hopes  to  make 
apparent  as  he  proceeds.  Before  entering  upon  a  more 
detailed  discussion  of  the  various  phases  of  the  problem 
the  author  will  briefly  consider  a  few  of  the  criticisms 
directed  against  the  present  form  of  pubUc  school  edu- 
cation. 

These  criticisms  usually  fall  under  two  heads:  those 
dealing  with  administrative  problems  and  those  dealing 
with  education  as  such. 

Administrative  Problems.  —  The  American  public 
school  has  of  late  years  become  a  huge  and  unwieldy 
piece  of  machinery.  The  diffused  population  of  former 
years  has  been  drifting  more  and  more  to  limited  areas. 
Our  cities  have  grown  by  leaps  and  bounds,  and  we  have 
before  us  the  problems  of  urban  congestion.  Great 
waves  of  migration  would  roll  along  the  nation's  high- 

the  defect  the  more  backward  the  pupil.  The  worst  cases  were  natu- 
rally sent  to  the  dispensary  first  in  1908.  Seventy-six  per  cent  of  those 
pupils  were  backward.  In  1914  the  serious  defects  were  not  so  numer- 
ous, yet  62  per  cent  were  backward.  The  average  for  seven  years  was 
67  per  cent  retarded  children,  principally  on  account  of  defective  vision." 


THE   EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEM  IN   GENERAL     11 

ways  in  unexpected  directions  and  would  create  new 
centres  of  density  and  accumulation.  Even  in  the  rural 
districts,  the  tendency  of  school  administration  has  been 
to  combine  the  scattered  small  schools  into  fewer,  but 
larger,  more  centralized  buildings.  Added  to  this  inter- 
nal shifting  of  the  population  there  has  been  a  tremendous 
influx  of  great  masses  through  foreign  immigration.  Be- 
fore the  plans  to  build  and  equip  schoolhouses,  to  pro- 
vide teachers,  administrative  officers,  and  the  manifold 
material  needs  for  the  millions  at  a  given  time  have  been 
put  well  under  way,  and  long  before  completion  of  these 
plans,  still  greater  demands  are  thrust  upon  the  authori- 
ties. As  a  result,  the  educational  machinery  has  in 
most  cases  been  inadequate  for  current  demands. 

Superintendents  of  schools  and  boards  of  education 
have  been  so  absorbed  in  these  administrative  problems, 
building  and  equipping  schoolhouses,  training  teachers, 
selecting  and  providing  school  and  other  material,  etc., 
that  these  demands  have  deprived  them  of  time  for 
concentrated  thought  upon  educational  problems  as 
such. 

As  a  matter  of  administrative  expediency  the  pupils 
have  been  placed  in  large  groups  in  palatial  school-build- 
ings, often  housing  one  thousand  or  more;  these  groups 
being  subdivided  into  classes  varying  in  attendance 
anywhere  from  thirty  to  sixty  pupils.  It  has  become  a 
question  not  of  training  each  pupil  to  his  highest  effi- 
ciency,^ but  of  pushing  the  greatest  number  ahead  with 
a  minimum  of  progress  compatible  with  a  grade.  Effi- 
ciency is  being  measured  by  classes,  not  by  pupil  units. 
Individual  differences,  aptitudes,  and  difficulties  are  per- 
force lost  to  sight.     Extensive  rather  than  intensive 

'  See  Chapter  II. 


12  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

administrative  methods  have  become  the  vogue.  This 
naturally  means  wasteful  production,  the  very  opposite 
of  all  modern  tendencies. 

About  20  per  cent  of  all  pupils  in  oup. schools  are  "re- 
peaters." That  is,  they  repeat  one  oin;-ntore  grades  dur- 
ing their  school  career,  failing  of  promiqtibn.  This  illus- 
trates, among  other  things,  the  costliness  of  our  present 
methods,  as  the  following  table  will  show: 

The  average  cost  for  each  pupil  per  annum  is  about  $40 
In  a  city  with  a  school  population  of  100,000  the  tax- 
payers must  annually  provide  approximately. .  .     4,000,000 
20  per  cent  repeaters  (20,000)  cost  for  one  year. . . .        800,000 
At  least  one-half  of  this  number  could  have  been 
saved  from  repeating  by  adequate  medical  relief, 
differentiated  instructional  provisions,  and  bet- 
ter teaching;  therefore  wasted  expense 400,000 

We  may  find  that  most  of  the  repeaters  might  have 
been  saved  the  loss  of  time  and  expense;  thus  the  waste 
is  still  more  appalling. 

It  can  be  shown  in  other  ways  that  the  administrative 
problems  are  still  far  from  being  solved.  These  difficul- 
ties are  reflected  in  the  education  as  such  and  give  rise 
to  the  multitude  of  individual  problems  which  agitate 
the  home  and,  in  their  aggregate,  the  nation. 

Education  and  the  Individual  Pupil. — Education,  pure 
and  simple,  is  never  a  problem  of  masses;  it  is  forever 
that  of  the  individual  child.  In  the  family,  in  the  small 
school  of  bygone  times,  even  in  the  ungraded  rural 
schools — whatever  imperfections  these  educational  in- 
stitutions may  have  had — the  individual  child  has  had 
a  greater  chance  for  recognition  and  special  treatment 
than  he  has  in  the  school  palaces  of  our  great  cities. 

The  present  school  system  is  built  largely  upon  a  fal- 


THE  EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEM  IN  GENERAL  13 

lacious  application  of  the  declaration  of  political  inde- 
pendence in  which  all  men  are  declared  equal.  Socially 
this  should  mean  that  all  men  must  be  given  an  equal 
opportunity.  But  in  the  matter  of  endowments,  of  apti- 
tudes, of  fitness  for  life's  work,  all  of  us  are  very  unequal, 
representing  diferent  types  varying  widely  in  character 
and  intensity.  Even  with  equal  or  similar  endowments, 
there  is  a  difference  of  individual  rhythm.  The  rate  of 
physical  growth  and  of  functional  development,  includ- 
ing the  mental,  differs  greatly  in  different  individuals, 
so  that  it  appears  unfair  to  expect  the  slow  to  run  a  race 
with  the  quick. 

Individual  differences  have,  of  course,  been  recognized 
in  a  vague  way  at  all  times.  Striking  differences  natu- 
rally attracted  attention  and  received  first  considera- 
tion when  it  came  to  making  provisions  for  differentia- 
tion in  teaching.  During  the  early  and  prescientific 
observation  of  school  children,  one  of  the  first  groups 
to  emerge  for  special  care,  as  being  an  exception  to  the 
rule,  was  that  of  meagre  endowments.  But  this  differ- 
entiation even  to-day  remains  quite  crude.  Many  a 
child  who  is  simply  tardy  in  his  mental  and  physical 
growth  is  thought  dull  or  mentally  defective,  although 
in  reality  oftentimes  possessed  of  unusual  mental  vigor; 
and  the  child  of  circumscribed  abiHty  is  confused  with 
the  child  of  feeble  and  abnormal  mind.  Of  late  years 
scientific  methods  of  research  are  penetrating  more 
deeply  into  the  child  problems  and  permit  clearer  dis- 
tinctions. 

It  is  perfectly  true  that  there  is  a  larger  number  of 
truly  mentally  defective  persons  than  has  been  suspected 
{cf.  figures  given  before),  and  that  they  represent  a  dis- 
tinct  burden   on   society.    It  is  imperative   that   the 


14  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

problem  of  the  really  abnormal  be  faced  and  be  handled 
intelUgently.  Among  our  criminals,  our  paupers,  our 
prostitutes,  and  all  those  who  are  generally  ineffective 
and  unable  to  become  socialized,  there  is  a  small  percent- 
age of  mentally  abnormal  types — types  that  are,  as  far  as 
we  know,  unredeemable. 

This  group,  representing  irreducible  waste,  does  not, 
however,  constitute  primarily  a  school  problem.  It  con- 
stitutes an  ecgnomic  problem,  a  social  problem,  a  psycho- 
pathic problem,  a  medical  problem.  The  group  includes 
two  distinct  types:  the  feeble-minded  and  the  insane. 
It  postulates  opportunities  for  custodial  care. 

But  the  burden  of  criminality,  ineffectiveness,  and  failure 
in  life  cannot  be  laid  upon  mental  defect  in  the  majority  of 
cases.  Many  a  well-endowed  person  has  failed  in  Hfe 
because  he  did  not  have  the  training  which  would  have 
fitted  him  to  do  his  best;  or  because  adverse  social  and 
economic  conditions  in  an  unfavorable  environment  pre- 
vented him  from  living  the  hfe  for  which  Providence  had 
endowed  him;  or  because  in  some  other  way  he  had 
missed  his  true  vocation.  Economic  pressure  has  in- 
creased among  the  pariahs  of  society;  and  the  most 
common  disease  of  our  captains  of  industry  is  neuras- 
thenia, not  to  say  psychasthenia.  In  a  measure,  we  are 
dealing  with  misdirected  potentials  of  leadership  in  the 
ranks  of  capital  as  well  as  of  labor. 

Many  a  criminal  of  the  type  which  is  reached  by  law 
is  mentally  brilliant.  We  must  not.  underestimate  the 
moral  qualities  even  of  the  "und^.rworld."  There  is  a 
spirit  of  "gang-fairness,"  a  singular  sense  of  responsi- 
biUty  for  one  another.  There  are  even  sentiments  and 
circumscribed  virtues  to  be  found  among  the  unfortu- 
nates who  Uve  in  the  seething  caldron  of  crime  and 


THE   EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEM   IN   GENERAL     15 

immorality  beneath  our  very  feet.  Here  again  we  are 
dealing  with  misdirected  potentials.  What  have  become 
destructive  tendencies  might  have  been  led  into  construc- 
tive channels  if  the  individual  possibilities  and  needs  of 
these  outcasts  had  been  understood  when  they  were  chil- 
dren. 

It  is  an  interesting  but  not  generally  known  fact  that 
against  the  estimated  2  per  cent  of  mentally  abnormal 
children,  those  at  the  lower  end  of  the  line^we^have  at 
least  equally  as  many  at  the  upper  end.'  These  are  the 
unusually  bright  and  promising — those  Who  are  destined 
to  become  leaders  of  thought  and  action.  The  excep- 
tionally fit  have  so  far  received  less  attention  than  the  ex- 
ceptionally unfit.  Yet,  oftentimes  one  who  might  have 
been  trained  to  become  a  leader  for  good,  for  progress, 
and  for  the  highest  ideals  of  the  nation  and  of  humanity, 
is  so  warped  by  neglect  and  lack  of  constructive  oppor- 
timity  that  he  becomes  the  misleader,  the  demagogue, 
the  oppressor,  the  shark,  the  destroyer,  the  crank. 

Between  these  two  ends  there  are  hundreds  of  varie- 
ties of  attitude,  of  aptitude,  of  physical  and  mental  en- 
dowment, or  of  moral  and  emotional  quality.  There 
are  so  many  different  types  of  mind,  all  approaching  their 
own  Ufe  problems  from  a  different  angle,  be  it  that  of 
the  artist  and  dreamer,  that  of  the  constructive  genius, 
or  that  of  the  commercial  organizer,  of  the  master  of 
the  word  and  of  abstract  thought:  that  it  is  appalling 
to  think  that  we  have  attempted  to  cast  them  all  into 
the  same  mill  of  school  education,  expecting  to  see  each 
typ)e  emerge  from  the  spout  at  the  other  end  unmixed 
and  unpolluted,  perfect  and  well-ground  in  its  own  right. 

So  wasteful  has  the  extensive  method  of  education  be- 
come in  the  effects  produced  on  the  community  that  the 


16  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

public  is  seriously  alarmed  by  what  seems  a  new  prob- 
lem— the  exceptional  child.  Criticisms  of  existing  meth- 
ods are  rampant  among  educators  and  thinking  men 
and  women;  alarm  is  being  expressed  by  the  laity  over 
the  increase  of  ineffectiveness  and  of  variants  from  the 
"average."  The  thinkers  are  seeking  to  find  definite 
causes  and  to  remedy  conditions;  the  laity  are  allowing 
themselves  to  be  aroused  and  misled  by  startling  state- 
ments and  quack  remedies. 

The  Problem  of  the  Exceptional  Child. — Thus,  the 
problem  of  the  exceptional  child  constitutes  a  vital  issue 
in  modern  education.  It  means,  first  of  all,  changing 
from  our  extensive  methods  to  those  which  are  inten- 
sive. A  real  solution  must  go  to  the  very  roots  of  edu- 
cational principles  and  practices.  [Jin  a  narrower  sense, 
the  exceptional  child  is  the  moving  power  of  our  civiliza- 
tion; )  "Average"  man — the  man  of  mediocrity — rep- 
resents a  stable,  stale,  stagnant  element — the  "mass." 
But  the  exceptionally  bright  child,  the  child  of  so  indi- 
vidual a  mind  that  he  defies  average  standards,  one  who 
wants  to  go  his  own  way  self -directed;  yes,  even  the  slow 
child  who  gathers  his  characteristic  strength  little  by 
little,  like  a  slow-growing  oak  which  outlives  centuries, 
he  is  the  one  who  moulds  the  destiny  of  our  race,  and  his 
powers  may  be  turned  into  evil  as  well  as  into  good,  in 
proportion  to  the  stimulus  toward  right  motives  he  re- 
ceives at  the  turning-points  of  his  life.  Truly,  the  "va- 
riation from  type"  is  a  factor  in  the  development  of  the 
raceT"         ^~~" 

Even  the  really  backward  child  is  more  needy  of 
attention  than  the  "average"  child.  The  latter  will 
usually  find  his  way  in  this  humdrum  Philistine  world 
of  ours,  and  will  represent  "average"  virtue  and  "aver- 


THE  EDUCATIONAL   PROBLEM  IN  GENERAL     17 

age"  standards  without  much  effort  or  danger.  But  the 
child  whose  powers,  while  normal,  are  weak,  needs  much 
help  to  find  his  place  and  to  do  his  work  in  life. 

In  considering  the  various  forms  of  child  life,  it  will 
become  evident  that  education  must  mean  something 
different  to  each  one  if  it  is  to  speak  a  known  language 
to  him.  The  special  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  lay  stress 
upon  the  right  differentiation  of  children  as  to  type  and 
condition,  and  to  concentrate  attention  more  particu- 
larly upon  the  needs  of  those  who  require  individual 
recognition  and  training.  It  suggests  methods  by  which 
the  problem  can  be  studied  and  by  which  much  of  the 
human  waste  can  be  reclaimed.  Modern  methods  of 
conservation  and  improvement  of  the  race  are  needed 
to  reclaim  the  handicapped  normal  child.  A  scientific 
analysis  must  naturally  precede  the  process  of  reclama- 
tion. Then  it  will  be  possible  to  reduce  the  present 
waste^to  the  irreducible  residue,  and  to  convert  what 
can  be  reclaimed  into  valuable  assets  for  our  civilization. 
This  analysis  is  here  attempted.     \ 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  PROBLEM   OF  EFFICIENCY 

Standards  of  Efficiency. — In  a  discussion  of  educa- 
tional methods  and  of  problems  of  individual  adapta- 
tion, so  that  each  child  may  grow  up  to  do  his  social 
service  in  his  own  best  way,  the  problem  of  efficiency 
demands  serious  consideration. 

In  the  valuation  of  this  problem  we  must,  however, 
come  to  a  clear  understanding  as  to  the  meaning  of  the 
term  "efficiency."  Much  attention  has  recently  been 
given  to  "standards  of  efficiency"  in  business,  in  teach- 
ing, in  government,  and  what  not.  We  have  "efficiency 
experts,"  "efficiency  tests,"  and  a  host  of  suggestions  as 
to  how  to  attain  "efficiency."  Each  author  has  an  in- 
terpretation of  the  term  "efficiency"  pecuUarly  his  own, 
often  entirely  at  variance  with  the  previously  formed 
conceptions  of  the  reader. 

This  book  is  not  intended  to  offer  a  treatise  on  the 
psychology  of  the  subject.  The  author  will  attempt,  for 
practical  purposes,  in  a  common-sense  sort  of  way,  to 
distinguish  between  efficiency,  as  he  understands  the 
term,  and  skill,  so  as  to  show  the  significance  of  differen- 
tiating between  the  two  when  dealing  with  educational 
problems. 

Efficiency  vs.  Skill. — Efficiency  is  the  ability  of  the 
individual  to  appreciate  his  environment  in  its  various 
phases,  to  recognize  the  material  and  spiritual  oppor- 
tunities for  social  betterment  which  it  contains,  and  to 
project  upon  it  his  own  best  self  for  the  progress  of  the 

18 


THE   PROBLEM   OF  EFFICIENCY  19 

commonwealth.  Efficiency  finds  its  highest  expression 
when  it  produces  a  reciprocal  relation  between  the  best 
in  the  individual  and  the  best  that  is  to  be  found  in  the 
outside  world — a  relationship  of  mutual  uplift.  There- 
fore, it  has  essentially  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual 
qualities.  It  enables  the  individual  not  only  to  compre- 
hend, in  the  broadest  sense  of  this  term,  but  to  construct, 
to  create,  as  well.  It  implies  potential  ability  along 
many  different  lines  of  activity. 

Efficiency  is  the  quality  of  the  leader.  It  does  not 
confine  itself  to  opportunities  for  doing  big  things,  nor 
does  leadership  restrict  itself  to  exalted  places.  It  really 
manifests  itself  in  the  faculty  of  doing  a//  things  well — 
the  small  as  well  as  the  big;  and  in  the  power  of  adjust- 
ing_oiie§elf_guickly  and  intelligently  to  changing  condi- 
tions and  new  problems.  To  be  efficient  has  always 
been  the  distinction  of  the  complete  normal  man. 

Individual  Competency. — Each  individual  possesses  a 
distinct  combination  of  physical,  mental,  emotional, 
spiritual,  and  other  endowments.  These  particular  en- 
dowments, latent  and  imrecognized  as  they  may  be, 
represent  his  potential  competency.  There  is  seldom  an 
individual  so  poor  in  endowments  of  some  kind  that  he 
could  not  develop  actual  competency  of  considerable 
strength  if  he  had  a  suitable  field  for  their  conservation, 
cultivation,  and  exercise.  These  endowments  are  influ- 
enced in  a  great  measure  by  hereditary  factors  and  by 
the  type  of  community  in  which  the  individual  grows 
up.  They  are  affected  by  the  standards  of  material 
progress,  of  public  spirit,  of  morality,  etc.,  which  pervade 
his  social  environment. 

Individual  Increment. — In  a  progressive  community 
the  life  of  each  individual  should  represent  some  form  of 


20  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

increment  to  that  progress.  But  the  full  competency 
latent  within  each  one  is  aroused,  developed,  and  directed 
to  a  high  state  of  action  only  in  a  relatively  small  num- 
ber of  instances.^  Only  a  few  citizens  succeed  in  pro- 
ducing large  individual  increments.  In  the  majority  of 
cases,  competency  is  only  partially  or  slightly  cultivated; 
the  resulting  individual  increments  are  small — even 
negative,  in  some  instances. 

T3rpes  of  Men  and  Mind. — ^The  distinct  combination 
of  endowments  of  an  individual  will  tend  to  direct  his 
competency  into  some  particular  path.  Thus  we  com- 
monly speak  of  "types"  of  men  and  of  mind,  meaning 
thereby  different  physical  and  mental  combinations. 
The  competency  of  the  individual  will  determine  the 
"type"  of  his  community  increment.  The  butcher  and 
the  surgeon,  the  apothecary  and  the  chemical  research 
professor,  the  soldier  and  his  general,  the  clerk  and  his 
employer — each  one  will  add  his  increment  to  the  prog- 
ress of  the  community  in  terms  of  his  own  competency. 

But  there  is  a  great  difference  in  the  performance  level 
of  each.  The  butcher  may  develop  into  a  splendid  sur- 
geon, the  apothecary  into  a  successful  research  chemist, 
etc.,  by  improving  his  performance  level.  Such  a  higher 
level  can  be  reached  mainly  through  a  more  intensive 
intellectual  training.  Intellectual  quality  cannot  be  al- 
tered in  any  single  generation;  training  will  not  increase 
the  ultimate  limits  of  individual  mental  endowments. 
But  training  can  co-ordinate,  educate,  and  elevate  the  latent 
abilities  to  their  highest  performance  level.     It  is  this  de- 

*  That  there  are  in  every  man  vast  numbers  of  unused  potentials  is 
illustrated  by  the  fact  that  only  a  fraction  of  the  actual  number  of  brain 
cells  is  really  functioning.  "The  wisest  person  that  ever  lived  probably 
had  several  million  brain  cells  that  were  more  or  less  idle." — Halleck. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  EFFICIENCY  21 

velopment  of  the  intellectual  quality  in  quantitative 
measure  which  generates,  as  it  were,  the  dynamic  value 
of  the  individual's  endowments  and  increases  his  incre- 
ment to  community  progress. 

Complexity  of  Modem  Life  Conditions. — Under  pres- 
ent life  conditions  it  is  far  more  difficult  to  leave  our 
individual  imprint,  in  terms  of  efficiency,  upon  the  com- 
munity than  at  any  previous  time.  To  appreciate  fully 
the  various  phases  of  even  the  simplest  present-day  en- 
vironment is  an  infinitely  more  complex  matter  than  it 
was  a  hundred  years  ago,  especially  in  cities  and  in  the 
more  thickly  populated  sections  of  the  country.  In  the 
past,  most  people  found  the  groove  along  which  they 
could  work  efficiently  with  relative  ease.  Changes 
came  slowly,  so  that  there  was  time  for  readjustment. 
Social  strata,  classes,  and  castes  existed  for  centuries, 
distinct  and  limited  in  their  ambitions  and  activities. 
Within  the  limits  of  their  life  conditions  there  was  much 
opportunity  for  the  individual  to  do  whole-hearted 
work,  and  there  was  less  of  division  of  labor.  The 
working  man  was  an  artisan  who  had  the  opportunity, 
and  often  the  desire,  to  become  an  artist  in  his  particular 
trade,  and  the  agricultural  portion  of  the  population  had 
similarly  unrestricted  occupations  and  opportunities. 

We  are  now  living  in  a  period  of  stupendously  rapid 
changes.  The  human  mind  has  become  so  extraordi- 
narily complex  and  inventive  that  it  tackles  problem 
after  problem,  allowing  nothing  to  be  called  impossible. 
Specialization  of  labor  has  so  divided  the  tasks  that  an 
individual  only  performs  a  part  of  the  whole  which  is 
assembled  by  others.  Machinery  replaces  the  hand- 
work of  millions  and  has  revolutionized  industry  and 
agriculture.    The  amazing  progress  of  the  means  of 


22  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

communication  and  transportation,  over  land  and  sea, 
under  the  ocean  and  through  the  air,  has  brought  the 
life  and  productions  of  distant  countries  together. 
Classes  and  castes  along  old-country  lines  have  become 
obliterated,  and  are  slowly  being  replaced  by  divisions 
along  other  lines. 

Traditional  American  life  is  undergoing  vg3t  changes. 
Ever  new  aspirations  welled  up  with  each  new  genera- 
tion, driving  its  members  to  new  sections  of  the  country 
or  to  new  spheres  of  labor.  Besides,  our  country  is  an- 
nually absorbing  great  numbers  of  immigrants  from  all 
parts  of  the  globe.  The  sturdy  Norwegian  yeoman,  the 
stolid,  thrifty  German  peasant,  the  mobile  Russian  Jew, 
the  nomadic  herdsman  from  the  Hungarian  puszta,  the 
indolent  and  primitive  Neapolitan  lazzaroni,  and  many 
another  representative  of  classes  and  races  that  have  to 
this  day  preserved  almost  mediaeval  conditions  and  hab- 
its, have  been  cast  upon  these  shores  to  come  into  com- 
petition with  the  restless  American  freeman.  Distinc- 
tions of  race  and  nation,  of  instincts  and  ambitions,  of 
ideals  and  aspirations,  of  education  and  refinement,  of 
century-old  culture  and  leadership,  give  way  before  this 
crushing  flood  of  the  new  migration  of  peoples. 

The  social  and  moral  props — family,  position,  tradi- 
tion, institution,  education,  etc. — ^which  sustained  the 
parents  and  the  grandparents  of  the  present  generation, 
are  being  torn  away,  and  all  of  us,  especially  the  immi- 
grant, must  face  new  conditions  upon  our  own  initiative. 
The  individual  has  an  increasingly  difficult  task  to  ad- 
just himself  to  the  rapidly  changing  situations,  and  to 
find  his  place  in  life.  What  would  otherwise  seem  to  be 
a  most  auspicious  epoch  for  the  development  of  a  new 
brotherhood  of  men  resolves  itself  into  another  form  of 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  EFFICIENCY  23 

the  primal  struggle  for  existence — a  struggle  in  which 
unscrupulous,  merciless  cunning  and  brute  force  only 
too  often  secure  the  mastership. 

Skill  vs.  Efl&ciency. — Under  these  conditions  innate 
competency  is  overshadowed  among  the  masses  of  the 
people  by  skill.  The  broader  aims  and  ideals  of  the 
individual,  of  the  community,  and  of  the  nation  are  left 
unexplored  while  the  masses  live  through  their  daily 
grind. 

Skill  is  the  ability  to  perform  a  given  task  well.  After 
the  modus  operandi  of  a  task  is  once  grasped,  success  in 
attaining  skill  depends  upon  perfecting  the  separate 
operations  essential  to  execution,  eliminating  aU  ex- 
traneous acts  or  thoughts  not  immediately  concerned  in 
the  operation;  through  repetition  the  sequence  of  oper- 
ations in  each  performance  is  fixed  imtil  conscious  effort 
is  fully  eliminated  and  the  nearest  approach  to  machine- 
like perfection  is  reached.  Thus,  skill  tends  to  reduce 
a  task  to  a  definite  succession  of  physical  and  mental 
reactions,  limited  in  number  and  kind,  making  them 
resemble  simple  automatic  reflexes.  Skill  is  intimately 
related  to  habit.  Conscious  adaptation  and  intelligence 
are  reduced  to  a  degree  sufficient  only  for  the  immediate 
situation.  Any  change  in  the  order  or  type  of  reaction 
immediately  jeopardizes  the  perfection  of  the  skill  in 
that  operation.  Besides,  the  final  success  of  skill  as 
such  consists  in  its  immediate  result — the  thing  com- 
pleted. 

The  merely  skilful  maid  may  be  taught  to  sweep  the 
floor  without  much  idea  why  the  broom  should  be  ap- 
plied in  one  way  rather  than  in  another;  in  contrast  to 
the  efiicient  housewife  who  may  not  possess  skill  in 
sweeping,  but  appreciates  what  this  task  implies,  and 


24  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

who  can  therefore  direct,  in  an  organizing  manner,  not 
only  this  but  many  other  household  tasks.  The  skilful 
accountant,  computing  figures  at  his  desk,  need  not  raise 
the  level  of  his  conscious  adaptation  and  intelligence 
above  his  task.  His  employer,  a  captain  of  industry 
with  a  wide  perspective  of  organization  and  power,  deals 
not  simply  with  figures  as  such,  but  brings  his  executive 
leadership  to  bear  on  operations  which  affect  much 
vaster  interests  than  merely  his  counting-house  and  the 
accuracy  of  his  accounts — ^he  is  a  factor  in  the  commerce 
of  the  world. 

By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  ordinary  tasks  in  life 
are  based  upon  skill.  These  tasks  merely  represent  dif- 
ferent grades  of  skill  on  varying  physical  and  intellectual 
performance  levels.  Naturally,  the  skill  required  by  a 
surgeon  to  perform  an  intricate  resection  is  infinitely 
more  complex  than  that  of  a  butcher  severing  the  bone 
of  a  carcass.  The  actual  skill  required  in  any  specific 
instance  may  be  measured  quantitatively.  The  mere 
fact  that  a  task  is  skilfully  performed  does  not  endow 
that  skill  with  any  moral  quality.  The  burglar  who 
opens  a  complicated  lock  may  show  no  less  skill  than 
the  locksmith  who  made  it. 

Skill  Quantitative,  Efficiency  Qualitative. — Efficiency 
needs  skill  as  one  form  of  its  expression,  but  skill  is  only 
an  applied  mechanical  evidence  of  previous  ideation. 
As  such  it  deserves  careful  training.  Skill  is  appraised 
quantitatively  and  is  confined  to  a  limited  number  and 
type  of  acts.  Efficiency  is  elastic  in  the  manner  of  its 
application;  it  applies  potential  skill  along  many  differ- 
ent lines  of  activity;  it  is  qualitative.  Skill  is  the  result 
of  special  training;  efficiency  is  a  directing  force  from 
which  skill  emanates.     Skill  has  no  moral  quality;  effi- 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  EFFICIENCY  25 

dency  is  measured  by  moral  standards.  Skill  is  depen- 
dent upon  immediate  results  such  as  can  be  measured 
in  terms  of  money  value  or  of  some  other  form  of  prac- 
tical advantage.  Efficiency  may  not  redound  in  the 
form  of  worldly  success  to  the  benefit  of  the  individual 
possessing  it — for  what  he  has  builded  may  be  of  a  nature 
which  caimot  bear  direct  fruit,  or  may  not  ripen  until 
a  remote  future  date.  Men  of  recognized  efficiency,  like 
Pestalozzi  (Case  i)  and  Kepler  (Case  2),  powerful  forces 
of  progress  that  they  were,  were  failures  from  the 
standpoint  of  immediate  personal  or  worldly  success. 

The  efficient  man  comprehends  the  situation,  selects 
the  particular  suggestion  it  contains  for  the  purpose  in 
view,  and  decides  upon,  or  invents,  the  process  assuring 
the  result.  The  skilful  man  accepts  the  creative  con- 
tribution of  the  efiicient  man,  and  through  practice 
reduces  the  operation  to  machine-like  perfection. 

Community  Efficiency. — The  opportunities  offered  to 
the  aborigines  and  to  the  early  pioneers  in  the  untram- 
melled resources  of  a  new  continent  under  pristine  living 
conditions  allowed  types  of  men  to  succeed  whose  com- 
petency sufficed  for  the  attainment  of  those  forms  of 
efficiency  which  were  needed  in  that  period  of  history. 
The  individual  performance  level  was  low. 

With  the  mastery  of  these  resources  and  the  develop- 
ment of  more  complex  life  conditions,  including  "law 
and  order,"  and  advancement  in  civilization  and  cul- 
ture, as  described  before,  new  types  of  competency  came 
into  demand.  Instead  of  the  hunter  who  bartered  the 
fruit  of  the  chase — his  venison  and  pelts — ^we  now  have 
the  sheep  farmer,  the  stock  breeder,  the  clothing  manu- 
facturer, etc.,  with  the  host  of  those  whose  occupations 
mediate  between  these  producers  and  the  consumers. 


26  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Instead  of  the  trader  who  collected  the  products  of  the 
woods,  the  fields,  and  the  streams,  we  now  have  the 
commercial  centres,  the  brokers,  the  middle-men,  the 
exchanges.  The  cruder  forms  of  efficiency  have  receded 
to  remoter  regions,  where  they  still  exist  in  primeval  sim- 
pHcity. 

Now,  communities  tend  to  crystallize  into  definite 
types — types  representing  different  combinations  in 
competency,  just  as  is  the  case  in  individuals.  These 
community  types  are  founded  on  some  phase  of  indus- 
trial, commercial,  agricultural,  or  purely  intellectual  life. 
Examples  of  such  community  types  are  well  known:  we 
have  the  shoe  factory  or  foundry  centre;  the  export  or  stock 
exchange  centre;  the  cotton,  wheat,  or  cattle-producing 
centre;  the  university  centre  or  scientific  laboratory,  etc., 
ad  lib.  Even  in  our  most  cosmopolitan  cities  the  popu- 
lation spHts  itself  into  groups  about  definite  fife  occupa- 
tions and  neighborhood  activities. 

Localization  of  Industries. — ^The  tendency  in  a  given 
locality  is  to  confine  variation  to  definite  lines.  The 
general  opportunities,  such  as  existed  but  a  few  genera- 
tions or  even  decades  ago,  are  dwindling  away,  and 
communities  are  drifting  more  and  more  into  specialized 
activities.  This  narrows  down  the  opportunities  of  the 
citizens  so  that  in  the  main  only  those  will  develop  effi- 
ciency increments  whose  combination  of  endowments  fits 
into  the  specialized  aims  of  the  community.  Further- 
more, such  a  high  performance  level  will  be  demanded 
that  only  those  of  rarer  quahty  will  survive  as  indepen- 
dent factors. 

Those  whose  combinations  of  endowments  are  out  of 
harmony  with  the  types  in  demand  will  have  greater 
difficulty  to  develop  and  utilize  their  competency,  or  to 


THE   PROBLEM   OF  EFFICIENCY  27 

raise  their  performance  level  above  a  circumscribed  level 
of  skill.  Thus,  every  community  loses  potential  incre- 
ments of  eflSciency  in  great  numbers — of  the  rich  supply 
of  potential  competency  only  a  small  portion  is  inten- 
sively developed  to  an  efficiency  level.  The  rest  remains 
dormant,  or  flickers  out  of  existence  from  disuse.  The 
individuals  are  reduced  to  a  mass  of  "wage-earners." 

Skill  in  the  special  activities  of  the  community  is  the 
general  substitute  for  dwarfed  competence — skill  which 
scarcely  touches  the  mainsprings  of  the  true  self  in  num- 
berless instances.  Occasionally  we  speak  of  "ineffi- 
cient "  individuals  in  another  sense,  meaning  thereby  not 
those  who  could  be  truly  efficient  if  they  had  the  oppor- 
tunity, but  those  whose  competence  is  so  different  from 
conmiunity  demands  that  the  individual  cannot  even 
attain  skill  in  the  specialized  activities  there  existing. 
This  is  not  a  new  thing.  Even  in  the  villages  of  old, 
the  "ne'er-do-well"  was  merely  a  misplaced  individual. 
Poets,  painters,  musicians,  philosophers,  even  inventors 
and  builders  may  be  very  useless  and  inefficient  beings 
in  communities  requiring  different  types  of  competency. 

Factory  Methods. — In  former  times  the  shoemaker 
made  the  entire  shoe.  His  standing  in  his  trade  was 
measured  not  merely  in  terms  of  skill,  but  in  terms  of 
efficiency,  by  the  extent  of  his  intelligence  and  of  other 
quaUties  which  he  showed  to  improve  the  process  of 
manufacture  and  to  produce  a  better  article  with  each 
new  effort.  His  knowledge  of  shoes  and  their  manufac- 
ture was  comprehensive  and  progressive. 

To-day  it  is  not  the  efficient  artisan  who  produces 
our  shoes;  it  is  the  factory.  Shoemaking  has  become 
a  science  and  has  been  mastered  in  its  entirety  by  a 
relatively  small  number  of  men  whose  efficiency  lay  in 


28  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

that  field  on  a  high  performance  level.  The  process  of 
production  is  carried  out  by  machines  and  by  hundreds 
of  feeders  of  machines,  each  skilled  in  one  operation, 
complete  in  itself,  but  only  a  part  of  the  whole  process. 
This  tendency  to  reduce  the  occupation  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  a  most  definite  and  eventually  simple  and 
automatic  form  may  be  observed  in  most  of  our  indus- 
trial and  commercial  pursuits.  The  "efficiency  stand- 
ards" of  our  "efficiency  experts"  are  really  concerned 
in  the  reduction  of  the  tasks  of  efl&ciency  to  tasks  of 
skill.  At  one  time  the  author  watched  a  number  of 
youths  of  both  sexes  arranged  along  a  long,  broad  table 
in  a  certain  part  of  a  large  soap  factory.  Machinery 
shoved  an  endless  procession  of  cakes  of  soap  before 
them,  which  they  had  to  pick  up  and  pack  by  dozens 
into  pasteboard  boxes  which  lay  in.  stacks  by  each  work- 
er's side.  Their  task  was  to  dispose  of  the  cakes  of 
soap  as  fast  as  they  came  along.  The  workers'  worth 
to  the  factory  owner  was  judged  by  their  skill  in  doing 
this  one  thing.  In  another  place  were  pairs  of  girls 
occupied  in  filling  small  bottles  with  perfume,  which 
spouted  forth  at  regular  intervals  in  mechanically  mea- 
sured quantity  from  a  machine.  'One  girl  filled  the 
bottles  and  corked  them;  the  other  shoved  the  bottles 
toward  her  with  one  and  the  same  monotonous  jerk  of 
her  right  arm  and  hand.  Again  the  workers'  value  to 
the  employer  consisted  in  their  skill  to  do  this  work, 
machine-like  and  at  a  required  speed.  Throughout  the 
factory  each  worker  did  some  one  limited  act  for  eight 
or  ten  hours  a  day — day  in,  day  out,  for  weeks-,  per- 
haps years.  This  is  a  typical  example  of  the  entire 
method.  Of  course  there  are  many  varieties  of  occupa- 
tions, and  many  differences  in  the  degree  of  intelligence 
required  to  maintain  a  given  performance  level  of  skill. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  EFFICIENCY  29 

This  is  a  matter  not  of  giving  individuals  the  oppor- 
tunity to  express  themselves  in  terms  of  their  own  best 
and  efficient  selves,  but  of  forcing  them  to  adjust  them- 
selves to  community  demands  which  may  afford  them  a 
"living." 

Efficiency  and  National  Ideals. — Just  as  the  com- 
munity represents  the  various  available  increments  of 
its  individual  citizens,  so  does  the  nation  depend  upon 
the  efficiency  and  skill  increments  of  its  entire  popula- 
tion. As  a  nation  America  possesses  a  wonderful  com- 
bination of  endowments  in  its  natural  resources,  in  its 
government  and  history,  in  its  geographical  advantages, 
in  its  human  stock;  a  combination  of  physical,  intellec- 
tual, emotional,  and  spiritual  endowments  in  which  rare 
natural  gifts  of  earth,  water,  and  climate  offer  unlimited 
possibilities  to  a  heterogeneous  and  virile  people. 

This  combination  tends  to  give  the  nation  as  a  whole 
a  distinct  competency,  and  gives  to  all  its  activities  a 
certain  trend.  This  trend  has  many  phases  and  is  ob- 
servable in  the  country's  industrial  and  commercial  de- 
velopment, in  the  form  of  its  government,  its  social  Ufe, 
in  the  physical  and  mental  health  of  its  peoples,  in  its 
intellectual  progress,  in  its  position  among  the  nations. 

Our  country  is  based  upon  the  conception  of  demo- 
cratic government.  But  the  idea  of  a  truly  democratic 
eflSciency  of  the  whole  people  is  yet  in  its  infancy.  Cer- 
tain forms  of  individual  and  community  efficiency  have 
been  highly  developed,  but  they  lack  relation  to  a 
national  plan — they  have  in  many  cases  not  only  been 
wasteful  of  national  resources  and  assets,  but  have  been 
detrimental  to  all  other  types  of  latent,  undeveloped 
forms  of  true  national  efficiency. 

In  order  to  develop  this  national  efficiency,  we  must 
first  take  stock  of  the  nation's  truly  characteristic  en- 


30  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

dowments.  There  are  its  physical  and  geographical 
possibilities  in  resources  and  trades.  Then  we  have  the 
far  more  important  factors  of  the  character  and  types 
of  our  composite  people.  We  are  moulding  all  races  of 
the  world  into  a  new  unity.  This  means  a  tremendous 
force  of  unique  possibilities.  Community  development 
in  America  has  taken  an  interesting  trend  which  has  a 
distinct  national  bearing.  Specialization  in  efficiency 
for  industrial  pursuits  has  produced  a  new  kind  of  "com- 
munity," which  goes  beyond  local  interests  and  geo- 
graphical contiguity  and  is  national  in  scope.  The 
binding  force  of  some  special  interest  has  welded  distant 
parts  of  the  country  together.  We  have  but  to  think 
of  our  huge  iron  and  steel  interests ;  our  oil,  coal,  tobacco, 
cotton  interests — each  organized  under  efficient  leader- 
ship so  as  to  embrace  the  entire  production  of  the  com- 
modity; we  may  think  of  our  labor-unions,  our  national 
societies,  poHtical  parties,  etc.  Much  of  this  wonderful 
development  is  desirable  and  the  result  of  a  marvellous 
display  of  efficiency;  much,  also,  is  undesirable,  because 
anticivic,  and  must  give  way  before  a  higher  national 
idealism. 

The  nation  must  define  its  aims  and  recognize  its 
ideals.  Are  its  aims  in  industrial  and  commercial  life 
to  organize  national  community  methods  such  as  its 
"captains  of  industry"  are  practising?  To  foster  fac- 
tory methods  such  as  above  described  ?  If  so,  the  nation 
must  take  its  course  with  a  clear  knowledge  not  only  of 
the  facts,  but  of  what  its  course  means  as  a  national 
policy. 

If  a  majority  of  the  increments  making  up  the  prog- 
ress of  this  nation  must  forever  be  based  on  skill  only, 
while  the  tasks — for  the  execution  of  which  this  skill  is 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  EFFICIENCY  31 

required — are  planned  out  by  a  few  efficient  leaders,  let 
us  recognize  this  as  a  situation  to  be  faced.  But  it  would 
mean  a  sorry  shipwreck  of  democratic  ideals. 

Democracy  and  Efficiency. — The  plan  of  democratic 
government  rests  upon  the  tenet  that  there  must  be 
opportunity  for  all  of  us  to  appreciate  the  various  phases 
of  the  country's  problems,  to  recognize  the  material  and 
spiritual  opportunities  for  social  betterment,  and  to  give 
of  our  own  best  selves,  by  ballot  or  in  actual  service,  for 
the  good  of  our  fellow  citizens.  If  we  wish  to  remain 
true  to  the  democratic  ideal,  how  shall  we  reconcile  this 
with  the  actual  tendency  to  give  opportunity  for  effi- 
ciency only  to  the  few,  and  to  restrict  the  many  to  cir- 
cumscribed skilled  occupations? 

To  harmonize  the  democratic  ideal  with  actual  condi- 
tions, we  must  make  a  careful  survey  of  our  population, 
differentiating  our  citizens  into  broad  groups  represent- 
ing types.  We  must  preserve  and  cultivate  the  com- 
binations of  endowments  such  groups  represent,  so  that 
efficiency  increments  on  a  national  basis  may  be  obtained 
from  large  numbers  of  individual  members  of  each  group. 
Further,  if  it  is  discovered  that  efficiency  increments 
cannot  be  secured  or  even  expected  of  every  individual 
citizen;  that  there  exists  a  percentage  of  individuals 
who  have  no  efficiency  stamina,  or  whose  stamina  it  is 
not  practical  to  develop;  we  must  at  least  provide  op- 
portunities to  raise  their  performance  level  in  skill  of 
constructive  kind  to  a  higher  plane.  Thus,  the  process 
of  conserving  the  competency  of  the  individual  will  re- 
flect itself  in  the  conservation  and  evolution  of  the 
national  competency. 

National  Tendencies  and  the  Public  School. — "Voca- 
tional training  and  guidance"  has  become  a  popular 


32  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

phrase,  a  sort  of  slogan.  Such  training  and  guidance  is 
ostensibly  to  be  a  means  of  producing  greater  individual 
efficiency  in  various  occupations,  by  selective  training  in 
harmony  with  individual  competency.  It  has  been  sug- 
gested that  by  scientific  study  the  individual  competency 
can  be  discovered,  conserved,  and  developed  for  the 
good  of  the  student  and  of  the  community.  School  au- 
thorities have  realized  the  importance  of  this  demand. 
But  from  lack  of  a  clear-cut  conception  of  the  larger 
aims  and  of  the  individual  potentials  they  have  been 
unable  to  arrive  at  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  many 
problems  involved.  Failing  to  discriminate  between  the 
community  and  national  issues  entering  into  this  prob- 
lem, failing  to  realize  the  need  of  individual  differentia- 
tion, they  are  cramming  their  pupils  with  a  mass  of 
unnecessary  and  indigestible  material. 

Or,  heeding  the  extreme  claims  of  the  advocates  of 
specialized  rather  than  common  education,  some  school 
systems  have  patterned  their  organization  upon  the 
general  outlines  of  industrial  organizations,  developing 
many  branches  or  departments  of  special  instruction,  so 
that  the  pupil  be  enabled  to  focus  his  entire  attention 
upon  some  definitely  circumscribed  training.  These 
systems  endanger  the  true  purpose  of  the  schools — the 
education  of  efficient  boys  and  girls.  Of  course  it  is 
important  to  increase  skill;  or,  rather,  to  raise  the  per- 
formance level  from  a  simple  to  a  more  complex  skill. 
But  is  skill  of  any  degree  or  type  the  sole  object  of  our 
schools  ?  Is  it  their  purpose  to  feed  factories  with  girls 
who  can  attain  a  higher  speed  in  packing  soap  or  filling 
perfume  bottles  ?  Is  it  our  aim  to  concentrate  the  edu- 
cation of  boys  upon  greater  skill  in  fastening  so  many 
dozens  of  heels  a  day  to  ready-made  shoes,  or  to  start 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  EFFICIENCY  33 

levers  which  in  turn  will  set  in  motion  thousands  of 
spindles,  or  to  handle  a  typewriter,  or  to  count  up  fig- 
ures? Would  not  the  object  of  such  an  educational 
factory  be  nothing  higher  than  to  produce  human  ma- 
chines for  the  regular  industrial  factory,  the  office,  the 
store  ? 

The  examples  cited  represent  low  performance  levels 
of  skill.  But  is  there  any  essential  difference  in  educa- 
tional aim  if  we  give  the  pupils  a  "practical"  preparation 
for  the  skill  demanded  in  the  banking-house,  the  rail- 
road, etc.,  which  varies  from  the  lower  forms,  if  they  be 
lower,  only  in  type  or  degree,  but  not  in  essence  ?  Will 
education  so  circumscribed  in  scope  conserve  and  con- 
vert competency  into  dynamic  forces  of  efficiency? 

School  men  must  clear  up  their  conceptions  of  com- 
munity aims  and  national  ideals.  They  must  meet  the 
demands  of  the  more  powerful  tendencies  more  ade- 
quately. We  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  best  individual 
increment  is  the  efficiency  increment.  This  is  based  upon 
special  competency  which  needs  to  be  developed  to  its 
highest  perfection.  It  is  the  educator's  problem  to 
harmonize  individual  efficiency  with  community  needs 
and  national  aspirations. 

The  Public  School  and  Individual  Efficiency. — Our 
schools  must  take  it  into  account  that  individual  endow- 
ments differ,  and  that  these  different  endowments  pre- 
dispose to  differentiated  work.  The  whole  field  of  possi- 
bihties  which  the  true  ideal  of  efficiency  presents  must 
be  explored. 

Perhaps  there  will  always  be  a  residue  of  persons  who 
can  do  no  more  than  start  levers  of  machines,  or  be 
hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water.  For  such,  skill 
and  efficiency  are  so  nearly  identical  that  they  mean  lit- 


34  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

tie  to  the  progress  of  the  nation.  But  aside  from  this 
abnost  negligible  residue  we  have  the  millions  of  children 
who  represent  human  raw  material  of  irmnense  possibili- 
ties. To  condemn  them  to  life-long  slavery  in  machine- 
like occupations  which  will  he  more  and  more  assumed  by 
real  nmchines  is  a  great  wrong  to  them  and  to  the  nation. 
They  contain  potential  competency  of  every  variety 
which  is  lying  fallow  until  worked  to  a  high  state  of  effi- 
ciency through  the  aid  of  education.  Many  of  them 
may  become  inventors  of  devices  and  machines  which 
will  replace  human  slave-labor.  Each  individual  is  ca- 
pable of  being  matured  in  his  own  right  only;  he  must 
have  the  chance  of  expressing  his  own  life  attitude  in 
his  active  pursuits. 

It  is  efficiency  which  creates,  promotes,  and  increases 
material  and  spiritual  progress.  Efficiency,  in  the  last 
analysis,  is  the  result  of  a  man  being  fully  himself.  It 
implies  the  development  of  the  individual  as  an  individ- 
ual to  his  full  possibilities.  It  presupposes  that  the  in- 
dividual is  conscious  of  his  powers  and  knows  how  to 
project  them  upon  his  environment.  It  implies  the 
power  of  self-management  and  self-direction — the  vision 
of  human  development  and  cultural  growth — the  enjoy- 
ment of  cultural  existence.  It  is  the  expression  of  ster- 
ling character,  honest  work,  of  motives  that  go  beyond 
individual  narrowness,  and  which  serve  the  ideals  of 
national  betterment  and  the  progress  of  civilization. 
Efficiency  points  high;  it  points  to  perfection;  it  points 
to  godliness. 


CHAPTER  III 

DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  IN  MODERN  SOCIETY 

Many  Different  T3rpes  of  Men. — ^There  are  all  kinds 
and  manners  of  people.  This  is  an  old  truism.  There 
are  the  bold  and  the  meek,  the  noble  and  the  vicious, 
the  successful  and  the  failures,  the  leaders  and  the  led. 
We  meet  with  surprising  specimens  of  humanity  every 
day.  All  these  different  kinds  and  types  of  people  are 
foreshadowed  in  the  children  of  the  nation.  They  will 
grow  up  to  be  the  boors,  the  gentlemen,  the  workers,  the 
philosophers,  the  dreamers,  the  libertines,  the  cowards, 
the  bravadoes,  the  saviors,  and  the  criminals  of  the  rising 
generation. 

In  the  previous  chapter  we  have  discussed  the  prob- 
lems of  efficiency  and  skill  in  their  relation  to  individual 
and  community  problems  and  to  national  progress.  We 
found  that  there  are  different  levels  of  intelligence,  of 
performance,  of  endowments — ^physical,  mental,  moral. 
We  might  be  tempted  to  dismiss  the  problem  of  differ- 
ence among  people  without  further  discussion,  merely 
mentioning  in  addition  the  different  opportunities  of 
education  and  environment;  effects  of  disease  and  of 
neuropathic  conditions,  and  a  host  of  other  causes  which 
are  generally  cited  in  discussions  of  this  kind. 

But  there  are  deeper  causes,  and  this  chapter  is  de- 
voted to  a  study  of  certain  evolutionary  factors  which 
will  explain  to  us  the  biological  facts  which  have  led 
to  a  differentiation  of  types. 

The  theory  here  advanced  is  that  we  are  dealing  with 

35 


36  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

different  civilization  levels,  and  that  each  individual  repre- 
sents mental  and  moral  attitudes  characteristic  of  one 
or  several  of  these  levels.  Many,  or  most,  in  fact,  are 
mixed  types. 

Primitive  Man. — Early  man,  like  the  animal,  acted 
largely  upon  impulse,  without  considering  consciously 
the  effect  of  his  acts.  His  actions  were  in  the  nature  of 
slowly  developed  but  deeply  ingrained  instincts  and 
reflexes.  Life  conditions  being  simple,  the  thought- 
process  required  for  individual  adjustment  was  minimal 
as  compared  with  modern  requirements.  The  ability 
to  inhibit  immediate  reaction  to  impulse  is  characteristic 
of  higher  mental  life,  of  the  development  of  higher  brain 
centres  with  their  associations  of  ideas:  of  civilized  man 
as  we  understand  him  to-day. 

It  is  true  enough  that  the  primitive  conquest  of  fire 
and  of  the  wild  animals,  the  solution  of  the  problems  of 
shelter,  of  the  manufacture  of  implements  and  of  weap- 
ons, of  pottery  and  of  clothing,  and  other  fundamental 
human  achievements  were  of  tremendous  moment.  But 
the  individual  increment  to  the  progress  of  civilization 
was  very  small.  Where  we  now  reckon  with  decades, 
primitive  advance  reckoned  with  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  years.  The  process  of  civiUzation  has  indeed 
been  long,  and  its  primordial  beginnings  demanded  cen- 
turies of  adjustment  to  fix  each  sHght  gain. 

Among  savage  peoples  there  were  seldom  any  defec- 
tives, "degenerates,"  or  feeble-minded.  It  is  claimed 
that  as  civilization  progresses  the  number  and  variety 
of  low  types  increases.  This  claim,  although  apparently 
well  substantiated,  is  to  be  accepted  with  caution  and 
reservation.  We  must  study  the  composition  of  modern 
society  from  many  view-points,  so  that  we  may  really 


DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  37 

know  the  laws  governing  it  in  order  to  avoid  errors  in 
analysis  and  deduction. 

Primitiveness  vs.  Deterioration. — Many  have  become 
accustomed  to  ascribe  all  cases  of  low  mentality  and 
morality  to  deterioration,  a  dropping  down  from  a  higher 
state  of  civilization  to  a  lower  form.  Such  degeneration 
and  deterioration  is  imdoubtedly  observable  in  certain 
individuals  in  whom  physical  disease  and  psychopathic 
condition  produce  a  dissolution  of  the  higher  functions. 
This  dissolution  brings  the  lower  centres  into  uncon- 
trolled activity  and  causes  a  reversion  to  primitive  forms 
of  mentality.  To  a  lesser  extent  the  charge  of  deterio- 
ration is  also  true  when  successive  generations  continue 
to  decline  in  physical  well-being  and  mental  health, 
showing  a  disintegration  of  family  traits,  of  tribal  and 
racial  elements;  in  short,  of  stock.  Again,  we  have  had 
psychic  epidemics  sweep  over  entire  countries  and  con- 
tinents, like  the  hysterical  frenzy  of  the  flagellants  In 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  other  outbreaks  of  morbid 
fanaticism,  religious,  political,  or  otherwise,  at  all  times. 
There  are  various  popular  crazes  even  at  this  period 
(nke  the  tango  craze,  the  war  craze,  etc.),  which  cause 
a  temporary  dissolution  of  the  elements  of  contemporary 
civilization  and  often  assume  the  form  of  distinct  popu- 
lar manias. 

But  we  are  apt  to  overlook  the  fact  that  every  large 
conmiunity  of  the  present  time  contains  many  elements 
of  primitive  constitution,  of  a  retarded  mental  develop- 
ment which  has  been  behind  contemporary  progress 
ever  since  time  began.  Here  we  have  a  problem  en- 
tirely different  from  that  of  deterioration.  Instead  of 
degeneration — ^which  is  a  condition  of  falling  from  a 
high  to  a  low  state — a  condition  of  low  development  con- 


38  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

fronts  us,  a  development  which  has  never  reverted,  but  has 
ever  risen — very,  very  slowly,  it  is  true,  but  nevertheless 
representing  an  upward,  even  though  greatly  retarded 
movement.  A  closer  study  of  individual  evolution  con- 
vinces us  with  increasing  force  that  primitive  or  retarded 
development,  in  the  sense  here  described,  is  far  oftener 
the  cause  of  failure  in  life  under  present-day  conditions 
than  has  been  suspected.  And  this  retardation  must 
not  be  confused  with  pathological  retardation,  or  with 
feeble-mindedness. 

Much  has  been  said  by  some  pessimistic  philosophers 
about  the  sad  future  of  the  race  if  deterioration  be 
allowed  to  go  on  unchecked,  and  "eugenics,"  often  of  a 
spurious  kind,  has  become  a  scientific  slogan.  Little, 
however,  has  been  done  to  diagnose  even  approximately 
the  extent  and  varieties  of  primitive  elements  mixed 
with  every  community  of  the  civilized  area  of  the  world. 
We  must  revise  our  methods  of  approach  in  sizing  up 
the  social  misfit,  the  disturber,  the  dead-weight.  In- 
stead of  branding  an  individual,  with  a  shrug  of  the 
shoulders,  as  a  "misfit,"  we  should  try  to  discover  how 
far  he  may  fit,  judging  his  position  in  the  scale  of  social 
usefulness  by  the  measure  of  Ill's  competency.  This  will 
show  how  much  he  is  lacking,  surely — but  not  through 
being  "defective,"  but  through  being  a  representative 
of  earlier  forms  of  civilization.  Thus  we  may  rank  him 
properly  and  discover  methods  of  "fitting"  him  and 
raising  him  in  the  scale. 

Simpler  Mental  Constitutions. — ^With  the  increasing 
complexity  of  modem  fife  demands,  as  has  been  shown 
in  the  previous  chapter,  an  infinite  variety  of  situations 
is  created  which  handicap  the  simpler  mental  constitu- 
tions.    What  had  been  a  normal  standard  during  the 


DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  39 

childhood  of  the  race,  or  under  generally  more  primitive 
conditions  (even  those  of  our  period  of  pioneer  settle- 
ments), naturally  lies  far  below  the  level  of  modem  de- 
mands. In  many  cases  the  strain  produced  by  these 
demands  upon  the  simpler  mental  constitutions  may 
reach  the  breaking-point,  then  causing  true  reversion. 

The  conduct  of  an  individual  of  this  type  will  be 
normal  under  the  stimulus  of  earlier  instincts,  and  of 
primitive  methods  of  thought  and  reaction,  imder  con- 
ditions commensurate  to  his  constitution.  These  condi- 
tions are,  however,  opposed  to  modem  social  conduct. 
To  him,  modem  social  organization  offers  many  restric- 
tions— on  the  other  hand,  offering  many  opportunities 
for  temptation.  Through  these  temptations  which  give 
an  outlet  to  his  most  primitive  instincts,  he  may  be  led 
into  mental  disintegration,  which  predisposes  him  to 
complete  failure.  But  if  the  true  status  of  such  an  in- 
dividual is  rightly  understood  in  childhood,  he  may  be 
helped  to  fill  his  place  in  Ufe.  His  competency  must  be 
conserved  and  the  performance  level  of  his  skill  and 
efficiency  must  be  developed  rationally,  not  brushed 
aside  and  ignored,  or  underestimated  in  value  through 
the  force  of  overspecialized  conununity  demands.  He 
must  be  given  an  outlet  to  make  his  endowments  a 
constructive  force.  It  may  mean  a  proper  distribution 
of  individuals  in  places  where  they  best  fit.  The  peas- 
ant boy  who  is  quite  eflBicient  in  his  home  environment 
is  apt  to  fall  by  the  wayside  when  reduced  to  a  factory 
hand  under  the  congested  conditions  of  urban  life  and 
competition.  Such  a  life  is  too  remote  from  his  natural 
method  of  thinking  and  living.  Not  infrequently  he 
will  seek  forgetfulness,  or  the  illusion  of  strength  and 
self-satisfaction,  in  dissipation  and  drink,  and  thus  lower 


40  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

his  chances  of  success  still  further.  His  children,  grow- 
ing up  in  an  atmosphere  of  strain,  of  the  unequal  strug- 
gle of  a  primitive  equipment  pitted  against  modern  life 
standards,  will  lack  vitality,  and  may  become  mental 
defectives,  as  they  are  physical  defectives,  the  victims  of 
malnutrition,  poor  housing,  lack  of  air-space  and  of 
joyful  exercise.  Factory  girls,  immigrants  from  foreign 
lands,  have  been  shown  to  develop  various  kinds  pi 
psychoses,  through  the  effect  of  economic  pressure. 
Certain  primitive  races,  like  the  North  American  In- 
dian, have  been  practically  wiped  out  for  the  same 
reason  by  the  advance  of  civilization. 

Individual  Evolution. — It  has  been  experimentally 
shown  that  the  so-called  "culture  epoch"  theory,  first 
crudely  formulated  by  the  German  philosopher  Johann 
Friedrich  Herbart  (1804),  and  later  by  his  disciple,  Ziller, 
is  essentially  true.  The  author's  own  investigations, 
coupled  with  the  work  of  other  research  students,  have 
permitted  a  modem  formulation  of  this  theory.^ 

This  theory  implies  that  each  individual  bom  into 
this  world  passes  from  infancy  to  childhood  and  ma- 
turity through  a  series  of  developmental  stages  which 
broadly  represent  the  consecutive  stages  of  civilization 
through  which  the  human  race  has  passed.  The  paral- 
lelism between  the  conduct  and  work  of  children  and 
that  of  savages  and  ancients  is  truly  striking.  It  can  be 
observed  that  the  same  biological  laws  which  have  de- 
termined the  growth  of  the  human  mind  in  the  race  are 
still  at  work  in  the  evolution  of  the  child  soul  from  in- 
fancy to  adult  age,  and  shape  the  child's  conduct  at 
different  stages.     Of  course  an  American  child  is  at  no 

1  Cf.  "The  Career  of  the  Child,"  pp.  90/.,  and  "Some  Fundamental 
Verities  in  Education,"  pp.  94^. 


DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  41 

time  an  Indian,  or  an  Assyrian,  or  an  Egyptian.  But 
his  methods  of  thinking,  feeling,  and  symbolizing,  his 
instinctive  activity,  the  sequence  of  his  modes  of  con- 
duct, will  reincarnate  the  development  of  the  race.  All 
children  pass  through  a  sequence  of  epochs,  although 
not  every  one  passes  through  all  the  details  of  epochal 
characteristics;  nor  do  all  pass  through  the  different 
periods  in  exactly  the  same  way  or  at  the  same  rate. 
Variation  is  caused  by  different  sets  of  hereditary  and 
environmental  influences.  An  adult  will,  therefore, 
show  a  mixture  of  modem  and  primitive  traits,  tenden- 
cies, attitudes,  and  instincts.^ 

The  author  has  roughly  divided  the  life  of  a  child 
from  babyhood  to  maturity  into  five  divisions:  the 
period  of  infancy,  the  primary  or  childhood  period,  the 
elementary  or  boyhood  period,  the  intermediate  or 
pubescent  period,  and  the  advanced  or  adolescent  period. 

The  Infancy  Period  (from  birth  to  2  or  3  years)  may 
be  described  in  the  words  of  Professor  James  as  the  one 
in  which  a  living  thing  is  thrust  upon  "a  big,  blooming 

i"  Other  voices  screamed  through  my  voice,  the  voices  of  men  and 
women  aforetime,  of  all  shadowy  hosts  of  progenitors.  And  the  snarl 
of  my  anger  was  blended  with  the  snarls  of  beasts  more  ancient  than 
the  mountains,  and  the  vocal  madness  of  my  child  hysteria,  with  all  the 
red  of  its  wrath,  was  chorded  with  the  insensate,  stupid  cries  of  beasts 
pre-Adamitic  and  pregeologic  in  time.  .  .  .  The  red  wrath  is  my  dis- 
astrous catastrophic  heritage  from  the  time  of  the  slimy  things  ere  the 
world  was  prime.  .  .  .  Just  as  the  human  embryo,  in  its  brief  terflunar 
months,  with  bewildering  swiftness,  in  myriad  forms  and  semblances  a 
myriad  times  multiplied,  rehearses  the  entire  history  of  organic  life  from 
vegetable  to  man;  just  as  the  human  boy,  in  his  brief  years  of  boyhood, 
rehearses  the  history  of  primitive  man  in  acts  of  cruelty  and  savagery, 
from  wantonness  of  inflicting  pain  on  lesser  creatures  to  tribal  con- 
sciousness expressed  by  the  desire  to  nm  in  gangs.  .  .  ." — ^Jack  London 
in  his  book,  "The  Star  Rover,"  which  is  at  the  same  time  a  frightful  im- 
peachment of  modem  prison  methods  in  all  their  cruelty,  and  a  fasci- 
nating romance  of  the  human  race. 


42  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

confusion,"  having  to  make  the  discovery  that  it  is  an 
entity  distinct  from  this  confusing  environment. 

During  this  first  period  and  the  second,  the  Primary 
Period,  the  human  species  differentiates  itself  from  the 
lower  creation.  Animal  traits  merge  into  human  char- 
acteristics, and  the  beginnings  of  human  thought  and 
conduct  are  achieved. 

The  Elementary  Period  (from  about  6  to  ii  years)  is 
the  "race  period."  These  years  represent  the  stage  in 
which  race  characteristics  are  evolved  from  the  general 
human  potentials. 

The  Intermediate  Period  (12  to  15)  is  the  nation- 
forming,  the  pubescent  period. 

The  Advanced  Period  (16  to  21)  is  the  time  when 
family  and  individual  traits  will  manifest  themselves 
more  strongly.  This  is  a  period  in  which  maturity 
finally  shapes  itself  into  a  definite  life  trend  for  the 
individual. 

In  considering  individual  evolution  several  factors  must 
be  taken  into  account.  The  periods  mentioned  cannot 
be  definitely  circumscribed,  neither  in  their  length  nor 
in  the  exact  order  or  type  of  their  manifestations.  Each 
individual  is  by  heredity  a  distinct  combination  of  en- 
dowments, which  will  determine  in  a  measure  the  entire 
individual  evolution.  Upon  this  evolution  will  finally 
depend  the  potential  competency  of  the  individual.  Men- 
tal and  physical  growth  may  be  normal  and  healthy,  or 
weak  and  abortive.  Each  individual  will  pass  through 
the  successive  stages  at  a  different  rate  of  speed  and 
completeness.  We  are  all  more  or  less  advanced  in  cer- 
tain directions,  as  determined  by  our  own  peculiar  com- 
bination and  by  opportunities  of  development.  We  are 
also  distinctly  primitive  along  other  lines.     Some  of  us 


DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  43 

will  reach  maturity,  that  is  to  say,  the  level  of  modem 
civLlization,  rapidly;  others  will  lag  behind;  still  others 
will  never  reach  it.  Their  "maturity"  will  remain 
below  the  modem  level.  In  the  same  way,  we  have 
entire  races  which  are  backward  if  measured  by  the 
standard  of  our  American  civilization — either  altogether, 
or  in  certain  particular  lines  of  development. 

Competencies  will  differ  in  different  individuals  and 
determine  individual  careers.  Talents  and  genius  will 
rise  up  at  the  expense  of  other,  weaker  potentials.  The 
artist  often  lacks  business  sense;  the  merchant  may  be 
without  a  true  valuation  of  poetic  beauty,  or  be  anti- 
social in  his  aspirations.  Some  of  us  may  enjoy  reading 
Browning,  or  combine  commercial  success  with  the  abil- 
ity to  compose  music;  yet,  when  asked  to  draw  a  figure 
or  a  landscape,  we  may  employ  a  primitive  method 
which  has  not  advanced  beyond  the  clumsy  symbolism 
of  the  ancient  Egyptian  or  the  North  American  Indian. 
The  author  knows  a  lady  of  culture  and  refinement  who 
by  preference  uses  her  fingers  for  counting,  like  the  sav- 
age, in  order  to  facilitate  some  problem  of  household 
accoimts. 

Inasmuch  as  individual  evolution  depends  upon  the 
development  of  higher  performance  levels  of  skill  and 
eflBiciency  in  terms  of  competency,  it  is  essential  to  under- 
stand the  innate  individual  combination  of  aboriginal, 
dormant,  and  submerged  traits  with  those  virile,  plastic, 
expansive,  modern  potentials  upon  whose  development  we 
usually  concentrate  our  efforts.  The  aboriginal  traits 
are  really  the  stronger,  for  they  are  the  oldest  ones, 
established  at  the  beginnings  of  history,  and  every  one 
of  us  has  them  deeply  ingrained  in  the  fabric  of  his  soul. 
The  modem  traits,  being  younger  and  less  strongly  in- 


44  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

trenched  in  our  system,  are  like  delicate  plants,  needing 
much  care,  so  that  the  weeds  of  uncultivation  may  not 
overrun  them.  Neglect  or  disease  disarranges  this  top 
layer  of  culture  first,  so  that  the  older  strata  erupt. 

Influence  of  the  Environment. — It  is  therefore  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  estimate  rightly  the  influence  of 
the  environment.  Upon  it  depends  an  individual's 
chance  for  developing  his  particular  ability,  just  as  a 
seed  will  thrive  on  good  land,  but  die  on  sterile  soil. 
Where  educational  facilities  are  inadequate,  where  social 
demands  are  restrictive,  where  economic  pressure  ex- 
cludes forms  of  skill  and  efficiency  unessential  to  imme- 
diate community  needs,  individual  progress  may  be 
warped,  unless  there  is  an  element  of  volitional  power 
which  sets  the  individual  strongly  against  the  local  cur- 
rent, or  which  enables  him  to  free  himself  from  local 
bondage,  through  emigration  or  otherwise. 

Repression,  perversion,  or  lack  of  exercise  of  the  bud- 
ding possibilities  cause  irregularities  in  the  progression 
through  the  developmental  periods.  Normal  maturity 
is  retarded  or  futiHzed,  and  the  individual  cannot  cope 
with  the  demands  of  his  place  and  time.  In  effect, 
mainly  the  lower,  primitive,  normally  submerged  po- 
tentials remain  active  while  competency  in  the  higher 
functions  disintegrates.  Many  individuals,  for  this  rea- 
son alone,  remain  practically  stationary  in  their  devel- 
opment and  come  to  represent  either  an  obsolete  t3^e 
or  a  reversion  to  earlier  periods  of  civilization. 

Cultural  development  of  the  individual  is,  then,  not 
concentric,  or  vertically  striving  upward  in  parallel 
branches  which  issue  from  the  primitive  trunk  with 
equal  speed.  A  man  does  not  reach  the  modern  level,  if  he 
reaches  it  at  ally  evenly  and  simultaneously  with  all  his 


DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  45 

faculties.  He  may  "get  stuck"  in  earlier  stages  in  some, 
or  even  many,  of  his  mental  faculties.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  the  struggle  for  existence  is  still  so  primordi- 
ally  crude  and  brutal,  in  spite  of  our  modem  "culture" 
— not  only  among  individuals,  but  among  nations.  How 
far  this  goes,  how  much  of  the  savage  is  still  alive  in 
modem  man,  has  been  terribly  and  discouragingly  dem- 
onstrated by  the  awful  world-wide  war  which  is  raging 
at  the  time  of  this  writing.^ 

Civilization  Levels. — ^The  crimes  of  the  "Black  Hand," 
the  "Camorra,"  the  "Mafia,"  etc.,  as  they  occur  in  this 
country  as  reverberations  of  Old  World  conditions,  illus- 
trate the  eruption  of  primitive  impulses  in  racial  groups 
which  are  not  far  removed  from  earlier  forms  of  civili- 
zation. In  semicivilized  nations,  revolutions,  political 
and  social  disturbances,  and  similar  elemental  events, 
sometimes  lead  to  a  true  reversion  to  the  savage  type  of 
their  ancestors,  as  has  recently  been  observed  in  Mexico 
and  in  some  districts  of  China.  Richard  Barry  gave  an 
interesting  story  of  a  wealthy  American  who  succeeded 
in  saving  his  life  while  a  captive  in  the  hands  of  the  cruel 
Mexican  bandit  leader,  Zapata  (Case  3).  This  is  part 
of  the  story: 

That  night  the  American  slept  in  the  bandit  camp,  a  dozen 
miles  away  in  the  hills.  In  the  middle  of  the  night  he  overheard 
two  of  the  bandits  whispering.  "What  will  you  do  with  him 
after  you  kill  him  ?  "  asked  one.  "  Cut  out  his  heart  and  take  it  to 
my  old  woman."    "What  for?"    "She'll  cook  it."    "Wretch," 

*  Doctor  George  W.  Crile,  in  his  book  "A  Mechanistic  View  of  Peace 
and  War,"  describes  the  effect  war  has  upon  man.  He  strips,  with  no 
gentle  hand,  the  coat  of  convention  with  which  civilization  clothes  the 
primeval  man.  War,  with  all  its  horrors,  according  to  Doctor  Crile,  re- 
veals man  as  he  really  b.  He  quickly  reverts  to  a  fighting  demon,  whose 
only  purpose  is  to  kill. 


46  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

replied  the  second  bandit.  "You  are  too  much  like  a  soft 
Gringo.     Eat  it  raw  I" 

The  mine-owner  knew  that  this  was  a  commonplace  and 
serious  conversation  among  primitive  men  whose  ancestors  had 
been  savages,  and  who  now  in  anarchical  upheaval  were  reverting 
to  type.  Fortunately,  however,  he  also  knew  that  they  were 
children  as  well  as  savages,  and  could  be  diverted  if  he  could 
but  properly  appeal  to  their  irresponsible  instincts.  In  the 
early  dawn  he  called  for  Zapata,  and  told  him  he  possessed  two 
marvellous  fighting-cocks  which  he  had  long  been  preparing  for 
combat  on  the  coming  Sunday.  Zapata  instantly  was  eager  to 
get  the  cocks,  and  the  immediate  followers  who  overheard  the 
conversation  quickly  forgot,  apparently,  their  intention  of  mur- 
der, or  at  least  postponed  it.  Zapata  offered  to  have  some  of 
his  men  go  back  with  the  American  and  get  the  cocks. 

They  were  about  to  start  when,  as  an  afterthought,  the  Ameri- 
can turned  back  to  the  leader  and  said  he  would  not  reveal  the 
whereabouts  of  his  cocks  unless  the  bandit  chief  agreed  to  let 
him  off  with  his  life;  and  he  thereupon  revealed  that  he  had 
overheard  the  conversation  of  the  night  before.  The  Mexicans 
who  overheard  this  laughed  immoderately,  rather  pleased  with 
the  Americano's  shrewdness.  Zapata  put  the  question  to  a  vote 
among  his  men,  and  they  unanimously  agreed  to  let  the  Gringo 
live  if  he  produced  two  good  game-birds.  That  he  had  given  up 
his  money  had  not  mollified  them,  but  that  he  was  willing  to  give 
up  his  fighting-cocks,  and  at  the  same  time  was  clever  enough 
to  demand  his  life  in  exchange  for  them,  they  were  more  than 
pleased. 

In  fact,  he  returned  under  escort  with  the  cocks,  stayed  and 
watched  the  ensuing  fight,  in  which  one  was  killed,  and  then 
before  he  departed  on  his  way  for  the  city  of  Mexico,  Zapata 
opened  a  bottle  of  champagne  and  drank  his  health. 

Modem  Reverberations. — In  all  these  cases  we  are 
confronted  with  a  more  or  less  primitive  mental  and 
emotional  condition,  an  undeveloped  conception  of  right 
and  wrong.  If  we  study  the  development  of  the  idea 
of  property,  for  example,  and  of  respect  for  other  people's 


DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  47 

property,  or  of  the  sanctity  of  human  life,  we  shall  be 
surprised  to  find  conceptions  and  customs  of  only  a  few 
centuries  ago  (and  even  now  in  some  places  on  the  globe) 
to  be  greatly  at  variance  with  our  own,  or  what  we  think 
are  present-day  conceptions.  Sometimes  the  seemingly 
primitive  instincts,  or  modes  and  manners  of  living,  of 
thinking,  feeling,  and  acting;  or  the  crude  and  coarse 
tendencies  of  children  who  are  branded  as  being  sub- 
normal, or  even  abnormal,  do  not  really  point  back  to 
very  ancient  levels  of  civilization  and  culture.  The  re- 
finement of  instincts  of  which  we  boast,  the  appreciation 
and  practice  of  habits  and  manners  which  are  not  only 
more  polished  but  based  on  purer  thought  and  kindlier 
consideration  for  others,  are  relatively  recent  things. 
Our  own  great-grandfathers  differed  very  much  indeed 
from  modem  conceptions  of  refined  mental  and  moral 
habits.  Table  manners,  matters  of  cleanliness  and  pri- 
vacy, the  relation  of  man  to  woman,  the  conception  of 
private  rights  and  personal  Uberty  (think  only  of  the 
New  England  Blue  Laws),  the  relation  of  master  and 
serf,  and  a  thousand  other  things  illustrate  this.  Super- 
stitions of  all  kinds  are  not  very  long  extinct — ^if  we  f^l 
justified  to  assume  that  they  are  now;  and  yet  they 
reveal  an  unreasoning  mind,  unconscious  of  modem 
knowledge.  Public  education,  with  reading  and  writing 
for  the  masses,  marks  a  very  recent  stage  of  civilization. 
The  Dame  schools  of  the  New  England  of  a  century  ago 
were  of  the  most  rudimentary  character.  All  this  indi- 
cates not  only,  as  it  might  first  appear,  differences  in 
opportunity  and  provisions,  but  deeper  differences  in 
aptitude  and  attitude.  The  peasant  populations  of  some 
European  countries  have  preserved  to  this  day  many  of 
those  mental  and  moral  conceptions  and  customs  which 


48  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

to  the  modem  American  mind  seem  shocking.  As  immi- 
grants they  bring  them  among  us,  and  thus  there  will 
occur  clashes  of  moral  and  mental  attitudes  which  some- 
times land  them  in  the  clutches  of  the  law. 

It  may  be  difficult  to  study,  to  discover,  and  to  locate 
different  culture  levels  and  to  determine  their  exact 
place  among  us,  or  their  origin,  and  the  conditions  which 
have  caused  cultural  backwardness  in  each  case.  But 
there  are  examples  of  cases  all  around  us,  and  some  will 
be  characterized  in  later  chapters,  notably  those  on  de- 
linquency and  prostitution.  Bygone  notions  are  re- 
flected or  reverberated  in  the  minds  of  those  atavistic 
individuals  whom  we  call  criminals.  The  impartial 
alienist  and  the  open-minded  psychologist  can  judge  the 
causes  and  conditions  of  these  better  than  the  jurist. 
As  in  the  instance  of  the  sensational  trial  of  the 
McNamara  brothers  in  Los  Angeles  a  few  years  ago, 
and  of  similar  revelations  in  the  bitter  struggle  for  a  re- 
adjustment of  social  and  economic  relations,  we  are  con- 
fronted with  a  condition  which  is  not  always  clearly 
understood.  We  are  here  dealing  with  primitive  prac- 
tices in  modem  garb.  Individuals  of  this  type  are,  in  a 
sense,  representatives  of  primordial  instincts  which  come 
to  the  surface  in  this  economic  strife:  in  the  fierce  and 
elemental  struggle  for  existence,  for  the  preservation  of 
life — that  first  and  most  powerful  racial  instinct  which 
releases  primitive  promptings  of  savage  power. 

The  selfishness  of  many  of  the  wealthy  employers, 
the  unscrupulous  greed  of  many  a  captain  of  industry, 
belong  in  the  same  category.  The  gambling  spirit  which 
has  made  itself  so  conspicuous  in  our  amusement-crav- 
ing, neuropathic  age — in  card-games  as  well  as  at  the 
Exchange,  in  book-making  and  in  many  other  ways — 


DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  49 

reminds  one  forcefully  of  the  barbaric  epoch  in  human 
civilization  when  man  lived  from  hand  to  mouth  and 
depended  upon  chance  rather  than  purposeful  planning: 
the  chance  of  the  hunt  and  the  weather.  The  devil  of 
gambhng  is  truly  a  fetich  of  savage  man — an  idol  to 
whom  sacrifices  of  human  lives  and  happiness  are  made 
even  to-day  by  those  whose  intellectual  level  represents 
an  undulating  plane,  with  higher  peaks  of  culture  and 
depressions  of  barbarism. 

Strata  vs.  Individuals. — The  more  closely  we  analyze 
the  human  stock  of  any  nation  the  more  apparent  it  be- 
comes that  there  are  not  merely  individuals  but  whole 
groups,  or  strata,  representing  either  survivals  of  obso- 
lete typ>es,  or  t3rpical  reversions  to  earher  periods  of 
civilization.  In  radical  upheavals  such  as  are  caused 
by  attempts  to  reorganize  the  social  fabric,  these  deeper 
levels  of  culture  are  oftentimes  brought  to  the  surface, 
just  as  in  the  formation  of  the  earth's  crust  earher  strata 
have  been  forced  to  the  top  by  volcanic  action.  Where 
the  national  unit  is  weak  because  of  lack  of  broad  ideals 
and  aims,  where  the  consciousness  of  culture  is  but 
poorly  developed,  where  the  different  elements  compos- 
ing the  nation  are  but  recently  assembled  and  imper- 
fectly assimilated,  there  is  the  constant  problem  of 
pohce  control,  relief  from  poverty,  public  and  private 
charity,  reconstructive  agencies  of  all  kinds,  to  keep  up 
the  equihbrium  of  modem  conditions.  The  strata  here 
referred  to  are  characterized  by  a  certain  helplessness 
and  recklessness;  there  is  lack  of  practical  abiUty  to 
size  up  situations  and  strenuous  life  conditions — they 
live  care-free  from  day  to  day,  not  thinking  of  the  mor- 
row.^ 

'  The  primitive  recklessness  of  his  buccaneers  is  well  described  by 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson  in  "Treasure  Island."     In  one  place  he  says: 


50  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

These  various  deeper  levels  of  civilization  are  not  to 
be  diagnosed  as  potentially  or  actually  feeble-minded  or 
"low  grade,"  or  as  progenitors  of  a  degenerate  race. 
Unrecognized  and  unprovided  for,  educationally  speak- 
ing, they  doubtless  supply  their  quota  of  paupers,  of  in- 
effectives,  of  the  jobless.  They  cannot  plan,  or  concen- 
trate, or  endure.  "They  sow  not,  neither  do  they  reap, 
nor  gather  into  barns" — yet  our  charity  feedeth  them. 
Many  of  them  are  the  tramps,  the  vagrants,  the  despair 
of  all  those  who  endeavor  to  organize  their  life  in  an 
"orderly"  manner.  Their  sense  of  honor  is  primitive — 
they  are  just  a  mass,  a  clumsy  mass.  The  proper  dis- 
tribution and  disposition  of  these  strata  is  a  grave  prob- 
lem. It  is  a  matter  of  redemption  through  generations, 
for  the  children  of  this  type  possess  the  rudimentary 
potentials  of  cultural  progress. 

Composite  American  Stock. — ^Lower,  or  deeper,  civili- 
zation strata  exist  in  every  nation.  There  are  sometimes 
racial  differences,  such  as  are  represented  by  the  rem- 
nants of  the  conquered  tribes  within  the  conquering  race. 
Again,  we  have  the  condition  of  geographical  isolation 
within  a  nation  which  may  cause  an  entire  group  to 
develop  independently  and  more  slowly  than  the  other 
national  groups.  Such  is  the  case  of  our  "  contemporary 
ancestors"  in  the  mountainous  back  yards  of  Virginia, 
Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  the  Carolinas.    To  this  con- 

"They  had  lit  a  fire  fit  to  roast  an  ox.  .  .  .  In  the  same  wasteful  spirit 
they  had  cooked  .  .  .  three  times  more  than  we  could  eat;  and  one  of 
them,  with  an  empty  laugh,  threw  what  was  left  into  the  fire,  which 
blazed  and  roared  again  over  this  unusual  fuel.  I  never  in  my  life  saw 
men  so  careless  of  the  morrow;  hand  to  mouth  is  the  only  word  that  can 
describe  their  way  of  doing;  and  what  with  wasted  food  and  sleeping 
sentries,  though  they  were  bold  enough  for  a  brush  and  be  done  with  it, 
I  could  see  their  entire  unfitness  for  anything  Uke  a  prolonged  cam- 
paign." 


DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  51 

dition  we  must  add  political  and  social  factors  which 
have  caused  the  repression  of  entire  layers  within  peo- 
ples, checking  their  mental  uplift.  Here  we  have  the 
typical  peasant,  the  prototype  of  the  proverbial  "boor," 
whose  mental  horizon  is  extremely  narrow,  owing  to 
the  isolation  and  oppression  which  have  been  his  lot 
for  centuries.  These  fragments  and  relics  of  bygone 
times  had  been  left  untouched  by  the  progress  of  civili- 
zation above  and  about  them.  They  embody  to  this 
day  mediaeval  and  even  primitive  life  conditions  and 
instincts. 

The  mixing  of  these  elements  with  more  progressive 
ones,  as  brought  about  by  modern  modes  of  travel  and 
industry,  does  not  immediately  or  intrinsically  change 
them  into  modern  cultural  material.  It  must  be  again 
emphasized,  however,  that  backward  development  of  this 
kind  must  not  he  classed  with  arrest  of  development.  Most 
of  these  elements  have  latent  powers  of  cultural  ad- 
vance. They  will  constitute  valuable  increments  for 
future  epochs. 

In  our  own  country,  where  all  these  different  old-world 
types  are  assembled,  we  have  a  particularly  complex 
mixture  of  progressive  and  primitive  elements.  The  dif- 
ferent nations  represented  here,  even  as  national  units, 
present  not  only  different  types  of  civilization,  but  they 
also  have  reached  different  degrees  of  advance.  It  is 
imnecessary  here  to  analyze  fully  the  citizenry  of  our 
country.  An  illustration  or  two  will  indicate  the  gen- 
eral argument: 

How  racial  differences  affect  the  success  of  school 
training  is  evidenced  by  the  studies  on  colored  children. 
The  report  of  Miss  Blascoer  on  the  colored  school  chil- 
dren in  New  York,  which  endeavors  to  be  very  fair  and 


52  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

charitable  to  this  class  of  pupils,  shows  that  of  441  col- 
ored children  individually  studied,  104,  or  nearly  one- 
fourth,  were  "exceptional,"  that  is  to  say,  according 
to  her  use  of  the  term,  specially  reported  by  principals 
or  teachers;  or  they  were  truants,  or  ungraded  class 
pupils;  147  were  in  the  so-called  retarded  group — of 
these,  89,  or  over  60  per  cent  (20  per  cent,  or  one-fifth 
of  the  entire  number  studied),  were  truly  backward,  ac- 
cording to  the  tests  used.  Similar  percentages  have 
been  found  in  other  studies  of  the  colored  race,  notably 
that  of  Howard  W.  Odum  in  the  public  schools  of  Phila- 
delphia. These  findings  do  not  preclude  high  scholastic 
attainments  by  individual  members  of  the  race.  But  as 
a  race  the  American  negro,  mixed  type  as  he  is,  is  not 
book-minded,  but  industrial,  and  has  a  genius  of  his 
own  which  has  yet  to  receive  proper  recognition  in  our 
educational  system. 

To  throw  further  light  on  this  interesting  problem 
the  author  will  quote  a  few  selected  passages  from 
Marion  J.  Mayo's  investigation  on  the  "Mental  Capac- 
ity of  the  American  Negro."  Mayo  says:  "The  contri- 
butions which  the  races  have  made  to  human  progress 
and  culture  have  differed  greatly.  .  .  .  The  history  of 
civilization  is  the  history  of  relatively  few  peoples.  .  .  . 
Certainly  a  sufficient  reason  for  differences  in  the  degree 
of  progress  made  by  different  human  groups  may  often 
be  found  in  geographic  conditions,  even  were  the  capac- 
ity for  inward  response  supposed  to  be  the  same.  .  .  . 
To  determine  whether  the  races  of  men  actually  differ 
.  .  .  amounts  to  determining  whether  or  not  they  have 
arrived  at  the  same  level,  not  on  the  scale  of  culture, 
but  on  the  scale  of  organic  and  mental  evolution.  .  .  . 
The  fact  that  the  attention  of  a  people  is  directed  and 


DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  53 

engaged  along  certain  lines,  while  in  a  way  due  to  acci- 
dent, is  not  unrelated  to  its  inward  capacity  for  re- 
sponse. ..."  Statements  of  this  kind,  based  as  they 
are  upon  careful  scientific  research,  are  significant  also 
when  we  judge  the  mooted  question  of  "normality." 
This  point  will  be  discussed  in  a  later  chapter. 

Speaking  of  his  results  in  studying  the  scholastic  at- 
tainments of  colored  children  in  comparison  with  those 
of  white  children,  he  admits  the  same  facts  which  Miss 
Blascoer  has  shown.  He  comes  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  superiority  of  the  white  children  "is  due  to  a  real 
difference  in  the  general  mental  equipment  of  the  two  races 
— a  difference  that  has  been  brought  about  through 
physiological  and  mental  evolution,  and  which  never 
can  be  equalized  by  processes  of  education  and  training." 
This  difference  is,  however,  much  smaller  than  many 
have  supposed.  "But  another  factor  which  may  be  of 
greater  significance  for  the  social  progress  and  intellec- 
tual capabilities  of  a  race  is  its  intellectual  variability. 
The  capacity  of  a  race  for  independent  progress  depends 
in  a  very  large  measure  upon  its  capacity  to  produce  in 
considerable  numbers  men  of  very  high  ability.  It  is 
the  man  of  genius  upon  whom  social  progress  has  ever 
depended.  .  .  .  Now,  the  greater  the  inherent  varia- 
bility of  a  race  in  mental  qualities,  the  greater  will  be 
its  chances  of  producing  men  of  that  order  of  ability 
ranked  as  genius.  Hence  it  follows  that  the  capabilities 
of  a  race  are  to  be  judged  less  by  the  average  ability  of 
its  members  than  by  the  limits  of  its  hereditary  varia- 
tion from  this  average,  and  the  consequent  number  of 
its  men  of  high  ability."  Professor  Mayo  then  shows 
that  "as  regards  mental  variability,  the  white  race  is 
more  variable,  but  not  a  great  deal  more  variable,  than 


54  '      THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

is  the  negro  race.  But  the  importance  of  small  differ- 
ences in  hereditary  traits  is  not  to  be  overlooked.  In 
the  struggle  for  supremacy  or  survival,  these  small  differ- 
ences may  be,  and  no  doubt  often  are,  the  determining 
factor."  These  conclusions,  while  opening  up  to  the 
colored  race  welcome  opportunities  for  future  advance, 
nevertheless  show  the  distinct  difference  of  type. 

The  American  negro  is  no  longer  a  separate  people. 
But  there  are  entire  peoples  and  races  which  are  back- 
ward as  compared  with  modem  civilization,  and  which, 
either  in  our  possessions,  or  as  immigrants,  form  part  of 
our  educational  problem.  They  constitute  the  "white 
man's  burden."  There  are  not  only  those  who  have 
never  created  a  special  civilization  of  their  own  before 
the  white  race  took  them  in  tow,  like  the  Filipinos,  the 
South  Sea  Islanders,  etc.  But  even  nations  which  in 
ancient  times  were  banner-bearers  of  civilization  have 
stood  still  and  become  stagnant.  The  Persians  plough 
their  land  to  this  day  as  they  did  in  the  time  of  Abra- 
ham, and  the  great  masses  of  the  Chinese  live  their  life 
in  modem  times  as  primitively  as  did  their  ancestors  in 
antiquity.  The  trend  of  history  has  often  thrown  peo- 
ples into  cultural  eddies,  so  to  speak,  after  they  had 
played  their  part  at  certain  periods.  Thus  the  Balkan 
states,  the  bone  of  contention  between  various  great 
powers,  have  been  left  in  a  state  of  mediaeval  semiciv- 
iHzation  the  cmdity  of  which  has  become  sadly  apparent 
in  the  wars  of  late  years. 

Primitive  Conduct. — ^As  has  been  indicated  before,  the 
development  of  culture  and  civilization  is  brought  about 
by  the  process  of  mental  and  social  maturing.  At  the 
lower  stage  impulses  release  actions  by  direct  reflex; 
with  the  development  of  the  higher  brain  centres  thought 


DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  55 

intervenes  between  impulse  and  reaction.  The  more 
completely  reaction  is  controlled,  and  eventually  inhib- 
ited, by  thought,  the  higher  is  the  stage  of  mental  and 
social  development.  Thought  has  been  fitly  called 
"suppressed"  or  "suspended"  action.  Physio-psycho- 
logically  expressed,  the  difference  between  modem  civ- 
ilized man  and  the  man  of  primitive  or  atavistic  type  is 
this:  that  with  the  latter  the  lower  brain  centres  pre- 
dominate, producing  reflex  activity,  while  civilized  man 
interposes  thought  and  inhibition.  So-called  "panics" 
or  mob-rule  would  indicate  that  either  this  mob  is  com- 
posed of  men  of  primitive  culture  levels,  or  that  through 
some  strong  and  contagious  affect,  like  fear,  fright,  pas- 
sion, the  higher  brain  centres  of  the  mass  have  become 
paralyzed  for  the  time.  Wars  produce  a  similar  effect 
upon  the  fighting  multitudes  and  their  contemporaries, 
lowering  the  civilization  levels  of  the  warring  nations  by 
centuries,  whatever  the  sobering  and  stimulating  influ- 
ence of  war  may  otherwise  be  thought  to  be. 

Sometimes  we  observe,  even  in  quite  intelligent  people, 
a  certain  adventuresomeness,  a  desire  to  live  different 
lives,  to  tear  themselves  away  from  their  accustomed 
surroimdings,  which  have  become  irksome  to  them.  Chil- 
dren show  a  similar  desire  to  change  their  character; 
girls  want  to  be  boys,  boys  want  to  be  girls;  or  they  run 
away  from  home  and  school  to  live  a  less  restricted  or 
less  tedious  life.  In  some  of  these  personalities  we  may 
be  confronted  with  a  permanent,  latent  psychic  weak- 
ness which  becomes  acute  under  the  stress  of  certain 
harassing  emotions.  The  soul  of  man,  after  all,  is  not 
a  perfect  unit,  but  is  composed  of  a  great  number  of 
smaller  psychic  units  which  do  not  always  harmonize. 

There  are  also  temporary  disorders  of  a  psychopathic 


56  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

character  which  may  affect  individuals  as  well  as  masses. 
Relapses  into  primitive  promptings  and  modes  of  action 
may  be  observed  in  civilized  man  under  the  effect  of 
fatigue,  or  disease,  or  emotion,  such  as  will  temporarily 
weaken  or  paralyze  the  higher  brain  centres.  Specific 
causes  are  drugs,  digestive  disturbances,  irritations  of 
various  kinds,  and  intoxication.  Most  of  us  may, 
under  such  circumstances,  have  felt  promptings  to  act 
irrationally;  and  if  we  are  honest  with  ourselves  we  shall 
remember  many  a  moment  in  our  lives  when  we  have 
come  dangerously  near  to  committing  an  evil  act,  even 
a  "crime."  The  passionate  desire  to  escape  the  con- 
fines of  our  present  every-day  life  and  environment,  of 
our  customary  self,  by  running  away,  or  even  by  suicide, 
may  have  been  present  in  our  soul  often  enough. 

Civilization  Levels  and  Democracy. — ^As  has  been 
shown  before  in  these  pages,  we  are  now  witnessing  an 
enormously  rapid  advance  in  life  demands  as  character- 
istic of  modern  civilization;  a  world-wide  competition  of 
peoples  who,  though  far  distant,  have  been  brought  near 
to  each  other  by  present-day  means  of  travel  and  com- 
munication ;  a  condition  of  acute  mental  stimulation  and 
unrest  caused  by  these  stirring  changes — coupled  with 
the  development  of  democratic  forms  of  government 
which  have  increased  the  social  responsibility  of  the 
individual.  This  advance  has  made  it  particularly  diffi- 
cult for  the  backward  types  and  culture  levels  to  become 
assimilated,  and  to  maintain  their  existence  and  integ- 
rity in  the  fierce  struggle  of  the  millions  for  life  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness.  Occasionally  they  remain  im- 
assimilated,  like  foreign  bodies  in  the  national  organism, 
and  become  inimical  to  its  life  and  health. 

This  is  true  even  for  the  backward  types  of  our  "na- 


DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  57 

tive  Americans."  It  is  doubly  true  for  the  backward 
types  of  our  immigrants.  Vast  numbers  of  these  mil- 
lions of  foreign  birth  are  to  be  quickly  "Americanized," 
as  it  is  styled.  Closer  analysis  will  reveal  the  fact  that 
this  process  is  largely  superficial,  confined  to  a  modicum 
of  language  attainment,  and  that  it  will  require  the  Ufe 
of  generations  and  a  new  articulation  of  ideas  and  ideals 
before  these  masses  will  fully  enter  into  the  inheritance 
of  culture  and  liberal  institutions  of  which  the  true 
American  type  is  the  expression;  or  before  they  will  be 
able  to  give  their  own  best  racial  contribution  to  the 
building  up  of  progressive  Americanism.  The  American 
type,  at  its  best,  represents  a  conservation  and  blending  of 
all  positive  culture  elements  which  the  highest  types  of 
modern  nations  have  developed. 

This,  again,  is  a  process  of  maturing,  not  merely  of 
external  coalescence.  But  America  has  certainly  the 
peculiar  advantage  to  secure  a  world-culture  the  like  of 
which  has  never  existed  before,  not  even  at  the  time  of 
the  Roman  Empire.  With  it  goes  the  high  duty  of 
steering  free  of  race-prejudice  and  narjow-minded  pro- 
vincialism, of  the  dominating  influence  of  ephemeral 
fads  and  a  mere  mechanical  majority-rule.  True  Ameri- 
can democracy  must  not  produce  and  strive  for  averages 
on  a  level  of  mediocrity.  It  must  recognize  and  en- 
courage variations.  It  must  be  built  upon  absolute  re- 
spect for  individual  rights,  as  well  as  upon  the  principle 
of  strict  individual  accountability. 

This  true  Americanism  is  a  matter  of  healthy  growth. 
The  conditions  of  this  growth  are  determined  in  the 
schools,  the  family  life,  the  spirit  of  the  body  social.  To 
secure  it  we  must  begin  with  the  child.  In  the  child  all 
the  difficulties  alluded  to  in  these  opening  chapters  pre- 


58  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

sent  themselves  in  their  simplest  terms  and  under  con- 
ditions which  may  enable  us  to  forestall  antisocial  de- 
railments. 

Individual  Adjustment. — Efficient  civic  service 
through  individual  adjustment  is  determined  by  several 
important  factors  which  will  be  understood  in  the  Hght 
of  this  argument. 

The  first  factor  is  the  position  of  the  individual  in  the 
cultural  scale.  To  what  culture  or  civilization  level  does 
he  belong?  Is  he  one  of  a  group,  or  stratum,  or  race, 
exhibiting  primitive  or  backward  elements?  What  is 
the  cause  of  this  group  backwardness  ?  Is  it  due  to  his- 
torical, or  political,  or  social  influences  and  conditions? 
Is  it  of  recent  origin  and  locaKzed,  or  is  it  dating  back 
to  ancient  periods,  a  survival  of  savage  instincts  and 
bygone  modes  of  life?  Or  is  he  a  single  individual, 
"born  short,"  that  is  to  say:  Is  he  an  atavistic  type 
from  causes  which  affected  him  alone?  What,  then,  in 
his  hereditary  endowment  and  his  congenital  affections 
must  be  held  responsible  for  his  condition,  and  to  what 
extent  can  it  be.reHeved?  Or  is  he  the  victim  of  social 
oppression,  of  economic  pressure?  Does  he  belong  to 
the  submerged  ? 

Again,  if  he  is  not  altogether  "bom  short"  but  has 
really  aU  normal  potentials,  showing,  however,  at  a 
given  time  tendencies  of  a  primordial  character:  What 
is  it  that  causes  these  phenomena  of  retroversion  and 
reversion?  Is  there  a  psychopathic  condition  which 
needs  diagnosis  ?  Can  it  be  relieved  ?  Is  he  a  "psycho- 
pathic personality,"  or  merely  the  victim  of  temporary 
neurotic  disturbance  ?  Or  may  he  be  acting  under  some 
great  emotional  stress?  Is  he  one  of  a  group,  or  social 
layer,  collectively  affected  by  some  temporary  emotional 


DIFFERENT  CIVILIZATION  LEVELS  59 

state — depression,   despair,    fear,   fright,   furor,  panic, 
etc.? 

It  is  evident  that  individual  adjustment  will  depend 
very  largely  upon  the  proper  recognition  and  regulated 
training  which  each  individual  receives  during  the  period 
of  his  childhood. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  discuss  the  tentative  classifi- 
cation of  children  presented  by  the  author  some  years 
ago — a  classification  which  is  in  reality  a  recognition  of 
social  strata  such  as  has  been  suggested  in  this  chapter. 


CHAPTER  IV 

CLASSIFICATION  AND   TERMINOLOGY 

Traditional  Confusion  in  Terminology. — Owing  to  the 
indefinite  and  arbitrary  use  of  terms  applied  to  the  dif- 
ferent kinds  and  classes  of  children,  and  to  lack  of  sci- 
entific perspective  in  determining  the  relation  of  devia- 
tions from  normal  standards,  no  full  recognition  of  the 
real  problem  of  the  exceptional  child  has  been  possible. 
From  this  haziness  and  vagueness  of  terminology  and 
classification  much  confusion  has  resulted  even  in  ap- 
preciating the  position  and  problems  of  normal  and 
typical  children.  To  obviate  this  the  author  has  sub- 
mitted a  tentative  classification  as  a  working  basis.  It 
was  first  elaborated  in  cruder  form  in  1902,  and  has  since 
been  enlarged  and  developed.  The  form  here  presented 
is  a  modification  of  the  one  which  was  submitted  to  the 
American  Academy  of  Medicine,  at  its  Atlantic  City 
meeting  in  May,  1909.  While  it  was  first  intended  to 
give  merely  a  clearer  perspective  of  the  problem  of  ex- 
ceptional development,  it  is  really  a  review  of  the  child 
problem  in  general,  and  presents  in  tabular  form  social 
strata,  culture  levels,  efficiency  types,  etc.,  such  as 
result  from  human  endowments  and  opportunities. 

Classification 

A .     NORMAL  CHILDREN.*     (Those  who  are  in  accord  with  the  norm, 
or  standard,  of  human  nature,  possessing  all  human  potentials.) 

*  Standard  Dictionary:  Norm:  A  rule  or  authoritative  standard.  Nor- 
mal: According  to  an  established  law  or  principle;  conformed  to  a  type 
or  standard;  regular  or  natural. 

60 


CLASSIFICATION  AND  TERMINOLOGY  61 

1.  Typical  Children.*    (Those  who  conform  to  the  present  stage  of 

civilization,  representing  various  racial,  national,  and  individual 
efficiency  types.) 
Variation  of  Types :  Sex  types,  national  and  race  types,  civilization 
levels,  temperamental  types,  vocational  types,  cultural  types, 
civic  types,  etc. 

2.  PsEUDOATYPiCAL  (Paratypical)  Chdldren.     (Those  who  only 

seemingly  deviate  from  type.) 
(a)  Children  Whose  Progress  in  School  Was  Hindered  by: 

1.  Change  of  schools. 

2.  Slower  rate  of  development,  without  atypical  or  abnormal 

retardation. 

3.  Temporary  iUness. 

4.  Slight  physical  difficulties,  such  as  lameness  and  minor 

deformities,  slightly  impaired  vision  and  hearing,  ade- 
noid vegetations,  etc. 
(6)  Children  of  Unusually  Rapid  Development,  without  genuine 
(pathological)  precocity. 

(c)  Children  Difficult  of  Management :  Mismanaged,  troublesome, 

spoiled,  "naughty"  children,  without  nervous  difficulty  or 
genuine  perversity. 

(d)  Neglected  Children:  Those  whose  type  fails  of  recognition,  or 

who  suffer  from  bad  environment. 
Pscudoatypical  children  may  be  rapidly  restored  to  normal  equilibrium, 
or  made  effective  in  their  own  right,  by  proper  provisions. 

3.  Atypical  Children.     (Those  who  deviate  from  type,  pathologi- 

cally, through  impairment,  without  loss  of  the  normal  poten- 
tials.) 
(o)  Neurotic,  Neurasthenic,  Psychopathic  Children:    Overstimu- 
lation and  precocity.     Genius.     Psychopathic  personali- 
ties.     Irritability.     Excessive  imagination  and  lack  of 
mental  and  emotional  poise.    Hysteria.    Lack  of  concen- 
tration.    Negativism;  contrariness.    Perverse  tendencies. 
Sexual  precocity.     Fears  and  obsessions.     Defective  in- 
hibition.   Tic.    Motor  disturbances.    Vasomotor,  sensory, 
and  trophic  disturbances. 
This  class  must  be  distinguished  from  that  group  of  Abnormal 
Children  whose  mental  defect  is  in  the  form  of  well-defined 
congenital  psychosis. 

*  Standard  Dictionary:  Type:  One  of  a  class  or  group  of  objects  that 
embodies  the  characteristics  of  the  group  or  class;  an  example,  model, 
representative,  or  pattern,  as  of  an  age,  a  school,  or  a  stage  of  civilization. 
Typical :  Having  the  nature  or  character  of  a  type. 


62  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

(b)  Children  of  Pathologically  Retarded  Development:    Impaired 
conceptual  ability  due  to  retarded  brain  development. 
Physiological  retardation   of   the  growth  rate.     Special 
physical   causes:   chronic  catarrh,  chronic  difficulties  of 
nutrition,  serious  chronic  affections  of  vision  and  hearing, 
venereal  infection,  etc. 
Any  of  these  classes,  through  neglect  or  adverse  environmental  influ- 
ences, including  faulty  training,  may  drop  down  in  the  scale  of  develop- 
ment into  lower  classes.     In  other  words,  the  individuals  composing 
them  may  lose  their  normal  potentials  entirely  and  degenerate  into  per- 
manent defectiveness.     On  the  other  hand,  starting  out  with  normal 
potentials,  atypical  children  may  be  helped  to  become  efficient  men  and 
women. 

B.     SUBNORMAL  CHILDREN.^     (Those  whose  potentials  are  incom- 
plete or  permanently  underdeveloped.) 

1.  Physically  Defective  Children.  (Congenital  causes.)  Blind, 

deaf,  dumb,  deformed,  crippled,  paralytic,  and  epileptic  chil- 
dren. 
These  children,  although  many  of  them  are  capable  of  maintaining  an 
independent  life  and  of  attaining  high  efficiency  within  their  limits,  can 
never  reach  the  perfect  norm  of  human  nature  as  long  as  their  potentials 
are  incomplete. 

2.  Children  of  Arrested  Development.     (Acquired  abnormal- 

ity or  defectiveness.) 
(a)  Pathological  Classes:  Children  bom  apparently  normal,  but 
having  their  development  checked  at  some  period  by: 

1.  Hereditary   causes,    manifesting    themselves   at   certain 

growth  periods. 

2.  Special  causes,  as  disease,  fright,  accident,  etc. 

This  pathological  arrest  of  development  may  be  only  par- 
tial, as  in  the  case  of  children  deformed  by  accident; 
then  there  will  be  only  a  condition  of  incompleteness, 
as  in  Group  i  of  the  Physically  Defective  Children;  or  it 
may  be  general,  paralyzing  mental  and  physical  growth 
altogether. 

^The  Standard  Dictionary  confuses  "subnormal"  and  "abnormal." 
The  Century  Dictionary  and  Cyclopaedia,  however,  defines  "subnormal" 
as  "less  than  normal;  abnormal  by  defect  or  deficiency."  This  is  in 
line  with  the  author's  use  of  the  word,  especially  when  we  consult  the 
definitions  of  other  words  having  the  prefix  "sub"  in  the  same  diction- 
ary. "Subnude,"  e.  g.,  the  word  following  "subnormal,"  is  defined  as 
"almost  naked."  In  the  same  manner  "subnormal"  may  be  defined 
as  "  almost  normal,"  lacking  certain  potentials  which  constitutes  a  defect. 


CLASSIFICATION  AND   TERMINOLOGY  63 

(6)  Submerged  Classes :  Environmental  influences  have  prevented 
them  from  attaining  full  maturity.     (Stunted  physical  and 
mental  growth.) 
Children  of  arrested  development  will  remain  essentially  subnormal, 
no  matter  how  well  they  be  educated,  or  trained,  within  their  limits. 
3.  Children  of  Rudimentary  or  Atavistic  Development:  The 
primitive  type,  representing  mental,  moral,  and  social  instincts 
and  activities  on  the  savage,  barbarian,  or  more  or  less  un- 
civilized level. 
Primitive  Races.    Atavistic  Individuals.    Atavism  approaches  the 
abnormal  level.    Atavistic  individuals  represent  a  reversion  of 
instincts  and  capacities  in  spite  of  their  birth  from  apparently 
normal  parents,  through  hereditary  or  congenital  causes. 
This  class  constitutes  the  fringe  of  human  society. 
Groups  A  and  B  Compose  Human  Society. 

C.  ABNORMAL  CHILDREN.^  (Those  who  deviate  from  the  norm,  or 
standard,  of  human  nature.)  Cretins,  cretinoids;  microcephalics, 
macrocephaUcs,  hydrocephalics;  idiots,  imbeciles,  feeble-minded; 
moral  imbeciles  and  moral  perverts;  insane.  Unfinished  chil- 
dren. 
Abnormal  children  stand  outside  of  human  society  and  cannot 
maintain  an  independent  existence. 

The  diagram  presented  on  next  page  will  assist  in  un- 
derstanding the  argument  of  this  chapter. 

In  studying  this  diagram  and  classification  the  follow- 
ing points  may  need  further  elucidation: 

Limitations  of  Classification. — No  classification  can 
differentiate  definitely  all  individuals.  An  absolute 
classification  is  an  impossibility.  There  are  types  so 
unstable  that  they  present  varying  characteristics  at 
different  times,  and  others  which  exhibit  combinations  of 
traits.  Thus,  we  find  blind  children  who  are  also  feeble- 
minded, or  geniuses;  and  neurotic  children  who  have 
bodily  deformities.  There  is  a  large  assortment  of 
mixed  types.    Besides,  our  knowledge  of  conditions  of 

•Standard  Dictionary:  Abnormal:  Deviating  from  the  natural  struc- 
ture, condition,  or  course;  unnatural. 


64 


THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

DIAGRAM  OF  SOCIAL  STRATA 

ACCOMPANYING  A  CUSSIFICATION 

OF  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILDREN 


?#  /il 


\  « 


MM 

Fig.  2. 

child  life  is  still  quite  limited,  and  we  can  do  nothing 
more  than  present  tentative  measures. 

Normality. — In  regard  to  normality,  we  may  have  to 
be  satisj&ed  to  a  certain  degree  with  axiomatic  state- 
ments, like  the  axioms  upon  which  mathematical  science 
is  based.  Yet,  in  the  following  chapter  an  attempt  will 
be  made  to  define  normality  in  positive  terms,  and  cog- 


CLASSIFICATION  AND  TERMINOLOGY  65 

nizance  will  be  taken  of  the  fact  that  the  term  "normal- 
ity" does  not  signify  only  one  strictly  circumscribed 
thing.  The  normal  child  in  particular  is  a  different  being 
at  different  periods  of  his  development,  and  normally  so. 
Remembering  the  "culture-epoch  theory"  as  outlined  on 
pages  40  and  41,  we  shall  readily  see  that  there  are  nor- 
mal changes  obtaining  in  a  child's  development  from  in- 
fancy to  maturity.  In  a  manner,  the  child  passes  from 
the  primitive  type  referred  to  under  B,  3,  of  the  fore- 
going classification,  through  a  series  of  stages  to  modem 
normal  efficiency.  In  the  third  of  the  developmental 
periods  as  distinguished  by  the  author,  "the  human 
species  differentiates  itself,  in  the  rising  consciousness  of 
each  young  scion  of  the  common  stock,  into  racial 
groups,  differing  from  one  another  in  consequence  of 
influences  that  shaped  the  various  primitive  types. 
These  racial  differences  are  deeply  ingrained  in  the  souls 
of  the  children,  and  manifest  themselves  in  the  order  of 
their  natural  succession.  .  .  ."  At  the  end  of  this 
period  "sexual  differentiation  in  the  physical  life  and  in 
interest  sets  in."  In  the  fourth  period,  with  the  begin- 
ning of  puberty,  "the  national  spirit  is  bom.  There  is 
now  a  maximum  of  Ufe  intensity.  .  .  .  Control  and  in- 
hibition evolve;  thought  is  bom — real  thought.  .  .  . 
Gradually  the  child  awakes  to  independent  thinking  and 
logical  reasoning.  The  individual  attitude  arises,  often 
with  much  overconfident  self-assertion,  in  opposition  to 
heretofore  recognized  standards.  At  the  same  time 
changes  are  noticeable  which  bring  to  light  latent  he- 
redities of  family  traits.  .  .  .  We  have,  then,  this  se- 
quence of  developmental  stages:  species,  race,  nation, 
family,  individual."  ^ 
If  this  development  is  unduly  retarded  or  accelerated, 

'  "The  Career  of  the  Child,"  pp.  94/. 


66  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

we  may  be  warned  that  there  is  danger  ahead.  Subnor- 
mality  and  abnormality  in  some  of  their  types  are  caused 
by  arrest  of  development  at  an  earlier  developmental 
stage.     (C/.  Groups  B,  2  and  3,  and  C.) 

Normality  implies  the  presence  of  all  human  potentials 
in  the  individual.  These  potentials  are  physical,  men- 
tal, moral,  emotional,  volitional,  in  character.  The 
typical  normal  child  must  have  all  his  sense-organs  in 
serviceable  working  order;  he  must  have  a  normally 
functioning  body  as  to  digestion  and  assimilation,  and 
the  metabolic  process  in  general;  his  nervous  system  and 
his  brain  activity  must  be  well  balanced.  Completeness 
of  potentials  is  the  first  condition  of  normality. 

Potentially  Normal  Children. — Deviations  from  the 
normal  standard  through  modification  of  t3^e,  or  even 
through  impairment  of  some  potentials,  do  not  invari- 
ably imply  a  corresponding  decrease  of  usefulness  for 
human  progress.  Quite  the  contrary.  Even  subnormal 
children,  like  blind  and  crippled,  may  grow  up  to  be 
benefactors  of  mankind.  There  is  the  neurotic  group 
which  has  furnished  leaders  of  our  race:  poets,  thinkers, 
inventors,  patriots,  enthusiasts.  It  is  often  a  matter  of 
circumstances;  that  is  to  say,  environmental  causes  will 
determine  which  way  the  pendulum  will  swing — which 
way  the  potentials  of  an  individual  will  gravitate.  Here 
it  is  that  family,  school,  and  community  forces  will  be 
determining  factors.  Here  is  the  parting  of  the  ways: 
one  will  lead  to  safe-breaking,  the  other  to  safe-making. 
The  poet  and  the  falsifier  do  practically  the  same  thing 
— only  from  different  motives.  It  has  been  said  of  a 
great  surgeon  that  he  had  the  instincts  of  a  torturer  and 
murderer  turned  to  salutary  account.  The  potentials  of 
an  individual  are,  morally  and  socially  speaking,  of  a 


CLASSIFICATION  AND  TERMINOLOGY  67 

neutral  character.  Higher  efficiency  in  the  sense  of 
modern  citizenship  involves  thought  and  motive — asso- 
ciations which  will  direct  the  individual  potency  along 
distinct  lines  of  expression.  This  expression  may  be 
socially  constructive,  or  a-social,  even  antisocial,  de- 
structive, negative.  Thus,  the  genius  and  the  crank 
may  have  the  same  potency — contrarily  directed  by  the 
controlling  forces  of  motive  and  judgment.  It  is  not 
enough  that  there  are  active  higher  brain  centres,  that 
there  is  thought  inhibiting  reflex  activity;  thought  and 
judgment  must  be  socialized  in  the  sense  of  community 
organization. 

Subnormality  and  Abnormality. — Any  child  who  is  not 
conforming  to  an  assumed  type  of  "normality"  is  often 
loosely  called  "subnormal,"  and  the  term  "abnormal" 
is  equally  indiscriminately  used.  The  author  has  taken 
pains  to  distinguish  the  truly  abnormal  child  in  definite 
terms.  The  term  "subnormal"  is  carefully  restricted 
to  that  group  of  children  which  represents  limited,  or 
incomplete,  normality,  but  not  abnormality.  An  abnor- 
mal child  can  have  no  efficiency  in  the  sense  defined  in 
Chapter  II;  he  can  have  only  skill  and  training  in  skill. 
Many  subnormal  children,  however,  in  spite  of  their 
limitations,  may  develop  a  very  large  degree  of  efficiency 
on  a  high  performance  level,  as  independent,  self-direct- 
ing human  individuals.  Abnormal  children,  or  at  least 
some  of  the  abnormal  types,  Uke  the  idiots  and  imbeciles, 
represent  as  it  were  an  "unfinished"  condition — unfin- 
ished in  foetal  development. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  term  "mental  defective" 
has  not  been  used  at  all  in  this  classification.  The  reason 
is  obvious  to  any  one  who  has  followed  the  author's 
argument  so  far.    The  term  is  vague  and  means  nothing 


68  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

definite.  Sometimes  a  distinction  has  been  made  be- 
tween a  mental  defective  and  an  individual  with  mental 
defects;  meaning  that  the  former  is  defective  right 
through,  and  the  other  has  defects  in  restricted  areas. 
The  distinction  is  clever  but  does  not  solve  the  difficulty. 
For  the  "mentally  defective"  class,  as  thus  discrimi- 
nated, the  term  ''abnormal"  is  clearer  in  a  scheme  of 
graded  terminology.  On  the  other  hand,  we  can  hardly 
feel  justified  in  grouping  individuals  with  mental  defects 
in  a  special  class.  For  when  it  comes  to  a  close  analy- 
sis, every  one  of  us  has  some  mental  defect,  that  is  to 
say,  is  inefficient  along  one  or  several  lines,  and  natively 
so.  Especially  if  we  take  school  requirements  for  a 
standard,  we  shall  find  very  few  individuals  who  are  not 
''defective"  in  some  way. 

The  vagueness  of  the  traditional  terms  "subnormal" 
and  "mentally  defective"  becomes  evident  when  we 
compare  some  of  the  definitions  offered.  The  author 
refers  to  the  many  attempts  made  in  circulars  of  school 
officers,  training-school  bulletins,  and  the  like,  to  give 
some  description  of  the  classes  of  children  for  whom 
special  provisions  are  made  or  contemplated.  A  recent 
statement  of  this  kind  is  contained  in  an  otherwise 
very  meritorious  study  of  truancy,  by  the  field-worker 
of  the  Committee  on  Hygiene  of  School  Children  of  the 
Public  Education  Association,  New  York,  of  which  the 
author  is  himself  a  member.  The  mental  normahty  of 
the  truants  studied  had  been  "determined"  first  by  the 
use  of  the  delusory  Binet  Tests,  which  will  be  discussed 
in  a  later  chapter  of  this  book;  the  results  of  these  tests 
"were  verified  by  school  records,  family  histories,  and 
opinions  of  teachers  and  principals  familiar  with  the 
children."    The  report  claims  that  43  per  cent  of  all  the 


CLASSIFICATION  AND  TERMINOLOGY  69 

150  cases  studied  were  actually  feeble-minded  and  8  per 
cent  were  border-line  cases.  Then  it  says:  "One  of  the 
salient  characteristics  of  the  mental  defective  is  never 
to  do  anything  regularly  and  on  time  except  through 
training  and  habit  formation  or  from  outside  compulsion. 
A  methodical  and  well-ordered  Ufe  is  essentially  the 
product  of  a  normal  mind."  This  view  is  so  obviously 
one-sided  that  it  hardly  needs  detailed  discussion;  or, 
rather,  the  obvious  is  usually  most  difl&cult  to  explain. 
But  if  this  definition  were  true  the  insufferable  pedant 
who  is  so  methodical  that  everything  goes  by  clockwork, 
and  that  the  least  disturbance  of  his  minute  regularity 
disturbs  the  even  temp>er  of  his  mind,  would  be  the  acme 
of  perfection,  the  prototype  of  normality;  while  the  un- 
fortunate poet  or  artist,  with  his  happy-go-lucky  Bo- 
hemianism,  would  have  to  be  set  down  as  feeble-minded. 
As  far  as  the  author's  own  experience  goes,  "training 
and  habit  formation"  are  the  keynote  of  all  normal 
education. 

A  Caution. — ^This  classification  is  intended  mainly  for 
children,  with  particular  reference  to  their  school  career. 
While  it  is  applicable  to  adults  also,  and  demonstrates 
social  layers  and  civilization  levels,  there  are  certain 
quaUfications  to  be  borne  in  mind.  Congenitally  insane 
children,  e.  g.,  are  plainly  abnormal;  insane  adults  may 
be  the  product  of  acquired  disease,  or  of  neglect  of 
neurasthenic  and  psychopathic  conditions  in  childhood. 
Such  conditions  are  observed  in  the  group  of  "atypical" 
children.  Neurotic  and  neurasthenic  children  exhibit 
symptoms  of  unstable  nervous,  mental,  and  emotional 
equiUbrium  and  may,  through  environmental  causes, 
develop  true  psychoses,  although  perhaps  only  for  a 
period  of  time  and  not  permanently. 


70  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

No  Rigidity  of  Types. — This  classification  does  not 
imply  rigidity  of  types.  In  this  it  departs  fundamentally 
from  some  of  the  other  attempts  at  classification.  Meu- 
mann,  e.  g.,  distinguishes  the  following  strictly  rigid  t3^es: 

A.     Feeble-Minded  Children:  B.     Normal  Children: 

1.  Idiots  I.  Dull  (below  average) 

2.  Imbeciles  2.  Average 

3.  Debiles  (Morons)  3.  Above  average 

Among  the  normals  he  differentiates  a  number  of 
tj^es,  according  to  their  leading  traits  (physical,  sen- 
sory, motor,  memory,  observational  powers,  attention, 
imagery,  etc.). 

While,  naturally,  there  are  some  types  whose  vari- 
ability is  but  slight  and  largely  on  the  level  of  skill,  and 
while  it  is  also  true  that  the  abnormals,  as  such,  and 
many  of  the  subnormals,  on  the  basis  of  present  knowl- 
edge, can  hardly  be  expected  to  change  type,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  further  experiment  and  research  work 
may  lead  to  surprising  discoveries.  It  has  already  been 
shown  that  operative  measures,  in  relieving  pressure  on 
the  brain,  or  irritation  of  the  sexual  organs,  may  change 
the  character  of  a  child  essentially.  Weak-mindedness 
caused  by  syphilitic  infection  has  yielded  to  specific 
treatment  in  recorded  cases.  The  study  of  the  secre- 
tions of  the  ductless  glands  has  given  opportunity  for 
interesting  experiments  with  low-grade  children.  Blind- 
ness and  deafness  have  been  cured. 

The  function  of  training  must  not  be  overlooked. 
Proper  education  will  go  beyond  the  mere  limit  of  skill 
and  performance  levels.  It  may  elevate  the  volitional 
and  emotional  elements  of  the  mind.  Judgment  and 
motive  may  be  developed;  primitive  instincts  may  be 


CLASSIFICATION  AND   TERMINOLOGY  71 

brought  under  the  influence  of  higher  associations. 
Meumann's  very  terminology  is  so  vague,  especially  as 
far  as  his  "normal"  children  are  concerned,  that  there 
is  a  wide  margin  for  variation. 

We  must  concede  that,  within  certain  limits,  indi- 
viduals of  lower  groups  can  be  educated  to  higher  grades. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  normal  group,  which  in- 
cludes the  typical,  pseudoatypical,  and  atypical  children. 
The  submerged  classes  as  well  as  the  representatives  of 
rudimentary,  primitive  development  may  be  gradually 
elevated  to  higher  planes  of  civilized  life.  The  solution 
of  this  latter  problem  cannot  perhaps  be  hoped  for  within 
the  life-span  of  an  individual,  but  must  be  accomplished 
mainly  by  educational  and  social  processes  which  extend 
through  generations. 

There  is  also  frequent  backsliding  or  dropping  down 
of  individuals  of  higher  groups  into  lower  groups,  through 
lack  of  education  or  opportunity,  through  illness,  or 
through  other  unfavorable  circumstances.  Even  typical 
children  may  lose  their  balamce  and  be  vitiated  in  some 
manner. 

The  recognition  of  these  two  facts,  of  the  ascending 
and  the  descending  scale,  means  the  stating  of  the  grav- 
est and  greatest  of  social  problems. 

Terminology. — One  word  in  regard  to  the  terminology 
employed:  ordinary  dictionary  definitions  of  the  terms 
used  in  this  classification  are  lacking  in  precision.  It  is 
therefore  allowable  to  give  the  terms  here  suggested  for 
designating  the  different  groups  a  definite  meaning  and 
content.  The  term  "atypical"  has  been  in  the  past 
used  mainly  in  biological  terminology,  also  in  morphol- 
ogy. Since  first  suggested  in  this  classification,  in  1902, 
it  has  been  taken  up  by  others  and  abused  by  some  as  a 


72  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

euphonic  term  for  abnormal  and  mentally  defective  chil- 
dren.    This  is  very  unfortunate  and  really  inexcusable. 

The  Diagram. — Our  diagram  represents  the  circle,  or 
compass,  of  human  society.  Outside  the  circle  is  the 
abnormal  child — the  non-human  group,  so  to  speak,  the 
group  of  the  socially  inefi&cient.  Abnormal  children 
cannot  enter  the  province  of  normal  human  activity  and 
competition  as  self-directing  members  of  society.  Many 
may  be  made  self-supporting,  in  a  measure,  as  even 
domestic  animals  are,  under  guardianship;  but  they  will 
require  custodial  care  permanently. 

In  the  centre  of  the  circle,  as  in  the  bull's-eye  of  a  tar- 
get, representing  the  aim  of  human  development,  stands 
the  complete,  well-poised  normal  child  of  the  twentieth 
century,  the  type  of  modern  civiHzation.  Within  the 
limits  of  an  average  balance  of  potentials  there  is,  of 
course,  a  great  number  of  variations,  each  individual 
differing  to  some  extent  from  the  mathematical  average, 
with  excellencies  and  proportions  of  his  own.  But  there 
is  a  sufficient  natural  poise  to  prevent  eccentricity  or 
derailment.  When  there  is  such  a  degree  of  disturbance 
of  the  normal  equilibrium  that  the  pendulum  of  reaction 
will  not  swing  back  in  the  proper  measure,  exceptionality 
begins. 

It  is  well  to  state  here  with  particular  emphasis 
that  the  ''typical"  child  must  not  be  confused  with  the 
''average"  child.  There  is  no  such  living  being  as  an 
average  child.  Averages  and  means  are  mathematical 
computations  derived  from  massing  together  a  number 
of  variations,  and  represent  no  actualities,  except  in 
terms  of  quantitative  analysis  for  statistical  purposes. 
In  fact,  the  measure  of  progressiveness  of  any  people  is 
found  in  its  variability  from  the  average.     Doctor  C.  S. 


CLASSIFICATION  AND  TERMINOLOGY  73 

Myers,  in  discussing  the  subject  of  differences  on  racial 
and  sexual  variability,  makes  the  following  important 
observation:^  "A  civilized  community  may  not  differ 
much  from  a  primitive  one  in  the  mean  or  average  of  a 
given  character,  but  the  extreme  deviations  which  it 
shows  from  that  mean  will  be  more  numerous  and  more 
pronounced." 

A  ** typical"  child  in  the  sense  the  term  is  used  in  this 
classification  is,  in  the  first  place,  the  normal  child  de- 
scribed in  the  following  chapter,  endowed  with  quaUfi- 
cations  commensurate  to  his  age  and  to  the  develop- 
mental period  his  growth-rate  warrants  (unless  this  rate 
is  exceptionally  retarded  or  accelerated)  .^  But  he  is  not 
only  a  normal  child  as  such,  irrespective  of  the  century 
he  Uves  in,  but  a  modern  child,  distinct  from  the  child  of 
previous  culture  epochs  in  the  development  of  his  race. 
For  each  race  of  to-day  this  standard  is  more  or  less 
unlike.  A  typical  American  child  of  the  present  gener- 
ation is  different  from  a  typical  Chinese,  Japanese, 
Italian,  Spanish,  German,  French,  or  English  child  of 
the  same  generation.  This  is  one  of  the  reasons  why 
we  cannot  apply  the  same  standards  of  mental  measure- 
ment, or  exactly  the  same  methods  of  education,  in  dif- 
ferent countries  or  for  different  racial  and  civilization 
layers,  without  laying  ourselves  open  to  grave  error. 
To  exemplify:  the  transplantation  of  the  "little  red 
schoolhouse"  of  New  England  among  the  colored  people 
of  the  South  in  the  reconstruction  period  has  damaged 
the  colored  children  more  than  it  has  helped  them.  And 
"Montessori  methods"  and  Binet Tests  cannot  be  simply 

*  Quoted  in  Mayo's  monograph  on  the  American  negro,  referred  to  in 
the  previous  chapter. 
*C/.  description  of  "culture  epochs." 


74  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

imported  for  ready  consumption  by  American  communi- 
ties like  French  lingerie,  a  Havana  cigar,  or  a  bottle  of 
Chianti. 

Each  nation  has  a  certain  level  on  which  the  majority 
of  its  members  will  be  found  in  intellectual  and  tem- 
peramental caHber  and  in  social  efficiency,  as  measured 
by  national  community  demands. 

There  are  variations  upward,  downward,  and  sideways 
within  the  province  of  national  normality.  Mention  will 
be  made  in  the  next  chapter  of  the  difference  between 
the  normal  hoy  and  the  normal  girl;  this  difference  must 
also  be  recognized  in  the  racial  and  national  types. 
Then  there  are  the  differences  in  aptitudes  and  attitudes 
which  constitute  type  variations  in  the  matter  of  voca- 
tion, civic  relations,  and  social  endeavor.  Within  the 
t3rpe  confines  there  may  further  be  distinguished  different 
grades  of  efficiency  and  performance  levels,  low,  mediocre, 
and  high,  according  to  endowments. 

The  concentric  circles,  or  rings,  of  the  diagram  repre- 
sent the  different  layers,  or  strata,  of  human  society. 
They  indicate  relative  distances,  or  deviations,  from  the 
normal  standard  as  exhibited  by  the  child  of  normal 
balance.  Neither  the  distances  nor  the  areas  shown 
here  can  be  taken  as  indicating  exact  numerical  propor- 
tions. But  the  farther  a  layer  is  removed  from  the  cen- 
tre the  greater  is  the  deviation. 

Some  of  the  deviations  will  not  destroy  but  merely 
hazard  the  possibility  of  normal  equilibrium.  All  those 
children  whose  deviations  are  not  necessarily  permanent 
are  therefore  still  included  in  the  normal  group,  repre- 
senting potential  normality.  They  represent  merely  de- 
viations from  type,  apparent  or  genuine;  not  from  the 
standard  of  human  nature. 


CLASSIFICATION  AND   TERMINOLOGY  75 

It  will  be  observed  that  from  the  rings  comprising  the 
pseudoatypical  and  the  retarded  groups  loops  extend 
into  the  inner  circle  of  typical  children.  The  meaning 
of  this,  of  course,  is  that  these  groups  represent  the  po- 
tential normality  mentioned  in  the  preceding  paragraph, 
and  that  children  of  these  groups  may  be  brought  in  line 
with  the  typical  group.  Further,  from  the  ring  com- 
prising the  neurotic  group  of  atypical  children,  the  loop 
extends  into  the  very  centre  of  the  diagram.  This  centre 
represents  genius:  the  individual  of  exceptional  powers, 
Nietzsche's  " Uebermensch "  (superman),  not  altogether 
normal  in  the  sense  of  an  even  equilibrium,  but  of  tre- 
mendous importance  for  the  progress  of  humanity — the 
most  forceful  variation.  The  author  has  avoided  the 
use  of  the  recently  much-applied  term,  "supernormal," 
which  he  considers  self-contradictory:  nothing  can  be 
more  normal  than  normality,  as  there  can  be  nothing 
whiter  than  white.  In  fact,  the  genius  is  a  deviation 
from  the  normal,  often  pathologically  so,  paying  for  ex- 
ceptional brilliancy  by  sacrificing  other  normal  faculties. 
According  to  the  ancient  French  proverb,  "  Les  extremes 
se  touchent"  (extremes  touch),  genius  is  related  to  insan- 
ity and  even  feeble-mindedness.  Yet,  it  is  also  the  ful- 
crum of  human  progress. 

The  often  amazing  unconventionaUty  of  artists,  their 
Bohemianism,  their  reck  ess,  happy-go-lucky  conduct, 
remind  one  forcibly  of  primitive  characteristics.  The 
poet,  the  musician,  the  dreamer,  the  painter,  the  sculp- 
tor, the  actor — all  of  them  are  closer  to  the  elemental 
forces  of  human  emotions,  those  that  have  come  down 
to  us  from  the  beginning  of  the  race,  than  the  people 
who  are  bearing  the  burden  of  social  repression;  and 
they  are  often  as  irresponsible  as  children  who,  in  their 


76  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

way,  are  less  distant  from  the  primordial  instincts  than 
the  conventionalized  adult. 

Each  of  the  groups,  or  types,  mentioned  in  this  chap- 
ter will  be  discussed  in  this  book. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  NORMAL   CHILD 

The  Wail  of  the  Well. — ^Attention  has  recently  been 
concentrated  so  exclusively  up>on  "mental  defectives," 
"subnormals,"  "abnormals,"  and  physically  defective 
children,  upon  the  consideration  of  social  evils  of  all 
kinds,  that  the  normal  and  the  potentially  normal  chil- 
dren from  whose  ranks  the  sturdy  citizenship  of  a  nation 
is  recruited,  have  failed  of  satisfaction  of  their  just 
claims.  Whatever  did  not  fit  into  a  preconceived  sys- 
tem was  branded  as  abnormal,  so  that  the  many  varia- 
tions of  normality  remained  undefined  and  unrecognized, 
and  millions  of  normal  children  did  not  receive  their  due, 
becoming  predestined  for  failure.  The  following  witty 
httle  poem  (published  in  the  American  School  Board 
Journal)  well  expresses  this  ill-proportioned  solicitude: 

"Johnny  Jones  has  lost  a  leg, 
Fanny's  deaf  and  dumb, 
Marie  has  epileptic  fits, 
Tom's  eyes  are  on  the  bum. 
Sadie  stutters  when  she  talks, 
Mabel  has  T.  B., 
Morris  is  a  splendid  case 
Of  imbecility. 
Billy  Brown's  a  truant, 
And  Harold  is  a  thief, 
Teddy's  parents  gave  him  dope 
And  so  he  came  to  grief. 
Gwendolin's  a  millionaire, 
Jerald  is  a  fool; 

77 


78  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

So  every  one  of  these  darned  kids 
Goes  to  a  special  school. 
They've  specially  nice  teachers, 
And  special  things  to  wear, 
And  special  time  to  play  in, 
And  a  special  kind  of  air. 
^  They've  special  lunches  right  in  school, 

While  I — it  makes  me  wild ! — 
I  haven't  any  specialties, 
I'm  just  a  normal  child." 

Definitions  of  Normality. — One  shall  look  in  vain  in 
most  treatises  on  "subnormal"  and  "defective"  children 
for  a  clear  statement  of  what  normality  consists  in. 
More  or  less  helpful  definitions  of  various  degrees  and 
kinds  of  defectiveness  have  been  given;  the  clearer,  the 
farther  away  from  normahty  the  defect  has  taken  the 
child.  Thus,  we  are  better  informed  about  idiocy  and 
imbecihty  than  about  normality.  The  definition  of  nor- 
mahty was  left  to  inference;  we  were  supposed  to  make 
it  by  impHcation.  Or,  to  put  it  in  another  way,  we  were 
supposed  to  reach  a  definition  of  normality  by  the  proc- 
ess of  elimination,  that  is  to  say,  by  enumerating  what 
a  normal  child  does  not  lack.  Doctor  Lightner  Witmer, 
in  a  recent  article,  speaks  of  two  "normality  scales,"  (i) 
the  deficiency  scale,  (2)  the  insanity  scale.  He  says:  "I 
have  called  these  scales  normality  scales,  rather  than 
abnormality  scales,  because  the  study  of  the  feeble- 
minded and  the  insane,  whereby  we  establish  different 
degrees  of  abnormality,  is  of  less  concern  to  the  science 
of  psychology  than  the  study  of  so-called  normal  indi- 
viduals. For  instance,  we  would  like  to  know  how  many 
deficiencies  an  individual  may  exhibit  and  how  unbal- 
anced he  may  be,  and  yet  pass  for  normal."  This  nega- 
tive diagnosis  does  not  satisfy  Doctor  Witmer  himself, 


THE  NORMAL   CHILD  79 

and  he  promises  a  later  contribution  on  these  two  nor- 
mality scales:  (i)  The  sufficiency  scale,  and  (2)  the  equi- 
librium scale. 

What  is  a  Normal  Child?— The  terms  "normal," 
"typical,"  "average,"  and  many  others  of  this  kind  have 
been  loosely  used  to  express  what  has  never  been  fully 
defined.  There  are  various  axiomatic  assumptions  as 
to  the  meaning  of  the  term  "normality."  One  of  the 
positive  evidences  of  normality  has  been  thought  to  be 
success  in  school.  One  has  presuppyosed  that  there  is  a 
normal  age  for  every  school  grade.  If  we  assume,  as  is 
usually  proposed,  that  the  normal  entrance  age  in  the 
first  grade  is  six  years,  the  normal  age  for  the  second 
grade  would  be  from  seven  to  eight;  in  the  third,  from 
eight  to  nine,  etc.  On  this  basis  a  child  would  normally 
graduate  from  the  grammar  school  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen. Any  deviations  from  this  scale  would  be  "sub- 
normal," or  "abnormal."  If  a  boy  of  ten  and  one-half 
years  who  ought  to  be  "normally"  in  the  fifth  grade,  is 
found  to  be  still  in  the  second,  he  is  called  "three  years 
below  normal,"  or  "three  years  over-age."  The  "nor- 
mal" child,  on  this  supposition,  goes  to  school  in  a  regu- 
lar way,  and  at  the  regulation  age.  He  learns  to  read 
and  write  after  a  fashion,  also  to  add  and  subtract  and 
multiply  and  divide.  He  learns  something  about  the 
geography  and  history  of  the  world  and  its  peoples,  is 
famiUar  with  ordinary  facts  of  nature,  may  learn  to 
draw  and  paint  and  sew  and  hammer,  and  what  not — 
to  the  delight  of  his  teachers  and  parents.  He  will  grow 
up  to  be  an  "average"  workman  or  clerk  or  storekeeper; 
he  may  go  to  "high  school"  and  "college";  he  may  be- 
come a  merchant,  minister,  doctor,  or  politician,  and 
make  money,  and  have  a  position  in  this  philistine  world 


80  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

of  ours.  If  it's  a  girl,  she  will  be  a  housekeeper  and 
homemaker  of  the  traditional  kind;  or  a  professional  in 
any  one  of  the  many  fields  of  labor  now  open  to  women. 
At  least,  this  is  the  assumption. 

School  Success  Not  a  Safe  Standard. — Such  a  view 
of  normality  is  based  upon  the  assumption  that  school 
grades  are  a  safe  measure  of  intellectual  caliber — which 
they  are  not.  They  are  an  artificial  standard  based 
upon  efficiency,  or  even  mere  skill,  in  certain  limited 
pursuits,  like  reading  and  writing.  Average  attain- 
ments are  deceptive.  A  child  who  succeeds  in  passing 
ordinary  requirements  might  be  called  a  "conformist," 
one  pursuing  the  course  of  least  resistance,  a  mirror  of 
circumstances.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  one  of  the  "or- 
dinary" children  is  an  "average"  child  in  all  fields  of 
activity.  By  giving  the  conformist  a  more  thorough 
testing  and  opportunity,  strengthening  his  will-power 
and  self-confidence  at  the  same  time,  we  may  find  that 
he  possesses  hidden  capacities  which  might,  if  properly 
recognized  and  trained,  have  made  his  hfe  very  differ- 
ent from  the  humdrum  mediocrity  to  which  he  was  con- 
demned. We  shall  discover  that  most  of  these  children 
really  represent  very  different  t)^es  of  mind,  and  that 
not  any  two  of  them  are  quite  alike.  The  conformist 
is  not  necessarily  a  "normal"  child  at  all — he  may,  for 
all  we  know,  be  even  feeble-minded,  or  an  extraordinary 
mixture  of  contradicting  elements  which  invalidate  each 
other. 

"Mental  Age." — Another  method  of  determining 
normaUty  by  positive  means  has  been  suggested  by  psy- 
chologists like  Binet  and  Simon.  After  testing  a  large 
number  of  French  children,  these  professors  felt  justified 
in  establishing  norms  for  a  "scale  of  intelligence"  which 


THE  NORMAL  CHILD  81 

was  based  upon  the  theory  that  normal  children  of  a 
certain  age  must  be  able  to  meet  certain  performance 
tests.  Thus,  they  proposed  the  idea  of  "normal  mental 
age."  In  a  later  chapter  this  theory  and  the  tests  pro- 
posed by  Binet  and  Simon  will  be  further  discussed. 
Here  the  author  will  only  again  quote  from  Witmer's 
previously  mentioned  article  to  show  that  this  theory  is 
not  generally  accepted.  He  says:  ''The  Binet  testers 
assume  not  only  that  they  are  testing  intelligence,  in 
which  assumption  they  are  mistaken,  but  also  that  they 
can  employ  one  and  the  same  test  in  order  to  distinguish 
the  feeble-minded  from  the  normal  child,  and  to  distin- 
guish the  ten-year-old  child,  whose  mental  age  is  eight, 
from  the  ten-year-old  child  whose  mental  age  is  ten. 
Feeble-mindedness  is  not  backwardness,  although  the 
feeble-minded  child  is  undoubtedly  backward.  A  ten- 
year-old  feeble-minded  child  who  has  a  'mental  age'  of 
six  years  is  not  at  all  like  a  normal  child  of  six.  The 
diagnosis  of  feeble-mindedness  will  be  based  upon  more 
than  the  mere  fact  of  four  years'  retardation.  The  per- 
formances of  the  feeble-minded  are  qualitatively  and 
quantitatively  different  from  the  performances  of  nor- 
mal children." 

We  need  tests  which  will  assist  in  diagnosing  a  child's 
mentality,  and  the  second  part  of  this  book  will  treat  of 
this  method  of  investigation  more  fully.  But  the  idea 
of  "mental  age"  is  an  illusion  if  restricted  to  the  chrono- 
logical standard,  and  if  appUed  without  consideration  of 
difference  of  type. 

No  "  Average  "  Normality. — In  endeavoring  to  de- 
termine what  "normaUty"  impUes  we  must  be  very  sure 
to  understand  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  "average" 
normaUty.    An  "average"  is  an  arithmetical  abstrac- 


82  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

tion;  it  has  no  existence  in  reality.  Normal  individuals 
may  differ  very  widely  in  kind;  they  may  even  exhibit 
certain  defects  and  difficulties  without  exposing  them- 
selves to  being  branded  as  "subnormal,"  or,  indeed, 
"abnormal."  Normality  consists  in  certain  positive  as- 
sets of  the  individual  which  give  him  competency  conditioned 
by  a  measure  of  human  efficiency  which  will  enable  him 
to  establish  and  maintain  an  honorable  position  in  life 
and  society.  This  competency  may  be  potential  only, 
and  depend  to  a  large  degree  upon  opportunity  for  right 
training  and  self-manifestation,  owing  to  the  complex 
conditions  of  our  modern  life,  as  has  been  set  forth  in 
the  previous  chapters.  But  even  potential  normahty  is 
normality,  and  the  incompetency  may  be  that  of  the 
community,  not  that  of  the  individual  whom  the  com- 
munity fails  to  socialize. 

In  the  chapter  on  "The  Feeble-Minded  Group,"  the 
distinction  between  the  abnormal  and  the  normal  child 
will  be  expressed  in  this  way:  that  the  latter  possesses 
"common  sense,"  the  former  does  not.  It  is  perhaps 
difficult  to  define  "common  sense"  (which  has  been 
called  "the  most  uncommon  thing  of  all"),  just  as  diffi- 
cult as  it  is  to  define  normality.  But  every  obvious 
thing  is  difficult  to  define.  Yet  we  may,  after  all, 
arrive  at  some  definite  conclusions. 

Normality  vs.  Maturity. — ^A  normal  child  is  different 
from  a  normal  adult  in  that  he  is  immature  from  the 
standpoint  of  adult  life,  yet  conforming  to  biological 
laws  of  growth  which  determine  his  development. 
Again,  a  normal  man  differs  from  a  normal  woman — a 
normal  boy  from  a  normal  girl,  in  instincts,  attitudes, 
capacities,  methods  of  self-expression.  Whatever  we 
may  think  about  woman's  emancipation  and  competition 


THE  NORMAL  CHILD  83 

with  man  in  public  life,  the  sexual  differences  will  never 
be  eradicated,  nor  should  they  be.  Any  attempt  to  put 
the  sexes  on  the  plane  of  equality  in  kind,  in  compe- 
tency, in  efficiency,  will  be  fraught  with  danger.  Their 
social  functions  will  differ  eternally — which  does  not 
imply,  of  course,  that  they  have  no  interests  and  rights 
in  common.  Quite  the  contrary.  But  mascidine  nor- 
mality and  feminine  normality  are  certainly  not  identical. 
Said  the  Minneapolis  Tribune  wittily:  "Boys  have  not 
reached  that  stage  of  civilization  which  afflicts  girls.  .  .  . 
Boys  can  be  set  to  amuse  themselves  just  as  they  could 
in  more  primitive  times.  Boys,  indeed,  offer  a  fixed 
standard  of  conduct  which  the  mutabihties  of  thousands 
of  years,  including  divergence  of  race  and  climatic  con- 
ditions, have  not  been  able  to  alter.  We  see  the  same 
characteristics  in  the  boy  of  the  slums,  up  to  a  certain 
age,  that  we  do  in  the  son  of  the  millionaire.  It  is  only 
when  boys  grow  up  that  they  yield  to  environment  and 
habit.  Here  are  some  of  the  things  common  to  every 
boy  which  civilization  has  not  been  able  to  affect: 

Every  boy  hates  to  be  dressed  up. 

Every  boy  will  fight  at  the  drop  of  the  hat. 

Every  boy  hates  girls. 

Every  boy  will  lie  to  save  himself  from  punishment. 

Every  boy  throws  stones. 

Every  boy  says  naughty  words. 

Every  boy  will  associate  with  any  other  boy  he  likes,  regard- 
less of  anything,  such  as  money,  p)Osition,  etc. 

When,  say,  up  to  twelve,  a  boy  does  not  conform  to  these 
rules,  there  is  something  the  matter  with  him.  Regarded  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  other  boys,  he  is  'no  good.' " 

One  must  understand  these  things  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  "culture-epoch  theory"  as  previously  sub- 
mitted, to  appreciate  them  in  their  right  meaning. 


84  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

A  girl  is  a  very  different  creature,  and  cannot  under- 
stand a  boy  at  all.  She  is  much  more  of  a  conformist 
than  a  boy.  That  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  under  pres- 
ent school  conditions  girls  are  more  successful  and  hap- 
pier in  school  than  boys  are.  This  success  is  helped 
along  by  the  feminine  atmosphere  prevailing  in  our 
schools,  owing  to  the  predominance  of  female  teachers. 
Because  woman  is  so  different  from  man,  she  wiU  never 
fully  understand  the  male  attitude  to  life — and  man  is 
forever  puzzled  by  the  surprises  he  meets  in  the  conduct 
of  women.  This  is  a  contributory  factor  in  the  mis- 
understandings and  frictions  arising  between  the  two 
sexes  in  grave  questions  of  public  concern,  and  in  the 
unwholesome  developments  which  occur  when  one  or 
the  other  sex  allows  itself  to  be  dominated  by  the  other 
in  social  valuations  which  each  sex  must  normally  ap- 
proach from  a  different  angle,  and  in  which  there  will 
never  be  an  absolute  harmony  of  opinion  and  feehng. 
The  "temperance"  movement,  the  problems  of  prostitu- 
tion and  crime,  and  others  of  this  type,  often  exhibit 
these  radical  differences  of  attitude. 

An  effeminate  man  is  an  abomination,  and  a  mannish 
woman  is  an  insult  to  womanhood.  Likewise,  while 
girls  must  be  tomboys  at  a  certain  period  of  their  lives, 
and  boys  will  manifest  girhsh  traits  of  primness  and 
niceness  after  emerging  from  the  "  Flegeljahre "  period 
(period  of  awkwardness  and  boorishness),  these  exhibi- 
tions will  merely  be  indexes  of  transitions  on  the  road 
to  maturity.  Were  they  to  become  permanent,  they 
would  indicate  an  abnormal  arrest  of  development.  For 
both  boys  and  girls  are  very  different,  normally,  at  cer- 
tain different  periods  of  their  lives. ^ 

1  Cf.  "The  Career  of  the  Child,"  pp.  97/. 


THE   NORMAL   CHILD  85 

Racial  Standards. — In  addition  to  sexual  differences, 
there  is  the  difference  in  race  and  nation.  Folk  and  race 
psychology  reveals  the  distinctive  traits  which  make  a 
German  a  dififerent  being  from  a  Frenchman,  and  which 
distinguish  northern  races  from  the  Mediterranean  type. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  ** normal"  Englishman  as 
against  a  "normal"  Italian.  Sometimes  one  nation  can- 
not understand  another  nation  at  all.  Within  the  na- 
tions there  are  again  differences  of  group  normality,  in 
accordance  with  the  various  civilization  levels  of  which 
the  author  treated  in  Chapter  III.  In  our  own  country 
the  "normal"  Southerner  differs  materially  from  the 
"normal"  Yankee,  and  their  lack  of  mutual  understand- 
ing led  fifty-seven  years  ago  to  the  greatest  crisis  this 
land  has  ever  passed  through. 

Again,  within  the  national  confines,  in  the  ordinary 
life  of  people,  we  are  able  to  distinguish  further  types. 
Physiognomy  and  experience  teach  us  to  distinguish  be- 
tween the  workman  and  the  scientist,  between  the  school- 
teacher and  the  office  girl,  between  the  phlegmatic  and 
the  sanguine  temperament.  Each  occupation  is  said  to 
put  its  stamp  upon  its  representative.  This  fact  may 
be  admitted,  but  we  may  be  allowed  to  reverse  cause 
and  effect,  and  to  believe,  with  Professor  Mayo,  that 
the  choosing  of  an  occupation  may  in  itself  be  related  to 
an  individual's  inward  capacity  for  response;  in  other 
words,  omitting  conditions  of  environmental  pressure  or 
example,  a  different  kind  of  man  will  select  the  profes- 
sion of  teaching  in  preference  to  the  occupation  of  black- 
smith, and  this  difference  in  type  will  appear  in  his  out- 
ward characteristics.  Studies  of  temperamental  types,  in- 
cluding the  spendthrift  as  against  the  miser,  the  fanatic  as 
against  the  reactionary,  are  leading  in  the  same  direction. 


86  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Various  Conditions  of  Normality. — There  are,  then, 
conditions  of  normahty  relating  to  sex,  to  age,  to  race 
and  nationality,  to  occupation  and  type.  Take  the 
occupation  of  musician.  We  may  assume  a  normal  musi- 
cal t3^e,  the  individual  representing  this  type  having 
the  equipment  of  the  true  musical  ear,  of  the  perfect 
rhythm,  of  artistic  conception,  of  absolute  muscular  con- 
trol in  the  matter  of  musical  performance,  etc.  Another 
individual  may  lack  some  of  these  prerequisites,  and 
therefore  be  a  mediocre  musician,  perhaps  only  a  skilful 
mechanical  performer  without  musical  creativeness,  or 
utterly  fail  in  this  form  of  efficiency.  But  he  may  make 
an  excellent  physician,  perchance  with  some  musical 
taste.  He  embodies  another  type,  for  which  there  is 
another  norm  to  which  the  normal  musician  cannot 
attain.  This  fact  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  the  matter 
of  vocational  training  and  guidance. 

It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  "normality"  is  not 
a  single,  simple  thing.  It  imphes  many  distinctly  differ- 
ent things.  //  is  of  various  kinds.  There  are,  of  course, 
individuals  of  no  outspoken  character,  such  as  will  do 
mediocre  work  in  almost  any  department  of  human  ac- 
tivity. There  are  the  "conformists"  who  will  readily 
fall  into  any  groove.  It  is  these  who  have  sometimes 
furnished  the  standard  of  "average"  normality.  But 
their  main  characteristic  is  this  very  mediocrity,  with  a 
leaning  toward  philistinism. 

Efficiency  and  Normality. — It  is  unnecessary  to  speak 
again  of  "potential  normality."  The  subject  has  been 
treated  so  fully  before  that  no  further  argument  would 
add  anything  essential.  Details  may  be  left  to  the 
treatment  of  special  types  in  the  following  chapters. 

But  those  who  have  followed  the  argument  at  all  will 


THE  NORMAL  CHILD  87 

now  agree  that  normality  is  determined  by  individual 
competency.  This  competency  is  the  result  of  individual 
efficiency — efficiency  of  such  a  degree  that  the  individual 
may  maintain  his  place  in  the  environment  to  which  he 
belongs,  being  able  to  meet  all  changes  that  may  affect 
his  environment.  This  will  make  him  a  "typical"  rep- 
resentative of  his  time,  age,  and  nation. 

He  must  possess  a  body  of  sufficient  strength  and 
liealth  to  meet  emergencies  without  defeat;  and  a  mind 
equally  sane,  so  that  it  would  not  be  thrown  out  of  bal- 
ance under  tension.  He  must  possess  initiative  and  cir- 
cumspection, the  capacity  for  forethought  and  planning, 
for  finding  his  place  and  understanding  a  situation.  He 
must  be  able  to  learn  from  his  own  mistakes  as  well  as 
from  those  of  others.  He  must  have  resources  which 
can  be  called  forth  in  time  of  need. 

There  must  be  a  sufficient  degree  of  plasticity  and  of 
capacity  for  growth  so  that  the  individual  may  adjust 
himself  to  community  development.  He  must  have 
stamina  of  energy  which  will  make  him  a  creative  force 
in  this  process  of  social  advancement;  in  other  words, 
he  must  furnish  his  quota  of  efficiency  increment.  Skill 
alone  is  insufficient — even  the  lowest  of  beasts  show  skill 
in  some  things. 

Let  us  imderstand  that  these  requirements  do  not 
imply  in  every  instance  a  high  performance  level.  We 
must  not  mistake  the  normality  of  a  typical  individual 
for  the  exceptional  force  of  the  leader.  Leadership  in- 
volves sublimated  normahty,  so  to  speak. 

The  efficiency  of  the  normal  individual  may  show 
itself  in  diflferent  directions.  First,  there  is  occupational 
efficiency,  such  as  will  give  him  and  his  family  sustenance 
and  security  of  life.    Then,  there  is  parental  efficiency. 


88  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

As  a  parent  he  must  be  able  to  produce  healthy,  normal 
offsprmg,  and  to  estabb'sh  a  sane,  natural  family  life 
with  all  the  educational  elements  of  the  home  in  proper 
working  order.  Thirdly,  there  must  be  social  efficiency, 
that  he  may  do  his  share  as  a  unit  in  a  community,  in  a 
political  organism,  as  a  citizen,  as  a  human  being,  in  his 
relations  to  his  fellow  citizens,  his  fellow  men,  the  world 
at  large.  And,  finally,  there  must  be  his  own  personal 
cultural  efficiency,  which  ought  to  be  commensurate  to 
the  culture  level  of  his  environment,  and  should  also 
be  of  the  expanding  kind,  so  that  he  may  be  a  factor  in 
cultural  advance. 

The  same  individual  may  not  comprise  within  himself 
all  these  factors  of  efficiency,  at  least  not  in  the  same 
degree,  and  yet  be  a  positive  asset  to  his  social  setting, 
producing  an  efficiency  increment  which  is  distinctly 
measurable.  He  may  lack  public  spirit,  yet  be  a  good 
father  and  a  good  business  man;  or  he  may  be  public- 
spirited  without  having  much  cultural  efficiency.  But 
the  health  of  a  nation  depends  upon  the  blending  of 
these  various  types  of  efficiency  among  its  citizens  to 
make  it  efficient  as  a  nation. ^ 

^  An  illustration  of  this  fact  is  given  in  the  Plainfidd  Courier-News  of 
May  27,  1915,  written,  as  is  seen  from  the  date,  after  Italy  had  entered 
into  the  European  conflict,  and  by  a  man  whose  sympathies  are  strongly 
pro-English : 

"Whether  the  sympathies  of  Americans  lean  toward  Germany  or  not, 
there  is  one  strong  point  on  which  all  can  imite  in  giving  Germany  its 
due  award  of  admiration.  As  an  example  of  co-operation  and  organiza- 
tion in  all  Unes  of  human  endeavor  for  the  advancement  of  their  own 
country,  Germans  lead  all  nations.  Only  the  most  complete  organiza- 
tion and  disciplined  mental  attitude  could  have  made  such  a  stand 
against  the  odds  which  Germany  is  facing.  ...  A  nation  which  can 
develop  and  perfect  the  details  of  such  thorough  organization  and  carry 
its  commercial  system  to  foreign  lands  cannot  be  ruined  by  even  such 
disaster  as  Germany  is  now  suffering,  and  will  suffer  in  much  greater 


THE  NORMAL  CHILD  89 

The  "potentially  normal"  types  must  be  similarly 
organized  in  the  manner  described  in  Chapter  II.  Even 
the  "subnormal"  types  can  be  articulated  in  a  national 
system  of  efficiency,  as  has  been  shown  in  the  previous 
chapter  and  will  further  be  elucidated  in  the  remaining 
chapters  of  this  book. 

If  this  definition  of  normality  is  tenable,  we  shall 
understand  better  what  a  normal  child  is.  A  normal 
child  must  possess  this  same  element  of  efficiency.  But 
as  a  child's  main  function  is  to  grow  up  in  a.  healthy 
fashion  to  be  able  to  take  his  place  in  life,  his  main  effi- 
ciency must  be  found  in  this  very  capacity  for  healthy 
growth,  according  to  his  special  genius,  to  his  special 
type.  This  capacity  must  never  become  arrested  during 
the  entire  life  of  the  individual.  Anything  that  inter- 
feres with  healthy  growth,  with  the  imfolding  of  the 
individual  psyche,  is  a  danger-signal. 

degree  during  recuperation.  If  defeated,  Germany  will  settle  down  to 
business  and  energetically  try  to  recover  her  standing  among  the  nations. 
She  will  continue  to  give  the  world  a  lesson  in  the  efficiency  of  organized 
and  intelligently  directed  energy." 


CHAPTER  VI 

POTENTIALLY  NORMAL  CHILDREN 

The  previous  chapters  have  endeavored  to  illustrate 
the  problem  of  normality,  and  of  normal  competency 
and  efficiency;  as  well  as  the  general  principles  of  devia- 
tions from  the  normal  standard.  It  has  also  been  shown 
that  there  is  a  considerable  percentage  of  children  whose 
educational  success,  and  whose  chances  of  reaching  the 
level  of  efficiency  for  which  they  possess  latent  compe- 
tency, are  endangered  by  various  causes.  Many  of  these 
causes  are  remediable,  if  promptly  recognized;  others 
predestine  a  child  to  more  or  less  complete  failure.  It 
is  therefore  imperative  for  the  educator  to  familiarize 
himself  with  the  symptoms  indicating  danger,  so  that 
those  children  who  possess  potential  normahty,  that  is 
to  say,  those  whose  handicaps  may  be  relieved,  would 
have  their  chance. 

Pseudoatjrpical  Children. — Among  the  potentially 
normal  children  the  author  has  first  enumerated  the 
pseudoatypical  or  paratypical  child.  The  classification 
submitted  on  pages  60  to  64  distinguishes  several  groups. 

Change  of  Schools. — ^The  American  school  organiza- 
tion which  leaves  the  administration  of  schools  to  State 
and  local  bodies,  without  any  attempt  at  national  equal- 
ization, is  characterized  by  a  considerable  variation  of 
standards.  That  is  to  say,  a  fourth  grade  in  one  place 
differs  from  one  in  another  place,  in  requirements,  pupil 
composition,  teaching  quality,  etc.  When  a  child  moves 
with  his  parents  to  another  district,  even  in  the  same 

90 


POTENTIALLY  NORMAL   CHILDREN  91 

metropolitan  community,  or  applies  for  admission  to 
the  school  of  an  entirely  different  district,  he  is  con- 
fronted with  difficulties  of  adjustment  if  placed  in  the 
same  school  grade  from  which  he  migrated.  His  new 
class  may  be  scholastically  higher  or  lower,  according 
to  circumstances;  rarely  exactly  alike.  Adjustment,  as 
classes  and  courses  are  organized  now,  is  primarily  a 
mechanical  process  in  the  matter  of  details  of  knowledge; 
thus,  the  common  practice  has  been  to  consider  the  new- 
comer scholastically  deficient,  and  to  put  him  in  a  lower 
class.  It  would  have  been  much  wiser  to  consider  rather 
his  mental  maturity  and  have  him  grapple  with  his  prob- 
lems of  adjustment  on  that  basis.  Some  judicious 
coaching  and  special  help  will  easily  even  out  difficulties 
of  this  kind. 

Other  Causes. — ^The  pupil  who  has  difficulties  of  ready 
adjustment  to  class  standards  in  other  ways  is  in  many 
cases  an  equally  simple  problem,  scholastically  consid- 
ered. The  child  of  slower  mental  and  physical  growth 
must  be  given  more  time  and  much  encouragement,  so 
that  no  stigma  be  attached  to  his  tardiness.  It  is,  of 
course,  futile  to  expect  all  children  to  progress  mentally 
at  the  same  rate.  Such  a  condition  is  just  as  impossible 
as  to  expect  that  the  bodies  of  children  should  grow 
equally  fast  and  to  equal  proportions.  Every  mother 
knows  that  she  may  have  to  buy  ready-made  clothes  of 
the  twelve-year-old  size  for  her  fourteen-year-old  boy, 
or  a  fourteen-year-old  size  for  her  child  of  twelve.  In  a 
similar  way  minds  grow  at  different  rates.  Some  will 
grow  faster  than  the  average  and  others  more  slowly. 
The  slower  child  is  not  necessarily  deficient,  or  even 
lacking  in  talent  and  power.  Some  of  our  best  minds 
were  slow  growers  in  childhood — like  the  slow-growing 


92  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

oak,  which  is  a  king  among  the  short-lived  minor  trees. 
Among  the  "distinguished  dunces"  who  gave  their  medi- 
ocre schoolmasters  so  much  trouble '  while  they  were 
school  children,  may  be  enumerated  such  men  as  Web- 
ster (Case  4),  Beecher  (Case  5),  Frobel  (Case  6),  LinncBus 
(Case  7),  Volta  (Case  8),  Burns  (Case  9),  Balzac  (Case 
10),  Edison  (Case  11),  and  Walter  Scott  (Case  12),  all  of 
whom  were  dullards  in  youth. 

Under  the  caption  "Speed  as  An  Element  of  Weak- 
ness," Doctor  M.  W.  Van  Denburg  has  contributed  an 
investigation  which  he  introduces  by  the  scriptural  quo- 
tation: "The  race  is  not  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle 
to  the  strong;  .  .  .  nor  yet  favor  to  men  of  skill;  but 
time  and  chance  happeneth  to  them  all."  Among  other 
things  he  says  in  the  course  of  his  argument: 

If  Charles  Darwin  (Case  13)  were  a  pupil  in  one  of  our  public 
schools  to-day,  the  chances  are  nine  out  of  ten,  that  he  would  be 
set  down  as  a  very  commonplace,  dull  boy.  His  mind  always 
moved  slowly  and  with  extreme  caution  from  his  earliest  school- 
days.    This  was  his  individual  constitution. 

If  John  Stuart  Mill  (Case  14)  and  Herbert  Spencer  (Case  15) 
were  two  boys  in  the  same  grade,  Mill,  who  would  be  several 
years  younger  than  Spencer — and  who  for  a  moment  doubts  that 
the  brilliant,  ready,  quick-witted  Mill  would  far  outstrip  the  shy, 
nervous,  plodding  Spencer:  the  one  would  become  a  petted  little 
pedant,  and  the  other  would  be  plunged  into  the  deepest  dis- 
couragement.   These  are  not  altogether  fancy  sketches.  .  .  . 

Nothing  is  more  certain  in  psychology  than  the  vast  differ- 
ence in  the  rate  of  speed  at  which  different  minds  work.  This 
is  not  at  all  a  habit  by  any  means.  It  is  to  a  far  greater  degree 
an  endowment. 

Suppose  in  public  examinations  as  much  time  was  given  as  is 
desired  by  each  applicant,  and  thereby  quiet  of  mind  on  this 
point  assured.  Suppose  in  school  work  the  difference  in  natural 
endowment,  in  physical  energy,  in  physical  health,  in  previous 


POTENTIALLY  NORMAL  CHILDREN  93 

training,  in  home  training,  and,  above  all,  the  natural  gait  of  the 
mind  were  taken  into  account  in  each  case.  Suppose  accuracy, 
and  reliability,  and  completeness  of  grasp,  and  sincerity  of  pur- 
pose were  put  in  their  proper  places  in  estimating  the  value  of 
work  accomplished,  the  Darwins  would  not  then  always  be  set 
down  as  dunces,  neither  would  the  Mills  so  enormously  outrank 
the  Spencers. 

A  child  who  has  missed  part  of  his  school  opportunity 
by  illness  or  accident  should  be  given  all  the  help  neces- 
sary to  make  up  for  his  loss.  It  seems  hardly  in  line 
with  the  general  purpose  of  this  book  to  devote  much, 
space  here  to  these  classes  of  seeming  failure,  as  they  are 
largely  a  matter  of  proper  school  administration.  They 
are  mentioned  for  the  sake  of  completeness,  and  will 
again  be  referred  to  in  the  last  part  of  the  book,  which 
is  devoted  to  provisions  for  exceptional  children. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  cases  of  those  children 
whose  difficulty  consists  mainly  in  their  unacquaintance 
with  the  language  of  the  land  to  which  their  parents  have 
emigrated;  yet  here  the  element  of  racial  difference,  in 
attitude,  aptitude,  temperament,  historical  tradition, 
civilization  level,  etc.,  enters  gravely  into  the  problem, 
so  that  their  proper  education  is  a  much  more  complex 
matter  than  would  appear  on  the  surface.  Of  provisions 
for  those  who  deviate  from  the  type  by  the  fact  that 
they  are  unusually  rapid  growers,  mention  will  be  made 
in  a  succeeding  chapter.  Again,  the  neglected  child,  the 
undernourished  child,  the  child  whose  home  lacks  the 
hygienic  atmosphere,  will  be  discussed  later,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  other  factors  entering  into  their  problem. 
It  may  simply  be  said  here  by  way  of  parenthesis  that 
the  institution  of  school  lunches,  school  baths,  and  school 
playgrounds,  as  well  as  of  social  centres,  will  work  won- 


94  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

ders  for  this  class  of  children;  not  to  forget  the  helpful 
work  of  the  neighborhood  guilds  and  similar  organiza- 
tions for  social  uplift,  provided  they  do  not  smack  of  smirk- 
ing charity,  but  are  the  expression  of  the  consciousness  of 
a  social  function  and  duty. 

Lack  of  Breadth  in  School  Organization. — It  is  a  dif- 
ferent matter  when  we  discuss  those  children  whose 
difficulty  Hes  in  the  fact  that  the  school  does  not  reach 
them.  This  point  has  already  been  made  clear  in  pre- 
ceding chapters.  But  it  is  very  well  for  teachers  and 
school  administrators,  as  much  as  for  parents,  to  become 
very  certain  in  their  minds  as  to  the  causes  which  may 
produce  a  child's  difiiculty  in  the  school  as  such.  He 
may  belong  to  a  type  which  is  not  yet  recognized  in  our 
traditional  courses  of  instruction.  His  case  may  reveal 
the  fact  that  we  need  another  kind  of  school  organiza- 
tion. How  these  differences  of  type  may  be  discovered, 
and  what  provisions  should  be  made  to  eradicate  present 
defects,  will  be  set  forth  in  the  course  of  the  discussion 
presented  in  this  book.  Here  we  are  dealing  with  defects 
of  the  school,  not  of  the  child 

For  all  these  children  may  not  only  be  potentially 
normal,  but  altogether  typical  and  complete  as  repre- 
sentatives of  their  type.  Their  failure  in  life  would  be 
due  to  maladjusted  educational  experiments  made  upon 
them.  The  wisdom  and  judgment  of  the  educator  are  in 
question  when  all  is  told.  Very  few  of  us  have  as  yet  a 
clear  knowledge  of  the  physical  and  psychical  life  and 
evolution  of  the  child,  and  faulty  reaction  on  the  part  of 
the  child  may  mean  that  we  have  handled  him  incor- 
rectly. The  training  of  teachers  is  still  a  grave  problem 
in  our  country,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  normal  schools, 
teachers'  colleges,  and  university  courses  in  pedagogy  are 

\ 


POTENTIALLY  NORMAL  CHILDREN  95 

being  perfected  more  and  more  every  year.  Still  we 
have  only  too  many  teachers  of  limited  training  and  ex- 
perience; and  often  the  tyros,  those  who  have  the  least 
basic  knowledge  of  the  child  mind,  are  placed  in  the  kin- 
dergartens and  primary  classes  where  the  foundations  of 
mental  work  are  laid.  The  mistakes  made  by  these 
novices  in  teaching,  in  experimenting  with  the  precious 
budding  minds,  are  legion,  and  only  too  frequently  warp 
a  child's  conception  from  the  very  start. 

Professional  Training. — ^Teachers,  however,  do  receive, 
at  least  in  large  numbers,  some  sort  of  professional  train- 
ing. But  parents  are,  as  a  rule,  sadly  deficient  in  such 
training,  and  often  lack  the  wisdom  of  understanding 
and  handling  their  children  properly.  Mothers'  clubs  are 
often  mostly  composed  of  women  who  have  already  made 
their  fundamental  mistakes  with  their  own  children;  and 
fathers*  clubs  there  are  none,  A  few  attempts  have  been 
made  to  establish  mothercraft  schools,  which  so  far  are 
attended  by  an  infinitesimal  fraction  of  the  prospective 
mothers  of  the  land.  The  author  has  never  heard  of 
fathercraft  schools.  Thus  a  child's  chance  of  being  him- 
self, instead  of  being  moulded  according  to  the  whims 
and  prejudices  and  notions  of  his  unenlightened  elders, 
is  very  slim. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  we  have  so  many  children  who 
are  difficult  of  management — "naughty,"  troublesome, 
spoiled  children.  Some  of  them  are  troublesome  because 
they  do  not  know  how  to  employ  their  perfectly  normal 
and  legitimate  impulses  and  activities.  A  child  is 
naughty  to  parents  and  teachers  on  the  same  principle 
that  will  make  a  gas-tank  explode  when  touched  with  a 
burning  match — it  is  the  only  natural  method  of  response 
to  a  foolish  method  of  approach  ! 


96  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Sense  Defects. — When  it  comes  to  difficulties  in  the 
province  of  sense  reactions,  great  caution  is  needed.  De- 
fects of  this  nature  are  more  common  than  is  generally 
suppKJsed;  they  are  apt  to  escape  attention,  the  children 
themselves  hardly  being  conscious  of  having  any  defect; 
they  have  no  criterion  for  comparison.  A  hard-of-hear- 
ing  child  learns  the  art  of  lip-reading  almost  instinctively, 
and  is  therefore  producing,  to  himself  and  to  others,  the 
illusion  of  being  able  to  hear.  Many  cases  have  come 
under  the  author's  observation  of  children  whose  power 
to  hear  articulate  speech  was  so  greatly  diminished  that 
they  were  almost  deaf;  sometimes  they  were  suspected 
of  some  slight  defect  in  the  matter  of  hearing,  but  as  a 
rule  both  their  parents  and  their  teachers  were  abso- 
lutely amazed  to  learn  of  the  extent  of  their  infirmity 
after  the  application  of  proper  tests.  Children  of  defec- 
tive hearing  and  vision  are  often  accused,  unjustly,  of 
course,  of  inattention,  stubbornness,  laziness,  and  back- 
wardness. 

Observational  Attitude. — ^To  be  able  to  make  a  more 
detailed  study  of  handicapped  children  we  must  first 
develop  the  observational  attitude  of  the  diagnostician, 
and  train  ourselves  to  consider  everything  we  cannot 
readily  explain  as  a  symptom  to  be  studied.  For  every 
symptom  we  must  train  ourselves  to  look  for  a  cause. 
Proper  observation  implies  a  careful  distinction  between 
facts  observed  and  the  explanation  we  may  give  them.  It 
is  a  very  common  error  to  substitute  our  interpretation  of 
a  fact  for  the  fact  itself,  and  thus  records  of  children  are 
often  vitiated.  To  say:  to-day  the  child  was  naughty,  or 
annoying,  or  lazy,  or  what  not,  means  nothing  at  all. 
Such  a  statement  implies  a  foregone  conclusion,  a  judg- 
ment, not  a  record  of  fact — unless  of  the  fact  that  the 


POTENTIALLY  NORMAL  CHILDREN  97 

child's  conduct  affected  the  recorder  in  a  certain  manner. 
Manifestations  on  the  part  of  the  child  which  may  be 
displeasing  to  us  are  not  necessarily  expressions  of  a 
child's  evil  genius  or  defectiveness.  The  entire  idea  of 
discipline  and  punishment  is  undergoing  a  change.  Only 
one  who  can  inspire  the  child  with  confidence  and  who 
puts  the  child  under  observation  absolutely  at  his  ease, 
will  gather  reliable  data. 

Atypical  Children. — ^The  various  groups  of  "atypical" 
children  will  be  further  discussed  in  the  following  chap>- 
ters.  Even  with  them,  however,  we  may  first  empha- 
size the  necessity  of  studying  the  sense-reactions  of  each 
child.  The  acuteness  of  the  two  principal  senses  of  vision 
and  hearing  should  be  determined  by  the  ordinary  tests, 
which  are  so  simple  that  the  preliminary  work  can  be 
done  in  any  school  or  home.  Eye-strain  is  frequently 
accompanied  by  headaches;  chronic  headache  is  there- 
fore a  danger-signal.  The  other  special  senses — taste, 
smell,  touch — not  to  speak  of  the  muscular  sense,  the 
temperature  sense,  the  sense  of  balance — rarely  receive 
the  attention  they  deserve.  Yet  we  often  find  curious 
defects  which  may  be  considered  as  indicative  of  incom- 
plete potentials,  and  consequently  of  incomplete  sensa- 
tion, making  the  sufferers  really  subnormal.  If  we  re- 
member that  under  certain  circumstances  we  may  have 
to  fall  back  upon  one  or  more  of  these  neglected  senses, 
as  in  the  cases  of  Laura  Bridgman  and  Helen  Keller, 
we  may  well  be  reminded  of  their  importance.  The 
sense  of  touch  is,  indeed,  the  most  fundamental  of  all 
senses,  from  which  the  others  have  become  differentiated 
in  the  process  of  evolution. 

Blind  and  Deaf  Children. — ^Although  belonging  to  the 
subnormal  group,  blind  and  deaf  children  may  possess 


98  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

such  other  splendid  mental  and  physical  endowments 
that  their  competency  is  often  considerable,  and  the 
efficiency  increment  they  may  contribute  to  social  life 
and  progress  represents  values  as  great  as  those  of  nor- 
mal children.  They  may  therefore  justly  be  mentioned 
in  this  connection. 

Real  blindness,  and  deafness  are  defects  which  deprive 
a  child  of  potentials  which  are  necessary  for  complete- 
ness of  sense-perception  and  mental  conception.  For 
them  some  elements  of  human  knowledge  will  forever  be 
eliminated,  at  least  in  their  direct  bearing  upon  thought, 
and  they  will  depend  upon  the  experience  of  others  along 
these  lines  of  observation.  These  vicarious  experiences 
must  symboHze  to  them  what  can  never  be  their  own 
experience.  For  this  reason  thfe  author  has  placed  them 
in  the  subnormal  group,  as  physically  and  physiologically 
defective,  with  a  corresponding  psychologic  deprivation. 
This  does,  however,  not  imply  at  all  that  they  are  more 
prone  to  be  also  mentally  defective  than  seeing  and 
hearing  children.  Helen  Keller  (Case  i6),  whose  case 
has  demonstrated  better  than  many  another  the  won- 
derful possibilities  of  a  mind  which  is  deprived  of  both 
the  seeing  and  the  hearing  paths  to  knowledge,  wrote  the 
author  in  a  telling  letter: 

I,  too,  was  handicapped  in  the  earliest  years  of  my  life.  I, 
too,  had  a  potentially  normal  mind.  Strong  barriers  had  to  be 
broken  down  before  my  mind  could  be  awakened  and  developed. 
Only  the  skill  of  a  wise,  loving  teacher  made  this  possible. 
Only  a  patient  study  and  clear  understanding  of  my  mental 
needs  lifted  me  up  to  a  happier,  freer  existence.  ...  It  is  of 
the  utmost  importance  to  give  every  child  the  best  education 
of  which  he  is  capable.  No  effort,  no  money,  no  sacrifice  should 
be  spared.  The  more  severely  a  child  is  handicapped,  the  more 
precious  is  whatever  equipment  is  given  him  for  the  struggle  of 


POTENTIALLY  NORMAL   CHILDREN  99 

life.  Let  the  public  once  realize  how  far  such  children  can  be 
helped,  and  nothing  will  be  left  undone  to  prevent  the  fearful 
waste  of  human  minds  which  lies  heavily  upon  our  civilization. 
This  is  true  conservation — the  saving  of  valuable  human  facul- 
ties from  neglect  and  unskilful  teaching. 

The  other  groups  of  subnormal  children  will  not  be 
separately  taken  up  here,  as  they  are  discussed  in  con- 
nection with  causes  and  conditions  of  exceptional  devel- 
opment in  later  chapters.  But  it  seems  to  be  the  place 
here  to  call  the  readers'  attention  to  some  of  the  symp- 
toms which  the  educator  must  learn  to  observe,  to  secure 
timely  recognition  of  DANGER-SIGNALS  which  would 
indicate  that  the  normal  development  of  a  child  is  put 
at  hazard. 

Principles  of  Growth. — ^Human  life  is  determined  by 
principles  of  growth  and  development;  growth  as  to  size 
and  weight,  and  development  as  to  organization,  dififer- 
entiation,  and  function.  There  is  the  size  and  weight  of 
the  body  as  a  whole;  there  is  the  evolution  of  the  bony 
skeleton,  of  the  muscles  and  viscera,  of  the  central  and 
peripheral  nervous  system,  with  the  "sympathetic" 
branch  which  regulates  the  functions  of  the  viscera. 
Upon  the  growth  and  development  of  the  nervous  system 
depends  the  development  of  the  functions  of  intellect 
and  will.  AbnormaUties  of  growth  and  development  are 
distinct  danger-signals.  There  may  be  irregularities  in 
the  matter  of  growth  periods.  Anatomical  growth  may  not 
keep  pace  with  mental  growth.  By  Crampton  the  help- 
ful distinction  has  been  made  between  chronological,  ana- 
tomical, physiological,  and  psychological  growth,  or  age. 
Though  he  had  years  of  life  in  mind,  we  may  apply  his 
distinction  to  the  developmental  periods  upon  which  the 
author  bases  his  analysis  and  argument.     Mental  pre- 


100  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

cocity  may  be  unsupported  by  healthy  development  of 
physiological  function;  or  physiological  function,  e.  g.,  in 
the  matter  of  sexual  development,  may  be  unaccompa- 
nied by  the  balancing  power  of  mental  maturity.  Any 
such  discrepancy  will  cause  a  tension  fraught  with 
danger. 

Body  measurements  and  tests  of  physiologic  function, 
together  with  repeated  tests  of  mental  growth,  are  of  the 
utmost  importance  in  the  study  of  the  individual  child. 

Early  Observations. — Some  of  the  earliest  observa- 
tions can  and  must  be  made  b}''  the  parents.  A  child 
ought  to  smile  not  later  than  at  the  age  of  three  months, 
sit  up  at  four  to  six  months  of  age,  stand  up  at  one  year, 
and  begin  to  walk  and  talk  a  little  later.  Whooping- 
cough  at  a  tender  age  frequently  injures  a  child  men- 
tally, through  mechanical  lesion.  Neurotic  babies  are 
subject  to  convulsions  and  thumb-sucking.  The  latter 
is  also  a  sign  of  sexual  danger  in  early  infancy.  Infec- 
tious diseases,  Hke  measles  and  scarlet  fever,  often  leave 
their  traces  behind. 

Functional  Defects. — Defective  teeth  are  invariably  a 
danger-signal.  They  may  prove  the  existence  of  various 
functional  diseases,  hereditary  or  acquired  (including 
syphilitic  infection — "Hutchinson's  teeth"),  which  pre- 
vent proper  formation  and  growth;  or  they  point  to  mal- 
nutrition, poor  digestion  (with  the  formation  of  decayed 
matter  affecting  the  teeth,  in  solid,  liquid,  or  gaseous 
form),  and  other  temporary  causes.  In  every  instance 
they  interfere  with  the  proper  mastication  and  digestion 
of  food,  with  the  protection  of  the  nasal-pharyngeal  cav- 
ity, with  proper  growth  of  the  bones  of  the  jaws  and  of 
other  parts  of  the  skull,  and  with  proper  articulation. 

Facts  of  respiration  and  heart  action,  of  appetite  and 


POTENTIALLY  NORMAL  CfflLDREN  101 

digestion,  of  headaches  and  dizziness,  enter  into  this 
group  of  .observations.  It  has  been  found  that  the  grip 
of  the  hand  is  a  fair  index  of  intellectual  development, 
lower  grades  of  mentaUty  lacking  the  muscular  control 
necessary  to  produce  an  effective  grip.  This  proves,  by 
the  way,  that  even  manual  efficiency  is  a  matter  of  men- 
tal control,  even  in  seemingly  simple  activities. 

Frequent  urination  is  a  danger-signal.  It  means  either 
distinct  disease  or  lack  of  volitional  control — in  other 
words,  a  psychic  difficulty.  Regular  examinations  of  the 
child's  urine  should  be  made  for  the  detection  of  diseases 
of  the  kidneys,  diabetes  insipidus,  intestinal  intoxication, 
etc.  There  might  also  be  examination  of  the  blood  for 
anaemia,  leukemia,  parasites  (malaria),  inflammatory 
states,  infection  (syphilis),  etc.;  also  occasional  tests  of 
the  faeces  for  ability  to  digest  various  foods,  intestinal 
parasites,  etc. 

The  so-called  "growing  pains"  of  children  are  rather 
a  suspicious  element.  They  are  often  rheumatic  in 
nature  and  require  special  attention.  Rheumatism  in 
childhood  is  dangerous  for  the  reason  of  its  insidious 
onset  and  never  very  acute  manifestations.^ 

Left-Handedness. — ^Left-handedness  has  often  been 
considered  a  danger-signal.  It  indicates,  of  course,  a 
deviation  from  typical  conditions.  Right-handedness  is 
a  very  ancient  characteristic  of  the  human  race,  and 
even  primitive  peoples  are  generally  right-handed.  Left- 
handedness  is  therefore  a  variation  not  to  be  considered 
as  a  primitive  trait.    As  a  matter  of  fact,  left-handed  in- 

*  Doctor  J.  A.  Colliver  has  found  that  one  of  the  earliest  manifesta- 
tions of  rheumatism  on  the  nervous  system  is  irritability,  fretfulness, 
and  the  like.  There  seems  to  be  a  dose  relation  between  rheumatism  and 
chorea. 


102  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

dividuals  are  found  among  the  very  intelligent  and  skil- 
ful; left-handedness  as  such  is  therefore  not  a  danger- 
signal,  unless  it  is  coupled  with  other  symptoms.  It  has 
been  shown  that  the  usual  right-handedness  may  have 
one  cause  in  the  arrangement  of  the  blood  supply  from 
the  heart  which  favors  the  right  arm;  left-handedness 
would,  then,  indicate  a  reversion  of  this  arrangement. 

Another  cause  of  the  right-handedness  of  the  great 
majority  of  men,  however,  is  the  stronger  development 
of  the  left  hemisphere  of  the  brain.  When,  therefore, 
left-handedness  is  associated  with  speech  defects,  as  it 
often  is,  it  would  reinforce  a  diagnosis  of  defective  cen- 
tral condition;  for  speech  defects,  unless  caused  by  ana- 
tomical defects  in  the  organs  of  speech,  can  be  explained 
only  by  underdevelopment  or  lesion  in  the  speech  cen- 
tres of  the  left  hemisphere.  Speech  defects  are  a  grave 
danger-signal. 

Difficulties  of  the  Nervous  System. — Here  we  come  to 
the  extensive  sphere  of  danger-signals  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  nervous  system.  This  is  at  the  same  time 
the  province  of  psychologic  and  mental  disorders,  in- 
cluding the  fully  developed  psychoses.  Yet  it  should 
never  be  forgotten  that  there  is  a  constant  interaction 
between  bodily  and  psychic  conditions,  and  that  it  is 
impossible  to  separate  absolutely  the  psychical  from  the 
physical.  Bodily  symptoms  will  indicate  psychic  dis- 
orders, and  psychic  symptoms  will  point  to  disturbances 
of  physiologic  function. 

Some  of  the  danger-signals  in  this  province  are  changes 
in  temperament  (crying  and  laughing  readily)  and  un- 
warranted attacks  of  temper;  rapid  fatiguing  and  disin- 
clination for  effort;  drowsiness,  excitability,  insomnia. 
There  are  the  defects  of  memory  and  concentration;  of 


POTENTIALLY  NORMAL  CHILDREN  103 

judgment;  and  in  the  sphere  of  will,  lack  of  determina- 
tion and  decision.  A  mechanical  memory  alone  is  not  a 
sign  of  intelligence,  and  is  found  remarkably  developed 
even  among  imbeciles.  Precocity  is  another  sign,  even- 
tually of  nervous  strain  and  derangement. 

Apparent  disinclination  to  obey  may,  as  has  been 
shown,  be  due  to  imperfect  hearing;  it  may  also  be  evi- 
dence of  psychic  disease,  like  *' negativism."  Aversion 
to  reading  and  writing  may  be  caused  by  imperfect 
vision;  or  it  may  be  the  effect  of  an  impairment  of  the 
speech  centres  in  the  brain  (alexia  and  agraphia).  Ugli- 
ness and  irritability  may  be  traced  to  astigmatism,  which 
in  turn  produces  eye-strain  and  persistent  headaches. 
Yet  these  symptoms  may  also  be  due  to  disturbances  of 
digestion  (trophic  disturbances)  or  to  nervous  disorders. 
Laziness  is  often  a  symptom  of  anaemia  or  of  neuras- 
thenia, of  vasomotor  disturbances;  or  it  may  be  caused 
by  malnutrition,  overexertion  at  home,  lack  of  sleep, 
or  lack  of  ventilation  in  the  child's  sleeping  chamber. 
Fretfulness  may  have  its  cause  in  a  great  number  of 
various  conditions,  notably  indigestion;  it  has  its  neuro- 
pathic asp)ect,  also.  We  are  tempted  to  feel  very  much 
vexed  when  a  child  makes  grimaces,  when  he  is  inclined 
to  giggle  and  babble,  or  to  disturb  the  artificial  discipline 
of  the  schoolroom  by  whispering.  Yet  these  manifes- 
tations, when  they  are  not  perfectly  natural  expressions 
of  a  child's  overflowing  life  intensity,  as  well  as  other 
symptoms,  like  sniffing,  coughing,  restlessness,  and  in- 
attention, may  be,  and  often  are,  symptoms  of  nervous 
disease.  They  may  be  enumerated  among  the  so-called 
habit-tics  or  habit-spasms,  like  twitching,  shrugging, 
shuflSing,  grinning,  sighing,  yawning,  echolalia  (the  repe- 
tition of  words  spoken  by  another,  as,  e.  g.<  repeating  a 


104  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

question  before  answering  it),  uttering  curious  sounds, 
such  as  chirping,  etc.  Again,  momentary  inattention 
and  absent-mindedness  may  be  due  to  a  mild  form  of 
petit  mal  (epilepsy).  Sudden  attacks  of  excitement, 
outbreaks  of  temper,  destructiveness,  hitting  other  chil- 
dren, and  the  like,  suggest  the  presence  of  psychic  epi- 
lepsy. There  are  manifold  movements  characteristic  of 
chorea.  Although  true  hysteria  is  a  disease  which  does 
not  develop  before  the  adolescent  age,  there  are  quite 
a  number  of  conditions  in  children  which  may  be  count- 
ed among  hysterical  symptoms.  An  emotional  temper- 
ament is  one  of  them;  instability  of  will  and  irresponsi- 
bility are  others.  These  symptoms  are  ver^  often  found 
in  young  girls  who  seem  to  be  predisposed  to  develop 
true  hysteria  unless  preventive  measures  are  taken  at 
the  right  time.  It  has  been  observed  that  an  exagger- 
ated imagination  and  selfishness,  or  rather  self-centred- 
ness,  go  with  these  symptoms;  and  that  deviations 
from  the  truth  and  fabrications  of  often  astounding  con- 
sistency are  characteristic  of  this  condition.  Children's 
lies  are  a  chapter  in  themselves.  Books  have  been 
written  on  the  child  as  a  witness,  showing  how  unreliable 
the  statements  of  children  are,  even  of  those  who  are 
generally  truthful.  A  tendency  to  lie,  to  tell  stories,  is 
symptomatic  of  certain  developmental  periods. 

These  statements  show  how  necessary  it  is  to  observe 
children  carefully.  Practically  all  of  those  showing 
symptoms  of  the  kind  enumerated  in  the  preceding  para- 
graphs are  potentially  normal,  but  need  the  attention 
and  care  which  will  protect  them  from  failure  and  de- 
struction. 

Retarded  Brain  Development. — In  some  children  of 
the  atypical  class  there  is  a  pathologically  retarded 


POTENTIALLY  NORMAL  CHILDREN  105 

growth  rate  which  also  affects  brain  development. 
These  children  show  a  retardation  of  mental  developy- 
ment  which  has  to  be  very  minutely  studied.  The  bud- 
ding-time of  every  faculty,  every  manifestation  of  new 
growth,  every  twist  the  mind  takes  in  groping  for  further 
touch  with  the  world  of  knowledge,  every  indication  of 
power  to  do,  must  be  taken  cognizance  of  and  must  be 
utilized.  These  children  are  like  a  tender,  slow-growing 
plant  which  the  gardener  cherishes  with  particular  care. 
They  will  usually  repay  all  this  attention  by  later  strong 
growth.  If  they  fail,  they  may  approach  the  condition 
of  arrested  development,  like  those  of  Group  B,  Sub- 
division 2,  in  the  author's  classification,  or  they  will  sink 
even  lower  in  the  scale  of  intellectual  measure.  Among 
them  we  shall  find  a  great  many  of  the  "repeaters" 
mentioned  in  the  beginning  of  this  book. 


CHAPTER  Vn 

EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  CHILDREN 

We  may  distinguish  four  classes,  or  types,  of  excep- 
tionally bright  children,  using  this  term  as  meaning 
children  who  are  in  advance  of  their  fellows  of  the  same 
age,  especially  in  school  work. 

FOUR    CLASSES    OF     EXCEPTIONALLY    BRIGHT    CHILDREN 

The  first  group  consists  of  children  endowed  with  a  good 
memory. 

The  second  group  comprises  those  whose  physical  and 
mental  growth  is  generally  more  rapid  than  that  of  an 
ordinary  child,  without  pathological  precocity. 

The  third  group  consists  of  children  of  one-sided  devel- 
opment, i.  e.,  having  one  faculty,  or  group  of  related  fac- 
ulties, developed  out  of  proportion  to  the  other  faculties. 

The  fourth  group  is  composed  of  those  children  in  which 
special  or  general  excellency  is  associated  with  neuropathic 
and  psychopathic  tension. 

The  first  two  groups  belong  to  the  class  of  pseudo- 
atypical  children;  the  last  two  groups  represent  atypical 
conditions. 

First  Group:  Children  Endowed  with  Good  Memory 

Success  in  school,  as  already  shown,  is  not  altogether 
an  index  of  real  mental  excellence  and  efficiency.     The 

106 


EXCEPTIONALLY   BRIGHT   CHILDREN         107 

first  group  of  "bright"  children  does  not  necessarily 
represent  brightness  or  brilliancy  at  all.  It  simply  rep- 
resents success,  at  least  of  a  temporary  kind. 

Their  "good  memory"  is  largely  of  a  mechanical  kind. 
In  school  work,  which  consists  mainly  of  recitations  and 
the  acquirement  of  book  knowledge,  they  are  apt  to 
make  rapid  progress  through  the  grades.  They  "learn" 
because  they  retain  the  lessons  and  can  reproduce  them, 
as  a  sponge  returns  the  water  it  has  absorbed.  There 
are,  indeed,  good  minds  lucky  enough  to  be  also  endowed 
with  a  good  memory,  and  weak  minds  whose  weakness  is 
augmented  by  a  short  memory  span.  But  it  does  not 
infrequently  happen  that  very  mediocre  or  even  feeble 
minds,  through  having  a  good  although  mechanical  mem- 
ory,  will  outshine  their  betters  in  school  work  of  the 
Of^nary  kind,  before  the  higher  reasoning  faculties  come 
very  much  into  play.  When  that  time  comes  they  will 
be  hopelessly  left  behind,  much  the  worse  for  their 
"learning,"  which  does  not  represent  any  live  value  to 
them ;  its  acquisition  has  prevented  them  from  preparing 
themselves  for  life  in  their  own  lowly  fashion.  In  their 
case  it  is  a  matter  of  early  diagnosis  to  direct  them  along 
really  educative  lines.  Their  memory  endowment  will 
assist  them  in  developing  skill  in  certain  lines  of  activity, 
but  will  not  make  them  socially  efl&cient  in  the  sense  of 
higher  competency. 

The  other  three  types  involve  intellectual  facilities  of  an 
unusual  character. 

Second  Group:  Children  of  Accelerated  Physical  and 
Mental  Growth 

The  pace  of  a  child  belonging  to  this  group  is  faster, 
his  process  of  maturing  is  hastened.    He  travels  in  an 


108  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

automobile  when  the  others  ride  on  horseback  or  travel 
on  foot.    He  covers  distances  with  lightning  speed. 

There  is  the  case  of  Robert  Wiener  (Case  17),  whom 
his  father,  Professor  Wiener,  distinctly  pronounces  to  be 
a  perfectly  normal  boy.  Robert  Wiener  graduated  from 
Tufts  College  at  the  age  of  13  years;  at  the  age  of  17  he 
took  the  degree  of  Ph.D.  at  Harvard,  and  then  studied 
for  two  years  at  Cambridge  University,  England.  He 
was  appointed,  at  the  age  of  19,  assistant  professor  of 
philosophy  at  Harvard  College. 

Winifred  Sackville  Stoner,  Jr.  (Case  18),  lately  of  Pitts- 
burg (now  Wilmington,  N.  C),  seems  to  belong  to  this 
class.  She  is  perhaps  an  exaggerated  type  and  has  had 
unusual  opportunities  —  the  exclusive  attention  of  a 
bright  and  well-educated  mother,  a  good  and  well-cared- 
for  home  in  which  everything  was  sacrificed  to  the 
child,  a  sturdy  heredity. 

From  her  chronological  development  a  few  data  may 
be  quoted: 

At    6  months:    Could  talk  and  knew  colors. 

At  16  months:    Could  read. 

At  2  years:  Wrote  own  name  on  hotel-registers  and  began 
keeping  a  diary. 

At  3  years:  Amazed  adults  by  her  spelling.  Acquired  use  of 
the  typewriter  as  an  aid  to  learning  spelling  and 
memorizing. 

At  4  years:  Learned  the  Latin  declensions  and  conjugations 
as  singing  exercises,  and  received  a  diploma  in 
.  Esperanto. 

At  5  years:  Wrofe  stories  and  jingles  for  newspapers,  spoke 
eight  languages,  translated  "  Mother  Goose " 
rhymes  into  Esperanto,  learned  to  waltz,  two- 
step,  and  three-step. 

At  7  years:  Learned  the  outlines  of  Greek,  Roman,  and  Scan- 
dinavian mythology. 


Fig.  3. — Winifred  Sackvillc  Stoner,  Jr.,  in  eurhylhmii  ^wsc. 


EXCEPTIONALLY   BRIGHT   CHILDREN         109 

At  9  years:  Passed  entrance-examinations  to  one  of  the  largest 
Western  universities. 

At  lo  years:  Was  elected  president  of  the  Junior  Peace  League 
of  America. 

At  II  years:  Began  specializing  in  music,  art,  and  dancing,  con- 
tinuing her  academic  work  and  physical  training. 

At  12  years:  Ready  for  graduate  work  in  any  university  in  the 
country. 

Her  mother,  Mrs.  James  Buchanan  Stoner,  wrote  to 
the  author  under  date  of  June  lo,  191 5,  from  the  United 
States  Marine  Hospital  at  Wilmington,  N.  C,  as  follows: 

Winifred  is  now  in  the  adolescent  period,  and  I  am  striving 
to  guard  her  from  undue  excitement  of  either  mental  or  physical 
nature.  As  you  know,  I  am  a  firm  beUevec  in  filling  the  child's 
mind  full  of  good  material  for  educational  foundations  during  the 
memory  period  from  2  years  to  12,  and  now  that  the  reasoning 
I)eriod  has  begim  she  has  something  about  which  to  reason. 

Winifred  has  no  set  lessons,  but  from  early  training  she  has 
become  such  a  lover  of  good  literature  that  she  would  be  most 
unhappy  if  deprived  for  a  single  day  of  converse  with  her  book 
companions.  She  reads  at  least  for  an  hour  each  day.  At  pres- 
ent she  is  reading  everything  she  can  find  about  Japan,  as  she 
plans  to  write  a  play  on  this  subject.  For  two  hours  she  helps 
me  as  my  secretary,  answering  letters,  and  working  on  "The 
Natural  Educational  Manual"  and  "Natural  Educational  Game 
Book,"  two  books  to  be  ready  in  fall.  Winifred  and  I  will  be 
joint  authors  of  these  books,  and  another  book  belonging  solely 
to  the  kiddie,  and  which  she  calls  "Facts  in  Jingles,"  will  be 
published  by  Bobbs-Merrill  in  a  few  weeks.  Winifred  has  cor- 
rected proof  of  this  book  since  returning  from  New  York. 

She  practises  for  perhaps  an  hour  each  day  on  both  her  violin 
and  piano,  and  amuses  herself  playing  for  little  colored  children 
who  live  in  cabins  facing  our  reservation,  playing  for  them  on 
the  mandolin,  jew's-harp,  or  orchestra  bells. 

One  or  two  afternoons  of  each  week  she  goes  to  the  beach  to 
swim,  and  on  Wednesday  evening  she  is  allowed  to  attend  a 
little  dancing  club  until  9.30  p.  m, 


110  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Nearly  every  pleasant  Saturday  afternoon  she  goes  with  sev- 
eral friends  of  her  age  canoeing  or  botanizing.  As  you  know, 
North  Carolina  is  the  home  of  some  very  interesting  plants, 
among  them  the  Venus  fly-trap,  bladderwort,  pitcher-plant,  and 
other  carnivorous  members  of  the  plant  family.  Winifred  is 
intensely  interested  in  these  plants  and  has  sent  specimens  to  a 
number  of  our  friends  in  northern  cities. 

Each  morning  she  plays  at  least  one  game  of  tennis  before 
breakfast,  and  after  dinner  in  the  evening  she  and  I  play  croquet 
or  take  long  walks  through  the  white  sandy  tracts  around  our 
home. 

At  least  fifteen  minutes  is  spent  in  the  kitchen  each  day 
gaining  knowledge  of  culinary  matters,  and  yesterday  Winifred 
made  a  skirt  for  herself. 

On  one  of  our  up-stairs  porches  I  have  a  regular  gymnasium, 
and  here  every  afternoon,  when  we  are  at  home,  we  exercise  for 
at  least  one-half  hour  before  taking  a  shower-bath  and  rub-down. 

The  little  girl  has  learned  how  to  drive  an  automobile  and 
occasionally  I  let  her  drive  when  we  take  motor-trips.  She  drives 
also  her  horse  Coupon,  and  occasionally  rides  horseback. 

Some  of  her  time  is  taken  in  training  a  menagerie  of  pets. 
We  are  trying  our  N.  E.  theory  on  all  sorts  of  young  things,  and 
you  will  laugh  at  the  mixture.  In  her  pet  house,  which  is  a  large 
screened  tent,  formerly  used  as  a  mess-room  by  some  of  our 
officers,  Winifred  has  three  baby  rabbits,  four  kittens,  two 
pigeons,  two  baby  chickens,  a  baby  catbird,  a  pup,  and  an  alli- 
gator. I  have  always  contended  that  any  animals  could  be  made 
to  care  for  each  other  if  they  were  raised  together,  and  it  is  a  won- 
derful sight  to  see  the  cats  kiss  the  catbird  and  not  hurt  it.  I 
am  going  to  try  to  get  a  photo  of  the  rabbits  sleeping  in  their 
nest,  the  bird  sitting  on  a  small  tree  by  the  side  of  the  kittens, 
and  the  chickens  pecking  peacefully  at  their  plate  of  com,  A 
number  of  people  are  watching  the  outcome  of  Winifred's  ex- 
periment with  much  interest  and  they  predict  that  the  kittens 
will  eat  the  birds  and  chickens  and  rabbits. 

Winifred  has  a  canary  which  she  has  tamed  and  taught  to 
do  many  wonderful  tricks,  and  while  she  writes  her  stories  on 
the  typewriter  he  sits  on  the  carriage  of  the  machine  and  sings 
to  her.  To-morrow  she  is  to  receive  a  monkey  and  poll-parrot 
from  a  sea-captain,  and  then  you  will  believe  that  there  will  be 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  CHILDREN        111 

no  time  for  study  of  books,  as  the  pets  will  take  up  every  spare 
moment. 

I  am  writing  to  you  of  these  trivial  matters  so  as  to  paint  a 
picture  of  the  simple,  happy,  full  life  Winifred  leads  at  this 
chrysalis  time  of  life,  when  no  child  must  be  forced  to  study  or 
to  play. 

The  picture  showing  her  in  a  eurhythmic  pose  with  co-ordina- 
tion of  mind  and  muscle  is  perhaps  the  best.  .  .  . 

She  is  five  feet  and  three  inches  tall,  weighing  130  pounds.^ 
Although  she  does  not  look  overfat  and  her  flesh  is  very  firm 
and  solid,  I  am  using  tennis  before  breakfast  to  train  off  a  few 
pounds,  as  I  do  not  want  her  to  be  a  heavy-weight  champion. 

Up  to  the  present  time  she  has  never  been  beaten  by  any 
boy  of  her  age  in  any  athletic  match.^  She  is  certainly  a  perfect 
specimen  of  physical  health  and  strength,  and  Doctor  O'Shea 
says  that  she  knows  more  and  can  do  more  than  the  average 
college  graduate. 

I  am  proud  of  her  strong  body  and  cheerful  disposition,  but 
most  of  all  I  rejoice  in  her  lack  of  conceit.  She  does  not  think 
that  she  knows  anything,  and  she  always  objects  to  showing  off. 
She  cares  nothing  for  public  applause,  and  during  our  last  visit 
to  New  York  she  consented  very  unwillingly  to  help  me  on  the 
stage. 

She  is  now  to  keep  away  from  public  life  as  much  as  possible 
for  the  next  six  years  and  see  if  she  can  grow  up  with  the  same 
imaffected  manner  and  lack  of  conceit  which  has  characterized 
her  childhood  days. 

It  is  certainly  gratifying  that  Winifred  has  not  paid 
the  penalty  of  conceit  for  the  great  publicity  which  has 
been  given  her  education  and  accomplishments.  From 
the  interesting  statements  of  her  mother  it  appears  that 
the  child  had,  at  the  time  of  this  writing,  not  reached 
puberty,  so  that  in  the  matter  of  the  development  of 
the  most  vital  feminine  function  she  is  not  as  advanced 

'  These  measurements  are  excessive.  Tall  girls  of  14  or  15  reach  that 
height,  which  is  the  mean  for  girls  of  19  and  20.  The  weight  exceeds 
that  of  the  tallest  girls  of  twenty  by  about  five  pounds. — M.  P.  E.  G. 

*  No  boy  of  her  age  can  equal  her  in  size  and  weight. — M.  P.  E.  G. 


112  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

as  she  is  in  mental  performances.  But  her  physical 
growth,  otherwise,  is  most  pronouncedly  in  excess  of 
girls  of  her  age,  so  that  her  nervous  system  is  supported 
by  bodily  resources.  It  is  further  important  to  note 
that  Mrs.  Stoner  recognizes  the  period  in  her  child's  life 
completed  so  far  as  the  "memory  period,"  the  "reason- 
ing period"  just  having  begun.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
what  I  have  seen  of  the  child's  literary  productions  is 
characterized  by  a  good  use  of  memory,  with  strong 
power  of  imitation  and  imagination,  rather  than  mature 
and  independent  reasoning.  How  she  can,  under  the 
circumstances,  compete  with  a  really  mature  college 
graduate  would  not  seem  quite  clear.  She  is  certainly 
"book-minded"  to  a  degree,  with  some  disregard  for 
manual  and  practical  training.  Maybe  she  is  predis- 
posed for  this  literary  quality  by  hereditary  and  environ- 
mental influences  no  more  than  by  the  gift  of  an  excep- 
tionally good  visual  and  aural  memory,  such  as  will  be 
described  later  in  the  discussion  of  other  types  of  excep- 
tionally bright  children. 

Mrs.  Stoner  has  rendered  a  distinct  service  to  educa- 
tion by  giving  us  an  insight  into  the  details  of  her  meth- 
ods with  her  exceptionally  gifted  child,  and  the  author 
of  this  book  has  no  desire  here  to  enter  into  any  detailed 
review  or  crijticism.  She  calls  her  procedure,  which  she 
does  not  call  a  distinct  system  (being  rather  the  applica- 
tion of  good  educational  principles  to  a  special  case),  the 
"natural  education."  It  is  very  doubtful,  however, 
whether  it  is  safe  to  generalize  from  her  experience  with 
the  one  child — an  only  child  at  that,  surrounded  by  cer- 
tainly unusual  life  conditions.  Winifred's  life  is  by  no 
means  as  "simple"  as  Mrs.  Stoner  thinks,  if  we  compare 
the  girl's  opportunities  with  those  of  other  girls.     One 


EXCEPTIONALLY   BRIGHT  CHILDREN         113 

thing  ought  to  be  mentioned:  the  entire  omission  of  the 
father's  influence  and  co-operation,  so  that  Winifred's 
educational  atmosphere  appears  as  most  definitely  fem- 
inine.' The  author  fears  that  Winifred's  education  has 
not  been  "natural"  in  the  sense  of  opportunities  and 
conditions  which  are  "natural"  with  all  children,  even 
all  gifted  children.  She  has  enjoyed  many  things  which 
were  exceptional,  and  missed  others  which  are  "natural" 
to  most  children.  If,  by  the  way,  she  would  be  "most 
unhappy"  if  deprived  of  her  book  companions  for  a 
single  day,  she  is  apt  to  be  ill-prepared  for  reverses  which 
would  change  her  opportunities. 

Two  other  cases  of  exceptionally  bright  children  of 
this  class  which  have  come  under  the  author's  personal 
observation  may  here  be  cited  for  further  illustration. 

One  is  that  of  W.  S.  (Case  19),  a  boy  of  sH  years, 
of  wealthy,  intelligent  parents.  This  is  the  statement 
recorded  after  a  brief  test  at  the  Educational  Clinic  of 
the  National  Association  for  the  Study  and  Education 
of  Exceptional  Children  in  Plainfield: 

Parents'  Report 

The  boy  is  reported  by  the  parents  as  being  generally  preco- 
cious, with  a  good  command  of  language,  reading  almost  any 
kind  of  book,  and  having  a  fair  skill  in  writing.  At  one  time  he 
committed  to  memory  forty-two  consecutive  pages  of  Kipling's 
"Jungle  Book,"  remembering  the  place  of  each  sentence  on  the 
page  it  was  printed.  It  is  also  stated  that  he  has  an  excellent 
number  concept,  having  worked  out  the  multiplication  tables 
up  to  twelve  by  himself.     He  is  reported  to  be  less  apt  in  manual 

•  '  Mrs.  Stoner,  to  whom  these  statements  were  shown,  protests  that 
"Daddy  Stoner  has  taught  Winifred  many  things.  Through  him  she 
gained  her  knowledge  of  physiology,  swimming,  horseback -riding,  and 
many  other  important  matters.  She  is  not  a  distinctly  female-educated 
child." 


114  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

work.  He  has  had  little  contact  with  other  children  and  finds 
adjustment  with  them  difficxxlt,  although  he  is  always  willing  and 
pleasant. 

Physical  Observation. — W.  is  generally  healthy,  although  he 
is  somewhat  nervous  and  has  a  slight  difficulty  in  the  control  of 
larger  limb  movements,  as  well  as  of  minute  muscular  co-ordina- 
tions.    Sense-perceptions  are  found  to  be  normal. 

Clinical  Tests. — The  Binet  Tests  which  were  applied  for  the 
sake  of  comparison  would  place  him  at  a  "mental  age"  of  about 
twice  his  chronological  age.  This  result,  however,  does  not 
correctly  state  his  case.  Other  tests  showed  that  he  possesses 
a  most  remarkable  visual  memory,  which  will  in  part  explain  his 
splendid  success  in  reading  and  number.  He  visuaKzes  readily 
and  remembers  every  detail.  He  performed  the  series  of  five 
Knox  Cube  Tests  correctly  and  immediately;  completed  24  of  the 
56  Completion  Test  sentences,  and  would  have  completed  more 
had  he  not  become  tired  and  restless.  He  solved  the  geometrical 
Anchor  Puzzle  in  a  rational  manner,  after  having  been  shown 
the  initial  steps.  In  contrast  to  this,  he  was  disappointing  in 
handling  the  Healy  Form  Boards  Nos.  3  and  5.  He  completed 
No.  3,  but  in  doing  so  disregarded  the  picture  element  entirely, 
mechanically  fitting  the  insets  into  the  grooves,  making  a  num- 
ber of  irrational  mistakes  before  succeeding.  This  showed  that 
he  was  working  exclusively  from  the  form  concept.  In  No.  5 
(Picture  Completion  Test),  which  requires  a  judgment  of  situa- 
tions, he  failed. 

His  response  was  prompt  and  eager;  his  attention  and  endur- 
ance, however,  were  variable. 

Conclusions. — Scholastically,  he  may  be  placed  in  the  Elemen- 
tary Period,  and  would  possibly  be  able  to  do  ordinary  work  in 
lower  grammar-classes.  He  lacks,  however,  the  maturity  of 
mind  which  would  enable  him  to  do  such  work  rationally  and 
profitably.  His  precocity  is  marked  (non-pathological);  it  is 
apparently  of  a  linguistic  and  formal  type,  characterized  by 
powerful  visualization  and  extraordinary  memory. 

It  wUl  be  well  for  him  to  go  slowly  in  school  work,  as  this 
would  hardly  help  him  in  mental  development.  He  should  have 
mainly  an  outdoor  life  with  practical  experiences  of  all  kinds, 
and  contact  with  other  children.  His  motor  side  needs  stimu- 
lation to  offset  his  linguistic  and  sensory  tendencies.     He  should 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT   CHILDREN         115 

have  a  chance  of  "roughing  it,"  running  up  against  obstacles, 
and  discovering  his  limitations.  He  should  have  a  minimum  of 
protection  and  a  maximum  of  personal  experience. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  he  will  develop  into  a  man  of  power 
and  leadership. 

The  second  case  is  that  of  P.  E.  G.  (Case  20) ,  a  little 
boy  of  2  years,  11  months,  the  child  of  intelligent  and 
slightly  neurotic  parents,  whose  history  the  author  has 
quite  complete.  His  development  is  generally  acceler- 
ated, bodily  and  mentally,  without  one-sidedness  or  path- 
ologic precocity  as  far  as  present  observations  go.  His 
first  and  second  year's  development  is  given  more  in 
detail  in  the  appendix  (p.  707). 

At  26  months  he  was  very  fond  of  playing  in  the  gymnasium, 
rolling  dumb-bells,  playing  football,  climbing  vertical  ladder,  etc. 
He  put  his  playthings  in  order,  picking  up  cards,  blocks,  etc. 
Liked  to  arrange  things  in  rows.  Half  a  month  later  he  sang, 
repeating  notes  and  combinations  so  as  to  produce  a  simple 
melodious  rhythm,  making  up  his  own  text  about  Jack  Frost 
coming,  biting  baby,  etc.  He  now  spoke  in  sentences,  making 
sequences  of  sentences,  combining  them  in  compound,  and  at 
times  even  in  complex,  structures. 

At  28  months  he  operated  shutting  off  buzzer  at  telephone 
switchboard.  Very  fond  of  any  kind  of  machinery,  which  he 
likes  to  investigate.  Added  to  his  gymnastic  performances: 
swinging  on  rings  (with  hands  supported  by  father) ;  balancing 
himself  with  hands  on  table  and  feet  propped  up  on  back  of 
chair,  several  feet  away;  jumping  with  both  feet  on  and  off  his 
small  overturned  rocking-chair,  etc.  Said:  "Baby  go  with  papa 
down-town;  both  go  down-town." 

At  2  years  and  7  months  he  talked  and  reasoned  amazingly, 
even  in  repartee. 

At  2  years  and  9  months  he  attended  a  big  three-ring  circus. 
Deeply  interested  in  performances  and  in  the  animals  of  the 
menagerie,  particularly  the  elephants.  Since  then  played  circus 
and  menagerie,  feeding  elephants,  etc.,  in  many  ways,  like  a 
much  older  child. 


116  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Half  a  month  later  these  are  some  of  the  expressions  recorded: 
"Oh,  thank  lou,  dear  God,  for  the  sunshine!"  "Doctor  thinks 
William  is  feeding  my  chickens.  But  he  does  not.  I  want  the 
food  for  my  chickens.  I  will  feed  them  myself."  "I  am  taking 
water  to  my  chickens."  To  the  cook:  "See,  God  listened  to  me 
and  sent  the  sunshine." 

With  2  years  and  lo  months  he  began  to  build  structures  with 
wood  and  odd  material  in  the  garden;  played  with  his  many 
engines,  cars,  autos  (toys),  pieces  of  board — arranging  them  in 
lines,  squares,  and  open  spaces,  as  barns  and  houses,  with  doors, 
etc.;  sometimes  laying  pieces  across  on  top,  for  roofs.  Out  of 
window-sash,  old  uprights,  broken  windows,  branches  of  trees, 
etc.,  he  built  a  "stable"  outdoors,  near  a  tumbled-down  bam, 
directing  his  nurse  to  do  the  things  which  he  was  not  big  enough 
to  do. 

At  the  time  of  this  writing,  when  he  is  2  years  and  1 1  months 
old,  he  knows  his  full  name,  has  a  very  full  vocabulary,  to  which 
he  adds  daily,  uses  the  comparative  frequently,  understands 
weather  conditions,  is  fuU  of  poetic  imaginations  and  make- 
believe  play,  always  constructively  active.  His  height  is  39X 
inches,  his  weight  37K  pounds.  Physically  he  resembles  a 
5-year-old  boy,  wearing  even  6-year  size  of  clothes.  He  is  gen- 
erally robust  and  healthy,  and  when  troubled  with  indigestion 
or  otherwise,  shows  a  wonderful  recuperative  quality.  The 
Binet  Tests  would  place  him  at  a  "mental  age"  of  about  5]^. 
But  he  is  really  much  further  advanced  in  general  intelligence 
(excluding  school  branches,  like  reading  and  writing)  and  in 
constructive  judgment  and  reasoning  power.  He  has  a  quick 
grasp  of  situations  and  always  finds  his  place.  He  remembers 
everything,  and  is  a  constant  amazement  to  his  parents  and 
friends  through  his  ability  to  reason  out  things  of  which  he 
cannot  have  a  direct  experience.  He  has  absolute  balance.  Ac- 
complishes the  first  and  second  move  of  the  Knox  Cube  Test; 
uses  the  peg-board  for  construction  of  "houses";  follows  more 
than  three  simultaneous  directions;  can  tell  little  stories  from 
pictures;  understands  categories;  arranges  eight  tubes  according 
to  length;  matches  his  playthings  and  other  things  perfectly, 
noticing  the  slightest  difference;  does  the  Seguin  Form  Board 
Test  rationally,  and  in  a  short  time;  imitates  building  a  bridge, 
etc. 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  CHILDREN        117 

In  no  one  thing  can  this  little  boy  be  said  to  be  specially  gifted, 
at  present,  unless  it  were  in  the  matter  of  construction  and  dis- 
tinct leadership  and  organizing  qualities.  But  he  is  generally 
advanced,  far  beyond  his  actual  age,  and  promises  to  become  a 
man  of  power  at  an  early  period  of  his  life.  Both  his  mother 
and  his  father  were  precocious  in  youth. 

As  long  as  the  physical  health  and  strength  of  children 
of  this  type  keep  pace  with  their  mental  advancement, 
there  is  nothing  to  fear.  But  they  certainly  need  to  be 
given  the  opportunity  to  live  and  learn  according  to 
their  quickened  rate.  They  must  not  be  held  back  to 
chafe  under  the  restraint  of  their  vitality  and  initiative, 
and  must  be  given  tasks  commensurate  to  their  strength 
and  ability  to  cover  ground.  They  need,  however,  care- 
ful observation  and  skilful  handling.  The  brilliancy  of 
not  a  few  of  them  will  "peter  out"  unexpectedly  at  a 
later  age  unless  there  is  a  foundation  of  strong  mental 
and  physical  vitality  and  resource. 

The  warning  must  be  given  that  at  the  first  sign  of 
tension  between  bodily  and  mental  development,  or  in 
the  emotional  sphere,  such  as  is  likely  to  appear  at  the 
adolescent  stage,  a  new  adjustment  becomes  imperative. 

For  even  these  non-pathological  children  may  at  times, 
esf)ecially  at  certain  growth  periods,  e.  g.,  during  the 
fatigue  p>eriod  aroimd  the  eighth  year,  or  at  the  time  of 
puberty,  develop  a  degree  of  disparity  between  bone, 
nerve,  and  muscle  growth,  between  stages  of  central  and 
p>eripheral  changes,  between  the  size  and  function  of 
certain  organs,  that  danger  of  derailment  is  imminent. 
It  is  therefore  commendable  to  watch  the  physical  health 
of  these  children  at  all  stages  with  particular  care,  and 
to  make  promotion,  even  continuance  in  school,  depen- 
dent upon  a  clean  health  record. 


118  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Much  depends  upon  the  kind  of  stock  from  which 
such  a  child  has  sprung;  a  virile  heredity  is  a  good  prom- 
ise of  wholesome  advance.  Environmental  conditions 
play  their  part,  favorably  or  the  reverse. 

The  last  two  groups  of  exceptionally  bright  children 
are  those  who  suffer  the  most  from  lack  of  adjustment 
in  the  ordinary  educational  system,  in  home,  and  in 
school. 

Third  Group:    Children  of  One-Sided  Development 

This  is  the  type  of  child  in  whom  one  faculty,  or  group 
of  related  faculties,  is  developing  at  the  cost  of  aU  or 
most  of  the  other  faculties,  or  related  groups  of  faculties. 
These  children  will  be  bright  and  progressive  in  certain 
directions,  and  dull  and  ineffective  in  others.  Distinct 
types  can  be  differentiated:  the  motor  type,  which  is 
largely  constructive  along  motor  lines;  the  sensory  type, 
in  which  sense-perceptions  are  particularly  keen,  and 
impressions  dominate  over  expression;  the  artistic  type 
(musical,  poetic,  graphic,  creative);  the  mathematical 
type,  which  is  distinctly  abstract;  the  scientific  type,  in 
which  abstract  and  constructively  practical  elements 
blend;  the  linguistic  type,  which  is  either  scientific,  i.  e., 
philological,  or  practical,  i.  e.,  characterized  by  facility  in 
acquiring  language  and  languages.  Naturally,  there  are 
combinations.  The  sculptor  and  the  architect  are  art- 
ists, but  they  belong  to  the  motoric  type  of  artists.  The 
architect  depends  upon  good  mathematical  endowments 
and  must  possess  sufficient  scientific  instincts  to  battle 
with  the  properties  of  the  material  he  uses  and  the  prob- 
lems of  structural  security.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  individuals  of  so-called  "imiversal"  genius,  like 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  CHILDREN        119 

Michael  Angela  (Case  21),  have  combined  just  such  ele- 
ments, being  especially  proficient  in  each  and  all  of 
them.  Then  we  may  have  an  individual  of  linguistic 
type  endowed  with  poetic  genius,  so  that  he  becomes  a 
master  of  words,  and  capable  of  rendering  masterpieces 
of  foreign  origin  in  his  own  language,  re-creating  them, 
as  it  were,  instead  of  merely  translating.  Among  the 
Germans  Ruckert  (Case  22)  was  one  of  these;  among 
Americans  Longfellow  (Case  23) ;  among  the  Irish  Man- 
gan  (Case  24),  etc. 

Some  of  the  apparently  unusual  special  equipment  is 
deceptive  and  transitory.  We  have  frequent  examples 
of  seemingly  well-gifted  high  school  and  college  students 
who  excel  in  one  or  another  thing,  becoming  class  lead- 
ers, editors  of  fraternity  papers,  etc.,  and  who  faU  dis- 
mally in  after-life  to  make  good  in  the  very  things  they 
seemed  to  excel  in  during  their  college  days.  Such 
things  are  often  a  matter  of  temporary  opportunity  and 
ephemeral  fitness. 

Also  children  of  ordinary  endowments  differ  in  typCy 
as  has  been  shown  in  previous  chapters,  without  exhib- 
iting unusual  gifts  in  any  particular  direction.  Even 
these  are  in  danger  of  becoming  mentally  and  morally 
warped  if  forced  to  conform  to  "general"  treatment  and 
"average"  school  aims.  This  danger  is  incomparably 
greater  in  the  case  of  unusually  gifted  children  of  the 
class  we  are  discussing  now.  If  they  lose  their  balance 
and  get  out  of  touch  with  normal  life  conditions,  their 
sp>ecial  talents  may  be  the  instruments  with  which  they 
commit  antisocial  acts.  Here  we  approach  the  problem 
of  juvenile  delinquency,  which  will  be  treated  in  another 
chapter  more  fully. 

The  children  of  this  group  need  a  training  which  takes 


120  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

the  lead  from  their  specialty  and  makes  all  other  mental 
activities  focus  in  it,  giving  them  motive  power  along 
socially  constructive  courses.  Under  the  guidance  of 
wise  parents  and  teachers  such  children  will  become 
splendid  social  assets,  their  specialized  efficiency  giving 
to  the  world  helpful  culture  increments  of  unusual 
amount  and  concentrated  potency.  Their  special  gift 
furnishes  the  point  of  vantage  from  which  they  will  enter 
the  entire  field  of  learning,  thus  counterbalancing  an  un- 
healthy one-sided  development  as  far  as  possible.  But 
unless  the  child's  main  interest  is  taken  as  the  starting- 
point,  he  may  become  hopelessly  averse  to  study  and  all- 
around  culture,  degenerating  into  a  drifter  or  a  narrow- 
minded  egotist,  devoid  of  socially  constructive  energy. 
Here  is  the  case  of  W.  B.  (Case  25),  a  boy  of  16: 

A  mechanical  genius;  has  constructed  several  workable  motor- 
boats;  erected  a  telegraph-line  between  his  playhouse  and  his 
home.  Also  erected  a  wireless  station  on  his  home  grounds. 
He  has  recently  raised  his  wireless  antennae  75  feet  above  the 
ground.  Goes  about  with  his  pockets  full  of  tools.  Interested 
in  machines  of  all  kinds,  not  to  use  them,  however,  but  to  study 
their  mechanism;  it  is  not  the  moving  pictures  but  the  picture- 
machine  which  interests  him.  He  received  a  typewriter  to  learn 
on,  but  broke  it  up  to  study  the  machinery.  Takes  bicycles, 
watches,  etc.,  apart  continually.  Not  much  interested  in  the 
usual  boys'  games;  never  very  enthusiastic  over  anything;  calm 
and  self-possessed;  physically  normal  and  healthy,  but  a  sexual 
pervert.  Has  been  a  failure  all  along  in  grammar-school.  No 
tutoring  at  home  could  get  him  into  high  school.  As  parents 
refused  to  try  special  training  away  from  home,  his  case  could 
only  be  studied,  not  relieved. 

Very  differently  did  another  case  develop: 

H.  H.  (Case  26),  a  boy  of  13.  A  decidedly  inquisitive  and  ex- 
perimental type.     Built  fires  in  the  cellar  of  his  home,  not  from 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT   CHILDREN         121 

viciousness  but  because  he  wanted  to  see  what  would  happen. 
Played  innumerable  pranks  on  his  schoolmates  and  teachers,  who 
did  not  understand  him,  so  that  he  was  constantly  in  mischief 
and  upset  ail  discipline.  After  he  had  entered  Herbart  Hall*  his 
inquisitive  tendency  was  made  use  of  through  experimental  stud- 
ies of  all  kinds,  in  the  science  laboratory,  in  the  workshop,  in 
road  and  building  construction,  and  in  many  other  ways.  He 
was  given  opportunity  to  apply  his  great  energy  in  numerous 
outdoor  games  and  sports,  playing  Indian,  building  wigwams, 
camp-fires,  etc.  His  book-studies  were  carefully  co-ordinated 
with  this  life  activity.  He  stayed  only  a  few  months,  and  left 
altogether  rearticulated,  mentally  and  emotionally.  Since  then 
he  has  been  standing  at  the  head  of  his  classes  in  select  private 
schools. 

The  case  of  the  little  sK-year-old  boy,  W.  S.  (Case 
19),  mentioned  in  the  previous  group,  may  be  referred 
to  here,  if  we  should  be  inclined  to  consider  his  lin- 
guistic and  mathematical  tendencies  sufficiently  pro- 
nounced to  outweigh  his  other  possibilities;  this, however, 
would  perhaps  be  a  premature  conclusion.  Reference 
may  be  made  to  the  historical  personality  of  Ulysses  S. 
Grant  (Case  27) .  When  he  retired  from  the  army  after 
the  Mexican  War  he  failed  in  every  business  pursuit  in 
which  he  engaged.  He  was  distinctly  of  a  non-practical 
type  from  the  point  of  view  of  commercial  eflSciency. 
But  he  found  his  place  again  as  a  leader  of  men  when  his 
time  came. 

'  At  that  time  used  as  a  laboratory  school  of  the  "  National  Associa- 
tion for  the  Study  and  Education  of  Exceptional  Children,"  at  "  Watch- 
ung  Crest,"  Plainfield,  N.  J. 


122  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Fourth  Group:  Children  of  Neuropathic  and  Psycho- 
pathic  Tension} 

Here  we  have  the  genius  and  the  crank;  the  great 
leader  of  men,  the  prince  of  commerce,  the  poet,  and 
the  philosopher;  the  musical  prodigy  and  the  artist  of 
high  degree,  with  his  Bohemian  contempt  for  conven- 
tionalities. The  distinction  between  representatives  of 
this  group  and  the  previous  group  is  not  always  easy 
to  make,  and  depends  largely  upon  the  psychic  aspect 
of  the  case — upon  the  equipoise  of  the  nervous  system 
and  the  stabiHty  of  the  mental  stamina.  Sometimes  it  is 
merely  a  matter  of  degree,  or  grade.  An  individual  of 
one-sided  development  may  easily  slip  into  the  truly 
pathological  class  at  any  given  moment  of  tension. 

In  some  individuals  of  this  fourth  group  sentiment  is 
apt  to  overpower  the  reasoning  faculties,  and  "hysterical 

^  It  may  be  well  to  insert  here  the  definitions  of  various  terms  as  used 
by  the  medical  profession: 

Neurasthenia:  exhaustion  of  nerve  force.  Neuropathic:  pertaining  to 
nervous  diseases.  Neurosis:  a  nervous  affection  without  lesion.  Neu- 
rotic: nervous;  pertaining  to  neuroses;  pertaining  to  the  nerves  or  the 
nervous  system.  Neurology:  science  of  nervous  structure  and  function. 
Neuropsychosis:  a  combined  nervous  and  mental  disease.  Psychiatry: 
the  treatment  of  mind  diseases.  Psychosis:  any  disease  of  the  mind. 
Psychotherapy:  treatment  of  disease  by  mental  influence.  Psychopathol- 
ogy:  the  pathology  of  mental  diseases.  Psychoneurosis :  a  functional 
mental  disease.  Psychopathy:  any  disease  of  the  mind  (cf.  psychosis). 
Psychasthenia:  mental  fatigue  (sometimes  used  in  the  sense  of  mental 
weakness = f  eeble-mindedness) . 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  terms  are  not  very  clearly  differentiated  in 
every  way;  later  writers  employ  them  in  individual  ways.  Some  insist 
that  every  psychopathic  condition  is  a  neuropathic  condition,  and  vice 
versa.  But  neurologic  terms  are  mostly  used  to  denote  physiologic 
function;  psychologic  terms,  to  denote  mental  function.  These  two 
functions  are,  however,  so  minutely  interrelated  that  substitution  of 
terms  cannot  always  be  avoided. 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  CHILDREN        123 

conditions  are  frequent.  Or  there  is  cleverness  of  ex- 
treme acumen  untempered  by  qualities  of  the  heart. 
There  is  always  some  psychic  defect  present  which  en- 
dangers the  mental  equilibrium.  In  this  sense  genius  is 
akin  to  insanity.  The  greatest  criminals  of  history  belong 
to  this  class,  whether  they  were  international  crooks,  or 
sitting  on  thrones,  or  in  the  counting-houses.  In  them 
the  moral  tone  is  unhealthy,  self-control  is  weakened, 
the  ego  is  exaggerated  and  morbidly  sensitive.  In  cer- 
tain individuals  of  this  class  overefficiency  in  one  direc- 
tion is  offset  by  complete  underdevelopment  in  all  oth- 
ers; here  we  have  the  idiots-savants. 

Individuals  of  the  idiot-savant  type  exhibit  the  most 
prodigious  ability  in  a  certain  well-circumscribed  field 
while  all  others  lie  fallow.  Musical  prodigies,  lightning 
calculators,  and  memory  prodigies  of  this  type  may  be 
clearly  idiotic  and  feeble-minded,  and  their  special  gift 
appears  as  the  result  of  a  mechanical  process  in  the 
brain  which  has  no  significance  for  the  intellectual  value 
of  the  individual.  The  very  facility  of  a  man  like  Inaudi 
(Case  28)  to  give  immediate  answers  to  extremely  com- 
plex mathematical  problems  with  large  rows  of  figures 
eliminates  conscious  thought  and  judgment  entirely,  and 
places  him  in  the  class  of  freaks  of  nature.  In  a  large 
institution  for  the  feeble-minded  the  author  saw  a  young 
man,  distinctly  idiotic,  who  was  able  to  tell  you  in- 
stantly, when  told  the  date  of  your  birthday,  on  what 
day  of  the  week  it  would  fall  that  year,  or  on  what  week- 
day you  were  born  (Case  29).  Such  p)ersons  are  mere  liv- 
ing calculating-machines.  The  study  of  their  cases  has 
this  significance  that  it  will  throw  light  upon  certain  me- 
chanical and  subconscious  processes  in  the  central  ner- 
vous system  which  are  involved  in  mental  operations. 


124  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

According  to  Tredgold,  there  is  a  man  in  the  Earls- 
wood  Asylum,  England,  who  entered^  at  the  age  of  15 
and  is  now  over  70.  He  did  not  walk  until  7  years 
old,  was  never  tolerated  in  school  and  learned  to  write 
and  spell  only  a  few  simple  words.  His  memory  was 
good  and  he  showed  an  early  aptitude  for  drawing.  He 
was  very  deaf.  After  sixty  years'  work,  this  man  has 
over  fifty  excellent  crayons  to  his  credit,  wonderful  carv- 
ings in  wood  and  ivory,  and  a  lo-foot  model  of  a  full- 
rigged  man-of-war  of  the  old  wooden  type,  built  to  the 
minutest  detail.  He  has  also  constructed  a  huge  and 
awe-inspiring  mechanical  doll,  13  feet  high.  By  a  won- 
derful internal  machinery  this  figure  will  turn  its  head, 
raise  its  arms,  open  and  shut  its  eyes  and  mouth,  pro- 
trude the  tongue,  etc.  Yet  this  man  is  feeble-minded, 
superlatively  egotistic,  glories  in  self-praise,  and  is  stub- 
born and  emotionally  unstable.  He  is  a  genius,  yet 
cannot  take  care  of  himself  in  the  outside  world  except 
under  supervision.  He  is  considered  an  idiot-savant. 
But  what  might  have  been  his  possibilities  if  properly 
diagnosed  in  childhood?     (Case  30.) 

Wunderkinder.  Another  class  in  this  group,  the  one 
to  which  the  German  term  ''Wunderkinder"  has  been 
applied,  develops  marvellous  excellency  without  com- 
pletely destroying  the  balance  of  the  mind.  Genius  rep- 
resents the  most  brilliant  type  of  this  order,  and  is  a 
"Wunderkind"  grown  up. 

Doctor  Paul  Carus  says  this  about  the  genius:  ^ 

The  soul  of  a  genius  consists  of  motor  ideas  which  are  correct 
representations  of  things  in  the  objective  world  and  of  the  work 
to  be  performed.  They  interact  without  the  laborious  effort  of 
conscious  concentration.    They  act  with  machine-like  accuracy, 

» "Our  Children,"  p.  154. 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  CHILDREN        125 

so  as  to  allow  attention  to  be  concentrated  upon  the  main  pur- 
pose of  the  work  and  not  upon  its  details.  A  genius  originates 
partly  by  inheriting  a  disposition  for  easily  acquiring  certain 
functions,  or  generally  by  possessing  the  knack  of  viewing  the 
world  correctly.  Whatever  may  be  the  cause  of  genius,  it  cer- 
tainly shows  itself  in  the  playful  ease  with  which  work  of  great 
importance  is  performed.  .  .  .  Genius  is  instinct  on  a  higher 
plane. 

This  would  show  a  relationship  between  the  genius 
and  the  idiot-savant,  inasmuch  as  there  is  the  mechanical 
element  in  the  make-up  of  both.  There  is  more  of  in- 
stinctive impulse  than  cf  conscious  application.  But  the 
difference  consists  in  the  use  for  higher  purposes  of  ac- 
tivity which  the  genius  consciously  makes  of  his  instinc- 
tive endowments.  It  should  be  noted  that  Cams  recog- 
nizes the  part  which  m^tor  ideas  play  in  the  constitution 
of  the  genius,  a  fact  to  which  reference  will  be  made 
later. 

An  Early  Reader. — What  this  mechanical  element  is 
may  become  clearer  from  a  report  published  in  the 
Zeitschrift  fur  Kinderforschung  (Langensalza,  March, 
1 910),  on  one  Otto  Pohler  (Case  31),  the  early  reader  of 
Braunschweig. 

He  began  to  read  letters,  words,  and  figures  at  the  tender  age 
oi  lyi  years.*  The  case  of  this  boy,  who  was  at  the  time  of  the 
writing  of  the  article  nearly  17,  has  been  carefully  studied,  and 
cranial  measurements  have  been  taken.  It  appeared  that  when 
he  was  a  child  his  occipital  bone  was  unusually  prominent,  and 
the  axes  of  the  eyes  were  farther  apart  than  in  average  children. 
Doctor  Oswald  Berkhan  comments  as  follows:  "Professor  Her- 
mann Munk  has  shOwn  that  the  convolutions  of  the  hindbrain 
have  a  close  connection  with  the  visual  function,  and  that  in 
this  region  (he  calls  it  the  visual  spheres  ='Sehspharen')  those 

'  Cf.  the  accomplishments  in  this  field  of  Winifred  Sackville  Stoner,  Jr., 
p.  108. 


126  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

perceptions  which  were  obtained  from  the  optic  nerves  are  stored 
up  as  memory  images.  It  is  therefore  not  improbable  that  the 
prominent  occipital  bone  corresponds  with  a  stronger  and  more 
deeply  convoluted  hindbrain,  the  centre  of  the  optic  images  of 
written  and  printed  symbols,  i.  e.,  of  the  memory  images  of  the 
words  read.  And  the  relatively  greater  distance  of  the  eye-axes 
permits  of  the  assumption  that  there  is  an  extraordinary  arrange- 
ment of  the  convolutions  of  the  forebrain." 

This  indicates  that  the  source  of  the  boy's  exceptional  ability 
to  read,  and  later  on  to  acquire  foreign  languages,  history,  etc., 
was  an  exceptional  visual  perception  and  memory,  based  upon  a 
special  anatomical  endowment. 

It  is  well  to  bear  this  observation  in  mind  in  judging 
of  those  children  who  may  be  more  directly  contrasted 
with  these  facile  readers,  namely  those  who  have  par- 
ticular difficulty  in  reading,  writing,  etc.,  without  suffer- 
ing outspokenly  from  alexia  and  agraphia,  and  without 
showing  other  mental  defects.  They  will  be  referred  to 
in  later  chapters.  It  is  quite  possible  that  in  them  the 
opposite  anatomical  and  physiological  arrangement  ex- 
ists. In  the  author's  clinical  observations  he  has  invari- 
ably found  that  children  whose  progress  in  these  school 
sttidies  was  slow  and  unsatisfactory,  had  poor  powers  of 
visualization,  and  impaired  visual  and  aural  memory,  even 
when  their  power  of  judgment  and  rational  thought  appeared 
unaffected. 

An  exceptional  and  quickly  acting  memory  power  will 
explain  many  otherwise  strange  phenomena  in  the  mani- 
festations of  these  ''Wunderkinder,"  and  this  memory 
is  intimately  related  with  corresponding  motor  impulses. 
It  is  essentially  a  matter  of  motor  ideas,  as  Cams  puts  it. 

The  facts  here  stated  may  also  throw  light  upon  the 
conditions  of  the  non-pathological  classes  of  exception- 
ally bright  children,  and  explain  their  special  gifts. 

The  early  faculty  of  Otto  Pohler  to  read  figures  was 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  CHILDREN        127 

not  accompanied  by  a  corresp>onding  ability  to  compute, 
showing  it  to  be  in  the  nature  of  a  visual  mechanism. 
The  boy  was  at  the  time  of  the  writing  of  the  article  an 
intelligent  young  man,  endowed  with  an  admirable  mem- 
ory, well  educated,  pleasant  of  manner,  who  is  always 
ready  to  find  his  proper  place.  Otherwise  there  is  noth- 
ing remarkable  about  him,  although  he  promised  to  be 
a  very  successful  student  of  history.  The  anatomical 
peculiarities  spoken  of  before  are  less  marked  in  the  youth 
than  they  were  in  the  child. 

The  interesting  pathological  symptoms  reported  in  this 
case  at  the  time  his  precocious  reading  faculty  was  most 
marked,  in  his  childhood  years,  were  a  tendency  to  stut- 
ter and  to  have  spastic  movements  of  the  muscles  of  the 
mouth.  A  good  constitution  and  careful  observation 
saved  the  boy  apparently  from  nervous  dangers. 

The  Artistic  Type. — Very  different  is  the  character- 
picture  of  another  type  of  "Wunderkinder,"  the  artistic 
type.  Take  the  musical  genius,  Wolfgang  Amadaeus 
Mozart  (Case  32)  for  an  example.  Mozart  showed  re- 
markable musical  ability  at  3  years  of  age.  But  he  was' 
never  a  well-balanced  personaUty.  He  was  impulsive, 
careless,  erratic,  a  very  poor  manager.  His  irresponsi- 
bility in  money  matters,  his  happy-go-lucky  way,  caused 
him  always  to  be  in  want.  Toward  the  time  of  his  early 
decline,  when  he  had  exhausted  his  opportunities  and 
nerve-force  in  a  spendthrift  sort  of  way,  he  became  mor- 
bid, and  died  at  the  early  age  of  35. 

His  was  clearly  a  pathological  case.  Not  all  excep- 
tional minds  end  so  ingloriously  and  early.  Professor 
Francis  Galton  says:  "Early  manifestations  of  genius  are 
not  incompatible  with  prolonged  and  even  late  develop>- 
ment.  Haydn  (Case  33),  Beethoven  (Case  34),  Michael 
Angela  (Case  21),  Milton  (Case  35),  Goethe  (Case  36), 


128  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Voltaire  (Case  37),  Newton  (Case  38),  and  others  are 
examples  of  lengthy  process  of  development.  Men  of 
great  original  power  may  be  expected  to  illustrate  the 
most  prolonged  movement  of  mental  growth."  Never- 
theless the  danger  of  pathological  tension  is  ever  present, 
and  too  much  care  cannot  be  exercised  in  watching  over 
these  developments.  When  there  is  a  virile  physical 
basis  for  exceptional  excellence,  we  may  count  such  ge- 
niuses among  the  non-pathological  classes.  But  it  may  be 
found  on  closer  analysis  that  all  of  the  men  mentioned 
by  Galton  had  their  weak  spot,  their  danger  zone. 

The  Mathematical  Prodigy. — The  mathematical  prod- 
igy is  another  type.  Gauss  (Case  39)  and  Newton  (Case 
38)  belonged  to  this  t3^e.  With  the  mathematical  abil- 
ity is  often  coupled  a  high  degree  of  effectiveness  in  the 
exact  sciences,  as  astronomy,  logics,  etc. 

The  modem  "Wunderkind"  of  this  class  is  William 
James  Sidis  (Case  40),  who  as  an  ii-year-old  boy  ad- 
dressed Harvard  professors  on  the  problem  of  the  fourth 
dimension.  In  some  respects  he  reminds  one  of  Otto 
Pohler.  He,  too,  was  an  early  reader,  had  a  great  inter- 
est in  words  and  figures,  and  had  mastered  five  foreign 
languages  at  the  age  of  8.  He  had  studied  anatomy 
and  astronomy.  But  his  main  capacity  seemed  to  be 
mathematical. 

In  a  public  discussion  of  the  Sidis  case^  Doctor  Philip 
S.  Goodhart,  of  New  York,  a  friend  of  the  Sidis  family, 
who  had  assisted  at  the  boy's  birth,  said : 

There  seems  to  be  a  general  misunderstanding,  both  in  the 
lay  mind  and  in  the  scientific  world,  of  the  conditions  of  life,  the 
manner  of  education,  and  the  general  make-up  of  this  remark- 

*  Cf.  "  Proceedings,  National  Association  for  the  Study  and  Education 
of  Exceptional  Chil'dren,"  1910,  p.  112. 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  CHILDREN        129 

able  boy.  His  father,  Doctor  Boris  Sidis,  is  a  personal  friend 
of  mine,  and  I  brought  the  son  into  the  worid.  Doctor  Sidis 
and  myself  have  been  closely  associated  and  have  done  literary 
work  conjointly.  The  elder  Sidis  is  a  highly  intelligent  man  of 
rare  intellectual  acumen,  and  is  highly  cultured.  He  has  always 
been  a  close  student  of  normal  and  abnormal  psychology,  and 
much  of  his  work  has  shown  profoundness,  and  has  always  been 
stamped  by  originality. 

The  mother  of  young  Sidis  is  a  graduate  physician  and  also 
a  talented  woman.  Both  parents  are  of  Russian-Jewish  ex- 
traction. 

The  Sidis  boy  was,  both  mentally  and  physically,  normal 
and  in  every  sense  an  average  child  during  his  infancy  and  very 
early  child  life.  Doctor  Sidis  began  with  his  son  in  early  child- 
hood a  system  of  instruction  along  original  lines  which,  while 
not  destroying  the  childlike  tendencies,  awakened  and  developed 
in  the  child  powers  of  observation,  analysis,  discernment,  and 
general  intellectual  activity,  which  he  applied  in  the  diversions 
and  ordinary  pastimes  of  the  child's  life.  The  child  was  thus, 
without  an  effort,  utilizing  receptive  and  perceptive,  as  well  as 
conceptive  mental  processes  which  were  along  lines  tending  to 
develop  a  potent  brain  force.  In  the  results  achieved  by  the 
Sidis  boy,  doubtless  both  the  elements  of  heredity  and  those  of 
environment  played  an  active  r61e,  and  these  forces  were  most 
happily  combined  to  bring  about  excellent  results.  The  boy  is 
not  physically  a  weakling,  and  while  it  is  true  he  may  be  at 
times  nervous  and  perhaps  moody,  up  to  within  a  few  years 
past,  when  the  boy  ceased  to  be  under  my  observation,  he  was 
enjoying  the  best  of  health.  It  must  be  admitted,  however, 
that  the  child  has  been  characterized  by  a  certain  awkwardness 
in  manual  activity  and  motor  expression.  In  his  childhood  he 
passed  through  several  severe  attacks  of  illness,  but  showed 
excellent  recuperative  p>ower. 

In  the  same  discussion  the  author  commented  on 
Doctor  Goodhart's  remarks  in  the  following  manner: 

I  was  much  interested  in  what  Doctor  Goodhart  said  in  re- 
gard to  the  Sidis  boy.     While,  of  course,  a  more  detailed  study 


130  THE  EXCEPTIOJ^AL  CHILD 

of  the  child's  physiological  and  psychological  characteristics 
would  make  matters  clearer,  the  statements  of  a  man  like  Doc- 
tor Goodhart,  who  has  known  the  boy  and  his  family  intimately, 
are  significant.  He  states  that  there  is  a  certain  lack  of  nervous 
balance  and  control  in  the  boy,  and  that  he  is  awkward  in  man- 
ual activity  and  motor  expression.  This  means  that  the  areas 
in  his  brain  which  control  motor  activity  are  underdeveloped, 
and  that  his  nervous  system  has  not  its  normal  strength.  These 
very  conditions  establish  danger-signals,  and  give  the  basis  for 
an  undue  strain  which  may  come  sooner  or  later. 

It  has  been  impossible  for  the  author  to  confirm  or 
dispel  his  apprehensions,  as  all  attempts  to  secure  from 
the  boy's  father  a  statement  of  facts  of  his  further  de- 
velopment have  resulted  in  failure.  At  the  present 
writing  the  boy  must  be  about  19  or  20  years  old,  and 
it  is  to  be  regretted  that  his  development  is  not  open 
for  scientific  discussion,  after  his  case  had  formerly  been 
given  such  wide  pubKcation. 

It  may  be  emphasized  right  here  that  all  the  excel- 
lencies of  intellectual  work  done  by  William  James  Sidis 
have  been  in  the  sphere  of  abstract  thought. 

Other  Cases. — Here  are  a  few  interesting  cases  from 
the  author's  own  practice: 

W.  B.,  a  boy  of  9,  highly  nervous  and  with  a  system  full  of 
malaria.  His  principal  asset  and  excellency  was  a  most  marvel- 
lous imagination.  He  was  very  mischievous  and  irresponsible. 
Once,  playing  Wild  West,  he  became  so  realistic  that  one  of  his 
comrades  escaped  an  actual  hanging  only  by  the  interference 
of  a  passer-by.  Most  erratic  in  school  and  home,  he,  who  had 
been  almost  given  up  in  despair  by  his  parents  and  his  physician 
(by  the  way,  one  of  the  foremost  specialists,  who  had  recom- 
mended a  trial  at  Herbart  Hall),  had  a  year's  training  at  our 
laboratory  school,  where  his  diet,  regimen,  schooling,  occupa- 
tion, play,  etc.,  were  carefully  arranged.  He -blossomed  out 
into  an  amazing  case  of  progress,  constructive  imagination,  and 


,*^.-.*.-. .  _ 

>: 

f 

'.^ 

.— . 

-■^:i- 

X. 


_  -'^» 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  CfflLDREN        131 

self-direction.  He  went  back  to  his  home  and  to  ordinary 
schools,  saved  from  physical  and  mental  disintegration,  making 
good  in  every  way,  as  one  of  the  brightest  boys  among  his  fellows. 
(Case  41.) 

Two  other  cases  did  not  develop  so  favorably,  largely 
owing  to  the  fact  that  they  were  not  given  sufficient 
time  for  re-education  and  balancing.  Both  children  had 
most  remarkable  artistic  ability  and  might  have  devel- 
oped into  painters  of  exceptional  talent  if  the  parents 
had  consented  to  giving  them  the  opportunity  of  efficient 
teaching.  One  of  the  two,  a  boy  {A.  S.,  Case  42),  is 
now,  II  years  after  his  removal  from  Herbart  Hall,  at 
the  age  of  about  27,  a  shiftless  vagrant,  without  intelli- 
gent self-direction  or  stability  of  occupation,  a  burden 
to  his  parents  and  to  the  community.  Two  of  his  origi- 
nal art  productions  (both  done  at  the  age  of  14)  are  here 
shown.  One  is  a  free-hand  drawing  of  one  of  his  teach- 
ers, quite  reaUstic  and  full  of  characteristic  pose;  the 
other  a  water-color  sketch  of  remarkable  composition 
and  atmosphere.  He  had  made  rapid  strides  forward 
when  his  re-education  was  interrupted. 

The  other  child  was  a  girl  {H.  H.,  Case  43)  whose 
talent  for  the  graphic  arts  was  equalled  by  one  for  music 
and  dancing,  as  well  as  appreciation  of  poetic  beauty. 
She  came  to  Herbart  Hall,  an  adolescent  girl  with  a 
number  of  psychopathic  tendencies,  among  them  a  sui- 
cidal mania.  Two  of  her  art  pieces  are  here  reproduced. 
She  would  have  needed  years  of  re-educational  effort, 
but  was  not  given  an  opportunity.  Now  she  is  an  in- 
mate of  a  hospital  for  the  insane.  Yet  she  had  been 
responsive  to  the  mental  hygiene  at  Herbart  Hall,  and 
would  have  had  a  good  chance  of  recovery.  Her  case, 
as  well  as  that  of  the  boy,  A.  S.,  showed  symptoms  of 


132  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

predementia  precox.  The  girl's  case  was  aggravated  by 
sexual  morbidity  (eroticism). 

General  Discussion. — Considering  the  general  prob- 
lem of  the  exceptionally  bright  child,  we  may  again  first 
consider  normal  possibiliiies.  The  case  of  the  Sidis  boy 
which  helped  to  illustrate  the  fourth  group  of  exception- 
ally bright  children,  may  serve  as  a  starting-point. 

Doctor  Sidis  claims  that  his  boy's  remarkable  mani- 
festations are  the  result  of  an  educational  system  of  his 
own.  He  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  every 
newly  awakened  interest,  and  states  that  much  more 
intense  work  could  be  done  by  every  child  if  a  more 
rational  use  were  made  of  what  has  been  called  "second 
breath,"  or  "second  wind,"  and  by  Professor  William 
James,  "reserve  mental  energy." 

The  Proper  Method  at  the  Right  Time. — The  conten- 
tion is  justifiable  in  a  measure.  Each  child  has  budding 
or  "nascent"  periods  for  the  different  forms  of  mental 
work.  The  early  years  are  the  ones  in  which  the  waw- 
ing,  the  language-making,  the  counting,  the  computing 
instincts  arise,  and  in  which  a  wealth  of  more  or  less 
conscious  observations  and  experiments  are  made  and 
stored  up  in  the  form  of  mental  images  and  dormant  im- 
pulses. These  facts,  however  well  known  to  some,  are 
yet  too  httle  understood  and  hardly  recognized  in  prac- 
tice. It  is  perfectly  possible  to  assume  that  we  might 
succeed  in  developing  a  very  large  number  of  our  chil- 
dren to  undreamed-of  mental  alertness  and  efficiency,  if 
proper  use  were  made  of  these  budding  interests  before 
they  evaporate;  and  if  a  careful  training  of  the  attention 
were  attempted  alongside  of  proper  methods  of  teach- 
ing the  child  individually  at  the  right  time.  It  is  really 
in  many  ways  a  matter  of  the  proper  method  at  the 


Fk;.  8. — Water-color  sketch  (illustrating  story*)  by  A.  S.     The  repro- 
duction does  not  do  justice  to  the  fine  color  effects. 


\ 

_-.*i^ 

Fio.  0— Outdoor  sketch  by  H.  11. 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  CmLDREN        133 

right  time.  Cams  is  right  in  saying  {loco  ciL):  "The 
impressions  of  children  who,  in  a  certain  line  of  activity, 
see  nothing  but  the  right  methods  from  their  very  baby- 
hood, will  be  so  organized  that  from  their  unconscious 
depths  up  to  the  conscious  surface  of  their  soul,  they 
will  be  predetermined  to  hit  naturally  the  right  mode 
of  action.  .  .  .  The  condition  of  genius  is  a  ready  and 
automatic  interaction  of  a  sufficient  number  of  clear  and 
correct  thought  images,  or  representative  pictures,  which 
must  be  brought  under  the  control  of  a  guiding  purpose." 

Suggestion. — Professor  David  Edgar  Rice,  of  Colum- 
bia University,  thinks  that  the  achievements  of  the  Sidis 
child  are  due  to  suggestion.  "  There  seems  to  be  scarcely 
any  limit  to  the  power  of  suggestion,  and  it  is  conceiv- 
able that  by  some  process  the  father  has  been  able  to 
stimulate  the  natural  powers  of  the  child's  mind  to  an 
extraordinary  degree,"  This  is  very  possible,  indeed, 
and  it  may  be  urged  that  a  well-balanced  suggestive 
method  has  a  place  in  education  in  all  cases,  not  only 
when  there  is  need  of  checking  perverse  or  morbid  dis- 
positions.    Suggestion  has  a  very  positive  value. 

Second  Breath. — Further,  the  theory  that  we  can  do 
much  more  intense  and  sustained  work  by  calling  upon 
our  physical  as  well  as  mental  "second  breath"  is  thor- 
oughly tenable.  As  a  rule  we  allow  premature  fatigue 
to  interfere  with  the  activity  of  our  children,  a  fatigue 
which  is  not  seldom  the  direct  result  of  tedious  and 
unscientific  methods  of  teaching  and  of  unhygienic  con- 
ditions. We  do  not  work  the  children  intensely  enough. 
The  most  efficient  man  in  the  world  is  he  who  overcomes 
the  torpidity  and  sluggishness  of  ready  fatigue.  Draw- 
ing upon  our  hidden  strength,  we  develop  latent  possi- 
bilities and  bring  into  activity  those  brain  cells  and 


134  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

thought  and  motor  centres  which  he  dormant  and  are 
in  danger  of  remaining  undeveloped,  even  of  atrophy. 
The  number  of  brain  cells  functionally  active  is  difficult 
to  determine;  but  we  have  seen  before  (p.  20)  that  it 
comprises  only  a  fraction  of  the  entire  number  of  cells, 
many  of  which  remain  forever  immature. 

Who  will  venture  to  deny  the  possibility  that  by 
proper  stimulation  we  may  vastly  increase  the  number 
of  functioning  cells,  and  thus  of  the  potentialities  of 
thought  and  of  motor  activity? 

By  proper  methods  of  stimulation  the  association 
paths  from  cell  to  cell  will  be  multiphed,  organized,  and 
worked  smooth,  so  that  there  will  be  a  corresponding 
increment  of  mental  power  and  of  rational  judgment. 

Subconscious  Self. — To  what  extent  our  subconscious 
self  may  become  correlated  with  our  conscious  Hfe,  so 
that  a  vast  area  of  occult  organized  mentality  may  be 
brought  into  rational  co-ordination,  is  a  matter  of  specu- 
lation at  this  time.  The  problem,  tremendous  in  its 
possibilities,  may  here  be  merely  broached. 

Space  and  Time  Concepts. — ^Let  us  also  be  reminded, 
in  discussing  the  conditions  of  rapid  growth,  that  space 
and  time  are  mere  abstractions,  or  methods  of  conception. 
Both  are  motor  concepts,  and  depend  upon  rhythmical 
elements  of  variable  rate.  Our  mind,  under  certain 
stimuli,  defies  "time."  Many  are  the  experiences  in 
our  dream  Hfe,  or  under  stress  of  great  excitement,  when 
we  live  through  apparently  long  periods  of  time  in  the 
space  of  a  single  moment.  Time  as  well  as  space  is  a 
relative  standard.  Thus,  mind  development  may  "defy 
time." 

Anatomical  Structure. — We  may  look  further  for  an 
anatomical  explanation  of  special  gifts.    A  very  sugges- 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  CHILDREN        135 

tive  statement  is  found  in  Church  and  Peterson's  work 
on  "Nervous  and  Mental  Diseases"  (pp.  159^.)- 

As  a  working  scheme  we  may  consider  that  motion  is  repre- 
sented in  three  levels:  First,  in  the  gray  matter  of  the  spinal 
cord;  second,  in  the  Rolandic  area  of  the  cortex;  third,  in  the 
highest  levels  of  conscious  thought,  probably  in  the  frontal 
region  of  the  brain.  The  spinal  level  may  be  considered  that 
of  reflex,  vegetative  automatism;  the  Rolandic  level  that  of 
motor  memories ;  and  the  frontal  area  that  of  conscious,  selective, 
and  intelligent  action.  Thus,  destruction  of  the  highest  level 
leaves  automatic  and  memory  action  practically  unimpaired. 
...  In  the  automatism  of  dementia  the  motor  memories  are 
likewise  preserved.  The  mid-level,  the  Rolandic  region,  may 
be  destroyed,  leaving  consciousness  of  volitional  motions  and  the 
will  to  execute  them,  but  the  memory  of  their  muscular  produc- 
tion is  gone,  and  they  default  as,  for  instance,  in  motor  aphasia. 
If  the  lowest  or  spinal  level  be  destroyed,  the  mind  and  the 
memory  organ  have  lost  their  tool,  and  peripheral  paralysis  ob- 
tains. There  is  no  difficulty  in  conceiving  certain  cortical  areas 
to  be  memory  organs,  as  in  the  case  of  the  higher  visual  centres 
in  the  parietal  lobe.  We  may,  however,  go  further.  All  thought 
contains  the  two  ideas  of  motion  and  sensation.  They  cannot 
be  separated,  and  without  them  consciousness  is  imjxjssible. 
Indeed,  they  are  in  a  certain  sense  identical.  Motion  is  to  the 
mind  but  the  sensation  of  a  change  of  position,  and  sensation 
is  only  the  recognition  of  arrested  motion.  If,  then,  we  con- 
sider the  parietal  convolutions  as  visual-memory  depots,  we  are 
equally  at  liberty  to  consider  the  Rolandic  areas  as  motor-mem- 
ory dep>ots.  ...  In  the  spinal  levels  single  muscles  or  groups 
of  muscles  are  represented.  In  the  motor  cortex  co-ordinate 
and  functionally  associated  movement  memories  are  located,  and 
in  the  highest  level  resides  their  voUtional  control  and  the  power 
to  recall  and  select  them. 

The  authors  here  consider  pathological  effects  from 
impairments  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  levels.  But  it 
is  equally  simple  to  conceive  that  one  or  the  other  be 
unusually  well  established  and  developed,  well  organized, 


136  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

and  well  trained.  We  may  thus  easily  deduct  conse- 
quent special  gifts  such  as  have  been  described  in  the 
foregoing.  If  the  localization  of  functions  as  given  by 
Church  and  Peterson  differ  in  some  details  from  the  con- 
tentions of  Professor  Munk,  as  cited  before,  they  agree 
in  the  main  proposition  that  we  are  dealing  with  visual 
and  motor  memories. 

Specially  favorable  conditions  of  growth,  through 
proper  nutrition  and  other  environmental  causes,  enter 
into  the  process.  There  are,  of  course,  also  congenital 
and  hereditary  causes,  including  race  peculiarities,  fa- 
vorable mixture  of  types  in  the  parents,  reverberations 
of  ancestral' excellencies,  etc. 

Thus  it  would  seem  that  after  all  we  have  been  dis- 
cussing perfectly  normal  processes,  and  that  we  have 
no  right  to  assume  pathological  deviations  in  these 
cases.  It  is  certainly  conceivable  that  under  favorable 
circumstances  exceptional  excellence,  genius,  and  even 
precocity  may  arise  without  detriment  to  the  individual. 

Pathological  Complications. — ^Yet  many  factors  enter 
into  these  exceptional  developments  which  are  dif&cult 
or  impossible  of  control.  The  hereditary  and  ethnic 
factors  have  already  been  mentioned  and  will  be  referred 
to  again.  If  a  virile  stock  is  a  favorable  predisposing 
element,  a  weak  heredity  forms  a  hollow  foundation  for 
precocious  development,  and  a  "mortgaged  inheritance" 
of  biological  elements  will  burden  the  debit  side  of  the 
life  ledger  disastrously.  We  may  readily  and  gladly  con- 
cede that  the  second  group  of  exceptionally  bright  children, 
the  non-pathological  group,  as  described  before,  will  furnish 
us  its  complement  of  leaders  of  thought  and  action,  of  genius 
and  brilliancy.  But  a  very  large  number  of  all  cases  of 
genius  will  show  neuropathic  tension  and  danger   to 


EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  CHILDREN        137 

health  somewhere.  Drawing  upon  the  "second  breath" 
too  freely  may  become  a  pernicious  habit,  so  that  the 
reserve  force  is  exhausted  for  cases  of  emergency.^ 
After  all,  each  stage  of  growth  has  its  distinct  function, 
and  it  is  well  that  we  be  sure  to  give  each  stage  its  ful- 
ness of  opportunity,  even  though  we  may  admit  that 
rate  and  rhythm  differ  in  individuals.  Excess  in  any- 
thing is  apt  to  warp  development. 

Dangers  of  Artificial  Stimulation. — Artificial  stimula- 
tion and  insistence  upon  overprecision  in  early  child- 
hood may,  as  Stanley  Hall  shows,  produce  arrest  of 
development.  If,  for  instance,  we  expect  too  much  of 
finer  muscular  adjustment  in  the  young  child  (as  in 
certain  kindergarten  and  primary  practices),  chorea  is 
often  the  result.     The  same  author  says:^ 

Among  the  chief  external  causes  of  diseases  at  this  age  (ad- 
olescent age)  are  all  those  influences  which  tend  to  precocity, 
e.  g.,  city  life  with  its  early  puberty,  higher  death-rate,  wider 
range  and  greater  superficiality  of  knowledge,  observations  of 
vice  and  enhanced  temptation,  lessened  repose,  incessant  dis- 
traction, more  impure  air,  greater  liability  to  contagion,  and 
absence  of  the  sanifying  influences  and  rep>ose  of  nature  in  coun- 
try life.  At  its  best  metropolitan  life  is  hard  on  childhood  and 
especially  so  on  pubescents.  .  .  .  Civilization,  with  all  its  ac- 
cumulated mass  of  culture  and  skills,  its  artifacts,  its  necessity 
of  longer  and  severer  apprenticeship  and  specialization,  is  ever 
harder  on  adolescents.  .  .  .  When  we  add  to  these  predispos- 
ing causes  the  small  and  decreasing  families,  the  later  marriages, 
so  that  more  and  more  are  bom  of  postmature  parents  and  thus 
physiologically  tend  to  precocity;  the  overnurture  of  only  chil- 
dren, who  are  so  prone  to  be  spoiled  and  ripened  still  earlier  by 
imwise  fondness;  the  mixture  of  distant  ethnic  stocks  that  in- 

•  Barr  ("Mental  Defectives,"  p.  125)  intimates  that  backwardness 
and  precocity  in  early  childhood  are  related  and  are  equally  indicative 
of  an  abnormal  ego. 

*  "Adolescence,"  I,  pp.  321^. 


138  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

crease  the  ferment  of  adolescence  by  multiplying  the  factors  of 
heredity  and  so  increasing  its  instability,  we  no  longer  wonder 
that  many  in  these  most  vulnerable  years  make  more  or  less 
complete  shipwrecks  at  every  stage  of  these  hothouse  demands 
which  in  the  entire  life  of  our  race  are  so  recent.  Under  these 
provocations,  some  instincts  spring  into  activity  with  a  sudden- 
ness that  is  almost  explosive,  and  so  prematurely,  that  as,  e.  g., 
with  sex  and  drink,  the  strong  and  complex  psychic  mechanism 
of  control  has  no  time  to  develop  and  forbidden  pleasures  are 
tasted  to  satiety,  till  the  soul  has  sometimes  not  only  lost  its 
innocence  before  it  understood  what  purity  and  virtue  really 
mean,  but  life  is  blase,  a  burnt-out  cinder,  admiration,  enthu- 
siasm, and  high  ambitions  are  weakened  or  gone,  and  the  soul 
is  tainted  with  indifference  or  discouraged. 

Normal  growth  is  a  process  of  maturing. 

Any  warping  of  this  process,  any  excessive  growth  in 
some  particular  direction,  especially  in  the  line  of  spe- 
cific intellectual  activity,  is  apt  to  produce  an  unbalanc- 
ing of  the  emotional  equiUbrium.  This  is  the  reason 
why  genius  is  often  characterized  by  extreme  self-cen- 
tredness  and  selfishness,  even  by  a  tendency  toward 
cruelty  and  sexual  license. 

An  International  Problem. — That  the  problem  of  the 
exceptionally  bright  child  is  one  which  confronts  other 
nations  in  about  the  same  manner  as  it  does  our  own, 
is  evidenced,  among  many  other  facts,  by  an  interesting 
article  from  the  pen  of  a  Japanese  investigator,  Yasusa- 
buro  Sakaki,  professor  of  psychiatry  at  the  Imperial  Uni- 
versity of  Tokyo.    He  writes  i^ 

I  have  endeavored  to  arrive  at  some  trustworthy  data  as  to 
the  causes  and  varieties  of  abnormal  intelligence  in  children,  and 
to  draw  from  these  data  some  conclusions  as  to  the  treatment 

^  "Abnormally  Intelligent  Pupils,"  translated  from  the  German  in  the 
Int.  Archivfur  Schtdhygiene,  by  W.  A.  Stecher. 


EXCEPTIONALLY   BRIGHT   CHILDREN         139 

appropriate  to  each  type.  With  this  purpose  in  view  I  exam- 
ined all  the  children  in  the  Normal  School  at  Fukuoka  in  Japan, 
in  which  work  I  was  assisted  by  Mr.  Tomoziro  Tomono,  who  is 
attached  to  the  school  in  question.  All  the  children  showing  an 
advanced  degree  of  intelligence  were  set  apart  for  special  inves- 
tigation. We  found  their  number  to  be  79  out  of  332.  These 
selected  children  were  classified  according  to  definite  tj^es  into 
seven  groups,  and  were  made  the  subjects  of  a  series  of  tests  for 
mental  capacity,  and  the  results  were  tabulated.  The  normal 
children  were  also  tested  in  the  same  manner,  and  the  results 
compared  with  those  derived  from  the  abnormal  children.  We 
found  that  only  one  class  of  abnormally  intelligent  children  was  per- 
fectly free  from  any  pathological  taint,  and  that  these  were  the  only 
children  who  possessed  stability  of  nerve-power  and  who  exhibited 
a  uniformly  progressive  mental  and  physical  development.  These 
we  have  called  the  true  cases  of  abnormal  intelligence,  the  others 
being  children  of  the  "nervous"  type,  precocious  children,  chil- 
dren mentally  advanced  but  deficient  in  physique,  children  who 
can  be  spurred  to  mental  attainments  above  the  average  through 
external  stimulation,  but  who  are  not  able  to  maintain  this  level 
for  any  length  of  time,  and,  finally,  children  with  remarkably 
good  mental  capacity  who  are  lacking  in  feeling  and  in  will. 

Conclusion. — Professor  Sakaki's  findings  tally  very 
well  with  the  views  presented  in  this  chapter.  Excep- 
tionally bright  children,  especially  those  of  the  last 
three  classes,  need  a  very  careful  consideration  and 
must  be  educated  in  a  manner  which  will  be  fair  to  them 
and  helpful  to  the  race.  At  present  they  receive  less 
attention  than  the  feeble-minded  and  defective.  Yet 
their  number  is  at  least  equal  to  the  number  of  abnor- 
mal at  the  lowest  end  of  the  scale.  They  are  infinitely 
more  worth  while  than  those.  For  from  them  come  our 
leaders  and  builders,  our  banner-bearers  and  thought- 
heroes,  our  saviors  and  our  martyrs — as  well  as  our  de- 
stroyers, cranks,  perverts,  and  felons,  the  Mephistopheles 
and  the  Tar  tuff  es. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PSYCHOPATHIC  DISORDERS  AND  PSYCHOPATHIC 
CONSTITUTIONS 

Dementia  vs.  Amentia. — In  the  foregoing  chapters 
attention  has  been  frequently  directed  to  causes  of 
mental  deviations  and  of  social  failure  which  are  found 
in  the  province  of  disturbances  in  the  nervous  consti- 
tution and  the  psychic  life  of  children.  Psychopathic 
disorders  will  explain  the  difficulties  of  many  cases  of 
exceptional  development,  whether  they  tend  down- 
ward or  upward.  Even  in  distinct  abnormaHty  we 
must  differentiate  between  dementia  and  amentia.  The 
latter  denotes  absence  of  mental  endowment  of  the  normal 
human  type;  the  former  indicates  loss  or  destruction  of 
mental  powers  which  the  individual  had  once  possessed. 
Mental  defect,  therefore,  may  be  one  of  two  kinds: 
either  it  is  the  product  of  disease  affecting  a  potentially 
normal  mind,  or  it  is  due  to  lack  of  development,  so 
that  an  individual  does  not  advance  beyond  the  animal 
or  primitive  stage.  This  lack  of  development,  again,  is 
twofold  in  origin;  it  may  be  due  to  hereditary  causes, 
predestining  a  child  to  perpetuate  the  defective  char- 
acter of  its  progenitors;  or  it  may  be  the  result  of  con- 
genital lesions  which  check  the  growth  of  an  originally 
normal  nervous  system.  Even  after  birth,  arrest  of  de- 
velopment may  be  produced  by  injury,  disease,  etc. 
The  injury  or  disease  which  causes  this  arrest  may  be 
physical  and  physiological,  as  will  happen  in  accidents, 
or  in  the  weakening  after-effects  of  germ-diseases;  or  it 

140 


PSYCHOPATHIC  DISORDERS  141 

may  be  psychic,  as  in  the  case  of  overstimulation,  grief, 
mental  shock,  etc. 

In  this  chapter  psychopathic  disorders  will  be  dis- 
cussed somewhat  in  detail. 

Principiis  Obstal  (Resist  the  Beginnings!) — It  is  a 
great  pity  that  the  beginning  of  these  mental  derange- 
ments are  rarely  observed,  diagnosed,  studied,  and 
treated.  The  great  German  scholar,  Ziehen,  speaks  of 
"psychopathic  constitutions"  which  can  be  recognized 
in  childhood.  Doctor  med.  Helenefriederike  Stelzner,  a 
disciple  of  Ziehen,  writes: 

Contemplating  all  the  forms  of  development  of  psychopathic 
constitution  among  school  children,  we  shall  readily  discover 
among  them  a  great  many  in  which  the  entire  complex  of  symp- 
toms is  at  first  merely  suggested  by  some  form  of  moral  dis- 
turbance; for  instance,  stubbornness,  difiiculty  of  management, 
outspoken  ego-centricity,  lack  of  self-denial  and  self-discipline, 
non-resistance  to  bodily  irritation,  moodiness,  etc.  In  dealing 
with  these  children,  should  not  that  kind  of  education  be  con- 
sidered most  effective  which  lays  greater  stress  upon  moral 
values  than  upon  intellectual  and  material  ones? 

The  fact  that  a  good  school  record  and  examination  certifi- 
cate are  very  important  for  success  in  life,  for  the  struggle  for 
existence,  induces  many  to  attach  too  much  significance  to  suc- 
cess in  intellectual  work  and  to  relegate  moral  efficiency  into 
the  shadowy  background.  The  natural  egotism  of  the  child  is 
not  sufficiently  counterbalanced;  the  utilitarian  principle  is 
pushed  to  the  front.  Common  rules  of  school  education  are 
only  too  apt  to  disregard  conditions  of  common  advance,  and 
to  substitute  a  vainglorious  individualistic  ambition  which 
tempts  the  child  to  use  his  fists  and  elbows,  so  to  speak,  against 
his  fellow  pupils  to  secure  his  own  advancement  without  regard 
to  others.  This  selfish  conduct  is  found  in  accentuated  form  among 
psychopaths.  To  be  kind  without  receiving  praise  for  it,  to 
deny  oneself  something  in  the  interest  of  somebody  else  with- 
out receiving  a  reward;  to  show  courage  in  danger  without 


142  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

boasting  of  it  to  everybody,  and  similar  ethic  attitudes  and 
acts  are  measured  too  low  in  the  general  valuation  of  conduct 
and  progress.  .  .  .  This  may  sound  commonplace,  and  yet 
it  is  important  to  point  to  these  things  in  speaking  of  abnormal 
children,  for  the  reason  that  the  struggle  for  existence,  which 
becomes  more  bitter  every  day,  is  pushing  the  threshold  of 
consciousness  of  ethical  sentiments  ever  higher  and  higher. 

This  arraignment  of  educational  mistakes  points  out 
forcibly  a  potent  cause  of  psychopathic  development  in 
children:  the  under-development  of  the  balancing  power 
of  ethical  standards  and  emotional  discipline.  Similar 
truths  have  been  expressed  by  others. 

Effect  of  Injudicious  Training. — In  the  attempts  made 
by  our  school  systems  to  adjust  themselves  to  the 
changing  needs  of  modern  life,  much  undue  pressure  is 
exercised  upon  the  minds  of  the  pupils.  Doctor  Ber- 
nard Hollander,  the  famous  British  ahenist,  is  grievously 
concerned  by  the  sudden  increase  of  insanity  in  England 
among  children  under  fifteen  years  of  age.  He  is  con- 
vinced that  the  increased  educational  demands  of  the 
present  generation  and  the  injudicious  training  are 
largely  responsible  for  many  of  the  milder  forms  of 
mental  and  nervous  disorder  among  school  children, 
and  he  solemnly  warns  parents  and  teachers  that  fre- 
quently the  foundation  is  laid  at  this  period  for  un- 
soundness of  mind  in  adult  years. 

This  is  a  serious  warning,  indeed,  and  it  shows  that 
the  problem  is  practically  the  same  in  all  parts  of 
the  civilized  world.  Doctor  J.  Victor  Haberman,  of 
Columbia  University,  also  presents*  the  fact  that  ex- 
aminations of  the  inmates  of  penitentiaries,  prisons, 
and  reformatories  have  shown  an  alarming  percentage 
of  psychopathic  constitutions;  and  he  has  little  doubt 


PSYCHOPATHIC   DISORDERS  143 

that  the  majority  of  these  might  have  been  spared  had 
they  been  properly  cared  for  in  their  youth.  This  ob- 
servation is  also  significant  in  view  of  the  often-made 
assertion  that  feeble-mindedness  is  responsible  for  a 
large  p>ercentage  of  delinquency. 

The  beginnings  of  psychopathic  development  may,  of 
course,  lie  much  further  back  than  the  school  period. 
There  are  the  hereditary  and  congenital  conditions 
mentioned  before.  We  must  also  point  with  earnestness 
to  the  earliest  years  of  a  child's  life,  when  the  initial 
and  fundamental  mistakes  are  made  which  may  cause 
mental  and  moral  derangement. 

VARIOUS    SPECIAL   DEFECTS 

Word-Deafness  and  Word-Blindness. — ^Many  chil- 
dren who  are  found  very  backward  in  reading  and 
spelling  may  be  suffering  from  word-deafness  or  word- 
blindness.  Particularly  word-blindness  is  more  com- 
mon among  children  than  is  supposed  to  be  the  case. 
Word-blind  children  have  normal  vision,  but  cannot 
read  the  simplest  words,  or  they  interpret  written  or 
printed  language  only  with  difficulty.  The  cause  is  a 
defect  in  the  visual  speech  centre  in  the  brain.  Re- 
searches into  brain  structure  have  informed  us  of  the 
fact  that  mental  and  physiological  functions  are  local- 
ized in  definite  areas  of  the  brain.  Defects  in  these 
areas  may  impair  that  particular  function  without  detri- 
ment to  the  genet'al  mental  conduct.  Word-deafness  is 
caused  by  a  similar  defect  in  the  auditory  speech  centre. 
A  word-deaf  child  has  no  impairment  of  the  hearing 
function  as  such,  but  cannot  perceive  or  recognize 
spoken  words.  A  word-deaf  or  word-blind  child  has 
this  specific  defect,  just  as  a  child  who  is  really  blind 


144  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

or  deaf  suffers  in  these  specific  provinces  of  his  sense 
life  without  necessarily  being  otherwise  mentally  or 
functionally  impaired. 

It  will  be  well  to  remember  what  has  been  said  on 
page  125  in  regard  to  anatomical  conditions,  in  the  region 
of  visual  perception,  which  are  causative  of  excellences 
or  impairments  in  the  province  of  reading  and  language. 

Speech  Defects. — Speech  defects:  slow  and  imperfect 
development  of  the  power  to  speak  articulate  words; 
impetuous,  or  indistinct  or  sluggish  speech  and  similar 
afflictions,  may  all  have  their  origin  in  definitely  local- 
ized lesions  in  the  speech  centres.  We  know  now  that 
there  is  not  only  one  speech  centre  but  that  there  are 
definite  and  separate  centres  for  hearing,  seeing,  speak- 
ing, and  writing  words.  Defects  in  these  centres  may 
be  born  with  the  child,  or  they  may  develop  as  the 
result  of  some  illness  of  the  nervous  system,  as  they  do 
at  times  in  adults.  An  injury  to  the  head  is  often  the 
cause  of  alexia  (inabihty  to  read),  agraphia  (inabihty  to 
write),  or  aphasia  (inability  to  name).  These  impair- 
ments may  be  total  or  partial. 

Agraphia  Caused  by  Auditory  Defect. — To  illustrate 
the  complications  which  may  arise  in  making  a  proper 
diagnosis  of  cases,  the  following  most  instructive  inves- 
tigation may  find  a  place  here.  Arno  Miiller,  Leipzig, 
wrote  in  the  Zeitschrift  fiir  Kinderforschung,  November, 
1914,  on  "Hardness  of  Hearing  as  Cause  of  Apparent 
Agraphia."  The  following  excerpts  will  show  the  trend 
of  his  article: 

Correctness  of  diagnosis  in  the  matter  of  a  diseased  condition 
is  the  absolute  prerequisite  of  successful  treatment,  in  educa- 
tion as  well  as  in  medicine.  Many  a  case  in  which  instruction 
meets  with  difficulties  must  be  given  up  by  the  teacher,  because 


PSYCHOPATHIC   DISORDERS  145 

he  cannot  discover  the  root  of  the  evil,  or  because  he  follows 
the  wrong  course  of  treatment  owing  to  a  mistaken  diagnosis. 
Mistaken  conclusions  are  quite  frequent,  inasmuch  as  diseased 
psychic  phenomena  rarely  present  symptoms  which  can  be 
explained  only  in  one  way.  .  .  . 

My  observations  and  experiments  concerned  themselves  with 
three  cases  of  nearly  equal  pathological  phenomena.  The  boy 
N.  (Case  44)  became  hard  of  hearing  before  he  had  reached 
school  age,  in  consequence  of  an  attack  of  cerebral  meningitis. 
He  was  able  to  hear  at  a  distance  of  two  metres,  so  that  an  in- 
dependent development  of  language  communication  was  not  en- 
tirely prevented.  .  .  .  Later  tests  showed  that  of  21  spoken 
single  sounds  which  he  repeated  correctly,  he  wrote  9  wrongly. 
Of  these  same  21  single  sounds,  when  he  tried  to  read  them  from 
the  written  copy,  he  could  not  identify  6.  When  15  syllables 
of  two  letters  each  were  dictated  to  him,  he  could  not  write 
one  of  them,  even  though  he  had  perceived  them  acoustically. 
Instead  of  ZA  he  wrote  ENNTO;  instead  of  MA,  WIEI;  in- 
stead of  LA,  TARN,  etc.  He  could  read  only  two  of  these 
syllables.  The  dictation  of  the  numerals  i  to  10,  which  were 
perfectly  familiar  to  him  as  spoken  words  and  in  their  arith- 
metical value,  resulted  in  the  correct  reproduction  of  "eins" 
(one)  only.  The  other  reproductions  had  no  connection 
with  the  number  concept  whatever.  For  "zwei"  (two)  he 
wrote  GARNA;  for  "vier"  (four),  ZRAM;  for  "funf"  (five), 
GARMTA,  etc.     He  could  read  only  "eins"  and  "drei"  (three). 

Almost  the  same  pathological  symptoms  were  observed  with 
the  boys  M.  (Case  45)  and  R.  (Case  46),  so  that  I  felt  con- 
strained to  include  them  in  my  examinations.  M.  is  congeni- 
tally  hard  of  hearing,  while  with  R.  the  trouble  began  at  the 
age  of  4,  after  an  attack  of  scarlet  fever.  In  both  the  trouble 
has  not  progressed  far  enough  to  prohibit  the  hearing  of  speech, 
even  though  it  is  greatly  impaired.  .  .  . 

Further  tests  established  somewhat  the  same  condi- 
tions as  previously  described  for  the  boy  N. 

The  long,  unsuccessful  attendance  at  school,  the  presence  of 
disturbances  in  two  distinct  branches  of  language  communica- 


146  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

tion,  the  general  inferiority  of  the  mental  condition,  and  the 
etiological  features  in  the  three  boys  suggested  the  theory  that 
we  were  dealing  with  diseased  conditions,  or  with  complete  de- 
generations in  the  speech-centre  region  of  the  cortex.  A  closer 
study  of  the  defects  points  to  agraphia  and  alexia.  The  agraphia 
type  represented  is  apparently  motor.  .  .  .  The  reading  dis- 
turbances are  identical  with  the  symptoms  of  pure  alexia  (word- 
blindness).  This  consists,  after  Doctor  Romer,  in  the  impos- 
sibility to  read  words,  i.  e.,  to  understand  the  symbolism  of  letters 
and  to  grasp  them  in  their  connection  in  words;  the  patient  sees 
with  normal  vision  the  optical  picture  of  the  individual  letters 
and  words,  but  he  cannot  penetrate  into  their  meaning,  the 
written  images  remain  to  him  meaningless  figures,  unintelligible 
outlines,  as  are  to  the  layman  the  written  symbols  of  a  strange 
language  like  Sanskrit;  he  can  perceive,  understand,  and  name 
all  objects  optically,  but  all  that  is  written  and  printed  he  can 
only  perceive  in  its  outward  form,  not  grasp  and  denote.  He 
can  also  acoustically  perceive,  understand,  remember,  and  re- 
produce the  sound  values  of  letters  and  words,  only  that  he 
cannot  make  proper  use  of  the  optical  images.  It  makes  no 
difference  that  the  three  boys  under  observation  have  retained 
the  ability  to  read  single  letters.  For  cases  have  been  described 
in  which  only  a  limited  number  of  letters  was  lost.  Frequently 
certain  especially  well-known  and  early  acquired  words  are  still 
correctly  interpreted.  Also  figures  are  often  retained  while 
the  corresponding  number  words  cannot  be  read. 

Miiller  then  reports  his  investigation  of  the  patho- 
logical condition  of  the  three  boys  in  detail,  employing 
for  graphic  representation  the  Lichtenheim  speech  schema, 
which  is  reproduced  on  next  page. 

Of  the  results  of  these  investigations  the  following 
typical  statements  are  characteristic: 

The  boys'  inability  to  read  and  write  is  caused  by  the  im- 
passability  of  the  association  paths  s  and  7.  The  non-func- 
tioning of  path  7  represents  a  disturbance  of  the  relation  be- 
tween optic   and   acoustic   components.     The   disturbance  of 


PSYCHOPATHIC  DISORDERS 


1^7 


path  5  produces  a  separation  of  the  writing  motor  centre  from 
the  speech  motor  centre.  .  .  Doctor  Romer  connects  the  sound 
motor  agraphia  with  diseases  of  the  motor  speech  centre.  The 
same  effect  is  produced  if  the  association  fibres  issuing  from  M 
are  disturbed.  External  symptoms  and  inner  localization  of 
the  morbid  phenomena  in  the  three  boys  point  therefore  to 
agraphia  and  alexia.  .  .  . 

0 


A        A 

Fig.  io. 
Lichtenheim  speech  schema. 
C  —  word  meaning  centre;  5^4  =  acoustic  centre;  M  =  speech  motor  centre; 
0  =  optic  centre;  E  =  writing  centre;   i,  4,  8,  and  9  =  paths  of  projec- 
tion; 2,  3,  5,  6,  7,  and  10  =  paths  of  association. 


The  causes,  however,  need  not  be  anatomical. 

Reading  and  writing  are  faculties  which  can  be  acquired  only 
by  systematic  pedagogical  training.  The  cause  of  the  distur- 
bance may,  therefore,  also  be  looked  for  in  a  neglect  of  the  func- 
tional exercise  of  the  association  tracts  which  was  the  result  of 
the  children's  special  nature  or  of  the  character  of  the  methods  of 
instruction  employed.  .  .  . 

This  latter  assumption  was  corroborated  by  further 
careful  investigations.  It  was  found  that  their  hardness 
of  hearing  had  vitiated  the  normal  functioning  of  the 
boys'  speech  centres,  and  that  thus  the  diagnostic  prob- 


148  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

lem  was  solved,  and  the  problem  of  special  training  and 
relief  became  evident.  The  three  boys  responded  slowly 
but  surely  to  the  treatment  prescribed,  thus  proving 
that  they  did  not  represent  cases  of  pure  agraphia  and 
alexia,  but  plainly  the  effect  of  their  hearing  defects. 
Miiller  closes  his  remarkable  statements  with  these 
sentences: 

The  result  of  our  investigation  is  the  demand  that  all  children 
in  whom  defects  in  reading  and  in  written  expression  are  observed, 
should  he  carefully  examined  as  to  their  faculty  of  hearing.  As 
soon  as  the  slightest  degree  of  hardness  of  hearing  is  detected — 
be  its  effect  upon  spoken  language  ever  so  minimal — this  defect 
is  to  be  considered  as  the  primary  cause  of  the  disturbance, 
before  the  assumption  of  speech-centre  defects  or  of  general  feeble- 
mindedness is  justified.  An  unsuccessful  treatment  of  this  class 
of  children  will  then  be  a  rarer  occurrence. 

Stammering  and  Stuttering  are  speech  defects  which 
have  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  brain  centres,  but 
are  either  the  result  of  imitation  and  habit,  or  peripheral 
affections  caused  by  nervous  and  psychic  disturbances. 
In  these  cases  the  neurologist  is  the  proper  adjunct  of 
the  educator  in  the  matter  of  treatment  and  eventual 
relief.^ 

Defects  of  Number  Conception. — Localized  defects 
seem  to  exist  in  the  sphere  of  number  conception,  also. 

^  Doctor  William  Browning,  in  a  thorough  study  of  stammering,  comes 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  not  primarily  a  disorder  of  the  central  nervous 
system.  Nor  is  it  an  isolated,  freak,  or  just  fimctional  affair,  but  is 
always  at  the  start  a  symptom  and  part  of  a  wide-spread  or  systemic 
condition.  This  general  condition  is  a  phase  of  hyperthymism  (excessive 
activity  of  the  thymus  gland,  at  the  base  of  the  tongue),  closely  allied 
to  of  part  of  that  known  as  lymphatism.  Scripture  and  Glogau,  in  a 
recent  study  of  stuttering,  find  that  "speech  conflict,"  *'.  e.,  the  conflict 
between  the  home  and  school  language  of  immigrant  children,  is  an 
important  etiological  factor. 


PSYCHOPATHIC  DISORDERS  149 

Of  course,  the  three  impairments  mentioned  before 
(alexia,  agraphia,  and  aphasia),  and  also  defects  in  the 
motor  centres  have  their  bearings  upon  the  handling  of 
numbers  in  their  spoken  or  written  form.  Some  chil- 
dren, on  the  other  hand,  can  do  the  abstract  work  in 
arithmetic  in  the  school  pretty  well,  handling  figures 
and  other  number  symbols  with  alacrity.  Yet  they 
may  be  found  to  have  no  real  conception  of  number 
values.  The  psychology  of  number  is  still  in  its  in- 
fancy. Reference  may  be  made  here  to  Chapter  VIII, 
of  the  author's  book,  *'The  Career  of  the  Child,"  treat- 
ing of  the  mathematical  evolution  of  the  child.  The 
counting  process,  it  is  shown  there,  is  distinct  from  the 
space  concept  in  number;  space  and  quantity  are  re- 
lated concepts.  There  is  also,  connected  with  counting, 
the  element  of  rhythm  and  repetition. 

In  a  measure,  the  handling  of  numbers  seems  to  de- 
pend upon  a  physiological  mechanism  which  we  do  not 
yet  understand.  Reference  has  been  made  in  the  pre- 
vious chapter  to  the  feeble-minded  lightning  calculators. 
Memory,  visual  and  aural,  plays  a  great  part  in  these 
abilities.  Some  individuals,  otherwise  not  at  all  intelli- 
gent, possess  the  blessed  gift  of  an  excellent  mechanical 
memory  which  serves  them  as  an  almost  automatic  tool. 
Observations  point  toward  the  pre-eminently  visual 
character  of  this  mechanical  memory;  in  other  words, 
these  individuals  visualize  with  readiness  and  precision^. 
The  time  element  in  these  processes  is  a  curious  thing. 
To  the  conscious  mind  time  is  a  succession  of  conscious 
units.  But  it  depends  largely  upon  emotional  states 
how  this  time  element  will  manifest  itself.  Short  periods 
of  time  will  appear  unbearably  long  to  the  impatient, 
the  grief-stricken,  thfe  sick;  and  it  has  already  been 


150  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

shown  how  under  stress  of  excitement  a  person  may 
seem  to  live  through  experiences  of  years  in  a  single 
moment.  It  ife  therefore  thinkable  that  similar  com- 
pressions of  the  units  of  time  occur  in  the  lightning-speed 
calculators,  whether  they  are  feeble-minded  or  not. 

Memory  Defects. — Conversely,  weakness  of  memory 
power  induces  failures  in  conscious  school  work.  Many 
of  the  author's  own  cases  have  shown  the  cause  of  their 
lack  of  school  progress  to  be  their  inability  to  retain 
visual  and  aural  units  in  their  memory;  they  fail,  either 
as  to  the  number  and  order  of  the  units  presented,  or 
in  the  length  of  time  during  which  they  are  remem- 
bered. The  short  visual  and  aural  memory  span  is 
characteristic  of  many  backward  children. 

So-called  logical  memory,  that  is  to  say  the  faculty 
of  consciously  associating  and  organizing  units  for  the 
purpose  of  retention  is,  it  would  seem,  dependent  upon 
the  physiological  mechanism  of  memory.  Through 
proper  exercises  in  quick  observation,  concentration, 
and  memorizing,  a  weak  memory  can  be  strengthened, 
just  as  a  weak  muscle  can  be  improved  by  exercise. 

Clinical  Studies. — It  is  of  the  greatest  importance 
that  the  psychic  functions  of  the  child  should  be  clini- 
cally studied.  Knauer  suggests  special  tests,  (i)  in  the 
ability  to  profit  from  exercise  and  repetition;  (2)  in 
mental  fatigue;  (3)  in  the  effect  of  recuperation  and 
of  rest  pauses,  and  (4)  in  the  elementary  conception 
of  sense-impressions  (content  and  time).  He  asserts 
ri^tly  that  these  functions  are  of  much  more  funda- 
mental nature  than  the  intellectual  possessions  of  a 
child.  Ordinary  intelligence  tests,  such  as  the  Binet 
Tests,  may  give  the  same  results  in  very  different  indi- 
viduals without  disclosing  the  genesis  of  the  results. 


PSYCHOPATHIC   DISORDERS  151 

Psychopathic  conditions  are  frequent  in  the  group  of 
children  which  the  author  has  described  as  "atypical." 
The  fourth  group  of  exceptionally  bright  children,  as  set 
forth  in  the  previous  chapter,  belongs  to  the  same  cat- 
egory or,  rather,  is  one  of  the  groups  comprised  in  the 
term  "atypical." 

Dementia  Precox. — ^Mention  should  be  made  here  of 
the  affection  which  is  familiarly  known  among  neurolo- 
gists under  the  name  of  "dementia  precox,"  and  which 
really  represents  a  confusing  group  of  symptoms  of  the 
psychasthenic  type.  The  precursor  of  this  disease  is 
now  called  predementia  precox  and  is,  as  Doctor  Adolf 
Meyer  has  shown  years  ago,  very  amenable  to  educa- 
tional treatment.  It  is  characterized  by  extreme  forms 
of  self-centredness  and  self-repression,  so  that  the  child 
soon  finds  himself  to  lead  a  double  life.  Several  of  the 
cases  cited  in  the  previous  chapter,  particularly  those 
of  A.  S.  (Case  42)  and  H.  H.  (Case  43),  were  of  this 
type.  Here,  as  in  all  cases  of  psychopathic  nature,  the 
co-operation  of  the  skilled  psychiatrist  is  needed. 

Cases  of  this  kind  represent  no  longer  mere  isolated 
psychopathic  conditions  or  symptoms,  but  lead  over 
to  the  "psychopathic  constitutions,"  as  Ziehen  has 
called  them,  or  the  "psychopathic  personalities,"  as 
they  have  been  called  by  others.  In  most  of  these,  of 
course,  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  trouble  started  from 
some  particularly  vulnerable  point. 

Sexual  Neurasthenia. — During  the  period  of  pubertal 
development,  there  is  danger  of  the  appearance  of 
sexual  neurasthenia.  In  this  period  the  unorganized  and 
often  excessive  promptings  of  the  sex  instinct  inject 
themselves  into  all  other  mental  activities,  causing  emo- 
tional  strain  and  neurotic  disturbance.    The  sex  in- 


152  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

stinct  at  this  time  in  a  child's  life  is  extraordinarily  pow- 
erful. The  youthful  character  is  not  yet  strongly 
enough  fortified  to  withstand  these  excitations  which 
occur  in  all  parts  of  the  sexual  tract,  and  which  are 
often  enough  abnormally  stimulated  by  transmitted 
sensations  from  other  functional  groups  or  through  vari- 
ous kinds  of  emotional  states.  Thus,  the  overpowering 
instinct  which  is  often  subjected  to  clearly  defined 
periodic  changes  drives  the  child  into  a  Hfe  of  storm 
and  stress  which  may,  and  in  no  small  number  actually 
does,  lead  to  masturbation,  sexual  perversion  and  in- 
version, crime,  and  prostitution.  Ethics  and  moraUty 
are  in  danger  of  suffering  shipwreck  under  the  impetus 
of  these  sweeping  impulses,  which  may  produce,  in 
neurasthenically  inclined  individuals,  a  distinct  type  of 
pathologic  deviation :  sexual  neurasthenia  and  sexual  pre- 
cocity {cf.  case  of  H.  H.  (Case  43),  mentioned  in  previous 
chapter).  Lying  and  deceiving,  slander,  intriguing,  and 
theft,  a  morbid  desire  for  alcohol  and  tobacco,  are 
symptoms  of  a  perverted  sex  instinct,  or  of  one  which 
is  in  danger  of  perversion.  Even  in  the  development  of 
youthful  hysteria  puberty  marks  the  time  which  decides 
the  significance  of  this  disease  for  the  Ufe  of  the  child 
suffering  from  it.  There  may  be  observed  depressive 
manias,  fixed  ideas,  obsessions,  morbid  fears,  forced 
actions;  epileptic  symptoms  may  appear  or  true  epi- 
lepsy may  develop  either  in  its  motor  or  in  its  psychic 
form. 

Other  Psychopathic  Symptoms. — In  the  previous 
chapters  reference  has  been  repeatedly  made  to  various 
psychopathic  symptoms.  There  are  conditions  of  ner- 
vous fatigue,  of  timidity,  of  negativism  (which  must  be 
differentiated  from  mere  disobedience,  which  latter  is 


PSYCHOPATHIC  DISORDERS  153 

merely  a  matter  of  habit  training),  and  many  other 
mental  states  which  are  psychopathic  in  character.  We 
may  observe  manifestations  of  disproportionately  strong 
reactions  to  stimuli  and  impressions  such  as  pain,  tickling, 
etc. ;  of  subjection  to  frights  and  terrors,  and  those  dis- 
turbances of  the  psychic  equilibrium  as  in  "tantrums" 
and  fits  of  temper,  which  are  almost  maniacal  in  form; 
also  vivid  sensory  illusions,  hallucinations,  and  the  like. 
Further,  we  have  the  restless  sleep,  the  excessively  vivid 
dreams,  the  awakening  in  alarm,  with  crying  and  kick- 
ing, or  even  sleep-walking  (somnambuhsm) .  There  are 
also  the  strange  fears^  and  obsessions  which  induce  the 
child  to  be  afraid  of  getting  dressed  or  undressed,  of 
having  water  touch  him,  or  of  being  touched  by  a 
stranger;  of  walking  across  an  open  square  or  field,  or 
of  being  in  the  dark;  the  horror  of  noises  or  of  stillness; 
of  being  with  other  children,  or  of  being  alone;  and 
many  other  strange  idiosyncrasies.  Then  there  are  the 
"habit  spasms"  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  also 
called  "tics,"  like  shrugging  and  jerking,  the  tendency 
to  tear  and  soil  and  destroy  things,  etc.  These  mani- 
festations may  be  merely  occasional  or  transitory,  and 
then  they  are  counted  among  the  so-called  "bad  habits" 

'  Arthur  J.  Westermayr,  in  his  book,  "The  Psychology  of  Fear,"  says: 
"Reference  should  be  made  to  certain  abnormal  forms  of  fear  for  which 
no  excuse  can  be  offered  except  that  they  are  congenital  and  perhaps  due 
to  antenatal  states  of  the  mother;  severe  fright  of  the  mother  is  known 
to  mark  the  child  by  an  unnatural  sensitiveness  to  certain  kinds  of  dan- 
ger. As  abnormal  appetites  are  thus  created,  so  an  uimatural  fear  may 
be  bom  in  the  offspring."  The  author  is  not  inclined  to  think  that 
Westermayr's  view  is  tenable  in  all  cases  of  strange  and  apparently  un- 
accountable fears,  if  it  is  tenable  at  all.  Some  fears  are  indeed  inherited, 
but  not  in  the  way  Westermayr  assumes,  but  as  reverberations  of  pri- 
mordial experiences  of  our  remote  ancestors.  In  this  class  belongs  the 
fear  of  snakes,  spiders,  water,  etc. 


154  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

which  are  often  enough  perfectly  natural  outcroppings 
of  instincts  normal  for  the  developmental  period  through 
which  the  child  passes  at  the  time;  these  will  be  lopped 
off  by  the  natural  process  of  growth  and  by  educational 
influences.  But  when  the  child's  conduct  is  distinctly 
pathological,  the  early  advice  of  experienced  specialists 
in  education  and  psychiatry  is  required. 

Children  who  suffer  from  vasomotor  disturbances  (those 
nervous  affections  which  appear  in  the  circulatory  sys' 
tern)  exhibit  rapid  changes  of  color  in  the  face  (flushes 
and  pallor);  hands  and  feet  "fall  asleep"  on  the  least 
provocation,  or  are  chronically  cold  and  clammy. 
There  are  also  disturbances  in  the  centre  of  balance; 
these  lead  to  dizziness  and  nausea  when  the  child  is  in 
a  rapidly  moving  vehicle,  in  a  train,  a  swing,  etc.  Many 
children  lack  the  power  of  self-control  and  inhibition, 
of  concentrated  attention,  and  are  characterized  by 
the  constantly  changing  intensity  of  their  work  and 
application.  They  are  irritable,  morose,  and  "ugly," 
these  moods  quickly  alternating  with  states  of  happi- 
ness and  a  readiness  to  apply  themselves  joyfully  to 
any  task  before  them.  These  phenomena  do  not  indi- 
cate "naughtiness,"  but  nervous  disease. 

Likewise  we  have  disturbances  in  the  digestive  appa- 
ratus (trophic  disturbances)  which  are  strictly  of  a  per- 
vous  character,  such  as  nervous  dyspepsia.  They  can 
be  cured  only  by  reaching  the  nerve  centres  which  con- 
trol the  ahmentary  system. 

Illustrative  Cases. — Farnell  mentions  the  following 
cases,  "offering  such  traits  as  lack  of  affection,  uninter- 
estedness  in  work  at  school,  absence  of  desire  to  play, 
inattention,  idleness,  fearfulness,  irritability,  'dreami- 
ness,'  and   evident   difficulty  with    the    sex   problem. 


PSYCHOPATHIC  DISORDERS  155 

There  is  no  doubt  but  there  is  an  internal  conflict,  long- 
ings or  desires  that  influence  this  type  of  mental  aber- 
ration. This  is  produced  without  any  disturbance  of 
the  will  and  often  without  the  child  being  conscious  of 
the  source  of  the  influence.  It  is  not  uncommon  in 
every-day  life  to  forget  names,  incidents,  and  so  forth, 
also  to  make  mistakes  in  reading  and  writing  and  do 
thoughtless  acts,  all  of  which  have  a  direct  connection 
with  our  mental  trends.  These  are  not  accidental,  but 
actual,  and  can  be  traced  back  to  an  attempt,  instinc- 
tively, to  forget  unpleasant  experiences  or  to  complete 
a  desire  by  a  more  ethical  process." 

Doctor  Famell  cites  a  number  of  examples,  of  which 
a  few  may  be  here  quoted. 

Let  me  refer  to  a  boy  of  12  years  (Case  47),  whose  father 
died  following  a  stroke  and  whose  mother  is  alive  and  well. 
One  brother  committed  suicide  at  the  age  of  16  years.  He 
was  of  normal  birth  and  has  never  had  any  serious  illnesses. 
Nothing  wrong  was  noticed  until  about  two  years  ago,  when  he 
became  abnormally  quiet,  was  easily  irritated,  tired  out,  and 
laughed  without  apparent  cause.  At  school  his  teacher  noticed 
a  great  change:  he  was  "lazy,"  not  attending  to  his  work,  and 
showed  complete  loss  of  interest.  He  had  no  playmates,  avoided 
both  sexes  and  remained  entirely  by  himself.  Occasionally  he 
would  attend  a  lecture  at  the  Park  Museum.  A  few  months 
ago  he  began  making  peculiar  movements  with  his  hands  and 
face,  would  talk  to  himself  and  pace  back  and  forth  in  the  yard. 
He  told  his  mother  that  life  was  a  burden,  not  worth  the  while, 
and  that  he  thought  he  would  end  it  all.  His  intellectual  tests 
were  correct  and  there  were  no  physical  disturbances.  This 
child  has  apparently  been  unable  to  square  himself  with  the 
difficulties  in  life.  Let  me  say  that  a  great  many  children  may 
show  the  same  set  of  traits  as  the  above,  and  possibly  you  may 
know  personally  children  who  are  seclusive,  quiet,  non-mixers, 
and  so  forth.  But  it  is  not  that  alone  that  completes  the  pic- 
ture, and  again  I  may  say  that  these  symptoms  given  above 


156  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

may  offer  a  warning  and  suggest  timely  care,  and  instruction 
may  prevent  its  development. 

My  next  case  is  that  of  a  girl  of  i6  years  (Case  48),  whose  par- 
ents are  alive  and  well.  One  maternal  aunt  and  several  cousins 
were  insane.  She  is  the  third  in  a  family  of  five.  Nothing  ab- 
normal about  her  birth  or  early  infancy,  except  that  at  an  early 
age  she  was  considered  "nervous."  She  began  school  at  the  age 
of  6  years  and  progressed  fairly  well  the  first  three  or  four 
years.  She  then  became  what  the  parents  called  "lazy,"  cried 
a  great  deal  and  didn't  seem  to  be  able  to  keep  her  mind  on 
her  work.  At  13  she  passed  through  puberty,  with  its  wrench- 
ing and  nerve-wrecking  forces.  She  then  became  nervous,  se- 
clusive,  quiet,  non-confiding,  and  at  the  same  time. somewhat 
inquisitive  and  curious.  She  cried  almost  constantly  and 
evinced  marked  vasomotor  disturbances,  such  as  coldness  of 
the  hands,  lividity  of  the  arms,  and  so  forth.  She  had  attacks 
of  anger  and  occasionally  the  nightmare.  At  school  she  lagged 
behind  in  her  class  and  appeared  to  be  further  handicapped  by 
her  comparison  with  others  and  her  feeling  of  being  at  a  disad- 
vantage, as  indicated  by  her  apparent  intellectual  weakness. 
Physically  she  evidenced  entirely  vasomotor  phenomena.  In- 
tellectually she  is  inferior,  but  she  is  not  feeble-minded,  and 
there  is  some  question  as  to  whether  or  not  she  might  be  in- 
sane. At  all  events,  there  is  a  pronounced  evidence  of  prede- 
mentia  precox.  The  question  arises,  Why  her  intellectual  slow- 
ness ?  What  can  be  done  ?  Shall  we  allow  her  to  fail  and,  as 
will  undoubtedly  follow,  become  insane? 


Here  the  problem  is  squarely  stated.  A  comparison 
of  Farnell's  cases  with  those  quoted  from  the  author's 
own  records  is  invited.  Impaired  efficiency  of  psycho- 
logical function  is  quite  common  in  children.  A  solu- 
tion of  the  difficulty  presented  may  not  always  be 
ready,  but  a  proper  analysis  of  a  child's  mind  is  obvi- 
ously the  first  step  toward  the  removal  of  nervous 
symptoms.  A  number  of  cases  belonging  to  this  class 
were  reported  to  the  "American  Psychopathic  Asso- 


PSYCHOPATHIC  DISORDERS  157 

ciation"  by  Doctor  Tom  A.  Williams,  of  Washington. 
Their  study  is  illuminating.  Here  are  a  few  selec- 
tions: 

One  of  these,  a  girl  aged  8  (Case  49),  was  kept  from  school;  a 
simple  analysis  lasting  half  an  hour  revealed  that  the  child  had 
become  overscrupulous  from  injudicious  teaching  of  physiology. 
The  condition  was  rectified,  she  was  sent  back  to  school,  and  is 
now  p>erfectly  well. 

The  ardent  affection  of  another  little  girl  (Case  50)  was  mistak- 
ingly  repulsed  by  the  parents,  which  led  to  a  melancholia.  After 
eight  hours'  analysis  she  was  cured  in  two  weeks  and  restored 
to  the  class  of  normal  children. 

A  boy  of  14  (Case  51)  had  developed  since  3  a  jealousy  of  a  little 
brother  which  caused  such  shame  that  he  devoted  half  his  time 
to  penances,  the  meaning  of  which  was  unknown  to  his  relatives. 
An  hour's  analysis  and  four  re-educative  sittings  suflBced  to  trans- 
form his  character  and  turn  him  toward  useful  activities. 

All  these  were  cases  of  poor  adaptation,  which  was  supposed 
to  be  due  to  inherent  nervousness,  more  or  less  hopeless.  Yet 
they  were  merely  the  result  of  faulty  handling  and  required 
only  a  proper  comprehension  of  their  psychological  constitution. 

All  were  the  children  of  people  of  superior  attainments  and 
conscience. 

From  the  author's  own  practice  numerous  cases  of 
children^  might  be  added  that  were  saved  by  removal 
from  their  environment  into  a  sane  and  natural  educa- 
tional atmosphere,  with  much  fresh  air,  light,  and  sleep, 
simple,  nourishing  food,  regular  exercises,  manual  and 
occupational  work  and  a  modicum  of  "school  lessons" 
presented  in  a  manner  to  stimulate  the  child's  interest 
and  to  distract  him  from  his  morbid,  self-centred  moods. 

*  Figure  33  represents  a  free-hand  drawing,  illustrating  a  story,  by  a 
psychopathic  boy  of  14  {K.  B.,  Case  52).  The  work  shows  very  good 
conception,  skill  and  action,  considering  the  boy  had  had  no  training. 
This  talent  was  utilized  as  a  point  of  vantage  in  redeeming  the  child. 


158  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Self-centredness  and  lack  of  spontaneity  are  among  the 
most  obvious  symptoms  in  a  psychopathic  constitution. 
Much  of  positive  suggestion  toward  higher  social  and 
mental  ideals  and  ambitions,  and  toward  genuine  self- 
realization  is  needed.^ 

The  Educational  Clinic. — The  only  practical  way  of 
detecting  psychopathic  conditions  in  children  is  through 
organized  co-operation  of  school  and  home.  The  family 
physician  should  be  a  careful  adviser,  and  the  school 
physician  a  ready  and  determined  diagnostician.  Ob- 
servations in  an  educational  clinic,  such  as  ought  to  be 
connected  with  every  school  system,  in  conjunction  with 
medical  inspection,  and  which  will  be  described  in  the 
second  part  of  this  book,  should  be  supplemented  by  a 
careful  detailed  study  of  the  child  of  this  type  by  an 
experienced  psychiatrist  at  a  psychopathic  clinic. 

*  Doctor  Louis  E.  Bisch,  in  a  recent  article,  calls  attention  to  the  fact 
that  Charles  Lamb  (Case  53)  suffered  from  an  attack  of  insanity  in  his 
early  life,  and  this  is  what  he  wrote  to  Coleridge:  "At  some  future  time 
I  will  amuse  you  with  an  account  ...  of  the  strange  turns  my  frenzy 
took.  I  look  back  upon  it  at  times  with  a  gloomy  kind  of  envy,  for  while  it 
lasted  I  had  many,  many  hours  of  pure  happiness.  Dream  not,  Cole- 
ridge, of  having  tasted  all  the  grandeur  and  wildness  of  fancy  till  you  have 
gone  mad.     All  now  seems  to  me  vapid,  or  comparatively  so." 


CHAPTER  DC 

THE  FEEBLE-MINDED  GROUP 

Vagueness  of  Definitiom. — Feeble-mindedness  has  been 
studied  widely  of  late,  so  widely,  indeed,  that  its  study 
has  overshadowed  consideration  of  other  mental  difficul- 
ties to  an  enormous  degree,  much  to  the  detriment  of  sci- 
entific accuracy  and  progress.  The  most  remarkable  fea- 
ture of  this  study,  however,  is  that  it  has  not  yet  led  to 
any  clear-cut  definition  of  what  feeble-mindedness  is. 
And  this  is  curious  if  we  remember  that  normality,  too, 
has  never  before  been  clearly  defined,  except  by  negative 
terms.  These  facts  show  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt 
that  the  field  of  this  study  is  yet  very  backward  in  cul- 
tivation, and  that  we  are  still  dealing  with  practically 
unrelated  facts.  We  must  wait  until,  after  the  passing 
of  generations,  we  have  gathered  a  sufficient  store  of 
really  scientific  data,  data  of  exact  observation,  from 
which  to  draw  conclusions  which  are  tenable.  All  de- 
ductions as  yet  made  are  tentative  only,  some  very 
ambiguous,  even  fallacious;  and  many  of  them  are 
based  upon  opinions,  not  on  absolutely  established  facts. 

Professor  C.  B.  Davenport,  of  Cold  Spring  Harbor, 
speaks  of  the  "vague  class  of  the  'feeble-minded' — the 
incapable."  Miss  E.  E.  Farrell,  in  her  discussion  of 
the  Goddard  report  on  ungraded  classes  in  New  York, 
says:  "We  do  not  know  what  is  meant  by  a  feeble- 
minded child."  Terman,  in  his  review  of  the  Meumann 
tests,  writes:  "It  would  seem  that  our  concepts  of  feeble- 
mindedness still  rest  largely  upon  tradition.    In  their 

159 


160  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

characterization  of  different  grades  of  mental  defects 
psychologists  are  still  prone  to  fall  back  upon  the  crude 
descriptions  found  in  the  earlier  medical  literature.  In 
short,  the  psychology  of  mental  deficiency  needs  to  be 
entirely  revised." 

Doctor  H.  H.  Goddard,  in  his  recent  book,  "The 
Criminal  Imbecile,"  contributes  these  statements  to  the 
definition  of  an  "imbecile": 

There  are  various  ways  of  designating  this  type  of  individual. 
Imbecility,  as  used  in  law  in  this  country,  may  be  defined  as  "the 
state  of  mental  defect  existing  from  birth  or  from  an  early  age, 
due  to  incomplete  cerebral  development,  in  consequence  of  which 
the  person  affected  is  unable  to  perform  his  duties  as  a  member 
of  society."  The  high-grade  imbecile  .  .  .  feeble-minded,  as  he 
is  called  in  England,  or  the  moron,  as  we  are  coming  to  call  him 
in  the  United  States,  is  one  who  is  "capable  of  earning  a  living 
under  favorable  circumstances,  but  is  incapable  from  mental  de- 
fect, existing  from  birth  or  from  an  early  age,  (a)  of  competing 
on  equal  terms  with  his  normal  fellows,  or  (b)  of  managing  him- 
self or  his  affairs  with  ordinary  prudence."  These  definitions 
were  formulated  by  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  in  England, 
and  accepted  by  the  Royal  Commission  on  the  Care  and  Con- 
trol of  the  Feeble-Minded. 

These  definitions  tally  in  a  measure  with  the  author's 
own  contention,  as  stated  in  various  places  in  this  book, 
except  that  "competition  on  equal  terms  with  his  nor- 
mal fellows"  is  a  somewhat  ambiguous  term.  These 
"equal  terms"  bear  further  scrutiny. 

But  it  is  interesting  to  note  in  Doctor  Goddard's 
statement  that  he  practically  abandons  the  grouping  of 
the  feeble-minded  in  three  distinct  groups,  as  has  been 
customary  for  some  time  in  this  country,  viz. :  the  groups 
of  the  idiots,  imbeciles,  and  morons.  He  combines  the 
two  latter  classes  in  one  and  ascribes  to  them  a  "mental 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED   GROUP  161 

age"  of  from  three  to  twelve  years.  The  high-grade 
imbecile,  according  to  this  modification  of  terminology, 
is  the  moron,  another  example  of  variation  in  the  use 
of  terms. 

Amentia  vs.  Dementia. — Feeble-mindedness  has  often 
been  confused  with  psychopathic  conditions.  A  good 
presentation  of  the  difference  between  feeble-mindedness 
(amentia)  and  normality,  on  the  one  hand,  and  psycho- 
pathic states  (dementia),  on  the  other,  is  contained  in 
A.  F.  Tredgold's  work  on  "Mental  Deficiency."  He 
says,  in  part:    • 

The  essence  of  mental  defect  is  that  it  is  incurable,  and  by  no 
"special"  education,  however  elaborate,  can  a  case  of  amentia 
be  raised  to  the  normal  standard.  Some  defect  must  always 
remain,  and  upon  this  fact  all  authorities  agree.  .  .  . 

It  is  not,  however,  to  be  assumed  that  amentia  is  merely  a 
subtraction  in  varying  degree  from  the  normal.  Although  the 
contrary  might  be  thought,  nevertheless  the  two  conditions  do 
not  merge  into  one  another,  and  between  the  lowest  normal  and 
the  highest  ament  a  great  and  impassable  gulf  is  fixed.  While 
the  former  is  heavy,  stolid,  and  uniformly  dull-witted,  he  has 
yet  sufficient  common  sense  to  look  after  his  interests  and  hold 
his  own  in  that  environment  in  which  Nature  has  placed  him. 
The  mildest  ament,  on  the  other  hand,  may  show  no  apparent 
dulness;  he  may  even  be  bright  and  vivacious,  and  in  some  of 
his  abilities  be  immeasurably  superior  to  the  clodhopper.  But 
the  other  faculties  of  his  mind  are  not  present  in  like  proportion. 
Instead  of  harmonious  working  there  is  discord,  and  in  posses- 
sion of  that  essential  to  independent  existence — common  sense — 
he  is  lacking,  and  the  want  can  never  be  supplied. 

Mental  defect  occurring  subsequently  to  mental  development 
may  be  compared  to  a  state  of  bankruptcy,  and  is  more  fittingly 
described  as  dementia  (de,  down,  from;  mens,  mind);  while  the 
person  whose  mind  has  never  attained  normal  development  may 
be  looked  upon  as  never  having  had  a  bank  account,  and  this 
state  is  designed  amentia  (o,  without;  mens,  mind).  In  both  of 
these,  of  course,  there  is  literally  mental  deficiency. 


162  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

These  distinctions  tally  well  with  the  argument  pre- 
sented in  previous  chapters  of  this  book. 

Feeble-Mindedness  vs.  Retardation. — Oftentimes,  in 
speaking  of  feeble-minded,  the  mistake  is  made  of  con- 
fusing retarded  with  arrested  development.  Goddard  is 
therefore  right  when  he  claims  that  "mental  age"  can 
only  be  determined  "after  the  stopping-point  came." 
The  warning  which  the  late  Doctor  E.  B.  Huey  has 
given  in  his  book  on  "Backward  and  Feeble-Minded 
Children"  should  be  carefully  heeded: 

In  spite  of  Binet's  suggestion  and  practice  the  terms  idiot, 
imbecile,  moron,  and  feeble-minded  will  continue  to  be  thought 
of  as  terms  of  final  diagnosis,  and  it  is  probably  best  not  to  use 
them  when  the  child  gives  promise  of  developing  much  beyond  the 
limits  of  mental  age  implied  by  the  term  in  question.  This  practice 
is  especially  advisable  if  the  child  is  quite  young.  In  these  latter 
cases  he  should  simply  be  recorded  as  mentally  ^^ retarded"  in  the 
degree  found,  with  such  other  terms  as  best  describe  his  actual  condi- 
tion. 

It  will  be  found  that  the  term  feeble-minded  cannot  always 
be  applied  to  children,  especially  to  children  under  fifteen,  from 
the  mere  fact  of  their  showing  any  given  amount  of  intellectual 
retardation  as  measured  by  any  scale  of  tests.  Usually,  it  is 
true,  when  the  child  shows  more  than  three  years  of  retardation, 
it  is  feeble-minded  (?  G.).  But  there  are  cases  in  which  the  in- 
telligence is  inhibited  even  to  this  extent  in  functioning  or  in 
development,  from  causes  whose  removal  permits  the  chUd  to 
prove  that  he  was  never  of  the  feeble-minded  kind.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  shall  later  present  notes  of  many  cases  showing 
less  than  three  years  of  retardation,  but  which  are  undoubtedly, 
and  some  of  them  very  fundamentally,  feeble-minded.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  all  psychiatrists  know  that  feeble-mindedness. 
like  insanity,  involves  much  more  than  intelligence,  and  its  cor- 
rect diagnosis  often  involves  the  expert  consideration  of  various 
clinical  phases,  and  cannot  be  made  by  the  automatic  applica- 
tion of  any  schema  or  scale.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  diag- 
nosis may  be  greatly  facilitated  and  in  the  majority  of  cases 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED   GROUP  163 

may  be  practically  accomplished  by  a  careful  measurement  of 
the  intelligence. 

These  interesting  suggestions  show,  however,  that 
Huey  confuses  the  two  categories  so  clearly  stated  by 
Tredgold — the  dull  and  the  aments.  It  might  recom- 
mend itself  to  substitute  in  the  future  the  term  "ament" 
for  "feeble-minded,"  as  the  latter  term  is  really,  in  its 
etymology,  too  ambiguous,  and  may  be  applied  with 
equal  justice  to  various  classes  of  lower  intelligence. 

The  difference  may  also  be  stated  in  the  following 
manner: 

Arrest  of  development  is  a  condition  which  precludes 
further  mental  growth.  It  is  parallel  to  the  condition 
which  prevents  physical  growth  after  the  so-called  full 
growth  has  been  attained.  This  stoppage  of  physical 
growth,  by  the  way,  is  not  a  complete  one,  and  we  may 
voluntarily  affect  it  by  certain  measures.  Likewise, 
while  we  may  speak  of  "mature"  mentahty  in  the  sense 
of  a  finality  which  would  seem  to  imply  a  stoppage  of 
further  mental  growth,  the  normal  individual  in  reality 
preserves  the  faculty  of  intellectual  growth  until  his 
death,  unless  a  pathological  "arrest"  takes  place  earlier. 
Arrest  of  mental  development,  then,  means  that  the 
mind  has  reached  its  absolute  limit,  beyond  which  there 
is  no  further  growth.  Such  arrest  may  be  caused  by 
many  different  things.  There  may  be  hereditary  and 
congenital  causes;  there  may  be  illness  or  injury  (trauma) ; 
in  some  cases  the  real  cause  may  remain  obscure.  Fee- 
ble-mindedness  is  a  case  of  prenatal  arrested  develop- 
ment; no  amount  of  training  will  lift  the  mind  of  a 
feeble-minded  person  above  its  stationary  level.  As  said 
before,  feeble-mindedness  is  the  result,  in  a  measure,  of 
"unfinished"  foetal  development;  children  of  this  type 


164  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

exhibit  definite  evidences  that  neither  their  bodies  nor 
their  "minds"  have  completed  the  normal  intrauterine 
growth,  which  also  passes  through  more  or  less  defined 
stages  (Haeckel's  parallelism  between  "phylogeny"  and 
"ontogeny").  But  arrest  may  occur  at  almost  any 
stage  of  an  individual's  Ufe,  so  that  its  condition  is  not 
identical  in  all  cases,  and  its  levels  are  widely  different. 

Retardation,  on  the  other  hand,  is  dependent  upon 
individual  rhythm  and  rate  of  growth,  or  upon  oppor- 
tunities which  affect  growth.  It  may  vary  in  its  rate 
at  different  periods  of  a  child's  development,  periods  of 
slow  growth  alternating  with  others  of  faster  progress, 
mentally  as  well  as  physically.  In  extreme  cases  of 
retardation,  when  the  cause  is  an  excessively  slow  men- 
tal growth  rate,  or  when  external  retarding  influences  are 
very  powerful,  the  line  between  retarded  and  arrested 
development  may  be  difficult  to  draw;  but  the  occur- 
rence of  such  cases  should  not  vitiate  the  general  argu- 
ment. 

Among  the  accidental  and  external  causes  of  retarda- 
tion the  physical  handicaps  play  an  important  part. 
Economic  conditions  and  malnutrition  have  their  sinis- 
ter influence.  It  has  been  shown  that  the  children  of 
districts  like  the  Chicago  stock-yards  or  of  the  tenement- 
house  slums  of  our  metropolitan  cities  are  invariably 
the  victims  of  retarding  influences.  Other  causes  are 
temperamental,  others  racial.  Among  the  children  of 
our  immigrants  temporary  retardation  is  caused  by  un- 
acquaintance  with  the  language,  custom,  and  spirit  of 
the  land. 

Causes  of  retardation  not  so  patent  and  rarely  dis^ 
cussed  must  l^e  found  in  those  serious  conflicts  to  which 
many  of  our  children  are  exposed.    There  are  conflicts- 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED  GROUP  165 

in  the  home:  dififerent  standards  of  discipline  employed 
by  father  and  mother;  emotional  tensions  due  to  dis- 
sensions in  the  family  circle,  which  throw  the  child  into 
conflict  between  himself  and  either  parent,  or  brothers, 
sisters,  and  other  relatives.  Often  there  is  a  grave  con- 
flict as  to  whether  the  home  is  maintained  as  a  home 
for  the  child,  or  for  the  adult  members  of  the  family; 
and  usually  the  child  is  sacrificed  to  the  comfort  of  the 
adults.  There  are  conflicts  between  the  demands  of 
the  home  and  those  of  the  school;  conflicts  between 
school  standards  in  different  communities,  or  within 
single  schools  of  the  same  district.  There  are  conflicts 
between  the  moral  standards  of  communities  and  those 
of  the  child's  home  or  church.  There  are  conflicts  be- 
tween the  physical,  mental,  and  emotional  forces  within 
the  child's  own  personality,  and  many  other  conflicts  in 
which  the  child  either  loses  or  barely  keeps  up  the 
game.    All  these  are  contributory  to  retardation. 

Inadequacy  of  "  Mental  Age." — Of  the  Binet  tests 
further  mention  will  be  made  in  a  later  chapter.  At 
this  time  it  may  merely  be  stated  that  none  of  the 
author's  distinctions  are  made  upon  the  basis  of  Binet's 
grouping  by  what  is  called  "mental  age."  The  term 
"mental  age"  is  supposed  to  indicate  the  mental  capac- 
ity of  the  individual  as  compared  with  that  of  a  child 
of  that  age.  Thus,  if  the  mental  age  of  an  individual 
is  given  as  7  years,  it  means  that  his  mentality  is  equal 
to  that  of  a  normal  child  of  7.  "Each  mental  age  rep>- 
resents  the  abilities  of  the  normal  child  of  the  corre- 
sponding chronological  age."  (F.  Kuhlmann,  in  Journal 
of  Psycho- Asthenics,  June,  1913,  p.  134.) 

In  this  way  the  feeble-minded  have  been  grouped  so 
that  individuals  are  called  idiots  if  their  mentality  does 


166 


THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 


not  exceed  the  mental  age  of  2  years.  Imbeciles  are 
those  whose  mentaUty  corresponds  to  the  normal  men- 
tality of  children  from  3  to  7  years  of  age.  The  men- 
tality from  8  to  12  years  is  ascribed  to  the  group  called 
morons.  The  mental  age  of  a  moral  imbecile  has  been 
stated  to  be  9  years,  representing  arrest  of  development 
at  that  stage. 

How  utterly  inadequate  such  a  grading  is,  in  com- 
parison with  normal  mentality,  becomes  evident  at  once 
by  looking  at  the  following  table,  which  is  quoted  from 
a  publication  on  the  "Organization  and  Management  of 
Auxiliary  Classes,"  by  Doctor  Helen  MacMurchy,  In- 
spector of  AuxiUary  Classes  for  Ontario. 


Mental 

Industrial  Classification 

Grade 

Age 

Under  i 

(a)  Helpless,  {b)  Can  walk,  (c)  With  volun- 

year 

tary  regard 

Low  idiot 

I  year 

Feeds  self.    Eats  everything 

Middle  " 

2  years 

Eats  discriminatingly 

High      " 

3  years 

No  work.     Plays  a  little 

Low  imbecile 

4  years 

Tries  to  help 

<(          « 

5  years 

Only  simplest  tasks 

Middle  " 

6  years 

Tasks  of  short  duration.     Washes  dishes 

High     " 

7  years 

Little  errands  in  the  house.     Dusts 

«                     (C 

8  years 

Errands.    Light  work.    Makes  beds 

Low  moron 

9  years 

Heavier     work.     Scrubs,     mends,     lays 

bricks,  cares  for  bathroom 

«          « 

10  years 

Good  institution  helpers.     Routine  work 

Middle  " 

II  years 

Fairly  complicated  work  with  only  oc- 

casional oversight 

High      " 

12  years 

Uses  machinery.     Can  care  for  animals. 

No  supervision.     Cannot  plan 

((          « 

Any  one  familiar  with  a  really  normal  child  of  any 
of  the  ages  given  will  at  once  be  convinced  that  it  is  an 
injustice  to  him  to  compare  his  mentality  with  that  of 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED   GROUP  167 

the  corresponding  degree  of  feeble-mindedness.  We 
may  even  say  it  is  an  insult  to  compare  the  duller  nor- 
mal individuals,  with  their  circumscribed  abilities,  such 
as  Tredgold  speaks  of,  with  the  morons  who  are  doomed 
to  standstill.  Quite  apart  from  the  factor  of  growth 
which  distinguishes  the  normal  child,  and  the  dull  child, 
from  the  feeble-minded  individual,  there  is  such  a  chffer- 
ence  in  the  mental  fibre,  in  the  intellectual  efficiency, 
and  in  the  actual  life  conduct  that  the  comparison  can- 
not be  tolerated.  Any  system  of  testing  and  grading 
based  upon  this  conception  involves  a  fallacy.  Even 
the  differentiation  of  periods  of  development  or  "cul- 
ture epochs"  such  as  has  been  suggested  in  the  author's 
system  of  tests  has  its  drawbacks.  But  in  the  light  of 
what  has  been  set  forth  in  various  places  in  this  book 
about  the  general  principles  of  child  development, 
through  consecutive  periods  of  physical  and  mental 
growth,  the  author  would  seem  to  be  justified  in  pre- 
senting this  method  of  grouping  and  grading  as  approxi- 
mately true — certainly  truer  than  the  "mental  age" 
method. 

It  is  encouraging  that  this  view  is  penetrating  even 
into  the  camp  of  the  Binet  advocates.  In  the  June, 
1 91 5,  issue  of  Ungraded,  a  new  magazine  devoted  to 
the  interest  of  the  "exceptional"  child  (the  author  of 
this  book  acknowledges  with  thanks  even  this  accep- 
tance of  his  terminology!),  Frederick  W.  Ellis,  Director 
of  Social  Research  at  the  New  York  Neurological  Insti- 
tute, admits  that  "both  'mental  age'  and  'physiological 
age'  are  to  be  regarded  from  the  point  of  view  of  physi- 
cal growth  periods,  rather  than  in  the  more  precise  terms 
of  months  and  years."  As  the  most  usable  age  limits 
he  gives  these:  "Early  childhood,  5  to  8  years.    Later 


168  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

childhood,  9  to  ii  years.  Preadolescence,  12  to  14 
years.  Early  adolescence,  15  to  18  years.  Later  ado- 
lescence, 19  to  28  years."  A  comparison  of  this  sched- 
ule with  the  one  suggested  by  the  author  is  instructive. 
But  now  comes  the  strange  faith  in  the  usability  of  the 
Binet  Tests  even  for  this  schedule.  Says  Doctor  ElHs: 
"  In  practice  we  have  found  the  Binet  and  Simon  Tests 
most  characteristic  of  the  later  childhood  period  (9  to 
II  years!)  to  be  the  7-year  tests;  of  the  preadolescent 
period  (12  to  14  years!)  to  be  the  9-year  tests;  and  of 
the  early  adolescent  period  (15  to  18  years!)  to  be  the 
lo-year  tests.  To  be  fully  established  in  one  of  these 
periods  the  subjects  must  pass  all  of  the  tests  assigned 
to  it."  The  itaHcs  in  parenthesis  are  the  author's.  It 
is  difficult  to  see  where  the  line  must  be  drawn  in  stretch- 
ing the  Binet  Tests  to  suit  individual  investigators. 

Or  would  Doctor  ElHs's  findings  imply  that  American 
children  are  away  behind  French  children  in  intellectual 
standards  ? 

In  his  book  on  criminal  imbeciles,  quoted  before  in 
this  chapter,  Doctor  Goddard  gives  an  interesting  ex- 
ample of  the  fallacy  of  arguing  in  a  circle.    He  says: 

We  may  further  designate  this  t5T)e  of  individual  (the  imbe- 
cile) by  saying  that  he  has  the  mentality  of  a  normal  child  of 
from  3  to  12  years  of  age.  These  age  limits  have  been  deter- 
mined by  examining  thousands  of  the  inmates  of  institutions 
for  the  feeble-minded,  and  comparing  them  with  normal  children. 
The  inmates  of  the  institutions  are  there  because  they  were  not 
capable  of  managing  their  own  affairs  with  ordinary  prudence, 
because  society  has  discovered  that  they  could  not  take  care  of 
themselves;  they  are  weak-minded;  they  must  be  cared  for  by 
the  public.  Careful  examination  of  such  persons  as  have  been 
determined  by  experience  to  be  incapable  of  managing  them- 
selves shows  that  they  range  in  intelligence,  as  before  stated. 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED  GROUP  169 

from  3  to  12  years.  There  are  practically  none  in  these  insti- 
tutions that  have  a  mentality  above  12.  Those  under  3  are 
called  idiots. 

We  shall  omit,  in  this  connection,  to  question  the  re- 
liability of  the  discovery,  by  "society,"  that  all  these 
inmates  of  institutions  were  really  unable  to  take  care 
of  themselves,  even  if  given  the  right  opportunity;  we 
shall  not  discuss  the  tacit  admission  that  there  are,  in 
these  institutions,  persons  who  test  above  12 — an  ad- 
mission which  vitiates  the  argument  in  some  measure. 

But  let  us  remember  that  the  determination  of  "men- 
tal age"  as  the  term  is  here  used,  was  made  by  the  appli- 
cation of  the  Binet  Tests.  They  were  used  with  persons 
who  had  been  set  aside  by  "society"  as  imbeciles — for 
reasons  which  "society"  thought  were  sufficient  to  so 
designate  them.  These  imbeciles,  if  they  were  imbe- 
ciles at  all,  reacted  in  a  certain  way  to  these  tests.  Then 
these  findings  are  used  to  judge  of  others,  not  yet  in 
institutions,  to  determine  their  mentaUty,  to  eventu- 
ally diagnose  them  as  imbeciles  if  they  continue  to 
test  below  12  by  the  application  of  these  same  tests. 
The  question  arises:  Why  the  need  of  these  tests  if 
"society"  has  already  other  means  to  "discover"  the 
imbecility  of  those  it  has  already  segregated?  And  if 
these  other  means  are  inadequate,  how  is  it  that  the 
findings  of  "society"  should  be  taken  as  a  basis  for  the 
application  of  the  new  tests? 

This  manner  of  arguing  reminds  one  forcibly  of  the 
well-known  example  of  logical  fallacies,  often  presented 
in  text-books  on  logic,  by  which  the  existence  of  God  is 
proven  from  the  truth  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  then 
the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  is  proven  from  the  fact 
that  they  came  from  God: 


170  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

As  the  Scriptures  are  the  word  of  God,  what  they  declare 
must  be  true.  The  Scriptures  declare  that  God  exists.  There- 
fore, that  God  exists  is  true. 

The  use  of  any  one  set  of  tests,  like  the  Binet,  in  the 
manner  suggested  by  their  advocates,  is  like  using,  say, 
an  acid  test  in  chemistry.  This  acid  test  means  just 
what  it  is:  a  method  of  determining  the  acidity  of  a 
certain  substance,  nothing  more.  This  may  be  a  help 
in  determining  the  nature  of  that  substance,  but  alone 
it  can  never  assist  us  in  differentiating  between,  e.  g., 
water,  gastric  juice,  milk,  and  a  hundred  other  Hquids. 
Likewise  the  Binet  Tests,  in  their  application  to  human 
minds,  tell  just  as  much  as  they  can  tell,  but  they  do 
not  allow  the  far-reaching  conclusions  which  have  been 
made  by  many  of  their  advocates.  As  stated  on  page 
150,  such  tests  may  give  the  same  results  in  very  differ- 
ent individuals  without  disclosing  the  genesis  of  the 
results. 

Feeble-Mindedness  vs.  Primitiveness. — If  we  con- 
sider intelligence  to  mean  a  capacity  for  mental  work, 
it  is  evident  that  one  may  learn  a  great  many  things 
within  the  limitations  of  such  capacity  without  improv- 
ing one's  intelligence.  Or,  as  has  been  shown  before, 
we  may  raise  the  performance  level  of  any  given  task 
without  doing  more  than  improving  skill.  Thus,  God- 
dard  is  right  when  he  defines  feeble-minded  children  to 
be  such  as  "are  trainable,  but  not  improvable  in  intel- 
lectual capacity."  This  would,  however,  necessitate  a 
distinction  between  primitives  and  feeble-minded,  inas^ 
much  as  primitives  may  possess  a  rather  high  intelli- 
gence, even  though  it  be  on  a  low  performance  level, 
the  individual  increment  to  community  needs  being 
small. 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED   GROUP  171 

The  problem  of  the  primitives  has  been  discussed  in 
the  chapter  on  civilization  levels.  For  further  illus- 
tration of  our  argument,  the  following  extract  from  a 
paper  by  Charles  H.  Johnson,  Superintendent  of  the 
Leaks  and  Watts  Orphan  House,  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  may 
be  consulted.    He  said: 

The  slowness  of  mental  development  may  be  due  to  racial 
causes.  In  a  comparison  of  white  and  colored  children  measured 
by  the  Binet  scale  of  intelligence,  Doctor  Josiah  Morse,  of  the 
University  of  South  Carolina,  finds  that  in  the  same  course  of 
study  and  with  equally  good  teachers  29.4  per  cent  of  the  colored 
children  are  more  than  one  year  "backward"  to  10.2  per  cent 
of  white  children;  that  69.8  per  cent  colored  children  are  "sat- 
isfactory" to  84.4  per  cent  white,  and  but  .8  per  cent  of  colored 
children  are  more  than  one  year  "advanced"  as  compared  with 
5.3  per  cent  of  white  children.  However,  we  are  here  on  de- 
batable ground.  The  advocates  of  racial  equality  will  insist 
that  such  differences  are  only  apparent,  and  if  present  are  due 
to  unequal  opportunity.  That,  given  the  same  opportunity,  the 
races  will  show  no  inequality.  They  will  say  that,  while  it  may 
be  true  that  the  brain  of  the  black  man  is  on  the  average  about 
two  ounces  lighter  than  that  of  the  Caucasian,  yet  the  variation 
in  both  races  amounts  to  twenty-five  ounces.  Also  that  if  the 
brains  of  the  whites  and  blacks  should  be  jumbled  together  no 
one  could  distinguish  the  one  from  the  other  by  aid  of  brain 
weights.  Nevertheless,  there  seems  to  be  an  idea  prevalent 
among  school  men  that  the  negro  child  develops  at  the  Cauca- 
sian rate  until  the  fifth  grade  is  reached,  but  after  that  falls 
behind  in  the  competition  of  intellects.  Cornell  states  that  in 
his  own  exj>erience  as  a  teacher  in  a  medical  school  handling 
hundreds  of  medical  students,  he  recalls  no  negro  student  who 
was  remarkable,  and  but  three  or  four  who  were  good  students. 
The  form-board  test  has  been  tried  on  several  races  and  it  is 
said  considerable  differences  appeared.  As  between  whites,  In- 
dians, Eskimos,  Ainus,  Filipinos,  and  Singhalese,  the  average 
differences  were  small  and  much  overlapping  occurred.  As  be- 
tween these  groups,  however,  and  the  Igorot  and  Negrito  from 
the  Philippines  and  a  few  reputed  Pygmies  from  the  Congo, 


172  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

the  average  differences  were  great  and  the  overlapping  small. 
If  the  results  of  these  and  other  tests  could  be  taken  at  their 
face  value  they  would  indicate  differences  of  intelligence  between 
races.  One  American  official  in  the  Philippines  complained 
that  no  natives  were  mentally  over  14  years  of  age.  Another 
stated  that  the  Binet  Tests  would  put  it  lower.  The  school  cur- 
ricula in  the  Philippines  are  graded  low,  because  the  Malay  can 
only  go  so  far  and  no  further. 

Of  course,  nobody  will  dispute  the  claim  that  races 
differ  intellectually.  There  have  been  different  grades 
of  civilization  produced  by  different  kinds  of  people, 
and  there  will  always  be  radical  differences.  But  it  is 
a  very  different  thing  to  compare,  by  using  a  measuring 
scale,  like  the  Binet,  one  race  with  another  from  the 
point  of  view  of  Caucasian  civiUzation.  It  is  certainly 
absurd  to  draw  the  conclusion  from  observations  like 
those  recorded  in  the  clipping  from  Superintendent 
Johnson's  paper  that  the  ''lower"  races  are  on  the  same 
level  with  the  feeble-minded.  And  yet,  if  we  would 
take  these  observations  "at  their  face  value"  they 
would  indicate  just  that.  The  Filipinos,  e.  g.,  even 
though  they  are  mentioned  in  the  above  clipping  in  the 
first  group  of  peoples  examined,  would  measure  up  to 
something  like  the  moron  type.  And  the  last  sentence 
of  the  cHpping  would  even  doom  them  to  everlasting 
arrest  of  development  at  a  certain  point. 

The  author  has  in  his  possession  an  unpublished  paper 
written  by  an  American  district  superintendent  of 
schools  among  the  Filipinos.  This  paper  shows  plainly 
that  these  primitive  tribes  responded  well  to  educa- 
tional influences  when  they  were  so  directed  that  they 
attempted  to  develop  a  civilization  from  within,  build- 
ing it  upon  that  of  the  tribe.  Failure  is  apparent  as 
soon  as  attempts  are  made  to  force  American  civiliza- 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED   GROUP  173 

tion  upon  them  without  careful  adjustment.  It  is  per- 
fectly intelligible  why  all  efiforts  must  fail,  as  they  have 
failed  in  the  case  of  the  American  negro,  and  in  the 
case  of  every  "white  man's  burden,"  to  plunge  a  primi- 
tive people  post-haste  into  the  current  of  an  entirely 
new  order  of  civilization  and  of  social  effectiveness. 
Civilization  is  a  growth,  based  upon  biological  princi- 
ples and  upon  racial  psychology. 

For  that  matter,  the  school-books  which  the  depart- 
ment has  prepared  for  the  schools  in  the  Philippines 
prove  that  the  Malay  pupils  have  inspired  the  depart- 
ment with  great  hopes  as  to  their  educability. 

Primitive  peoples  have  much  native  ingenuity  and 
certainly  the  faculty  of  growth  in  their  own  way.  To 
compare  them  to  aments  of  whatever  degree  is  un- 
scientific. 

Feeble-Minded  vs.  Lower  Strata. — From  Superinten- 
dent Johnson's  paper  this  other  quotation  is  taken: 

It  is  when  we  reach  the  higher  grades  of  mental  defect  and 
approach  the  dim  border-line  of  normality  that  our  perplexity 
arises.  Here  are  the  cases  that  cause  us  our  educational  troub- 
les, those  who  clog  up  the  grades  and  finally  drop  out  and  are 
lost.  These  cases  cause  us  our  industrial  difficulties,  filling  the 
ranks  of  the  low-paid  and  unskilled  laborers  who  are  in  and  out 
of  a  job — mostly  out — most  of  their  lives.  It  is  this  class  that 
creates  many  of  our  social  problems  of  crime  and  delinquency. 
They  recruit  the  ranks  of  criminab,  prostitutes,  vagrants,  beg- 
gars, and  insane.  .  .  . 

And  we  may  add  the  expression  of  Doctor  Clinton  P. 
McCord,  Health  Director  of  the  Department  of  Public 
Instruction,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  who  says: 

Personally  I  feel  that  the  majority  of  the  so-caUed  "environ- 
mental cases"  will  come  to  be  seen  in  the  near  future  as  products 


174  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

primarily  of  bad  heredity  and  absence  of  prenatal  hygiene, 
rather  than  the  results  of  faulty  surroundings.  In  other  words, 
the  so-called  slum  conditions  look  very  much  like  symptoms  of  a 
well-defined  basic  disorder.  They  have  a  biologic  rather  than 
an  industrial  and  social  cause.  .  .  .  Clean  the  slums,  clothe 
the  dwellers  there  and  put  money  in  their  pockets,  and  in  a  year 
you  would  return  to  find  the  original  conditions  present. 

The  expressions  of  both  investigators  are  very  valu- 
able and  touch  very  sore  spots  in  our  social  life.  They 
agree  in  substance  with  what  has  been  said  by  the 
author  on  pages  49  and  50.  But  here  again,  it  must  be 
said  that  it  would  be  erroneous  to  think  that  all  of  these 
cases  are  cases  of  mental  defect.  There  are  such  cases 
among  them  undoubtedly,  and  we  must  admit  that 
only  a  fraction  of  our  really  feeble-minded  population 
is  as  yet  diagnosed  and  cared  for.  But  by  far  the 
greater  portion  of  these  "lower  strata"  is  composed  of 
individuals  and  groups  which  represent,  as  has  been 
shown  before,  lower  civilization  levels,  primitive  ele- 
ments. Some  of  them  never  have  reached  a  higher  level 
before;  others  have  been  brought  down  from  a  higher 
level  by  the  ''environmental  causes"  which  Doctor 
McCord  clearly  underestimates.  In  fact,  geographical 
or  social  isolation — certainly  an  environmental  cause, 
although  not  in  the  sense  in  which  Doctor  McCord 
uses  the  term — ^is  the  source  even  of  many  cases  of  the 
preservation  of  the  primitive. 

It  would  also  seem  as  if  both  quotations  treat  eco- 
nomic pressure  and  its  causes  and  effects  too  lightly. 
They  read  almost  as  if  they  were  pleas  on  behalf  of  the 
exploiters  of  the  weak,  exonerating  them  of  the  odium 
which  attaches  to  "frenzied  finance,"  greed,  graft,  and 
oppression. 


THE   FEEBLE-MINDED   GROUP  175 

Necessary  Distinctions. — We  must,  therefore,  make 
careful  distinctions  between  the  feeble-minded  and  the 
insane  (the  ament  and  the  dement);  the  feeble-minded 
and  the  retarded;  the  feeble-minded  and  the  dull;  the 
feeble-minded  and  the  primitive;  the  feeble-minded  and 
the  lower  civilization  levels.  How  to  make  this  dis- 
tinction, imperative  as  it  is,  is  just  the  problem,  and  we 
may  have  to  wait  for  further  light  on  methods  of  test- 
ing and  differentiation  before  we  shall  be  able  to  make 
definite  statements. 

To  recognize  an  idiot  and  an  imbecile  is  relatively 
easy.  But,  as  Superintendent  Johnson  justly  says,  the 
difficulty  begins  when  we  are  supposed  to  diagnose 
lighter  cases  of  mental  defect  in  distinction  from  lower 
grades  of  intelligence  within  the  precinct  of  normaUty. 
The  confusion  is  greater  for  the  reason  that,  as  Tred- 
gold  has  shown,  aments  may  p>ossess  deceptive  excel- 
lencies, while  the  merely  dull  may  have  none  of  these. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  feeble-minded  may  learn,  or  be 
naturally  gifted,  to  do  some  wonderful  things.  The 
author  has  observed  the  most  remarkable  skill  in  lace- 
making,  artistic  printing,  wood  carving,  etc.,  among 
distinctly  feeble-minded  persons.  They  may  excel  even 
in  certain  mental  operations,  hke  number  work,  and 
eventually  go  with  a  fair  degree  of  success  through 
school  grades.  It  has  been  claimed  by  Goddard  that 
he  discovered  feeble-minded  pupils  even  in  a  certain 
high  school — which  would  indicate,  either  that  his 
standard  was  faulty  or  that  the  school  system  in  which 
this  occurred  relied  on  other  than  real  intelligence  tests 
for  promotion. 

On  the  other  side,  the  factory  methods  which  prevail 
in  present-day  production  call  primarily  for  a  type  of 


176  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

human  activity  which  reduces  the  human  element  to  a 
minimum  and  degrades  the  human  worker  to  the  level 
of  the  machine.  Most  ordinary  tasks  of  life  as  at 
present  organized  call  mostly  for  skill  of  various  degrees. 
In  fact  there  is  a  great  deal  of  labor,  such  as  digging, 
road  work,  and  similar  performances,  which  are  sup- 
posed to  be  left  to  the  ''unskilled"  workman,  so  that 
it  would  seem  not  even  skill  is  required  for  a  great  deal 
of  necessary  work.  Closer  analysis  will,  it  is  safe  to 
say,  show  that  this  "unskilled"  labor,  while  being 
rough  labor,  nevertheless  requires  not  only  skill  of  a 
definite  kind,  but  even  management  of  the  workman's 
own  physical  resources,  of  his  endurance  quality,  etc. 
Yet  it  would  seem  that  among  the  hosts  of  those  who 
do  civiUzation's  rough  work,  factory  work,  every-day 
work,  the  kind  of  work  that  reduces  itself  to  almost 
automatic,  machine-like  movements,  intellectual  quality 
would  not  count  much;  that  it  can  be  done  by  individ- 
duals  in  which  a  sharp  discrimination  between  amentia 
and  dulness  would  hardly  be  necessary.  All  that  is 
needed,  it  would  seem,  is  a  regulation  through  the  orga- 
nized forces  of  society  to  keep  the  elemental  energies  of 
these  groups,  which  are  incapable  of  self-government, 
within  bounds. 

This  is  the  policy  which  has  been  characteristic  of 
governments  of  all  times.  Invariably  there  have  been 
upheavals  and  revolutions  in  which  often  enough  these 
very  same  elemental  energies  broke  forth  in  destructive 
power.  Democratic  ideals  such  as  true  Americanism 
involves  cannot  tolerate  a  policy  so  utterly  at  variance 
with  the  appreciation  of  individual  rights. 

In  the  chapter  which  treats  of  efficiency,  on  pages 
29  and  31,  the  problems  of  democracy  in  the  matter  of 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED   GROUP  177 

efficiency  have  been  discussed.  We  may  admit  that 
aments,  or  feeble-minded,  can  have  as  little  recognition 
as  independent  citizens  of  a  political  body  as  have 
dements,  or  insane.  And  it  may  further  be  accepted 
that  the  dull  f>ortion  of  our  commonwealth,  they  who 
can  hardly  be  expected  to  have  a  clear  perspective  of 
the  purposes  and  responsibilities  of  government,  who 
are  generally  made  the  tool  of  unscrupulous  politicians 
— "voting  cattle,"  as  they  are  sometimes  called,  not 
very  complimentarily — form  a  grave  problem  in  the 
regulation  of  civic  rights. 

Yet  the  two  classes  are  as  different  from  one  another 
as  day  and  night.  The  first  class  is  permanently  out- 
side of  human  society.  Its  members  can  thrive  only 
under  custodial  care.  They  may  be  trained  to  do 
many  things,  and  some  things  well,  partly  because  they 
may  be  endowed  with  a  special,  although  mechanical 
talent;  partly  because  they  may  be  trained  in  skill. 
They  will,  however,  forever  remain  mechanical,  imita- 
tive, incapable  of  self-direction.  They  may  learn  to  be 
self-supp>orting  under  guardianship,  just  as  a  garden  will 
pay  for  itself,  or  domestic  animals  will  pay  for  their 
keep,  and  more.  But  they  are  essentially  another  type 
than  the  dull  or  circumscribed  intellects,  the  possessors 
of  which  have  a  mind  of  their  own,  normal  though 
meagre,  with  a  much-contracted  mental  horizon,  under- 
developed but  developable,  if  not  in  one,  then  in  several 
generations. 

In  fact,  once  being  identified  by  the  commonwealth 
as  a  promising  social  element,  as  an  asset  capable  of 
adding  ever-increasing  increments  to  the  civilization  of 
their  day,  through  the  development  of  the  efficiency 
factors  inherent  in  their  nature,  these  groups  will  grad- 


178  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

ually  be  relieved  from  the  bondage  of  factory  methods 
and  social  repression  and  lifted  onto  higher  planes  of 
social  service.  Invention  will  be  stimulated,  so  that 
real  machinery  may  take  more  and  more  the  place  of 
the  human  machines,  machinery  which  will  require  as 
much  efficient  service  as  formerly  had  to  be  rendered 
by  the  independent  workman  in  his  individual  pursuits 
— machinery  of  which  the  linotype,  the  multiple  print- 
ing-press, the  locomotive,  the  automobile,  are  the  proto- 
types. Out  of  all  this  will  emerge  a  new  civilization,  a 
new  union  of  social  forces,  a  system  of  mutuality,  of 
solidarity  of  interests,  of  higher  ideals  of  humanity, 
under  a  form  of  democratic  government  the  like  of 
which  history  has  not  yet  known. 

With  the  development  of  machinery,  with  the  substi- 
tution of  mechanical  contrivances  for  human  work, 
with  the  introduction  of  electricity  and  other  agencies 
of  power  into  our  every-day  life,  so  that  we  shall  more 
generally  than  now  cook,  and  bake,  and  sweep,  and 
wash  dishes,  and  build  roads,  and  dig  ditches,  and  cul- 
tivate farms,  etc.,  by  machinery,  much  of  the  drudgery 
of  the  present  day  will  disappear.  There  may  always 
remain  some  "menial,"  "unskilled"  work  to  be  done, 
and  we  may  need  to  have  drawers  of  water,  hewers  of 
wood,  and  diggers  of  ditches  to  some  extent.  But  this 
work  can  then  be  done  by  those  who  are  in  the  custody 
of  the  commonwealth:  by  the  feeble-minded  group,  the 
group  that  will  perform  the  tasks  which  require  only 
imitation,  direction,  skill,  which  can  be  done  by  machine- 
like minds,  by  "domesticated"  minds,  by  minds  which 
are  not  minds  at  all. 

Methods  of  Diagnosis. — In  medicine  methods  of 
diagnosis  of  the  various  diseases  have  been  developing 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED   GROUP  179 

very  slowly,  even  after  medical  practice  had  made  con- 
siderable headway.  To  this  day  physicians  differ  in 
defining  symptoms,  and  often  disagree  thoroughly  in 
diagnosing  an  ailment.  Where  there  are  conflicting 
symptoms  the  physician  in  charge  of  a  patient  will 
often  invite  other  physicians  to  join  him  in  consulta- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  correct  diagnosis.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  there  is  still  a  long  list  of  diseases  difficult  of 
exact  diagnosis,  regarding  which  widely  different  opin- 
ions prevail. 

Medicine  is  as  old  as  the  race.  Child  study  is  young. 
Can  we  wonder,  then,  that  in  diagnosing  children  we 
are  apt  to  grope  in  the  dark  when  it  comes  to  the  dis- 
crimination of  conflicting  symptoms?  Yet,  it  is  very 
necessary  to  have  some  standards  by  which  we  may 
differentiate  between  the  merely  dull  and  the  feeble- 
minded. 

The^r^^  caution  the  author  wishes  to  offer  is  this :  Give 
even  an  apparently  discouraging  case  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt.  Do  not  put  him  down  abruptly  as  feeble-minded. 
His  response  may  be  disappointing.  But  this  may  be 
due  to  strange  surroundings,  as  in  the  case  of  a  doctor's 
clinic,  or  in  the  inquisition-room  at  Ellis  Island;  it  may 
be  due  to  timidity;  to  the  manner  of  the  examiner;  to  his 
way  of  asking  questions,  and  to  a  number  of  other  things. 
It  requires  experience  and  skill,  judgment  and  charity 
on  the  part  of  the  examiner  to  eliminate  these  disturb- 
ing elements  so  as  to  arrive  at  a  fair  conclusion.  The 
author  was  present  some  years  ago  at  the  examination 
of  a  little  boy  in  a  well-known  psychological  clinic, 
when  the  examiner  was  ready  to  put  the  child  down  as 
mentally  defective.  A  little  questioning  revealed  the 
fact  that  the  little  fellow,  who  lived  in  a  suburb  of  the 


180  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

big  city  where  the  clinic  is  located,  had  been  away  from 
home  since  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  (it  was  then  4 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon);  had  been  sent  from  one 
medical  clinic  to  another  for  physical  examination  be- 
fore he  arrived  at  the  psychological  clinic,  and  had  had 
no  lunch  or  rest  to  speak  of.  No  wonder  that  his  re- 
sponse was  slow,  sullen,  and  unsatisfactory. 

The  second  caution  is  not  to  confuse  the  requirements  of 
work  with  adults  and  the  requirements  for  testing  children. 
Adults  have  set  ways  of  their  own  which  it  is  often 
difficult  to  penetrate.  Again,  an  adult  will  approach  a 
task  with  a  certain  worldly-wise  suspicion  that  there 
is  a  catch  somewhere,  different  from  the  unsuspecting 
manner  of  a  cRild  who  will  accept  a  test  on  its  face 
value. 

Thirdly,  even  with  children,  one  sitting  will  rarely 
suffice,  except  in  very  outspoken  cases.  We  should 
heed  Huey's  counsel,  who  advises  against  employing 
terms  of  finality  with  children,  especially  young  chil- 
dren, where  there  is  the  slightest  chance  of  growth. 
Children  who  are  doubtful  as  to  their  mental  calibre 
should  be  in  observation  classes  or  schools  for  periods  oi 
varying  lengths,  so  that  there  be  opportunity  for  the 
fullest  measure  of  individual  study  of  the  elements  of 
growth  and  development. 

Fourthly,  every  mental  test  should  be  preceded  by 
such  physical  tests  as  will  determine  the  state  of  a  sub- 
ject's body  health  and  the  accuracy  of  physiologic  func- 
tion. The  mental  tests  should  be  directed  mainly  to 
ascertain  the  subject's  common  sense,  and  whether  his 
mental  faculties  work  in  harmony,  no  matter  what  their 
range  may  be.  Tredgold's  statements  as  presented  on 
page  161  offer  a  safe  basis  of  judgment. 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED   GROUP  181 

Fifthly,  let  us  understand  that  illiteracy  is  not  nec- 
essarily a  danger-sign.  Not  only  with  immigrants  would 
a  literacy  test  be  very  misleading,  but  even  with  children 
who  have  attended  an  American  public  school.  There 
are  the  elements  of  opportunity,  of  poor  teaching,  of 
sense  defects,  of  defects  in  the  speech  centres,  as  de- 
scribed before.  There  may  be  under-development  of 
the  visual  memory.  But  more  fundamental  than  these 
things  is  the  fact  that  there  are  children,  representatives 
of  the  primitive  groups,  or  of  the  non-literary  types, 
who  will  battle  tmsuccessfully  with  reading  and  writing, 
with  spelling  and  long  division  all  their  lives,  and  yet 
be  quite  intelligent,  very  far  from  being  feeble-minded. 
There  have  been  thousands  of  years  of  civilization  when 
the  arts  of  reading  and  writing  hardly  existed  at  all,  or 
were  the  gift  of  the  few;  there  are  thousands  of  honest 
and  efficient  men  and  women  whose  eyes  will  forever 
be  puzzled  by  the  printed  symbols  of  spoken  words,  and 
whose  hands  will  but  clumsily  and  ungrammatically 
write  out  their  thoughts. 

In  his  work  with  immigrants  suspected  of  mental 
defect  Doctor  Howard  A.  Knox,  of  the  United  States 
Public  Health  Service,  Ellis  Island,  devised  several  in- 
teresting performance  tests  which  require  above  all 
things  judgment.  He  described  them  first  in  The  Jour- 
nal of  Heredity,  Washington,  vol.  V,  No.  3  (March, 
1914).  There  is  the  Cube  Test,  which  will  be  described 
further  in  a  later  chapter;  the  ** imbecile"  test  (a  kind 
of  form  board;  Knox  says  that  a  normal  child  of  6  can 
fit  all  the  cut-out  blocks  into  their  places  inside  of  five 
minutes,  with  not  more  than  six  false  moves);  the 
"Casuist"  Test  (another  form  board,  requiring  the  in- 
telligence of  a  normal  12-year-old  child);  and  as  the 


182  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

most  difi&cult  test  the  "feature-profile"  test  (blocks 
have  to  be  fitted  into  grooves  to  complete  a  human 
face). 

In  the  author's  own  practice,  which  will  be  described 
later,  much  stress  is  laid  upon  a  combination  of  tests 
which  are  intended  to  ascertain  the  child's  motor  con- 
trol and  constructive  ability;  his  sense  of  form  and  fit- 
ness; his  train  of  ideas  and  association  of  thought;  his 
power  of  concentration,  discrimination,  and  logical  ex- 
pression; his  appreciation  of  a  task,  of  a  situation,  of 
the  sequence  of  events,  etc.  In  this  wise  the  funda- 
mental difference  between  the  merely  dull  and  back- 
ward, on  the  one  hand,  and  the  truly  mentally  defec- 
tive, the  ament,  can  be  established  with  a  fair  degree 
of  certainty. 

Characteristics. — As  a  further  guide  to  those  who 
have  difficulty  in  appreciating  this  difference,  I  will 
quote  some  essential  points  from  Doctor  Knox's  enu- 
meration of  proofs  of  mental  defect,  in  the  sense  of 
feeble-mindedness.  According  to  his  ideas,  these  indi- 
viduals possess  the  following  common  characteristics: 

1.  Inability  to  make  use  of  such  knowledge  as  they  may 
tave  acquired. 

2.  Faulty  reasoning  and  judgment  and  an  inability  to  cor- 
rectly estimate  sizes,  shapes,  and  forms. 

3.  Lack  of  ingenuity  and  native  ability.  Defectives  are 
usually  only  capable  of  performing  work  that  they  have  already 
learned  after  painstaking  training  in  much  the  same  way  that 
an  animal  is  taught  tricks.  They  are  unable  to  act  and  to 
think  for  themselves. 

4.  Faulty  attention  and  memory. 

5.  Exaggerated  egotism. 

6.  Selfishness  and  absence  of  the  altruistic  sense. 

7.  Emotional  instability;  ill-timed  mirth  and  grief. 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED   GROUP  183 

8.  Exaggerated  suggestibility. 

9.  Inability  to  withstand  temptation. 

10.  Early  brain  fag  and  absence  of  the  power  of  sustained 
energy. 

Any  one  of  these  characteristics  may  be  discovered 
in  people  not  feeble-minded,  through  lack  of  training  or 
through  special  defects.  But  the  clinical  picture  of 
the  ament  combines  these  features  in  well-defined  form. 

Final  Criterion. — Those  who  have  carefully  read  the 
author's  definition  of  efficiency  (pp.  18^.)  and  of  normal- 
ity (pp.  77  f^  will  appreciate  this  statement:  the  real 
difference  between  the  normal  and  the  potentially  nor- 
mal, on  the  one  hand,  and  the  feeble-minded,  or  ament, 
on  the  other,  is  determined  by  the  criterion  of  efficiency. 
In  other  words: 

A  person  who  has  efficiency,  no  matter  how  low  his  per- 
formance level  or  how  limited  his  skill,  is  actually  or  po- 
tentially normcU — perhaps  dull,  but  never  feeble-minded. 

Inefficiency  marks  a  person  as  an  ament,  no  matter  how 
much  skill  he  may  be  trained  to  develop,  or  how  high  his 
performance  level  may  be  in  terms  of  skill  only. 

"Common  sense"  is  only  another  term  for  efficiency, 
mentally  speaking.  The  other  elements  of  human  effi- 
ciency have  been  enumerated  in  their  proper  place. 

The  Prayer  of  the  Defective  Child 

william  franklin  rosenblum 

O  Lord,  I  come  to  Thee  as  the  Supreme  Comforter.  I  am 
called  the  defective  child.  The  sons  and  daughters  of  men  turn 
from  me.  They  look  at  me  in  pity  and  in  scorn.  My  father 
thrusts  me  from  him.  My  mother  weeps  over  me  and  mutters: 
"These  are  the  wages  of  ignorance  and  sin."  The  teacher  says 
I  am  "backward"  and  hopeless.     My  classmates  call  me  "fool." 


184  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

0  Lord,  what  have  I  done?     Tell  me,  Thou  who  art  aU-wise 
and  all-merciful.     What  have  I  done?     Do  not  turn  from  me, 

0  God.  Give  me  love.  Oh,  how  I  hunger  for  love.  For  the 
strong  embrace  of  a  father,  for  the  soothing  caress  of  a  mother. 
And  how  I  yearn  for  playmates,  yet  none  will  play  with  me. 

Is  it  a  sin  to  be  a  defective  child  ?     Turn  not  from  me,  O  Lord, 

1  am  innocent — innocent — innocent. 

From  the  Survey,  Sept.  25,  1915. 


CHAPTER  X 

JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY 

What  Is  Crime  ? — Does  crime  consist  only  in  doing 
what  is  forbidden  by  law?  There  is  many  a  thief  who 
steals  by  legal  methods.  There  is  many  a  murderer  of 
soul  and  body  who  destroys  without  calling  forth  the 
operation  of  the  law.  Said  W.  R.  Hearst,  in  an  edi- 
torial published  soon  after  the  drowning  of  over  one 
thousand  people  in  the  Eastland  disaster  in  Chicago  in 
July,  191 5: 

The  safest  kind  of  murder  is  wholesale  murder.  If  you  kill 
one  man  you  are  hanged.  If  you  kill  a  thousand  you  go  free. 
If  you  kill  a  hundred  thousand  you  are  a  hero. 

The  Slocum  disaster  killed  1,700  people  to  make  a  few  extra 
dollars.  One  little  subordinate  was  condemned  to  jail  and  soon 
freed. 

The  Titanic  raced  through  the  ice  to  please  the  vanity  of  one 
man.     Fifteen  hundred  were  killed.     No  one  was  punished. 

People  by  the  thousands  are  burned  in  unsafe  buildings, 
drowned  through  carelessness  and  greed  and  no  responsible  per- 
son is  ever  reached.  .  .  . 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  many  a  person  caught  in 
the  net  of  the  law  who  is  in  reality  a  perfectly  honor- 
able man  or  woman.  There  are  legal  offenses  which 
are  not  moral  offenses.  Law  is  very  surprising  in  many 
of  its  workings,  showing  the  limitations  of  the  human 
mind  in  codifying  rules  of  conduct.  In  a  certain  dis- 
trict in  Ireland  a  man  who  had  stolen  a  pig  was  put 

185 


186  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

in  jail  for  three  years;  in  the  same  court,  a  man  guilty 
of  manslaughter  received  a  sentence  of  only  one  year. 
In  the  State  of  New  Jersey  a  young  lad  was  recently 
put  in  prison  for  one  year  for  killing  a  rabbit  (which 
was  against  the  game-laws) ;  the  same  court  sent  a  man 
who  had  brutally  maltreated  his  wife  to  jail  for  three 
months.  Examples  of  this  kind  of  ''justice"  can  be 
multipHed. 

Law  is  a  convention  for  the  convenience  of  what  is 
considered  an  ordered  community  life.  It  is  largely  a 
matter  of  force,  just  as  government  is  a  matter  of  force. 
The  time  has  not  yet  come  when  reason  and  psychologic 
insight  will  govern  nations. 

Sometimes  the  valuation  of  a  man's  deed  depends 
upon  his  success.  Was  Napoleon  (Case  54)  a  criminal 
or  a  hero?  Was  George  Washington  (Case  55)  a  traitor 
or  a  patriot?  Points  of  view  differ  in  the  matter  of 
judging  historical  personages,  and  one  who  is  dear  to 
millions  may  be  denounced  by  other  millions.  The 
present  war  is  full  of  such  divergences  of  estimation. 

Again,  the  valuation  of  a  man's  character  and  his 
social  standing  may  depend  upon  local  standards  and 
opportunities.  America  is  full  of  derelicts  from  Euro- 
pean countries  who  were  "shoved  off"  by  their  relatives 
and  sent  across  the  sea  to  escape  disgrace  and  legal 
prosecution  in  their  fatherland.  Some  of  these  went 
under.  Many,  however,  learned  their  lesson  in  the 
hard  school  of  life,  or  found  their  opportunity  to  make 
good  and  to  show  what  stuff  they  were  really  made  of. 
It  was,  at  one  time,  proverbial  that  it  was  never  safe  to 
ask  a  Texas  gentleman  or  an  AustraUan  settler  about 
his  past;  he  might  answer  you  with  a  bullet  from  his 
revolver.    But  these  men  with  a  shrouded  past  made 


JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY  187 

a  new  civilization.  Add  to  these  the  many  escaped 
convicts  who  had  been  banished  to  a  penal  colony  in 
the  Pacific  and  succeeded  in  starting  Ufe  anew  in  some 
far-away  settlement,  and  you  have  a  variety  of  exam- 
ples illustrating  the  strange  relation  between  law  and 
crime. 

The  Veneer  of  Civilization. — Our  civilization  is  as 
yet  a  very  superficial  thing.  "The  veneer,"  said  an 
editorial  writer  some  years  ago  in  Current  Literature 
Magazine,  "which  has  after  many  centuries  been  spread 
over  our  primitive  and  barbaric  instincts,  is  very  thin, 
even  at  the  best;  and  it  frequently  takes  but  a  genera- 
tion or  so  of  ignorance,  poverty,  and  isolation  to  wear 
it  away  to  the  vanishing-point." 

It  is  well  that  we  should  make  it  very  clear  to  our 
own  minds  that  our  modem  sensitiveness  to  crime  is 
really  a  very  new  thing.  What  we  now,  at  least  theo- 
retically, condemn  as  criminal  has  been  common  prac- 
tice in  past  centuries,  at  least  under  certain  conditions, 
but  quite  generally,  and  much  of  what  we  call  crime  is 
nothing  but  a  continuation  of  these  practices  and  a 
recrudescence  of  primitive  instincts  and  modes  of  action. 

Let  us  remind  ourselves  of  a  few  of  these  things. 

Man's  Inherent  Savagery. — Arthur  McDonald,  in 
"War  and  Criminal  Anthropology,"^  says: 

According  to  geology  and  prehistoric  anthropology,  man  was 
a  savage  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years.  The  world  has  been 
civilized  only  five  or  six  thousand  years,  and  civilization  is  nec- 
essarily on  the  surface  of  human  nature.  .  .  .  Civilization, 
though  its  foundation  be  comparatively  shallow,  can,  neverthe- 
less, suppress  or  cover  up  man's  deep-seated  savagery,  causing 
it  to  remain  dormant. 

*  Pacific  Medical  Journal,  April,  1915. 


188  THE   EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Dormant,  yes,  but  not  dead. 

The  handling  of  offenders,  whether  they  were  offend- 
ers against  the  social  order,  or  against  liberty,  or  against 
despotism,  has  never  been  characterized  by  anything 
but  cruelty.  Let  us  be  reminded  of  the  horrible  cus- 
tom of  torture;  of  the  studied  cruelty  in  putting  men 
to  death  by  impaling  them  aHve  on  stakes,  or  crucify- 
ing them,  or  burning  them  alive.  Even  hanging  by  the 
neck,  the  killing  in  an  electric  chair,  or  the  execution 
by  shooting  to  death  cannot  claim  for  themselves  much 
"humanity."  Our  modern  prisons  are  better  than  the 
dark,  underground  dungeons  of  old,  with  their  lack  of 
air  and  comfort,  with  their  filth  and  vermin.  But  the 
modern  prison  is  a  very  recent  thing,  indeed.  Besides, 
in  other  parts  of  the  world,  conditions  still  exist  which 
defy  description.^  And  we  must  not  forget  that  our 
mode  of  Hfe  has  changed,  and  to  one  who  is  accustomed 
to  even  modest  comfort  of  the  modern  kind  the  very 

^  Under  the  caption,  "Most  Terrible  Punishment  in  the  World,"  Popu- 
lar Mechanics  for  December,  1914,  has  this  report:  "Political  oflfenders 
in  parts  of  Mongolia  are  punished  by  lifetime  immolation  in  cofl&n-like 
boxes  stored  away  in  dark  dungeons.  These  boxes  are  only  large  enough 
to  contain  a  man.  There  is  but  one  aperture,  and  that  no  larger  than 
the  head.  His  hands  are  manacled,  and  twice  a  day  attendants  bring 
food  and  drink,  which  are  placed  in  the  shackled  hands  outstretched 
through  these  round  windows,  which  are  his  only  conununication  with 
the  world.  Many  highly  educated  Chinese,  so  it  is  said,  are  imprisoned 
here.  Within  the  cramped  box  one  cannot  sit  upright  or  he  flat,  and  a 
gleam  of  daylight  is  seen  only  when  the  door  swings  open  to  admit  the 
attendants  bearing  food."  The  magazine  illustrates  this  information 
with  pictures  showing  some  of  these  horrible,  filthy  prison-boxes  in  a 
dungeon  in  Urga,  in  northern  Mongolia. 

In  Persia  to-day  the  most  cruel  punishments  are  in  vogue.  Perfora- 
tion of  the  nose,  cutting  off  of  one  or  both  ears,  chopping  off  the  hand, 
are  quite  common.  Torture  is  still  employed  for  the  purpose  of  forc- 
ing a  suspect  to  confess  a  crime  which  he  possibly  did  not  commit.  One 
form  of  this  torture  consists  in  placing  red-hot  coals  on  the  top  of  the 


JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY  189 

best  of  our  modem  prison-cells  is  a  terrible  thing.  Be- 
sides, not  many  are  "best."  The  story  of  our  American 
prison  has  not  yet  been  fully  told.^  Imprisonment  even 
in  a  civilized  dungeon  for  years  or  life  is  barbaric.  Our 
dealings  with  the  criminal  are  still  very  unenlightened. 
Can  we  forget  the  lynchings,  the  "law  of  the  plains," 
the  "unwritten  law,"  the  "third  degree"? 

War  and  the  Primitive. — ^The  still-prevailing  custom 
of  duelling  to  avenge  a  gentleman's  "honor"  has  its 
counterpart  in  the  nation-wide  duels,  or  wars.  At  the 
present  time,  when  the  greatest  war  of  all  history  is 
being  waged  between  the  most  civilized  of  modem  na- 
tions— employing  methods  of  mutual  destruction  which 
are  the  product  of  the  most  advanced  forms  of  scientific 
research  and  mechanical  skill  as  well  as  of  the  most 
fiendish  impulse  of  maiming  and  killing — ^who  can  say 
that  we  have  advanced  very  far  beyond  the  primitive 
instincts   such   as   would   characterize   a   "criminal"? 

head,  which  has  previously  been  carefully  shorn  of  all  hair.  Capital 
punishment  is  inflicted  as  a  public  spectacle,  with  all  kinds  of  slow 
"methods  of  causing  extreme  pain  before  death  finally  relieves  the  im- 
happy  victim  of  Oriental  "justice." 

And  what  about  the  political  prisoners  in  the  Siberian  mines  ?  About 
the  French  prisoners'  colonies  on  Devil's  Island,  etc.  ? 

Must  we  be  reminded  of  the  Terrible  Three  in  Venice  ?  Of  the  Inqui- 
sition ? 

'Those  who  read  Jack  London's  "  Star  Rover"  will  doubt  whether  we 
have  reached  a  very  high  level  in  prison  methods  in  these  modem  days. 
Morrell,  quoted  on  page  6,  who  went  into  a  California  prison  soon  after 
his  twenty-first  birthday  under  a  life-sentence,  spent  five  years  of  his 
term  in  a  dungeon.  As  an  inmate  he  has  seen,  as  he  reports,  the  "bull- 
ring," the  "  chloride-of-lime  cell,"  the  "tricing-up  irons,"  and  other 
forms  of  torture  formerly  inflicted  on  many  convicts  in  prisons  through- 
out the  country.  At  the  end  of  sixteen  years  he  was  pardoned.  At 
his  home  in  Philadelphia  (South  Fifty-sixth  Street)  he  is  now  organiz- 
ing "The  Honor  Men's  League,"  with  volimteers  from  prisons  for  mili- 
tary service. 


190  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

The  lust  of  battle  is  in  man's  heart  now  as  ever  it  was 
in  the  breast  of  the  brute  caveman  who  slew  his  neigh- 
bor with  his  rude  weapons  of  stone,  and  with  clubs 
broken  from  the  branches  of  trees.  The  "God  of  Bat- 
tles" is  implored  by  either  side  to  give  the  victory. 
This  *'God  of  Battles"  is  nothing  but  the  "God  of 
Commerce,"  that  is  the  God  of  Selfishness  who  impels 
nations  to  drive  the  competing  nations  from  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world,  by  means  fair  or  foul.  Brute  force 
and  cunning  are  still  the  reigning  endowments  that 
decide  success. 

Says  Professor  G.  T.  W.  Patrick,  of  the  University 
of  Iowa,  in  an  article,  "The  Psychology  of  War,"  in  the 
Popular  Science  Monthly,  August,  191 5: 

The  student  of  psychology  will  .  .  .  see  that  the  history  of 
mankind  for  thousands  of  years  has  been  a  history  of  incessant 
warfare  and  that  the  new  economic  and  industrial  conditions 
which  have  made  war  irrational  are  not  more  than  about  one 
hundred  years  old,  while  the  human  brain  is  practically  the  same 
old  brain  of  our  fathers  and  forefathers,  deeply  stamped  with 
ancestral  traits  and  primitive  instincts,  which  cannot  thus  sud- 
denly be  outgrown.  It  is  society  which  has  suddenly  changed, 
not  the  units  of  society.  .  .  . 

The  high  tension  of  the  modern  workaday  life  must  be  peri- 
odically relieved  by  a  return  to  primitive  forms  of  behavior,  as 
in  football,  baseball,  hunting,  fishing,  horse-racing,  the  circus, 
the  arena,  the  cock-fight,  the  prize-fight,  and  the  countless  forms 
of  outing.  Man  must  once  again  use  his  arms,  his  legs,  his  larger 
muscles,  his  lower  brain  centres.  He  must  live  again  in  the 
open,  by  the  camp-fire,  by  the  stream,  in  the  forest.  He  must 
kill  something,  be  it  fish  or  bird  or  deer,  as  his  ancestors  did  in 
times  remote.  .  .  .  Periodically,  however,  man  seems  to  need 
a  deeper  plunge  into  the  primeval  and  this  is  war. 

What  he  says  tallies  with  the  previous  quotation  from 
McDonald.    Perhaps  no  other  people  m  the  world  are 


JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY  191 

so  close  to  such  recrudescences  of  primitive  instincts  as 
are  the  Americans.  In  fact,  quite  apart  from  our  de- 
sire to  shake  the  dust  of  civilized  life  from  our  feet  and 
to  seek  the  wilderness  for  recreation  in  camp  life,  we 
have  been  beginning  civilization  over  again  with  every 
new  State  that  has  been  added  to  the  Union.  The 
ranchers  and  trappers  of  the  "wild  West";  the  mining 
prospectors  in  the  ore-bearing  mountains;  the  dwellers 
in  the  camp  towns  at  the  fringe  of  civilized  life,  where 
the  beginnings  of  settlements  are  made — have  their 
own  laws.  The  reckless  self-assertion  of  the  desperado 
who  makes  the  "tenderfoot"  dance  to  the  music  of  the 
bullets  from  his  revolver,  is  a  favorite  theme  of  our 
novel-writers. 

Reverberations  of  Primitive  Instincts. — Quite  apart 
from  these  more  brutal  forms  of  primordial  recrudes- 
cences, are  we  so  far  away  from  mediaeval  and  primitive 
methods  of  life  and  conceptions  of  right  and  wrong? 
Are  our  habits  of  cleanliness  so  far  advanced  that  we 
do  not  allow  any  filthy  tenements  and  unsanitary  back 
alleys?  Is  our  respect  for  the  other  fellow's  property 
so  great  that  we  disregard  opportunities  for  appropriat- 
ing it  when  they  present  themselves  to  us?  The  old 
story  of  the  fellow  who  steals  a  loaf  of  bread  being  put 
in  jail  while  the  grafter  who  steals  a  million  is  elected 
into  the  common  council  is  still  true  in  some  cases. 
Our  business  ethics  are  dominated  over  by  business 
greed,  and  it  is  sometimes  seriously  discussed  whether  a 
business  man,  in  order  to  sell  his  goods  with  profit,  can 
really  always  tell  the  truth.  What  must  we  think  of 
the  swearing  off  of  taxes  ?  Of  the  influence  of  corpora- 
tions uf)on  the  making  of  laws?  Of  the  cruel  exploita- 
tion of  children  so  that  we  must  have  a  National  Child 


192  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Labor  Committee?  Where  is  our  social  conscience? 
Is  the  kind  of  conscience  which  we  claim  really  char- 
acteristic of  our  well-advertised  modem  civihzation  ? 

The  fascination  which  bright  things  have  upon  primi- 
tive man,  and  the  elemental  instinct  for  pilfering  and 
stealing,  manifest  themselves  daily  in  the  conduct  of 
many  people.  One  of  these  manifestations  appears  in 
the  souvenir  craze.  Hotel  men  recognize  the  wide- 
spread nature  of  this  craze  so  fully  that  they  are  accus- 
tomed to  put  down  against  profit  and  loss  the  disap- 
pearance of  thousands  and  millions  of  spoons,  napkins, 
china,  and  other  things  which  the  "collecting  instinct" 
of  guests,  especially  women,  have  prompted  them  to 
take  away  in  their  travels. 

The  old  instinct  of  trusting  to  chance,  which  was  per- 
fectly normal  with  the  hunting  nomad,  is  coming  up 
constantly  in  our  games  of  chance,  in  our  gambling  and 
betting  habits,  and  in  the  proceedings  of  the  stock  ex- 
change. The  author  knows  personally  perfectly  nor- 
mal and  splendid  men  and  women  who  will  now  and 
then  be  caught  in  the  fever  of  stock-gambling,  in  mar- 
gins and  futures,  often  ruining  themselves  and  their 
families  without  realizing  that  they  have  done  so  be- 
cause they  have  allowed  a  primitive  instinct  to  over- 
power their  modern  social  conscience.  They  have 
fallen  back  on  the  lower  brain  centres — the  higher  asso- 
ciations taking  a  vacation,  as  it  were. 

Racial  Elements. — In  previous  chapters  reference  has 
been  made  repeatedly  to  the  differences  in  mental  and 
moral  attitude  due  to  racial  causes,  and  to  differences 
among  the  civilization  levels  in  modern  society.  The 
various  races  of  the  world,  with  their  various  historical 
experiences,   have  developed  very  different   codes   of 


JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY  193 

ethics  and  very  different  mental  processes.  The  tortu- 
ous mental  methods  of  the  Orientals,  with  their  singular 
insincerity  and  subtle  cruelty,  are  well  appreciated  by 
those  who  know  the  Asiatic  mind.  The  "Black  Hand," 
the  "Mafia,"  the  Chinese  "Societies,"  and  similar  or- 
ganizations testify  to  the  peculiarities  of  racial  types 
foreign  to  the  average  American,  At  the  death  of  the 
former  Mikado  of  Japan  an  illustrious  Japanese  general 
and  his  wife  committed  "harikari,"  that  is,  suicide  by 
disembowelling,  in  honor  of  the  departed — a  procedure 
so  horrible  that  our  Western  mind  cannot  grasp  its 
possibility.  In  the  mixture  of  races  in  a  common- 
wealth like  the  American  these  racial  differences  must 
be  taken  into  account  as  seriously  as  must  be  the  other 
conditions  which  allow  recrudescences  of  the  primordial. 

Juvenile  Offenders. — ^AU  this  preliminary  argument 
was  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the  right  background  and 
perspective  to  the  problem  of  juvenile  "delinquency," 
This  problem  has  been  looming  up  with  increasing  force 
in  late  years,  and  through  the  establishment  of  chil- 
dren's and  juvenile  courts,  and  of  research  departments 
connected  with  them,  in  some  places,  it  has  been  studied 
from  various  angles. 

The  foregoing  may  convince  some  of  us  that  we 
should  treat  this  problem  with  caution. 

Delinquency  and  Feeble-Mindedness. — Much  stress 
has  been  laid  by  some  upon  the  effect  of  feeble-minded- 
ness  as  a  potent  cause  of  juvenile  crime.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  a  certain  class  of  mentally  abnormal  children 
is  potentially  or  actually  criminal.  But  the  author  is 
inclined  to  put  the  percentage  of  this  class  of  criminals 
low.  It  is  interesting  to  note  how  even  those  who  be- 
lieve in  imbecility  as  an  important  factor  in  crime  sp>eak 


194  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

more  particularly  of  a  certain  class  of  imbeciles — the 
"moral  imbecile,"  the  ''imbecile  with  criminal  in- 
stincts," and  the  like.  Doctor  Walter  E.  Fernald  de- 
scribes imbeciles  with  criminal  instincts,  saying  that 
"while  in  mere  memory  exercises  they  may  excel,  they 
have  weak  will-power.  The  power  of  judgment  is  de- 
fective and  uncertain,  and  often  determined  by  chance 
ideas,  not  by  the  outcome  of  past  experience.  Thought 
is  scanty,  limited  mainly  to  daily  experiences.  They 
are  unable  to  grasp  and  utilize  the  experiences  of  Ufe." 
He  has  never  known  an  imbecile  to  exhibit  traits  of 
remorse.  Correction  or  punishment  is  of  httle  effect. 
He  continues:  "Every  imbecile,  especially  the  high- 
grade  imbecile,  is  a  potential  criminal  needing  only  the 
proper  environment  and  opportunity  for  the  develop- 
ment and  expression  of  his  criminal  tendencies."  He 
suggests  that  cases  of  imbecility  with  criminal  propen- 
sities can  be  recognized  at  an  early  age,  before  they  have 
acquired  facility  in  crime,  and  should  be  permanently 
taken  out  of  the  community. 

Similarly  Doctor  Krapelin  describes  his  conception  of 
"moral  imbeciles"  as  follows;  "Their  lack  of  sympathy 
is  manifested  from  youth  up  in  their  cruelty  toward 
animals,  their  tendency  to  tease  and  roughly  use  play- 
mates, being  unable  to  yield  to  moral  influences.  They 
develop  the  most  profound  selfishness,  a  lack  of  the 
sense  of  honor,  and  of  affection  for  parents  and  rela- 
tives. It  is  impossible  to  train  them  because  of  the 
absence  of  love  and  ambition  in  their  constitution. 
They  tell  falsehoods,  are  crafty,  deceitful,  stubborn. 
Their  egotism  becomes  more  and  more  evident  in  their 
great  conceit,  their  bragging  and  wilfulness,  their  in- 
ordinate desire  for  enjoyment,  their  violence  and  dissi- 


JUVENILE   DELINQUENCY  195 

pation.  They  are  incapable  of  resisting  temptation  and 
give  way  to  sudden  impulses  and  emotional  outbursts, 
while  the  susceptibility  to  alcohol  is  especially  promi- 
nent." 

Doctor  Healy,  in  his  book  on  "The  Individual  De- 
linquent," publishes  facts  which  should  be  carefully 
compared  with  the  statements  made  by  the  investiga- 
tors quoted.    He  writes: 

The  group  of  individuals  properly  designated  under  modern 
nomenclature  as  idiots  rarely,  if  ever,  are  criminals.  In  prac- 
tically all  cases  they  are  found  so  intolerable  socially  on  account 
of  their  mental  defect  that  they  are  early  segregated  and  pro- 
tected. The  middle  grade  of  feeble-minded,  namely,  imbeciles, 
are  more  frequently  encountered  in  connection  with  court  work, 
but  are  not  at  all  numerous.  We  ourselves  have  seen  less  than 
a  dozen  cases  among  i,ooo  young  repeated  offenders,  but  readily 
concede  that  in  certain  institutions  where  older  chronic  misde- 
meanants are  sent  a  larger  proportion  might  be  found.  It  cer- 
tainly is  rare  that  imbeciles  become  major  offenders.  This  is 
because  they  are  very  often  readily  perceived  to  be  socially  un- 
desirable, and  while  young  are  sent  to  institutions  for  the  feeble- 
minded. 

The  fact  which  Healy's  investigations  point  out  as 
most  important  is  this  that  "as  we  go  up  in  the  scale  of 
mentality  we  naturally  find  more  abiUty  to  be  an  active 
delinquent." 

That  the  percentage  of  feeble-minded  among  our 
youthful  delinquents  is  much  smaller  than  some  inves- 
tigators used  to  think  is  being  proved  by  later  researches. 
Of  the  1,276  children  who  were  arraigned  during  the 
year  1913  in  the  children's  court  of  Buffalo,  only  53 
were  found  to  be  retarded  in  mental  development  (a 
little  over  4  per  cent).  Of  these  53  only  8,  or  about 
two-thirds  of  i  per  cent  of  the  total,  could  be  pronoimced 


196  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

distinctly  feeble-minded,  using  the  Binet  scale.  In  the 
Seattle  Juvenile  Court,  in  191 2,  careful  examination  re- 
vealed only  6.4  per  cent  of  the  delinquents  to  be  feeble- 
minded, the  majority  of  them  so-called  "border-land" 
cases.  A  study  which  Miss  Augusta  Bronner  made  on 
500  delinquent  adolescents  is  published  in  the  Journal 
of  Criminal  Law  and  Criminology  of  November,  19 14. 
In  her  examination  she  used  first  the  ordinary  school 
methods  to  test  the  scholastic  standing  of  the  subjects. 
Those  who  were  deficient  in  these  subjects  were  tested 
with  the  Binet  scale.  This  is  her  conclusion:  "On  the 
basis  of  a  study  of  more  than  500  cases  in  a  group  as 
little  selected  as  is  possible  to  obtain,  we  fimd  the  per- 
centage of  feeble-minded  to  be  less  than  10  per  cent, 
while  the  group  of  those  normal  in  ability  exceeds  90 
per  cent."  Had  Miss  Bronner  employed  a  more  flexi- 
ble scale  she  would  probably  have  found  the  percentage 
of  feeble-minded  still  smaller. 

Even  if,  in  some  larger  centres  of  population,  the  per- 
centage should  be  found  to  be  greater,  the  methods  of 
testing  would  have  as  much  to  do  with  this  result  as  the 
local  conditions  of  congestion,  economic  pressure,  etc., 
and  no  sweeping  generalization  is  justified. 

The  feeble-minded  delinquent,  as  Healy  showed,  is 
apt  to  be  a  minor  offender,  not  only  because  imbeciles 
are  early  recognized  and  segregated,  as  he  says,  but  also 
because  they  are  as  a  rule  incapable  of  comprehensive 
planning.  The  low-grade  delinquent  who  would  pre- 
sent real  danger  is  the  one  who  has  preserved  some 
special  abilities  which  are  not  counterbalanced  and  con- 
trolled by  other  intellectual  elements,  or  by  sane  moral 
motives.  There  are  also  those  who  have  defects  in 
special  mental  abilities  which  throw  the  normal  func- 


JUVENILE   DELINQUENCY  197 

tioning  of  the  mind  out  of  gear.  Healy  enumerates 
language  defects,  defects  in  arithmetical  ability,  in  judg- 
ment and  foresight,  and  in  self-control.  It  is  plain  that 
these  individuals  are  by  no  means  necessarily  feeble- 
minded. 

The  really  dangerous  and  successful  criminal  is  usually 
a  person  of  good  intellectual  endowments  whose  career  has 
been  warped  by  an  early  derailment  of  some  kind. 

**  Psychopathic  Personalities." — Professor  Thomas  H. 
Haines,  of  the  Bureau  of  Juvenile  Research,  Columbus, 
Ohio,  writes: 

There  are  cases  of  delinquency  in  which  experts  will  agree  that 
there  is  deficiency  of  the  moral  or  social  organization,  while  no 
definite  defect  in  intelligence  can  be  made  out.  There  is  defect 
in  the  organization  of  the  self  and  in  the  power  of  self-control. 
This  defect  is  inherent,  also,  and  cannot  be  remedied  by  educa- 
tion. This  class  of  cases  some  are  classifying  with  defective  de- 
linquents. They  are  close  to  what  have  been  called  psycho- 
pathic personalities  and  cases  of  moral  \nsanity.  The  defect  is, 
of  course,  more  difiicvilt  to  define  than  a  definite  intelligence  de- 
fect. It  is  also  less  certain  that  it  is  congenital  and  non-recover- 
able. For  these  reasons  attempts  to  refoijn,  through  most  skil- 
fully guided  education,  should  be  made.  This  is  the  class  for 
our  reform  schools.     No  clear  defectives  should  be  sent  thither. 

If  we  compare  this  statement  with  those  of  Femald 
and  Krapelin,  we  may  be  inclined  to  think  that  even 
the  cases  the  latter  investigators  had  in  mind  are  really 
of  the  psychopathic  kind.  Unfortunately,  Professor 
Haines's  statement  contains  a  self-contradiction.  If 
"the  defect  is  inherent,  and  cannot  be  remedied  by  ed- 
ucation," it  is  difficult  to  see  how  it  can  be  "recover- 
able" through  skilfully  guided  education  in  reform 
schools. 


198  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Referring  to  Chapter  VIII,  on  "Psychopathic  Dis- 
orders and  Psychopathic  Constitutions,"  the  author 
wishes  to  state  it  as  his  opinion  that  indeed  many 
youthful  delinquents  are  the  victims  of  neurasthenic 
conditions.  Neurasthenia  impHes  lack  of  nerve  poise 
and  a  generally  unstable  nervous  condition.  There  are 
subliminal  upheavals  which  bring  instincts  and  impulses 
to  the  surface  without  restraint,  which  in  the  child  of 
proper  nerve  poise  are  held  under  the  control  of  his 
inhibitive  power.  Hysteria  is  not  uncommon  among 
children,  and  is  the  source  of  many  manifestations  of 
this  kind.  The  development  of  puberty  and  ado- 
lescence often  leads  to  crises  in  the  lives  of  children 
when  the  awakening  sex  instinct  plays  havoc  with  the 
direction  of  the  will.  Masturbation,  excessive  sexual 
imagination,  and  all  those  phenomena  which  Professor 
Freud  describes  in  his  theory  of  dreams  in  their  relation 
to  early  sex  manifestations,  must  all  be  considered  in 
studying  the  causes  of  juvenile  delinquency.^  It  is  a 
well-known  fact  that  incendiaries  (pyromaniacs)  are  al- 
most always  of  adolescent  age,  so  that  the  tendency  to 
set  fire  to  things  seems  to  be  an  expression  of  a  perverted 
sex  instinct.  Generally  speaking,  all  criminals  begin 
their  criminal  career  in  the  adolescent  age.  It  is  thus 
demonstrated  that  this  period  in  a  child's  life  is  beset 
with  dangers  requiring  the  most  careful  educational 
attention.  Again,  it  is  often  the  exceptionally  bright 
child,  especially  the  type  suffering  from  psychopathic 
tension  (the  fourth  group  as  described  in  Chapter  VII) 
that  may  develop,  through  misdirection  of  its  poten- 
tials, success  in  criminal  activity.    Leaders  may  be- 

^Cf.  following  chapter,  also  p.  151,  "Sexual  Neurasthenia." 


JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY  199 

come  misleaders,  excellence  may  be  perverted  into  the 
extreme  of  criminal  cleverness  and  success. 

Epilepsy  and  Crime. — The  tendency  of  epileptics  to 
do  sly  and  underhand  things,  to  strike  and  injure,  and 
eventually  to  do  all  kinds  of  acts  which  in  the  sense  of 
the  law  are  criminal  is  well  known  to  those  who  have 
studied  this  strange  affection.  There  are  few  reforma- 
tories which  have  not  some  padded  cells  for  epileptic 
inmates.  It  has  become  a  well-established  practice  in 
some  places  to  segregate  epileptics  in  colonies  and  vil- 
lages where  they  are  under  proper  medical  and  educa- 
tional supervision.  We  may  look  for  the  enactment  of 
laws  which  will  make  such  commitment  compulsory 
without  attaching  a  stigma  to  the  patient.  Of  course,  it 
will  be  well  to  be  careful  in  discrimination,  as  there  have 
been  persons  of  distinction  and  fame  in  history  who 
were  sufferers  from  this  treacherous  disease.  Even  in 
these  cases  we  may  find  that  their  career  was  influenced 
by  the  antisocial,  self-aggrandizing  and  even  cruel  ten- 
dencies so  characteristic  of  this  affliction.  Possibly  the 
greatness  of  Napoleon  I  (Case  54)  would  not  have  been 
tainted  by  such  astounding  neglect  of  the  value  of 
human  lives  had  he  not  been  an  epileptic.  Of  the  trial 
of  the  Camorrists  in  Italy  mention  has  been  made  in  a 
previous  chapter. 

Medical  Relief. — These  neuropathic  conditions  call 
imperatively  for  the  co-operation  of  the  physician  in 
juvenile-court  cases.  In  the  matter  of  pubescent  and 
adolescent  perversion,  we  may  have  to  look  not  only 
for  psychopathic  conditions  as  such,  but  for  local  irri- 
tations. Even  prepubertal  irritation  has  caused  havoc. 
Sex  abnormalities  in  the  male  and  female  child,  such 
as  lead  to  rape  and  prostitution,  have  often  a  back- 


200  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

ground  of  neurotic  constitution.  But  there  are  many 
minor  physical  conditions  which  require  attention. 
Physicians  attached  to  juvenile  courts  have  testified  to 
the  fact  that  medical  and  surgical  treatment  and  rehef 
have  cured  many  a  "criminal."  In  the  appendix  of 
this  book  contributions  from  medical  experts  will  eluci- 
date these  facts  further. 

Primitive  Types. — The  author  has  shown  in  various 
places  in  this  book  how  much  of  the  tension  which  leads 
to  antisocial  explosions  he  ascribes  to  the  preservation 
or  reassertion  of  primitive  instincts.  If  even  the  adult, 
as  has  been  shown  in  the  opening  paragraphs  of  this 
chapter,  is  subject  to  these  recrudescences  of  primeval 
tendencies,  the  child,  who  is  much  closer  to  the  aborigi- 
nal mental  level,  must  be  admitted  to  be  in  still  greater 
danger,  under  the  stress  of  emotional  impulses,  especially 
in  the  period  of  adolescence.  The  valuation  of  chil- 
dren's acts  should  be  made  on  the  basis  of  a  full  knowl- 
edge and  realization  of  the  facts  set  forth  in  the  begin- 
ning of  this  chapter,  and  we  should  never  forget  to  ask 
ourselves,  in  judging  of  offenders,  be  they  old  or  young, 
"What  is  crime?"  Let  us  also  be  aware  of  the  fact 
that  moral  standards  differ  with  peoples  and  with  his- 
torical periods.  The  attitude  of  the  Greeks  toward  the 
sex  problem,  for  instance,  was  very  contrary  to  the 
Oriental  attitude,  and  both  entirely  different  from  mod- 
em conceptions.  In  certain  tribes  among  the  Eskimos 
it  is  the  filial  duty  of  the  eldest  son  to  put  his  old  father 
to  death  as  soon  as  the  old  man  is  unable  to  earn  his 
own  livelihood;  for  these  tribes  have  no  chance  of  lay- 
ing up  stores  for  the  non-workers,  and  it  is  a  tribal 
necessity  to  remove  the  disabled.  In  many  peasant  dis- 
tricts of  the  Old  World  the  old  people  are  obHged,  by 


JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY  201 

the  force  of  tradition  and  custom,  as  soon  as  they  reach 
a  certain  age,  to  relinquish  their  property,  their  farm, 
to  the  oldest  son  and  to  retire  to  a  Uttle  outhouse  (the 
"Ausgedinge"),  where  they  live  under  stipulated  condi- 
tions, but  depending  much  upon  the  good  will  of  their 
successor  in  management.  Different  social  strata  have 
often  totally  different  codes  of  ethics  and  moral  concep)- 
tions,  and  hardly  understand  each  other's  ideas  on 
moral  obligations,  just  as  in  some  Old  World  countries 
the  inhabitants  of  neighboring  villages  fail  to  under- 
stand each  other's  speech,  speaking  different  dialects. 
All  these  things  are  reflected  in  the  conduct  of  our  chil- 
dren, and  may  bring  them^into  conflict  with  established 
law  and  order. 

Undoubtedly  there  are  individuals  who  have  ferocious 
and  fiendish  instincts — the  instincts  of  the  destroyer. 
They  are  cold  and  without  emotion — the  life  of  a  man 
or  his  sufferings  mean  as  little  to  them  as  the  life  or 
sufferings  of  a  beetle  mean  to  the  "naughty"  boy  who 
pulls  out  his  legs.  Here  we  are  again  dealing^  with 
relics  of  barbarism,  with  types  of  arrested  development, 
in  which  the  primitive  instincts  still  have  full  sway. 
Each  boy  passes  through  such  a  period  naturally,  but 
during  childhood  days  these  instincts  rarely  lead  to 
terrible  results.  They  are  lopped  off  in  the  course  of 
mental  and  physical  growth  in  the  child  of  normal  de- 
velopment, under  the  right  environmental  and  educa- 
tional influences',  with  sufl&cient  outdoor  and  play  exer- 
cise. Yet  stories  are  told  of  perfectly  normal  children, 
by  no  means  criminals,  who  acted  in  a  most  cruel  man- 
ner, entirely  without  self-consciousness,  purely  in  the 
naivete  and  primeval  unconcern  of  childhood. 
'C/.p.  174. 


202  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Economic  Conditions. — Poverty,  economic  pressure, 
underfeeding,  overwork,  lack  of  play  and  recreation — 
of  the  opportunity  to  dwell  peacefully  in  that  paradise 
of  childhood  which  is  the  birthright  of  every  boy  and 
girl — ^maltreatment,  misunderstanding,  bad  companions, 
and  the  other  thousand  and  one  causes  of  waywardness 
lead  more  children  along  the  path  which  ends  at  the 
children's  court  than  any  other  single  cause.  Many 
children  are  habitually  hungry  and  always  tired.  They 
lead  a  slave  life  before  school  in  the  morning  and  after 
school  in  the  evening,  with  scanty  meals,  much  scolding 
and  buffeting,  stuffy  sleeping-rooms,  filth  and  disorder 
around  them.  Many  have  no  home  at  all.  The  author 
knew  of  a  girl  (Case  56),  bright,  refined,  and  artistic  in 
taste,  ambitious,  whom  he  had  occasion  to  rescue  from 
the  police  prison  in  San  Francisco;  she  had  been,  with 
her  eighteen  years,  in  fourteen  different  ''charitable"  or 
State  institutions,  being  a  homeless  waif.  One  midnight 
in  New  York  he  saw  on  the  steps  of  an  elevated  station 
a  little  chap  of  perhaps  five  years  (Case  57) ,  fast  asleep, 
dirty,  with  a  bundle  of  papers  tucked  under  his  arms. 
The  tragedies  of  child  Hfe  have  not  been  fully  told. 
The  cruelty  exerted  upon  the  innocents  by  parents, 
relatives,  employers,  exploiters,  is  hardly  understood  by 
the  average  humane  man  or  woman.  Of  the  subtle 
sufferings  of  children  in  well-to-do  homes  where  there 
is  no  spirit  of  sympathy  with  real  child  life  nothing  need 
be  said  here. 

Many  a  home  of  the  poorer  classes,  where  otherwise 
there  would  be  love  and  care,  is  poisoned  by  economic 
helplessness.  Says  John  D.  Barry,  in  the  Los  Angeles 
Express  of  March  22,  191 5: 

As  a  result  of  a  single  visitation  of  sickness  many  a  family 
finds  itself  overwhelmingly  in  debt.     The  paying  of  this  debt 


JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY  203 

may  take  years.  During  this  time  the  debt  may  hang  over  the 
family  like  a  cloud.  And  where  it  does  not  hang  over  the  family 
like  a  cloud  it  may  result  in  another  kind  of  demoralization, 
creating  the  spirit  of  graft,  of  advantage-seeking,  of  weak  ac- 
ceptance of  charity  and,  finally,  the  expectation  of  charity.  So, 
often,  the  degeneracy  of  a  family  may  be  traced  to  one  sickness. 
As  a  result  of  the  sickness  the  members  of  the  family  often  find 
that  they  cannot  meet  their  debts.  They  feel  a  deep  sense  of 
injustice.  Moreover,  a  few  months  after  the  sickness  has  dis- 
appeared it  becomes  unreal.  To  pay  for  that  disagreeable  ex- 
perience gradually  begins  to  seem  unnecessary.  So  they  forget 
to  pay.  Incidentally  they  learn  how  easy  it  is  to  impose  on 
others,  to  escape  meeting  their  obligations.  For  there  is  nothing 
in  the  world  more  easy  to  acquire  than  the  spirit  of  graft,  which 
is  in  its  nature  either  dishonesty  or  the  preparation  for  dis- 
honesty. 

Again,  when  it  comes  to  the  saving  of  those  juvenile 
offenders  who,  for  small  sins  of  commission  or  omission, 
have  landed  in  the  children's  court,  and  who  are  so  lit- 
tle culpable  that  it  would  be  an  injustice  to  send  them 
to  jail,  another  difficulty  arises.  Mary  R.  Fulgate  and 
C.  A.  Mitchell,  of  the  Social  Service  Department  of  the 
Boys'  Court  of  Chicago,  compiled  a  report  submitted  by 
Judge  Dolan  to  Chief  Justice  Olson  a  few  years  ago. 
This  report  contains  the  following  significant  facts: 

Idleness  is  at  the  root  of  most  of  the  mischief,  and  this  is  par- 
ticularly true  of  the  boy  brought  up  among  sordid  surround- 
ings. .  .  . 

The  problem  of  finding  work  for  the  boys  has  been  one  of  the 
most  difficult.  It  is  easy  to  get  money  for  the  work  of  the  de- 
partment, but  "when  it  comes  to  a  job  for  the  boy  willing  and 
anxious  to  work  it  is  different.  Hundreds  of  letters  have  been 
sent  out  by  this  department  to  the  large  employers  of  labor  ask- 
ing for  work,  but  less  than  5  per  cent  have  responded. 

This,  the  investigators  say,  is  because  boys  who  have 
been  taken  to  court  on  any  charge  whatsoever  are  con- 


204  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

sidered  "lazy,  incompetent,  and  perhaps  criminally  in- 
clined. Instead,  the  majority  are  honest  and  capable, 
and  enforced  idleness  is  the  prime  cause  of  their  delin- 
quency. Unemployment  is  responsible,*  indirectly,  for 
at  least  70  per  cent  of  the  offenses  charged  to  boys  in 
this  court."  Another  most  instructive  statement  is 
made  by  these  investigators  which  runs  counter  to  the 
conceptions  of  many,  namely,  that  habitual  indulgence 
in  liquor  is  negligible  and  chronic  alcoholism  is  practi- 
cally unknown.  "Of  10,000  cases  heard  by  the  court 
not  more  than  50  had  their  inception  in  minds  de- 
ranged by  liquor."  On  the  other  hand,  cigarette-smok- 
ing is  so  frequent  and  pronounced  that  it  has  "assumed 
almost  the  form  of  a  mania." 

An  Interesting  Bit  of  Statistics. — Bearing  out  these 
various  contentions.  Doctor  LilHan  Merrill's  findings  in 
the  Seattle  Juvenile  Court  show  the  following  causes 
of  delinquency  in  the  cases  studied  in  191 2: 

Fifty-two  per  cent  were  due  to  social  and  economic  conditions. 

Twenty-nine  and  five-tenths  per  cent  to  physical  pathology, 
including  neurotic  heredity,  sex  pathology  (including  phimosis), 
adenoids,  and  enlarged  tonsils,  malnutrition,  cardiopathic  condi- 
tions, sensory  defects,  etc. 

Eighteen  and  five-tenths  per  cent  to  mental  pathology,  includ- 
ing moral  deficiency,  backwardness,  epilepsy,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  line — feeble-mindedness. 

The  Problem  of  Truancy. — ^The  reader  may  remem- 
ber the  mention  made  of  a  report  on  truancy  on  page 
68.  It  claims  that  of  all  the  150  cases  studied  43  per 
cent  were  actually  feeble-minded,  and  8  per  cent  were 
border-Hne  cases.  The  author  objected  at  that  place 
to  the  obviously  one-sided  method  of  classification 
used  in  that  study.     In  contrast  to  the  report's  esti- 


JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY  205 

mate  is  the  result  of  an  investigation  of  lOO  typical 
cases  of  truancy  undertaken  by  James  S.  Hiatt,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Public  Education  Association  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  published  191 5  by  the  United  States  Bureau 
of  Education.  Mr.  Hiatt  found  only  6  per  cent  men- 
tally deficient,  against  26  per  cent  backward  and  68  per 
cent  normal.  He  claims  that  the  real  cause  of  chronic 
truancy  is  difficult  to  ascertain.  In  any  case  it  is  prob- 
ably a  complex  of  causes,  no  one  of  which  seems  para- 
mount.   Some  of  the  contributing  causes  he  found  to  be: 

Bad  companions 20  per  cent 

Fault  of  home 29  per  cent 

Dislike  of  school 26  per  cent 

Desire  to  work 10  per  cent 

Illness 4  per  cent 

Fault  of  boy 11  per  cent 

In  a  number  of  cases,  he  says,  there  seems  to  be  no 
definite  cause  except  that  the  child  is  a  "misfit"  in  the 
school  system.  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  initial 
chapters  of  this  book  for  an  explanation  of  this  really 
paramount  cause. 

For  too  many  active  boys,  representing  types  to 
which  dry  book-lore  and  memory  tasks  mean  little,  the 
ordinary  school  is  a  veritable  prison-house.  Mr.  Hiatt 
finds  26  per  cent  to  have  become  truants  from  dislike  of 
school;  the  10  per  cent  who  desired  to  work  may  be 
put  down,  at  least  in  part,  to  the  same  motive;  this 
means  about  one-third  of  the  entire  number.  Similar 
conditions  may  be  expected  to  prevail  in  most  places. 
Even  when  the  boys  do  not  play  truant  they  will  urge 
their  parents  to  take  them  out  of  school  before  finish- 
ing it.     Among  them  are  the  over-age  pupils,  those  that 


206  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

fail  of  promotion — because  their  individual  needs  are 
not  recognized.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  many  of 
them  when  placed  in  a  truant  school  are  much  better 
satisfied  if  that  school  offers  outlets  for  their  real  needs, 
as  in  manual  training,  outdoor  work,  gardening,  con- 
structive work  of  all  kinds.  This  is  parallel  to  the  weU- 
known  observation  that  gang-rule  and  gang-viciousness 
are  at  once  checked  as  soon  as  public  playgrounds  and 
boys'  clubs  are  established  in  the  congested  tenement 
districts  which  usually  harbor  juvenile  gangs.  As  soon 
as  the  real  boy  is  appealed  to,  there  is  little  or  no  tru- 
ancy or  viciousness. 

To  those  who  believe  unduly  in  the  gospel  of  the 
three  R's,  Whittier's  beautiful  poem  on  "The  Barefoot 
Boy"  should  be  quoted  over  and  over  again :^ 

"  Knowledge  never  learnt  of  schools — 
Of  the  wild  bee's  morning  chase, 
Of  the  wild  flower's  time  and  place, 
Flight  of  fowl  and  habitude 
Of  the  tenants  of  the  wood; 
How  the  tortoise  bears  his  shell, 
How  the  woodchuck  digs  his  cell; 
And  the  ground-mole  sinks  his  well; 
How  the  robin  feeds  her  young, 
How  the  oriole's  nest  is  hung; 
Where  the  whitest  lilies  blow, 
Where  the  freshest  berries  grow, 
Where  the  ground-nut  trails  its  vine. 
Where  the  wood-grape's  clusters  shine; 
Of  the  black  wasp's  cunning  way — 
Mason  of  his  walls  of  clay — 
And  the  architectural  plans 
Of  gray  hornet  artisans ! 

^Cf.  also  the  author's  "Some  Fundamental  Verities  in  Education," 
pp.  19/. 


JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY  207 

For,  eschewing  books  and  tasks, 
Nature  answers  all  he  asks; 
Hand  in  hand  with  her  he  walks, 
Face  to  face  with  her  he  talks, 
Part  and  parcel  of  her  joy — 
Blessings  on  the  barefoot  boy!" 

The  two  critical  ages,  when  this  "Wanderlust"  wells 
up  in  the  normal  boy,  are  from  eight  to  ten  years,  and 
at  the  time  of  adolescence — both  being  periods  of  change 
and  readjustment  in  the  physiological  function.^ 

That  certain  classes  of  defectives  are  prone  to  yield 
to  nomadic  instincts  cannot  be  denied.  This  instinct, 
in  some  cases,  appears  as  a  reverberation  of  primitive 
modes  of  Ufe.  The  " Wandertrieb "  or  "Wanderlust" 
is  also  characteristic  of  some  psychopathic  conditions, 
such  as  manifest  morbid  fears  and  restlessness,  or  hyper- 
stimulation  of  the  imagination,  or  epileptic  symptoms. 
That  nomadic  promptings  also  follow  attacks  of  weak- 
ening diseases  when  the  desire  to  work  regularly  is 
markedly  at  low  ebb,  is  known  to  every  physician. 

Children's  Lies. — The  chapter  of  children's  lies  and 
deceptions  is  a  long  one,  and  one  which  alone  would 
give  much  food  for  thought.  A  child  who  lies  is  not 
necessarily  wicked  on  that  account.  Even  perfectly 
normal  children  may  lie  because  they  misunderstand  a 
situation;  because  they  are  not  yet  able  to  distinguish 
between  pictures  and  reality,  or  between  imagined,  or 
dreamed,  happenings  and  their  actual  experiences. 
Often  they  believe  in  their  own  imagined  adventures. 
As  the  wish  is  father  to  the  thought,  children  sometimes 

»  C/.  "The  Career  of  the  Child,"  pp.  96/.;  p.  275;  and  Chapter  XIX, 
"  Criminality  in  Children." 


208  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

state  as  facts  what  they  had  simply  hoped  would  occur. 
Again  there  is  the  powerful  dramatic  instinct  of  chil- 
dren and  their  impulse  to  act  and  pose.  They  wish  to 
produce  an  effect  so  as  to  test  their  own  powers,  to  ex- 
periment upon  their  elders.  Often  it  is  merely  their 
play  instinct,  a  "make-believe"  frolic  which  induces 
them  to  "tell  tales";  the  wise  educator  will  accept  these 
in  the  spirit  in  which  they  are  told.  There  are  a  hun- 
dred and  one  perfectly  normal  conditions  under  which 
a  child  will  tell  what  is  contemptuously  called  a  lie,  and 
it  requires  skill  and  tact  on  the  part  of  the  educator  to 
handle  such  cases.  The  child's  motive  must  be  imder- 
stood. 

Further,  there  are  causes  for  lying  for  which  parents 
and  educators  are  almost  alone  to  blame.  We  make 
our  children  tell  untruths  and  practise  deceptions  for 
the  sake  of  our  own  convenience,  at  the  home — when 
unwelcome  visitors  come,  or  in  the  practice  of  social 
pretense — and  in  many  other  ways,  and  then  blame 
them  for  using  the  same  method  against  us.  Then 
there  is  the  fear  of  punishment  or  misunderstanding. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  fear  in  thousands  of  cases  be- 
comes so  deep-rooted  in  a  child's  soul  that  it  causes  life- 
long unhappiness,  or  marks  the  beginning  of  a  hfe  of 
deception,  of  resentment,  and  of  antisocial  tendencies. 

Lies  are  also  the  result  of  physical  causes,  temporary 
or  chronic.  Indigestion,  fatigue,  nervous  exhaustion, 
and  other  conditions  of  this  kind,  will  produce  a  con- 
fusion in  the  child's  mental  activity  and  lead  to  the 
making  of  misstatements. 

This  argument  is  not  intended  to  veil  the  fact  that 
there  are  constitutional  liars.  Lying  is  a  symptom  of 
certain   psychopathic    and    "degenerative"    conditions 


JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY  209 

when  the  normal  personality  dissolves.  It  is  common 
with  the  epileptic  degenerate  and  with  the  "moral  im- 
becile." There  are  children  who  cannot  tell  the  truth, 
even  if  they  "wanted  to."  This  tendency  has  nothing 
whatever  to  do,  in  many  cases,  with  intellectual  defects. 
Again,  there  are  otherwise  perfectly  normal  individuals 
who  go  through  life  as  successful  and  pleasant  men  and 
women,  who  have  the  weakness  of  prevaricating,  of  fib- 
bing, of  telling  stories — and  whom  no  bitter  experience 
will  cure  of  this  disorder.  The  author  knows  of  a 
lovable  man  of  great  ability  who  is  more  than  naive  in 
the  matter  of  truthfulness  and  is  rarely  aware  that  he 
is  telling  inventions  of  his  own;  who  even  escap>ed  pun- 
ishment for  an  actual  forgery  only  because  of  his  win- 
ning ways  and  the  fact  that  he  had  acted  "in  good 
faith,"  which  was  recognized  by  those  who  had  cause 
to  feel  aggrieved  by  his  action. 

Misconceptions  of  Normal  Conditions. — The  misun- 
derstanding of  perfectly  normal  children  is  responsible 
for  many  a  derailment  in  a  child's  life.  If  educators 
will  learn  to  appreciate  the  order  in  which  instincts  and 
impulses  awaken  in  a  child  in  successive  periods;  if  they 
will  study  the  budding  times  of  different  manifesta- 
tions; if  they  will  realize  that  a  child  is  not  merely  a 
small  man  or  woman  whose  standards  of  conduct  must 
meet  those  of  his  elders,  but  a  being  different  from  the 
adult,  passing  through  mental  stages  of  development, 
they  will  judge  differently. 

The  honored  judge  of  the  children's  court  in  one  of 
our  large  cities  told  the  author  in  confidence  that  when 
he  was  a  boy  he  lived  in  the  toughest  part  of  the  town, 
was  a  member  of  the  toughest  gang  of  boys,  himself 
the  toughest  boy  of  the  gang,  and  every  "cop"  was 


210  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

afraid  of  him.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  he  is  now  such 
a  splendid  judge  of  boys.  The  director  of  compulsory 
education  in  the  same  city,  after  twenty  years  of  ser- 
vice, told  the  author:  "Some  of  the  brightest  and  best 
young  men  of  this  town  were  the  worst  scamps  I  had 
to  deal  with  when  they  were  boys,  and  I  do  not  believe 
it  is  fair  to  them  to  hold  their  records  up  against  them. 
I  wouldn't  give  a  snap  of  my  finger  for  a  boy  that  is 
not  chuck-full  of  Hfe  and  getting  into  mischief  about  all 
the  time." 

What,  pray,  is  the  difference  between  the  boy  who 
helps  himself  to  his  mother's  jam  from  the  family  cup- 
board or  uses  his  mother's  Chinese  vase  as  a  target  for 
his  marble  practice,  and  the  boy  who,  after  steaHng  an 
apple  from  the  grocer's  open  barrel,  or  smashing  a  street 
lamp,  is  hauled  before  the  juvenile  court?  Both  are 
following  their  primeval  instincts.  The  difference  is 
that  the  former  is  a  boy  taken  care  of  in  a  good  home, 
and  that  the  other  must  be  satisfied  with  the  street  for 
his  playground. 

Education  plays,  of  course,  a  great  part  in  all  these 
things — the  right  education— and  many  a  sin  is  com- 
mitted from  ignorance  and  thoughtlessness,  from  lack 
of  wise  guidance. 

Weak  Wills  and  Unsocial  Instincts. — Undoubtedly 
we  have  children  with  weak  wills  who  will  be  influenced 
by  bad  companions,  by  bad  examples,  by  a  generally 
bad  environment.  A  weak  will  is  not  necessarily  a 
vicious  will,  nor  is  it  necessarily  an  evidence  of  feeble- 
mindedness. In  these  cases  we  must  study  the  social 
causes  with  great  care.  An  ounce  of  prevention  is 
worth  a  pound  of  cure,  and  social  reform  will  do  away 
with  many  of  the  temptations  and  possibilities  of  crime. 


JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY  211 

Special  care  should  be  taken  to  give  children  of  this  type 
the  right  direction  in  the  matter  of  sport  and  amuse- 
ment. Moving  pictures  can  be  made  to  be  of  great  edu- 
cative value — the  ordinary  kind  which  appeals  to  the 
sensational  is  a  bad  incentive  for  the  undiscriminating 
child.  Weak  wills  can  be  strengthened.  And  if  the 
rotten  apple  is  removed  from  the  barrel  it  will  not 
cause  the  others  to  rot. 

Bad  habits  and  loose  principles  are  acquired  when 
there  is  no  incentive  for,  and  no  knowledge  of,  the  oppo- 
site. From  whatever  side  we  approach  this  problem 
we  find  it  to  be  largely  an  educational  one. 

Unsocial  instincts  are  often  the  result  of  lack  of  op- 
portunity for  social  endeavor,  or  of  lack  of  training  of 
the  social  instincts.  There  are  many  boys  who  have 
never  been  socialized,  living  in  a  sordid  and  disorganized 
environment  in  which  chance  and  passion  alone  reign 
supreme.  Again,  there  are  persons,  even  children,  of 
so  pronounced  an  individuality  that  it  is  difficult  for 
them  to  fit  themselves  easily  into  grooves  and  conven- 
tions. They  hate  restraint,  they  hate  conventionality 
and  rise  against  all  obstacles  that  stand  in  the  way  of 
their  self-assertion.  These  must  not  be  confused  with 
the  self-centred  psychopaths.  They  are  powerful  egos, 
full  of  life  and  vigor  and  initiative.  Real  or  imagined 
grievances  will  be  resented  by  them,  and  they  will 
assert  their  rights,  or  what  they  think  are  their  rights, 
to  the  bitter  end.  Our  social  conscience  is,  after  all, 
the  product  of  most  recent  developments.  It  was  not 
so  long  ago  when  individual  honor  was  supposed  to 
stand  much  higher  than  social  honor;  when  individual 
self-protection  came  before  the  protection  of  the  body 
social.     It  is  a  matter  of  individualism  versus  society. 


212  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

A  few  centuries  ago  such  a  man  would  have  been  strictly 
within  his  legal  rights,  at  least  within  the  limits  of  the 
social  conscience.  The  "unwritten  law"  prevails  to 
this  day,  and  many  an  avenger  of  his  or  her  honor  has 
been  acquitted  by  a  jury.  Duels,  "feuds,"  and  "ven- 
dettas" are  not  altogether  a  thing  of  the  past. 

There  is  a  new  individualism  dawning,  which  is  not 
antisocial,  or  asocial,  but  in  which  society  wiU  find  its 
consummation. 

Conclusion. — Juvenile  delinquency  is  caused  by  many 
different  things.  It  touches  upon  the  problems  of  men- 
tal and  moral  defect,  of  psychopathic  conditions,  en- 
vironmental influences,  educational  organization,  etc. 

In  treating  the  juvenile  offender,  the  truant,  the  "in- 
corrigible," the  boy  or  girl  who  is  hauled  before  the 
juvenile  court,  one  must  see  at  once  that  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  conditions  is  required  before  judgment  can 
be  passed.  These  conditions  are  physical,  psychologi- 
cal, environmental,  racial.  In  a  relatively  small  num- 
ber of  cases  we  shall  find  such  depravity  or  abnormality 
that  the  decision  must  lead  to  permanent  segregation 
and  custodial  care.  We  need  a  new  type  of  officers  of 
the  law — experts  of  child  life  and  child  nature.  Instead 
of  the  ordinary  reformatories  and  penal  institutions  we 
should  have  educational  and  psychological  clinics,  medi- 
cal dispensaries,  home  schools,  forest  and  farm  schools, 
occupational  schools,  and  children's  sanatoria  for  those 
children  who  are  in  danger  of  derailment. 

The  establishment  of  children's  courts,  of  attendance 
officers,  probation  officers,  and  the  method  of  placing 
children  away  from  their  own  environment  into  good 
homes,  have  been  only  the  first  steps  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. 


CHAPTER  XI 
SEXUAL  PERVERSION  AND  PROSTITUTION 

Prostitution  and  Feeble-Mindedness. — It  has  been 
claimed  that  a  very  large  percentage  of  our  sexual  per- 
verts and  prostitutes  belongs  to  the  feeble-minded  class. 
Closer  investigation  has  shown  that  this  is  not  the  case. 
There  is,  of  course,  a  percentage  of  feeble-minded  amohg 
this  group  of  unfortunates,  just  as  there  is  among  the 
criminals  and  delinquents,  dependants  and  destitutes. 
The  same  causes — lack  of  proper  stimuli,  of  ability  to 
plan,  of  forethought,  of  self-discipline,  etc. — which  pro- 
duces the  other  types  of  human  derelicts,  act  in  this 
case.  But  the  percentage  of  mentally  defective  prosti- 
tutes is  as  small  as  that  of  feeble-minded  criminals. 

Surely,  there  are  silly  girls,  giddy  girls,  fond  of  amuse- 
ment and  dress;  there  are  girls  who  are  "common," 
coarse,  vulgar,  whose  habits  of  conduct  lack  self-respect 
and  the  control  of  the  higher  sentiments — who  therefore 
will  indulge  in  the  vulgar  in  sex  matters  as  they  do  in 
other  things.  But  the  very  words  "common"  and 
"vulgar"  indicate  that  they  represent  a  type  which  was 
once  common,  and  that  it  is  only  our  refined  conscience 
of  the  twentieth  century  which  rebels  against  their  kind. 

There  are  voluptuous  girls  and  girls  in  which  the 
sexual  instinct  is  more  than  normally  developed,  either 
on  account  of  a  physical  abnormality  in  the  sex-organs 
or  in  the  secondary  sexual  areas;  or  through  genuine, 

213 


214  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

general  precocity,  physical,  functional,  emotional,  and 
mental. 

Even  the  silliest  girl,  however,  is  not  an  ament,  while 
the  precocious  boy  or  girl  may  be  in  danger  of  true 
psychosis,  even  dementia.  In  both  instances  we  are 
dealing  with  conditions  which  can  be  greatly  influenced 
by  environment,  training,  education,  and  remedial  mea- 
sures of  various  sorts,  including  medical. 

The  Tragedy  of  Woman's  Life. — A  young  girl,  fun- 
loving,  attracted  to  the  other  sex  b!y  the  natural  instinct 
of  the  period  she  is  living  through,  is  running  a  much 
greater  hazard  than  the  male  youth  of  the  same  period. 
The  young  man  is  usually  care-free,  and  can  go  on  living 
his  own  life  without  encumbrance.  But  the  girl,  if  moth- 
erhood should  follow  her  indiscretion,  is  at  once  an  out- 
cast, and  her  fate  is  beset  with  many  dangers  and  cares. 
She  is  often  driven  to  a  life  of  shame.  Law,  order,  and 
the  social  conscience  are  slowly  preparing  to  meet  these 
emergencies  in  the  spirit  of  charity  and  humane  under- 
standing. Foundling  asylums  do  not  solve  the  prob- 
lem. The  nearest  society  has  ever  come  to  an  apprecia- 
tion of  the  conditions  involved,  is  in  the  care  of  the  so- 
called  war-babies,  the  birth  of  which  has  brought  the 
significance  of  the  problem  closer  to  the  individual  con- 
sciousness. 

Puritan  self-consciousness  and  self-righteousness  alone 
cannot  relieve  the  situation,  and  is  not  a  standard  of 
normality  as  such. 

It  is  only  just  to  refer,  in  passing,  to  the  fact  that  re- 
spectable society  is  honeycombed  by  similar  flaws,  and 
that  it  does  not  behoove  us  to  cry  out  against  the  mote 
in  our  neighbor's  eye  when  the  beam  in  our  own  is  so 
much  in  evidence. 


SEXUAL  PERVERSION  AND  PROSTITUTION     215 

Ignorance  and  Prudishness. — ^As  all  sexual  perverts, 
prostitutes,  and  moral  derelicts  of  the  sexual  type  have 
once  been  pupils  of  our  schools,  and  certainly  children 
in  our  homes,  it  behooves  us  to  study  the  sexual  life  of 
our  children  and  to  consider  the  conditions  which  may 
lead  to  derailment. 

We  may  safely  say  that  almost  all  cases  of  sexual  per- 
version might  be  regulated  if  we  could  get  hold  of  them 
at  the  time  of  incipiency.  But  only  very  few  parents 
and  teachers  know  anything  at  all  of  the  awakening  of 
the  sex  instinct  in  their  children  and  pupils;  many  of 
them  even  shun  the  discussion  of  this  topic  as  unclean 
and  improper  when  it  is,  in  reality,  perhaps  the  most 
vital  factor  of  all  education.  Neither  our  habits  of  liv- 
ing and  regulating  our  lives  in  general,  nor  our  tradi- 
tional ways  of  handling  our  children  take  this  great 
factor  of  Ufe  into  consideration. 

We  allow  our  children  to  grow  up  in  ignorance  of  the 
character  and  importance  of  the  sexual  function  and 
of  the  hygiene  and  ethics  of  the  sexual  life.  Deception 
on  the  part  of  the  parents,  however,  invariably  brings 
about  deception  on  the  part  of  the  child. 

There  are  enormous  differences  in  regard  to  the  time 
when  a  child  matures  sexually.  Some  are  erotically  de- 
veloped at  five  or  six,  others  not  before  twenty.  The 
erotic  always  finds  opportunity  to  inform  and  excite 
himself,  be  it  from  observing  the  chickens  or  even  the 
flies,  or  from  playing  with  other  children  and  with  ser- 
vants. The  cold-blooded  individual,  on  the  other  hand, 
derives  no  excitement  even  from  the  most  detailed 
sexual  explanation. 

The  lies  parents  tell  about  their  origin,  the  avoidance 
of  the  topic  of  human  procreation,  of  the  meaning  of 


216  _     THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

marriage  and  parenthood,  the  prudishness  displayed  by 
morbid  minds  in  the  matter  of  nude  art — do  not  make 
the  children  better.  On  the  contrary,  this  practice 
makes  them  curious  and  suspicious,  self-conscious,  and 
secretive;  and  after  discovering  the  truth,  or  what  they 
think  is  the  truth,  they  have  lost  respect  for  their  parents, 
who  were  ashamed  of  telling  them  of  the  very  thing  that 
had  made  them  their  parents.  Thus  the  sanctity  of 
the  marital  and  parental  relation  is  at  once  destroyed 
in  their  consciousness,  and  the  children  become  accus- 
tomed to  look  upon  the  sexual  life  as  unclean  and 
obscene. 

Sexual  Education  vs.  Sexual  Hygiene. — Sexual  educa- 
tion, however,  is  not  identical  with  the  teaching  of 
sexual  hygiene.  Important  as  the  latter  is  in  a  way,  it 
can  never  take  the  place  of  the  former,  while  sexual 
education  may  eventually  be  effective  without  any  sci- 
entific knowledge  of  the  hygienic  part. 

Sexual  education  is  in  part  a  matter  of  training  a 
child  in  habits  of  cleanliness,  of  physical  and  mental 
self-control,  of  self-respect  and  self-improvement.  It 
depends  upon  proper  physical  training  so  that  the  body 
may  be  strong,  vigorous,  and  enduring,  capable  of  with- 
standing physical  and  emotional  strain.  "Mens  sana 
in  corpore  sano."  It  depends  upon  the  cultivation  of 
the  habit  of  truthfulness  and  exactitude.  Truthfulness 
in  the  prompt  and  unvarnished  statements  of  question 
and  answer  in  matters  where  the  child  wants  informa- 
tion, help,  and  guidance.  Truth  told  by  the  parent  to 
the  child  who  must  have  the  confidence  that  he  will 
always  have  the  true  answers  from  his  parents  to  his 
searching  questions  as  to  the  origin  of  things,  the  origin 
of  his  own  being.     In  this  manner  the  parents  will  fore- 


SEXUAL  PERVERSION  AND   PROSTITUTION     217 

Stall  the  evil  thoughts  and  practices  created  by  un- 
satisfied curiosity,  by  erotic  imagination,  by  the 
obscene  suggestions  from  his  companions  or  from 
menials. 

Truth,  yes.  But  not  necessarily  the  whole  truth  at 
once.  There  are  stages  of  intellectual  growth  in  the  child 
to  which  the  answers  can  be  adjusted.  And  the  truth  is 
not  merely  a  physiological  truth;  there  is  a  spiritual  truth. 
The  sexual  life  of  man  is  bound  up  with  the  highest 
emotions  and  ambitions;  with  the  instinct  and  passion 
of  love  with  all  its  wonderful  tenderness;  with  the  in- 
stinct of  the  reproduction  of  the  self,  of  a  new  realization 
of  the  self,  of  a  spiritual  no  less  than  a  bodily  reincarna- 
tion. The  sexual  instinct  has  been  the  basis  of  the 
earliest  mythologies  and  religions:  creation,  the  polarity 
of  the  male  and  the  female  element  in  creation,  and  the 
mystery  of  procreation^  have  inspired  the  religious  think- 
ers of  all  times  and  have  given  color  even  to  the  most 
spiritual  of  all  religions  which  recognizes  the  "father- 
hood of  God." 

As  there  are  stages  in  the  spiritual  growth  of  the 
child,  so  there  are  stages  in  the  development  of  his,  or  her, 
sex  life.  These  must  be  carefully  watched.  The  com- 
ing on  of  puberty  is  fraught  with  much  danger  because 
a  profound  revolution  takes  place  in  body  and  soul  at 
this  time.  Now,  much  intelligent,  loving,  and  tender 
guidance  is  needed,  so  that  the  "new  birth"  be  one  for 
sanity,  purity,  and  constructiveness.  Adolescence  is  the 
period  of  much  derailment.  Crime  and  prostitution 
have  their  recruiting  stations  at  this  age.  The  mere 
teaching  of  sex  hygiene  will  not  prevent  derailment 
through  passion;  mere  knowledge  is  not  virtue;  fear  of 
consequences  is  not  a  safe  guide. 


218  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Home  and  Its  Influences. — Sexual  education  is  a 
complex  problem.  But  its  basis  is  a  true  and  sweet 
home  life;  the  building  up  of  right  ideals  of  living,  of  a 
strong  and  pure  character  in  the  children;  of  right  rela- 
tions between  parent  and  child;  infusing  the  spiritual 
element  into  education.  Children  who  respect  and 
honor  their  parents,  having  learned  from  their  lips  the 
secret  of  life,  the  great  divine  wonder  of  procreation, 
will  never  look  upon  the  passion  of  love  as  an  unclean 
thing,  or  upon  their  own  origin  as  an  obscene  act  of 
which  their  parents  must  be  ashamed  or  which  justifies 
the  young  in  following  the  promptings  of  lust  and 
voluptuousness. 

Marital  Choice. — Faulty  conceptions  of  the  marital 
relation  in  the  average  home  have  been  responsible  for 
much  of  sexual  tension  and  unhappiness,  with  conse- 
quent violations  of  the  sacred  vow.  It  is  not  even  now 
the  practice  of  parents  in  all  cases  to  let  their  children 
do  the  choosing  of  their  mates.  In  their  fear  that  the 
young  might  choose  unwisely — mostly  from  the  point 
of  view  of  station  and  wealth,  ever  so  philistinely  con- 
ceived— many  parents  insist  upon  selecting  their  chil- 
dren's life  partners.  The  ancient  custom  of  the  Orientals 
of  selling  the  bride  to  the  highest  bidder  is  not  alto- 
gether a  thing  of  the  past,  and  girls  are  carefully  trained 
to  be  attractive  so  that  they  may  bring  their  price  in 
the  market.  Princesses  marry  for  "poHtical"  reasons 
and  have  rarely  a  love-life  of  their  own.  The  state  of 
mind  in  which  a  girl  is  when  she  surrenders  herself  to 
her  marital  purchaser  cannot  differ  essentially  from 
that  of  the  prostitute  who  sells  her  body  outright. 
This  morally  unhealthy  condition  has  not  been  condu- 
cive to  fostering  a  sane  and  pure  sexual  attitude. 


SEXUAL  PERVERSION   AND   PROSTITUTION     219 

Promiscuous  Relations  of  Children. — ^Again,  the  un- 
regulated relations  of  children  in  our  homes  (often 
enough  rather  nomadic  in  character),  in  the  streets  and 
tenement-houses;  their  kissing  games;  their  early  court- 
ships, often  of  an  outspokenly  erotic  character;  the 
way  in  which  the  young  lady  of  the  house  receives  her 
young  man,  with  the  studied  exclusion  of  the  family 
and  of  parental  influence,  are  examples  of  the  other  ex- 
treme, which  leads  to  license  instead  of  freedom,  to 
temptation  instead  of  fortified  experience. 

Tenement  Conditions. — In  the  crowded  homes  of  the 
tenements  the  human  derelicts  are  deprived  of  that 
amount  of  privacy  which  modern  ideas  of  a  clean  life 
require.  Those  of  us  who  know  the  unspeakably  naive 
conceptions  and  practices  which  prevail  in  southern 
countries  of  Europe  in  regard  to  public  "comfort  sta- 
tions"— who  know  that  these  things  exist  openly,  even 
in  such  civiHzed  countries  as  Italy  and  Spain,  not  to 
speak  of  our  own  southern  neighbors — will  be  charitable 
in  their  opinions  of  the  shamelessness  and  filth  existing 
in  our  "slum"  districts.  Nevertheless,  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  close  cohabitation  of  old  and  young, 
breeding  lack  of  modesty  and  privacy,  and  conducive  to 
reckless  exposure  and  filth,  will  stunt  the  sensibilities 
of  the  young  and  lead  to  loose  ideas  and  habits  of  per- 
sonal morality.  Unclean  habits  and  shamelessness  nur- 
ture prostitution  and  crime. 

Morbid  Sexuality. — The  development  of  the  sexual 
impulse  should  be  watched  with  solicitude.  Through 
local  or  neurotic  irritation,  or  through  maladjustment 
of  the  growth  factors,  a  distinct  sensuality  may  be 
caused,  with  sexual  precocity,  a  premature  awakening 
of  the  sexual  impulse  in  both  boys  and  girls.     Often  the 


220  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

body  is  not  strong  enough  to  resist  the  onslaught  of 
these  powerful  instincts  in  their  budding  time,  when 
they  are  rushing  forth  with  elemental  force,  and  are 
least  understood  by  the  child;  more  often  the  will  is  not 
ethically  developed  for  successful  inhibition  of  unhealthy 
promptings,  and  the  nervous  system  is  still  too  unset- 
tled to  withstand  the  strain.^  The  result  is  a  general 
havoc  and  shipwreck.  In  adolescent  girls  disturbance 
in  the  menstrual  rhythm  produces  irritations  and  ex- 
citations leading  to  moral  and  nervous  breakdown. 
This  is  the  t3^ical  period  of  masturbation,  although  mas- 
turbating tendencies  have  been  observed  in  very  young 
children. 

The  effect  of  masturbation  on  the  system  has  often 
been  overestimated  and  parents  have  been  needlessly 
frightened.  Nevertheless,  we  must  be  watchful  and 
cautious,  as  prolonged  or  excessive  indulgence  in  this 
habit  is  distinctly  harmful  to  the  functional  and  mental 
life  of  the  individual. 

Masturbation  is  often  caused  by  those  sedentary  hab- 
its promoted  by  our  present  methods  of  classroom  in- 
struction with  books.  The  nervous  wrigghng  of  a  child 
in  his  seat,  especially  when  the  seat  is  not  properly  ad- 
justed, is  very  often  a  danger-signal. 

Masturbation  is  not  always  a  sexual  act  in  the  sense 
that  the  masturbator  thinks  of  the  opposite  sex.  There 
are  cases  of  inversion  when  the  sexual  impulse  is  abnor- 
mally directed  toward  the  masturbator's  own  sex.  The 
act  is  often  merely  the  gratification  of  a  local  irritation, 
as  in  the  condition  mentioned  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph; or  it  is  the  result  of  a  desire  to  get  rid  of  an  un- 

'  Cf.  Hall's  remarks,  quoted  on  p.  137.  Also  "Sexual  Neurasthenia," 
p.  151. 


SEXUAL  PERVERSION  AND  PROSTITUTION     221 

pleasant  and  exciting  sensation.  Anxieties,  fears,  ex- 
pectations of  pleasurable  or  unpleasurable  kind,  may 
lead  to  the  setting  free  of  the  masturbating  impulse  or 
even  to  an  excitation  of  a  true  sexual  impulse.  This 
sexual  impulse  cannot  be  gratified  in  the  normal  way 
by  sexual  intercourse  in  immature  children,  or  even  in 
adolescents  of  the  domesticated  and  ''moral"  type,  and 
therefore  leads  to  artificial  gratification,  which  means 
onanism  or  masturbation.  It  has  been  established  be- 
yond doubt  that  the  overwhelming  majority  of  boys 
masturbate  at  some  time  or  another,  in  many  cases 
keeping  up  the  practice  through  fife,  even  after  marriage, 
in  preference  to  intercourse  with  prostitutes.  The  per- 
centage of  masturbating  girls  seems  to  be  smaller,  al- 
though it  is  difficult  to  obtain  absolute  figures.  Girls, 
however,  masturbate  more  frequently  and  often  with 
greater  intensity  than  boys. 

Early  Intercourse. — The  sexual  impulse,  when  not 
normally  gratified,  may  have  grave  pathological  efifects 
in  the  physical  as  well  as  in  the  psychical  sphere.  Early 
marriages  should  therefore  be  considered  with  favor,  at 
least  in  respect  to  those  whose  sexual  life  awakens  early 
and  is  strong  in  passion.  Many  children  of  sexual  pre- 
cocity are  tempted  to  gratify  their  promptings  by  early 
intercourse.  It  has  been  established  in  the  Chicago 
Domestic  Relations  Court  by  very  careful  investigations 
into  the  causes  of  prostitution  that  a  surprisingly  large 
percentage  of  girls  had  their  first  "fall"  in  the  home  of 
their  parents.*    We  may  be  reminded  that  in  certain 

> "  You  can  imagine  my  astonishment  when  on  compiling  my  social 
statistics  for  the  last  six  months  of  the  first  year's  work,  I  discovered 
that  the  girl's  own  home,  under  her  father's  own  roof,  was  three  times  as 
great  as  any  other  factor.  Out  of  a  total  of  225  cases  listed  this  place 
was  63;  out-of-doors,  21;  assignation  houses,  16;  man's  home,  19;  place  of 


222  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

peasant  districts  in  Europe  it  is  almost  a  legitimate 
privilege  of  the  lover  to  visit  his  sweetheart  nights  in 
her  own  chamber.  The  sexual  relations  are  not  always 
and  everywhere  carefully  circumscribed  but  more  or 
less  in  the  open  and  promiscuous.  What  has  been  said 
in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  about  "common"  and 
"vulgar"  practices  may  well  be  remembered  here. 
Those  who  know  the  intimate  history  of  the  royal  courts 
of  the  Middle  Ages  are  aware  of  the  fact  that  in  those 
"highest  circles"  the  relations  between  knights  and 
ladies  were  anything  but  platonic;  our  modern  standards 
represent  almost  a  different  civilization. 

Ancient  Sex- Worship. — Here  we  touch  upon  another 
element  which  deserves  attention  in  our  endeavor  to 
understand  and  handle  this  difficult  problem.  The 
problem  of  prostitution,  and  for  that  matter  also  that 
of  inebriety,  which  is  often  co-ordinated  with  the  mani- 
festations of  the  sexual  instinct,  must  be,  at  least  in 
part,  considered  in  the  light  of  manifestations  of  primi- 
tive instincts  and  aboriginal  mental  attitudes.  Sex- 
worship  and  revelry  formed  important  elements  in 
ancient  religions.  The  sacrifice  of  virginity  was  as 
much  a  religious  act  as  offering  one's  self-control  at  the 
altar  of  Bacchus.^    Prostitution  was  an  act  of  service 

girl's  employment,  9;  place  of  man's  employment,  6,  etc.,  etc.,  demon- 
strating another  fact  that  these  girls'  falls  were  due  in  some  measure  to 
acts  of  omission  on  the  part  of  parents:  neglect,  criminal  neglect." — 
From  a  paper  by  Judge  Goodnow. 

^  Intoxication,  according  to  Doctor  G.  E.  Partridge,  was  originally  an 
accompaniment  and  the  source  of  those  exalted  psychical  states  neces- 
sary for  the  development  of  individual  and  racial  consciousness,  which 
meant  enlarged  mental  horizon  and  the  lifting  of  individuals  and  nations 
to  levels  of  constructive  mental  activity.  In  time  the  race  acquired  the 
fixation  of  these  levels,  and  the  intoxication  impulse  had  served  its  use- 
fulness. 

"The  impulse  survives  to-day  in  its  harmful  aspects,"  says  the  New 


SEXUAL  PERVERSION  AND  PROSTITUTION     223 

in  the  temples  of  Astarte  and  Venus.  We  are  dealing, 
in  a  measure,  in  our  modem  problems,  with  reverbera- 
tions of  primordial  conceptions  and  impulses.  Mod- 
esty, in  the  modem  sense,  did  not  exist  in  those  times 
and  p)eoples.  It  is,  of  course,  very  difficult  to  project 
our  modem  consciousness,  our  modem  ideas  of  right 
and  wrong,  of  virtue  and  vice,  onto  the  level  of  these 
primitive  instincts  and  mental  attitudes.  There  is 
hardly  a  bridge  leading  from  one  to  the  other.  Yet,  in 
judging  of  individuals,  we  must  bear  in  mind  the  ex- 
perience and  evolution  of  the  race.  Chapter  III  on 
"Different  Civilization  I^evels  in  Modem  Society"  gives 
further  enlightenment  on  this  subject. 

Racial  Differences  and  Their  Modem  Counterparts. — 
An  example  of  how  moral  conceptions  differ  racially,  or 
in  different  civilization  levels,  is  contained  in  Miss  Blas- 
coer's  report  on  colored  children  in  New  York  (quoted 
before).     She  writes: 

York  Medical  Journal  in  reviewing  Doctor  Partridge's  book,  "  Studies  in 
the  Psychology  of  Intemperance,"  and  continues:  "It  no  longer  has  a 
great  function  to  perform.  It  dominates  individuals  and  social  groups 
when  they  are  unable  to  reach  these  higher  levels  of  activity,  to  direct 
their  vital  energies  into  these  channels,  and  so  are  dependent  upon  its 
temporary  and  inefficient  exhilaration.  They  find  in  it  also  a  social 
reaction,  likewise  inadequate  and  evanescent,  but  a  feeble  survival  of 
the  effective  social  awakening  that  intoxication  produced  in  the  early 
history  of  mankind.  The  narcosis  of  alcohol*  or  other  drugs  is  now 
merely  a  refuge  for  those  whose  mental  organization  demands  release 
from  the  too  great  pressure  whidh  they  are  unable  to  meet  in  the  ceaseless 
struggle  for  existence  and  advance,  the  unequal  struggle  between  in* 
stinctive  forces  and  ethical  conditions."  This  is  true  to  some  extent, 
but  there  are  other  factors  entering  into  a  discussion  of  this  prob- 
lem. 

According  to  Doctor  Partridge,  the  cure  for  habitual  intoxication  must 
consist  in  directing  the  activities  of  the  sufferer  to  higher  spheres,  which 
must  be  such  as  are  capable  of  arousing  an  interest  sufficient  to  stimulate 
and  sustain  him  in  his  best  endeavor. 


224  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

(Case  58.)  A  curious  family  arrangement  was  found  in  the 
case  of  one  of  the  children  in  the  exceptional  group.  A  boy,  E. 
S.,  9  years  9  months  old,  in  the  4B  grade,  was  kept  out  of  school 
because  he  had  no  shoes.  On  visiting  the  home  address  given  in 
the  school  it  was  found  that  he  and  his  sister  were  being  given  their 
meals  there  by  their  father's  wife,  but  slept  in  the  home  of  their 
mother,  who  was  never  married  and  who  had  had  two  other  chil- 
dren by  other  fathers.  The  father  was  in  the  West,  employed  in  a 
large  hotel,  and  had  sent  no  money  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
boy  and  his  sister  for  six  weeks.  Mrs.  S.  was  very  Ul,  with  what 
proved  later  to  be  pernicious  anaemia,  and  could  not  earn  enough 
money  to  care  for  the  children.  After  much  persuasion  she 
permitted  the  matter  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Charity 
Organization  Society,  whose  efforts  brought  a  substantial  re- 
sponse from  the  husband.  She  refused,  however,  to  permit 
application  to  be  made  for  the  commitment  of  the  children. 
She  was  a  refined,  intelligent  woman,  a  West  Indian  of  French 
descent,  and  said  she  wished  the  children  to  be  in  their  mother's 
custody  if  she  herself  was  no  longer  well  enough  to  care  for 
them.  When  asked  whether  she  thought  it  was  doing  justice 
to  the  children  to  have  them  brought  up  by  a  woman  of  loose 
morals,  she  said:  "I  should  not  regard  Miss  H.  (their  mother) 
as  a  woman  of  loose  morals.  She  is  and  always  has  been  a  very 
hard-working  young  woman,  and  if  I  make  myself  content  with 
these  arrangements,  I  cannot  see  why  the  public  shovdd  feel 
concerned. 


Examples  of  this  kind  can  be  multipKed  by  those  who 
know  the  situation.  But  we  should  be  far  from  correct 
if  we  were  to  persuade  ourselves  to  think  that  concei>- 
tions  like  these  are  confined  to  "lower"  races  or  civiliza- 
tion levels.  The  author  knows  of  another  case  where  a 
"curious"  crosswise  arrangement  was  carried  out  quite 
in  legal  form.  The  parents  of  a  certain  boy  (Case  59) 
had  obtained  a  divorce  and  each  one  had  remarried. 
The  father,  Mr.  A.,  married  Mrs.  B.,  the  divorced  wife 
of  his  friend,  Mr.  B.,  who  in  turn  married  Mrs.  A.,  the 


SEXUAL  PERVERSION  AND  PROSTITUTION     225 

divorced  wife  of  the  boy's  father.  Mr.  A.  kept  his  boy 
to  live  with  him  and  his  new  wife,  the  former  Mrs.  B., 
who  kept  her  little  daughter  from  her  former  marriage 
with  her.  Mr.  A.'s  little  daughter,  the  boy's  sister, 
stayed  with  his  and  her  mother,  the  new  Mrs.  B.  and 
former  Mrs.  A.  The  children  visited  the  new  homes  of 
their  respective  mothers  or  fathers  at  stated  intervals, 
and  the  families  remained  friendly  with  one  another. 
New  children  were  bom  to  either  couple,  thus  compli- 
cating the  family  relations.  Similar  occurrences  are 
recorded  in  the  journals  of  the  courts  of  all  cities.  Every- 
thing is  perfectly  legal  and  the  charge  of  "loose  morals" 
as  made  against  the  poor  colored  woman,  cannot  even 
be  breathed  against  these  wealthy  and  highly  refined  peo- 
ple, who  feel  that  they  are  perfectly  within  their  rights. 

Malpractice  with  Children. — Even  in  the  case  of  early 
malpractice  with  children,  parallels  with  primeval  con- 
ceptions may  be  drawn.  In  his  book,  "Das  Geschlechts- 
leben  in  der  Volkerpsychologie "  ("The  Sexual  Life  in 
Folk  Psychology"),  Leipzig,  igoS^  page  557,  Otto  StoU 
reports  cases  from  uncivilized  countries;  and  to  his  ac- 
count of  the  defloration  of  children  he  adds  this  state- 
ment: "From  all  such  details  we  draw  the  ethnologically 
remarkable  inference  that  those  human  beings  who 
have  attained  the  highest  level  of  civilization  relapse 
frequently,  in  the  matter  of  sexual  life,  into  the  rudest 
instincts  of  savagery;  and  that  in  this  respect  neither 
does  one  civilized  country  much  excel  another,  nor  is 
'civilized  man'  in  a  position  to  cast  many  reproaches 
in  the  teeth  of  the  savage,"     (Quoted  by  Moll.) 

Malpractice  on  children  is  of  course  one  of  the  most 
potent  causes  of  eventual  prostitution,  as  it  awakens 
the  sexual  instinct  prematurely  and  destroys  the  safe- 


226  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

guard  of  the  sense  of  shame,  at  the  same  time  disorgan- 
izmg  the  psychic  life  of  the  child  among  many  other 
lines  of  volitional  and  ideistic  elements.  How  serious 
this  matter  is  may  be  gauged  from  the  fact  that  deflora- 
tion has  taken  place  in  girls  as  young  as  nine  or  ten 
years.  There  have  been  mothers  of  eleven  and  twelve 
years.  If  these  matters  are  brought  into  court  more 
damage  is  often  done  by  having  the  children  present  in 
open  court  during  the  time  testimony  is  given,  thus  ex- 
posing them  to  the  relation  of  immoral  details. 

As  Moll  says  in  his  very  instructive  book,  "The  Sex- 
ual Life  of  the  Child,"  page  231 : 

The  mental  condition  of  the  child-depraver  is  a  matter  of  the 
utmost  importance.  In  cases  in  which  we  find  that  the  offender 
is  suffering  from  some  pronounced  mental  disorder,  such  as 
progressive  paralysis  (paralysis  dementia),  senile  dementia,  or 
an  epileptic  disturbance  of  consciousness,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
as  to  the  existence  of  irresponsibility;  but  it  must  never  be  for- 
gotten that  in  the  early  course  of  such  diseases  these  sexual  per- 
versions often  make  their  appearance  at  a  time  when  no  other 
definite  signs  of  the  brain  disease  have  as  yet  appeared,  and 
that  for  this  reason  the  conviction  of  innocent  persons — old  men, 
for  instance — on  account  of  sexual  offenses  against  children 
often  occurs.  Kirn,  who  in  the  Freiburg  prison  had  under  ob- 
servation six  old  men  at  ages  from  68  to  81,  all  convicted  for 
sexual  offenses  against  little  girls,  states  that  in  all  of  these  there 
were  intellectual  defects,  and  in  several  of  them  pronounced 
symptoms  of  senile  dementia.  The  psychiatric  expert  must 
examine  all  such  cases  with  the  utmost  care.  We  may  also  ex- 
press a  wish  that  judges  were  not  inclined  to  regard  themselves 
as  experts  in  this  field,  of  which,  as  a  rule,  they  have  no  expert 
knowledge  whatever. 

This  last  caution  is  well  put  in  regard  to  many  cases 
of  sexual  perversity  and  prostitution,  even  of  crime  and 
delinquency  in  general. 


SEXUAL   PERVERSION   AND   PROSTITUTION     227 

Causes  and  Remedies. — Abraham  Flexner,  in  his 
study  of  "Prostitution  in  Europe,"  published  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Bureau  of  Social  Hygiene,  by  the  Cen- 
tury Company,  New  York,  says: 

In  so  far  as  prostitution  is  the  outcome  of  ignorance,  laws 
and  police  are  powerless;  only  knowledge  will  aid.  In  so  far  as 
prostitution  is  the  outcome  of  mental  or  moral  defect,  laws  and 
police  are  powerless;  only  the  intelligent  guardianship  of  the 
State  will  avail.  In  so  far  as  prostitution  is  the  outcome  of 
natural  impulses  denied  a  legitimate  expression,  only  a  rational- 
ized social  life  will  really  forestall  it.  In  so  far  as  prostitution 
is  due  to  alcohol,  to  illegitimacy,  to  broken  homes,  to  bad  homes, 
to  low  wages,  to  wretched  industrial  conditions — to  any  or  all 
of  the  particular  phenomena  respecting  which  the  modem  con- 
science is  becoming  sensitive — only  a  transformation  wrought  by 
education,  religion,  science,  sanitation,  enUghtened  and  far- 
reaching  statesmanship,  can  effect  a  cure. 

Illegitimate  Ofifspring. — In  a  letter  to  the  author, 
B.  S.  Steadwell,  president  of  the  World's  Purity  Fed- 
eration, made  the  following  interesting  statement: 

Of  course,  very  few  prostitutes  have  any  offspring.  The 
mothers  of  most  children  born  out  of  wedlock  are  not  prostitutes 
by  any  means;  they  are  in  the  main  unfortunate  and  betrayed 
girls.  The  fathers  of  such  children  are  largely  libertines,  to  be 
sure,  but  even  this  hereditary  influence  is  not  suflficient  to  "doom 
them  to  perdition."  I  have  had  an  opportunity  to  study  many 
of  these  children  during  the  past  eighteen  years,  and  I  have  been 
much  surprised  to  find  them  in  the  main  evenly  balanced  and 
healthy,  beyond  the  average  child  born  in  the  home.  We  have 
found,  too,  that  these  young  mothers  have  had  an  easier  time 
during  confinement  than  the  average  wife. 

These  statements  are  most  instructive.  They  show 
that  the  protection  of  law  and  custom  is  not  as  strong 
as  it  might  have  been  thought  to  be.     Physiologically 


228  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

speaking,  the  illegitimate  mother  and  the  illegitimate 
child  are  superior  to  those  who  have  the  sanction  of 
church  and  state.  This  is  a  curious,  perhaps  disquiet- 
ing example  of  the  supremacy  of  the  natural,  God-given 
instinct  as  compared  with  man-made  standards.  For 
these  mothers,  and  in  many  instances  the  fathers,  too, 
yielded  to  the  primordial  instinct  of  love,  without  think- 
ing of  the  opinion  of  the  "world,"  of  conventional 
standards,  and  of  organized  society.  This  is,  perhaps, 
unfortunate,  and  certainly  has  its  drawbacks.  Besides, 
it  would  be  a  wrong  conclusion  to  deduct  from  these 
facts  a  justification  of  what  has  been  called  "free  love." 
But  it  does  signify  that  man  has  hedged  himself  in  un- 
duly with  conventions — has  fettered  himself  as  if  in 
fear  of  his  own  legitimate  and  natural  promptings. 
These  social  chains,  partly  forged  under  economic  pres- 
sure, have  weakened  his  physiological  constitution  to 
some  extent.  It  will  be  well  to  consider  the  necessity 
of  re-establishing  a  more  natural  basis  for  marital  rela- 
tions than  has  obtained  for  a  long  time  under  modem 
conditions  of  life. 

Conclusion. — It  is  obvious  that  an  unguarded  sexual 
life  may  lead  a  child,  boy  or  girl,  to  failure  in  school 
and  home.  The  child  may  suffer  from  nervous  break- 
down, from  backwardness,  from  "incorrigibility,"  and 
eventually  land  in  the  reform  school,  the  "street,"  the 
jail.  The  problem  of  sexual  health  is,  therefore,  one 
which  gravely  concerns  educators  and  which  should  be 
considered  in  all  its  aspects  and  in  all  efforts  to  improve 
educational  conditions  through  clinical  research. 

But  we  must  be  clear  in  our  minds  about  this:  the 
problem  we  have  discussed  in  this  chapter  is  one  that 
cannot  be  solved  by  milk-and-water  methods;  by  allow- 


SEXUAL  PERVERSION  AND  PROSTITUTION     229 

ing  prejudices  and  pnidishness  to  dictate  our  measures; 
by  letting  emasculated  men  and  good  old  ladies  who 
have  passed  the  critical  age  formulate  ascetic  rules  of 
conduct.  It  is  a  problem  of  warm-bloodedness,  of 
virility,  of  deep-rooted  legitimate  instincts — instincts 
which  guarantee  the  power  and  permanency  of  human 
civilization.  It  cannot  be  solved  by  denying  love  and 
procreation  their  full  right  of  self-assertion,  by  insisting 
on  puritanical  doctrines  of  the  mortification  of  the  flesh, 
by  hysterical  tirades  about  "white  slavery"  and  by 
crusades  against  the  "social  evil."  It  requires  a  sane 
and  scientific  appreciation  of  facts;  a  calm  and  conserva- 
tive study  of  conditions;  and  a  sympathetic  and  humane 
attitude  toward  those  unfortunates  who  are  now  treated 
as  outcasts  and  who  are,  most  of  them,  merely  human. 


PART   II 

THE   PROBLEM   OF    CLINICAL   RESEARCH 
AND    DIAGNOSIS 

CHAPTER  XII 

THE  DETERMINATION  OF  EXCEPTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT 
IN  CHILDREN 

Different  Methods  of  Testing. — How  different  meth- 
ods of  testing  will  affect  the  findings,  especially  when 
there  is  obscurity  in  terminology,  may  be  shown  by 
many  instances.  This  cause  alone  has  been  responsible 
for  the  many  erroneous  ideas  about  the  percentage  of 
feeble-mindedness  and  mental  defect  in  the  common- 
wealth; about  the  danger  that  our  race  may  be  degen- 
erating; about  eugenics  and  marriage  and  a  host  of 
other  things.     To  illustrate: 

Some  investigators  have  placed  the  number  of  dis- 
tinctly feeble-minded  persons  as  amounting  to  2  and 
more  per  cent  of  the  entire  population;  while  other  in- 
vestigators, in  other  places,  using  different  scales  of 
measurement,  have  found  considerably  smaller  percent- 
ages. In  Raleigh,  S.  C,  the  number  of  feeble-minded 
children  was  estimated  as  28  out  of  3,800,  or  about 
0.7  per  cent.  In  England  and  Wales  the  proportion  of 
feeble-minded  to  the  normal  is  i  to  248,  or  about  0.4 
per  cent.  On  ElUs  Island,  where  the  medical  examiners 
introduced  some  interesting  methods  of  rapid  testing  of 

230 


EXCEPTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  CfflLDREN     231 

immigrants  suspected  of  mental  defect,  it  has  been 
shown  that  not  more  than  0.2  per  cent  can  be  called 
feeble-minded.  In  the  July  number  (191 7)  of  Mental 
Hygiene,  Edith  M.  Furbush,  statistician  for  the  National 
Committee  for  Mental  Hygiene,  gives  figures  which  are 
equally  reassuring.  The  census  of  January,  191 7,  shows 
a  total  of  37,220  feeble-minded  persons  in  institutions 
throughout  the  country.  The  epileptics  enumerated, 
which  now  come  under  the  mentally  defective  class, 
totalled  10,801.  In  19 10  the  Federal  Census  Bureau 
estimated  that  not  over  one-tenth  of  the  feeble-minded 
were  being  cared  for  in  institutions.  On  the  same  basis, 
the  article  says,  and  assuming  that  increase  in  feeble- 
minded has  been  at  the  same  rate  as  the  general  popula- 
tion, there  is  now  about  one-sixth  of  the  total  feeble- 
minded population  in  institutions.  This  would  mean 
that  there  are  223,320  feeble-minded  people  in  the 
United  States.  If  the  total  population  of  the  country  is 
estimated  as  something  above  one  hundred  millions,  Miss 
Furbush's  figures  would  mean  that  the  percentage  of 
feeble-minded  is  as  low  as  one-fifth  of  i  per  cent — a 
peculiar  coincidence  with  the  Ellis  Island  figures. 

Hereditary  and  Congenital  Data. — In  any  system  of 
tests  that  is  to  give  reliable  data,  the  causes  of  mental 
exceptionality  must  be  discovered  as  far  as  possible. 
The  greatest  difl&culty  will  be  encountered  in  the  study 
of  hereditary  and  congenital  causes,  including  venereal 
infection.  Family  data  are  not  easily  obtained.  The 
heredity  charts  made  up  in  some  places  endeavoring  to 
trace  the  members  of  certain  families  through  genera- 
tions and  centuries,  are  of  doubtful  value,  inasmuch 
as  the  valuation  of  the  moral  conduct  and  mentality  of 
individual  members  is  rarely  scientifically  reliable.    It 


232  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

is  difficult  enough  to  diagnose  justly  the  case  of  a  living 
child;  to  classify  with  any  degree  of  justice  and  accu- 
racy the  cases  of  the  dead,  through  "field  work"  which 
reUes  upon  circumstantial  evidence,  is  a  risky  under- 
taking. 

Family  data  will  never  be  trustworthy  until  we  have 
a  national  system  of  vital  statistics.  Careful  records  of 
births  and  deaths  and  the  accompanying  circumstances 
should  be  kept,  including  as  much  of  the  parental  his- 
tory as  possible.  These  data  should  be  accessible  for 
the  scientific  study  of  every  individual  child.  The 
medical  fraternity  can  greatly  help  these  studies  by 
estabUshing  to  the  best  of  their  opportunity  the  history 
and  etiology  of  each  case  under  observation,  and  by 
carefully  studying  hereditary  and  congenital  causes. 
Professional  discretion  will  prevent  physicians  from 
making  the  facts  thus  discovered  pubhc.  But  it  seems 
justifiable  to  expect  their  co-operation,  by  legal  pro- 
vision and  sanction  if  necessary,  at  least  in  cases  of 
such  gravity  that  the  State  and  the  community  have  a 
deep  interest.  A  commission  composed  of  experts  should 
be  created  in  every  state  or  community,  with  full  power 
to  elicit  all  the  obtainable  information  on  any  case. 

Mental  Status  of  the  Child. — A  mere  **  scale  of  in- 
telligence," so-called,  as  for  instance  the  Binet  scale, 
can  never  give  a  valid  measure  of  a  child's  status.  There 
must  be  a  thorough  study  of  a  child's  history,  environ- 
mental and  physical;  there  must  be  an  understanding  of 
his  heredity,  his  education,  and  a  number  of  other  points. 
It  is  therefore  refreshing  to  read  Doctor  Merrill's  sen- 
tence:^   "Any  system  of  tests   by  which  alone    it  is 

^  In  the  report  on  the  findings  at  the  Seattle,  Wash.,  Juvenile  Court, 
quoted  before. 


EXCEPTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  CHILDREN     233 

attempted  to  classify  the  child  as  being  of  a  given  men- 
tal age  involves  the  fallacy  of  pseudo-exactness  and 
needs  carefully  to  be  avoided." 

The  Author's  Own  Larger  System  of  Tests. — In  his 
book,  "The  Study  of  Individual  Children,"  published 
191 2  by  the  National  Association  for  the  Study  and  Ed- 
ucation of  Exceptional  Children,  the  author  has  ventured 
to  ofifer  a  set  of  tests  and  investigations  which,  while 
by  no  means  final,  may  illustrate  what  ought  to  be 
done.  The  complete  form  comprises  the  following 
schedules: 

First:  a  Child  History,  giving  data  previous  to  the 
time  of  examination.  Second:  a  set  of  Body  Measure- 
ments. Third:  a  system  of  Medical  and  Functional  Ex- 
aminations. Finally:  a  scale  of  Pkysiopsychological  and 
Mental  Measurements  which,  in  conjunction  with  the 
other  investigations,  will  allow  of  some  sort  of  definite 
conclusion  as  to  diagnosis  and  treatment. 

Child  History  Data. — This  part  of  the  investigation 
endeavors  to  obtain  as  full  etiological  statements  as  can 
be  obtained,  referring  to  the  family  history  of  the  case: 
Parents'  and  grandparents'  station  in  life,  physical  and 
mental  condition,  cause  of  death,  temperament,  etc.  A 
careful  record  of  all  children,  living  or  dead  (including 
miscarriages  and  still-births)  is  required.  Information 
is  also  asked  about  other  relatives.  The  child's  own 
history  refers  to  data  about  early  infancy,  nature  of  feed- 
ing, diseases,  developmental  data,  etc.  Then  comes  a 
description  of  the  child.  First,  Physical  Data  are  asked: 
Height  and  weight,  condition  of  teeth,  body  peculiari- 
ties, etc.  Second,  Functions:  Digestion,  sleep,  sense 
reactions,  sp)eech,  etc.  Third,  Moral  Status:  Sexual  de- 
velopment, filial  relations,  obedience,  character  in  gen- 


234  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

eral  and  detail,  etc.  Fourth,  Peculiarities  and  Habits: 
Conditions  of  fear,  nervous  conditions,  general  reactions, 
manners,  etc.  Fifth,  Mental  Status:  Precocity  or  back- 
wardness, memory  power,  thought,  imagination,  judg- 
ment, school  training,  etc.  Finally,  General  Symptoms: 
Errors  of  education,  medical  treatment,  etc. 

Body  Measurements. — These  are  of  the  usual  an- 
thropometric type,  including  height  and  weight,  chest 
expansion,  girths,  and  diameters.  Data  on  the  child's 
individual  rate  of  pulse,  respiration,  and  temperature  are 
added,  to  enable  clearer  judgment  in  the  case  of  illness. 
The  blank  for  these  measurements  is  so  arranged  that 
monthly  entries  may  be  made  for  one  year.  The  blank 
is  for  the  use  under  conditions  where  longer  periods  of 
observation  are  granted  so  that  the  growth  of  the  child 
and  his  development  may  be  carefully  studied.  The 
measurements  are  supposed  to  be  made  without  clothing 
not  only  to  exclude  the  inevitable  errors  which  clothing 
involves,  but  also  to  give  immediate  opportunity  for 
closer  physical  observation,  preceding  a  thorough  medi- 
cal examination.  Facts  of  scoliosis,  round-shouldered- 
ness,  skin  abnormalities,  deformities,  flat-footedness, 
burns  and  scalds,  etc.,  etc.,  can  thus  be  at  once  put 
down.  On  the  back  of  the  entry  blank,  space  is  provided 
for  such  remarks  which  then  can  be  utilized  as  a  basis 
for  further  medical  reference. 

Medical  Examinations. — For  these  several  different 
blanks  have  been  provided,  representing  different  stages 
and  lines  of  observation  and  examination. 

The  first  of  these  is  in  the  nature  of  a  cross-section 
examination,  to  be  made  by  the  regular  school  physician, 
giving  a  general  clinical  picture  of  the  child's  physical 
condition.    It   refers   to   the  general   appearance   and 


EXCEPTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  CHILDREN     235 

nutrition  of  the  child,  and  to  simple  facts  about  head, 
eyes,  ears,  nose,  mouth,  tonsils,  and  pharynx,  neck  and 
glands,  chest,  spine,  abdomen,  genitals,  extremities, 
etc. 

The  succeeding  blanks  require  the  co-operation  of 
specialists  and  suggest  such  particular  laboratory  tests  as 
will  make  the  examination  comprehensive. 

There  are  two  anatomical  sets.  The  first  refers  to  the 
condition  of  the  skeleton.  It  includes  skull  measure- 
ments. X-ray  photographs  of  the  carpal  bones,  etc.  In 
regard  to  the  significance  of  the  development  of  the 
carpal  bones,  the  late  Doctor  Thomas  M.  Rotch,  of 
Boston,  in  his  monograph,  *'The  Development  of  the 
Bones  in  Early  Life,"  came  to  the  following  conclusions: 

1.  There  is  a  manifest  need  for  some  developmental  index  by 
which  physicians,  acting  as  an  advisory  council  to  the  people, 
shall  be  able  to  determine  the  fitness  for  school  and  for  physical 
work  of  the  early  years  of  life. 

2.  The  former  means  for  this  purpose  are  inadequate,  whether 
by  height,  weight,  teeth,  statements  of  parents  and  guardians, 
or  birth  certificates. 

3.  The  physiologic  test  by  the  pubic  hair  worked  out  by 
Crampton^  is  an  exceedingly  valuable  contribution,  and  if,  as  is 
possible,  it  correlates  with  a  more  practical  anatomic  index,  will 
aid  in  deciding  in  doubtful  cases.  It  evidently,  however,  is  not 
from  its  very  nature  a  test  which  should  be  widely  used  in 
schools,  or  courts,"  and  it  only  covers  a  comparatively  short 
period  of  life  and  is  one  which  is  not  applicable  to  many  ques- 
tions connected  with  early  and  middle  school  life. 

4.  Physiologic  conditions  will  probably  be  found  to  corre- 
spond to  anatomic,  and  great  credit  should  be  awarded  to  Cramp- 
ton  for  his  suggestions  and  work  directed  to  the  future  discard- 
ing of  chronological  age  as  the  most  important  guide  in  solving 
the  problems  of  early  life. 

»C/.  later. 


236  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

5.  Weight  and  height  have  long  been  known  to  be  very  inade- 
quate for  determining  chronological  age,  and  have  been  conclu- 
sively shown  to  be  so  by  Crampton. 

6.  Pryor  has  shown  conclusively,  and  my  observations  uphold 
his,  that  there  is  a  marked  difference  in  the  anatomic  develop- 
ment of  children  according  to  sex  and  family. 

7.  The  consensus  of  opinion  among  odontologists  is  that  the 
eruption  of  the  teeth  as  an  index  of  age  is  illusive  and  very  un- 
reliable. 

8.  The  skeleton  represents  an  illustrative  steel  framework  of 
development  on  which  the  body  is  built,  and  this  development, 
when  determined,  presents  the  best  source  from  which  to  evolve 
an  anatomic  index  for  practical  use  in  the  safeguarding  of  early 
life. 

9.  The  most  important  part  of  the  skeleton  for  use  as  an  index 
lies  in  the  joints.  .  .  . 

II.  The  carpal  bones  and  the  lower  epiphyses  of  the  radius 
and  ulna  represent  the  other  joints  to  such  a  degree  in  so  many 
instances,  are  so  much  more  in  evidence,  and  are  so  readily  in- 
terpreted by  the  Roentgen  method,  that  they  can  be  practically 
used  as  an  index  of  development,  representing  the  entire  bony 
framework. 

The  second  anatomical  set  refers  to  musculature  and 
characteristics.  It  relates  to  a  study  of  the  peculiarities 
of  the  face  in  all  its  details,  including  symmetry  and 
asymmetry,  nose,  mouth,  ears,  eyes,  forehead,  skin,  in 
their  anatomical  meaning.  Further,  the  mammae,  ab- 
domen, genital  organs,  etc.  With  Crampton  {cf.  his 
publications  as  contained  in  bibliography  at  end  of  this 
book)  the  author  lays  great  stress  upon  an  investigation 
of  the  anatomy  (and  functioning)  of  the  sexual  organs. 
Referring  to  his  remarks  in  various  places  in  the  chap- 
ters on  delinquency  and  prostitution,  he  wishes  to  em- 
phasize the  fact  that  malformations,  tardiness  or  pre- 
cocity of  development,  disturbances  in  the  functional 


EXCEPTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  CHILDREN     237 

sphere  of  the  reproductive  apparatus  are  responsible  for 
much  mental  and  moral  disorder. 

A  third  set  of  medical  test-cards  presents  functional 
tests.  They  include  tests  of  the  special  senses  (vision, 
hearing,  taste,  smell,  touch,  temperature,  muscular  sense, 
balance),  some  of  them  partly  anticipated  in  the  physio- 
psychological  tests  (which  are  mentioned  later,  but  may 
be  taken  up  before  a  child  is  referred  to  specialists  for 
more  thoroughgoing  investigation) ;  power  of  localization; 
chorea  tests,  knee-jerk,  habit  spasms,  neuroses,  speech, 
dexterity,  gait,  appetite,  digestion,  heart  action,  lungs, 
urination,  etc.     Special  reactions  are  also  provided  for. 

For  institutional  or  prolonged  observational  work 
blanks  have  been  provided  for  records  of  special  regimen 
and  diet,  as  well  as  a  disease  and  treatment  record. 

Educational  Tests. — In  the  working  out  of  those  tests 
which  are  intended  to  probe  the  mental  reaction  of  the 
child,  a  distinction  is  made  between  intelligence  and  judg- 
ment tests  proper,  and  those  which  refer  to  physiopsycho- 
logical  reaction.  For  example,  the  recognition  and  nam- 
ing of  colors  are  not  in  themselves  tests  of  intelligence; 
they  depend  upon  the  physiological  ability  to  distin- 
guish color,  and  the  ability  to  attach  a  name  to  a  clearly 
differentiated  color.  A  color-blind  child  will  neither 
match  nor  name  colors  correctly,  no  matter  how  intel- 
ligent he  may  be.  Again,  the  visual  and  aural  memory 
span  is  of  great  importance,  but  it  does  not  in  itself 
vouch  for  intellectual  strength. 

Physiopsychological  Tests. — They  present  tests  in 
color-perception  and  naming;  visual  and  auditory  dis- 
tance and  accuracy;  visual  and  aural  memory;  recogni- 
tion and  identification  of  tones  and  harmonies;  tactile 
tests;  tests  for  acuteness  in  taste  and  smell;  exercises  in 


238  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

location  and  balance,  etc.  All  these  tests  are  carefully 
graduated. 

Mental  Tests. — The  mental  tests  proper  are  quite 
variegated.  They  include  exercises  in  counting  and 
naming  things;  language  exercises,  also  using  secret 
languages;  following  of  directions;  mental  association; 
judgment;  motor  co-ordination;  expression,  and  certain 
aesthetic  reactions  intended  also  to  reveal  emotional 
qualities.  These  tests  are  very  full  indeed,  offering  a 
large  number  of  special  exercises,  such  as  building  and 
manual  construction,  drawing,  painting,  and  modelling. 
There  are  also  such  tests  as  will  examine  a  child's  prog- 
ress in  reading,  writing,  composition,  and  number.  His 
power  of  classification,  of  comparison,  of  deduction  is 
under  fire,  and  altogether  there  is  such  a  composite  pic- 
ture of  his  mentality  produced  that  hardly  any  one  of 
his  faculties  escapes  testing. 

Arrangement  in  Periods. — The  anatomical,  functional, 
physiopsychological,  and  mental  lines  of  development 
depend  upon  certain  biological  factors  of  growth.  These 
have  been  reflected  in  the  history  of  race  development. 
As  has  been  shown  in  previous  chapters,  it  will  be  im- 
possible to  draw  clear  lines  of  demarcation  between  the 
chronological  years  of  a  child's  age  as  to  his  mental 
standard,  inasmuch  as  the  anatomical,  physiological, 
psychological,  and  mental  growths  do  not  run  in  paral- 
lel lines,  or  at  equal  rates  of  speed,  in  all  individuals. 
But  it  is  feasible  to  mark  off,  in  a  general  way,  certain 
periods  of  development  in  a  child's  life,  such  as  correspond 
broadly  with  the  periods  of  race  development,  by  way  of 
a  succession  of  ascending  instincts  and  mental  attitudes, 
in  rate  of  reaction,  in  the  matter  of  motor  co-ordination 
and  response,  etc. 


EXCEPTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  CHILDREN     239 

In  the  author's  three  books  treating  of  this  subject* 
he  has  distinguished  four  such  periods.  As  will  be  seen 
on  page  41  of  this  volume,  he  has  modified  this  division 
by  splitting  up  the  first  of  these  into  two.  Thus  he 
suggests  five  periods :  the  Infancy  Period  (from  birth  to 
2  or  3  years),  the  Primary  Period  (2  or  3  to  about  6  or 
7),  the  Elementary  Period  (to  about  11),  the  Intermediate 
Period  (12  to  15),  and  the  Advanced  Period  (16  to  21). 
These  are  further  described  on  pp.  42  ^.,  and  referred  to 
frequently,  so  that  it  would  seem  the  author's  meaning 
cannot  be  mistaken.  On  page  167  reference  is  also 
made  to  Mr.  Ellis's  divisions.  His  two  Childhood 
Periods  cover  about  the  same  years  as  the  author's 
Elementary  Period;  his  Preadolescence  corresponds  to 
the  Intermediate;  his  Early  and  Later  Adolescence  are 
somewhat  parallel  to  the  Advanced  Period.  There  is  no 
objection  whatever  to  modifications  of  the  division,  and 
to  appellations  which  indicate  developmental  periods 
from  the  point  of  view  of  sexual  evolution;  the  principle 
is  the  same. 

The  important  point  is  that  the  author  has  endeavored 
to  adjust  his  tests  to  these  periods.  He  is  fully  aware 
of  the  fact,  however,  that  even  here  the  lines  cannot  be 
drawn  hard  and  fast.  Besides,  as  shown  before,  an 
individual  child  may  pass  through  these  periods  nor- 
mally in  certain  Unes  of  development,  and  unusually, 
or  even  abnormally,  slow  or  fast,  in  others.  Parallel 
development  along  all  lines,  and  at  the  same  rate  of 
speed,  is  really  an  exception.  This  explains  the  differ- 
ence of  mental  type.  The  different  mental  activities 
are  somewhat  independent  of  one  another,  being  local- 

^  "The  Career  of  the  Child,"  "Some  Fundamental  Verities  in  Educa/- 
tion,"  and  "The  Studv  of  Individual  Children." 


240  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

ized  in  different  brain  areas.  Again,  there  may  be  and 
often  is  a  distinct  difference  in  the  physiological  growth 
rate  from  the  rate  of  intellectual  development.  The 
one  or  the  other  may  be  retarded  or  accelerated,  causing 
tension.  Similar  discrepancies  may  appear  between  the 
anatomical  and  the  psychological  development.  Thus, 
the  deductions  to  be  made  from  the  results  of  the  tests 
have  to  be  carefully  checked  up  and  adjusted. 

Conditions  of  Testing. — The  objection  may  be  sus- 
tained that  such  an  extensive  examination  is  impossible 
in  general  practice.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  series  is 
not  intended  for  such  purpose.  In  Chapter  XVI  of 
this  book  the  author  offers  a  more  condensed  set  of 
tests  for  clinical  use.  But  no  rapid  examination  can  be 
thorough  and  reliable;  it  tends  toward  fallacious  deduc- 
tions. Even  the  strictest  adherents  of  the  Binet  scale 
have  been  adding  medical  examinations  and  many  other 
data  to  the  scheme,  and  many  Binet  examiners  have 
amplified  the  system  itself  by  the  introduction  of  further 
tests.  One  of  the  most  ardent  students  of  the  Binet 
scale^  assured  the  author  that  he  considered  it  a  grave 
error  on  the  part  of  physicians,  especially  neurologists, 
to  have  fallen  into  the  habit  of  using  these  tests  in  a 
rapid  office  examination  of  children  for  the  determina- 
tion of  their  mental  status.  As  has  been  stated  before, 
even  when  a  child  falls  three  or  more  years  below  his 
chronological  age — a  condition  which  some  think  gives 
the  Binet  tests  a  chance  of  value — it  has  been  found  in 
numerous  instances  that  the  conclusion  of  intellectual 
inferiority  is  not  always  tenable,  inasmuch  as  the  child's 
opportunity  for  training  has  to  be  considered;  and  the 
kind  of  tests  used,  or  passed,  or  missed,  must  be  taken 
*  Professor  Terman  of  Leiand  Stanford  University. 


EXCEPTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  CHILDREN     241 

into  account,  so  that  we  may  not  have  a  warped 
picture  of  his  mentality.  Besides,  a  child's  chronolog- 
ical age,  it  has  been  shown,  is  no  index  of  his  develop- 
ment. 

An  investigation  like  the  one  suggested  in  this  chap- 
ter will  obviously  extend  over  some  period  of  time,  and 
cannot  be  completed  in  one  sitting.  Only  so  much 
should  be  done  in  one  examination  as  can  be  accom- 
plished without  straining  the  child.  Measurements  and 
medical  examinations  have  to  be  undertaken  imder 
prop>er  conditions. 

In  courts  the  detention  home  should  be  developed  into 
an  observation  clinic,  where  tests  and  examinations  can 
be  made  at  leisure  and  under  easily  controlled  condi- 
tions. An.  observation  clinic,  or  observation  school, 
equipped  with  the  proper  apparatus  and  under  the  direc- 
tion of  specially  trained  persons,  should  be  established 
in  connection  with  every  school  system.  Truant  schools 
and  similar  institutions  should  afford  ample  opportuni- 
ties. Many  of  the  children  needing  examination  and 
observation  would  not  have  to  be  altogether  removed 
from  their  ordinary  surroundings  if  there  is  a  system  of 
clinics  for  the  special  work.  Much  of  the  testing  can 
be  done  in  the  school  itself,  in  the  schoolroom,  upon  a 
group  of  children  at  the  same  time.  Many  of  the  tests 
are  so  arranged  that  they  can  be  made  part  of  the  actual 
schoolroom  work.  In  a  measure  they  may  be  utilized  in 
place  of  the  traditional  examinations,  to  determine  a 
pupil's  maturity  for  promotion.  Other  tests  are  of  such 
a  nature  that  they  can  be  done  in  rest  and  recreation 
periods,  appealing  to  the  children's  play  spirit;  or  in  the 
workshop,  the  school-garden,  etc. 

In  special  institutions  for  the  study  and  training  of 


242  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

exceptional  children,  the  opportunities  are,  of  course, 
unlimited. 

Instructive  Cases. — ^To  illustrate  a  few  of  the  points 
made  in  this  chapter,  also  on  previous  pages  of  the  book, 
several  cases  from  the  records  of  the  author  may  here 
be  briefly  reported,  omitting  a  mass  of  details  which  are 
on  file.  The  first  two  cases  were  referred  to  the  author 
by  the  Juvenile  Court  of  San  Francisco,  in  1913,  and 
examined  by  him  in  the  clinic  established  in  that  city 
by  the  National  Association  for  the  Study  and  Educa- 
tion of  Exceptional  Children,  with  the  assistance  of 
Doctor  Ernest  Bryant  Hoag.  The  tests  were  abbrevi- 
ated in  their  cases,  but  followed  the  general  lines  of  this 
system. 

Case  60,  F.  C,  hoy,  aged  15  years. — Reported  because  he  was 
unable  to  retain  a  job,  and  had  become  practically  a  vagrant. 
The  mental  tests  proved  him  to  be  intellectually  very  imma- 
ture, generally  representing  the  primary  level,  and  certainly 
grossly  unschooled.  His  physical  condition  showed  the  under- 
lying causes  of  much  of  his  difficulty.  He  should  have  had 
special  treatment  for  many  years  past.  Septum  deflected  on 
right  side  of  nose,  with  great  obstruction  to  breathing;  nasal 
catarrh.  This  constituted  so  constant  an  irritation  that  it 
required  immediate  surgical  relief.  Hearing  was  reduced  by 
two-thirds  in  right  ear,  with  occasional  discharge,  indicating 
otitis  media  and  calling  for  treatment  to  prevent  further  deaf- 
ness. The  boy  proved  to  be  an  epUeptic,  with  attacks  dating 
back  at  least  two  years.  On  the  basis  of  these  findings  the  fol- 
lowing report  was  sent  to  the  court:  "The  boy  is  unable  to 
undertake  independent  employment.  Should  have  surgical  re- 
lief and  be  placed  in  a  home  for  epileptics,  where  also  his  man- 
ual faculties  may  be  developed.  He  is  entirely  unfit  for  educa- 
tion in  the  public  schools." 

Case  61,  J.  F.,  boy,  aged  16  years. — Had  been  arrested  for 
repeatedly  attacking  his  father,  even  his  mother,  and  not  doing 
well  at  anything.    When  brought  to  clinic,  he  was  handcuffed, 


EXCEPTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  CHILDREN     243 

sullen.  His  mental  development  was  found  to  be  exceedingly 
uneven.  He  showed  much  power  of  rational  judgment,  to- 
gether with  singular  retardation  in  specific  applications.  He 
gave  the  impression  of  a  mentally  neglected  child.  He  repre- 
sented a  transition  period  from  childhood  to  adolescence,  with 
all  the  mental  disturbance  characteristic  of  that  epoch.  Emo- 
tionally he  was  under  a  distinct  strain,  being  sullen  and  antago- 
nistic under  unsympathetic  influences  such  as  his  home  pre- 
sented; but  yielding  immediately  to  personal  sympathy.  He 
was  hardly  mature  or  trained  enough  for  independent  work. 
The  medical  examination  revealed  catarrh  of  the  throat,  en- 
larged turbinates  which  obstructed  the  nasal  passages,  and  a 
long,  adherent  prepuce.  Nasal  treatment  and  circumcision 
were  indicated  for  immediate  relief,  and  it  was  suggested  that 
he  be  placed  away  from  home  somewhere  where  he  would  have 
firm  but  kind  discipline  and  special  training  without  stigma. 

His  case  suggests  the  fact  that  it  is  easier  to  make 
recommendations  than  to  have  them  carried  out.  At 
the  present  time  there  are  hardly  any  places  in  existence, 
imder  public  control  at  least,  which  would  have  given 
this  boy  a  chance.  Reformatories,  so-called  parental 
schools,  and  the  like,  as  they  are  now  conceived  and 
organized,  are  not  the  places  required  in  such  a  case. 

The  following  cases  have  been  under  observation  in 
the  east,  in  part  in  the  institution  for  atypical  children, 
Herbart  Hall,  at  ''Watchung  Crest,"  Plainfield,  N.  J. 

Case  62,  G.  S.,  hoy,  aged  15  years  at  time  of  complete  exami- 
nation. Parentage  very  good,  easy  circumstances.  Father  is 
quite  deaf  from  catarrh  of  long  standing,  also  exceedingly  ner- 
vous, and  G.  is  strikingly  like  him.  He  was  the  fourth  child 
among  seven,  three  of  whom  are  dead.  Prenatal  conditions 
very  favorable,  but  child  was  wakeful  and  nervous  from  first 
breath  and  wore  his  mother  and  competent  nurses  out  com- 
pletely. At  2  had  a  bad  fall  which  caused  two  collapses;  lived 
only  on  account  of  stimulants  being  administered.    After  that 


244  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

time  he  was  a  bad  stammerer.  Very  left-handed.  Morbidly 
afraid  of  fire — generally  morbid  symptoms  of  fear;  also  brooding 
and  melancholic  about  his  own  condition.  Backward  in  school. 
Given  to  tempers.  Diminutive  in  size  for  his  age,  and  sexually 
underdeveloped.  Very  defective  eyesight,  through  muscular 
insuflBciency.  Readily  fatigued.  He  had  no  visual  perspec- 
tive, owing  to  his  defect.  His  visual  and  aural  memory  span 
was  limited. 

A  year  after  first  reported,  had  improved  splendidly  under 
training,  in  every  direction.  He  had  acquired  considerable 
ability  to  concentrate  and  to  endure,  also  to  control  his  speech 
defect  and  morbid  •  traits.  His  backwardness  had  been  over- 
come to  a  large  degree  since  his  difficulty  was  understood,  and 
he  was  bright  and  responsive,  eager  to  progress.  Organized 
manual  work,  especially  work  on  a  large  scale  outdoors,  helped 
him  to  acquire  muscular  control  and  to  improve  generally  in 
physiologic  function.  In  contrast  to  this  he  developed  manual 
dexterity  with  a  distinctly  artistic  touch  in  producing  small  and 
minutely  executed  models  of  houses,  boxes,  picture-frames,  etc., 
also  in  drawing. 

After  two  years  he  left  Herbart  Hall.  When  he  reached  home 
(he  had  not  been  seen  by  his  relatives  for  the  entire  period)  his 
mother  wrote  that  she  was  amazed  at  the  change  which  had 
come  over  the  boy.  "When  he  entered  your  school  he  was 
melancholy  and  backward  and  with  a  poorly  developed  body. 
And  now  he  is  happy  and  brimming  over  with  ambition  in  every 
direction." 

Case  63,  R.  F.,  hoy,  aged  17  years. — Of  good  appearance, 
above  average  in  size;  good  conversationalist  and  apparently 
intelligent,  with  ability  to  do  a  number  of  ordinary  things. 
The  son  of  wealthy  parents,  he  had  never  done  well,  had  no 
great  filial  affection,  and  had  recently  drifted  into  bad  habits, 
undesirable  companionship,  even  delinquency.  The  medical 
examination  was  largely  negative,  except  that  circumcision  was 
strongly  indicated  to  correct  preputial  hypertrophy  and  his 
bad  sexual  habits.  The  mental  tests  revealed  some  of  the 
causes  of  his  somewhat  shiftless  and  dangerous  life.  Visual  and 
aural  memory  very  poor;  what  was  retained  was  not  in  proper 
order.  Muscular  memory  unreliable,  sense  of  balance  impaired. 
Reproduction  of  oral   information  only  fair.     The  judgment 


EXCEPTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  CHILDREN     245 

tests  showed  distinct  weaknesses;  where  he  succeeded  he  needed 
much  time  and  the  opportunity  of  a  second  and  third  attempt. 
His  methods  in  manual  and  art  expression  were  distinctly 
primitive.  In  language  he  was  quite  proficient  and  could  talk 
very  intelligently;  yet,  when  he  was  to  formulate  his  thought 
in  writing  he  was  vague  and  loose  in  construction.  It  was  plain 
that  this  boy,  having  groWn  up  without  the  proper  recognition 
of  the  special  training  he  needed,  could  profit  little  from  ordi- 
nary school  instruction  and  influences.  When  let  loose  he  had 
no  perspective  of  situations  and  causal  relations  and  could  not 
learn  quickly  enough  from  experience,  owing  partly  to  his  im- 
reliable  memory.  He  had,  however,  sufiicient  intelligence  at 
bottom  to  be  helped  toward  considerable  improvement  through 
a  kind  of  training  which  took  his  needs  of  organization  of  his 
mental  outfit  into  consideration.  The  atmosphere  of  his  sur- 
roundings counted  a  great  deal.  He  became  a  very  tractable 
and  very  much  better  boy,  and  had  good  prospects  of  a  brighter 
future  if  he  could  have  been  long  enough  under  the  reconstruc- 
tive influences. 

Case  64,  L.  D.,  boy,  aged  jyj/i  years. — His  mother  suffered 
from  shock  in  the  sixth  or  seventh  month  of  pregnancy,  owing 
to  father's  sudden  death.  One  aunt,  very  nervous  tempera- 
ment, asthmatic,  died  of  B  right's  disease.  Language  developed 
slowly  and  indistinctly  after  2  years  of  age.  At  16  was  circum- 
cised; much  excited  over  operation  and  nearly  died  from  heart 
failure  during  anaesthesia.  When  a  little  boy,  was  frightened  by 
a  horse  running  after  him;  fell  and  broke  his  arm.  Used  to  be 
morbidly  interested  in  funerals;  talks  about  the  coffin  he  wants 
to  be  buried  in.  Barely  escaped  being  placed  in  an  institution 
for  the  feeble-minded.  He  had  been  unmanageable,  inefficient, 
morbid,  with  suicidal  tendency,  backward,  and  given  to  several 
forms  of  sexual  perversion.  Medical  examination  gave  a  clew 
to  his  mental  difficulty.  Weight  and  height  above  normal, 
making  him  very  heavy  for  his  age.  Flat-chested;  heart-beat 
somewhat  weak  and  rS,les  in  right  lung.  Network  of  varicose 
veins  on  both  buttocks.  Sexual  organs  showed  contrasting  de- 
velopment: overgrown  penis,  with  entirely  undeveloped  testi- 
cles. Had  been  masturbating  since  childhood;  indulgence  in 
homosexual  practices  resulted  in  funnel-shaped  rectum,  which 
caused  chronic  constipation. 


246  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Careful  exercise  in  the  open  air  and  special  treatment  relieved 
these  serious  conditions  so  markedly  that  a  great  change  came 
over  the  boy.  His  sexual  inverted  acts  ceased.  His  mental 
tests,  after  his  main  difficulties  were  removed,  proved  very  sat- 
isfactory, showing  him  to  be  a  mentally  normal  boy,'  with 
creditable  power  of  judgment,  logical  and  associative  faculty, 
and  good  concentration.  His  memory  span  in  visual  and  aural 
impressions  remained  narrow,  and  he  had  difficulty  in  graphic 
and  constructive  expression,  being  rather  primitive  in  these 
things.  The  boy  was  plainly  capable  of  considerable  advance- 
ment, and  with  the  further  improvement  of  his  physical  condi- 
tion there  came  a  gain  in  temperament,  application,  and  per- 
spective. But  as  he  had  come  under  treatment  too  late,  his 
psychopathic  conditions  reasserted  themselves  later  and  his 
reinstatement  failed. 

Case  6s  1  D.  T.,  boy,  now  20  years  old. — Distinctly  primitive. 
To  call  him  feeble-minded  in  the  accepted  sense  would  seem  a 
superficial  valuation.  He  is  still  very  backward  in  his  school 
studies,  and  did  some  absurd  things  in  his  judgment  tests. 
Yet  in  others,  those  that  required  action  of  some  kind,  he  did 
remarkably  well,  showing  considerable  penetration  and  quick- 
ness to  learn  a  new  thing.  Thus,  he  learned  to  do  all  the  five 
tests  with  the  Knox  cubes;  connected  one  hundred  dots  ration- 
ally and  immediately;  was  normal  with  his  form  board  and  the 
dissected  pictures  (graded  series),  etc.  His  drawbacks  were, 
first,  his  extreme  slowness  of  response,  and,  second,  his  very 
narrow  memory  span,  both  visual  and  aural.  They  account  for 
his  difficulty  in  learning  and  in  building  up  a  conceptual  world 
on  the  basis  of  experience,  for  he  cannot  well  learn  from  his  so 
easily  forgotten  errors  and  experiences.  The  boy  showed  other 
faults  which  would  stamp  him  ordinarily  as  a  criminal.  He  had 
dirty  personal  habits  and  a  strong  inclination  to  pilfer  eatables 
and  glittering  things,  jewelry,  money,  etc.  The  money  could 
have  had  no  attraction  to  him,  as  he  understood  little  of  its 
value;  neither  had  he  any  conception  of  the  value  of  jewelry. 
There  was  simply  the  attraction  of  the  tempting  objects  and 
the  tendency  to  hoard,  even  though  he  forgot  the  hiding-places. 
Again,  even  when  he  had  had  a  full  meal,  he  would  steal  eatables 
in  large  quantities  and  gorge  himself  to  nausea.  All  these  traits 
are  distinctly  those  of  savage  people,  and  would  be  altogether 


EXCEPTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  CfflLDREN     247 

normal  among  Igorots,  New  Zealanders,  and  the  like.  In  other 
respects  the  boy  showed  intelligence,  was  good-hearted,  com- 
panionable, and  unselfish,  liked  to  work  on  a  primitive  level, 
and  was  as  harmless  as  a  child. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
AS  TO  STANDARDIZATION 

Tendency  to  Establish  Standards. — ^The  tendency  of 
the  times  is  to  establish  "standards  of  efficiency," 
"age  standards,"  "class  standards,"  standards  in  every 
branch  of  study  in  schools,  in  every  line  of  human  occu- 
pation, in  business,  in  factories,  etc.  The  work  of  the 
statistician  is  highly  valued.  Everything  is  to  be  ex- 
pressed in  quantitative  terms.  Schemas,  curves,  and 
other  methods  of  graphic  representation  are  widely  ap- 
plied. All  these  efforts  have  their  importance  and  sig- 
nificance and  are  an  expression  of  the  modern  desire  for 
scientific  accuracy  of  statement  and  procedure. 

Standardization  of  Mental  Tests. — The  principle  of 
standardization  has  also  been  applied  to  tests  for  mea- 
suring the  mental  capacity  of  children.  It  has  been  one 
of  the  reasons  for  the  quick  popularity  of  the  Binet  Tests 
that  they  seemed  to  lend  themselves  easily  to  a  stand- 
ardization of  results.  Each  test  had  been  placed  in  a 
definite  group  representing  what  was  called  "mental 
age."  The  "mental  age"  was  to  be  computed  in  a 
simple  manner  from  the  data  obtained,  on  a  numerical 
basis,  and  the  examiner  received  the  impression  that 
he  had  arrived  at  a  definite  conclusion. 

Difficulties  Encountered. — The  author  has  often  been 
importuned  to  standardize  his  own  tests  in  a  similar 
manner,  but  has  always  hesitated  to  do  so.  It  is  true 
that,  while  the  division  of  a  child's  life  into  "mental 

248 


AS  TO  STANDARDIZATION  249 

years"  has  seemed  impossible  to  him,  as  the  diflferences 
in  type  will  constantly  confuse  results,  he  has  endeav- 
ored to  establish  developmental  periods  as  a  basis  of 
judgment.  Even  these,  however  well  established  as 
they  may  appear  to  be  in  regard  to  the  main  points 
(budding  instincts,  interests,  abilities,  tendencies,  etc.), 
merge  into  one  another  so  gradually  that  no  hard-and- 
fast  lines  of  demarcation  can  be  drawn.  In  the  develop- 
ment of  the  various  characteristics  of  a  certain  period, 
or  "culture  epoch,"  there  are  hardly  any  two  capacities 
or  elements  that  develop  at  the  same  rate  of  speed 
of  energy,  so  that,  as  has  been  shown  elsewhere  in  this 
book,  a  given  individual  may  be  said  to  represent  in 
reality  various  periods  at  the  same  time,  being  primitive 
in  some  mental  manifestations,  and  modem  in  others. 

Placing  of  Details. — A  contention  may  be  made  that 
at  least  these  various  elements  of  development  should 
be  definitely  placed  in  a  scale  of  advancement.  This 
the  author  has  tried  to  do  in  a  general  way.  He  is  also 
using  the  scales  of  standardization  elaborated  in  psy- 
chological and  other  laboratories  for  certain  particular 
tests.  It  is  furthermore  quite  evident  that  the  child 
who  can  complete  forty  of  the  completion  test  sentences 
(New  Series  of  Tests,  Language  Test  No.  3),  or  who  can 
give  thirty  opposites  out  of  forty  (Language  Test  No.  5), 
is  further  advanced  in  this  particular  thing  than  another 
child  who  can  complete  only  ten  sentences  and  find 
fifteen  opposites.  Similarly,  the  degree  of  perfection 
with  which  any  test  is  performed  will  allow  conclusions 
as  to  the  relative  mental  development  in  regard  to  that 
particular  performance.  But  just  as  we  have  proof  now 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  "formal  training,"  that  is 
to  say,  that  training  in  such  branches  as  arithmetic,  or 


250  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

grammar,  has  no  value  beyond  training  in  these  subjects 
and  does  not  necessarily  produce  greater  proficiency  in 
other  subjects — just  so  development  in  any  particular 
mental  performance  is  not  in  itself  proof  of  broad  or 
general  mentality  on  a  corresponding  level.  The  tests 
will  reveal  the  performance  level,  but  each  of  the  per- 
formances stands,  as  far  as  the  test  goes,  first  merely  on 
a  quaUtative  basis.  To  suggest  a  definite  quantitative 
method  of  recording  the  degree  of  perfection,  and  then 
computing  from  the  data  thus  obtained  the  mental  and 
moral  status  of  a  child,  would  seem  preposterous. 
Whenever  definite  experiments  are  arranged  in  a  psy- 
chological or  pathological  laboratory,  they  are  intended 
to  test  and  valuate  specific  reactions.  A  number  of 
these  reactions  have  to  be  compared  and  qualitatively 
balanced  to  allow  of  deductions  which  will  throw  light 
on  the  mental  status. 

The  Personal  Equation. — The  author  is  reminded  of 
an  interesting  statement  made  by  a  well-known  inves- 
tigator who  has  applied  many  different  tests  on  a  large 
niunber  of  subjects.  In  regard  to  the  Binet  scale  he 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  in  valuating  the  different 
answers  the  examiner  is  much  influenced  by  his  own 
sizing  up  of  the  situation,  and  of  the  kind  of  responses 
the  child  gives.  In  other  words,  the  personal  equation 
enters  widely  into  the  computation  of  results.  That  is 
the  reason  why  child-experts  must  make  these  tests — 
those  who  understand  child  nature — and  not  persons 
who  give  the  tests  mechanically.  For  in  reality  the 
Binet  Tests,  as  well  as  many  others  of  a  similar  nature, 
are  so  simple  that  it  might  be  thought  any  intelligent 
person  can  give  them  and  compute  the  results.  "If," 
said  this 'investigator  to  the  author,  "the  child  who  is 


AS  TO  STANDARDIZATION  251 

being  examined  were  placed  behind  a  screen  so  that  the 
examiner  would  not  see  him,  simply  putting  down  his 
answers,  the  inefficiency  of  these  tests  would  at  once  be 
estabhshed.  For  their  real  value,  as  far  as  they  have 
served  their  purpose,  has  depended  upon  the  judgment 
of  the  examiner,  which  was  added  to  the  test  in  its 
mechanical  construction." 

Tests  Merely  Methods  of  Approach. — In  considera- 
tion of  the  complex  nature  of  the  child,  with  its  physical, 
emotional,  and  mental  aspects,  also  in  view  of  the  very 
variable  element  of  schooling  and  education,  environ- 
mental conditions  and  personal  experience,  the  author 
feels  that  we  should  refrain  at  the  present  time  from 
trying  to  establish  any  definite  standards  and  cate- 
gories. No  two  children  will  answer  the  same  question 
in  the  same  way;  no  two  children  will  understand  the 
same  question,  if  put  in  the  identical  words,  in  the  same 
way.  There  must,  therefore,  be  wide  limits,  even  in 
the  matter  of  putting  the  tests. 

Doctor  Robert  M.  Yerkes,  of  the  Psychopathic  Hos- 
pital, Boston,  has  developed  what  he  calls  a  "point 
scale"  for  the  measurement  of  intelligence.  In  this  he 
uses  Binet  and  other  tests,  but  grouped  in  a  manner  of 
his  own.  Each  test  is  grouped  by  itself,  in  graduated 
form,  the  performance  becoming  more  complex  and 
difficult  in  detail.  A  certain  number  of  points  is  credited 
to  the  subject  tested  according  to  the  performance  level 
he  reaches.  So  far  the  attempt  at  standardizing  is  in- 
teresting and  instructive.  But  then  Doctor  Yerkes  pro- 
ceeds to  establish  mental  age  norms  by  scoring,  so  that 
e.  g.,  17  points  indicate  a  "mental  age"  of  4,  55  points 
a  mental  age  of  9,  etc.,  meaning  that  a  "normal"  child 
of  these  ages  should  score  at  least  that  number  of  points. 


252  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

The  science  of  child-testing  is  so  very  young  yet  that 
it  would  be  disastrous  if  we  should  allow  ourselves  to 
be  guided  by  a  more  or  less  mechanical  scale,  in  placing 
a  certain  mental  manifestation  in  a  certain  definite  place 
of  quantitative  valiie,  and  judging  a  child  accordingly. 
We  may  have  to  revise  our  standards  continually  on  the 
basis  of  further  experience.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
we  must  use  any  kind  of  tests  simply  as  systematized 
methods  of  approach,  and  otherwise  apply  with  fairness 
and  common  sense  our  own  standards  of  experience  and 
judgment. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  BINET  SCALE   OF  INTELLIGENCE 

Its  Value  for  Comparison. — In  the  extensive  system 
of  tests  sketched  in  Chapter  XII,  mention  is  not  made 
of  the  Binet  scale,  except  by  way  of  criticism.  The 
author  does,  however,  apply  it  in  the  modified  form 
suggested  by  the  late  Doctor  Edmund  Burke  Huey,  in 
his  book  on  "Backward  and  Feeble-minded  Children." 
The  purpyose  of  its  use  in  this  schedule  is  to  check  up 
results  and  to  allow  of  comparisons.  Even  Huey's 
modification,  however,  the  author  felt  constrained  to 
amend  in  certain  places. 

The  Author's  Amendments. — ^The  pictures  suggested 
by  Binet  he  does  not  use  at  all,  as  they  hardly  portray 
American  life.  He  has  used  some  of  the  colored  pictures 
selected  by  Doctor  Goddard  of  Vineland  as  far  more 
suitable,  portraying  as  they  do  life  and  action,  such  as 
may  be  found  an3rwhere  in  our  country.  At  times  any 
picture  of  a  suitable  nature  which  was  handy  was  sub- 
stituted, even  silhouette  drawings  illustrating  fairy-tales, 
and  others  which  represented  child  life  in  various  forms. 

For  the  drawings  in  which  "pretty"  is  to  be  distin- 
guished from  "ugly,"  and  in  which  missing  eyes,  mouth, 
nose,  and  arms  are  to  be  detected,  the  author  has  been 
using  much  enlarged  forms  in  place  of  the  rather  diminu- 
tive originals. 

In  place  of  two  dimes,  used  in  test  36  for  the  mentality 
of  9  years,  he  uses  a  quarter,  as  it  would  seem  absurd 

253 


254  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

to  give  two  dimes  for  an  article  costing  only  four  cents. 
This  change,  while  modifying  the  arithmetical  process 
somewhat,  does  not  seem  to  vitiate  the  purpose  or 
grade  of  the  test  materially. 

The  questions  of  comprehension,  under  No.  44,  men- 
tality of  10  years,  were  not  modified  by  the  author, 
although  they  impress  him  as  singularly  clumsy,  badly 
worded,  and  referring  to  emergencies  and  conditions 
which  are  not  altogether  common  in  the  experience  of 
an  "average"  child  of  that  age. 

The  nonsense  sentences,  under  No.  46,  mentality  of 
II  years,  contain  so  "much  that  is  grewsome  that  the 
author  felt  constrained  to  substitute  others.  Under  C 
(for  which  both  Binet  and  Huey  give  the  story  of  a 
young  girl  cut  into  eighteen  pieces)  he  substitutes  the 
following: 

It  was  a  bright  day  with  a  blue,  sunshiny  sky,  when  I  took 
a  walk.  Suddenly  I  saw  a  big  tree  fall  across  the  road.  I 
thought  at  once  that  the  lightning  from  the  storm-cloud  over- 
head must  have  struck  it. 

Under  D  (for  which  both  Binet  and  Huey  give  the 
story  of  a  railroad  accident)  he  substitutes  this: 

Yesterday  a  poor  boy  lost  his  pocketbook.  But  his  loss  was 
not  serious,  as  he  had  only  $50  in  his  pocketbook. 

Under  E  he  uses  Huey's  example. 

Similarly,  in  the  group  of  tests  for  12  years,  the  writer 
has  eliminated  the  first  of  the  incomplete  stories.  Such 
a  horrible  experience  as  seeing  a  dead  person  hanging 
from  the  limb  of  a  tree  seems  to  him  to  be  not  only  far 
beyond  the  natural  experience  of  a  child  (would  it  be 
otherwise  in  France?),  but  altogether  appealing  to  a 


THE  BINET  SCALE  OF  INTELLIGENCE       255 

morbid  imagination,  which  ought  not  to  be  stimulated. 
He  has  substituted  the  following  story,  which  has  a 
humorous  strain: 

Last  night  I  was  awakened  by  a  terrible  noise.  I  got  up, 
greatly  frightened,  and  looked  out  of  the  window.  It  was  dark, 
and  first  I  could  not  see;  but  the  noise  kept  on.  There  was  a 
screeching  and  whining  and  running,  as  if  many  people  were 
in  the  yard  in  great  distress.  Then  the  moon  came  out  and  I 
saw  (after  a  pause) — what? 

The  story  should  be  told  with  a  twinkle  in  the  eye  of 
the  examiner.  The  proper  answer  would,  of  course,  be: 
Cats  fighting.  Some  people  might  think  of  dogs  rather 
than  cats;  their  answer  would  be  acceptable.  The  situ- 
ation is  one  which  is  experienced  in  both  city  and  coun- 
try life. 

Criticism  of  the  Binet  Tests. — It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  enter  here  into  a  lengthy  discussion  of  the  Binet  Tests, 
as  a  great  deal  has  already  been  written  about  them, 
and  occasional  remarks  are  scattered  through  this  book 
at  appropriate  places.  Only  a  few  things  should  be 
mentioned  to  illustrate  why  the  author  lays  relatively 
little  stress  upon  results  obtained  from  them. 

Language  Tests. — Much  of  the  series  is  based  upon 
a  child's  ability  to  use  language  intelligently.  While, 
generally  speaking,  a  careful  observer  will  deduct  much 
information  from  a  child's  linguistic  expression,  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  language  develops  with  very  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  rapidity  in  children.  There  are  per- 
sons who  will  never  achieve  much  pwwer  of  verbal  ex- 
pression without  detriment  to  their  general  intellectual 
ability.  The  writer  is  not  unaware  of  the  wonderful 
effect  verbal  expression  has  upon  clarifying  a  thought; 


256  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

but  thought  may  be  expressed  in  various  ways:  through 
drawing  and  construction,  through  sculpture,  or  through 
gesture  (as  in  dramatics),  without  language  being  re- 
quired. Reading  and  writing  are  not  arts  which  are 
deep-rooted  in  man's  civilization,  and  there  are  levels  of 
culture  in  which  they  play  a  minor  part.  Again,  cer- 
tain anatomical  conditions  and  the  psychopathic  condi- 
tions of  alexia  and  agraphia  will  produce  practical  iUiter- 
acy  without  affecting  the  mental  capacity  in  the  same 
degree. 

Language  efficiency  also  depends  much  upon  environ- 
mental conditions  and  opportunity.  Doctor  Margaret 
Otis  has  made  an  interesting  investigation  of  delinquent 
girls  by  the  Binet  method.  She  did  not  find  the  results 
very  helpful.  The  girls  failed  markedly  in  the  language 
tests.     She  explained  this  failure  as  follows: 

The  girls  come  from  a  class  in  society  where  fluency  in  lan- 
guage is  not  a  pronounced  characteristic.  They  have  had  no 
training  in  expressing  thought  either  at  home  or  at  school,  for  in 
examining  the  question  of  school  training  we  find  that  most 
of  the  girls  have  had  little  or  none.  The  average  age  of  the 
girls  examined  .  .  .  is  17,  while  the  average  age  at  which  they 
leave  school  is  13.  .  .  .  The  average  grade  of  school  work 
reached  is  the  fourth.  .  ,  .  Four  girls  of  the  total  number  (172) 
reached  high  school,  while  seven  had  no  schooling  whatever. 
Fifty-seven  left  school  before  reaching  the  age  of  14.  With 
such  limited  school  training  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  girls  lack 
the  ability  to  express  themselves,  and  show  themselves  deficient 
in  the  language  tests,  for  the  ability  to  use  language  depends 
more  than  any  other  on  training,  whether  at  school  or  at  home. 
.  .  .  These  (Binet)  tests  alone  do  not  tell  all  we  wish  to  know 
about  delinquent  girls.^ 

»C/.  "The  Binet  Tests  Applied  to  Delinquent  Girls,"  in  The  Psycho- 
logical Clinic,  October,  19 13. 


THE  BINET  SCALE  OF  INTELLIGENCE       257 

This  experience  is  very  interesting  in  view  of  the 
claim  made  for  the  Binet  method  that  its  application  is 
independent  of  the  school  advantages  of  the  children 
tested. 

A  strange  corroboration  of  the  ineflSciency  of  these 
tests  even  when  children  have  had  the  advantage  of  school 
training  is  given  by  Margaret  S.  Prichard,  head  of  the 
department  of  psychology,  Philadelphia  Normal  School 
for  Girls,  in  a  paper  read  in  the  autumn  of  1 914,  in  which 
she  says:  "The  Binet  scale  .  .  .  has  been  found  to  be  too 
crude  to  be  used  for  grading  pupUs  in  a  class.  For  this 
purpose  one  must  use  a  combination  of  tests,  and  it  is 
significant  that  Stern  proposes  to  gauge  the  value  of 
the  results  obtained  by  comparing  them  with  the  esti- 
mate of  the  teacher.  .  .  ."^ 

Color  Tests. — We  may  .also  consider  the  color  test 
for  the  mentaUty  of  7  years  as  being  of  doubtful  value. 
Binet  distinguishes  between  "color-perception"  and 
"verbalization  of  color,"  claiming  that  the  former  is 
often  very  keen  with  even  young  children,  while  the 
naming  is  normal  for  the  age  of  7.  But  the  color- 
blind  child,  even  at  the  age  of  7,  may  not  be  able 


*It  may  be  mentioned  in  this  connection  tbat  an  investigation  by 
Rudolf  Pintner  and  Donald  G.  Paterson,  of  the  Ohio  State  University 
(published  in  The  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  April,  1915).  shows 
"that  the  Blnet-Simon  scale  as  it  now  stands  cannot  be  applied  satisfac- 
torily to  deaf  children  "  A  strange  observation  may  be  made,  viz.,  that 
a  number  of  investigators  discover  the  inadequacy  of  the  scale  for  their 
particular  work — but  rarely  fail  to  add  that  it  would  possibly  be  usable 
in  other  fields,  or  that  it  might  be  amended,  and  enlarged,  or  what  not — 
as  if  the  Binet  scale,  as  such,  were  a  sacred  thing,  not  to  be  touched 
imder  the  charge  of  treason  or  sacrilege  or  "  unscientific  attitude."  They 
fail  to  recognize  that  their  criticisms,  especially  when  they  are  combined 
and  compared,  in  the  aggregate,  go  to  tie  very  root  of  the  Binet  princi- 
ples. 


258  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

to  distinguish  the  four  colors — red,  green,  blue,  yellow — 
without  error  in  naming,  so  that  color-matching  tests 
should  precede  the  naming  test.  It  must  also  be  con- 
ceded that  even  the  proper  naming  of  colors  in  an  other- 
wise normal  child  depends  somewhat  upon  his  oppor- 
tunity of  training. 

Weight  Test. — The  weight  test  is  considered  by  Binet 
"as  one  of  those  which  best  detect  intelUgence  without 
culture,  as  it  is  absolutely  independent  of  all  instruc- 
tion." At  the  same  time  he  remarks  "that  the  kind  of 
intelligence  indicated  by  it  is  of  a  very  special  nature. 
There  are  some  children,  very  intelligent  otherwise,  who 
fail  to  arrange  these  boxes,  while  others  do  so  accurately 
and  with  facility."  Very  true.  But  if  this  is  so,  why 
should  such  a  test  be  included  in  a  series  intended  for 
the  testing  of  general  intelligence  ? 

Repetition  of  Words  and  Numerals. — ^A  particular 
feature  of  the  Binet  tests  is  the  repetition  of  an  increas- 
ing number  of  numerals,  and  of  syllables  arranged  in 
words  and  sentences.  This  is  distinctly  a  test  of  aural 
memory,  not  of  intelligence.  In  discussing  the  results 
of  these  tests,  Binet  admits  "decidedly  the  power  of 
memory  does  not  increase  greatly  with  age."  Why, 
then,  is  this  feature  of  the  tests  so  prominent? 

The  Test  of  Sixty  Words. — A  difference  of  types,  simi- 
lar to  the  one  admitted  by  Binet  in  the  matter  of  weight 
conception,  is  recognized  by  him  in  reference  to  the  test 
requiring  the  saying,  or  dictating,  of  at  least  sixty  words 
in  three  minutes.  In  valuating  results  he  counts  only 
the  number  of  the  words  given  by  the  child,  although 
he  confesses  that  "the  use  of  series  of  words  and  of 
abstract  terms  indicates  a  certain  amount  of  intelligence 
and  culture."    This  very  important  qualitative  element 


THE  BINET  SCALE  OF  INTELLIGENCE       259 

is  neglected  in  judging  of  the  result  of  the  test.  The 
intention  is  to  estimate  "both  the  intellectual  activity 
of  an  individual  and  his  verbal  type  (the  italics  are  the 
author's).  Those  who  have  many  words  at  command, 
those  who  think  in  words,  those  who  habitually  think  of 
abstract  subjects,  or  those  who  are  fond  of  puns,  appear 
to  have  the  advantage  over  others."  The  non-linguistic 
child,  the  child  who  does  not  habitually  think  of  ab- 
stract subjects,  the  child  whose  talent  is  along  graphic 
and  constructive  lines,  will  here  make  a  bad  showing. 
Likewise  the  timid,  the  reserved,  the  silent,  the  stolid 
child.  And  Binet's  admission  throws  an  interesting 
sidelight  upon  the  author's  contention  in  regard  to  the 
language  tests  criticised  before. 

Binet  Results  and  School  Standing. — It  has  been 
claimed  that  the  results  of  the  Binet  Tests  tally  well 
with  the  general  standing  of  a  child  in  school.  This 
has  been  taken  as  a  vindication  of  their  value.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  would  prove  that  this  method  tests 
practically  the  same  faculties  and  types  of  response  as 
are  required  in  ordinary  school  work,  so  that  the  tests 
would  seem  superfluous.  What  we  do  need  is  some- 
thing that  goes  "behind  the  returns,"  so  that  we  may 
know  why  it  is  that  a  child  has  a  certain  rank  in  school. 
In  many  instances  ordinary  school  work  does  not  appeal 
to  those  children  who  offer  difficulties,  and  their  train- 
ing must  be  of  a  different  kind.  It  is  also  instructive 
to  compare  this  claim  that  the  tests  tally  with  the 
school  standing  of  a  child  with  what  has  been  stated 
by  Professor  Prichard  as  quoted  on  page  257. 

Mechanical  Computation. — The  rules  for  computing 
the  mental  age  of  a  child  according  to  the  Binet  Tests 
are  as  follows: 


260  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

The  child  has  the  intelligence  of  that  age  all  the  tests  of 
which  he  succeeds  in  passing.  Here  is  a  child  9  years  of  age 
who  passes  all  the  tests  for  the  seventh  year;  he  has  then  at 
least  the  intelligence  of  a  child  of  7.  After  determining  the 
age  for  which  a  child  passes  all  the  tests,  a  year  is  added  to  the 
intelligence  age,  if  he  has  succeeded  in  passing  five  additional 
tests  belonging  to  superior  age  groups;  two  years  are  added  if 
he  has  passed  ten  such  tests;  three  years  if  he  has  passed  fifteen, 
and  so  on. 

Thus  a  child  passed  the  five  tests  for  the  eighth  year;  he  has 
the  intelligence  of  8  years;  in  addition  he  passed  three  tests  for 
9  years  and  two  tests  for  10  years;  we  add  one  year  for  the 
five  tests,  the  record  stands  8  +  1  =  9,  ^.nd  the  child  has  an 
intelligence  of  9  years.  Another  example:  A  child  passed  the 
five  tests  for  6  years;  he  has  the  intelligence  of  6  years;  he  also 
passed  three  tests  for  7  years,  three  for  8  years,  two  for  9  years, 
two  for  10  years,  and  one  for  11  years;  this  gives  him  eleven 
extra  tests,  and  adds  two  years  to  his  intelligence  age,  making 
it  8  years. ^  A  last  example:  A  child  passed  all  the  tests  for 
4  years;  he  passed  in  addition  one  test  for  5  years,  three  for 
6  years,  two  for  7  years,  four  for  8  years,  three  for  9  years,  and 
two  for  10  years;  he  has  passed,  then,  fifteen  additional  tests, 
which  is  equivalent  to  three  years,  and  he  is  accorded  the  mental 
age  of  7. 

This  method  of  computation,  in  the  first  place,  omits 
a  consideration  of  the  tests  below  the  age  in  which  a 
child  tests  full.  Suppose  a  child  tests  full  for  6  years, 
passing  all  the  tests  for  that  level;  but  he  did  not  pass 
full  in  any  of  the  previous  groups,  passing  only  two  or 
three  tests  in  any  of  them.  What  then  ?  What  signifi- 
cance has  that  in  the  computation  of  results  ?  All  of  us 
know  that  such  cases  are  quite  frequent.  Again:  Sup- 
pose a  child  does  not  pass  all  the  tests  in  any  age  group 

^  Some  American  investigators  would  mark  his  mental  age  8.1 .  A  more 
recent  method  is  to  use  the  basal  year,  only  adding  the  number  of  addi- 
tional answers  in  the  form  of  an  exponent,  like  this :  6". 


THE  BINET  SCALE  OF  INTELLIGENCE       261 

— and  even  that  has  happened — ^which  is  then  the  start- 
ing-point for  any  kind  of  computation? 

Finally,  the  mechanical  way  of  computing  the  "men- 
tal age"  of  a  child  destroys  much  of  the  good  that  may 
be  found  in  the  Binet  Tests  for  comparative  valuations. 
For  the  test  units,  after  aU,  refer  to  different  mental 
qualities  and  faculties;  some  to  the  power  of  memory, 
others  to  those  of  discrimination,  of  language,  of  logical 
definition,  etc.  Suppose  a  child  of  8  years  would  pass 
all  the  tests  up  to  and  including  all  for  the  mentality  of 
6  years.  Even  if  he  passed  only  those  for  6  years,  the 
result  in  the  Binet  computation  would  be  the  same:  he 
would  be  put  down  as  having  a  mentality  of  6  years. 
In  addition  he  would  succeed  in  responding  to  Nos.  26 
(counts  13  pennies),  30  (names  red,  green,  blue,  yellow), 
32  (counts  from  20  to  i),  ^^  (names  days  of  week),  35 
(repeats  5  numerals),  39  (names  the  months),  43  (re- 
peats 6  numerals),  48  (gives  at  least  60  words),  51 
(repeats  7  numerals),  and  53  (repeats  sentences  of  23  to 
26  syUables).  These  additional  ten  answers  would  give 
him  two  more  years  in  mentality,  or  place  him  on  the 
normal  level  for  his  age.  But  what  about  his  intelli- 
gence? He  has  given  evidence  of  a  good  memory  of 
words  and  numerals.  But  is  he  equal  in  intelligence  to 
another  normal  child  of  8  who  was  able  to  answer  the 
remaining  questions,  27,  28,  29,  31,  and  34  (using  Huey's 
enumeration),  which  are  intended  to  test  the  child's 
faculty  of  judgment  and  discrimination?  Illustrations 
of  this  kind  can  be  multiplied.  Of  course,  if  we  con- 
sider that  Binet  and  Simon  do  not  base  mental  power 
on  the  power  of  judgment,  but  make  a  puzzling  distinc- 
tion between  judgment  and  the  intellectual  level,  we  may 
understand  why  they  ignore  these  differences  of  type. 


262  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Mental  Age  and  Judgment. — It  is  instructive  to  find 
that  this  distinction  is  not  made  by  all  who  use,  and 
think  they  understand,  the  Binet  scale.  The  February, 
1914,  number  of  the  Journal  oj  Educational  Psychology 
contains  some  suggestions  and  recommendations  made 
by  members  of  the  International  Congress  for  School 
Hygiene  on  the  Binet-Simon  scale.  Among  these  is 
this  statement: 

We  believe  that  current  misconceptions  as  to  the  aim  of  the 
scale  should  be  removed.  It  is  not  intended  to  test  the  emo- 
tional or  volitional  nature,  but  primarily  intelligehce  (judg- 
ment). 

The  parenthesis  shows  that  the  distinction  between 
intelligence  and  judgment  made  by  Binet  himself  is  not 
made  by  these  workers. 

Binet  Tests  and  Feeble-Mindedness. — The  recom- 
mendations mentioned  in  the  previous  paragraph  con- 
tain several  other  interesting  statements.  In  a  conver- 
sation Mr.  Alexander  Johnson,  of  Vineland,  an  expert  in 
feeble-mindedness,  stated  that  he  did  not  consider  the 
Binet  Tests  as  more  than  a  rough-and-ready  method  of 
grading  the  feeble-minded  so  as  to  distinguish  between 
the  various  grades  of  mental  defect  without  attempting 
to  make  finer  distinctions.  He  did  not  think  that  these 
tests  gave  reliable  information  beyond  the  "mental  age" 
of  10.  Now,  this  expression  stands  in  contrast  to  the 
following  contention  of  the  school  hygiene  experts  as 
quoted  before.     They  say  {loco  cit.) : 

The  scale  does  not  always  furnish  a  sharp,  nor  a  positive 
diagnosis  of  feeble-mindedness;  in  particular: 

(a)  A  mental  age  of  10  or  above  is  not  necessarily  indicative 
of  feeble-mindedness,  regardless  of  how  old  the  examinee  may 
be.  and 


THE  BINET  SCALE  OF  INTELLIGENCE       263 

(b)  A  young  child  may  test  almost  at  age  and  yet  be  feeble- 
minded as  determined  by  other  criteria. 

Thus,  the  usefulness  of  the  Binet  Tests  in  investiga- 
tions of  this  kind  is  distinctly  limited. 

Doctor  Femald  says:  "The  Binet  Tests  corroborate 
where  we  do  not  need  corroboration,  and  are  not  deci- 
sive where  the  differential  diagnosis  of  the  high-grade 
defective  from  the  normal  is  in  question." 

Judgment  of  the  Examiner. — Binet  himself  admits 
that  in  spite  of  the  system  of  marking  which  he  and  his 
coworker  Simon  have  devised,  they  believe  that  the 
experimenters  must  judge^  of  the  responses  which  are 
made.  He  says:  "Our  method  is  not  an  automatic 
weighing  machine,  such  as  the  scales  of  the  railroad 
stations  which  print  an  individual's  weight  entirely  un- 
aided."   In  fact,  he  states: 


The  researches  which  have  enabled  us  to  calculate  our  norms 
were  made  in  those  primary  schools  of  Paris  which  are  situated 
in  the  poorer  districts.  Experience  has  demonstrated  that  the 
children  of  persons  in  easy  circumstances  present  in  general  a 
higher  intellectual  development  than  that  expressed  by  our 
means.  Thus,  in  a  private  school  frequented  by  the  bour- 
geoisie, and  where  the  classes  consist  of  from  eight  to  ten  pupils, 
the  pupils  show  a  mean  one  and  one-half  years  in  advance  of 
our  normal  means.  It  is  important  to  add  that  our  examina- 
tions have  been  made  but  once,  and  by  a  stranger,  who,  with- 
out intimidating  the  child,  inspired  him  with  a  certain  defer- 
ence. Other  results  would  be  obtained  if  the  examination  were 
repeated  several  times  or  if  it  were  conducted  by  a  person  too 
well  known  to  the  child  to  produce  a  deferential  attitude,  etc., 
briefly,  if  the  very  precise  conditions  which  we  have  indicated 
were  ignored. 

»C/.p.2SI. 


264  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

These  admissions  are  indeed  very  illuminating.  That 
results  obtained  in  this  wise  should  have  been  readily 
accepted  in  this  country  as  standards  is  one  of  the 
strange  things  in  the  development  of  science  which 
astonish  the  historian. 

Mental  Quality. — All  this  goes  to  show  that  after  all 
is  said  the  Binet  Tests  are  not  the  last  word  in  gauging 
a  child's  mental  development  and  ability.  The  Binet 
scale  fails  to  reveal  the  quality  of  a  child's  mind,  and 
after  all  it  is  this  quality  alone  which  is  of  educational 
value,  and  the  determination  of  which  helps  us  to  make 
an  educational  diagnosis  and  prognosis.  It  is  most  in- 
teresting to  quote  Binet's  own  words,  in  which  he  con- 
cedes this  very  fact.    He  says: 

If  one  relied  wholly  upon  the  results  of  our  measuring  scale, 
one  would  not  be  able  to  grasp  the  mental  differences  which 
separate  an  imbecile  from  a  general  paralytic.  Shall  we  con- 
clude that  these  subjects  have  the  same  mentality?  Evidently 
not.  We  must  put  our  readers  on  their  guard  against  this 
erroneous  interpretation  of  the  bearing  of  our  measurements. 
The  scale  which  we  use  is  constituted  by  a  series  of  small  prob- 
lems of  intelligence,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  two  individuals 
fail  in  the  same  problems  without,  for  that,  having  similar  men- 
talities. The  practical  consequence,  the  efficiency  of  their  men- 
tality, is  the  same,  but  the  mentalities  may  be  different. 

Our  scale  resembles  very  much  a  standard,  which  instead  of 
measuring  height,  measures  the  intelligence;  but  just  as  the 
ordinary  standard  gives  no  information  regarding  the  normality 
of  the  corporal  development,  and  may  indicate  the  same  num- 
ber of  centimetres,  for  a  normal  child  and  for  an  adult  hunch- 
back, so  our  scale  gives  the  actual  level  of  mentaUty,  without 
analyzing  it  and  without  giving  any  information  as  to  its  type. 

In  the  light  of  other  admissions,  it  is  very  doubtful, 
indeed,  whether  the  scale  gives  even  "the  actual  level 


THE  BINET  SCALE  OF  INTELLIGENCE       265 

of  mentality,"  or  "the  practical  consequence,  the  efl5- 
ciency  of  their  mentality." 

Other  Admissions  by  Binet-Simon. — Other  interest- 
ing confessions  of  the  authors  of  the  scale  are  these : 

Several  tests  admittedly  cover  several  years,  or  stages, 
of  mental  development,  thus  giving  weight  to  the  differ- 
entiation of  periods  rather  than  of  "mental  years." 

Within  the  "mental  years,"  they  distinguish  between 
"bright  ones"  and  duller  ones. 

They  find  it  "very  difficult  to  distinguish  between  the 
intellectual  levels  of  seven  and  eight  years,"  while  on 
the  other  hand  they  recognize  "the  enormous  advance 
from  the  point  of  view  of  language  which  takes  place 
between  six  and  seven  years,"  thus  again  corroborating 
the  advisabiUty  of  distinguishing  periods  in  preference 
to  mental  ages.  The  sixth  year  in  a  child's  Ufe,  taking 
this  figure  as  indicating  a  developmental  epoch,  marks  a 
distinct  transition. 

They  also  admit  that  their  examination  "tends 
toward  a  low  grading  of  the  child,"  so  that,  even  if  we 
would  take  it  for  granted  that  these  tests  help  in  de- 
tecting mental  defect,  we  should  have  to  be  very  char- 
itable in  grading  results. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  last  admission  is  in  contrast 
to  the  one  quoted  before  (p.  263)  which  would  indicate 
rather  that  the  children  who  were  taken  as  "normals" 
came  from  the  less  intellectual  strata  of  Paris. 

What  Is  Intelligence? — The  Binet  Tests  which  corre- 
late intelligence  with  age  are  avowedly  tests  of  "intelli- 
gence." But  what  is  intelligence?  Professor  J.  C.  Bell 
calls  the  selection  of  the  Binet  Tests  largely  a  matter 
of  caprice.  IntelUgence  may  be  considered  as  designat- 
ing that  part  of  the  mind,  or  soul,  that  knows;  as  differ- 


266  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

entiated  from  the  feelings  and  the  will.  It  is  rather  an 
ancient  type  of  psychology  which  makes  distinctions  of 
this  kind.  We  note  that  all  the  so-called  different  fac- 
ulties of  the  soul  are  intimately  interrelated  and  de- 
pendent upon  one  another — that  feeling  enters  into  voli- 
tion; that  volition  determines  knowledge,  etc.  Again, 
we  note  that  the  soul  is  not  an  entity  but  a  composite, 
made  up  of  elements,  physiological,  psychological,  spiri- 
tual, and  what  not,  which  we  are  not  able  to  define  in 
their  fulness. 

But  in  judging  of  a  child's  mind,  his  soul,  or  his  status 
in  society,  his  educational  and  social  possibiUties,  we 
must  certainly  take  into  account  the  different  functions 
of  what  is  collectively  called  the  "mind."  There  is  the 
logical  memory  as  against  rote  memory;  there  is  atten- 
tion, and  concentration,  imagination,  association,  and 
reasoning;  there  is  the  faculty  of  initiative,  of  self- 
assertion,  self-direction,  and  self-criticism.  There  is  the 
sense  of  self  as  against  the  social  sense  and  the  social 
attitude.  There  are  the  different  psychoses  and  those 
mental  states  that  are  conditioned  by  physical  causes 
of  various  kinds.  There  are  the  different  levels  of  cul- 
ture. The  laborer  level  and  the  professional  level  rep- 
resent two  distinctly  different  types  of  mind,  and  there 
are  many  other  types  of  mind,  as  has  been  shown  in 
other  places  in  this  book. 

Reference  may  be  made  once  more  to  the  statement 
of  Doctor  Tredgold  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter 
("The  Feeble-minded  Group,"  p.  i6i)  that  the  real  dif- 
ference between  the  feeble-minded  and  the  potentially 
normal  child  is  the  presence  or  absence  of  "common 
sense."  If  that  is  lacking,  its  want  can  never  be  sup- 
plied.    What  we  need,  then,  is  tests  which  will  deter- 


THE  BINET  SCALE  OF  INTELLIGENCE       267 

mine  this  one  thing:  Has  the  child  sufficient  common 
sense  to  be  able  to  lead  an  independent  existence?  No 
mechanical  computation  of  any  kind  of  tests  will  help 
matters  very  much.  The  common  sense  of  the  examiner 
must  strike  the  spark  of  common  sense  in  the  subject  ex- 
amined. 

"Common  sense,"  as  has  been  shown  on  page  183,  is 
only  another  expression  for  the  intellectual  aspect  of 
efficiency.  The  author  may  be  permitted  to  repeat 
here  what  he  considers  the  main  criterion  of  difference 
between  the  feeble-minded  and  the  potentially  normal 
— a  difference  which  the  tests  must  assist  in  discovering 
— viz.,  that  an  ament  can  only  acquire  skill,  even  though 
eventually  reaching  a  high  performance  level;  a  normal 
person  may  never  develop  much  skill  and  may  remain 
forever  on  a  low  performance  level,  but  he  possesses 
efficiency,  which  lifts  him  upon  the  plane  of  human 
fellowship. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  MEANING  OF  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CLINIC 

Various  Kinds  of  Clinics. — For  the  work  here  pro- 
posed the  term  "educational  clinic"  is  suggested  by  the 
author.  The  reasons  for  choosing  this  term  are  as 
follows: 

We  have  been  hearing  a  great  deal  lately  of  clinical 
work  done  for  children  in  connection  with  the  psycho- 
logic departments  of  universities.  Medical  schools  and 
hospitals  have  estabhshed  clinics  for  the  examination 
of  children,  and  have  extended  their  work  so  that  their 
examinations  included  mental  tests,  so-called,  as  the 
special  function  of  the  pediatrist,  or  the  neurologist. 
There  are  also  psychopathic  clinics  which  have  been 
opened  for  work  with  children  presenting  difficulties  and 
being  suspected  of  mental  defect.  When  the  mental 
testing  of  school  children  began  to  be  introduced  into 
organized  school  systems,  like  those  of  the  larger  cities 
of  this  country,  they  were  thought  to  require  the  ser- 
vices of  a  trained  psychologist  or  medical  man.  In  the 
unformed  state  which  characterizes  the  initial  stages  of 
any  work  of  this  nature,  much  confusion  has  necessarily 
arisen  as  to  the  functions  and  limitations  of  the  various 
types  of  research  agencies,  clinical  provisions,  and  t3^es 
of  investigators  required. 

The  author's  views  differ  in  a  measure  from  those  of 
others  working  in  this  field.  It  would  seem  to  him  that 
a  distinction  must  be  made  between  the  different  kinds 
of  investigations  and  their  purposes. 

268 


THE  MEANING  OF  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CLINIC     269 

Genetic  Psychology  and  Child  Study. — It  will  be 
cheerfully  admitted  that  the  workings  of  the  mind  of  the 
growing  child  have  become  better  understood  through 
what  has  been  called  "genetic  psychology."  There  is 
no  question  about  the  psychologic  aspect  of  the  child 
problem  and  about  the  need  of  co-operation  of  trained 
psychologists,  especially  experimental  psychologists. 
This,  however,  does  not  mean  that  the  clinical  work 
must  be  exclusively  psychologic.  Child  study  in  its 
broader  aspect  goes  beyond  mere  psychology.  Child 
study  has  been  helpful  in  showing  the  intimate  relation- 
ship between  bodily  and  mental  states.  The  old  prov- 
erb, "Mens  Sana  in  corpore  sano "  has  assumed  increasing 
significance  with  the  revelations  which  have  come  to  us 
through  medical  inspection  of  school  children.  It  has  been 
truly  said  that  the  child  must  be  taken  as  a  whole,  as 
a  body  no  less  than  as  a  mind,  in  order  to  receive  his 
full  understanding  during  the  time  of  growth.  Mental 
growth,  spiritual  growth,  and  emotional  growth  are  par- 
alleled and  conditioned  in  a  measure  by  body  growth. 
But  it  would  be  erroneous  to  draw  from  this  the  con- 
clusion that  the  medical  side  of  a  child's  problem  is  the 
only  or  the  determining  factor  of  his  growth. 

The  Psychological  Clinic. — A  "psychological  clinic" 
(so  far  as  it  pertains  to  the  child  problem),  especially 
one  which  is  connected  with  a  university,  has  its  dis- 
tinct function,  or  functions. 

One  of  these  functions  is  to  assist  students  in  acquir- 
ing a  practical  understanding  of  child  nature  and  of  a 
child's  mental  growth.  For  this  purpose  a  certain 
amount  of  actual  child  material  will  have  to  be  worked 
with.  The  children  thus  examined  represent,  however, 
merely  stttdy  types.    They  are  being  tested  not  so  much 


270  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

for  their  own  benefit  as  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
should  learn  from  them,  although  naturally  they  may 
be  helped  individually  if  the  results  of  the  study  lead 
to  action  in  their  behalf.  It  will  suggest  itself  that  the 
head  of  the  department  would  carefully  select  children 
with  whose  types  he  wishes  to  familiarize  his  students, 
as  the  work  will  necessarily  be  in  the  nature  of  a  dem- 
onstration. In  a  way,  this  work  may  he  likened  to  the 
work  in  medical  clinics  and  dispensaries  where  the  stu- 
dents are  invited  to  observe  typical  treatments  and 
operations  to  familiarize  them  with  the  details  of  such 
work.  For  practical  experience  they  may  also  be  given 
certain  cases  to  work  upon  under  the  supervision  of 
their  teachers. 

The  author  is,  of  course,  well  aware  of  the  fact  that 
dispensaries,  clinics,  and  hospitals  are  used  by  the  medi- 
cal men  also  for  postgraduate  work  and  for  further 
study.  In  the  same  manner  the  expert  psychologist 
may  wish  to  enlarge  the  functions  of  the  psychologic 
clinic  of  a  university  so  as  to  include  a  number  of  cases 
which  would  afford  him  possibilities  of  further  research 
work.  For  the  medical  man  these  possibilities  are  not 
all  directly  connected  with  the  medical  college,  but  are 
found  in  the  numerous  private  institutions  for  the  relief 
of  disease,  the  hospitals  and  dispensaries.  Likewise 
university  psychologists  may  find  their  field  for  further 
investigations  on  a  larger  scale  in  connection  with  edu- 
cational clinics,  which  should  be  established  in  connec- 
tion with  public  and  private  school  systems. 

The  second  distinct  function  of  a  psychological  clinic, 
as  it  appeals  to  the  author,  is  to  conduct  investigations 
along  specific  lines.  This  would  entail  intensive  work 
on  selected,  definite  psychological  problems  with  a  great 


Fig.  II. — Educational  clinic  of  the  National  Association  for  the  Study 
and  Education  of  E.\ceptional  Children,  Plainfield,  N.  J. 


Fig.  12.— Educational  clinic.  "Herbart  Hall."     Color  tests.     Tone 

tests.     Peg-board.     Kno.x  test.     Picture  cubes.     Screen. 

Building  windmill,  etc. 


THE  MEANING  OF  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CLINIC     271 

number  of  individuals,  adults  and  children,  normals 
and  exceptions.  In  this  manner,  various  kinds  of  tests 
may  be  evolved  for  the  testing  of  specific  capacities  and 
conditions  in  child  growth.  Standards  may  be  estab- 
lished, meeting  definite  limitations,  and  a  routine  of 
practice  can  be  developed.  From  these  investigations 
the  practical  work  of  the  educational  clinic,  as  well  as 
the  routine  work  of  the  psychologic  clinic  will  profit. 
In  the  author's  own  schedule  of  educational  tests,  a 
number  of  such  data  have  been  included.  Mention  may 
be  made  here  of  the  illusion  tests,  the  completion  test, 
the  picture-arrangement  test,  the  form-board  tests,  etc. 

In  institutions  organized  for  the  special  treatment  of 
certain  psychic  defects,  this  psychologic  research  work 
may  be  done  particularly  well  and  profitably.  Refer- 
ence should  be  made  to  the  excellent  work  which  has 
been  done  in  institutions  for  the  feeble-minded  and 
epileptic,  as,  for  instance,  at  Waverly,  Mass.;  Fari- 
bault, Miim.;  Vineland,  N.  J.;  Columbus,  Ohio;  Skill- 
man,  N.  J.,  and  Sonyea,  N.  Y.;  also  in  connection  with 
juvenile  courts,  as  in  Chicago,  New  York,  etc. 

The  Psychopathic  Clinic. — Here,  however,  we  are  re- 
minded of  another  aspect  of  research  and  clinic  work. 
The  distinct  difference  between  the  feeble-minded  and 
the  psychopathic  type  has  been  ref>eatedly  pointed  out. 
Neuroses  and  psychoses  must  be  differentiated  from  im- 
becility and  moronism.  Here  we  find  the  need  of  a 
psychopathic  clinic  for  children.  This  is  medical  work 
of  a  highly  specialized  kind.  Neurologists  and  psychia- 
trists will  have  to  do  this  work  under  conditions  to  be 
determined  by  them.  In  fact,  the  number  of  children 
suffering  from  some  nervous  or  psychic  disorder  is  much 
larger  than  is  generally  assumed. 


272  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

It  will  therefore  be  of  the  greatest  consequence  that 
there  be  psychopathic  clinics  and  laboratories  to  which 
children  presenting  danger-signals  along  this  hne  of  ob- 
servation can  be  referred.  However,  this  does  not  imply- 
that  a  psychopathic  clinic  can  take  the  place  of  an  edu- 
cational clinic. 

Medical  Clinics. — ^Likewise  medical  clinics  of  different 
kinds,  in  departments  for  children's  diseases,  in  chil- 
dren's hospitals,  dispensaries,  and  similar  institutions; 
dental  cHnics;  eye,  ear,  nose,  and  throat  work;  ortho- 
j)edic  clinics;  tuberculosis  clinics,  and  pathological  lab- 
oratories for  the  making  of  blood  tests,  serum  tests,  etc. 
— wiU  be  so  many  helpful  agencies  in  securing  a  com- 
plete and  correct  diagnosis  of  a  child's  case. 

The  work  of  medical  inspection  will  suggest  many  op- 
'portunities  for  the  development  of  such  clinical  work 
in  schools. 

But  a  medical  clinic  cannot  take  the  place  of  an  edu- 
cational clinic. 

Sociological  and  Ethnological  Research. — Many  symp- 
toms of  a  child's  case  may  point  to  causes  of  his  difficulty 
which  are  neither  psychologic  nor  medical.  The  condi- 
tions of  his  home,  his  companionship,  his  environment 
in  general,  the  social  conditions  determining  the  char- 
acter of  his  Ufe  experiences;  the  elements  of  heredity 
and  of  family  history;  of  race  and  color;  of  immigration 
and  citizenship,  and  many  other  factors  go  far  to  affect 
and  direct  a  child's  career,  often  more  decisively  than 
his  physical  or  mental  health  and  disease.  We  may 
therefore  also  think  of  sociological  research  work  as 
well  as  of  the  studies  of  the  ethnologist  in  connec- 
tion with  diagnosing  the  puzzling  case  of  a  particular 
child. 


THE  MEANING  OF  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CLINIC    273 

The  Educational  Clinic. — But  it  would  seem  that  the 
central  guiding  thought  is  the  solution  of  the  problem 
of  what  can  be  done  educationally  for  a  given  individual 
child.  That  would  seem  to  be  the  reason  why  the  edu- 
cational aspect  must  be  the  determining  factor  in  this 
work.  The  educational  view-point,  the  educational  out- 
look, and  the  educational  process  are  of  the  greatest 
concern.  The  purpose  should  not  be,  in  dealing  with 
an  individual  case,  to  arrive  at  statistical  facts,  or  to 
fit  the  child  into  a  general  scheme,  but  to  discover  what 
we  can  do  for  that  child. 

The  educational  clinic  is  for  the  individual  child  and 
his  problem. 

The  ultimate  purpose  of  all  educational  investigation  and 
measurement  in  a  city  school  system  should  be  to  increase  the 
efifectiveness  of  the  instruction  which  each  child  is  to  receive. 
Every  educational  agency,  i.  e.,  every  supervisor,  every  special 
teacher,  every  regular  teacher,  every  school  building,  all  text- 
books, all  educational  equipment  of  whatever  kind,  in  fact 
everything  within  the  public  school  system,  is  fundamentally 
for  providing  the  instruction  which  the  child  needs  to  make  him 
individually  and  socially  efficient.     (The  italics  are  the  author's.)  * 

This  clipping  states  the  case  of  the  educational  clinic 
from  the  point  of  view  of  its  practical  usefulness. 

It  should  be  presided  over  by  an  expert  educator,  who 
has  not  only  the  technical,  scientific  training  for  his  pro- 
fession, but  also  a  deep  sympathy  with  child  nature; 
one  who  can  read  a  child's  soul,  who  can  win  the  con- 
fidence of  the  child,  who  beUeves  in  the  child.     He  must 

•  From  a  paper  read  before  the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  December  30,  1914.  on  "The  Function  of  a  Depart- 
ment of  Educational  Investigation  and  Measurement  in  a  City  School 
System,"  by  Frank  W.  Ballou,  Boston. 


274  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

have  psychological  training  in  order  to  understand  the 
genetic  problems  of  the  child  mind.  He  ought  to  have 
had  some  training  in  the  medical  aspect  of  his  problem, 
so  as  to  gain  at  least  the  medical  point  of  view.  He 
should  have  had  enough  training  in  both  these  sciences 
to  know  his  limitations,  to  comprehend  when  to  call 
upon  the  professional  psychologist  and  medical  man  (or 
woman)  for  advice  and  co-operation.  It  is  only  through 
superficial  knowledge  of  any  science  that  a  man  is 
tempted  to  dabble  in  everything.  But  be  it  understood, 
at  the  head  of  an  educational  clinic  must  be  an  educator, 
not  a  psychologist  or  a  physician. 

The  educational  clinic  should  be  in  direct  touch  with 
the  medical  inspection  work  of  the  school  system. 
There  should  be  co-ordination  of  effort.  Its  chief  should 
know  how  to  correlate  his  work  with  the  progress  of  psy- 
chology and  medicine,  especially  of  psychopathy,  and 
how  to  co-operate  professionally  with  the  leading  men 
of  these  professions. 

Another  aspect  of  this  work  is  this:  In  order  to  do  the 
best  work  for  the  greatest  number  of  children  we  must 
arrange  matters  so  that  we  can  reach  out,  in  a  well- 
organized  plan,  to  as  many  school  systems  and  school 
children  as  possible.  If  we  had  to  rely  upon  the  trained 
psychologists  and  medical  specialists  to  do  the  practical 
clinical  work,  we  should  never  reach  the  smaller  towns 
and  the  rural  communities.  Let  us  not  forget  that  the 
greatest  number  of  school  children  live  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts. Under  present  conditions  they  cannot  receive 
the  benefit  of  clinical  work  at  all. 

System  of  Tests. — ^An  educational  clinic  should  ar- 
range a  system  of  tests  so  simple,  with  an  equipment 
so  inexpensive,  that  it  may  be  introduced  even  in  small 


THE  MEANING  OF  AN  EDUCATIONAL   CLINIC    275 

communities  where  the  item  of  expense  means  much. 
The  technic  and  routine  should  also  be  so  simplified 
that  intelligent  and  well-trained  school  superintendents, 
supervising  principals,  and  even  teachers  may  be  found 
to  be  willing  and  capable  of  receiving  special  training 
in  conducting  their  local  educational  clinics.  Naturally 
the  results  of  their  testing  can  be  only  tentative,  but  it 
will  help  them  to  differentiate  between  children  of  dif- 
ferent types,  and  to  make  them  desirous  of  referring 
cases  to  psychological  and  medical  experts  and  clinics 
for  further  advice. 

Network  of  Clinics. — An  educational  clinic,  as  the 
author  conceives  it,  is  not  in  competition  with  any 
psychological,  psychopathic,  or  general  medical  clinic. 
Quite  the  contrary.  It  may  be  considered  a  feeder  of 
the  others,  since  only  a  small  percentage  of  children  will 
need  a  special  psychological  or  psychopathic  examina- 
tion, or  special  medical  treatment  of  the  kind  that  has 
to  be  given  by  experts.  We  may  think  of  an  arrange- 
ment which  would  provide  for  half  a  hundred  or  more 
educational  clinics  to  one  of  the  others.  It  is,  of  course, 
understood  that  the  educational  clinic  of  any  school 
system,  large  or  small,  would  be  in  constant  touch  with 
the  medical  inspector  of  the  district.  It  will  also  be 
found  that  the  medical  fraternity  in  every  place  will  be 
quite  ready  to  co-operate. 

Educational  clinics  may  also  be  organized  for  systems 
of  private  schools;  in  connection  with  social  centres  not 
otherwise  provided  for;  and  with  children's  and  juvenile 
courts  and  detention  homes,  truant  schools,  reformatories ^ 
etc.    The  system  of  reference  may  be  the  same. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS 

Completer  Schedule. — In  the  author's  book,  "The 
Study  of  Individual  Children,"  a  full  description  is 
given  of  the  schedule  of  tests  as  it  was  developed  by 
him  in  the  school  for  exceptional  children,  Herbart  Hall, 
at  Plainfield,  N.  J.  This  schedule  is  outHned  in  Chap- 
ter XII  of  this  book.  In  the  light  of  later  investiga- 
tions the  author's  practice  in  the  educational  clinics 
organized  by  him  has  been  somewhat  modified  by  omit- 
ting some  of  the  old  tests  and  adding  new  ones,  and  by 
substituting  new  tests  for  old  ones. 

As  will  be  remembered,  the  schedule  employed  there 
is  a  very  extended  one.  To  collect  all  the  material  re- 
quired for  completing  these  tests,  a  long  observation  is 
imperative.  The  schedule  is  supplemented  by  studying 
the  actual  work  of  the  pupils  in  the  school,  their  con- 
duct  in  the  classroom,  on  the  playground,  and  in  their 
companionship  with  others  in  their  school  home,  their 
life  habits,  and  their  emotional  states. 

The  Briefer  Schedule. — For  the  purpose  of  shorter 
clinical  examinations  a  new  schedule  has  been  com- 
piled, much  briefer  and  more  condensed.  In  this  way 
larger  numbers  of  children  can  be  reached,  through  the 
organization  of  educational  clinics,  in  connection  with 
school  systems,  courts,  etc. 

Even  this  shorter  schedule,  however,  lends  itself  to 

276 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  277 

the  use  in  connection  with  observation  classes  and 
schools,  parental  schools  and  other  provisions  in  any 
school  system  for  a  fair  observation  and  study  of  chil- 
dren. 

Care  has  been  taken  to  arrange  the  schedule  so  that 
it  can  be  inexpensively  introduced  into  almost  any 
school  system,  even  smaller  towns  and  rural  districts. 
The  equipment  has  been  simplified  in  every  way.  As  in 
the  larger  schedule,  many  of  the  tests  can  be  applied 
to  groups  of  children  at  a  time,  in  the  classroom,  if  nec- 
essary. Most  of  them  are  devised  in  such  a  manner 
that  they  have  the  character  of  play  and  from  the  start 
give  the  child  the  benefit  of  a  gratification  of  childish 
instincts  and  interests. 

Still  further  to  put  the  child  at  ease  and  to  give  him 
the  feeling  that  he  is  in  a  pleasant  environment  and 
not  in  a  "clinic,"  as  this  term  is  for  the  most  part  un- 
derstood, the  author  has  taken  care  that  the  rooms 
in  which  he  conducts  his  own  work  are  attractively 
equipped.  Only  such  apparatus  is  in  evidence  as  will 
arouse  the  child's  eager  interest.  The  walls  are  deco- 
rated with  silhouettes  and  pictures  illustrating  child  and 
animal  life,  or  representing  fairy-tales,  well-known  fig- 
ures from  the  Mother  Goose  Tales,  and  the  like.  All 
this  seems  to  be  for  decorative  purposes  only,  but  fur- 
nishes at  the  same  time  test  material,  for  the  identifica- 
tion of  pictures,  story-telling  from  pictures,  etc.  The 
whole  atmosphere  of  the  place  where  such  investigations 
are  conducted  must  be  inviting,  cheerful,  playroom- 
like. 

The  condensed  schedule  comprises  four  cards,  using 
three  different  colors  for  ready  discrimination.  The 
first  card,  wkite,  is  a  Child  History  card.    The  second, 


278  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

blue,  is  intended  for  a  record  of  physical  examinations. 
The  remaining  two,  yellow,  are  reserved  for  the  educa- 
tional tests. 

(i)  Child  History 
The  blank  card  is  as  follows: 

EDUCATIONAL  CLINIC 

No 

Referred  by (Organization  or  person)  per 

Address Date 


CfflLD  HISTORY 

Name  of  child Date  of  birth , 

Place  of  birth Address 

If  foreign -bom,  how  long  in  this  country? 

Name  of  father Mother 

Born  when  ? 

Born  where  ? 

Immigrated  when  ? 

White  or  colored  ? 

Occupation 

Health  and  disease 


Living  or  dead  ? 

Cause  and  time  of  death. 


Grandparents  and  other  relatives 

Other  children  (including  still-births  and  miscarriages) . 


Order  and  conditions  of  birth. 


Diseases  child  has  had  (state  date,  etc.) : 

Appendix Infantile  paralysis RicLets 

Bladder Inflammation  of  bowels  Rupture 

Cerebro-spinal  men-        Scarlet  fever. 

ingitis Inflanmiation  of  brain .  .Scrofula 

Colon Smallpox. . . . 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  279 

Convulsions Insanity St.  Vitus's  dance 

Diphtheria Kidnej^ Stomach 

Ear  disease Liver Throat 

Epilepsy Measles Thyroid  gland 

Eye  disease German  measles Tuberculosis 

Fevers Neiuralgia Typhus 

Genitals Nose Varioloid 

Headaches Ophthalmia Whooping-cough 

Head  eruptions Pleurisy Other  diseases 

Heart Pneumonia 

Hemorrhage Rheimiatism 

Other  physical  conditions 


Moral  status 

Special  characteristics  and  tendencies. 


Mental  statxis 

School  grade. . .  .Reading Writing Number. . . 

Language Nature History Geography. 

Manual  work Art 

Music School  progress 

General  intelligence .' 

Remarks 

Home  conditions 

Additional  information 


Reason  for  reporting  child 

Parent's  or  guardian's  signatxire 

Repojted  at  clinic 19 . 


On  this  card  the  child  history  is  considerably  con- 
densed as  compared  with  the  one  used  with  the  author's 
larger  system  of  tests.  It  is,  however,  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  obtain  as  much  information  as  possible 
from  parents,  relatives,  friends,  and  physicians.  Much 
light  is  thrown  upon  the  child's  condition  and  its  causes 
by  facts  about  the  parents  and  relatives,  and  their  men- 
tal and  physical  health  and  disease.  The  home  condi- 
tions— which  affect  a  child's  status  considerably  and  are 


280  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

often  much  more  powerful  in  their  effect  than  alleged 
hereditary  influences — ^require  the  closest  scrutiny. 
School  nurses,  friendly  visitors,  social  workers  are  among 
the  agencies  to  give  helpful  reports  when  we  come  to 
cases  from  the  slums.  A  good  method  to  collect  infor- 
mation is  to  work  through  parent-teachers'  meetings, 
visits  of  teachers  in  the  homes  of  their  pupils,  and  simi- 
lar occasions. 

It  is  well  to  note  which  place  the  child  occupies  in  the 
number  of  births — whether  he  is  the  first,  second,  third, 
etc.,  child.  First  children  and  last-bom  children  are 
apt  to  suffer  from  more  or  less  distinct  handicaps. 
There  are  biological  reasons,  economic  reasons,  reasons 
of  educational  experience,  effects  of  spoiling,  etc.  How 
many  children  are  there?  How  many  boys,  how  many 
girls  ?  Among  the  children  bom  to  the  family,  are  there 
any  dead?  What  was  the  cause  of  their  death?  At 
what  age  did  they  die?  How  did  they  number  in  the 
order  of  birth?  Were  there  any  still-births  or  miscar- 
riages? In  the  case  of  the  latter,  in  what  month  of 
pregnancy?  What  were  the  possible  causes?  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  is  irhportant  to  number  still-births  and 
miscarriages  in  the  order  of  births,  just  as  if  they  repre- 
sented children  actually  born.  This  information  may 
explain  why  children  born  previous  to,  or  after,  still- 
births and  miscarriages  were  handicapped ;  the  condition 
of  the  mother  has  to  be  carefully  considered.  Did  the 
mother  try  to  prevent  motherhood?  Was  the  child  an 
unwelcome  child  ?  It  is,  of  course,  hardly  to  be  expected 
that  all  this  information  can  be  easily  or  completely 
obtained.  But  discreet  efforts  should  be  made  to  dis- 
close as  many  facts  as  possible. 

The  conditions  of  birth  should  be  noted.     Was  the 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  281 

child  bom  at  full  term  ?  Was  birth  natural  or  was  child 
taken  with  instruments?  What  were  the  conditions  of 
labor  ?  ^  Was  the  mother  under  physical  or  mental 
strain  during  pregnancy?  Was  the  child  nursed  or 
bottle-fed? 

The  record  of  diseases  and  other  physical  conditions 
should  be  carefully  made.  The  age,  or  year,  when  the 
child  had  a  certain  disease  should  be  recorded.  There 
is  a  distinct  relation  of  some  physical  conditions  with 
others.  For  instance:  headaches  are  often  caused  by 
visual  impairment,  by  nasal-pharyngeal  obstruction,  or 
digestive  troubles.  The  effect  of  scarlet  fever  or  measles 
is  not  rarely  one  of  general  lack  of  tone  and  resistance. 

Regarding  the  moral  status  of  a  child  we  may  have  to 
be  satisfied  with  statements  of  unwarranted  opinions 
unless  teachers  and  parents  have  learned  to  interpret  a 
child's  conduct  in  terms  of  danger-signals.  But  even 
mistaken  judgments  of  a  child's  conduct  may  well  be 
recorded,  as  they  show  how  a  child  reacts  upon  others. 

Similarly,  the  child's  special  characteristics  and  tenden- 
cies should  be  noted  down  as  far  as  information  can  be 
obtained.  It  should  be  mentioned  ii>  this  connection 
that  a  child  often  reacts  very  differently  upon  his  school 

*  Even  a  very  difficult  birth  by  no  means  predestines  a  child  to  be- 
come handicapped  in  life.  The  great  German  px)et,  Goethe,  caused  his 
young  mother  (she  was  only  i8  years  old  when  she  gave  birth  to  her 
first-bom,  who  was  to  become  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  human  race) 
much  suffering  before  he  saw  the  light.  She  suffered  mortal  agony  for 
three  days  before  the  child  was  delivered.  And  the  young  babe  looked 
so  lifeless  and  miserable  that  it  was  thought  he  was  still-born.  For 
hours  they  rubbed  his  body  with  wine,  until  finally  he  opened  his  eyes 
and — lived.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  young  mother  did  not  have 
the  assistance  of  an  obstetric  physician  in  her  severe  labor,  but  had  to 
rely  on  midwife  and  grandmother.  At  that  time  there  was  no  such 
person  as  a  gynecologist  or  obstetrician  in  Frankfurt.     (Case  36.) 


282  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

environment  from  the  way  he  reacts  upon  his  home 
environment.  Both  sides  of  a  child's  nature  should 
find  recognition  in  these  statements. 

The  mental  status  of  the  child  should  be  recorded  as 
impartially  as  possible.  Space  has  been  provided  for 
statements  on  school  progress  and  on  general  intelli- 
gence. These  two  are  by  no  means  always  parallel. 
These  points  have  been  set  forth  in  detail  in  the  chapters 
of  the  first  part  of  this  book,  so  that  they  need  no  re- 
iteration here.  The  career  of  some  successful  school 
pupils  has  ended  in  an  institution  for  the  feeble-minded 
or  in  an  almshouse. 

Thus,  the  school  grade  a  child  has  reached  is  of  rela- 
tively little  significance,  although  it  is  well  to  have  it 
on  record.  It  is  the  practice  in  many  schools  which 
have  no  other  ways  of  disposing  of  backward  or  non- 
conforming children,  to  move  a  pupil  to  the  next  higher 
grade  after  he  has  been  in  the  lower  for  two  years,  even 
unsuccessfully.  This  is  not  a  promotion  for  scholarship, 
for  of  scholarship  there  is  none,  but  for  what  is  reckoned 
to  be  age  and  maturity.  Thus,  we  may  find  children  in 
the  fourth  or  fifth  grade  who  are  really  doing  the  work 
of  the  first.  From  the  fourth  or  fifth  they  may  drop 
out,  having  reached  the  limit  of  school  age  without  hav- 
ing received  any  school  education  at  all.  In  other  places 
a  pupil  stays  in  a  class  unpromoted  year  in,  year  out, 
no  matter  what  his  age  may  be.  Thus  we  may  find 
children  of  fourteen  years  in  the  primary  grades.  It  is 
diflScult  to  say  which  one  of  these  two  plans  is  the  more 
vicious.  On  the  other  hand,  some  children  may  pass  rap- 
idly through  the  grades,  owing  to  some  mechanical  perfec- 
tion, without  that  real  mental  maturity  which  the  scaling 
of  every  successive  grade  would  seem  to  involve.  The 
truly  bright  and  talented  child  is  often  lost  in  the  mass. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  283 

We  can  hardly  expect  to  have  anything  but  ordinary 
school  marks  on  this  card,  in  the  record  of  the  child's 
standing  in  the  various  branches  of  instruction.  But 
even  these  are  significant  for  comparison,  and  for  sizing 
up  the  child's  predicament. 

(2)  Physical  Examination 

The  blank  card  contains  the  following  items: 

EDUCATIONAL  CLINIC 
No Date  child  was  examined 


PHYSICAL  EXAMINATIONS 


Name  of  child Date  of  birth. 

Examiners 


Height  standing Height  sitting Weight 

Limg  capacity Grip Push Vital  index. 

General  appearance Nutrition 

Head Cephalic  index 

Eyes 

Ears 

Nose , 

Mouth 

Teeth Palatal  arch 

Tonsils Pharynx 

Glands 

Chest 

Lungs Von  Pirquet 

Heart 

Spine 

Digestive  apparatus 

Urine 

Blood Wassermann 

Genitals 

Sexual  function 

Extremities 

Gait  and  station Prehension 

Dexterity 

Chorea Habit  spasms 


284                   THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 
Knee  jerk Neuroses 


Speech 

Other  findings. 


Diagnosis  and  suggestions . 


Room  is  left  on  this  blank  for  entering  the  names  and 
statements  of  several  examiners.  The  height  and  weight 
measurements,  the  lung  capacity,  grip,  and  push  can 
possibly  be  recorded  in  the  Educational  Clinic  itself,  as 
the  obtaining  of  these  data  require  little  special  prepara- 
tion and  can  be  ascertained  by  any  intelHgent  teacher 
with  the  necessary  apparatus. 

The  outfit  for  these  measurements  consists  of  a  phy- 
sician's scale;  a  stadiometer  or  measuring-rod  for  mea- 
suring height;  a  spirometer  for  measuring  the  lung  ca- 
pacity; a  grip  dynamometer,  and  a  little  instrument  for 
measuring  power  of  push. 

Whenever  feasible,  the  measurements  should  be  taken 
over  the  unclothed  body,  so  as  to  allow  of  accuracy  and 
complete  observation.  Wherever  that  is  impossible, 
only  a  minimum  of  clothing  should  be  allowed,  the 
weight  of  which  can  be  easily  deducted.  Clothing  is 
usually  heavier  than  it  is  supposed,  and  constitutes  a 
source  of  considerable  error.  In  measuring  large  num- 
bers for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  mathematical  means, 
this  error  may  be  minimized,  through  plus  and  minus 
cancellations;  but  in  following  up  the  height  and  weight 
of  an  individual  child,  errors  of  a  few  pounds  in  weight 
or  of  an  inch  in  height  may  obscure  the  onset  of  disease. 

It  is,  furthermore,  more  important  that  the  figures 
for  height  and  weight  should  correspond  with  one  an- 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  285 

other  than  that  the  child  be  "average"  in  these  mea- 
sures. In  other  words,  a  child  may  represent  a  smaller 
or  a  larger  type  without  danger  to  his  development, 
provided  height  and  weight  measures  correspond.  But 
if  he  should  weigh  less  than  the  average  boy  of  his  age, 
yet  his  height  be  average  or  even  above  the  mean  for 
his  age,  or  vice  versa,  there  is  reason  to  investigate. 
Excessive  or  distinctly  stunted  growth  is,  of  course,  also 
abnormal.  But  it  has  been  found  that  in  general  the 
larger  and  taller  children  are  more  successful  than  the 
smaller  ones.    Loss  of  weight  is  a  danger-signal. 

Attention  is  again  called  to  the  tension  which  may 
be  caused  by  discrepancies  between  the  chronological, 
anatomical,  physiological,  and  psychological  growth 
periods  of  a  child.  Stunted  growth  and  underdeveloped 
functioning,  coupled  with  overalert  and  precocious  men- 
tality, will  predispose  a  child  for  a  collapse.  There  are 
also  children  with  precocious  physical  growth,  unaccom- 
panied by  corresponding  mental  development,  often 
being  decidedly  backward  intellectually.  Absolute  nor- 
mal poise,  when  all  the  different  aspects  of  human  per- 
sonality are  well  related,  is  comparatively  rare. 

The  following  tables,  taken  from  Hastings'  "Manual 
of  Physical  Measurements,"  with  the  centimetres  figured 
in  inches  and  the  kilos  figured  in  pounds,  will  give  the 
results  of  measurements  of  many  children  for  compari- 
son with  the  figures  obtained  for  the  individual  child 
under  observation.  This  table  gives,  in  addition  to  the 
mean  for  every  age,  various  sizes  with  the  normal  cor- 
responding weight.  In  the  light  of  what  has  been  said 
in  the  preceding  paragraph,  this  table  is  more  valuable 
than  one  which  would  only  state  age  averages.  An  age 
average  has  little  significance  for  the  individual  case. 


286 


THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 


HEIGHT  AND  WEIGHT  MEASUREMENTS  OF  BOYS 

From  Hastings'  "Manual  of  Physical  Measurements" 


Age  of  5 

Age  of  6 

cm. 

in. 

kilo. 

lbs. 

cm. 

in. 

kilo. 

lbs. 

112.00 

44.01 

21.02 

46.24 

116.00 

45.58 

21.92 

48.22 

110.00 

43.23 

19.20 

42.24 

114.00 

44.79 

20.8s 

45-87 

108.00 

42.44 

18.84 

41.44 

112.00 

44.01 

19.89 

43-75 

106.00 

41.65 

18.26 

40.17 

110.00 

43-23 

19-49 

42.87 

104.00 

40.87 

17-50 

38.50 

108.00 

42.44 

19.02 

41.84 

102.00 

40.08 

17.29 

38.03 

106.00 

41.65 

18.21 

40.06 

100.00 

39-30 

16.31 

35.88 

104.00 

40.87 

17.82 

39.20 

98.00 

38.51 

15-99 

35.17 

102.00 

40.08 

16.36 

35-99 

Mean:  105.78 

41-75 

17.86 

39.29 

110.67 

43-49 

19-37 

42.61 

Age*  of 

7 

Age  of  8                     1 

122.00 

47-94 

24-51 

S3. 94 

127.00 

49.91 

26.93 

59-24 

120.00 

47-15 

22.78 

50.12 

125.00 

49 

12 

24.64 

54-20 

118.00 

46-36 

22.00 

48.40 

123.00 

48 

ii 

24.47 

53-63 

116.00 

45-58 

21.50 

47.31 

121.00 

47 

54 

23.74 

52.22 

114.00 

44-79 

21.00 

46.21 

119.00 

46 

75 

22.35 

49-17 

112.00 

44.01 

19.48 

42.86 

117.00 

45 

97 

21.77 

47.89 

110.00 

43-23 

19-39 

42.67 

11500 

45 

18 

21. II 

46.44 

108.00 

42.44 

18.38 

40.45 

113.00 

44 

40 

19.72 

43-38 

Mean:  115.69 

45-46 

21.30 

46.49 

121. 31 

47-67 

23-14 

50.90 

Age  of 

9 

Age  of  10 

132.00 

51-87 

28.36 

62.39 

136.00 

53-44 

30.82 

67.80 

130.00 

51-08 

27.26 

59 

97 

134.00 

52.65 

29-15 

64-13 

128.00 

50.29 

26.87 

59 

II 

132.00 

51-87 

28.14 

61.90 

126.00 

49-51 

25-54 

56 

18 

130.00 

SI -08 

27-53 

60.56 

124.00 

48.72 

24-70 

54 

34 

128.00 

50.29 

26.27 

57-79 

122.00 

47-94 

24-07 

52 

95 

126.00 

49-51 

25-78 

56.71 

120.00 

47-15 

22.72 

49 

98 

124.00 

48.72 

24.90 

54-78 

118.00 

46-36 

21.49 

47 

27 

122.00 

47-94 

24.01 

52.82 

Mean:  125.86 

49  56 

25.07 

55-15 

130.9s 

51.46 

27-85 

61.27 

I 

Vge  of 

[I 

Age  of  12                     | 

142.00 

SS-So 

34.78 

87-51 

146.00 

57-73 

37-56 

82.63 

140.00 

55-01 

32.40 

71.28 

144.00 

56-58 

35-74 

78.62 

138.00 

54-22 

31-08 

68.37 

142.00 

55-80 

34-54 

75-98 

136.00 

53-44 

30.29 

66.63 

140.00 

55-01 

34-04 

74-88 

134  00 

52.65 

29.51 

64.92 

138.00 

54-22 

33-27 

73.19 

132.00 

51-87 

27-73 

61.00 

136.00 

53-44 

30.68 

67.49 

130.00 

51-08 

28.52 

62.74 

134.00 

52-65 

30-39 

66.85 

128.00 

50.29 

25.88 

56.93 

132.00 

Si-87 

28.44 

62.56 

Mean:  134.90 

S3-OI 

29.86 

65.69 

140.29 

55-13 

32.98 

72.55 

SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS 


287 


Age  of  13 

Age  of  14 

cm. 

in. 

kilo. 

lbs. 

cm. 

in. 

kilo. 

lbs. 

154.00 
15100 
148.00 
145  00 
142.00 
139.00 
136.00 
133  00 

60.51 
59-33 
58.15 
56.98 
55.80 
54.62 
53-44 
52.26 

43-98 
39-62 
38.18 
36.06 
35  30 
33-66 
31-82 
29.09 

96.75 
87.16 
83-99 
79-33 
77.66 
74  05 
70.00 
63-99 

164.00 
160.00 
156.00 
152.00 
148.00 
144.00 
140.00 
136.00 

64.4s 
62.87 
61.30 
59.73 
58.15 
56.59 
55. oi 
53.44 

54-77 
48.50 
45 -SO 
42-33 
39  46 
36-85 
34-74 
30.76 

120.49 
106.70 
100.10 
93.12 
86.81 
81.07 
76.42 
67.67 

Mean:  145.09 

57.02 

35-60 

78.32 

151  02 

59-34 

39-73 

87-40 

Age  of  15 

Age  of  16 

170.00 
166.00 
162.00 
158.00 
15400 
150.00 
146.00 
142.00 

66.81 
65 -23 
63.66 
62.08 
60.51 
58.95 
57-37 
55.80 

60.45 
54-43 
52-95 
48.98 
44-54 
41-59 
38.68 
35-68 

132.99 

119-74 
116.49 

107-75 
97-98 
91.49 
85.09 
78.49 

17300 
170.00 
167.00 
164.00 
i6i.oo 
158.00 
155-00 
152-00 

67.98 
66.81 
65.63 
64.45 
63.27 
62.09 
60.91 
59-73 

64.09 
58.07 
56-36 
55-00 
52-88 
47-12 
44.09 
40.00 

140.99 
127-75 
123-99 
121.00 
116.33 
103 .  66 
96.99 
88.00 

Mean:  158.18 

62.16 

46-95 

103.29 

163-73 

64.34 

52-90 

116.38 

Age  of  17 

Age  of  i8 

178.00 
175.00 
172.00 
169.00 
166.00 
163.00 
160.00 
157.00 

69 -95 
68.77 
67-59 
66.41 
65 -23 
64.04 
62.87 
61.96 

63-56 
62.39 
58.64 
57-14 
55-97 
53-18 
49.88 
45-45 

139  83 
137 .25 
129.00 
125.70 
12313 
116.99 
109.73 
99.99 

180.00 
177.00 
174.00 
171.00 
168.00 
165.00 
162.00 
15900 

70.72 
69-54 
68.36 
67.20 
66.02 
64-83 
63-66 
62.47 

66.27 
64.32 
62.73 
60.78 
57-27 
54-24 
54-36 
53-13 

145-79 
141-50 
138.00 
133-71 
125-99 
119.32 
119-59 
116.88 

Mean:  169.98 

66.80 

56.82 

125.00 

171.07 

67,-  23 

59-25 

130.35 

Age  of  19 

Age  of  20 

182.00 
17900 
176.00 
173.00 
170.00 
167.00 
164.00 
161.00 

71-52 
70.34 
69.16 
67.98 
66.81 
65-63 
64-45 
63-27 

67-61 
65. 11 
64.09 
61.93 
60.60 
58.91 
56.9s 
52.67 

148.74 
143.24 
140.99 
136.22 
133  32 
129.60 
125.29 
115.87 

184.00 
181.00 
178.00 
175.00 
172.00 
169.00 
166.00 
163.00 

72.30 
71.12 
69-95 
68.77 
67-59 
66.41 
65-23 
64.04 

74.77 
66.93 
65.18 
63.68 
60.45 
59.32 
59.14 
54.59 

164.49 
147-24 
143-39 
140.09 
132.99 
130.52 
130.10 
120.09 

Mean:  171 .89 

67-52 

61.71 

135.76 

172.22 

67-67 

61.09 

134-39 

288 


THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 


HEIGHT  AND  WEIGHT   MEASUREMENTS  OF  GIRLS 

From  Hastings'  "Manual  of   Physical  Measurements" 


Age  of  5 

Age  of  6                    ] 

cm. 

in. 

kilo. 

lbs. 

cm. 

in. 

kilo. 

lbs. 

112.00 
110.00 
108.00 
106.00 
104.00 
102.00 
100.00 
98.00 

44.01 
43-23 
42.44 
41.65 
40.87 
40.08 
39-30 
38.51 

20.74 
18.71 
18.86 
18.22 
17.27 
16.84 
16.02 
IS -23 

45-62 
41 .  16 
41.49 
40.08 
37-99 
37-04 
35-24 
33.50 

116.00 
114.00 
112.00 
110.00 
108.00 
106.00 
104.00 

102.00 

45.58 
44-79 
44.01 
43-23 
42.44 
41-65 
40.87 
40.08 

21.36 
20.20 
19.64 
19.01 
18.28 
17.73 
16.93 
16.31 

46.99 

44-44 
43-20 
41.82 
40.21 
39-00 
37-24 
35-88 

Mean:  105.38 

41.41 

17.32 

38-10 

109.90 

43   19 

18.50 

40.70 

Age  of  7 

Age  of  8                    | 

121.00 
119.00 
117.00 
IIS-OO 
113.00 
III. 00 
109.00 
107 .  00 

47-54 
46.75 
45-97 
45-18 
44.40 
43.61 
42.82 
42.04 

23-04 
22.44 
20.78 
20.76 
20.10 
19.65 
18.42 
17.38 

50-68 
49-36 
45-71 
45-67 

44-22 

43-23 
40.52 
38.23 

126.00 
124.00 
122.00 
120.00 
118.00 
116.00 
114.00 
112.00 

49-51 
48.72 
47-94 
47-15 
46.36 
45-58 
44-79 
44-01 

25.53 
23-98 
23.24 
22.18 
21.49 
20.85 
20.23 
18.90 

56.16 
52.75 

51.12 

48.79 
47.27 
45.87 
44.50 
41-58 

Mean:  114. 95 

45-17 

20.70 

45.54 

120.16 

47.22 

22.17 

48.77 

Age  of  9 

Age  of  10 

132.00 
130.00 
1 28 . 00 
126.00 
124.00 
122.00 

I20.00 

118.00 

51.87 
51-08 
50.29 
49-51 
48.72 
47-94 
47-15 
46.36 

28.61 
27 .06 
25.90 
25-33 
23-85 
23-35 
22.76 
21.34 

62.94 
59.53 
56.98 
55.72 
52.47 
51-37 
50-07 
46.94 

136.00 
134-00 
132.00 
130.00 
128.00 
126.00 
124.00 
122.00 

53.44 
52.65 

51.87 
51.08 
50.29 
4951 
48.72 
47.94 

31-40 
29.20 
28.14 
26.59 
26.31 
25-32 
24.24 
22.70 

69.08 
64.24 
61.90 
58.49 
57.88 
55.70 
53.32 
49.94 

Mean:  126.17 

49-59 

24.90 

54-78 

131.29 

51.59 

27.16 

59.75 

Age  of  II                         | 

Age  of  12                   | 

142.00 
140.00 
138.00 
136.00 
13400 
132.00 
130.00 
128.00 

55 -80 
55-01 

54-22 

53-44 
52.65 
51-87 
51-08 
50.29 

34-03 
31-82 
31-25 
30.27 
28.35 
28.07 
27-73 
24-73 

74-86 
70.00 
68.75 
66.59 
62.37 
61.75 
61.00 
54-40 

152.00 
149.00 
146.00 
143.00 
140.00 
13700 
134.00 
131.00 

59-73 
58.55 
57.37 
56.19 
SS-Oi 
53.83 
52.65 
SI. 47 

42.36 
38.86 
36.93 
34-85 
32.62 
30.80 
29.58 
27.50 

93.19 
85.49 
81.24 
76.67 
71.76 
67.76 
65-07 
60.50 

Mean:  135.16 

53-12 

29.00 

63.80 

142-03 

SS-&^ 

33-06 

72.73 

SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS 


289 


Age  of 

3 

Age  of  14 

cm.      1      in. 

kilo. 

lbs. 

cm. 

in. 

kilo. 

lbs. 

156.00 

61.30 

45-91 

101.00 

164.00 

64 -45 

51.27 

112.79 

15300 

60.12 

42.73 

94.00 

161.00 

63.27 

48.89 

107.55 

150.00 

58.95 

40.26 

88.57 

158.00 

62.09 

45.91 

101.00 

14700 

57-77 

38.41 

84-50 

155.00 

60.91 

45.98 

101.15 

144.00 

56.59 

35-05 

77-11 

152.00 

59.73 

43.13 

94.88 

141.00 

55-41 

34-09 

74.99 

149.00 

58.85 

41.42 

91.12 

138.00 

54-23 

31-14 

68.46 

146.00 

57.37 

38.07 

83.75 

135  00 

53-05 

29-54 

64.98 

143.00 

56.19 

35.05 

77.11 

Mean: 

148-53 

58.35 

37-94 

83.46 

153.17 

60.19 

42.92 

94.42 

Age  of 

S 

Age  of  16 

162.00 

63.66 

53-18 

116.99 

164.00 

64.44 

54.48 

119.85 

160.00 

62.87 

49 

45 

108.79 

162.00 

63.66 

52.36 

11519 

158.00 

62.08 

48 

49 

106.67 

160.00 

62.87 

53.50 

117.70 

156.00 

61.30 

47 

05 

103-51 

158.00 

62.08 

50.40 

110.88 

154.00 

60.51 

45 

34 

99-74 

156.00 

61.30 

50.00 

110.00 

152.00 

59-73 

45 

00 

99.00 

154.00 

60.51 

49.09 

107.99 

150.00 

58.94 

44 

09 

96.99 

152.00 

59-73 

46.82 

103.00 

148.00 

58.15 

40 

60 

89-32 

150.00 

58.94 

45.55 

100. II 

Mean: 

156.79 

6i.6i 

46.71 

102.76 

157-93 

62.00 

50.38 

110.83 

Age  of  i 

7 

Age  of  18 

165.00 

64  83 

57-95 

127.49 

166.00 

65.23 

55.45 

121.99 

163.00 

64.04 

53-64 

118.00 

164.00 

64.44 

53.18 

116.99 

161.00 

63.26 

50.15 

110.30 

162.00 

63.66 

51.06 

112.33 

15900 

62.47 

49-85 

109.67 

160.00 

62.87 

50.85 

III. 87 

157.00 

61.96 

50.45 

110.99 

158.00 

62.08 

48.96 

107.71 

15500 

60.90 

48.49 

106.67 

156.00 

61.30 

48.82 

107.40 

15300 

60.11 

50.23 

110.50 

154-00 

60.51 

47.84 

105.24 

15100 

59-33 

48.49 

106.67 

152.00 

59.73 

46.70 

102.74 

Mean: 

159  40 

62.63 

50.44 

110.96 

159-74 

62.77 

50.16 

110.3s 

Age  of  1 

9 

Age  of  20 

166.00 

65-23 

55-60 

122.32 

166.00 

65.23 

56.99 

125.37 

164.00 

64.44 

55-91 

123.00 

164.00 

64-44 

53.64 

118.00 

162.00 

63.66 

54.09 

118.99 

162.00 

63.66 

52.05 

114.51 

160.00 

62.87 

50.91 

112.00 

160.00 

62.87 

51.82 

114.00 

158.00 

62.08 

50.45 

110.99 

158.00 

62.08 

51.88 

114.13 

156.00 

61.30 

50.09 

no.  19 

156.00 

61.30 

^1.14 

112.50 

154.00 

60.51 

46.14 

101.50 

154.00 

60.51 

50.45 

110.99 

15200 

59-73 

44-85 

98.67 

152.00 

59.73 

45  00 

99.00 

Mean: 

160.09 

62.90 

51-43 

113.14 

160.81 

63.19 

52.27 

114.99 

290  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Lung  capacity  is  often  called  vital  capacity}  There  is 
a  distinct  relation  of  vital  capacity  to  weight.  This 
relation  is  determined  by  dividing  the  vital  capacity  in 
cubic  centimetres  by  the  weight  in  kilograms.  The 
ratio  thus  obtained  shows  whether  the  child's  lung  ca- 
pacity is  normal  for  his  weight.  It  is  called  the  Vital 
Index.  Kotelmann  has  computed  the  normal  vital  index 
for  the  different  ages  (largely  using  age  means,  however). 
His  table  is  as  follows: 


Age 9     lo    II  12  13  14 

Index 69.32  69.37  69.18  67.51  66.75  64.07 

Age IS    16    17  18  19  20 

Index 63.18  65.94  65.77  64.28  66.22  65.01 


Professor  Pyle  has  taken  Smedley's  norms  of  weight 
and  vital  capacity  and  computed  the  vital  index  in 
terms  of  the  number  of  cubic  centimetres  of  air  capacity 
per  pound  of  weight,  by  converting  the  weight  in  kilo- 
grams to  pounds  and  dividing  this  weight  in  pounds 
into  the  vital  capacity.  ''It  will  be  noticed,"  he  says, 
''that  the  girls  show  a  falling  off  after  the  age  of  11. 
This  may  be  due  to  tight  lacing."     This  is  his  table: 


Age 

.   6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

II 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

Boys. . . 

•  23 

24 

25 

25 

25 

25 

25 

25 

25 

25 

26 

27 

27 

Girls . . . 

.  22 

23 

23 

23 

23 

23 

22 

21 

20 

20 

20 

20 

20 

'  Cf.  "Lung  Capacity  of  Children."  Spirometer  Tests  of  1,618  White 
School  Children  (751  Boys,  876  Girls)  in  the  City  of  X.  By  C.  W. 
Stiles  and  Floyd  Graves.  Published  by  the  United  States  Public  Health 
Service,  Washington,  D.  C,  October  15,  1915.  The  investigations  of 
these  two  authors  show  a  distinct  dijEFerence  in  the  development  of  the 
lung  capacity  of  boys  and  girls  of  different  ages. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  291 

In  some  cases  the  medical  inspector  may  enter  the 
result  of  a  general  physical  examination  first.  His  find- 
ings, or  his  observations  made  during  the  clinical  tests, 
may  suggest  that  the  child  be  referred  to  specialists  for 
more  thorough  examinations  of  vision,  hearing,  and 
other  vital  functions,  including  blood  tests,  etc.  These 
should  also  be  entered  on  this  card. 

Many  schools  have  already  established  clinics  in  con- 
nection with  their  medical  inspection  work.  It  may  be 
well  to  have  a  pathological  laboratory  within  reach  for 
the  ready  examination  of  the  sputum,  urine,  faeces,  and 
blood,  and  for  the  eventual  application  of  the  von 
Pirquet  and  Wassermann  tests. 

Much  might  be  said  here  about  the  great  importance 
of  the  development  of  the  sexual  function  and  of  an 
examination  of  the  genitals  in  cases  where  there  seem 
to  be  mental,  moral,  and  emotional  disturbances.  But 
reference  to  remarks  in  previous  chapters,  and  in  the 
"Medical  Symposium"  of  this  book  wiU  suffice. 


(3)  Educational  Tests 

The  material  for  the  educational  tests  is  spread  over 
two  cards. 

EDUCATIONAL  CLINIC 
Educational  Tests  ' 
No Name Date 


{A)    Visual: 

*  I .  Distance 

*  2.  Colors:  (a)  Matching O  =         (6)  Naming 

t  3.  Memory:  (a) colors;  (6) objects;  (c) words 


292  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

(B)  Auditory: 

*  I.  Distance O     2.  Location 

O  3.  Character 0*4.  Pitch 

f  5.  Memory:  (a)  Single  tone (b) words 

(c)  Word-Picture:  Primary images 

Elementary images 

Intermediate images 

Advanced images 

(C)  Tactile: 

*  O  t  !•  Objects,  large 

*  O  t  2.  Objects,  small 

=  3.  Geometric  forms 

*  4.  Needle-p>oints 

(D)  Smell:  (*  O  f) 

(£)     Taste:  (*  O  f) 

(F)  Motor  Co-ordination:  (*)  Threading  needles 

(G)  Location:  (*0) (H)     *  Balance: 

(/)     Train  of  Ideas:  (f  O)  Hammer 


Book. 


Mother 

(/)     Imitation:  (f)  i.  Movement 

2.  Knox  Test 

3.  Peg-board 

{K)    Concentration:  (f)  i.  Following directions  ( errors) 

2.  Remembers momentarily  exposed  objects. 

3.  100  A's,  . . .%        Time 

(Z,)     Naming  of  Objects:  (O)  i.  In  room 

2.  In  pictures 

(M)   Language: 

0=1.  Tells  story  from  pictures 

=  2.  Writes  reproduction  of  story  told  him 

Writes  reproduction  of  story  read  by  him 

Writes  reproduction  of  story  from  memory 

1  =  3.  Completion  test  (Thomdike) out  of  56  sentences. 

O  t  4-  Ciphers.  First  order  (rearrangement) 

Second  order  (numbers  or  letters) 

Third  order  (symbols) 

O  *  =  5.  Opposites: out  of  40  given  words 

O  *  =  6.    Classification,     i.  Qualities out  of  21. 

2.  Activities out     of     22.    3.  Categories 

out  of  IS  (first  set);  out  of 

IS  (second  set). 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  293 

(N)    Reading:  (*  f  =)  i-  Grade 2.  facility 

3.  Expression 4.  Enunciation 

5.  Understanding 

(0)     Wkiting:  (*  "j  =)    I.  Own  name 2.  Copy  from 

Reader.    3.  Dictation  {Spelling) 

4.  Composition 

(P)     Number  Concept:  (*  0  =)  i.  Counting:  (a)  Counts  to 

(6)  Counts  backward  lo  to  i ;  100  to  i ;  (c)  Counts 

by  twos  to ;  (d)  Backward  by  twos,  10  to  2 ;  20  to  2 

;  (c)  By  tens  to ;  (/)  Backward  by  tens,  100  to  10 

;  1,000  to  10 ;  (g)  By  fives  to ;  (A)  Backward 

by  fives,  25  to  5 ;  100  to  5 ;  (i)  By  threes  to ; 

(j)  Backward  by  threes,  12  to  3 ;  99  to  3 ;  (k)  Con- 
structing numbers  on  abacus ;  (/)  Adding  with  dice ; 

(w)  Adding  and  subtracting  game 

*  O  t  2.  Comparing  unequal  heaps  of  sticks 

*  O  t  3-  Comparing  sticks  of  diferent  lengths 

=  4.  Courtis  tests 

O  t  5-  Problem  in  judgment 

0  t  6.  Magic  square *  =  7.  Doyle  test 

{Q)     Discrimination:  (f)  i.  Matching  pictures 

2.  Resisting  suggestion  in  comparing  lines  (Binet) 

3.  Picture  arrangement  (Fraser) 

4.  Illusions,  (a)  Weights (6)  Optical 

{R)    Construction:  (*  f  O) 

1.  Form-boards: 

(a)  Seguin's Method Time 

(b)  Healy's  i Method Time 

2 Method Time 

3 Method Time 

4 Method Time 

5 Method Time 

2.  Reconstructs  pictures,  No.  of  pieces Time 

Method 

Cubes Time 

Method 

3.  100  Dots Method Time 

4.  Color  cubes,  copy  design Method Time 

Original  design Method Time 

5.  Anchor  puzzle Method Time 

6.  Building  blocks :  (a)  Steps (6)  Bridge (c)  House. . . 

Method Time 

7.  Construction  of  houses:  i 2 3 

Method Time 

8.  Mechanical  construction  


294  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

(5)     Expression:  (f  O  =)     i.  Draws  through  ground  glass 

2.  Draws  man Horse House 

3.  Draws  pond  with  trees  on  opposite  sides 

4.  Draws  illustration  for  story 

5.  Paints  objects,     (a)  From  model (6)  Memory 

6.  Paints  landscape  or  still-life  composition 

7.  Models  apple Vase Statuette . . , 

8.  Sings 9.  Recites 


SXJMMARY 

1.  Response  (prompt,  slow,  halting,  eager,  indifferent,  timid,  sullen) .... 

2.  Fatigue 3.  Effect  of  school  training 

4.  Extent  of  individual  experience 

5.  Period  of  development:  i.  Infancy 2.  Primary 

3.  Elementary 4.  Intermediate 

5.  Advanced 

6.  Type    (active,    aggressive,    inventive,    passive,    retiring,   imitative, 

graphic,  artistic,  motor,  constructive,  scientific,  mathematical, 
linguistic,  literary,  sensory,  commercial,  domestic,  progressive, 
primitive,  precocious,  mediocre,  psychopathic,  backward,  defec- 
tive, mixed) 

7.  Educational  status 

8.  Suggestions  for  development  and  vocational  guidance 


Remark:  A  tentative  distinction  between  tests  of  physiologic  (*)  and 
psychologic  (f)  function,  individual  experience  (0)  and  effect  of 
school  training  (=)  has  been  suggested. 

Tests  printed  in  italics  represent  minimum  requirements. 

In  these  tests  a  tentative  distinction  has  been  made 
between  tests  of  physiologic  and  psychologic  function,  of 
individual  experience,  and  of  the  efect  of  school  training. 
They  are  marked  as  indicated  on  the  cards.  Most  tests 
represent,  of  course,  a  combination  of  these  elements, 
but  it  has  been  thought  helpful  to  the  examiner  to  sug- 
gest these  distinctions  for  the  purpose  of  classifying  his 
impressions. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  discourse  on  the  meaning  of 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  295 

physiologic  and  psychologic  function.  Individual  ex- 
perience is  based  upon  native  endowments  and  upon 
opportunities  of  environment.  A  bright  child  will  ob- 
serve and  experience  more  than  a  dull  child,  and  favor- 
able or  unfavorable  home  conditions — life  in  centres  of 
civilization,  or  in  the  country;  travel,  companionship, 
and  many  other  elements — will  determine  in  a  large 
measure  the  length  of  the  radius  of  the  circle  which  is 
covered  by  individual  experience.  Again,  the  effect  of 
school  training  will  depend  upon  the  length  and  regu- 
larity of  attendance,  upon  the  personal  influences  of 
teachers  and  schoolmates,  and  upon  the  kind  and  char- 
acter of  the  school  the  child  has  attended. 

Some  of  these  data  will  be  obtained  from  the  Child 
History  information,  and  in  a  measure  from  the  physical 
information.  But  much  can  be  gained  from  a  careful 
valuation  of  the  response  of  the  child  to  the  tests  them- 
selves. In  the  final  summary,  a  succinct  statement  of 
these  facts  should  be  given. 

A.  "N^sual  Tests. — It  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  in 
testing  a  child,  first  to  make  absolutely  sure  that  he  is 
in  full  possession  of  his  sense-perceptions,  that  his  sense- 
organs  function  rightly.  Deficiencies  or  irregularities  in 
this  field  deprive  the  individual  of  the  opportunity  to 
gather  accurate  impressions  of  the  outside  world,  and 
to  learn  from  these  experiences  as  they  are  mediated 
through  the  senses.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  our  knowledge 
and  our  mental  operations  are  bound  up  with  sense- 
impressions,  and  are  dependent  upon  them.  ** Nihil  est 
in  intellectu  quid  non  fuerit  in  sensu." 

That  school  progress  is  closely  interrelated  with  clear 
sense-perception  needs  hardly  to  be  discussed.  Be  the 
instruction  oral  or  from  text-books,  it  can  reach  the 


296  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

mind  only  through  the  sense-channel.  Even  the  value 
of  any  mental  tests,  be  they  what  they  may,  becomes 
doubtful  unless  the  examiner  first  convinces  himself 
that  the  child  can  see  the  things  he  is  being  tested  with; 
can  hear  distinctly  and  with  understanding  what  the 
examiner  says,  and  has  sufficiently  accurate  percepts 
otherwise  of  the  subjects  comprised  in  the  examination. 
If  such  preliminary  tests  are  not  made,  the  examiner 
lays  himself  open  to  grave  errors  in  diagnosis. 

The  blind  child,  also  the  child  whose  vision  is  merely 
impaired,  cannot  possibly  receive  the  benefit  of  visual 
object-teaching,  of  pictures,  or  of  the  printed  page.  In 
the  present  time,  visual  impressions  comprise  the  vast 
majority  of  all  mental  stimuli,  and  they  are  far  more 
varied  than  any  other  sense-impressions. 

The  visualization  of  problems,  quite  apart  from  the  per- 
ception of  objects  and  their  qualities,  is  a  mental  element 
of  no  mean  importance.  Judgment  will  depend  in  a  large 
measure  upon  the  power  of  visualization.  {Cf.  p.  126.) 
It  enables  the  individual  to  grasp  a  situation,  to  get  the 
perspective  of  things,  to  choose  his  path.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, a  test  in  this  series,  under  P,  5,  "Problem  in 
Judgment."  The  problem  the  author  uses  is  the  follow- 
ing:  Imagine  a  short  line  of  boys,  or  soldiers,  marching 
in  single  file.  Two  are  marching  in  front  of  one;  two  are 
marching  behind  one,  and  one  is  in  the  middle.  How 
many  boys  (or  soldiers)  ?  Unless  the  child  visualizes 
the  situation  accurately,  he  will  fail  to  find  the  right 
answer:  Three. 

It  will  be  seen  that  a  majority  of  all  tests  require 
accuracy  of  vision  as  a  "conditio  sine  qua  non."  The 
threading  of  needles,  the  imitation  and  concentration 
tests,  the  discrimination  tests,  the  form-board  tests,  etc., 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS 


297 


all  presuppose  the  child's  ability  to  see  normally,  as  a 
condition  to  perform  something  which  may  give  the 
examiner  information  about  other  faculties. 

In  the  educational  clinic,  sense  tests  can  be  made  only 
in  the  rough,  so  to  speak. 
It  is  not  the  function  of  an 
educational  clinic  to  trans- 
gress into  the  field  of  exact 
physiological  and  medical 
measurement  and  diagno- 
sis. But  it  can  and  must 
ascertain  the  general  fac- 
ulty of  sense-perception  and 
discrimination,  and  detect 
danger-signals.  The  edu- 
cational clinic  will  instantly 
refer  the  child  to  the  medi- 
cal sf)ecialist,  who  will  ex- 
amine the  child  with  ref- 
erence to  the  suspected 
defects,  and  only  after  his 
diagnosis  is  made  and  re- 
corded should  the  educa- 
tional examination  proceed. 

Distance  Tests. — In  the 
distance  tests  the  physio- 
logic function  alone  is  the 

object  of  the  examination.  The  material  used  is 
adapted  to  the  power  of  the  child  to  identify  objects. 
Before  the  child  knows  his  letters  he  may  be  supposed 
to  identify  objects.  For  this  period  of  development 
the  late  Doctor  Wendell  Reber,  of  Philadelphia,  has 
constructed   a   "Kindergarten  Test   Card"  (published 


Fig.  13. 
Doctor  Reber's  kindergarten  chart. 


298  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

by  the  Mclntyre,  Magee   and  Brown  Co.)   of  which 
he  says: 

The  chief  points  in  the  construction  of  any  object  test-card 
are  that  (i)  it  shall  consist  of  objects  readily  recognized  by 
Uttle  children;  (2)  the  objects  should  conform  as  nearly  as 
possible  to  the  accepted  scientific  standard  by  subtending  the 
correct  angle  for  a  distance  of  6  metres.  I  doubt  whether  an 
absolutely  scientific  object  test-card,  in  the  sense  just  men- 
tioned, will  ever  be  constructed.  In  the  very  nature  of  things 
they  wiU  have  to  be  approximations.  .  .  .  The  first  three 
objects  (the  dog,  the  horse,  and  the  cat)  are  of  value  because 
they  are  almost  immediately  recognized  by  even  very  young 
children.  .  ,  .  The  remainder  of  the  objects  figured  lend 
themselves  more  completely  to  the  correct  angular  construc- 
tion. The  circle  or  ring  is  of  value  in  estimating  spherical 
errors.  The  flag  and  window  are  of  value  in  indicating  some 
variety  of  rectangular  astigmatism,  while  objects  like  the  star, 
the  scissors,  and  the  gate  are  of  value  in  the  indications  they 
give  as  to  some  form  of  oblique  astigmatism.  Such  objects  as 
the  hat,  the  hammer,  the  hand,  and  the  cup  are  far  from  being 
scientifically  satisfactory,  but  some  objects  must  be  introduced 
for  variation  and  these  have  been  found  to  serve  fairly  well. 

Where  a  difficulty  is  found  in  the  identification  of 
these  objects  (this  difficulty  may  be  a  mental  one),  it  is 
well  to  employ  still  simpler  methods  of  determining  the 
physiologic  function.  The  E-fork  test  was  invented  by 
the  late  Professor  Herrmann  Cohn,  of  Breslau,  the  pio- 
neer in  testing  the  eyes  of  school  children.  It  presents 
the  capital  letter  E  in  various  positions,  which  can  be 
indicated  by  the  child  with  the  use  of  a  large  pasteboard 
form  of  the  letter,  resembling  a  fork  with  three  prongs. 

A  few  years  ago  the  McCallie  Vision  Tests  (published 
by  EdwLQ  Fitzgeorge,  Trenton,  N.  J.)  have  been  brought 
into  the  market.  The  illiterate  set  of  these  cards  are  an 
inexpensive  substitute  for  the  Cohn  test,  representing  a 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS 


299 


boy,  a  girl,  and  a  bear,  playing  hoop-ball;  the  ball  is 
seen  in  different  hoops  and  the  child  can  state  in  which 
he  sees  it. 

Children  who  know  their  letters  can  be  tested  with 
the  ordinary  Snellen  test-cards,  which  are  known  to 


Fig.  14. 
McCallie's  illiterate  vision  test. 

every  one;  or  with  the  ''literate  set"  of  the  McCallie 
cards.  In  all  cases  great  care  must  be  taken  to  have 
proper  illumination  and  to  be  sure  of  the  distance  from 
which  the  characters  are  recognized.  Guard  against 
guessing  on  the  part  of  the  child.  Each  eye  must  be 
tested  separately,  the  vision  of  the  other  eye  being  ob- 


300  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

structed.  Any  difficulty  or  inequality  in  vision  should 
lead  the  examiner  to  a  closer  scrutiny  of  the  child's 
visual  power,  which  can  be  tested  only  with  the  proper 
instruments  and  by  an  expert  oculist.  Avoid  the  seller 
of  glasses! 

Color  Perception. — ^The  next  test  refers  to  color  per- 
ception. It  consists  of  two  parts.  The  first  one  merely 
tests  the  physiologic  junction  of  color  perception  and  dis- 
crimination, without  requiring  the  naming  of  the  color. 
This  test  will  lead  to  the  detection  of  possible  color- 
blindness which,  if  present,  would  naturally  confuse  the 
child's  abihty  to  name  a  color  rightly.  The  test  is  made 
by  having  the  child  match  colors;  first  the  six  primary 
colors:  red,  orange,  yeUow,  green,  blue,  and  violet; 
secondly,  a  selection  of  tints  and  shades  of  these;  and 
perhaps  some  intermediates  and  neutrals.  Black  and 
white  may  be  added  if  desired.  For  this  test  we  may 
use  either  colored  worsted,  the  strands  of  which  should 
be  mixed  up  for  the  child  to  assort;  or  colored  papers  of 
any  standard  series.  The  author  uses  the  sample  book 
of  the  Prang  series.  The  colored  papers  measure  1x4 
inches.  These  are  pasted  upon  white  (or  neutral-col- 
ored) cards,  3x5  (the  standard  Ubrary  record  card), 
and  are  then  cut  in  half,  thus  producing  two  pieces 
which  can  be  matched  together. 

Naming  colors  correctly  depends  in  a  large  measure 
upon  a  child's  opportunity  of  individual  experience  and 
school  training.  If  in  spite  of  such  opportunity  and  of 
the  integrity  of  his  physiologic  function  the  child  fails 
to  name  colors  correctly,  there  is  clear  evidence  of  men- 
tal impairment  in  this  field. 

Visual  Memory. — The  third  visual  test  is  a  test  of 
memory.     This,  like  the  test  of  aural  memory  described 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  301 

later,  is  of  the  utmost  significance  in  determining  the 
causes  of  a  child's  backwardness  and  failure  in  school. 
The  psychologic  function  which  we  call  memory  is  not 
in  itself  an  intellectual  quality.  It  has  distinct  physio- 
logic elements  and  is  otherwise  in  the  nature  of  a 
psychic  mechanism.^  In  not  a  few  cases  a  good  mem- 
ory is  found  in  persons  manifestly  inferior  in  intellect, 
while  it  is  frequently  weak  in  persons  of  high  intelligence, 
at  least  along  certain  lines.  A  distinction  is  often  made 
between  a  mechanical  and  a  logical  memory.  It  may  be 
said,  however,  that  the  justification  is  doubtful.  All 
memory  is  essentially  "mechanical."  Where  there  is 
no  logical  mind  to  make  the  proper  use  of  this  tool, 
memory  work  will  retain  its  mechanical  elements  in  an 
unarticulated  form.  When,  however,  a  rational  mind 
controls  the  memory  mechanism,  it  is  elevated  into  a 
sensible  thing  and  becomes  a  powerful  machinery  for 
mental  development.  It  is,  of  course,  possible  to  imag- 
ine that  such  a  mind  may  neglect  to  make  the  best  use 
of  this  memory  tool;  or  the  tool,  in  its  physiologic 
aspect,  or  in  its  psychologic  development,  may  be  de- 
fective. Then  we  have  the  good  mind  unassisted  by 
memory,  and  losing  much  of  its  efficiency  through  the 
absence  of  the  tool.  "To  remember"  implies  the  men- 
tal faculty  of  raising  stored-up  impressions  across  the 
threshold  of  consciousness.  Various  conditions  affect 
this  power. 

In  these  tests  we  wish  to  determine  primarily  the 
degree  of  efficiency  which  the  mind  has  achieved  in 
using  the  memory  tool  at  the  time  of  the  examination. 
In  a  measure  these  memory  tests  are  also  tests  of  atten- 
tion. Group  K  of  this  schedule  of  tests  has,  however, 
»C/.  p.  150. 


302  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

special  reference  to  the  power  of  the  child  to  concen- 
trate, and  should  be  utilized  to  check  off  the  results 
obtained  here.  Attention  enters  into  so  many  other 
tests,  for  that  matter,  that  all  our  observations  will 
furnish  a  composite  picture  of  this  fundamental  quality 
of  mental  activity.^ 

Three  tests  are  applied  for  visual  memory.  For  the 
first  of  these  the  author  uses  wooden  balls  painted  in  the 
primary  colors;  of  course  balls  of  any  other  material,  or 
colored  papers,  may  be  substituted,  really  any  other 
colored  objects,  provided  that  the  purpose  of  the  test, 
viz.,  to  emphasize  color,  not  the  form  or  character  of 
the  object,  is  kept  in  mind.  For  this  reason  simple  balls 
or  papers  are  preferable. 

For  the  second  test  a  niunber  of  familiar  objects  are 
used:  ball,  book,  chalk,  fork,  knife,  spoon,  napkin,  ham- 
mer, bottle,  paper,  key,  ruler,  etc.  In  this  test  the 
object  itself  must  be  remembered. 

The  method  of  presentation  is  as  follows: 

The  child  is  placed  at  a  suitable  distance  from  a 
table  on  which  there  is  a  dark  screen  behind  which  the 
colors  or  objects  are  hidden.  They  are  exposed  momen- 
tarily in  sets  of  increasing  number:  2,  3,  4,  5,  7, 
and  more.  The  child  is  asked  to  repeat  the  names  of 
the  colors,  or  of  the  objects,  in  the  order  in  which  they 
were  presented,  and  is  warned  not  to  begin  until  all  the 
colors  or  objects  of  the  series  have  been  exposed,  and 
imtil  the  examiner  tells  the  child  to  begin.  It  is  allow- 
able to  repeat  a  number-series,  provided  new  colors,  or 

'  Power  of  attention  and  concentration,  as  well  as  the  exercise  of  all 
other  physiologic,  psychologic,  and  mental  functions,  depend  so  much 
upon  the  child's  nerve  force  and  endurance  that  the  element  oi  fatigue 
must  be  reckoned  with.  More  will  be  said  on  this  point  when  the  final 
summary  will  be  discussed. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  303 

objects,  or  a  new  arrangement  or  sequence  are  substi- 
tuted. For  example:  If  a  child  cannot  repeat  the  three- 
series  red,  blue,  yellow,  a  second  test  with  three  colors 
may  be  given,  like  orange,  green,  violet.  Likewise  with 
objects.  The  purpose  of  this  repetition  is  to  set  the  child 
at  ease.  Often  he  will  fail  at  first,  owing  to  the  strange- 
ness of  the  task,  and  we  should  give  him  the  benefit  of 
the  doubt.  The  repetition  also  shows  the  child's  ability 
to  profit  from  experience.  Let  us  remember  that  the 
purpose  of  these  tests  is  not  to  establish  standards,  but  to 
understand  an  individual  child. 

We  may  even  construct,  with  a  small  number  of 
colors  and  objects,  longer  series,  of  lo,  15,  20  and  more 
units,  if  needs  be,  by  rearranging  the  units  and  repeat- 
ing individual  units  at  different  places.  Thus,  a  series 
like  this  may  be  presented:  Knife,  hammer,  paper,  ball, 
chalk,  hammer,  book,  fork,  knife,  spoon,  bottle,  paper, 
key,  ruler,  napkin.  Long  series  like  these,  if  remem- 
bered, would  indicate  an  unusual  power  of  visual  mem- 
ory. The  examiner  must  be  prepared  to  meet  any  kind 
of  child  mind. 

The  first  of  these  memory  tests  naturally  presup- 
poses the  child's  ability,  as  previously  determined,  to 
distinguish  and  name  colors.  The  objects  are  so  well 
known  to  every  child  that  their  identification  should 
be  easy,  unless  we  are  dealing  with  a  low  defective. 
This  test  is  therefore  related  to  Group  L  of  this  schedule. 

The  third  test  for  visual  memory  is  the  reading  of 
words,  from  cards  on  which  one  word  each  is  printed, 
and  which  are  exposed  in  the  same  manner  in  which  the 
colors  and  the  objects  were  exposed.  This  test  applies 
only  to  children  who  can  read.  While  it  is  principally 
a  memory  test,  it  will  allow  of  conclusions  regarding  the 


304  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

quick  identification  of  words.  The  words  are  printed 
in  clear,  bold  type,  three  inches  high  (so  that  there  can 
be  no  trouble  about  seeing  them  accurately  with  fairly 
normal  power  of  vision),  on  pieces  of  stiff  cardboard, 
about  5  X  lo.  The  following  sets  have  been  selected 
(the  words  in  italic  are  printed  in  red) : 

(i)  Cow,  room,  ship,  queen,  hammer;  (2)  road,  glass,  board, 
bell,  pencil,  water;  (3)  garden,  stone,  grass,  dog,  bottle,  hill,  wall; 
(4)  house,  statue,  paint,  ink,  door,  picture,  cloud,  tree;  (5)  paper, 
roof,  sky,  pen,  leaf,  hammer,  cow,  ship,  bottle,  door. 

All  that  was  said  before  in  relation  to  the  handling  of 
colors  and  objects  in  presentation  holds  good  with  the 
use  of  the  words. 

Any  confusion  in  the  order  of  the  colors,  objects,  or 
words  presented,  or  any  incompleteness  of  the  series 
given,  especially  after  several  tests,  would  prove  that 
the  child  is  weak  in  visual  memory  to  the  degree  indi- 
cated by  the  series  used.  Such  a  weakness  will  naturally 
prevent  a  child  from  profiting  from  his  lessons  and 
experiences,  as  these  cannot  be  retained,  and  if  retained 
are  not  stored  away  in  the  mind  in  the  proper  sequence 
and  order.  In  a  number  of  cases  the  very  same  exercises 
which  are  here  used  as  tests  may  be  applied  in  school  for 
the  training  of  the  memory  faculty,  which  can  be  trained 
in  most  of  us  by  the  patient  application  of  the  proper 
methods. 

Unrelated  words  and  objects  are  used  here  to  elimi- 
nate entirely  the  action  of  judgment  from  this  test  of 
mechanical  memory. 

B.  Auditory  Tests. — ^While  it  is  relatively  easy  to 
detect  disturbances  in  the  province  of  vision  (except 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  305 

color-blindness)  even  without  special  testing,  and  to 
understand  the  consequences  of^impaired  vision  in  the 
matter  of  learning  and  of  intellectual  progress,  the  child 
who  is  hard  of  hearing  is  not  so  easily  discovered  as  suf- 
fering from  this  specific  sense  defect.  This  is  owing  to 
the  fact  that  the  partially  deaf  child  has  learned  to  rely 
upon  his  eyesight  and  his  other  sense-impressions  for 
conveying  messages  to  him,  and  the  art  of  lip-reading 
comes  to  him  almost  unconsciously.  The  child  himself 
has  rarely  an  idea  of  his  defect,  but  thinks  that  his 
method  of  getting  information  from  what  other  people 
perceive  as  "sound"  is  perfectly  natural.  He  has  no 
standard  of  comparison.  And  inasmuch  as  he  seems 
to  hear,  his  parents  and  teachers  do  not  realize  the  fact 
of  his  difficulty.  Sometimes,  when  he  does  not  see  the 
lips  of  the  one  to  whom  he  appears  to  listen  (as  when 
it  is  dark,  or  the  speaker  has  his  face  averted) ,  or  when 
his  other  substitute  sense-impressions  fail  him,  he  does 
not  "hear,"  and  is  then  suspected,  not  of  a  physical 
defect,  but  of  inattention,  even  of  disobedience  and 
perversion. 

The  author  had  a  little  boy  (Case  65)  under  exami- 
nation in  his  clinic  recently  who  was  a  member  of  a 
special  class  and  had  made  no  progress  for  years  although 
he  looked  bright.  His  tests  indicated  intelligent  judg- 
ment in  many  ways.  He  was  thought  to  be  "a  little" 
hard  of  hearing — so  much  had  been  found  out;  but  when 
the  child  was  discovered  to  be  unable  to  hear  the  exami- 
ner's voice,  blindfolded,  at  the  distance  of  only  one  foot 
from  either  ear,  his  teacher  raised  her  hands  in  amaze- 
ment, never  having  suspected  that  "it  was  as  bad  as 
that." 

In  order  to  impress  his  readers  with  the  very  great 


306  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

importance  of  auditory  tests,  the  author  will  once  more 
refer  to  Arno  Miiller's  investigation  on  hardness  of 
hearing  as  the  cause  of  apparent  alexia  and  agraphia, 
quoted  on  pages  144  Jf. 

Auditory  test  i  refers  to  the  distance  over  which  a 
child  can  hear.  He  is  either  blindfolded  or  placed  with 
his  face  away  from  the  examiner.  The  examiner  tests 
each  ear  separately  (the  other  ear  being  covered  with  the 
hollow  hand,  either  of  the  child  himself  or  of  an  accom- 
panying teacher  or  assistant,  or  closed  with  cotton), 
saying  easy  words  or  sentences  for  the  child  to  repeat, 
from  varying  distances,  first  in  the  ordinary  tone  of 
voice,  then  in  a  whisper,  taking  care  to  articulate  care- 
fully. Even  the  whisper  should  be  heard  with  normal 
power  of  hearing  across  a  room  of  ordinary  size,  every- 
thing being  quiet.  Every  diminution  of  hearing  power 
gives  rise  to  the  suspicion  of  functional  defect  and  calls 
for  expert  examination. 

For  tests  2,  3,  and  4  the  child  is  blindfolded.  At 
varying  distances  from  the  child,  different  noises  and 
sounds  are  produced:  Scratching,  tapping  wood  or  metal, 
striking  of  a  bell,  whistling,  etc.,  with  varying  degrees 
of  loudness.  The  child  is  expected  to  identify  the  nature 
of  the  sound  and  the  place  or  direction  whence  it  comes. 
Grave  errors  are  danger-signals. 

For  test  4  the  author  uses  a  simple  "piano"  from 
the  ten-cent  store.  The  child  is  asked  to  state  whether 
one  tone  is  higher  or  lower  than  the  one  previously 
struck.  While  there  is  a  physiologic  element  in  this 
test,  its  result  also  depends  upon  experience  and  training. 
Sometimes  the  nature  of  the  test  will  have  to  be  ex- 
plained to  the  child  before  he  can  be  justly  graded  as 
normal  or  defective  in  perceiving  pitch. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  307 

The  same  simple  instrument  is  used  for  test  5  (a). 
One  tone  is  taken  as  the  basis  of  the  experiment.  It  is 
struck  several  times  and  the  child  (blindfolded)  is  asked 
to  remember  it  carefully.  Then  another,  much  higher  or 
lower  tone  is  sounded.  The  child  is  asked,  "Is  this  the 
same  tone?"  Next,  the  experimenter  goes  back  to  the 
basic  tone  for  identification.  Two  or  more,  also  less 
widely  different  tones  are  struck  next,  before  the  original 
tone  is  repeated.  In  another  form  of  the  experiment  the 
child  is  asked  to  find  the  basic  tone  by  striking  the 
keys  with  the  little  hammer  himself  until  he  finds  it,  if 
he  does  at  all.  The  object  is  to  detect  how  reliable  the 
child's  faculty  is  to  identify  a  given  tone.  The  result  is 
interesting  for  determining  whether  the  child  has  a 
** musical  ear";  if  he  has,  it  may  become  a  valuable 
asset. 

For  test  5  (6)  the  same  sets  of  words  are  used  which 
we  had  in  the  visual-memory  test.  Here  the  words  are 
pronounced  slowly  and  carefully  to  ascertain  the  aural - 
memory  span  and  accuracy  of  retention.  What  has 
been  said  about  method  and  significance  of  the  visual 
test  with  words  is  applicable  here,  with  the  modification 
conditioned  by  the  use  of  another  sense. 

Test  5  (c)  introduces  a  number  of  graded  selections 
to  be  read  slowly  to  the  child,  once,  twice,  even  three 
times.  The  child  is  then  requested  to  repeat  the  selec- 
tion, and  the  number  of  memories  is  noted  down.  Each 
selection  contains  a  certain  increasing  number  of  memo- 
ries (in  the  reproduction  below  they  are  separated  by 
dashes),  and  the  child  should  normally  retain  at  least 
50  per  cent  of  the  total  number  to  represent  the  period. 
The  selections  are  called  "word  pictures,'*  as  they  are 
so  chosen  that  they  may  call  forth  in  the  child's  mind 


308  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

very  distinct  mental  images.  These  images  may  be 
visualized ;  but  the  avenue  of  perception  is  sound. 

The  reproduction  may  be  oral  or  in  writing. 

The  series  is  so  arranged  that  there  is  an  advance 
from  one  period  to  another,  in  the  matter  of  difliculty, 
language,  content,  interest,  etc. 

For  the  Primary  Period  the  following  selections  are 
used,  in  the  order  given  here : 

(i)  Snowing 
Katie  /  likes  to  see  it  snow.  /  She  has  a  little  sled.  /  She  takes 
the  sled  /  to  the  top  of  the  hill  /  and  gets  on  it.  /  Then  she  rides 
down  the  hill  /  as  fast  as  she  can  go.  /  As  she  goes  down  the 
hill  /  she  sings:  / 

"Old  woman,  old  woman,  old  woman  /  so  high,  / 
You  are  picking  your  geese,  /  the  white  feathers  fly." 
(14  memories.) 

(2)  Playing  Housekeeping 
(This  selection  is  used  preferably  for  girls) 
Little  Kate  /  is  playing  housekeeping.  /  She  likes  to  think  / 
that  she  is  a  little  mother.  /  The  dolls  /  are  in  the  playhouse.  / 
The  little  baby  doll  /  has  on  a  white  bib.  /  Kate  gives  her 
mush  /  out  of  a  brown  pitcher.  /  The  big  doll  /  sits  up  /  and 
has  a  crust  of  bread  /  in  her  hand  /  which  Kate  has  given  her 
to  eat.  / 

Kate  says:  /  "I  must  now  dust  /  the  chairs  /  in  your  house,  / 
dear  dollies.  /  I  must  scrub  the  house,  too.  / 

"  Now  it  is  time  for  me  to  dress  my  dolls.  /  I  will  brush  their 
hair.  /  I  will  put  the  blue  dress  /  on  big  Fannie.  /  Little  Bess  / 
will  look  fine  in  pink." 

(27  memories.) 

(3)  In  the  Barn 
(This  is  a  boy's  selection) 
When  it  is  raining  /  we  cannot  play  /  under  the  trees.  /  We 
then  go  to  the  barn.  /  There  are  many  things  to  see  /  in  grand- 
father's barn.  / 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  309 

There  is  the  old  horse  /  standing  in  his  stall  /  eating  hay.  / 
A  white  hen  /  is  sitting  on  her  nest  /  in  the  loft.  /  Ned  /  set 
her  on  ten  white  eggs.  /  The  little  chicks  /  will  come  out  /  of 
the  egg-shells.  / 

The  black  hen  /  has  her  nest  /  under  the  pig-pen.  /  It  is 
hidden  /  in  the  leaves  /  so  you  cannot  find  it.  /  In  this  nest 
there  are  six  eggs.  / 

Ned  keeps  the  cows  /  in  a  stall  /  under  the  shed.  /  They  will 
give  us  good  milk.  /  There  are  many  mice  /  and  rats  /  in  grand- 
father's bam. 

(31  memories.) 

For  the  following  periods  one  selection  only  is  pre- 
sented for  each. 

Elementary  Period: 

Trusty  Helpers 

Man  /  has  many  good  helpers  /  among  the  animals,  /  but 
there  are  only  two  /  that  can  be  trusted  /  to  do  their  work 
alone.  /  These  two  are  the  dog  /  and  the  elephant.  / 

Books  have  been  written  /  about  dogs  /  and  the  wonderful 
things  they  have  done.  /  They  run  errands  /  and  care  for  sheep  / 
and  cattle.  /  They  rescue  /  travellers  /  who  have  been  lost  in 
the  snow.  /  and  do  no  end  of  strange  things.  / 

The  elephant,  too,  /  has  been  taught  /  to  do  many  wonderful 
things.  /  He  is  so  strong  /  that  he  can  carry  heavy  loads.  /  He 
is  so  gentle  /  that  little  children  have  been  left  in  his  care.  / 
He  is  so  trusty  /  and  faithful  /  as  to  be  a  model  for  all. 
(28  memories.) 

Intermediate  Period: 

Ploughing 

All  day  long  /  the  ploughmen  /  on  their  prairie  farms  /  have 
moved  to  and  fro  /  on  the  wide,  level  field  /  through  the  fall- 
ing snow  /  which  melted  as  it  fell,  /  wetting  them  to  the  skin  / 
— all  day,  notwithstanding  /  the  frequent  squalls  of  snow,  / 
the  dripping,  desolate  clouds,  /  and  the  muck  of  the  furrows,  / 
black  /  and  tenacious  /  as  tar.  / 


310  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Under  their  dripping  harness  /  the  horses  /  swung  to  and 
fro  /  silently,  /  with  that  marvellous,  /  uncomplaining  patience  / 
which  marks  the  horse.  /  The  ploughman  behind  his  plough,  / 
though  the  snow  lay  /  on  his  ragged  greatcoat,  /  and  the  cold,  / 
clinging  mud  /  rose  on  his  heavy  boots,  /  whistled  /  in  the 
very  beard  of  the  gale.  / 

As  the  day  passed  /  the  snow,  /  ceasing  to  melt,  /  lay  along 
the  ploughed  land  /  and  lodged  in  the  depth  of  the  stubble,  / 
till  on  each  slow  round  /  the  last  furrow  /  stood  out  black  /  and 
shining  as  jet  /  between  the  ploughed  land  /  and  the  gray 
stubble. 

(41  memories.) 

Advanced  Period: 

Early  Dutch  Fireplace  Scene 

To  have  seen  a  numerous  household  /  assembled  round  the 
fire,  /  one  would  have  imagined  /  that  he  was  transported  / 
back  to  those  happy  days  /  of  primeval  simplicity  /  which  fleet 
before  our  imaginations  /  like  golden  visions.  /  The  whole 
family,  /  old  and  young,  /  master  and  servant,  /  black  and 
white;  /  nay,  even  the  very  cat  /  and  dog  /  enjoyed  a  com- 
munity of  privilege,  /  and  each  had  a  right  /  to  a  corner.  /  Here 
the  old  burgher  /  would  sit  in  perfect  silence,  /  puffing  his 
pipe,  /  looking  in  the  iire  /  with  half-shut  eyes,  /  and  thinking 
of  nothing  /  for  hours  together;  /  the  good  wife,  /  on  the  opjXH 
site  side,  /  would  employ  herself  diligently  /  in  spinning  yam  / 
or  knitting  stockings,  /  listening  /  with  breathless  attention  / 
to  some  old  crone  of  a  negro  /  who  was  the  oracle  of  the  family,  / 
and  who,  perched  like  a  raven  /  in  the  corner  of  the  chimney,  / 
would  creak  forth,  /  for  a  long  winter  afternoon,  /  a  string  of 
incredible  stories  /  about  New  England  witches,  /  grisly  ghosts,  / 
horses  without  heads,  /  and  hairbreadth  escapes  /  and  bloody 
encounters  /  among  the  Indians. 

(44  memories.) 

Caution  must  be  exercised  not  to  value  the  returns  to 
these  tests  for  anything  else  but  aural  memory,  which 
may  be  purely  mechanical.    They  are  not  intended  as 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  311 

tests  of  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the  text  pre- 
sented, at  least  not  primarily  so.  The  examiner  may 
find  that  the  child,  in  reproducing  the  word  picture,  will 
so  word  it  that  it  is  not  merely  a  mechanical  account 
but  a  testimony  to  his  understanding  as  well.  In  this 
case  the  test  under  M,  2,  will  be  superfluous. 

C.  Tactile  Tests. — The  purpose  of  the  tactile  tests 
is  to  ascertain  to  what  extent  the  child  has  the  ability 
to  discern  objects  through  touch  alone.  The  result  de- 
pends, of  course,  first  upon  the  physiologic  integrity  of 
the  child's  tactile  sense;  second,  upon  his  psychologic 
faculty  of  interpreting  percepts;  and  thirdly,  upon  the 
degree  and  extent  of  his  experience.  Schooling  and  in- 
struction enter  more  particularly  into  the  differentiation 
of  geometric  form.  Naturally  mental  ability  as  such  is 
also  a  factor,  but  it  is  not  the  one  which  is  primarily 
tested  in  this  set  of  tests.  However,  in  the  event  a  child 
fails  to  respond  properly  in  this  field,  the  suspicion  is 
justified  that  the  underlying  cause  is  a  brain  defect. 
The  further  tests  in  concentration,  judgment,  discrimi- 
nation, etc.,  will  reveal  the  mental  defect  if  it  should 
exist;  if  this  is  not  made  evident  by  those  further  tests, 
the  conclusion  is  justified  that  failure  in  sense-percep- 
tion is  due  to  imperfection  in  the  sensory  apparatus. 

In  making  the  tests  the  child  is  either  blindfolded  or 
simply  turned  with  his  face  away  from  the  experimenter. 
With  his  hands  held  open  behind  his  back  the  child  is 
invited  to  enjoy  a  "guessing  game"  by  having  placed 
in  his  hands  various  objects,  such  as  a  ball,  large  key, 
shoe,  paper,  various  goods  (wool,  silk,  cotton,  sand- 
paper, etc.),  and  other  things.  In  the  second  series  we 
introduce  smaller  objects:  pocket-knife,  pen-points,  small 


312  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

keys,  marbles,  nails,  etc.,  also  a  greater  variety  of  fab- 
rics. The  geometric  forms  of  the  third  series  should  con- 
sist of  cubes  of  various  sizes,  small  balls,  cylinders,  prisms, 
as  well  as  fiat  forms  (squares,  circles,  triangles,  ovals). 

Tactile  test  4,  which  is  essentially  physiologic,  is 
made  with  the  help  of  a  simple  piece  of  apparatus.  Use 
ordinary  large  bottle  corks,  up  to  2)4.  inches  in  diameter, 
and  drive  into  them,  point  downward,  large  sewing- 
needles  at  different  distances  from  one  another  (from 
2  inches  down  to  yi  inch),  and  have  one  with  a  single 
point.  Care  must  be  taken  that  the  double  needle- 
points are  on  a  level. 

With  the  child  blindfolded  touch  various  body  areas 
(palm  and  back  of  hand,  wrists,  other  parts  of  the  arm, 
neck,  face,  etc.)  to  ascertain  whether  the  correct  num- 
ber of  points,  one  or  two,  is  perceived.  The  back  of 
the  hand  is  naturally  duller  in  tactile  perception  than 
the  palm,  and  so  there  are  other  natural  differences. 
Nevertheless,  surprises  are  in  store  for  the  experimenter, 
who  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  child  may 
be  the  victim  of  self-suggestion  in  some  of  his  answers. 
In  this  test  we  cannot  expect  to  state  minute  results — 
that  is  not  the  function  of  an  educational  clinic.  All  we 
can  expect  to  do  is  to  find  whether  there  is  a  large  de- 
gree of  insensibility  to  tactile  impressions  (anaesthesia), 
or  an  exaggerated  sense  of  touch  with  the  immediate 
ability  to  make  fine  distinctions. 

D.  Sense  of  Smell. — For  short  examinations  the 
testing  of  the  senses  of  smell  and  taste  may  be  omitted, 
except  in  cases  where  the  major  senses,  sight,  hearing, 
and  feeling,  seem  inoperative  and,  therefore,  the  minor 
senses,  so  called,  have  to  assume  the  functions  of  the 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  313 

major,  as  far  as  possible.  It  may,  however,  be  surpris- 
ing to  observers  how  much  the  keenness  of  the  minor 
senses  varies  in  different  individuals,  and  how  often 
children  of  underdeveloped  mentality  suffer  from  a 
dulness  in  these  spheres  which  contributes  to  the 
meagreness  of  their  sense-impressions.  Yet  out  of  these 
sense-impressions  their  conceptual  world  is  to  be  con- 
structed. 

Few  of  us  are  conscious  how  much  the  sense  of  smell 
contributes  to  our  conceptual  world,  and  how  distinctly 
it  affects  even  our  emotional  states.  Dulness  of  this 
sense  is  therefore  disadvantageous  to  the  otherwise 
efficient  and  normal  individual  no  less  than  to  the  one 
who  is  already  handicapped  in  other  directions.^ 

The  series  of  smelling  tests  comprises,  first,  the  iden- 
tification of  simple  and  familiar  odors,  like  that  of  soap, 
vinegar,  coffee,  cocoa,  flowers,  fresh  bread,  perfumes, 
etc.  For  acuteness,  graded  extracts  of  musk,  violet, 
orange,  vinegar,  etc.,  are  used,  varying  between  lo  per 
cent  and  loo  per  cent  of  strength.  They  are  prepared 
with  pure  alcohol  as  a  solvent. 

Dulness  of  sense  is  always  a  danger-signal.  Olfac- 
tory dulness  may  be  indicative  of  catarrhal  conditions 
of  nose  and  throat. 

*  While  civilized  man  relies  mostly  upon  the  senses  of  vision  and  hear- 
ing, savage  peoples  make  use  of  the  keenness  of  their  sense  of  smell  in 
a  number  of  ways.  Alexander  von  Humboldt,  many  years  ago,  re- 
ported that  the  Indians  of  Peru  can  follow  the  trail  of  animals  or  of 
enemies  by  scent  as  well  as  any  dog.  Modem  examples  of  similar 
observations  are  numerous.  If  we  now  consider  that  some  of  our  diffi- 
cult children  represent  a  primitive  type  we  may  be  warned  that  keen- 
ness of  their  sense  of  smell  may  not  only  be  symptomatic,  but  also  very 
useful  to  them  if  they  are  less  gifted  in  seeing  and  hearing.  It  can  often 
be  observed  that  children  of  "  impaired  mentality  "  have  the  tendency 
to  "  smell  "  everything  they  handle. 


314  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

E.  Sense  of  Taste. — Like  the  sense  of  smell,  gusta- 
tory sensations  depend,  first,  upon  the  functional  integ- 
rity of  the  sense-organ,  the  tongue.  Catarrhal  and 
digestive  conditions  may  coat  the  tongue  and  impair 
its  function.  But  it  is  plain  that  the  elements  of  ex- 
perience and  of  training  enter  very  largely  into  the 
identification  and  naming  of  impressions. 

Elementary  tests  determine  the  child's  ability  to 
recognize  the  taste  of  sugar,  salt,  chocolate,  bread,  fruits, 
vinegar,  etc.  For  the  graduated  tests  for  acuteness  use 
graduated  solutions  (in  distilled  water)  of  sugar,  salt, 
vinegar,  and  quinine,  varying  between  lo  per  cent  and 
loo  per  cent  of  strength.  Mark  first  traces  of  sweet, 
salt,  sour,  bitter. 

For  both  the  smell  and  the  taste  tests  the  child  is 
blindfolded. 

F.  Motor  Co-ordination. — ^This  test  would  seem  to 
be  merely  one  of  physiologic  function.  An  element  of 
judgment,  however,  is  infused  by  placing  before  the 
child  not  only  a  graded  series  of  needles,  but  also  threads 
of  different  degrees  of  fineness  or  coarseness,  so  that  he 
must  choose  the  one  which  can  be  used  best  in  threading 
a  certain  needle.  Children  of  weak  judgment  will  try 
forever  to  fit  a  shoestring  into  an  ordinary  darning- 
needle,  or  put  a  cotton  thread  into  the  biggest  eye  or 
eyelet  of  the  selection — ^not  for  a  moment  considering 
the  use  of  the  right  size.' 

The  larger  ''needles"  used  in  this  test  are  in  reality 
pieces  of  iron  or  steel,  about  four  inches  long,  round  in 
shape,  with  correspondingly  large  openings  at  one  end. 
The  largest  is  an  iron  bar  ^  of  an  inch  in  diameter;  the 
smallest  one  of  J/i  inch  diameter.  Shoestrings  or  cord 
are  used  for  threading  them. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  315 

For  these  a  cheap  and  fully  satisfactory  substi- 
tute are  bodkins  for  various  widths  of  ribbon  or 
tape. 

Then  we  use  a  series  of  real  needles,  beginning  with  a 
large  darning-needle,  down  to  a  fine  sewing-needle. 
Cotton  and  silk  thread  of  various  sizes  are  used  for 
threading. 

Observation  of  the  manner  in  which  the  children  han- 
dle the  cube,  pegs,  insets,  etc.,  in  the  other  tests  will 
give  further  clews  to  the  degree  of  their  motor  co- 
ordination. 

G.  Sense  of  Location. — The  sense  of  location  de- 
pends upon  proper  physiologic  function  coupled  with 
sufficient  individual  experience.  It  is  not  well  defined 
in  psychologic  experiment  and  terminology,  but  has  a 
practical  bearing  upon  a  child's  ability  to  locate  himself 
in  space.  The  muscular  sense,  while  now  recognized  as 
a  specific  sense,  is  also  still  vague  in  its  actual  operation. 
If  the  Rolandic  area  (p.  135)  is  the  seat  of  motor  memo- 
ries, we  may  find  in  it  a  centre  for  the  ability  of  an  indi- 
vidual to  locate  himself. 

This  activity  requires  attention  in  a  system  of  tests, 
as  it  determines  much  of  a  child's  practical  self-direction 
or  helplessness. 

First  Test:  Examiner  points  out  some  object  in  room. 
Then  blindfolds  child  and  asks  him  to  walk  toward 
object. 

Second  Test:  Have  child  walk  several  times  with  eyes 
open  from  door  to  window  (or  any  other  similar  task), 
taking  care  that  the  path  chosen  is  not  direct  but 
winding  and  roundabout;  then  blindfold  him  and  have 
him  retrace  his  steps  in  this  manner  (muscular  mem- 
ory). 


316  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

H.    Balance. — For  tests  of  balance  use  these: 

1.  Child  to  walk  along  straight  line  (marked  on  floor 
as  plainly  as  possible). 

2.  Standing  in  Romberg  position  (feet  extended 
straight  forward  and  put  close  together,  eyes  closed). 

Disturbances  in  the  static  apparatus  (in  the  inner 
ear)  are  the  result  of  local  disease,  or  indicate  other 
nervous  handicaps.  They  are  often  connected  with  im- 
pairment of  the  visual  apparatus.  A  child  having  such 
disturbance  will  sway  and  fall  when  walking  along  a 
straight  line  in  the  manner  described  in  the  test;  and 
he  will  almost  immediately  fall  forward  when  standing 
in  Romberg  position. 

/.  Train  of  Ideas. — This  test  is  intended  to  sound, 
in  a  measure,  the  child's  power  of  association,  and  also 
to  discover  his  trend  of  thought.  Prevalent  mental  and 
moral  tendencies  may  be  revealed. 

The  words  selected  as  guide  words  are  hammer,  hook, 
and  mother.  They  represent  three  circles  of  experience: 
the  child's  activities  and  human  occupations  in  general; 
the  school  circle,  and  the  home  circle. 

The  examiner  will  ask  the  child  to  listen  carefully  to 
the  word  which  he  will  pronounce,  and  then  to  tell 
whatever  other  words  or  thoughts  come  into  his  mind 
after  hearing  the  word.  It  may  be  necessary  to  explain 
the  meaning  of  the  direction  several  times,  so  as  to  be 
sure  to  have  the  child  understand,  as  otherwise  the  pur- 
pose of  the  test  would  be  vitiated.  Only  as  many  words 
are  recorded  as  can  be  given  within  three  minutes. 
The  words  may  either  be  dictated  to  the  examiner  or 
written  down  by  the  child. 

While  the  number  of  associated  ideas  counts  for  some- 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  317 

thing,  the  main  object  is  to  obtain  the  associations 
themselves.  They  may  give  a  clew  to  the  individuality 
and  to  the  individual  needs  of  a  child.  A  mere  enu- 
meration of  words,  without  associated  ideas,  would 
indicate  dulness  of  conception ;  if  a  child,  as  the  author's 
records  show,  gives  a  series  of  words  which  rhyme,  or 
have  the  same  phonetic  elements,  or  belong  to  the  same 
orthographic  type,  the  association  would  be  of  a  nature 
to  emphasize  the  child's  scholastic  interest.     (C/.  p.  258.) 

Here  is  the  record  of  a  peculiar  case  (Case  67) ,  which 
throws  light  upon  the  life  conditions  of  the  boy  under 
observation.  He  is  a  little  Italian  boy  with  insanity 
in  the  family  history.  This  is  what  he  said  when  the 
word  ''mother"  was  given:  "Italian — makes  me  sorry — 
makes  me  think — I  feel  bad — I  ain't  got  good  care — I 
just  have  the  same  blood."  His  father  is  living,  but  his 
mother  died  in  an  insane  asylum.  The  father  is  a  tailor, 
very  p>oor.  Armando  is  one  of  sixteen  children,  all  of 
whom  died  in  infancy,  except  four  boys;  one  brother, 
Quite  "smart,"  died  at  the  age  of  22,  insane.  The  little 
boy  has  hardly  any  care.  It  is  easy  to  draw  interesting 
conclusions  without  knowing  much  else  about  the  child's 
mentality. 

The  case  illustrates  the  necessity  of  making  the 
directions  elastic,  and  not  insisting  upon  "words,"  or 
"nouns"  only. 

/.  Imitation. — Imitation  is  one  of  the  earliest  and 
most  fundamental  faculties  developing  in  the  child.  It 
is  distinctly  psychologic  in  character  and  combines 
readily  with  other  mental  operations,  so  readily,  indeed, 
that  a  purely  imitative  act  is  hardly  ever  observable 
after  earliest  childhood.     Pure  imitation  would  be  al- 


318  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

most  reflex  in  character.  An  imitative  act  requires 
attention  to  the  act  to  be  imitated,  and  concentration 
upon  its  details.  There  must  be  a  certain  amount  of 
rational  judgment  to  discriminate  between  the  more  or 
less  essential  elements  of  the  act  to  be  imitated,  so  as 
to  make  the  imitation  perfect. 

First  Test:  Movement. — ^The  first  test  consists  in  ask- 
ing the  child  to  imitate  a  certain  movement,  like 
swinging  your  arms  in  a  particular  manner,  or  going 
through  a  short  series  of  calisthenic  exercises.  The  de- 
gree of  accuracy  in  the  reproduction  of  this  movement 
will  be  an  index  of  the  child's  ability  to  observe  and 
imitate.  Of  course,  it  implies  a  test  in  motor  co-ordi- 
nation. 

Second  Test:  The  Knox  Cubes. — The  Knox  Test  is 
one  of  those  employed  at  Ellis  Island  for  the  testing  of 
immigrants  suspected  of  mental  defect.  It  is  described 
by  its  inventor,  Doctor  Howard  A.  Knox,  of  the  United 
States  Public  Health  Service,  as  follows: 

Four  i-inch  cubes,  4  inches  apart,  are  fastened  to  a  piece  of 
thin  boarding.  The  movements  and  tapping  are  done  with  a 
smaller  cube.  The  operator  moves  the  cube  from  left  to  right, 
facing  the  subject,  and  after  completing  each  movement,  the 
latter  is  asked  to  do  likewise.  Line  (o)  is  tried  first,  then  (b), 
and  so  on  to  (e).  Three  trials  are  given  if  necessary  on  lines 
(o),  (6),  (c),  and  (d),  and  five  trials  if  needed  on  line  (e).  To 
obtain  the  correct  perspective  the  subject  should  be  two  feet 
from  the  cubes.  The  movements  of  the  operator  should  be 
slow  and  deliberate.^ 

If  the  cubes  are  numbered  i  (red),  2  (blue),  3  (green), 

*  "A  Scale,  Based  on  the  Work  at  Ellis  Island,  for  Estimating  Mental 
Defect."  The  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  March  7, 
1914. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS 


319 


(a) 


uPl      iiw      lii^ 


(6) 


im      ifti      if?i      jfT] 


<«) 


MiL 


(d) 


,*-*^-> 


Jil 


(e) 


ri'' 


jE 


/ 


'/'--::i^. 


iH il^      li^ 


Fig.  is. 
The  Knox  cube  test. 

and  4  (yellow),  respectively,  the  movements  are  as  fol- 
lows: 

(fl)  Touching  the  four  cubes  successively  with  the  small  cube, 
then  putting  the  small  cube  down  on  the  table. 

(6)  Touching  the  four  cubes  successively,  then  going  back  to 
cube  3,  then  down. 

(c)  Touching  the  four  cubes  successively,  then  back  to  2, 
then  down. 

(d)  From  i  to  3,  back  to  2,  then  to  4,  then  down. 

(«)  From  I  to  3,  to  4,  back  to  2,  to  3,  back  to  i,  then  down. 


320 


THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 


The  author  is  using  larger  cubes,  two  inches,  natural 
wood  only,  and  does  not  have  them  fastened  to  any 
board.  There  seems  to  be  no  special  value  in  the  size 
or  color  of  the  cubes,  or  their  distance  from  one  another, 
as  long  as  they  are  distinct  enough  from  one  another  to 
be  recognized  as  separate  entities.  In  fact,  one  of  the 
special  advantages  of  this  nice  test  is  its  adaptability 
to  any  emergency.  Instead  of  cubes  the  author  has 
used  visiting-cards,  playing-cards,  or  anything  else  handy 
that  lent  itself  to  the  following  out  of  the  proper  move- 
ments. 

Using  the  Binet  method  of  grading,  Doctor  Knox  puts 
the  abihty  to  do  test  (a)  under  the  age  of  4  years;  test 
(b)  under  5  years;  test  (c)  under  6  years;  test  (d)  under 
8  years;  test  (e)  under  11  years,  the  years  representing 
the  normal  age  at  which  he  thinks  the  test  can  be  per- 
formed. He  uses  the  following  table  of  grading  "men- 
tal age": 


Age 
At  or  Over 

Mental  Development 
Years 

Classification 

6 
6 
8 
10 
12 
12 
14 

Practically  none 
I 
2 

2-4 
4-6 
6-8 
8-10 

Low-grade  idiots 
High-grade  idiots 
Low-grade  imbeciles 
Middle-grade  imbeciles 
High-grade  imbeciles 
Low-grade  morons 
High-grade  morons 

According  to  this  schedule,  normality  would  be  indi- 
cated by  performing  all  five  tests  successfully.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  author  has  found  children  of  other- 
wise rather  low  ability  to  perform  all  five  tests  with 
relative  ease,  and  intelligent  adults  who  stumbled  over 
the   fourth.     Nevertheless,    the    test   is   very   valuable 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  321 

when  taken  in  connection  with  the  other  tests.  In  test- 
ing adults  of  ordinary  intelligence  we  must  never  forget 
that  they  lack  the  unsuspecting  nature  of  the  child; 
they  will  anticipate  being  caught  in  a  trick  in  which  the 
apparently  unessential  plays  a  part. 

Third  Test:  Peg-Board. — ^This  test  is  related  to  those 
Binet  Tests  which  require  the  drawing  of  a  square  and 
a  diamond.  It  has  been  empirically  found  that  the 
drawing  of  a  diagonal  requires  a  higher  development 
than  the  drawing  of  a  horizontal  or  vertical  line,  what- 
ever the  cause  may  be.  Binet  puts  the  drawing  of  a 
square  under  the  "mental  age"  of  6;  the  drawing  of  a 
"diamond"  one  year  higher,  7.  Instead  of  the  draw- 
ing the  author  employs  a  large  peg-board,  which  gives 
opportunity  for  an  easier  motor  adjustment  and  at  the 
same  time  serves  the  purpose  of  discovering  the  child's 
mental  development.  It  has  been  found  that  the  in- 
ability to  imitate  the  "pegging"  of  a  diagonal,  or  of 
a  parallel  to  the  diagonal,  or  the  making  of  a  diagonal 
from  direction,  is  a  strong  indication  of  mental  under- 
development, whatever  the  cause  may  be. 

This  exercise  has  been  placed  under  "imitation,"  feel- 
ing that  it  involves  this  kind  of  mental  activity  pri- 
marily, while  it  may  be  based  upon  visual  conception 
causally. 

K.  Concentration. — The  tests  enumerated  under  this 
heading  require  close  attention  to  be  given  by  the  child, 
and  the  first  two  presuppose  a  certain  degree  of  mem- 
ory power.  These  two  will  therefore  add  further  data 
to  the  memory  quality  of  the  child's  mind. 

Following  Directions. — The  Binet  Tests  require  for  the 
"mental  age"  of  6  the  performance  of  three  commis- 


322  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

sions  given  simultaneously.  The  author  finds  that  it  is 
well  to  grade  the  performance  of  commissions  by  begin- 
ning with  one,  and  then  trying  longer  series.  Thus,  to 
a  younger  child,  or  one  whose  power  we  do  not  feel  able 
to  conjecture,  we  give  just  one  commission,  as:  "Hand 
me  the  book  from  the  table!"  or  "Open  the  door!"  and 
observe  with  what  promptness  and  success  it  is  carried 
out.  The  second  step  involves  two  different  actions 
successively,  e.  g.,  locking  the  door  and  bringing  you 
the  key,  or  raising  arms  over  head  and  lowering  them 
behind  the  back.  The  number  of  commissions  thus 
given  can  be  increased,  even  to  five,  six,  or  seven  and 
more.  The  author  has  had  subjects  carry  out  a  dozen 
and  more  commissions  without  a  single  mistake.  The 
success  with  which  they  are  carried  out  is  a  fair  measure 
of  the  ability  of  the  subject  to  concentrate — not  neces- 
sarily of  anything  else.  It  is  interesting  to  note,  how- 
ever, that  children  whose  visual  and  auditory  memory 
(pp.  300  and  307  f)  was  limited,  were  often  surprisingly 
successful  in  holding  a  long  series  of  simultaneous  direc- 
tions in  their  minds. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  this  test  is  not  one  to  require  a 
special  time.  It  may  well  be  combined  with  other  tests. 
In  other  words,  the  success  with  which  a  child  carries 
out  the  directions  and  instructions  required  to  perform 
other  tests,  if  they  involve  a  sequence  of  activities  fol- 
lowing one  simultaneous  direction,  may  well  be  recorded 
in  this  place,  making  a  separate  test  superfluous. 

Remembering  Objects. — The  second  test  here  suggested 
is  not  identical  with  the  test  for  visual  memory,  as 
imder  A,  3  (&),  as  might  be  suspected  at  first  glance. 
In  the  visual-memory  test  the  objects  are  shown  suc- 
cessively.    In  this  test  they  are  exposed  simultaneously. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  323 

A.  certain  number  of  familiar  objects,  three,  five,  or 
more,  are  arranged  on  a  table  while  the  child  is  not 
looking,  or  behind  a  screen,  or  under  a  cloth.    These 

OYKFIUDBHTAGDAACDIXAMRPAGQZTAACVAOWLYX 

WABBTHJJANEEFAAMEAACBSVSKALLPHANRNPKAZF 

YRQAQEAXJUDFOIMWZSAUCGVAOBMAYDYAAZJDAL 

JACINEVBGAOFHARPVEJCTQZAPJLEIQWNAHRBUIAS 

SNZMWAAAWHACAXHXQAXTDPUTYGSKGRKVLGKIM 

FUOFAAKYFGTMBLYZIJAAVAUAACXDTVDACJSIUFMO 

TXWAMQEAKHAOPXZWCAIRBRZNSOQAQLMDGUSGB 

AKNAAPLPAAAHYOAEKLNVFARJAEHNPWIBAYAQRK 

UPDSHAAQGGHTAMZAQGMTPNURQNAIJEOWYCREJD 

UOLJCCAKSZAUAFERFAWAFZAWXBAAAVHAMBATAD 

KVSTVNAPLILAOXYSJUOVYIVPAAPSDNLKRQAAOJLE 

GAAQYEMPAZNTIBXGAIMRUSAWZAZWQAMOBDNAJZ 

ECNABAHGDVSVFTCLAYKUKCWAFRWHTQYAFAAAOH 


Name  ..>.  ..^.  i 
Tim*  m  acoonda 


CoiambU  Unlvarslty  Exp«rim«at  Parm.1 

Fig.  i6. 
The  one  hundred  A's  test.    Test  in  concentration. 

objects  are  then  momentarily  exposed  and  the  child 
asked  how  many  and  which  he  can  remember.  There 
is  here  no  need  of  insisting  upon  a  certain  order.  What 
is  being  tested  is  the  rapid  concentration  of  attention. 
Test  of  100  A's. — ^Test  3  requires  the  striking  out  of 
100  A's  scattered  through  a  block  of  500  capital  letters. 


324  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

This  test  was  first  suggested  by  Professor  Nosworthy  of 
Columbia  University,  and  has  become  a  well-known 
standard  method  of  testing  concentration.  The  percen- 
tage of  A's  stricken  out  and  the  time  consumed  (in  sec- 
onds) is  noted.  By  repeating  the  test,  the  effect  of 
habit,  practice,  and  fatigue  can  be  studied.^ 

Defective  concentration  is  one  of  the  most  potent 
causes  of  failure  in  school  work. 

L.  Naming  of  Objects. — This  test  is  intended  to 
determine,  approximately,  the  range  of  a  child's  experi- 
ence and  vocabulary.  It  is  rather  elementary  in  char- 
acter, yet  may  be  extended  at  will  and  may  give  some 
remarkable  revelations  to  the  examiner.  The  range  of 
experience  varies  considerably  with  different  children, 
irrespective  of  their  mental  capacity.  Its  limitations 
will  throw  light  upon  other  failures  which  could  not 
otherwise  be  understood.  After  all,  no  superstructure 
of  knowledge  can  be  built  upon  too  flimsy  a  foundation, 
and  these  elements  of  knowledge,  tested  as  here  sug- 
gested, form  the  apperceptive  basis  for  all  further  in- 
struction. Earlier  studies  in  experimental  education 
have  shown  that  the  contents  of  children's  minds  before 
entering  school  must  be  definitely  known  before  teach- 
ing can  be  a  success,  and  it  has  been  demonstrated  that 

*  The  Training  School,  Vineland,  of  May,  1913,  contains  a  report  on 
experiments  with  the  A  test  on  the  feeble-minded.  The  conclusions 
are  that  it  is  not  reliable  for  the  testing  of  mental  defectives,  partly 
because  of  the  lack  of  correspondence  between  the  results  obtained  and 
intellectual  ability.  "There  is  no  relation  between  this  test  and  chrono- 
logical age.  .  .  .  Sex  differences  are  not  very  significant,  though  show- 
ing a  slight  superiority  of  girls  over  boys.  .  .  .  The  A  test  is  valuable 
as  an  individual  psychological  experiment,  but  is  not  in  this  respect 
superior  to  other  tests  yielding  more  reliable  objective  results."  No 
mention  is  made  as  to  what  these  other  tests  are. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  325 

we  take  only  too  often  the  knowledge  of  things  for 
granted  when  the  child  has  in  reality  no  clear  knowledge 
of  them  at  all.  It  is  also  a  distinct  step  from  identify- 
ing an  object  itself  to  recognizing  it  clearly  in  a  picture. 
Questions  as  to  relative  sizes  of  pictured  objects  may 
also  lead  to  interesting  discoveries.^ 

M.  Language. — It  is  the  power  of  language  which 
distinguishes  man  from  the  animals.  A  suflScient  mas- 
tery of  the  elements  of  spoken  language  is  therefore 
requisite  to  make  rational  human  development  possible. 
Substitutes  for  spoken  language  never  reach  the  accu- 
racy of  the  live  word.  Thought  is  bound  up  with  lan- 
guage and  is  clarified  by  expression  through  language.* 
Written  language,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  result  mostly 
of  school  training,  and  there  are  persons  unable  to  read 
or  write  who  nevertheless  possess  a  respectable  amount 
of  intelligence  and  social  effectiveness.  Illiteracy  as 
such  is  not  necessarily  a  defect;  it  may  be  an  accident. 
Furthermore,  there  are  some  persons  who  may  never, 
from  constitutional  defect,  develop  high  qualities  in  the 
province  of  book-lore  and  written  expression,  and  yet  be 
perfectly  able  to  contribute  a  considerable  efficiency 
increment  to  society  through  other  gifts — of  an  artistic, 
constructive,  or  other  kind.  We  may  bear  in  mind  the 
fact  that  the  human  race  had  existed  for  many  genera- 
tions and  had  built  up  civilization  after  civilization  be- 
fore the  arts  of  reading  and  writing  became  privileges  of 
the  massds.'  There  are  to  this  day  civilization  levels 
in  modem  society  which  represent  these  earlier  stages. 
They  will  be  found  "backward"  in  the  traditional  "es- 

>  Cf.  "The  Career  of  the  Child,"  pp.  82/. 

»  Cf.  "The  Career  of  the  Chad,"  chap.  XII.  » Cf.  Chapter  IIL 


326  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

sentials"  of  the  ordinary  school,  reading,  writing,  and 
even  arithmetic,  and  yet  are  not  mental  defectives  in  the 
true  sense  of  this  term.     They  fill  their  place  in  life. 

The  results  of  the  language  tests  here  presented  must 
be  measured  in  the  spirit  of  the  foregoing  considerations. 

Story  Told  from  Picture. — The  first  test  requires  the 
telling  of  the  story  which  a  picture  suggests.  Any  pic- 
ture representing  simple  action,  illustrations  of  fairy- 
tales, and  the  like,  may  be  used.  The  step  from  merely 
enumerating  the  objects  seen  in  the  picture,  as  in  the 
foregoing  test,  to  the  description  of  its  elements,  and 
the  further  steps  to  the  valuation  of  the  situation  the 
picture  represents,  and  to  the  interpretation  of  the  pic- 
ture's message  to  the  observer,  are  important. 

This  first  test  is  an  oral  one,  appealing  to  spoken 
language  only. 

Written  Reproductions. — The  second  test  is  threefold. 
It  refers  to  the  reproduction  of  a  story  which  is  either 
told  the  child,  or  read  by  him,  or  which  he  remembers, 
in  writing.  This  test  differs  from  the  auditory  memory 
test  in  this  that  it  demands  more  than  a  mere  reitera- 
tion or  enumeration  of  memory  images  which  are 
counted  singly.  It  refers  to  the  ability  of  the  child  to 
catch  the  spirit  of  a  story  and  to  tell  the  story  as  such 
intelligently  in  words  of  his  own.  The  writing  of  it 
amounts  really  to  a  composition,  and  the  author  has 
therefore  included  this  test  in  his  minimum  require- 
ments, omitting  the  writing  of  an  original  composition 
as  mentioned  under  O,  4.  The  three  form^  in  which 
this  test  is  presented  embody  three  different  methods 
of  performing  it. 

In  cases  of  illiteracy  an  oral  reproduction  may  be  sub- 
stituted for  the  written  one.     After  all,  this  is  a  language 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  327 

test,  not  a  literacy  test,  excepting  in  the  case  of  the 
second  form,  which  requires  the  reading  of  the  story. 

Completion  Test. — Test  3  presents  a  set  of  fifty-six 
incomplete  sentences  to  be  completed  by  the  child.  He 
is  to  write  on  each  line  of  dots  the  word  which  makes 
the  best  meaning.  The  sentences  are  graded  with  a 
view  to  increasing  the  difficulty  with  each  step.  While 
this  test  will  gauge  the  ability  of  the  child  to  use  correct 
language,  it  is  also  a  judgment  test  of  high  value,  as  it 
requires  considerable  discernment  to  catch  the  meaning 
of  the  sentence  from  which  important  elements  are 
omitted. 

This  test  was  suggested  by  M.  R.  Trabue,  of  Colum- 
bia University,  working  with  Professor  E.  L.  Thorn- 
dike.  Their  investigations  as  to  the  best  graded  set 
were  not  completed  at  the  time  of  this  writing.^  The 
set  used  now  is  as  follows  i^ 

Name: 

Date: 

ON  EACH  LINE  OP  DOTS,  WRITE  THE  WORD  WHICH  MAKES  THE   BEST  MEANING. 

1.  We  like  good  boys  (and)  girls. 

2.  The  sky  (is)  blue. 

3.  I  see  (the)  man  and  the  boy. 

4.  We  are  going  (to)  school. 

5.  Men  (are)  older  than  boys. 

6.  The  (dog)  is  barking  at  the  cat. 

7.  The  kind  lady  (gave)  the  poor  man  a  dollar. 

8.  The  stars  and  the  (moon)  will  shine  to-night. 

9.  Here  is  the  man  who  (can)  do  it. 

10.  The  bird  (sings)  a  song  every  morning. 

11.  The  (girl)  plays  (with)  her  dolb  all  day. 

12.  Good  boys  (are)  kind  (to)  their  sisters. 

13.  Boys  must  (not)  be  rude  to  (their)  mothers. 

*Just  before  the  manuscript  of  this  book  went  to  press  the  author 
received  the  announcement  of  the  publication  of  Mr.  Trabue's  inves- 
tigation by  the  Teachers  College. 

*The  correct  insertions  are  enclosed  in  parentheses.  In  the  sheet 
given  to  the  child,  dots  represent  the  missing  word. 


328  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

14.  When  the  (boy)  grows  older  he  (will)  be  a  man. 

15.  The  stars  (shine)  brightly  at  (night). 

16.  The  boy  will  (burn)  his  hand  if  (he)  plays  with  fire. 

17.  The  wind  (blows)  the  dust  into  our  eyes. 

18.  The  best  (time)  to  sleep  is  at  night. 

19.  The  girl  fell  and  (hurt)  her  head. 

20.  The  little  (boy)  and  his  dog  (are)  running  a  race. 

21.  The  rude  child  does  not  (have)  many  friends. 

22.  Time  (is)  often  more  valuable  (than)  money. 

23.  The  poor  baby  (cries)  as  if  it  were  (very)  sick. 

24.  The  (sun)  rises  (in)  the  morning  and  (sets)  at  night. 

25.  The  child  (fell)  (into)  the  river  (and)  was  drowned. 

26.  Boys  who  play  (in)  (the)  mud  get  their  hands  (dirty). 

27.  It  is  good  to  hear  (the)  voice  (of)  (a)  friend. 

28.  The  poor  little  (boy)  has  (had)  nothing  to  (eat);  he  is  hungry. 

29.  Boys  and  (girls)  soon  become  (men)  and  women. 

30.  The  boy  who  (tries)  hard  (will)  do  well. 

31.  She  (can)  if  she  will. 

32.  One's  (words)  do  (not)  always  express  one's  thoughts. 

33.  Very  few  people  (know)  how  to  spend  time  and  (money)  to  the  best  advan- 

tage. 

34.  It  is  a  (hard)  task  to  be  kind  to  every  beggar  (who)  (asks)  for  money. 

35-  Brothers  and  sisters  (should)  always  (try)  to  help  (each)  other  and  should 
(never)  quarrel. 

36.  Worry  (has)  never  improved  a  situation  but  has  (often)  made  conditions 

(.worse). 

37.  Men  (are)  more  (fitted)  to  do  heavy  work  (than)  women. 

38.  (Fair)  weather  usually  (has)  a  good  effect  (on)  one's  spirits. 

39.  If  a  person  injures  one  by  (accident),  without  having  intended  any  (harm), 

one  should  (not)  (feel)  insulted. 

40.  A  shelter  (against)  the  weather  is  (much)  appreciated  on  a  (stormy)  day. 

41.  It  is  very  (diflScult)  to  become  (well)  acquainted  (with)  persons  who  (are) 

timid. 

42.  The  best  advice  (can)  usually  (be)  obtained  (from)  one's  parents. 

43.  A  home  is  (not)  merely  a  place  (where)  one  (can)  live  comfortably. 

44.  The  sun  is  so  (bright)  that  one  cannot  (look)  (into)  (it)  directly  (without) 

causing  great  discomfort  to  the  eyes. 

45.  To  (begin)  many  things  (without)  ever  finishing  any  of  them  (is)  a  (bad) 

habit. 

46.  (There)  are  times  in  the  (lives)  of  almost  (all)  of  us  when  we  (hope)  for  a 

long  life. 

47.  Children  should  (remember)  that  after  all  nobody  is  (apt)  to  care  much 

more  (for)  their  success  than  (their)  (own)  parents. 

48.  One's  real  (character)  appears  (more)  often  in  one's  (deeds)  than  in  one's 

speech. 

49.  It  is  very  annoying  to  (have)  (a)  toothache  (which)  often  comes  at  the 

most  (inconvenient)  time  imaginable. 

50.  When  two  persons  (talk)  about  (things)  which  neither  understands,  they 

(are)  almost  (certain)  to  disagree. 

51.  (Few)  things  are  (more)  satisfying  to  an  ordinary  (man)  than  congenial 

friends. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  329 

53.  When  one  feels  drowsy  and  (dred),  it  (often)  happens  that  he  is  (unable) 
to  fix  his  attention  very  successfully  (upon)  anything. 

53.  The  knowledge  of  (how)  (to)  use  fire  is  (one)  of  (the)  important  things 

known  by  (man)  but  unknown  by  animab. 

54.  To  (retain)  friends  is  always  (worth)  the  (effort)  it  takes. 

55.  (Injuries)  that  are  (done)  to  one  by  an  (angry)  friend  should  be  pardoned 

(more)  readily  than  injuries  done  by  one  (who)  is  not  angry. 

56.  One  ought  to  (take)  great  care  to  (develop)  the  right  (kind)  of  (habits), 

for  one  who  (has)  bad  habits  (finds)  it  (difficult)  to  get  away  from  them. 

Other  words  than  those  here  suggested  may  be  in- 
serted without  detriment  to  the  meaning  of  the  sen- 
tence, in  some  cases.  Children  will  sometimes  display- 
rather  original  conceptions  of  a  situation,  and  we  must 
take  them  on  their  own  terms. 

The  manner  in  which  subjects  respond  to  this  test 
allows  most  interesting  conclusions  in  regard  to  their 
mentality  and  the  effect  of  their  schooling.  Their  indi- 
vidual experience  and  personal  equation  count  to  some 
extent. 

Ciphers;  Puzzles;  Secret  Languages. — Lindsay,  in  the 
American  Journal  of  Psychology,  VIII,  4,  has  made  a 
most  interesting  study  of  puzzles  in  child  education ;  and 
Chrisman  has  contributed  a  valuable  investigation  of 
secret  languages  and  the  part  they  play  in  the  language 
development  of  the  child,  in  the  Child  Study  Monthly  of 
September,  1896.  A  further  discussion  of  these  impor- 
tant subjects  will  be  found  in  chapters  V  and  XII  of 
the  author's  book,  "The  Career  of  the  Child."  His 
own  practical  work  with  children  has  convinced  him  of 
the  enormous  significance  puzzles  and  secret  languages 
have  for  the  mental  training  and  the  evolution  of  the 
child  mind,  especially  with  regard  to  clear-cut  concep- 
tions of  words  and  their  meaning,  of  thought  relations, 
and  of  precise  cognition  generally. 

These  considerations  have  induced  him  to  insert  the 
reading  of  ciphers  into  this  schedule  of  tests.    The  ar- 


330  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

rangement  given  here,  under  (4),  offers  three  forms  in 
an  ascending  scale  of  difficulty.  Even  the  first,  the 
Rearrangement  of  Words  to  make  sense,  requires  an 
amount  of  mental  effort  and  judgment  which  would 
distinguish  the  potentially  normal  child  from  the  defec- 
tive.   The  following  cipher  is  used: 

sent mother to last baker my 

the some me bread to night buy. 

(My  mother  sent  me  to  the  baker  last  night  to  buy  some 
bread;  or,  Last  night  my  mother  sent  me  to  the  baker  to  buy 
some  bread.) 

The  American  version  of  the  Binet  series  offers  for 
the  "mental  age"  of  12  the  following  three  sentences: 

1.  For an the at hour early we 

country started. 

2.  To  asked  exercise  my  I teacher 

correct my. 

3.  A  defends  dog  good  his  master 

bravely. 

Huey  transfers  this  test  to  the  eleventh  year  and 
gives  a  slightly  different  arrangement  of  the  words: 

1.  For The Started An We Country 

Early At Hour. 

2.  To  Asked  Exercise My Teacher 

Correct My I. 

3.  A Defends Dog Good His Bravely 

Master. 

The  reasons  for  these  changes  seem  obvious.  Other 
examiners  have  substituted  other  sentences  which  they 
believed  were  more  within  the  range  of  their  subjects' 
experience. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  331 

It  is  plain  that  this  test  is  considered  even  by  Binet 
one  which  requires  at  least  pubescent  maturity  of  rea- 
soning power,  even  though  Huey  places  it  one  step  lower 
in  the  "mental  age"  scale.  The  author's  own  sentence 
contains  almost  twice  as  many  words  as  those  of  the 
Binet  scale  and  may  seem  therefore  more  difficult.  It 
has  not  always  been  found  so  in  practice,  as  it  covers  a 
simple  situation.  But  he  has  accepted,  from  younger 
children,  a  partial  solution  of  the  cipher — if  they  get 
some  sense  out  of  it,  even  though  they  do  not  use  all 
the  words.  Some  of  the  forms  so  accepted  are:  "My 
mother  sent  me  to  buy  bread  last  night."  And:  "Some 
baker  sent  my  mother  bread  last  night."  If  other  ex- 
aminers would  prefer  to  introduce  the  Binet  series  as 
preparatory  to  the  sentence  here  given,  it  would  not 
change  the  nature  of  the  test. 

The  Cipher  of  the  Second  Order  is  represented  by  the 
use  of  either  numbers  or  letters.  The  simplest  number 
cipher  gives  to  each  letter  its  corresponding  number: 
I  =  a,  2  =  &,  3  =  c,  etc.  There  may  be  an  arbitrary  ar- 
rangement, as,  /.  f .,  numbering  first  the  vowels  a,  e,  i,  o, 
u,  and  y  as  I  to  6  respectively,  and  then  the  consonants 
in  a  similar  manner:  7  =  6,  8  =  c,  g  =  d,  10  =/,  etc. 
In  using  letters  for  letters  we  may  choose  the  next  fol- 
lowing letter  to  represent  the  preceding  one,  as  ^  =  a, 
c  =  h,  etc.,  or  devise  some  other  arrangement.  In  our 
short  examination  we  use  this  method  only,  asking  the 
subject  to  decipher  the  following: 

Nz  gbuifs  mpwft  nf  =  My  father  loves  me. 

To  subjects  who  have  no  experience  in  ciphers  a  sim- 
ple explanation  will  have  to  precede  the  test. 


332 


THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 


For  the  Third  Order  the  one  suggested  by  Huey,  and 
originally  by  Healy,  is  used,  as  described  in  "Backward 
and  Feeble-Minded  Children,"  page  198,  and  suggested 
by  Huey  for  the  "mentality  of  15  years."  It  is  as 
follows : 


A 

B 

C 

D 

E 

F 

G 

H 

1 

J. 

K. 

,L 

M. 

N, 

.0 

P* 

Q* 

• 

R 

V  J  r 


WAR 


Fig.  17. 
Cipher  of  the  third  order. 

Tests  5  and  6  again  combine  language  efficiency  or, 
rather,  a  command  of  words,  with  the  power  of  judg- 
ment. 

Opposites. — Test  5  calls  for  the  opposites  of  the  fol- 
lowing list  of  words:  Bad,  short,  Uttle,  poor,  well,  thick, 
full,  few,  slow,  soft,  dark,  sad,  true,  equal,  sorry,  new, 
cold,  smooth,  clean,  deep,  narrow,  stale,  heavy,  high, 
bitter,  living,  open,  kind,  peaceful,  lazy,  quiet,  above, 
within,  near,  master,  friend,  to  love,  to  sleep,  to  sit,  to 
work. 

Classification. — First,  a  list  of  qualities  is  offered: 

Name  something  that  is  high — cold — smooth — red — 
round — clean — bitter — heavy — soft — new — yellow — 
bent —  wooden —  glass — deep — empty — narrow — loose 
sour — level — fresh. 

Secondly,  a  list  of  activities: 

Name  something  or  somebody  that  walks — flies — 
barks — rolls — marches — teaches — swims — rides — sings 
— learns — rises — sinks — bumps — jumps — counts — floats 
— earns — spends — pays — sells — sails — buys. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  333 

Thirdly,  the  following  two  sets  of  categories: 

(a)  Name  an  animal,  a  plant,  a  food,  an  article  of 
clothing,  a  piece  of  furniture; — a  form  of  land,  an  occu- 
pation, a  kind  of  building,  an  exercise,  a  game; — a  virtue, 
a  state  of  mind,  a  state  of  body,  a  purpose,  an  ideal. 

{b)  Of  what  is  a  part:  a  drawer,  an  arm,  a  sleeve,  a 
seam,  a  leaf; — a  room,  a  signature,  a  handle,  a  wall; — a 
soldier,  a  title,  a  teacher,  a  paragraph,  a  sailor,  a  word? 

It  will  be  observed  that  each  of  these  series  is  arranged 
in  an  ascending  order  of  diflSculty.  A  signal  or  absolute 
failure  to  give  opposites  or  classifications  throws  a  child 
out  of  the  group  of  potentially  normal.  But  different 
degrees  of  maturity  can  easily  be  detected  by  the  an- 
swers given.  Of  course  the  elements  of  personal  ex- 
perience and  of  school  training  play  their  part,  but  it 
will  have  to  be  decided  by  the  examiner  whether  these 
are  merely  mechanical  in  nature  or  coupled  with  native 
ability  of  discernment.  Even  a  child  of  the  primary 
group  will  give  at  least  one-fourth  of  the  forty  opposites, 
one-third  of  the  twenty-one  qualities,  and  as  many  of 
the  activities.  Perhaps  the  categories  are  beyond  his 
stage,  except  the  first  group  of  five  of  set  (a).  But  we 
need  much  more  experience  to  "standardize"  in  any 
way.  We  can  draw  more  important  conclusions  from 
the  quality  than  from  the  number  of  answers  given. 
What  we  are  more  interested  in  than  even  the  present 
status  of  the  subject  is  his  chance  of  development,  i.  e., 
his  growth  qualities.  These  can  be  deduced  from  the 
quality  of  his  thought  in  giving  these  answers. 

Where  school  training  has  been  superficial,  so  that 
the  child  does  not  readily  understand  the  terminology, 
e.  g.,  does  not  readily  know  what  is  meant  by  "oppo- 
sites," preliminary  explanations  and  illustrations  must 


334  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

be  given.  The  fact  should  be  stated  in  the  record. 
With  immigrant  children,  we  shall  have  to  valuate  their 
possible  foreign  language  handicap. 

N.  Reading. — Here  are  to  be  recorded:  (i)  The 
grade  a  subject  has  reached,  most  easily  expressed  in 
stating  the  number  of  the  reader  (in  a  graded  series) 
which  he  can  easily  master;  (2)  his  lesiding  facility ;  (3) 
his  expression;  (4)  his  enunciation  and  articulation  (even- 
tually revealing  speech  defects) ;  and  (5)  the  understand- 
ing of  the  text  read  he  exhibits.  This  understanding 
will  manifest  itself,  in  a  measure,  in  the  manner  in  which 
he  handles  the  text  in  reading.  A  few  leading  questions 
as  to  what  he  has  been  reading  about  will  assist  in  de- 
termining the  degree  of  his  intelligent  mastery  of  the 
selection.  This  test  may  be  connected  with  language 
test  2,  and  the  same  selection  may  be  used  for  written 
(or  oral)  reproduction. 

For  a  better  valuation  of  this  test  it  may  be  well  to 
read  chapter  XIII,  "Reading  and  Literature,  with  Re- 
marks on  Method,"  in  the  author's  "Career  of  the 
Child."  For  both  the  reading  and  the  writing  tests,  of. 
Miiller's  investigations  as  referred  to  on  pages  144  Jff.  of 
this  book. 

0.  Writing. — Referring  to  what  has  been  said  before 
on  the  significance,  or  lack  of  significance,  of  literacy 
and  illiteracy,  the  writing  tests  are  here  introduced  for 
what  they  are  worth.  They  are  intended  to  determine 
what  may  be  styled  the  writing  equipment  of  the  sub- 
ject. 

That  a  person's  first  accompUshment  after  learning 
to  write  is  to  write  his  own  name,  is  recognized  in  the 
first  of  the  writing  tests  here  suggested. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  335 

The  second  test  is  copying  from  a  reader.  While  it 
would  seem  natural  to  give  the  child  a  selection  from  a 
reader  of  the  same  grade  that  he  can  read  in,  he  may  in 
actuality  show  greater  or  inferior  proficiency  in  copy- 
ing than  in  reading,  the  two  arts  being  physiologi- 
cally and  psychologically  different.  The  fact  should 
be  noted. 

The  spelling  test  (dictation,  3)  is  in  a  measure  a  mem- 
ory test.  This  memory  may  have  a  visual,  or  an  aural, 
or  a  motor  quality.  Only  as  a  motor  test  is  it,  strictly 
speaking,  a  test  in  writing.  The  preceding  tests  of 
visual  and  auditory  memory  will  assist  the  examiner  in 
determining  the  memory  quality  of  the  spelling  test, 
unless  he  wishes  to  enlarge  upon  this  test  in  a  special 
way.  It  is,  of  course,  of  importance  to  know,  in  the 
interest  of  the  future  training  of  the  child,  whether  he 
is  "ear-minded,"  "eye-minded,"  or  "motor-minded." 
But  here  it  is  of  especial  interest  to  study  the  child's 
method  of  spelling,  whether  it  is  phonetic  (which  would 
suggest  the  auditory  element),  or  whether  there  are  in- 
versions while  otherwise  the  right  number  of  right  let- 
ters is  given  (which  would  suggest  "  eye-mindedness " 
with  inaccuracy  of  impression  or  inadequate  visual 
memory),  or  omissions,  or  other  peculiarities. 

Test  4,  composition,  has  been  included  under  writ- 
ing, although  it  is  really  a  language  test,  for  the  reason 
that  it  is  the  intention  here  to  test  the  child's  ability  to 
express  himself  in  writing.  It  is  well  to  recall  what  has 
been  said  in  this  regard  under  M,  2.  The  reader  is  also 
invited  to  read  chapter  XIV  of  the  "Career  of  the 
Child,"  on  "Oral  and  Written  Composition." ^ 

•  It  may  be  of  interest  to  compare  with  the  requirements  of  these 
tests  the  "Tentative  Minimum  Requirements  in  English  for  Graduation 


336  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

P.  Number  Concept. — The  principles  underlying 
these  tests  will  be  better  appreciated  after  reading 
chapter  VIII  in  *'The  Career  of  the  Child,"  on  the 
** Mathematical  Evolution  of  the  Child."  It  is  shown 
there  that  the  child's  number  concepts  are  of  twofold 

from  an  Elementary  School,"  as  suggested  by  a  committee  of  the  Bos- 
ton Public  Schools: 

1.  To  copy  twelve  lines  of  simple  prose  or  poetry,  and  a  bill  of  at  least  seven 
items. 

2.  To  take  down  from  dictation  a  passage  of  simple  prose. 

3.  To  write  from  simple  directions  a  friendly  letter  or  an  application  for  a 
position. 

4.  To  write  within  a  half-hour  a  simple,  original  composition  of  not  less  than 
one  page  of  letter  paper,  with  every  sentence  grammatically  complete.  The  pu- 
pil may  make  revisions,  including  interlinear  corrections,  but  must  not  rewrite. 

5.  To  recognize  the  parts  of  speech  in  their  common  uses;  to  explain  the 
construction  of  words  and  phrases  in  a  simple  sentence  containing  not  more 
than  one  phrase  modifier  in  the  subject  and  one  phrase  modifier  in  the  predi- 
cate; to  have  a  practical  understanding  of  the  uses  to  which  the  dependent 
clause  of  a  complex  sentence  can  be  put — whether  it  be  to  serve  as  noun,  adjec- 
tive, or  adverb ;  to  know  the  principal  parts  of  regular  verbs  and  of  the  common 
irregular  verbs,  and  their  tense  forms  through  the  indicative  mood. 

6.  To  read  at  sight  with  readiness  and  good  expression  simple  prose  as  diffi- 
cult as  "Little  Men"  or  "Hans  Brinker." 

7.  To  quote  either  orally  or  in  writing  fifty  hues,  not  necessarily  consecutive, 
of  classic  prose  or  poetry. 

8.  To  stand  before  the  class  and  talk  clearly  on  some  subject  of  personal, 
school,  or  public  interest. 

With  the  exception  of  requirements  5  and  8,  the  points  here  sug- 
gested are  covered  by  our  schedule  of  tests.  However,  wide  limits  must 
be  allowed. 

Actual  tests  made  with  these  empirically  set  up  standards,  as  rep)orted 
by  Ballou,  revealed  that  some  pupils  made  as  many  as  forty  or  fifty 
mistakes  in  copying  fifteen  lines  of  simple  prose,  and  that  very  few  pupils 
made  less  than  half  a  dozen  mistakes.  Again,  very  few  of  the  six  thou- 
sand children  tested  remembered  much  that  they  were  able  to  write  in 
an  intelligent  manner.  Since  it  is  so,  says  Doctor  Ballou,  it  becomes 
necessary  to  decide  certain  important  matters.  Considering  the  fact 
that  some  of  these  pupils  undoubtedly  did  know  fifty  lines  of  classic 
prose  or  poetry  at  one  time,  was  it  worth  while  teaching  it  to  them  if 
they  have  so  soon  forgotten  it?  Again,  should  they  be  expected  to 
remember  it  for  a  longer  time  than  most  of  them  did  ?  Also,  if  children 
are  going  to  forget  so  soon  much  memory  work,  is  it  of  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  set  up  a  standard  for  it? 

This  argument  is  very  illuminating,  indeed. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  337 

origin:  being  the  result,  on  the  one  hand,  of  a  continuous 
series  (counting),  and  of  space  conceptions  on  the  other. 
In  chapter  V,  "A  Rational  Course  of  Study,"  mention 
is  made  of  a  distinct  "counting  period"  in  the  mental 
development  of  the  child,  a  period  which  precedes  the 
conception  of  number  as  an  entity,  or  of  cardinal  number 
in  distinction  from  ordinal  number.  As  long  as  a  child 
merely  counts  he  has  not  the  concept  of  cardinality, 
and  will  confuse  number  proper  with  place  in  a  certain 
series.  In  other  words,  a  child  is  apt  to  attach  the  name 
"five"  to  the  "fifth"  object,  not  to  the  entire  quantity 
of  five  units. 

In  the  counting  test,  special  attention  must  be  given 
by  the  examiner  to  the  facility  with  which  a  child  passes 
from  19  to  20  and  21;  from  29  to  30,  and  so  on.  Again, 
from  99  to  100  and  loi;  from  199  to  200;  from  999  to 
1,000,  etc.  It  would,  of  course,  extend  the  time  of  the 
test  unduly  were  the  child  made  to  count  all  the  way 
up.  A  commendable  practice  is  this :  Let  the  child  count 
only  part  of  the  series,  jumping  from  34,  for  instance, 
to  95;  from  III  to  156,  with  similar  ellipses  all  along 
the  line.  This  will  not  only  ascertain  a  child's  counting 
facility  with  sufficient  accuracy,  but  also  his  power 
of  quick  adjustment. 

Counting  backward  is  really  a  continued  subtraction  of 
the  same  number  and  will  be  found  much  more  difficult 
than  counting  upward.  Even  Binet,  who  claims  to 
avoid  tests  presupposing  school  training,  includes  the 
counting  backward  from  20  in  his  8-year  test.  He 
wants  the  child  to  count  to  o,  while  the  author  agrees 
with  Huey,  who  makes  i  the  downward  limit.  Fluency 
in  the  downward  range  is  a  good  sign  of  clear  operation 
with  numbers.    Again,  attention  must  be  given  to  the 


338  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

passing  from  higher  to  lower  tens  (91,  90,  89 — 81,  80,  79, 
etc.).  Many  children  are  apt  to  count  like  this:  92,  91, 
80,  89,  etc. 

Counting  by  twos,  tens,  fives,  and  threes  may  seem  to 
depend  mainly  upon  facihty  in  the  multiplication  table, 
and  thus  depend  upon  a  mastery  of  these,  which  is 
largely  a  mechanical-memory  process — the  "making  of 
certain  noises  in  a  certain  sequence,"  as  a  witty  English 
critic  of  faulty  school  methods  has  expressed  it.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  however,  unless  the  tables  have  been 
taught  that  way  in  school,  this  test  represents  a  task  to 
the  child  which  requires  a  clearer  number  concept,  of 
the  serial  principle  at  least,  than  ordinary  counting.  It 
requires  the  conscious  omission  of  regular  elements  of 
the  ordinary  series.  Counting  backward  by  twos,  tens, 
fives,  and  threes  is  pecuharly  apt  to  reveal  a  child's 
facility  in  this  respect.  What  has  been  said  before 
about  elliptical  counting  applies  to  counting  by  twos, 
tens,  etc. 

In  constructing  numbers  on  the  abacus  it  is  essential  to 
induce  the  child  to  move  3,  5,  or  more  beads  A  T  ONCE, 
without  counting.  It  is  a  test  in  number  concept,  in 
grasping  a  quantity  as  a  whole.  This  test  becomes  even 
more  interesting  when  a  child  is  asked  to  construct  a 
number  which  requires  using  beads  from  several  rows, 
as  15,  23,  47,  etc.,  when  it  will  become  quite  evident  to 
the  observer  whether  the  child  grasps  the  situation 
offered  by  the  abacus  promptly,  or  not. 

Numbers  like  15  or  21  may  also  be  constructed  by 
requirinjg  the  child  to  use  the  same  numbers  of  beads 
in  3  different  rows,  introducing  multiplication  and 
division.  This  test  is  intimately  related  to  the  primi- 
tive counting-board  work,  still  employed  by  the  Jap- 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  339 

anese,  Chinese,  etc.     Also,  it  tests  the  actual  number 
concept  of  the  child. 

The  adding  game  with  dice  adds  the  feature  of  con- , 
ventional  arrangement  of  units  in  groups.     In  this  man- 
ner much  higher  numbers  can  be  quickly  recognized 
than  when  the  units  are  arranged  in  rows,  as  on  the 
abacus.     Use  one,  two,  three,  and  more  dice. 

Many  ordinary  children's  games  involve  adding  and 
subtracting  of  simple  numbers.  In  the  last  test  of  this 
series  an  inexpensive  top-spinning  game  is  used,  some- 
what like  a  roulette,  bought  at  the  toy  store.  Wherever 
the  top  lands  there  is  a  number  to  be  added  or  sub- 
tracted to  the  sum  previously  obtained.  The  game 
presents  the  numbers  from  5  to  50,  in  differences  of 
five.    . 

Space  Conceptions. — ^Tests  2  and  3  introduce  the 
other  source  of  number  conception — space.  The  first 
test  is  the  most  elementary  one  of  all — the  comparison 
of  a  small  bundle  of  kindergarten  sticks  (three)  with  a 
larger  bundle,  containing  four  times  as  many  (twelve). 
Such  a  comparison  is  the  first  step  a  young  child  takes 
in  the  realization  of  number  differences.  These  differ- 
ences are  represented  by  differences  in  size.  With  very 
young  children  the  tests  will  fail  unless  the  sticks  have 
the  added  attraction  of  color,  or  are  made  of  candy.  It 
indicates,  of  course,  a  low  degree  of  number  conception 
if  this  test  fails  with  older  children. 

Test  3  is  made  with  a  number  of  sticks  varying 
in  length  from  one  inch  to  twelve  inches.  The  first 
question  asked  is:  "Which  is  the  shortest  stick?"  The 
second,  "Which  is  the  longest?"  The  child  is  then 
asked  to  build  up  the  length  of  the  longest  by  using 
shorter  sticks,  beginning  with  the  shortest.     It  may  be 


340  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

found  that  some  children  will  do  this  task  well  who 
cannot  recognize  number  otherwise.  Their  good  and 
fundamental  idea  of  form  and  space  may  then  be  made 
the  starting-point  in  instruction  to  develop  the  number 
concept.  Comparison  of  different  lengths  and  sizes  leads 
up  to  quantitative  concepts.  The  test  may  be  varied 
in  different  ways. 

Courtis  Tests. — Test  4  introduces  the  "Courtis  Tests." 
These  have  been  recently  so  widely  employed  in  measur- 
ing .the  efficiency  of  class  work  in  schools  that  it  is 
unnecessary  to  describe  them  here.  But  their  appli- 
cation in  this  series  of  tests  rests  upon  their  adapta- 
bility to  the  testing  of  individual  children.  How  this 
can  be  done  has  been  instructively  illustrated  by  the 
Department  of  Educational  Investigation  and-  Mea- 
surement of  the  Boston  public  schools.  In  explaining 
the  work  of  the  department  in  this  direction  Miss  Rose 
A.  Carrigan  writes  in  Bulletin  II: 

To  make  sure  that  his  ability  is  of  a  reasonably  permanent 
nature,  the  pupil  should  measure  up  to  the  grade  standard  on 
at  least  three  successive  occasions.  Whereas  a  single  test  of  a 
thousand  or  more  children  is  adequate  to  demonstrate  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  teaching  process  in  general,  one  test  is  not  sufficient 
to  determine  the  ability  of  the  individual.  To  do  this  last 
effectively,  several  tests  are  necessary;  otherwise  there  is  dan- 
ger of  incorrect  conclusions  resulting  from  chance  scores. 

This  very  correct  statement  shows  the  serious  limita- 
tion of  clinical  study  which  is  confined  to  one  observation 
or  test.  Nevertheless,  taken  in  connection  with  the 
other  tests,  one  examination  of  a  child  in  the  addition, 
subtraction,  multiplication,  and  division  examples  given 
in  Series  B,  Arithmetic,  of  the  Courtis  Standard  Re- 
search Tests  will  allow  of  helpful  conclusions.    The  re- 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS 


341 


suits  should  be  compared  for  valuation  with  the  age  and 
grade  standards  worked  out  by  Mr,  S.  A.  Courtis,  De- 
troit, Mich.,  with  such  elasticity  of  application  as  will 
adjust  them  to  individual  types  of  mind. 

Doctor  Frank  A.  Ballou,  director  of  the  Boston  de- 
partment, has  kindly  given  permission  to  use  the  fol- 
lowing individual  scores  as  illustrations  of  the  value  of 
this  method  for  individual  testing: 


GRADES 

6                          7                           J                                                                    1 

Mo.  ot  EumplM 

9 

It 

11 

12 

13 

14 

rM" 

U 

17 

1» 

1» 

2« 

21 

22 

23 

24 

TtSTl 

'^ 

ADD.I*"""** 
(    IU(ha 

TKTl 

y 

y 

y 

S 

s 



,-- 



SUBT. 

(      Rl(bU 
TEST» 

/ 

/ 

1 

,^-' 

MULT, 

(    lUfhi. 
Te«Ti 

/ 

/ 

1 

V 

^v 

»», 

\ 

\ 

OIV. 

/ 

y 

1 

Fig.  1 8.     Chart  I. 


Case  68. — Fig.  i8  represents  the  curve  of  a  12-year- 
old  boy  in  the  eighth  grade  of  a  Boston  school.  The 
solid  line  represents  the  standard  for  his  grade,  the 
dotted  line  his  score.  It  will  be  seen  immediately  how 
far  he  left  the  standard,  or  average,  behind  in  amount 
of  work  done,  and  in  accuracy.  He  did  practically 
double  the  work  of  the  average  and  exceeded  the  stand- 
ard of  accuracy  three  times,  solving  all  examples  he  at- 
tempted in  subtraction,  multipUcation,  and  division. 

Case  69. — Fig.  19  shows  the  record  of  another  12- 
year-old  boy,  in  a  seventh  grade  at  Edgerton,  Wis. 
In  the  number  of  rights  he  is  ahead  of  the  standard  at 


342 


THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 


GRADES 

4,                     5                          «                        >                         8                       1 

No.  of  EzamplM 

I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

( 

7 

1 

9 

10 

It 

t?" 

^ 

14 

W 

16 

17 

18 

19 

TESTl 

rAttempti 
ADD.} 

TESTS 

_^'^ 

/ 

-ir 

' 

V 

^.^ 

SUBT 

I    JUghtJ 
TESTS 

^ 

' 

s 

v^' 

MULT. 

(    Rights 

TEST* 

^ 

^ 

^ 

1 

DIV. 

^ 

1 

Fig.  iq.    Chart  II. 

all  points,  and  his  curve  is  more  nearly  a  straight  line 
than  the  average. 

Case  70. — Fig.  20  is  remarkable  for  two  reasons.     It 
represents  the  work  of  an  eighth-grade  Boston  girl  of 


GRADES 

1                                                                       1 

No,  of  EnmplM 

9 

It 

U 

1} 

13 

14 

A< 

16 

17 

'^; 

•\^ 

.^0 

21 

22 

23 

24 

TE8T1 

^ 

^ 

X 

^ — 

•^. 

ADD. 

/ 

y' 

_y 

/ 

1 

TESTS 

Attompts 
SUBT. 

\ 

s 

. 

--' 

^,^ 

— 

— 

-"" 

^ 

/ 

1 

1 

-TESTS 

(Attompts 
MUtT.j 

I    nights 
TEST* 

rAttempts 
DIV.} 

(     Rights 

^^ 

'    f 

*•" 

/ 

/ 

I. 

1 

■v. 

^•^ 

•*^ 

: — 



/ 

> 

Fig.  20.    Chart  III. 

13,  who  had  not  been  thought  to  be  in  any  way  dif- 
ferent from  the  average.  Here  the  broken  line  repre- 
sents her  score  in  January,  1914;  the  dotted  line  the 
score  three  months  later,  in  April.  In  both  she  is  con- 
siderably ahead  of  the  average  standard  in  everything 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS 


343 


except  multiplication,  where  she  is  closer  to  the  average. 
But  in  the  three  months,  perhaps  just  because  she 
thought  that  she  was  "good  in  arithmetic,  anyway,"  she 
lost  in  amount  and  somewhat  in  accuracy,  except  again 
in  multiplication,  where  her  lower  score  had  apparently 
prompted  her  to  make  some  efifort.  This  shows  the 
value  of  practice,  even  in  things  which  are  otherwise 
well  mastered. 

Case  71. — ^This  value  of  practice  is  clearly  proven  by 
Fig.  21,  exhibiting  the  January  and  April  scores  of  an 
ii-year-old  Boston  girl  in  the  fifth  grade.  At  the  first 
trial  the  pupil  was  below  standard  in  addition  and  sub- 


QRADE8 

4                     -X.                         *                         7                           »                          1 

!<ro..of  Krimpl— 

1 

2 

3 

4 

.S" 

^" 

7 

"^r 

-« 

\% 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

U 

17 

18 

1» 

TEST  1 

^^ 

\ 

•^^ 

ADO.            *** 

/ 

■^ 

1 
1 

Tt»TI 

(Att*Bl>U 

SUBT{ 

**■ 

-— 

— 

.^.^ 

s 

,' 

^.*- 

-^ 

/ 

TE»T» 

^■> 

f 

MULT, 

>■ 

Tt8T4 

* 

/N 

\ 

* 

/ 

OIV.{ 

1' 

/ 

/ 

Fig.  21.    Chart  IV. 

traction.  After  three  months  of  practice  she  surpassed 
the  standard  in  all  four  of  the  fundamental  operations. 
The  greatest  improvement  was  in  addition,  which  was 
the  operation  in  which  she  had  least  ability  at  the  time 
of  the  first  test. 

Case  72. — Chart  V  exhibits  the  eradication  of  a  par- 
ticular weakness  (in  multiplication)  in  a  lo-year-old 
Boston  girl  pupil  of  the  fifth  grade,  with  a  corresponding 
loss  in  her  former  best  operation  (subtraction).     Her 


344 


THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 


score  in  April  is  more  nearly  like  the  standard,  but  more 
even  than  the  average. 

These  examples  give  sufl&cient  evidence  of  the  need 
of  individual  valuation  and  of  attention  to  individual 


GRADES 

4                        5                            6                          7                           8                        1 

Efo.  of  ExmmpUs 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

/^ 

s 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

li 

17 

IS 

1» 

TEST1 

f  AtUmpCi 
ADD. 

/ 

s 

s 

/ 

n 

<- 

^^ 

TESTS 

K^ 

, 

-^ 

^ 

SUBT.j 

(     Rigbu 

TEST  3 

1 

^ 

^ 

'  1 
1 

-f- 

- 

— ■■ 

(      Rights 
TEST  4 

I  AtUmpts 
DIV.{ 

_^-- 

-■^ 

/ 

<^ 

"■•"■ 

-.. 

^__ 

\ 

'^"" 

^ 

^ 

^ 

i 

1 

Fig.  22.    Chart  V. 

needs.  To  show  how  very  necessary  individual  stand- 
ards are,  how  false  ordinary  school  standards,  and  how 
much  we  are  laboring  under  misconceptions  in  regard 
to  the  value  of  arithmetical  drill  as  at  present  conducted 
in  our  schools,  the  author  will  permit  himself  to  quote 
again  from  Doctor  Ballou's  paper: 

The  Courtis  Tests  have  revealed  great  variations  in  the  abil- 
ity of  pupils  to  add,  subtract,  multiply,  and  divide.  They  have 
shown  that  we  have  at  the  present  time  practically  all  grades  of 
ability,  from  the  fourth  to  the  eighth  in  each  class  tested. 
Twenty-nine  per  cent  of  the  pupils  in  the  eighth  grade  could 
exchange  places  with  a  like  number  of  pupils  in  the  fourth 
grade  without  changing  in  the  slightest  the  arithmetical  ability 
in  the  fundamental  operations  of  either  class  as  a  class. 

The  tests  also  show  that  from  35  to  50  per  cent  of  the  children 
tested  in  any  one  grade  did  not  increase  their  ability  at  all  in 
addition,  subtraction,  multiplication  and  division  fron;i  the  time 
the  tests  were  given  in  January  until  they  were  given  in  April 


SCHEDXJLE  OF  TESTS  345 

— a  period  of  about  three  months.  This  means  that  the  chil- 
dren in  these  grades  have  apparently  not  profited  in  the  least 
by  the  instruction  given.  For  example,  in  the  eighth  grade  in 
division,  32  p>er  cent  of  the  children  tested  showed  no  increase 
In  ability  to  solve  problems  correctly.  Also,  in  the  fourth  grade 
50  per  cent  of  the  children  tested  showed  no  increased  ability 
whatever  in  division,  although  that  is  the  particular  topic  of 
instruction  in  arithmetic  in  the  fourth  grade. 

What  is  the  reason  for  these  conditions?  It  seems  probable 
that  the  drill  work  in  the  fundamentals  carried  on  at  the  present 
time  is  not  adapted  to  all  pupils.  In  fact,  it  is  probable  that 
there  is  no  one  drill  that  is  equally  well  adapted  to  any  consider- 
able number  of  pupUs.  Some  pupils  who  do  profit  by  a  drill 
get  more  than  they  need  under  present  conditions,  while  those 
who  do  not  profit  are  merely  marking  time,  or,  as  is  shown  by 
these  tests,  are  actually  declining  in  ability.  This  means  that 
by  class  drills  the  variations  in  ability  among  pupils  are  being 
constantly  increased  rather  than  decreased. 

Isn't  it  about  time  to  recognize  these  variations  in 
our  methods  of  school  instruction,  and  in  our  valuations 
of  individual  scores? 

Problem  in  Judgment. — Test  5  is  a  particular  problem 
in  judgment.  It  may  also  be  considered  a  problem  in 
the  power  of  visualization.  It  may  be  presented  in 
various  forms.  One  is  given  on  page  296.  Another 
form  would  be  as  follows: 

You  have  seen  boys  march  one  behind  the  other,  in 
single  file,  have  you  not  ?  Now,  there  was  a  little  Une  of 
boys  marching  down  the  street  one  day,  playing  soldiers. 
How  many  do  you  think  they  were?  There  were  two 
marching  in  front  of  one,  one  was  in  the  middle,  and 
two  were  marching  behind  one.    How  many  altogether  ? 

As  the  catch,  if  it  may  be  so  considered,  is  in  the  con- 
dition of  marching  in  single  file,  and  as  it  is  not  intended 
to  emphasize  this  source  of  error,  the  examiner  may 


346  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

repeat  to  the  child  several  tunes  that  the  boys  were 
marching  one  by  one.  The  proper  answer  is,  of  course, 
three  boys.  But  the  first  hasty  answer  will  usually  be, 
five.    Even  the  numbers  seven  and  six  have  been  offered. 

If  the  child  fails  to  visuaHze  we  may  give  him  a  sec- 
ond chance  to  use  his  judgment,  by  drawing  dots  on  a 
piece  of  paper,  or  using  the  peg-board,  or  the  abacus, 
to  illustrate  the  line  of  boys.  The  examiner  may,  in 
extreme  cases,  even  go  so  far  as  to  say:  If  there  were 
five  boys,  you  would  have  four  in  front  of  one,  etc.  If 
even  this  suggestion,  combined  with  the  visual  repre- 
sentation of  the  boys  by  the  use  of  dots,  pegs,  or  beads, 
fails  to  bring  out  the  true  situation,  the  child's  concep- 
tual ability  proves  itself  to  be  of  low  order. 

Further  Puzzles. — Tests  6  and  7  are  again  in  the  na- 
ture of  puzzles  and  usually  arouse  intense  interest  in 
potentially  normal  children.  In  the  Magic  Square  the 
digits  from  i  to  8  are  represented  by  capitals,  thus: 


A 

B 

C 

D 

E 

F 

G 

H 

The  problem  is  to  arrange  the  figures  so  that  A  -f-  B  -f- 
C  =  A+D  +  F  =  C  +  E  +  H  =  FH-G  +  H  =  i5. 
There  are  several  solutions  possible.     One  is  this: 


6  I      8 
2  4 

7  5      3 


Test  7  has  been  suggested  by  J.  H.  Doyle,  lately  of 
the  Culver  Military  Academy.  It  consists  of  four  mul- 
tiplication examples,  in  which  certain  numbers  are  rep- 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  347 

resented  by  letters  for  which  the  proper  figures  must  be 
substituted.     They  look  as  follows: 

A  LM  KR  T4 

X  3  X3  X6  XN 


lA  18L  1R8  3N6 

The  solutions  are:  A  =  5;  L  =  6;  M  =  2;  K  =  2; 
R  =  3;T  =  4;N  =  9. 

Q.  Discrimination. — The  tests  in  discrimination  pre- 
sent some  further  features  in  testing  the  p>ower  of  judg- 
ment and  common  sense. 

Matching  Pictures. — Test  i  is  a  primary  test  and  de- 
mands of  the  child  the  sorting  of  picture  postals  rep- 
resenting city  streets  and  scenes,  or  flowers  and  fruits, 
mounted  on  cardboard  for  easier  and  safer  handling. 
There  are  twelve  different  pictures,  and  each  one  is  in 
duplicate.  The  child  is  asked  to  find  the  duplicate  of 
each.  The  test  may  be  extended  and  varied  by  en- 
larging the  number  of  pictures  and  increasing  the  diffi- 
culty of  identification.  Note  the  method  of  search. 
Some  children  will  waste  time  by  looking  through  the 
whole  pile  to  find  the  mate  of  one  card,  instead  of  imme- 
diately arranging  all  cards  for  handy  reference  in  du- 
plication. 

Comparing  Lines. — Test  2  is  the  well-known  Binet 
Test.  In  the  Binet  series  it  is  placed  in  the  group  for 
the  "mental  age"  of  12.  It  is  fully  described  in  every 
Binet  syllabus. 

Picture  Arrangement. — Test  3  has  been  suggested  by 
Professor  D.  Kennedy  Fraser,  of  Cornell  University. 
His  full  description,  together  with  a  series  of  fifteen  sets 


348  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

of  pictures  can  be  obtained  by  addressing  him  at  the 
University,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.  The  idea  is  to  put  before  the 
child  a  set  of  detached  pictures  which  in  their  proper 
order  tell  a  story.  They  are  presented  in  disarrange- 
ment, and  it  is  the  subject's  task  to  study  the  intention 
of  the  story  so  as  to  find  the  proper  sequence  of  the  pic- 
tures. Doctor  Fraser  has  selected  sets  from  the  well- 
known  "Foxy  Grandpa"  books  because  these  pictures 
have  no  writing  on  them  and  tell  their  own  story,  even 
after  removing  the  explanatory  text,  which  is  printed 
underneath. 

Doctor  Fraser  is  making  his  experiments  with  these 
sets  in  order  to  standardize  them  in  the  usual  way.  He 
therefore  presents  the  pictures  in  certain  definite  plans 
of  disarrangement.  From  what  is  said  in  the  chapter 
on  the  function  of  the  educational  cHnic  it  will  be  evi- 
dent that  our  purpose  is  different.  While  we  may  con- 
tribute to  the  experimental  material  for  laboratory  use, 
our  main  object  is  to  test  the  power  of  discrimination 
in  an  individual  child.  Can  he  grasp  the  situation? 
Can  he  see  the  proper  sequence?  It  will  be  well  to 
arrange  these  sets,  as  Fraser  does,  according  to  their 
relative  difficulty.  But  even  here  we  may  expose  our- 
selves to  erroneous  conceptions  and  miscalculations. 
Fraser  has  been  making  his  tests  on  adults.  But  an 
adult's  point  of  view  often  differs  materially  from  that 
of  a  child,  especially  if  the  adult  is  a  college  student.  A 
child  may  grasp  a  Foxy  Grandpa  situation  much  more 
readily  than  an  adult  of  intelligence  and  education,  be- 
cause it  is  nearer  to  a  child's  line  of  experience  and 
thinking. 

The  author  is,  therefore,  using  any  suitable  series  of 
from  six  to  ten  pictures,  presented  in  chance  order,  sim- 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  349 

ply  introducing  the  task  somewhat  in  the  way  Professor 
Fraser  suggests,  explaining  to  the  subject  the  general 
idea  of  the  test  and  the  purpose  of  the  story.  Although 
the  timing  feature  has  its  value,  it  need  not  be  empha- 
sized. Credit  ought  to  be  given  for  partial  solutions 
of  the  problem. 

Illusions. — ^Test  4  introduces  two  illusion  tests.  The 
illusion  is  normal.  The  meaning  of  these  tests  is  de- 
scribed and  explained  in  the  author's  book,  "Some 
Fundamental  Verities  in  Education,"  pp.  25  Jf. 

For  Test  (a)  two  pieces  of  wood  are  used,  each  weigh- 
ing one  pound.  One  is  just  an  ordinary  piece,  2x4 
inches,  about  i  foot  long.  Another  2x4  piece  is  cut, 
but  only  about  3  inches  long.  This  short  piece  is  sawed 
apart,  hollowed  out  and  filled  with  lead,  so  that  the 
whole  piece,  when  glued  together  again,  would  weigh 
exactly  as  much  as  the  larger  piece.  The  seams  should 
be  carefully  obliterated  and  the  pieces  varnished,  so  as 
to  enhance  the  illusion.  The  smaller  piece  will  be 
thought  to  be  heavier.  It  has  been  claimed  that  all 
children  of  8  or  more  years  get  the  illusion.^ 

The  Optical  Illusions  (b)  are  taken  from  James, 
"Psychology,"  II,  232  J[.  A  simple  optical  illusion  is 
the  comparison  of  a  white  circle  on  a  black  background, 
with  a  black  one  on  a  white  background.  Both  are  one 
inch  in  diameter.  The  white  circle  will  appear  larger 
than  the  black  one. 

R.  Construction. — ^Under  the  general  heading  of 
"construction"  the  author  has  assembled  a  selection  of 
tests  which  involve  conception  of  form  and  relationship,  of 
geometric  design  and  rational  construction  of  some  kind. 

>  This  is  the  Demcx)r  Size-Weight  Illusion. 


350  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Form  Boards.  —  First,  the  form  boards  are  intro- 
duced. 

Under  (a)  we  present  the  familiar  Seguin  Form  Board 
(Goddard  style),  offering  ten  insets.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  there  is  a  distinct  mental  difference  between  those 
children  who  succeed,  if  they  do  at  all,  only  after  me- 
chanically trying  to  fit  the  insets  into  any  groove  at 
all,  without  considering  form,  and  striking  the  right 
one  by  chance;  and  those  who  rationally  compare  the 
form  of  the  inset  with  the  form  of  the  groove.  In  this 
form  board  each  form  is  dififerent,  and  no  inset  can  be 
fitted  into  any  other  groove  but  its  own.  The  children 
who  work  rationally  also  work  the  quickest. 

Investigations  at  Vineland  seem  to  show  that  this 
test  can  be  accomph'shed  in  about  sixteen  seconds  by 
normal  children  who  have  reached  the  prepubescent 
stage  (age  11-12).^  A  rational  performance  of  this  test 
would  indicate  sufficient  intellectual  power  to  warrant 
educational  opportunities  to  be  provided. 

The  five  Healy  Form  Boards  are  as  follows: 

(i)  Contains  five  oblongs  of  four  different  sizes,  to  be 
fitted  into  a  larger  quadrilateral  space. 

(2)  Is  a  larger  board,  containing  three  oblongs,  two 
circles,  one  semicircle  and  four  pieces  with  concave  or 
convex  ends,  to  be  fitted  into  five  different  grooves. 

(3)  Is  the  first  of  the  picture  form  boards.  It  repre- 
sents a  farmyard,  with  a  mare  and  her  colt,  and  sheep 
and  chickens.  The  heads  and  legs  of  the  horses,  one 
sheep  and  one  chicken  are  cut  out.  They  have  to  be 
fitted  back  into  their  grooves.  An  irregular  piece  is  cut 
out  of  the  grassy  field,  and  there  are  three  geometrical 
cut-outs:  two  rhomboids,  one  of  them  with  two  blunted 
comers,  and  a  triangle  which  is  to  be  reconstructed  by 

*  The  Training  School,  June,  1912. 


f\Z 

"^^tjgg 

/ 

^J^S 

^^M 

^^^^^^^H         ET  ^t* 

^^?^ 

L  Mf  iiiii 

hi^^l^ 

mvBhhl^J 

Fig.  23. — Healy  form  board  Xo.  3. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  351 

fitting  two  equal  right-angled  triangles  into  it.    No  piece 
fits  into  any  groove  but  its  own.     (Fig. 23.) 

This  form  board  has  been  found  very  valuable  by 
many  observers  in  discriminating  between  mere  retarda- 
tion and  real  defect.  Its  significance  is  found  in  the 
combination  it  presents  of  pictorial  and  geometric  ele- 
ments. The  fitting  of  the  two  triangles  into  the  larger 
one  seems  to  present  the  greatest  difiiculty  to  a  child 
who  is  unused  to  handh'ng  geometric  forms,  even  though 
he  may  otherwise  have  good  sense  of  form.  The  author 
has  found  that  it  is  in  a  measure  an  illusion  to  think 
that  the  pictorial  element  is  very  important  for  the  child. 
Most  of  his  subjects  were  guided  more  by  the  form  of 
the  inset  than  by  its  significance  as  part  of  a  pictorial 
whole.  This  is  particularly  striking  in  the  fitting  of  the 
inset  representing  a  blunted  rhomboid.  One  side  of  it 
completes  the  picture  of  some  bushes;  the  other  is  part 
of  the  sky.  But  although  the  piece  is  so  cut  that  it 
cannot  be  reversed  without  missing  its  best  fit,  children 
would  again  and  again  try  to  fit  it  without  noticing  the 
pictorial  clew  at  all.  The  same  is  true  of  the  other 
rhomboid,  which  forms  part  of  the  sky  with  a  certain 
cloud  formation  serving  as  clew.  Of  course  this  very 
observation  helps  in  judging  of  the  child's  method  of 
performing  the  task. 

(4)  Is  a  schoolroom  scene.  Heads  and  aj*ms  of  pupils 
and  teacher  form  the  insets,  and  the  relative  size  of 
the  pictorial  elements  in  their  perspective  arrangement 
furnishes  the  clew. 

(5)  Is  perhaps  the  best  Doctor  Healy  has  produced. 
He  described  it  in  the  Psychological  Review,  May,  1914, 
as  follows: 

The  brightly  colored  picture,  10  x  14  inches, , represents  an 
outdoor  scene  with  ten  dbcrete,  simple  activities  going  on. 


352 


THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 


When  properly  mounted  ten  i-inch  squares  are  cut  out  .  .  . 
each  square  bearing  upon  it  an  object  necessary  to  complete 
the  meaning  of  the  separate  activity.  Besides  these  ten  pieces 
there  are  forty  other  i-inch  squares,  thirty  of  them  bearing  other 
objects,  and  ten  being  blank. 


1 i 


Fig.  24. 
Healy  puzzle  No.  5. 


Pictorial  Completion  Test.  A  test  for  apperceptive  ability.  The  pieces 
which  Ibelong  in  the  squares  are  mixed  with  forty  other  pieces,  all  the  same 
size,  representing  a  variety  of  objects.  From  these  selection  is  made  to  fill  the 
spaces.    The  picture  is  highly  colored. 


The  task  is  to  select  the  proper  piece  for  each  place. 

From  what  Doctor  Healy  further  states  it  would 
appear  that  this  is  a  good  test  for  children  representing 
what  the  author  has  called  the  "elementary  stage"  of 
development  or,  rather,  that  part  of  it  which  marks  the 
•  gradual  passing  from  it  to  the  next  higher  stage.  There 
is  no  absolute  "mental  age"  limit  if  the  author  inter-' 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  353 

prets  Doctor  Healy's  data  rightly.    In  his  summary 
Doctor  Healy  says: 

We  evidently  have  in  our  .completion  picture  a  test  for  ability 
primarily  adapted  to  the  child  type  of  mind.  Every  detail  of 
the  meaning  has  proved  to  be  understandable,  even  by  morons. 
The  i>erformance  of  naive  individuals  of  ordinarily  good  intelli- 
gence above  lo  years  of  age  should  be  better  than  in  five  min- 
utes, and  not  more  than  one  "illogical"  and  two  total  errors 
should  be  made.  A  worse  record  than  this  should  arouse  sus- 
picion of  defect  in  mental  ability. 

One  great  objection  to  the  Healy  Tests  for  use  in  such 
clinical  work  as  can  be  carried  on  in  schools  without 
entailing  much  expense  is  their  price.  Realizing  and 
recognizing  their  diagnostic  value,  therefore,  the  author 
has  endeavored  to  suggest  some  simple  tests  which 
would  at  least  partly  cover  the  ground.  The  recon- 
struction of  dissected  pictures  has  long  been  considered 
helpful  in  determining  a  child's  degree  of  judgment 
power,  and  it  is  easy  for  any  one  to  arrange  a  series  of 
such  pictures  in  an  ascending  order,  increasing  the  diffi- 
culty by  increasing  the  number  of  pieces  and  by  multi- 
plying the  problems  through  varying  the  form  of  the 
pieces  and  through  complicating  the  picture  ensemble. 
Jig-saw  puzzles  may  be  included,  but  their  value  does 
not  increase  with  the  complication  of  the  task.  They 
represent  more  a  game  of  patience  than  of  intelligence. 
The  cube  puzzles  add  another  feature.  Usually  there 
are  nine  cubes  in  a  box,  representing  six  different  pic- 
tures; it  is  the  task  of  the  child  to  find  the  right  side  of 
each  cube  to  fit  into  a  given  picture.  Geographical 
puzzles  are  included  in  this  series.  All  these  puzzles 
can  be  bought  for  little  money  in  every  toy  shop. 


354  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

These  tests  may  be  presented  in  two  different  ways: 
One  is  to  place  the  model  picture  before  the  subject;  this 
makes  the  task  easier.  The  other  is  to  have  the  child 
work  independently  with  the  pieces,  and  let  him  dis- 
cover for  himself  what  the  subject  and  composition  of 
the  picture  is.  This  latter  form  of  the  test  involves  a 
similar  mental  operation  to  that  required  for  Q,  3,  the 
picture-arrangement  test. 

Details  for  these  tests  have  been  given  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  author's  larger  series,  in  his  book,  "The 
Study  of  Individual  Children." 

Geometric  Design  and  Form. — Omitting  for  the  pres- 
ent a  discussion  of  Test  3,  Tests  4  and  5  may  be  intro- 
duced here,  as  they  complete  the  inexpensive  series  sug- 
gested in  a  previous  paragraph.  Test  4,  Color  Cubes,  is 
worked  with  a  set  of  sixteen  i-inch  cubes  in  a  25-cent 
box  put  up  by  the  "Embossing  Company,"  and  pur- 
chasable in  most  toy  stores.  Each  of  the  six  sides  of 
the  cubes  is  colored  in  a  certain  way,  so  that  pretty 
color  designs  may  be  constructed.  These  designs  may 
be  made  from  the  model,  or  in  free  invention. 

The  Anchor  Puzzles  have  been  the  delight  of  normal 
boys  for  many  years.  They  are  manufactured  by  the 
Doctor  Richter's  Publishing  House,  New  York,  and 
can  be  bought  for  a  quarter  each.  (A  smaller  box  can 
be  had  for  ten  cents.)  Four  different  styles  of  these 
puzzles  are  being  used  in  the  author's  clinic.  They 
involve  th.e  construction  of  geometric  figures  (squares, 
oblongs,  circles),  by  putting  smaller  geometric  units 
(squares,  triangles,  oblongs,  rhomboids,  segments,  sec- 
tors) together,  and  give  occasion  for  much  the  same 
mental  activity  as  the  formal  elements  of  the  Healy 
Tests,  and   some  of   the  tests  introduced  by  Doctor 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  355 

Knox  at  Ellis  Island.  But  they  oflfer  really  a  far  greater 
variety  of  fascinating  tasks,  inasmuch  as  the  same  pieces 
can  be  used  for  making  a  great  number  of  various  fig- 
ures for  which  model  books  are  enclosed.  For  a  short 
clinical  examination  only  one  of  these  problems  is  given, 


A 

Fig.  25. 

A.  One  of  the  Anchor  puzzles. 

B.  One  of  the  many  forms  which  can  be  constructed  with  the  same  elements. 

and  the  result  is  marked  in  the  same  manner  as  with 
the  form  boards. 

Field  of  Search. — ^Test  3  presents  the  task  of  con- 
necting 100  dots  {yz  inch  apart,  arranged  in  10  rows  of 
10  each)  with  a  continuous  line  without  touching  the 
same  dot  twice  or  crossing  over.  There  are  only  two 
rational  ways  of  solving  the  problem,  and  only  one  is 
the  speediest.  Yet  the  problem  can  be  executed  in  a 
number  of  zigzag  ways  which  would  be  illustrative  of 
the  zigzag  manner  of  thinking  and  experimenting  on  the 
part  of  the  child.  This  task,  which  is  a  familiar  psycho- 
logic laboratory  test,  is  parallel  to  the  well-known  judg- 
ment test  to  find  a  hidden  object  in  a  field.  The  only 
rational  method  of  doing  this  is  identical  with  the  most 
sp>eedy  method  of  connecting  the  dots.  While  young 
children  of  fair  intelligence  will  easily  hit  upon  the  sec- 
ond rational  method  (passing  from  one  row  of  dots  to 
the  next  by  a  connecting  line),  the  spiral  solution  is  a 


356  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

fair  sign  of  mental  maturing.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  a  child  before  reaching  the  prepubertal  stage  does 
not  really  think  rationally.  The  budding  of  true  reason 
occurs  when  a  child  enters  upon  the  Intermediate  Period. 
(C/.  ''The  Career  of  the  Child,"  pp.  96/.  and  146/.) 


Fig.  26. 
Field  of  search — one  hundred  dots. 

Building  and  Construction. — In  Test  6  the  child  is 
given  an  ordinary  box,  containing  wooden  building- 
blocks,  such  as  one  can  buy  in  any  toy  store  for  10  cents. 
The  first  task  is  to  build  some  steps.  It  is,  however, 
not  necessary  to  make  this  a  separate  task.  He  may 
build  the  steps  in  connection  with  erecting  a  simple 
bridge  as  in  the  second  task.  Or,  after  constructing  a 
house  (Test  7),  he  may  set  it  upon  the  inverted  box 
containing  the  blocks,  and  build  the  steps  as  leading  up 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  357 

to  the  "porch"  or  "hill"  represented  by  the  box.  The 
order  in  which  the  tests  are  given  can  he  adjusted  to 
any  condition  or  emergency.  In  this,  as  in  most  of  the 
tests,  the  task  can  be  introduced  in  the  form  of  a  game. 
Have  tiny  dolls,  or  pasteboard  figures,  to  play  with,  as 
living  in  the  house,  going  up  the  steps,  etc. 

It  will  be  found  that  some  children,  and  not  always 
those  who  are  otherwise  unintelligent,  are  singularly 
incapable  of  understanding  the  simplest  principles  of 
construction.  This  may,  of  course,  be  the  result  of  lack 
of  training,  of  opportunity,  or  of  observation,  as  weU 
as  that  of  lack  of  power  in  this  field.  These  children 
have  the  general  form  of  steps  in  mind,  perhaps,  but  do 
not  know  how  to  use  their  material,  and  will  merely 
pile  one  block  on  top  of  another,  the  upper  ones  a  little 
back  of  the  front  edge  of  the  lower,  without  any  prop 
to  hold  the  upper  ones  in  place.  They  will  continue 
to  try  without  hitting  upon  the  proper  construction, 
greatly  distressed  when  they  find  that  their  steps  will 
tumble  down.  Other  children  will  find  the  proper  way 
immediately.  This  difference  is  found  even  in  children 
who  have  had  kindergarten  training,  with  its  building 
gifts.  The  difference  illustrates  the  fact  that  the  men- 
tal activity  of  building  from  dictation  and  imitation  is 
essentially  different  from  building  in  free  constructive 
effort. 

A  second  task,  given  even  to  those  who  fail  in  the 
first,  is  the  building  of  a  simple  bridge  over  an  imaginary 
brook,  for  which  any  symbol  may  be  used:  a  ruler,  or 
a  strip  of  paper,  or  a  painted  representation  of  a  brook. 
Some  children  will  put  the  block  which  is  to  be  the 
bridge  right  on  the  "water,"  and  have  to  be  reminded 
of  the  fact.    They  may  think  of  bridge  pillars  rising 


358  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD    . 

from  the  water,  not  knowing  of  the  substructure  un- 
der the  water.  Some  will  start  to  build  an  elaborate 
structure  up  high,  not  thinking  of  the  approaches  or  of 
the  disproportion  of  the  bridge  to  the  brook,  or  to  the 
little  man  who  is  to  cross  over  it.  There  will  be  many 
individual  variations  in  attacking  the  problem,  for 
which  few  of  them  have  any  previous  training.  The 
observation  of  these  variations  will  give  the  examiner 
valuable  clews  for  appreciating  a  child's  degree  of  com- 
mon sense  and  individual  experience,  and  for  determin- 
ing his  mental  type. 

Eventually  the  building  of  a  house  may  be  added  to 
the  task.  It  will  be  easy  to  distinguish  between  those 
who  have  merely  an  idea  of  form  without  a  concept  of 
construction,  and  those  who  have  both,  or  neither. 

The  construction  of  houses  (Test  7)  is  somewhat  dijffer- 
ent  from  the  use  of  building-blocks  of  the  ordinary  kind. 
It  involves  the  putting  together  of  simple  building  ma- 
terial in  an  ascending  order  of  diflSculty.  The  very  sim- 
plest form  is  that  of  pasteboard  houses,  which  can  be 
bought  in  boxes  of  "villages"  or  "toy  towns"  in  the 
toy  stores  for  a  few  cents.  They  are  folded  up,  with 
the  roofs  and  other  parts  removed,  and  can  be  put  up 
easily.  The  more  difl&cult  constructions  are  made  by 
dovetailing  wooden  parts,  or  by  way  of  pegs,  and  the 
like.  All  these  are  available  in  any  toy  store.  The 
familiar  Meccano  Game  and  its  variations  may  furnish 
material  for  this  test,  which  is  intended  to  determine 
the  abiUty  of  the  child,  understanding  the  principles  of 
construction  in  each  case,  to  "put  parts  together."  The 
Anchor  Stone  Building-Blocks  offer  further  material  of 
this  kind. 

The  last  test  of  this  group,  Mechanical  Construction, 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  359 

consists  in  having  the  child  "riiake"  something.  From 
a  model  he  may  put  together  a  wooden  box  for  which 
the  material  (sides,  top,  and  bottom)  and  the  tools 
(hammer,  tacks,  etc.)  are  handy.  Or  he  may  construct, 
from  scraps  of  material  (pieces  of  tin,  blocks  of  wood, 
cigar  box,  spools,  package  handles,  cardboard,  wire, 
twine,  etc.)  some  object  or  model  such  as  his  fancy  may 
dictate.  This  last  test  is  one  of  those  which  may  be 
done  outside  of  the  clinic  proper,  in  the  school  itself,  or 
even  at  home.  Specimens  of  the  child's  previous  inde- 
pendent work  may  be  accepted  in  lieu  of  new  work. 

S.  Expression. — The  expression  tests  as  here  out- 
lined refer  mainly  to  the  child's  emotional  quality,  to 
his  CBSthetic  attitude  and  his  art  instinct.  This  instinct, 
by  the  way,  is  much  more  pronounced  in  the  majority 
of  children  than  is  usually  assumed.  Of  course,  we 
must  take  a  child's  method  of  expression  on  its  own 
merit,  not  imposing  adult  standards  or  symbols.  Many 
who  first  assert,  e.  g.,  that  they  cannot  draw  at  all,  will 
surprise  the  examiner  by  the  artistic  quality  of  their 
work. 

In  this  field  the  author's  own  investigations  have 
fully  established  the  fact  that  a  child  passes  through 
developmental  periods  ("culture  epochs")  which  broadly 
correspond  to  the  periods  of  civilization  through  which 
the  race  has  passed.^  The  parallelism  between  the  art 
work  of  children  and  that  of  savages  and  ancients,  as  dem- 
onstrated in  these  experiments,  is  certainly  very  strik- 
ing. It  can  be  observed  that  the  same  biological  laws 
which  have  determined  the  evolution  of  the  human 
mind  in  the  race  are  still  at  work  in  the  maturing  of 
» Cf.  pp.  40/. 


360  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

the  child  soul  from  infaricy  to  adult  age,  and  shape  the 
children's  artistic  expression. 

This  point,  as  weU  as  the  principles  underlying  these 
expression  tests  in  general,  are  thoroughly  and  minutely 
discussed  in  the  author's  book,  "Some  Fundamental 
Verities  in  Education." 

The  first  of  these  tests  is  largely  mechanical,  the 
drawing  of  forms  through  ground  glass  (geometrical,  con- 
ventionalized, and  Hfe  forms),  using  the  well-known 
toy.  It  is  primarily  a  test  in  motor  co-ordination  and 
general  conception  of  form. 

Tests  2,  the  drawing  of  a  man,  a  horse,  and  a  house; 
3,  drawing  of  pond  with  trees  on  opposite  sides;  and  4, 
illustration  of  story,  are  fully  understood  in  their  mean- 
ing and  scoring  by  a  study  of  the  book  referred  to.^ 

^  To  show  the  author's  position  at  least  in  regard  to  the  third  task, 
the  drawing  of  a  pond  with  trees,  the  following  quotation  from  his  book, 
"Some  Fundamental  Verities  in  Education,"  pp.  95  ff.,  will  be  instruc- 
tive. It  will  serve  as  an  example  of  his  procewlure  in  the  experiments 
alluded  to: 

In  Egyptian  work  all  objects  are  so  drawn  as  to  expose  their  characteristic 
side  to  view.  The  ground,  roads,  meadows,  pwnds,  are  drawn  as  they  would 
appear  from  above;  a  man  standing  on  the  opposite  side  of  an  oval  pond  looks 
as  if  he  were  placed  on  a  blue  bag.  Let  us  look  at  Fig.  28,  a  pond  with  palms. 
The  artist  paints  the  pond  rectangular  in  shape,  lined  in  with  yellow  sandstone, 
just  as  if  he  were  drawing  a  diagram  or  a  plan,  or  working  drawing  of  it.  On 
the  side  of  the  pond  toward  the  observer  there  stand  three  palm-trees;  on  the 
opposite  side  only  two.  Consequently  three  of  them  are  drawn  in  front  of  the 
diagram,  the  other  two  behind  it,  as  it  were. 

In  the  experiment  the  pupils  of  all  classes  were  requested  to  draw  a  pond 
with  trees  in  front  and  on  the  opposite  side;  the  rectangular  form  was  men- 
tioned only  to  the  primary  and  grammar  classes.  No  child  drew  the  picture 
exactly  in  the  Egyptian  style.  Five  groups  could  be  distinguished.  The  most 
immature  method  showed  a  radial  arrangement  of  the  trees  (Fig.  2g).  This 
method  was  characteristic  of  43  per  cent  of  the  kindergarten  pupils;  some 
pupils  were  found  in  every  class  up  to  12  years  of  age  who  had  not  advanced 
beyond  this  primitive,  or  rudimentary,  form  of  representaUon.  The  same 
method  is  recognized  in  the  Egyptian  picture  of  the  brickmaker's  pond,  in 
Fig.  30.  It  is  parallel  to  the  one  employed  in  Fig.  31,  representing  a  shaman's 
lodge  (Alaska);  the  figures,  arranged  radially  along  the  four  sides,  are  meant 
to  designate  p)eople  seated  around  the  walls  of  the  lodge.  In  the  second  and 
third  groups  the  pond  was  drawn  strictly  rectangular,  as  in  the  Egyptian  draw- 
ing.   About  so  per  cent  of  all  drawings  were  of  this  class.     Group  II  had  the 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS 


361 


Valuable  studies  of  children's  drawings  have  been  made 
by  a  number  of  observers  like  Earl  Barnes,  Elmer  E. 
Brown,  and  others.     Their  various  reports  should  be 


Fig.  28. 
Ancient  Egyptian  painting:  pond  with  trees. 


Fig.  29. 

Child's  drawing  of  pond  with  trees:  radial 

arrangement  of  trees. 

trees  arranged  in  various  symbolical  ways,  of  which  Fig.  32  is  a  fair  example. 
With  this  may  be  compared  Fig.  33,  a  symbol  taken  from  an  Ojibwa  chant, 
meaning  "It  is  growing,  the  tree."  The  symbol  represents  "Mide  wigan  (the 
medicine-lodge)  with  trees  growing  around  it  at  the  four  comers." 

Group  III  is  represented  by  Fig.  34,  where  the  trees  are  drawn  in  natural 
position.  Another  group  shows  the  rectangle  of  the  pond  drawn  more  or  less 
in  perspective;  and  the  fifth,  represented  only  by  the  maturest  children  of  the 
highest  classes,  drew  a  perfect  landscape. 


3'62 


THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 


\MMi 


Fig.  30. — Ancient  Egyptian  painting:  brickmakers. 


Fig.  31. 

Indian  drawing  of  a  shaman's  lodge  (Alaska),  from  Ann. 

Rep.  of  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  i888-8g,  p.  507. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS 


363 


Fig.  32. 
Child's  drawing  of  pond  with  trees,  in  sym- 
bolical arrangement. 
Trees  i   and  3  are  meant  to  stand  on  the 
opposite  side;  2  and  4  on  the  near  side. 


Fig.  33. 
Indian  drawing  of  Medidne  Lodge.    From 
Ann.  Rep.  of  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology, 
1888-89,  p.  245. 


carefully  studied,  as  they,  will  throw  much  light  upon 
the  significance  of  the  drawings  which  will  be  produced 
in  these  tests.  These  tests  are  of  great  importance, 
as  we  may  reach  the  soul  of  the  child,  his  grasp  of  things 
and  situations,  more  safely  through  his  artistic  expres- 


364  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

sion  than  through  many  another  test.  We  may  also 
liberate  powerful  forces  for  development  which  other- 
wise would  have  remained  dormant  and  been  doomed 
to  neglect,  suppression,  and  consequent  disorganization 
and  vitiation,  so  that  the  entire  career  of  the  child  and 
his  emotional  life  would  be  poisoned. 

The  painting  and  modelling  tests  (5-7)  need  no  further 
explanation. 

The  author  has  added  the  singing  of  a  song  and  the 
recitation  of  a  poem  or  prose  selection  to  these  tests. 
There  are  two  reasons  for  this:  One  is  that  the  choice 
made  by  the  child,  or  his  hesitancy,  or  lack  of  response, 
or  on  the  other  hand  his  readiness  or  even  boldness, 
allow  interesting  deductions  to  be  made  as  to  his  type 
and  emotional  quality.  Again,  the  trueness  of  his 
voice,  his  sense  of  melody  and  rhythm,  his  manner  of 
reciting  and  singing,  give  valuable  information  as  to 
the  educational  significance  of  these  arts  for  him. 

MINIMUM  REQUIREMENTS 

In  their  completeness  even  these  tests,  shorter  though 
they  are  than  those  described  in  the  author's  book, 
"The  Study  of  Individual  Children,"  require  so  much 
time  that  several  sessions  with  the  subject  are  necessary 
to  accomplish  results  without  fatiguing  him,  especially 
when  this  subject  is  a  child  of  slow  response  and  ready 
fatigue. 

A  limited  number  of  these  tests  has  therefore  been 
selected,  combining  determinative  elements  of  physio- 
logic and  psychologic  function  with  facts  of  individual 
abiUty  and  training,  which  may  serve  as  a  short  labora- 
tory test  sufficient  for  making  a  tentative  diagnosis. 
Even  this  will  require  from  one  to  two  hours  for  each 


^ 


w^:^''-^^"?- 


^ 


■1  !i 


Fr;.  34. — Rectangular  pond  with  trees  on  opposite  sides.     Child's 
drawing.     Trees  in  perspective. 


Fig.  35. — Free-hand  drawing  by  K.  B. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS  365 

child.  To  expedite  matters,  those  in  the  list  of  selected 
tests  given  below  as  are  marked  with  an  asterisk  may 
be  given  in  group  work  with  subjects  who  can  write  well 
so  that  the  answers  may  be  written. 

It  must  be  understood  that,  after  the  suggestions 
which  the  tentative  diagnosis  will  carry  with  it  for  the 
child's  training  have  been  put  in  practice  for  a  while, 
a  second  examination  will  clinch  the  most  important 
facts  and  throw  light  upon  the  child's  power  to  gain  and 
profit  from  properly  adjusted  training.  In  every  in- 
stance care  must  be  taken  to  prepare  as  full  a  child 
history  as  can  be  obtained,  and  to  have  sufficient  medi- 
cal data. 

For  this  shorter  examination  the  following  tests  have 
been  chosen  (designated  by  the  use  of  italics  on  the  test 
cards): 

A.  All  the  visual  tests  (*  memory  tests  in  groups). 

B.  All  the  auditory  tests,  excepting  location  and 
pitch,  and  the  memory  for  single  tone  (*  word-pictures 
in  groups). 

C.  The  tactile  tests,  except  needle-points. 
*/.    Train  of  ideas,  complete. 

/.      Imitation,  complete. 

K.  Of  the  concentration  tests,  only  the  first:  Follow- 
ing directions,  is  included.  This  can  be  simplified  by 
combining  it  with  other  tests,  for  instance  R  and  S, 
making  some  of  the  performances  part  of  the  direc- 
tions. 

L.     Naming  of  objects,  complete. 

M.  Of  the  language  tests,  the  first  (telling  story  from 
pictures);  *  the  writing  of  a  story  read  by  the  child; 
*  the  completion  test;  *  the  first  order  of  ciphers;  *  the 
opposites,  and  the  *  classifications. 


366  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

N.    Reading,  complete. 

*0.  Writing,  only  own  name  and  dictation,  omit- 
ting the  rest.  Even  the  spelling  test  may  be  omitted 
as  a  separate  test,  taking  the  spelling  in  the  language 
tests  as  a  basis  of  judgment. 

P.  Of  the  number-concept  tests,  only  (i)  counting, 
and  the  abacus  test;  (2)  comparing  heaps  of  sticks;  (3) 
comparing  different  lengths,  and  (5)  *  problem  in  judg- 
ment. 

Q.  Discrimination:  (i)  matching  pictures,  and  (3) 
picture  arrangement.  By  using  a  number  of  different 
sets  of  pictures,  a  group  may  take  this  test  together. 
Of  the  illusions,  only  the  weights,  perhaps  the  circles. 

R.  Construction:  the  Seguin  Form  Board,  and 
Healy's  No.  i.  Reconstruction  of  pictures.  *  100  dots. 
The  building-blocks  and  the  construction  of  houses. 

S.  Expression:  *  the  drawings  mentioned  under  (2), 
(3),  and  (4).    Also  the  singing  and  the  recitation. 

SUMMARY 

The  summary  blank  as  here  given  is  for  the  use  of  the 
examiner  only.  He  will  record  his  immediate  findings 
as  well  as  he  can. 

He  should  be  cautioned  at  the  outset,  however,  that 
no  ready-made  schedule  will  give  him  the  opportunity 
of  proper  diagnosis.  He  should  consider  the  statements 
in  his  summary  merely  as  additional  notes,  and  should 
refrain  from  an  immediate  judgment.  A  real  diagnosis 
requires  thought,  patience,  and  time.  A  child's  condi- 
tion cannot  be  diagnosed  as  a  physician  may  diagnose 
some  specific  disease.  It  will  be  well  for  the  examiner 
to  look  over  his  data  carefully,  to  consider  his  observa- 
tions and  impressions,  and  then  to  write  out  in  an 


SCHEDULE   OF  TESTS  367 

unscheduled  form  what  he  thinks  of  the  case.*  In  the 
appendix  a  few  sununaries  of  this  kind  are  reproduced 
to  show  what  is  in  the  author's  mind. 

The  first  entry  in  the  summary  is  a  statement  as  to 
the  nature  of  the  child's  response;  whether  it  be  prompt, 
slow,  halting,  eager,  indifferent,  timid,  or  sullen.  The 
right  word  should  be  underlined.  Space  is  left  for  in- 
serting any  other  word  which  would  express  the  exam- 
iner's judgment  better. 

The  second  item  refers  to  fatigue.  A  child's  slowness 
of  response  may  be  due  to  chronic  fatigue,  or  to  tem- 
p>orary  fatigue  at  the  time  he  is  reported  to  the  clinic. 
If  his  power  of  endurance  is  small  and  the  examination 
becomes  tiresome  to  him,  distinct  allowance  must  be 
made  for  fatigue  symptoms,  and  eventually  another  ap- 
pointment should  be  made  to  secure  the  best  possible 
conditions  for  examination.  Fatigue  is  a  danger-signal 
and  may  point  to  bodily  impairment. 

Mention  has  been  made  before  that  the  effect  of  school 
training  and  the  extent  of  individual  experience,  on  the 
basis  of  the  child  history  and  the  findings  through  this 
examination,  should  be  recorded  here. 

The  purpose  of  the  next  entry  is  to  grade  the  child 
tentatively  according  to  his  period  of  development.  As 
explained  in  previous  chapters,  the  author  is  disinclined 
to  determine  "mental  age"  in  terms  of  years.  The 
child,  however,  passes  through  consecutive  periods  of 
development,  each  representing  a  more  or  less  distinct 
stage  in  mental  evolution,  with  predominant  instincts, 

'  Any  one  interested  in  making  exact  computations  of  a  pupil's  stand- 
ing in  his  group,  after  the  psychologic  laboratory  method,  will  find  a 
brief  and  illuminating  statement  in  Doctor  Pyle's  book,  "The  Examina- 
tion of  School  Children,"  and  more  comprehensive  directions  in  Doctor 
Whipple's  "  Manual  of  Mental  and  Physical  Measurements. " 


368  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

tendencies,  budding  faculties,  mental  attitudes,  etc. 
Sufficient  explanation  of  this  division  has  been  given 
in  several  places  so  that  further  details  are  unnecessary. 

The  examiner  will,  indeed,  find  this  great  difficulty  in 
stating  a  child's  period  of  development:  no  individual 
passes  through  these  stages  with  equal  rapidity  in  all 
manifestations  of  mental  growth.  He  may  be  distinctly 
backward,  representing  a  more  ancient  period  of  civih- 
zation,  in  some;  while  he  is  perfectly  modern,  or  even 
in  advance  of  his  fellows  and  his  time,  in  others.  No 
one  man  comprises  in  his  personality  modern  equip- 
ment or  the  modern  intellectual  level  in  everything.^ 
In  reality,  the  curve  of  our  various  endowment  levels 
is  a  very  irregular  one,  as  the  diagram  figure  No.  36  is 
intended,  somewhat  crudely,  to  illustrate.  It  is  this 
irregularity  of  mental  levels  which  makes  people  differ 
from  one  another.  Reference  is  here  made  also  to 
Chapter  III,  in  which  the  author  has  endeavored  to 
show  that  in  addition  to  individual  differences,  distinct 
civilization  levels  can  be  defined  in  modern  society. 

We  may  therefore  be  obliged  to  record  that  a  child  is 
in  the  primary  stage  in  graphic  expression,  in  the  ele- 
mentary stage  in  general  intelligence,  while  he  may 
represent  an  advanced  stage  and  special  talent  in  con- 
structive or  mathematical  work.  Or,  the  order  may  be 
just  the  reverse.  Many  varieties  are  found.  By  study- 
ing the  child  in  this  manner  it  will  be  possible  to  deter- 
mine approximately  his  type,  or  the  mixture  of  types 
he  exhibits,  with  possible  leanings  in  certain  directions. 
The  various  types  here  enumerated  may  not  cover  the 
entire  range  of  such  tendencies  and  endowments,  but 
are  set  down  suggestively.  Children  will  show  mix- 
1  Cf.  p.  42. 


SCHEDULE  OF  TESTS 


369 


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The  line,  at  9.42,  indicates  the  average  attainment,  sg  per  cent  of  the 
perfect  score.  Suppose  the  endowments  of  another  individual  were  reversed 
in  capacity.  The  average  would  be  the  same,  but  the  type  would  be  oppo- 
site to  the  one  here  charted.  The  individual  type  here  represented  would 
belong  to  the  constructive  and  scientific  type,  possibly  being  inventive  and  pro- 
gressive, with  a  commercial  bent,  though  imperfect  in  literacy,  art,  and  the 
minor  sense-perceptions.  This  type  is  predestined  to  success  in  achievements 
and  business.  While  this  chart  is  arbitraiy,  and  anything  like  exact  numerical 
values  can  perhaps  never  be  ascertained  for  any  of  these  endowments,  it  will 
give  a  fair  idea  of  what  is  in  the  author's  mind  and  what  certainly  comes  near 
enough  to  the  truth  to  be  illustrative. 


tures  of  types  even  when  they  have  special  endowments. 
The  "mediocre"  child  is  here  mentioned,  preferring 
this  term  to  the  term  "average,"  as  one  who  does  not 
show  any  special  inclination  but  conforms  to  moderate, 
usual  requirements. 
One  very  important  point  which  has  been  but  slightly 


370  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

touched  before  in  these  pages  must  be  stated  here  with 
great  distinctness.  The  old  idea  that  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  "formal  training"  has  been  given  up.  That 
is  to  say,  a  boy  studying  Latin  successfully  is  not  on 
that  account  better  fitted  to  grapple  with  mathematics, 
or  history,  or  nature.  No  one  study  gives  anything 
like  a  universal  mental  discipline,  which  stands  in  good 
stead  for  the  mastering  of  other  subjects.  There  is  at 
least  no  automatic  interrelation  of  mental  activities 
such  as  has  been  supposed  to  exist.  By  systematic  cor- 
relation and  co-ordination  these  activities  can  and  must 
be  organized;  but  that  is  something  essentially  different 
from  the  old  notion  of  "formal  training."  Likewise,  no 
excellence  in  any  particular  test  in  any  schedule  oj  tests  is 
evidence  of  general  mental  ability.  It  may  be  accompanied 
by  a  most  signal  defectiveness  along  other  lines.  Even 
successfully  passed  tests  of  different  kinds  do  not  allow 
of  generalized  conclusions;  it  is  one  of  the  weaknesses 
of  the  Binet  type  of  tests  that  it  presupposes  such  a 
possibility.  Each  individual  child  represents  a  type  by 
himself,  combinations  of  units  which  in  their  totality 
differ  from  every  other  combination.  The  "mediocre" 
type  presents  perhaps  the  kind  of  individuals  most  fre- 
quently found  in  a  community,  showing  minimal  varia- 
tions from  the  mathematical  average,  and  conforming 
to  stereotyped  conditions.  But  even  children  of  this 
type  vary  considerably  in  the  combinations  of  their 
mental  units.  Examiners  must  therefore  be  warned 
not  to  attempt  to  derive  general  conclusions  from  de- 
tached tests  or  observations. 

Number  7  refers  to  what  we  may  call  the  present  edu- 
cational status  of  the  child.  This  entry  may  be  made 
in  the  form  of  a  brief  diagnosis,  referring  also  to  the  dif- 


SCHEDULE   OF  TESTS  371 

ferentiation  of  the  child  as  suggested  in  the  author's 
"Tentative  Classification  of  Exceptional  Children" 
(Chapter  IV).  In  other  words,  it  may  be  stated  whether 
the  child  belongs  to  the  group  of  potentially  normal 
children,  or  to  the  subnormal  or  abnormal  groups. 
Again,  the  subdivisions  may  be  considered,  and  the 
child  put  down  as  an  atypical,  or  pseudoatypical,  or 
as  a  physically  defective,  or  a  submerged  individual,  as 
showing  symptoms  of  arrested  development,  or  belong- 
ing to  the  primitive  group.  The  classification  presents 
a  number  of  special  designations  which  will  help  in  the 
final  analysis  and  diagnosis. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  explain  the  last  entry  in  the 
summary.  It  is  evident  that  a  mere  summary,  diag- 
nosis, or  attempt  at  one,  can  be  of  Uttle  value  unless 
some  practical  suggestions  are  made  as  to  what  the  child 
needs.  If  he  is  found  to  belong  to  the  abnormal  group, 
custodial  care  wiU  have  to  be  advised.  If,  however,  he 
shows  sufficient  mental  quality  and  stamina  to  deserve 
an  education,  the  kind  of  training  he  would  need  so 
that  he  may  be  developed  to  the  level  of  usefulness  and 
independent  existence  in  his  own  right  must  be  indi- 
cated. This  includes  suggestions,  eventually,  for  voca- 
tional training. 

As  has  been  shown  on  page  243,  there  will  be  a  num- 
ber of  cases  the  suggestions  for  which  cannot  be  ade- 
quately carried  out,  owing  to  the  absence  of  proper 
educational  and  other  facilities  for  the  care  of  many 
types  of  exceptional  development  in  children.  Then, 
the  clinical  findings  will  be  a  strong  argument  in  favor  of 
a  rigorous  propaganda  for  establishing  ample  provisions. 


PART  III 

THE    PROBLEMS     OF    PREVENTION,    AD- 
JUSTMENT,  AND    ORGANIZATION 

CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  PROBLEM  STATED— ITS  PERSPECTIVE 

Various  Aspects. — In  the  first  two  parts  of  this  book 
the  different  types  of  children  which  constitute  varia- 
tions of  the  normal,  as  well  as  those  which  represent  de- 
viations from  the  normal,  have  been  fully  discussed;  and 
an  attempt  has  been  made  to  describe  clinical  methods 
by  which  we  may  arrive  at  a  safe  diagnosis  of  individual 
cases.  In  a  measure  the  problem  is  not  altogether  a 
problem  of  the  "exceptional"  child,  if  we  mean  by  that 
term  deviations;  it  is  a  problem  of  the  " different "  child; 
that  is  to  say,  the  child  who  differs  from  traditional 
standards,  as  well  as  that  of  the  deviating  child.  The 
general' term  "exceptional"  as  used  by  the  author  must  be 
understood  as  including  both  groups. 

Many  of  these  variations  are  by  no  means  unde- 
sirable, and  even  some  of  the  deviations  are  not  neces- 
sarily detrimental  and  degenerative.  It  is  all  a  matter 
of  individual  diagnosis  and  handling.  In  fact,  most  of 
the  "exceptional"  children  are  "worth  while,"  often 
more  so  than  the  conforming  child. 

In  this  part  we  are  to  discuss  the  problem  of  how  to 
meet  the  conditions  causing  eventual  failure  in  life, 

372 


THE    PROBLEM    STATED  373 

whether  the  individual  so  endangered  be  really  normal, 
or  potentially  normal,  or  exceptionally  bright,  or  dull, 
or  psychopathic,  physically  defective,  subnormal,  or 
abnormal. 

This  discussion  will  imply  considerations  for  adjust- 
ments in  home  and  school  for  the  legitimate  needs  of 
children  who  do  not  follow  the  beaten  path,  or  who  need 
removal  of  their  handicaps  to  allow  them  to  live  their 
own  life  successfully  and  effectively,  in  its  social,  emo- 
tional, mental,  and  ethical  aspects.  We  shall  have  to 
refer  to  those  powerful  influences  which  determine  a 
child's  chances  even  before  he  is  born — to  the  hereditary 
and  congenital  factors.  We  must  consider  home  life 
and  home  education;  social  and  environmental  condi- 
tions in  general — the  milieu,  the  community  standards 
and  community  demands  which  affect  the  ideals  and 
life  aims  of  the  home  and  of  the  individual  child.  We 
shall  enter  into  the  question  of  reorganizing  our  school 
curricula  so  that  they  may  reach  out  with  fairness  and 
appreciation  to  different  mental  types.  School  meth- 
ods will  require  scrutiny  in  order  to  ascertain  what 
course  it  is  best  to  follow  to  meet  the  budding  faculties 
at  the  "psychological  moment."  Problems  of  the  or- 
ganization of  clinical  research  and  of  medical  inspection 
and  co-operation  will  appeal  to  our  attention.  We  shall 
have  to  discuss  the  factors  which  determine  American 
civilization  and  democracy  so  that  the  individual  may 
find  his  place  in  the  world. 

In  all  these  discussions  the  following  four  aspects 
will  have  to  be  borne  in  mind: 

First. — Is  the  condition  with  which  we  are  dealing  a 
manifestation  of  normal  instincts,  normal  mental  de- 
velopment, normal  biological  factors,  or  not? 


374  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Second. — If  it  is  a  normal  condition,  what  must  be 
done  to  set  the  individual  forces  at  Hberty  in  order  to 
secure  for  each  child  the  opportunity  for  developing  his 
highest  possible  degree  of  personal  and  social  efficiency  ? 
What  measures  must  be  taken  to  prevent  derailment, 
perversion,  or  paralysis  of  the  normal  potentials? 

Third. — If  the  condition  be  subnormal  or  even  ab- 
normal, what  disposition  must  be  made  of  the  individ- 
ual? What  measures  of  relief  can  be  adopted?  Can 
a  place  in  human  society  be  found  for  the  individual 
where  he  can  Hve  up  to  the  highest  measure  of  his  effi- 
ciency?    Or  must  he  be  permanently  segregated? 

Fourth. — What  are  the  prospects  of  forestalling  sub- 
normal or  abnormal  development?  Can  we  prevent 
subnormal  and  abnormal  births?  Can  we  influence 
heredity?  Under  what  conditions?  To  what  extent 
can  we  control  congenital  situations  and  occurrences? 
How  can  we  secure  corrective  influences  in  the  early 
life  of  each  child,  as  to  health  and  disease,  mental  and 
moral  states,  emotional  stimuli,  and  general  environ- 
mental circumstances?  How  can  we  prevent  an  indi- 
vidual's subnormahty  (or  even  abnormality)  from  going 
beyond  uncontrollable  necessity,  saving  him  from  need- 
less degeneracy  and  suffering  ? 

Various  Provisions. — In  order  to  meet  these  demands 
we  may  find  ourselves  constrained  to  establish  energetic 
and  thoroughgoing  activity  along  the  following  lines: 

First. — We  must  establish  new  standards  in  the  home, 
school,  and  social  life,  so  as  to  recognize  present-day 
conditions,  scientific  principles,  and  the  fact  of  varia- 
tion of  type. 

Second. — We  must  study  and  improve  the  legal  status 
of  the  child,  as  to  his  educational  opportunities  and  his 
occupational  differentiation. 


THE  PROBLEM  STATED  375 

Third. — We  must  establish  principles  of  eugenics  on  a 
rational  basis,  free  from  sensational  and  hysterical  ele- 
ments, which  will  tend  toward  a  cleansing  of  the  human 
race  of  unsound  and  degenerative  influences. 

Fourth. — The  problem  of  a  sane  and  sweet  home  life 
and  of  a  wholesome  home  education  must  be  studied  and 
understood  in  all  its  bearings  upon  the  natural  develop- 
ment of  the  individual  child. 

Fifth. — The  ethical  and  religious  element  in  education 
must  be  fully  recognized  and  given  its  place  as  a  most 
powerful  agency  in  bringing  about  normal  life  conditions. 

Sixth. — The  economic,  political,  social,  and  ethical 
atmosphere  of  the  environment  must  be  appreciated  as  a 
determining  factor  in  shaping  an  individual  child's 
ideals  and  destiny. 

Seventh. — There  must  be  opportunities  for  a  careful 
scientific  valuation  of  each  individual  child.  Clinical  tests 
must  be  estabhshed  for  all  children,  those  at  home  and 
those  attending  school,  to  be  applied  at  regular  inter- 
vals for  the  purpose  of  following  them  through  the  dif- 
ferent, successive  periods  of  development  to  catch  the 
budding  time  of  their  faculties,  to  adjust  training  to  their 
changing  needs,  and  to  recognize  their  individual  genius 
and  typ>e. 

Eighth. — This  clinical  work  must  be  organically  co- 
ordinated with  a  thorough  system  of  medical  examina- 
tions through  the  family  physician,  the  medical  inspector 
of  schools,  and  other  similar  agencies,  so  that  the  bodily 
health  of  the  child  and  his  physiological  peculiarities 
may  be  thoroughly  safeguarded.  This  health  aspect  of 
the  problem  should  be  organized  in  connection  with 
health  boards,  sociological  investigations,  friendly  visit- 
ing, parent-teachers  associations,  provisions  for  psycho- 
logical and  psychopathic  research  and  examination. 


376  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

These  clinical  researches,  educational,  psychological, 
medical,  and  sociological,  will  establish,  with  some  de- 
gree of  accuracy,  the  educational  problem  of  the  individual 
child. 

Ninth. — Parents,  teachers,  and  educational  workers  gen- 
erally must  be  so  trained  that  they  appreciate  these  indi- 
vidual problems  and  deal  with  them  intelligently.  They 
must  learn  to  recognize  ordinary  and  typical  differences 
as  well  as  danger-signals  in  cases  of  impending  disease 
or  derailment — physical,  mental,  or  moral. 

Tenth. — We  must  put  our  courses  of  instruction,  our 
methods  of  presentation  and  training,  our  grading  and 
grouping,  our  promotions  and  graduations  upon  a 
strictly  scientific  basis,  meeting  the  individual  variation 
at  every  point  so  as  to  achieve  the  highest  efficiency  of 
each. 

The  present  school  organization  must  be  so  recon- 
structed that  typical  differences  be  met  by  special  pro- 
visions. There  should  be  differentiated  courses  for  the 
manual  and  constructive,  the  artistic,  the  non-literary  as 
well  as  the  literary  type,  etc.  There  should  be  what  has 
been  called  vocational  guidance  at  such  junctures  in  the 
life  of  each  individual  when  such  guidance  is  needed — a 
guidance  which  will  be  based  upon  a  scientific  diagno- 
sis of  the  individual's  type  and  level  of  efficiency.  This 
must  not  be  understood  to  mean  that  the  individual 
training  should  be  one-sidedly  "practical,"  or  rather 
what  may  be  called  readily  "coinable"  in  the  currency 
of  business  success;  but  it  means  that  the  special  bent 
be  used  as  a  point  of  vantage,  as  the  angle  of  vision 
from  which  a  fundamental,  broad  education  may  be 
approached,  making  due  allowance  for  excellences  and 
weaiknesses,  without  robbing  the  child  of  the  needed 


THE  PROBLEM  STATED  377 

opportunity  to  round  out  his  culture.  Yet  we  must 
bear  in  mind  that  the  fetich  of  "formal  culture"  has 
lost  its  halo,  and  that  most  of  the  "all-'round"  culture 
needs  revision  on  psychologic  principles. 

In  the  last  chapter  of  the  author's  book,  "The  Career 
of  the  Child,"  the  suggestion  of  using  the  special  bent 
as  a  point  of  vantage  is  more  fully  elaborated  in  the 
matter  of  high  school  differentiation. 

Eleventh. — ^The  life  of  the  school  child  should  not  be 
confined  to  four  walls.  The  less  of  school  palaces  we 
have,  accommodating  hundreds  and  even  thousands,  and 
the  more  of  smaUer,  convenient  buildings  we  substitute 
for  them,  the  better.  There  must  be  ample  space  for 
the  children — outdoor  space  as  well  as  floor  space. 
There  should  be  much  open-air  work,  open-air  gymnasia, 
etc.,  not  only  for  children  afflicted  with  pulmonary  dis- 
ease, anaemia,  or  similar  ailments,  but  for  all  children. 
There  should  be  laboratories,  art  studios,  workshops,  mov- 
ing pictures,  and  a  host  of  other  things  which  will  enrich 
and  enliven  the  school-days  of  our  children. 

Twelfth. — The  day  schools  should  be  supplemented  by 
special  institutional  schools.  A  small  number  of  these 
will  serve  to  house  the  permanently  disabled,  those  who 
ought  to  be  under  custodial  care,  like  the  feeble-minded, 
demented,  and  epileptics.  In  most  instances  these  in- 
stitutions should  be  in  the  nature  of  colonies.  A  much 
larger  number  of  institutions  will  be  required  for  other 
special  purposes.  There  should  be  sanatorium  schools 
for  the  atypical,  the  neurasthenic,  the  psychopathic 
child.  Home  schools  should  be  provided  for  those  who 
need  a  revision  of  their  environmental  and  educational 
influences,  as  in  the  case  of  children  with  disintegrated 
moral  instincts,  or  of  those  who  are  neglected  and  des- 


378  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

titute,  or  whose  mental  life  has  become  cramped  and 
stunted  under  the  restrictions  of  congested  life  condi- 
tions.^ There  should  be  forest  schools,  farm  schools, 
mountain  camps,  camps  hy  the  seaside,  etc.,  to  meet  vari- 
ous conditions.  And  all  these  should  be  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  school  authorities,  not  in  the  sense  of  punitive 
institutions  Uke  the  regulation  reform  school,  nor  in  the 
nature  of  a  charity — they  should  not  be  under  the  direc- 
tion of  state  or  municipal  boards  of  charity  and  cor- 
rection or  left  to  the  chance  efforts  of  private  charity. 
Correctional  and  punitive  measures  are  indicated  only 
in  the  gravest  cases  of  misdemeanor,  and  even  then 
the  educational  aspect  should  be  primary,  the  educa- 
tional authorities  should  be  co-operative,  and  clinical 
methods  of  diagnosis  should  be  employed.     With  every 

*  Nina  L.  Crawford,  supervising  principal  of  the  Newton  School,  makes 
a  plea  for  the  parental  school  in  the  issue  of  The  Teacher  (Philadelphia), 
of  May,  1915.  She  says:  "We  read  of  what  Thomas  Mott  Osborne  is 
doing  at  Sing  Sing,  sociologically,  and  of  Henry  Ford's  great  and  glorious 
work  in  reclaiming  convicts  by  employment,  and  we  are  reminded  more 
than  ever  of  the  great  need  of  parental  schools,  in  order  to  reclaim  the 
so-called  'bad  boy.'  In  our  great  public  schools,  to  be  sure,  we  find 
special  disciplinary  classes  for  the  poor  incorrigible  boys — those  who 
have  proved  themselves  unfit  to  stay  with  the  other  or  normal  pupils. 
Many  of  these  sad  derelicts  are  very  happy  and  good  while  in  the  special 
school.  ...  If,  therefore,  they  can  be  so  easily  and  happily  guided 
into  proper  habits  of  work  and  play,  why  not  continue  this  glorious 
work  after  school  hours  ?  Instead  of  this,  these  boys  are  dismissed  after 
five  hours  in  school,  and  what  becomes  of  them  during  the  remainder  of 
the  twenty-four  hours?  Oh,  the  sadness  of  it — the  wicked  language  and 
habits  learned  on  the  streets,  in  the  dirty,  poverty-stricken  homes  of 
many.  Some  of  our  boys  have  often  been  out  all  night;  then,  afraid  to 
go  home,  have  come  to  the  school  as  a  refuge,  dirty  and  without  break- 
fast. Many  of  the  boys  prove  that  they  prefer  the  school  to  the  home. 
Their  willingness  to  assist  the  teachers,  their  teachableness,  and  frequent 
docility  make  us  often  long  to  keep  these  boys  for  all  of  the  twenty-four 
hours  so  that  the  good  habits  may  become  permanent.  The  good  done 
in  school  is  frequently  undone  at  home.  .  .  ." 


THE   PROBLEM   STATED  379 

juvenile  court,  with  every  charity  organization,  or 
charity  board,  there  should  be  connected  clinical  agen- 
cies for  the  determination  of  the  mental  and  physical 
status  of  the  offending,  or  neglected  and  dependent 
child. 

All  this  means  an  entirely  new  attitude  toward  the 
practical  problems  of  education,  charity,  and  correction. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

LEGAL  PROVISIONS  FOR  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILDREN 

Before  entering  upon  a  discussion  of  the  various  fac- 
tors for  relief  and  adjustment  suggested  in  the  previous 
chapter,  it  may  be  well  to  review  briefly  existing  legisla- 
tion and  the  general  policy  of  legislative  measures  point- 
ing toward  such  relief  and  adjustment  as  far  as  school 
legislation  is  concerned. 

Compulsory-Education  Laws. — One  of  the  fundamen- 
tal things  in  planning  relief  of  the  situation  is  the  recog- 
nition of  the  principle  that  education  is  a  pubHc  function, 
or  at  least  a  public  responsibihty.  This  implies  com- 
pulsory education — the  placing  of  each  child  under  such 
educational  influences  as  will  secure  for  him  (or  her)  the 
fullest  possible  opportunity  for  obtaining  an  education 
commensurate  to  his  or  her  needs  and  capabiKties. 

There  are  still  six  Southern  States  in  which,  owing  to 
a  misconception  of  the  principle  of  personal  liberty, 
school  education  is  merely  optional  with  the  parents  or 
guardians  of  children  of  school  age.  The  other  Southern 
States  have  recently  adopted  laws  similar  in  purport  to 
those  which  have  obtained  in  the  North  for  many  years 
past.  There  are,  then,  compulsory-education  laws  in 
forty-three  States. 

There  are  a  few  interesting  facts  to  be  observed  in 
connection  with  these  conditions. 

I.  In  the  South  it  is  the  prevailing  custom  to  segre- 
gate the  colored  school  population  in  separate  schools, 
in  5ome  cases  even  going  so  far  as  to  make  it  a  misde- 

380 


LEGAL  PROVISIONS  381 

meaner  for  children  of  one  color  to  attend  a  school 
established  for  children  of  another  color.  This  segre- 
gation is  not  decreed  for  pedagogical  reasons,  or  because 
the  educational  problem  of  the  colored  child  is  consid- 
ered different  from  that  of  the  white  (as  it  certainly  is); 
but  merely  from  what  has  been  called  "race-prejudice." 
In  some  compulsory-education  States,  like  CaUfomia, 
provision  is  made,  for  similar  reasons,  to  have  separate 
schools  for  children  of  Indian  or  Mongolian  descent. 

These  arrangements  are  a  long  way  from  the  appre- 
ciation of  the  difference  in  the  educational  problems 
which  a  closer  scrutiny  of  child  and  race  psychology 
may  reveal.^ 

2.  The  non-compulsory  States  do  not  exclude  any 
class  of  children  from  the  public  schools,  which  are 
optionally  open  to  all  children  of  certain  ages.  The 
natural  conclusion  is  therefore  that  these  States  cannot 
discriminate  against  difficult,  defective,  or  feeble-minded 
children.  Yet  the  provisions  for  these  classes  of  chil- 
dren do  not  seem  to  be  adequate,  nor  is  their  problem 
stated  distinctly.  In  almost  all  States,  however ,2  where 
a  compulsory-education  law  has  existed  for  some  time, 
it  is  definitely  stated  that  children  whose  physical  or 
mental  condition  is  such  as  to  make  their  attendance 
at  school  inadvisable,  may  be  excused.  In  some  States 
medical  examination  is  provided  for  such  cases.  This 
clause  refers  not  only  to  children  suffering  from  tempo- 
rary or  infectious  disease;  but  likewise  to  the  deaf  and 

»  Cf.  Chapters  III,  IV,  IX,  and  XI. 

'  Except  Iowa,  where  a  child  may  be  excused  for  "suflBcient  reasons" 
by  a  court  of  record;  Michigan  and  New  Mexico,  where  only  physical 
unfitness  is  mentioned;  Porto  Rico,  where  physical  or  mental  incapacity 
is  not  mentioned  at  all;  and  West  Virginia,  where  some  "reasonable 
cause"  may  exciise  a  child  from  attendance. 


382  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

the  dumb,  the  blind,  the  epileptic,  the  crippled,  the 
otherwise  disabled,  and  also  to  children  of  "defective" 
or  difficult  mental  development,  including  the  feeble- 
minded. In  a  number  of  States  (and  communities)  there 
are  also  special  provisions  empowering  school  boards  to 
exclude  from  school  those  children  whose  continued  mis- 
conduct makes  their  further  stay  in  the  schoolroom  un- 
desirable. Compulsory  education  for  the  deaf,  dumb, 
and  blind  children  is  provided  in  Cahfomia,  Indiana, 
Kansas,  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Montana, 
Nebraska,  New  Jersey,  New  Mexico,  North  Dakota, 
Oregon,  Rhode  Island,  South  Dakota,  Utah,  Vermont, 
Washington,  and  Wisconsin.  This,  however,  does  not 
imply  in  every  case  that  the  State  provides  the  instruc- 
tion or  the  institution. 

It  should  be  added  that  even  in  some  of  those  States 
and  communities  where  pubHc  school  systems  have  been 
developed  to  include  day  school  classes  (so-called  special 
and  ungraded  classes)  for  certain  groups  of  exceptional 
children,  especially  for  what  is  loosely  called  the  "sub- 
normal," parents  cannot  be  legally  compelled  to  submit 
to  the  removal  of  their  children  from  the  regular  class 
into  a  special  class. 

Failure  to  Provide  for  Excluded  Children. — The  ques- 
tion arises:  What  provisions  are  in  existence  to  meet 
the  cases  of  children  to  whom  the  public  day  school  is 
closed  ? 

This  question  is  not  easily  answered,  as  there  is  no 
complete  compilation  of  all  the  school  laws  and  provi- 
sions existing  in  the  different  States  and  municipaHties. 
The  main  difficulty  confronting  the  investigator  is  the 
fact  that  provisions  for  children  are  divided  among 
various  official  departments,  the  educational  department 


LEGAL  PROVISIONS  383 

being  the  least  concerned,  legally  speaking,  in  the  care 
of  the  exceptional  child  who  is  largely  under  the  guard- 
ianship, very  unjustly  so,  of  the  departments  of  charity 
and  correction,  health  boards,  and  other  non-educational 
agencies.  Besides,  there  are  marked  dififerences  be- 
tween State  provisions  and  provisions  made  by  chartered 
municipalities.  The  codifying  of  all  these  various  con- 
ditions is  therefore  very  laborious.  Even  the  publica- 
tions of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  do  not 
contain  complete  information,  or  readily  accessible  ma- 
teria!, and  inquiries  have  only  shown  how  much  need 
there  is  for  a  comprehensive  tabulation  of  all  existing 
laws,  provisions,  institutions,  etc.  The  author  has  culled 
some  interesting  data  from  the  material  at  hand,  al- 
though it  is  not  impossible  that  some  of  his  details  may 
be  incomplete  or  even  inaccurate. 

One  conspicuous  defect  may  be  mentioned  first. 
There  are  States  where  children  are  exempt  from  atten- 
dance whose  parents  are  too  poor  to  send  them  to  school 
decently  clothed.  Nowhere  is  it  mentioned  what  is  to 
become  of  this  miserable  class  of  children,  unless  it  were 
that  they  wiU  sooner  or  later  be  picked  up  by  truant  or 
police  officers  as  "vagrant,  neglected,  dependent,"  per- 
haps even  "criminal"  children.  There  seems  to  exist 
no  legal  provision  for  caring  educationally  for  these 
unfortunates  until  they  are  picked  up  by  charity,  or 
until  they  come  under  the  control  of  penal  law,  that  is 
to  say,  after  they  have  drifted  onto  the  refuse  heap  of 
society. 

While  the  poverty  plea  for  the  exemption  from  school 
attendance  is  distinctly  incorporated  in  the  laws  of  such 
States  as  Colorado,  Arkansas,  Connecticut,  Missouri, 
Tennessee,   North   Carolina,   Nevada,   North  Dakota, 


384  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

and  Utah,  only  eight  States  have  laws  to  allow  clothing 
and  other  necessities  to  be  given  to  indigent  children 
so  that  they  may  attend  school.  Clothing  is  provided 
in  many  State  institutions  for  blind,  deaf,  and  feeble- 
minded children.  But  for  normal  children  from  poor 
homes  it  is  not  provided  in  forty-one  States  until  they 
are  picked  up  as  transgressors  from  the  street. 

Here,  as  in  a  number  of  other  things  pertaining  to 
children,  too  much  is  yet  left  to  the  initiative  and  char- 
ity of  private  individuals  and  organizations. 

When  it  comes  to  the  delinquent  child — the  child  whose 
chances  for  right  Hving  have  already  been  prejudiced 
by  the  neglect  or  ignorance  of  those  responsible  for  his 
bringing  up — provisions  become  plentiful.  Penal  insti- 
tutions for  the  young,  whether  they  are  called  reforma- 
tories, industrial  schools.  State  homes,  or  what-not, 
have  existed  in  all  States  for  many  years,  and  the 
method  of  committing  children  or  youths  to  them  is 
everywhere  very  much  the  same.  It  is  largely  a  func- 
tion of  courts  and  police,  although  in  some  instances 
the  school  authorities  have  the  first  word  in  the  matter. 
This  latter  arrangement  is  found  where  there  are  truant 
officers  appointed  by  the  school  boards,  and  where 
there  are  truant  schools  under  the  management  of  the 
school  authorities.  These  truant  schools  are  often 
styled  "parental  schools." 

With  the  exception  of  some  of  these  parental  schools, 
there  is  too  much  of  prison  regime  and  too  httle  of  truly 
educative  discrimination  and  training  in  the  reforma- 
tories and  industrial  schools  to  which  the  youthful 
criminal,  and  what  has  been  called  the  "incorrigible 
child"  are  committed.  In  many  cases  these  children 
are  handed  over  by  the  courts  to  private,  often  denomi- 


LEGAL  PROVISIONS  385 

national  institutions,  not  all  of  which  are  conducted  on 
psychological  principles. 

With  some  notable  exceptions,  even  the  industrial 
training  which  the  offenders  receive  is  hardly  educative 
in  character.  Correction,  reform,  is  nominally  one  of 
the  aims  of  commitment;  but  the  organization  of  these 
institutions  is  too  plainly  prison-like  to  make  correction 
an  educational  element.  This  judgment  does  not  fit  all, 
but  most  of  these  places,  and  it  is  notable  that  few  have 
educators  as  heads  or  superintendents,  and  that  they 
rarely  form  an  articulated  part  of  the  educational  sys- 
tem of  the  State  or  community  which  maintains  them. 

Truant  schools  are  the  nearest  approach  to  a  rational 
treatment  of  the  habitually  vagrant  and  idle  child,  as 
they  recognize  the  educational  character  of  the  problem 
most  readily,  even  though  the  method  of  commitment 
is  often  punitive.  Even  here  it  is  only  a  matter  of 
recent  progress  that  the  state  of  truancy  is  becoming 
appreciated  as  a  developmental  symptom. 

Children's  Courts. — The  establishment  of  children's 
or  juvenUe  courts,  with  special  judges  to  preside  over 
them,  and  often  a  staff  of  medical  ofl&cers  connected 
with  them,  also  the  system  of  probation,  have  done  much 
toward  developing  a  better  understanding  of  the  youth- 
ful offenders  and  of  the  causes  of  their  delinquency. 
The  main  portion  of  the  work,  however,  has  been  done 
by  private  charitable  societies,  with  their  visiting  nurses, 
friendly  visitors,  and  field-workers  of  different  kinds. 
Even  the  probation  system  is  yet  too  loosely  allied  with 
the  school  system,  and  the  methods  of  dealing  with 
child  delinquents  are  still  so  unscientific  that  much 
further  research  and  organization  are  necessary  to  make 
a  solution  of  the  problem  possible. 


386  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Legal  Provisions  for  Subnormal  and  Abnormal  Chil- 
dren.— "Incorrigible,"  delinquent,  and  truant  children 
are  not  yet  recognized  as  suffering  from  impaired  poten- 
tials, being  potentially  normal  {cf.  Chapters  VI,  VIII, 
and  X).  But  even  for  those  who  are  commonly  under- 
stood to  be  "defective,"  that  is  to  say,  mentally  defec- 
tive, or  physically  defective,  no  clear  system  is  generally 
followed  in  States  and  communities.  To  quote  from  a 
letter  received  from  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Edu- 
cation: 

A  number  of  States  provide  for  the  compulsory  education  of 
the  deaf  and  the  blind,  but  such  provisions  are  not  usually  in- 
corporated in  the  general  compulsory  laws. 

It  is  not  customary  for  the  States  to  require  local  school  cor- 
porations to  provide  special  schools  for  their  deaf  and  blind, 
since  the  care  of  those  unfortunates  is  generally  considered  a 
State  duty.  Certain  States,  however,  specifically  authorize  the 
districts  to  maintain  such  schools,  and  some  do  so. 

State  provision  for  the  feeble-minded  is  not  universal,  but 
provision  is  made  for  such  children,  more  or  less  effectively,  in 
perhaps  the  majority  of  the  States.  I  am  not  able  to  make 
general  statements  with  confidence  concerning  the  laws  for  the 
care  of  the  mentally  deficient,  however,  for  such  laws  are  often 
classified  with  those  relating  to  charities  or  the  insane,  and  I 
am  not  by  any  means  sure  that  our  information  upon  that  sub- 
ject is  complete.  It  is  not  customary  to  establish  State  insti- 
tutions for  merely  duU  or  backward  children,  nor  are  they  ex- 
cepted from  the  compulsory  attendance  laws.  So  far  as  I  know 
there  is  nothing  to  prevent  any  school  board  from  segregating 
such  children  in  special  classes.^ 

Concerning  children  of  sound  mind  but  with  crippled  or  de- 
formed bodies,  the  laws  are  silent  in  most  of  the  States.  In 
Illinois  boards  of  school  directors  may  establish  schools  or  classes 
for  them,  and  in  Wisconsin  they  may  be  sent  to  the  State  public 
school  for  neglected  or  dependent  children  (! ) 

» C/.  p.  382. 


Tig.  37.— Main  courl-room.  Children's  Court,  East  22d  Street, 
New  York. 


Fic.  38. — Small  rourt-room,  Children's  Court,  New  York.     Judge 
Hoyt  sitting  in  "The  Heart  of  the  Children's  Court." 


LEGAL  PROVISIONS  387 

Such  schools  are  without  legal  obligation,  and  the  most  that 
any  State  does  is  to  authorize  them.  It  may  be  assumed  that  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  every  State  require  that  provision  be 
made  for  the  education  of  all  children  of  stated  ages,  and  nowhere 
do  we  find  that  children  with  crooked  legs  are  excepted.  These 
children  are  not  compelled  to  attend  school,  but  if  they  wish  to 
do  so  and  if  the  proper  authorities  see  fit  to  provide  for  them, 
there  is  no  legal  reason  to  the  contrary,  and  permissive  laws  are 
superfluous. 

This  is  true  enough.  But  if  we  remember  the  de- 
mands made  at  the  close  of  the  previous  chapter  as  to 
provisions  for  the  relief  and  adjustment  of  the  problem 
of  the  exceptional  child,  we  must  recognize  that  legis- 
lation for  a  suitable  education  of  all  children  of  school 
age  is  still  imperfect  and  obscure,  and  that  for  a  great 
percentage  of  handicapped  children — those  that  are  in 
need  of  specialized  educational  facilities — there  are  no 
laws  compelling  and  facilitating  their  attendance  at 
school.  They  are  left  to  the  tender  mercies  of  ignorant 
and  often  criminal  parents  and  guardians.  For  the 
very  ones  that  would  need  education  the  most  to  fortify 
them  against  the  dangers  of  physical  or  mental  infirmity 
practically  nothing  is  done.  It  still  requires  much  per- 
suasion to  convince  legislative  bodies  that  appropriations 
for  handicapped  children  are  necessary  investments; 
that  it  is  false  economy  to  save  on  the  educational  side 
and  then  to  spend  many  times  as  much  for  meeting  the 
situation  caused  by  the  presence  of  derailed,  defective, 
ignorant,  and  vicious  elements  in  society. 

Not  because  the  author  believes  in  the  correctness  of 
the  dire  prophecies  uttered  by  the  advocates  of  '' natural 
selection"  in  the  affairs  of  men,  but  merely  for  the  sake 
of  completeness  of  the  argument,  reference  may  be  made 
here  to  the  warnings  of  a  certain  school  of  physicians 


388  THE  EXCEPTIONAL.  CHILD 

and  sociologists  who  claim  that  progress  in  curative  and 
preventive  medicine  is  decreasing  the  race's  hard-won 
immunity  to  certain  bacterial  diseases  and  bringing 
about  a  weakened  race.  They  point  with  emphasis  to 
the  ancient  practice  of  killing  the  weak  infants,  allowing 
only  those  to  live  who  gave  promise  of  health  and 
strength.  The  same  argument  is  used  against  the 
making  of  provisions  to  give  backward,  "different,"  and 
handicapped  children  their  chance.  They  claim  that 
those  who  are  unable  to  maintain  their  independent  ex- 
istence unimpaired  in  the  struggle  of  individuals  should 
be  allowed  to  perisfi.,  so  that  the  "fittest"  may  survive. 
This  is  a  convenient  philosophy  for  the  policy  of  "laisser 
aller,"  for  those  who  believe  in  might  above  right,  in  the 
supremacy  of  the  strong  over  the  weak.  Not  only, 
however,  is  this  philosophy  apt  to  be  wrecked  on  the 
shoals  of  criminality  and  pauperism — having  to  pay  for 
its  own  folly  in  terms  of  police,  courts  of  justice,  prisons, 
almshouses,  and  general  social  unrest  and  insecurity;  it 
has  been  demonstrated  over  and  over  again  that  these 
apparently  weaker  by-products  of  civilization  have  in 
them  a  dynamic  force  of  considerable  magnitude  which 
can  be  turned  toward  constructive  social  activity.  The 
first  chapter  of  this  book  treats  of  these  conditions  quite 
fully.  In  a  previous  paper  by  the  author^  mention  was 
made  of  one  group  which,  measured  by  the  ancient 
standard  of  physical  strength,  would  have  been  con- 
demned to  perish — the  group  of  neurotics,  which  never- 
theless has  furnished  to  mankind  leaders  of  thought  and 
action,  of  ideals  and  of  ethical  uplift. 

Extension  of  the  Compulsory-Education  Laws. — The 
National  Education  Association,  in  its  annual  meeting 

*  "  Sane  Eugenics,"  published  in  Educational  Foundations. 


LEGAL  PROVISIONS  389 

of  July  13,  191 1,  at  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  embodied  in 
its^  declaration  of  principles  the  following  resolutions 
bearing  upon  the  problem  of  exceptional  children: 

Realizing  the  fact  that  a  large  percentage  of  children  whose 
physical  and  mental  peculiarities  require  special  methods  of 
education  are  still  to  a  great  extent  outside  the  scope  of  the  com- 
pulsory-education laws,  and  that  the  presence  of  the  exceptional 
child  in  our  modem  civilization  constitutes  a  problem  of  the 
greatest  import,  it  is  the  sense  of  this  Association  that  the  com- 
pulsory education  laws  of  States  and  communities  should  be 
so  amended,  developed  and  extended  that  they  shall  be  made 
to  apply  to  all  children  of  school  age,  without  exception,  and 
provide  for  their  training;  further,  that  the  laws  should  recog- 
nize the  difference  between  the  chronological  age  of  a  child  and 
his  maturity,  and  that  the  school-age  limit  of  each  individual 
child  be  determined  by  requiring  the  child  to  meet  physical  and 
mental  tests,  even  though  the  child  be  in  years  above  the  age 
standard;  in  other  words,  a  child's  actual  age  should  be  deter- 
mined by  physio-psychological  data  corresponding  to  the  nor- 
mal standard  for  the  age  limit  required  by  law.  All  children  or 
persons  failing  to  meet  such  maturity  test  at  the  extreme  school- 
age  limit  should  remain  under  public  supervision  and  control, 
either  until  they  reach  such  maturity,  or  permanently. 

The  same  principle  should  be  the  guide  in  determining 
whether  a  child  is  fit  to  be  employed  in  any  occupation.  Not 
when  a  child  is  fourteen  or  sixteen  years  of  age,  but  when  he 
possesses  the  maturity  of  body  and  mind  proper  to  the  normal 
child  of  that  age,  should  he  be  released  from  the  guardianship 
of  the  State  or  the  community.  Child-labor  laws  should  be  so 
modified  as  to  meet  this  requirement. 

These  paragraphs  were  submitted  to  the  committee 
on  resolutions  by  the  author,  himself  a  member  of  the 
committee;  they  embody  the  same  demands  which  were 
contained  in  the  resolutions  proposed  and  adopted  a 
year  before  at  Boston  by  the  department  of  special  edu- 
cation of  the  N.  E.  A.     The  wording  is  not  quite  in 


390  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

accord  with  the  ideas  presented  in  this  volume,  but  clear 
enough  to  be  revised  in  the  sense  of  the  author's  own 
statements. 

The  San  Francisco  resolutions  scrutinize  the  age  Hmi- 
tations  as  stipulated  by  the  compulsory-education  laws. 
They  demand  that  a  distinction  be  made  between  the 
age  of  a  child,  or  person,  in  years,  and  what  we  may  call 
maturity.  Normal  standards,  as  we  have  seen,^  are 
difficult  to  determine  with  absoluteness  and  accuracy; 
but  normal  maturity  can  be  approximately  ascertained 
by  appropriate  tests,  such  as  have  been  described  in  the 
second  part  of  this  book.  It  is  now  demanded  that 
compulsory  laws  be  so  amended  that  they  compel  at- 
tendance not  for  children  between  the  ages  of  6  and  i6, 
for  example,  but  for  children  who  are  mentally  the 
equals  of  normal  children  representing  the  correspond- 
ing periods  in  a  child's  life.  There  are  children  who, 
at  the  age  of  6  are  still  infants  mentally,  and  perhaps 
physically;  and  others  who,  at  i6,  are  still  in  an  under- 
developed condition.  Again  there  are  children,  as  we 
have  seen,  who  are  rapid  growers,  mentally  and  physi- 
cally, and  should  not  be  compelled,  although  below  the 
chronological  age,  to  remain  in  school  when  they  have 
reached  that  maturity  of  mind  and  body  which  the  law 
is  intended  to  safeguard  before  the  child  is  dismissed 
from  the  educational  obHgations  which  it  owes  the  com- 
munity. 

The  demand  that  all  children  or  persons  failing  to 
meet  maturity  tests  (such  as  will  determine  the  indi- 
vidual's ability  to  take  care  of  himself  as  far  as  a  child 
of  that  age  can  do  so)  shall  be  under  public  supervision 
and  control,  either  permanently,  or  until  they  reach 

» Cf.  Chapter  V. 


LEGAL  PROVISIONS  391 

maturity,  is  far-reaching  in  its  effect.  Even  now  a  child 
is  not  removed  from  the  guardianship  of  his  parents 
until  he  reaches  what  is  called  majority,  as  he  is  not 
considered  sufficiently  self-directing,  as  an  independent 
member  of  society,  before  that  time.  These  provisions 
are  made  on  the  supposition  that  the  child  has  a  fairly 
normal  growth. 

But  the  demand  referred  to  in  the  previous  paragraph 
gives  to  organized  society  the  function  of  control  of  all 
persons  who  are  incapable  of  taking  care  of  themselves, 
irrespective  of  parental  guardianship;  or  incapable  of 
competing  normally  with  others  for  an  independent 
place  in  life,  on  the  basis  of  true  efficiency;  or  who  may 
become  a  menace  to  society  at  some  time  in  their  career. 
This  function  implies  prevention  instead  of  an  uncer- 
tain cure,  or  instead  of  eventual  pauperism  or  criminal- 
ity. It  imphes  the  forestalling  of  evil  tendencies  in- 
stead of  first  letting  them  run  wild  and  then  running 
after  the  evil-doer.  It  means  beginning  at  the  right  end 
of  the  line  instead  of  at  the  wrong;  saving  money,  and 
social  unrest  and  turmoil.  In  this  manner  alone  would 
society  take  a  positive  measure  toward  eradicating  evil, 
by  gradually  making  it  impossible  for  immature,  ab- 
normal, and  dangerous  individuals  to  be  at  large  and  to 
propagate  their  kind. 

The  San  Francisco  resolution  contains  the  significant 
provision  that  such  public  guardianship  will  be  with- 
drawn as  soon  as  an  individual  has  reached  maturity. 
This  naturally  imphes  that  ample  provisions  must  be 
suppUed  to  give  those  children  who  are  merely  back- 
ward, slow,  or  non-conforming,  full  opportunity  for  de- 
veloping their  natural  gifts.  To  them  this  guardian- 
ship really  means  an  educational  franchise — a  liberation 


392  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

from  the  bondage  of  ignorance  and  inefficiency,  an  op- 
portunity for  their  native  intelligence  to  assert  itself,  a 
rescue  from  undeserved  failure. 

This  guardianship  by  the  body  social  may  necessitate 
eventually  a  rescue  of  the  child  from  economic  pres- 
sure. Just  as  we  are  now  having  mothers^  pensions  or 
stipends,  we  may  have  to  have  children's  stipends  to 
secure  for  them  the  benefits  of  an  education  sufficiently 
prolonged  to  put  them  on  their  feet. 

The  demand  has  its  effect,  of  course,  also  at  the  other 
end.  For  the  exceptionally  bright  child,  provided  his 
body  is  adequate  to  the  demands  of  his  mind,  the  possi- 
bility of  an  earlier  independence  should  be  secured,  and 
we  may  even  modify  the  laws  of  majority  for  them  so 
that  they  may  be  free  from  parental  guardianship  at  a 
time  which  is  commensurate  to  their  rate  of  growth  and 
development. 


CHAPTER  XrX 

EUGENIC  CONSIDERATIONS,  MARRIAGE,  AND  HEREDITY 

Scarecrow  Eugenics. — Eugenics  has  become  a  house- 
hold word  in  many  American  families,  and  a  great  deal 
has  been  said  and  written  about  this  new  science.  It  is 
held  up  to  our  thoughtless  youth  of  both  sexes  as  a  sort 
of  scarecrow,  to  frighten  them  into  good  behavior.  Of 
course  it  really  means  the  study  of  the  laws  which 
govern  the  production  of  healthy  offspring.  As  such  it 
is  an  interesting  and  helpful  study  for  all  thinking  men 
and  women,  and  has  its  special  message  to  prospective 
parents.  Unfortunately,  the  laws  of  heredity  and  of 
transmission  of  characters  which  are  at  the  bottom  of 
this  new  science  have  so  far  been  studied  largely  in  their 
application  to  a  relatively  small  number  of  plants  and 
animals  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  breeder.  A 
breeder  is  interested  in  controlling  certain  desirable 
p>oints.  The  study  of  the  transmission  of  such  special 
traits,  and  of  producing  them  by  special  methods  is  rela- 
tively simple.  It  is,  however,  not  so  simple  to  apply 
these  standards  to  human  individuals  whose  physical 
well-being,  intellectual  qualities,  mental  and  emotional 
sanity,  and  moral  character  represent  a  complexity  of 
organization  of  which  psychologists  and  students  of 
human  nature  in  general  are  only  beginning  to  be  aware. 

"The  world  is  not  yet  a  stock-farm,"  said  a  news- 

393 


394  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

paper  writer  in  commenting  on  a  previous  article  of 
the  author  on  this  topic.     And  he  continues: 

That  there  is  a  foundation  of  good  sense  in  eugenics  goes 
without  saying.  But  the  most  sensible  theory  may  be  pressed 
to  ridiculous  extremes.  Marriages  are  not  merely  breeding  ex- 
periments. Men  and  women  will  never  consent  to  be  mated 
as  if  the  world  were  a  demonstration  stock-farm.  The  true 
marriage  is  a  union  of  affection — a  happy  comradeship  of  two 
congenial  chums.  Either  party  to  the  contract  may  lack  physi- 
cal perfection  and  both  be  entirely  content.  MUton  was  blind, 
Pope  a  hunchback,  William  of  Orange  an  asthmatic  and  dys- 
peptic, Heine  a  lifelong  invalid,  Stevenson  a  consumptive.  The 
world  could  spare  a  million  physically  perfect  athletes  much 
better  than  it  could  spare  the  immortal  works  dedicated  by 
those  sick  and  crippled  sons  of  genius  to  the  happiness  and  gain 
of  the  ages. 

Restriction  of  Marriages. — ^An  unfortunate  interpre- 
tation of  the  new  science  of  eugenics  has  led  legislatures 
to  dabble  in  the  field  of  natural  selection.  Laws  have 
been  enacted  to  make  marriage  dependent  upon  clean 
bills  of  health  for  both  contracting  parties.  Other  en- 
actments demand  the  sterilization  of  the  so-called  unfit. 

There  are,  however,  two  sides  even  to  the  most  rea- 
sonable-looking proposition. 

Restriction  of  marriage,  for  instance,  is  a  two-edged 
sword.  It  may,  of  course,  prevent  to  some  extent  the 
mating  of  partners  unfit  for  one  another  and  who  may- 
produce  unfit  offspring.  But  it  udll  never  regulate  pas- 
sion. Passion  defies  law.  And  passion,  which  is,  after 
all,  God-given,  is  sometimes  sounder  than  law.  Of 
course,  what  is  meant  here  is  not  the  mere  low  animal 
passion  of  sex-gratification,  but  that  highest  of  all  human 
passions,  the  theme  of  the  songs  of  all  poets,  of  the 
dreams  of  all  philosophers — love.    How  elemental  this 


EUGENIC   CONSIDERATIONS  395 

passion  is,  how  it  is  the  mainspring  of  all  human  actions 
and  of  all  human  progress,  even  the  gentle  German  poet, 
Schiller,  has  recognized  when  he  sang: 

"So  lange,  bis  den  Bau  der  Welt 
Philosophic  zusammenhalt, 
Erhalt  sie  ihr  Getriebe 
Durch  Hunger  und  durch  Liebe." 

Love  defies  mere  cold  reasoning,  and  it  is  a  question 
whether  the  instinct  of  love  does  not  more  often  lead 
along  the  right  path  than  the  little  bit  of  fragmentary- 
reason  which  men  may  boast  of.  Reason  is  a  spark  of 
the  divine  fire,  true  enough.  But  it  is  a  very  little  spark 
as  compared  with  God's  wisdom,  which  has  implanted 
in  the  human  heart  these  three  great  things:  faith,  hope, 
and  love — which  cannot  be  defined  in  human  terms. 
They  are  reverberations  of  the  eternal  in  the  human 
soul.     And  the  greatest  of  these  is  love. 

The  more  difficult  it  is  made  to  contract  marriage  the 
stronger  will  be  the  temptation  to  enter  into  illegitimate 
matings.  Defiance  to  law  and  to  accepted  institutions 
on  the  part  of  parents  adds  an  element  of  danger  to 
children  resulting  from  such  union  which  is  absent  from 
the  "regular"  family,  no  matter  how  well  or  ill-mated 
the  parents  may  be  otherwise.  The  illegitimate  child 
is  born  with  a  stigma,  without  taking  into  account  other 
possible  handicaps,  in  physical  development,  intellect, 
or  disposition.  The  innocent  victim  of  "illegitimate" 
relations  often  grows  up  in  an  unwholesome  and  dis- 
credited social  environment  which  prejudices  his  best 
chances  from  the  start.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  often 
found  that  the  "child  of  love,"  the  "illegitimate"  child 
born  of  normal  parents  who  defied  the  established  order 


396  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

of  things,  bears  the  stamp  of  strength  of  character  and 
even  of  genius.^ 

We  may,  of  course,  have  to  be  temporarily  satisfied 
with  some  makeshift  laws  which  offer  a  modicum  of 
protection  to  society  from  the  effects  of  ill-advised  mat- 
ings  in  which  animal  passions  or  recklessness  were  the 
determining  factors.  As  long  as  we  cannot  rely  upon 
the  ability  of  certain  classes  of  our  population  to  realize 
the  grave  responsibiUty  implied  in  the  marriage  vow, 
we  must  have  immediate  means  of  control,  as  far  as  it 
goes,  in  our  power.  To  many,  alas,  the  sacred  mys- 
tery of  human  life  and  procreation  is  a  sentimentless, 
commonplace  affair — nay,  even  a  joke,  more  or  less 
unclean.  For  lack  of  anything  better  we  may  for  the 
present  need  to  invoke  in  some  manner  the  majesty  of 
the, law  for  such,  to  inspire  some  semblance  of  awe. 

It  is,  however, .  likely  that  other  and  more  effective 
measures  can  be  devised  to  accompHsh  the  same  end. 
One  of  the  gravest  dangers,  for  instance,  comes  from 
the  transmission  of  venereal  diseases.  If  venereal  diseases 
were  made  reportable,  as  is  the  case  with  other  virulent 
contagions,  much  of  the  danger  of  undesirable  mating 
would  be  avoided.  There  is  at  present  no  State  in  the 
Union  where  syphilis,  gonorrhea,  and  other  venereal  con- 
ditions, primary  or  secondary,  are  included  in  the  com- 
pulsory list  of  reportable  diseases. 

Sexual  Education. — Spreading  proper  knowledge  on 
the  wonders  of  procreation  will  also  reduce  the  dangers 
of  ill  mating.  From  this  point  of  view  the  recent  agi- 
tation for  training  in  sex  hygiene  is  intelHgible.  But 
even  this  propaganda  has  suffered  from  the  infusion  of 
hysterical  sensationaHsm,  from  dwelling  on  the  wicked 
1  Cf.  p.  228. 


EUGENIC  CONSIDERATIONS  397 

and  horrible  features  of  perverted  sex  instinct.  Problem 
plays;  moving-picture  shows  on  the  social  evil  and  the 
white-slave  traffic;  the  formation  of  school  classes,  with- 
out proper  discrimination,  for  teaching  the  biology  of 
sex;  and  an  emotional  (erotic)  agitation  in  general  are 
apt  to  do  more  harm  than  good.  They  appeal  to  curi- 
osity and  may  dull  the  natural  sense  of  modesty  and 
privacy. 

Chapter  XI  of  this  book  contains  pertinent  remarks 
on  sexual  education. 

Rarely  has  a  saner  statement  been  made  than  the 
one  which  Doctor  C.  B.  Bardeen,  dean  of  the  medical 
school  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  made  to  the 
editor  of  the  School  Bulletin  (Syracuse,  N.  Y.),  and  from 
which  the  following  sentences  are  quoted: 

I  remember  when  in  Baltimore  being  much  impressed  with 
the  truth  of  a  remark  made  by  Judge  Morris,  who  had  had  to 
preside  at  a  trial  in  which  much  testimony  concerning  the  sex- 
organs  and  their  physiology  had  to  be  introduced.  He  said  the 
trial  made  him  quite  uncomfortable;  that  healthy  people  did 
not  think  much  about  the  sex-organs,  and  he  in  all  his  life  had 
not  given  them  as  much  thought  as  during  the  trial,  and  hoped 
he  would  not  have  to  again.  Curiosity,  passion,  and  idleness 
are  the  only  features,  outside  of  medicine,  that  call  attention 
to  the  sex-glands;  and  of  these  the  first  two  are  essential,  the 
third  being  merely  a  contributing  factor.  Public  talks  to  chil- 
dren will  be  pretty  certain  to  arouse  curiosity.  They  certainly 
will  not  subdue  passion.  In  so  far  as  curiosity  concerning  sex 
matters  is  spontaneous  and  natural,  it  may  be  best  turned  in 
legitimate  directions  by  quiet  private  talks  with  pure-minded 
friends.  .  .  .  On  the  other  hand,  every  effort  should  be  made 
to  suppress  all  of  the  many  features  that  arouse  an  unnatural 
and  unhealthy  interest  in  sex.  So  far  as  passion  is  concerned, 
it  can  be  controlled  only  by  the  habit  of  self-control  and  the 
right  kind  of  personal  ambition,  and  these  can  best  be  cultivated 
in  the  young  without  reference  to  the  physiology  of  sex. 


398  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

To  throw  the  burden  of  sex  instruction  and  sex  ethics 
upon  the  schools  is  but  another  symptom  of  the  modern 
tendency  to  make  the  school  the  vehicle  of  most  of 
those  influences  which  heretofore  have  been  the  privi- 
lege and  sacred  function  of  the  home.  It  signalizes  the 
progressive  dissolution  of  home  life. 

Sterilization  of  the  Unfit. — Admitting  that  we  need 
the  unfettered  normal  instincts  of  love  and  selection, 
guided  by  wisdom  and  self -direction,  in  estabhshing 
conjugal  relations,  and  proper  constructive  and  preven- 
tive methods  in  education  regarding  these  relations  to 
conserve  the  physical  and  spiritual  welfare  of  the  com- 
ing generations,  we  have  to  consider  the  problem  of  the 
"unfit"  who  are  of  our  day.  A  seemingly  simple  and 
radical  measure  recently  advocated,  and  legally  enacted 
in  some  places,  is  the  sterilization  of  the  ''unfit."  In 
weighing  the  conflicting  arguments  for  this  measure 
we  are  confronted  with  considerations  of  the  deepest 
import.  Its  advocates  may  seem  justified  in  their 
course  by  pointing  to  obvious  specimens  of  gross  physi- 
cal and  mental  defect.  Of  course  there  are  such  de- 
generates and  defectives  of  an  unmistakable  type.  It 
is  perfectly  natural  that  we  should  not  wish  their  kind 
propagated.  But  the  danger  of  perpetuating  these 
types  can  be  materially  minimized  by  estabhshing  well- 
regulated  custodial  care  for  these  unfortunates  before 
they  reach  the  age  of  puberty.  Certain  classes  of  defec- 
tives are  naturally  sterile,  and  the  stock  would  die  out 
in  a  few  generations  unless  fresh,  healthy  blood  were 
infused.^  And  we  must  not  forget  that  the  number  of 
these  patently  defective  persons  is  small.     To  show  how 

^Cf.  "The  Career  of  the  Child,"  chap.  XIX,  "Criminality  m  Chil- 
dren," p.  314. 


EUGENIC   CONSIDERATIONS  399 

erroneous  it  would  be  to  treat  feeble-minded  heredity 
as  a  simple  problem,  the  following  report  which  ap- 
peared in  the  pubUc  press  a  few  years  ago  may  be 
quoted: 

Nothing  in  the  brief  history  of  that  newest  of  the  sciences, 
eugenics,  has  been  so  baffling  as  the  existence  of  the  intelligent 
children  of  feeble-minded  parents.  There  are  on  record  in- 
stances of  boys  and  girls  springing  from  a  degenerate  ancestry 
going  back  some  generations.  Yet  those  boys  and  girls  are 
sometimes  very  creditable  specimens  of  humanity.  The  facts 
in  their  cases  are  not  less  puzzling  than  the  splendid  children 
resulting  from  the  union  of  alcoholic  parents  who  were  studied 
at  length  by  Doctor  Karl  Pearson  a  few  years  ago. 

Instances  of  this  kind  prompt  Doctor  Charles  B.  Davenport, 
of  the  Carnegie  Institution,  to  propound  a  theory  on  the  trans- 
mission of  the  feeble-mindedness  of  a  kind,  notes  London  Nature, 
very  different  from  that  suggested  by  himself  and  Doctor  Weeks 
two  years  ago.  According  to  Doctor  Davenport's  earlier  view, 
feeble-mindedness  and  epilepsy  are  both  due  to  the  absence  of  a 
"gametic"  or  hereditary  factor,  the  presence  of  which  is  neces- 
sary for  normal  development.  They  are  thus  transmitted  as  a 
simple  "recessive"  or  latent  character  which  might  appear  in 
either  or  both  of  these  forms. 

Results  quite  incompatible  with  this  are  yielded  by  material 
just  collected  by  Professor  Davenport  for  the  Eugenics  Record 
Office,  on  Long  Island,  in  New  York.  Another  and  more  com- 
plex theory  is  suggested.  Thus,  when  two  feeble-minded  par- 
ents whose  defect  is  of  the  same  type  are  mated,  all  their  chil- 
dren will  reproduce  it.  Where,  on  the  other  hand,  the  type  of 
mental  defect  of  one  parent  is  different  from  that  of  another's, 
none  of  the'r  children  are  necessarily  feeble-minded  at  all.  In 
the  language  ot  tne  report'  issued  by  Doctor  Florence  H.  Daniel- 
son  and  Doctor  Charles  B.  Davenport,  after  their  careful  inves- 
tigations: 

"We  may  find  one  case  of  feeble-mindedness  wherein  the 
individual  is  cruel  and  keen  in  the  pursuit  of  mischief,  but  unable 

»  "The  Hill  Folk,"  published  August,  191 2. 


400  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

to  learn,  and  another  case  in  which  he  is  kind  and  learns  quite 
readily,  but  is  shiftless  and  devoid  of  judgment,  and  the  ability 
to  apply  his  knowledge.  Such  instances  seem  to  indicate  that 
these  different  traits  which  characterize  the  types  of  feeble- 
mindedness may  furnish  a  truer  basis  for  a  theory  of  inheritance. 
One  combination  of  certain  traits  presents  one  sort  of  feeble- 
mindedness and  another  combination  another  sort.  Working  on 
this  hypothesis,  it  may  be  possible  to  obtain  from  two  parents 
whose  defects  are  due  to  different  traits  (or  the  lack  of  them)  a 
child  who  may  be  superior  to  either  parent  as  a  member  of 
society.  For  instance,  if  such  traits  follow  the  Mendelian  prin- 
ciple, a  man  who  is  industrious  but  apathetic  and  unable  to  con- 
nect cause  and  effect  (i.  e.,  lacks  good  judgment)  so  that  he  can- 
not compete  in  business,  married  to  a  shiftless  woman  who  is 
keen  and  shrewd,  even  to  a  vice,  may  have  offspring  in  which 
the  father's  industry  and  the  mother's  mental  ability  are  com- 
bined so  that  they  may  be  superior  to  either  parent.  For  if  the 
feeble-mindedness  of  the  father's  type  and  that  of  the  mother's 
type  are  gametically  independent  and  each  recessive  to  the 
normal  condition,  they  may  produce  normal  children. 

"The  analysis  of  the  data,  then,  gives  statistical  support  to 
the  conclusion  abundantly  justified  from  numerous  other  con- 
siderations, that  feeble-mindedness  is  not  an  elementary  trait, 
but  is  a  legal  or  sociological  rather  than  a  biological  term.  Fee- 
ble-mindedness is  due  to  the  absence  now  of  one  set  of  traits, 
now  of  quite  a  different  set.  Only  when  both  parents  lack  one 
or  more  of  the  same  traits  do  the  children  all  lack  the  traits. 
So  if  the  traits  lacking  in  both  parents  are  socially  important, 
the  children  all  lack  socially  important  traits,  i.  e.,  are  feeble- 
minded." 

This  definition  of  feeble-mindedness  is  most  interest- 
ing, especially  when  compared  with  the  definition  given 
in  Chapter  IX  of  this  book,  basing  its  presence  on  the 
absence  of  ''common  sense."  Nevertheless,  the  discus- 
sion just  quoted  would  seem  to  show  that  it  refers  to  a 
condition  so  vague  and  obscure  that  it  may  be  applied 
to  a  very  large  number  of  persons  in  various  walks  of 


EUGENIC  CONSIDERATIONS  401 

life.^  The  author  is  not  sure  but  that  many  rather 
eminent  characters,  men  ^d  women  who  have  contrib- 
uted vitally  to  the  sum  total  of  human  achievements, 
would  fall  under  the  definition  of  feeble-mindedness  as 
"a  legal  or  sociological  term,"  having  been  quite  inca- 
pable of  commercializing  their  genius,  and  having  been 
total  failures  as  business  assets.  Besides,  the  discussion 
shows  how  much  theory  there  is  still  in  eugenics,  and 
that  we  have  not  yet  been  able  to  marshal  all  the  facts 
and  to  organize  them  in  the  form  of  clearly  defined  and 
universally  applicable  natural  laws.^ 

Collection  of  Data. — The  case  of  the  feeble-minded 
and  the  mentally  defective  has  in  recent  times  been  so 
sensationally  and  loudly  discussed  that  many  people 
have  been  led  to  think  that  the  science  of  eugenics  is 
mainly  concerned  in  preventing  the  breeding  of  the 
feeble-minded.  The  small  feeble-minded  portion  of  our 
population  has  been  held  so  close  to  our  eyes  that  it 
looked  big  enough  to  crowd  from  our  vision  the  many 
other  problems  of  a  eugenic  nature.  The  broad  prac- 
tical possibihties,  however,  embrace  constructive  measures 
Jor  mankind  as  a  whole,  not  merely  remedial  provisions 
for  the  plainly  unfit. 

We  are  warned  that  feeble-mindedness  and  other 
mental  defects  cause  crime  and  prostitution,  and  that 

•  Compwire  with  these  statements  the  utterance  of  Superintendent 
Johnstone,  of  the  Vineland  (N.  J.)  Training  School,  who  said  in  a  dis- 
cussion at  the  New  Jersey  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction,  in 
1916:  "  We  were  told  we  must  look  out  for  immediate  facts,  because  a 
lot  of  people  are  called  feeble-minded  who  are  not  feeble-minded.  We 
were  told  this  morning  that  many  who  were  called  feeble-minded  by  the 
supposedly  best  psychologist  in  the  country  were  helped  by  glasses." 

*A  careful  study  of  the  "Medical  Symposium"  will  reveal  some  of 
the  fundamental  facts  of  hereditary  transmission  in  terms  of  biological 
fimction. 


402  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

consequently  we  must  prevent  the  mentally  defective 
from  propagating  their  kind.  •  But  the  statistics  which 
are  given  us  to  show  the  danger  of  transmitting  unde- 
sirable traits  are  somewhat  doubtful.  At  one  time  the 
author  saw  a  chart  in  which  the  family  history  of  two 
inmates  of  a  certain  lunatic  asylum  were  supposed  to 
be  traced.  The  two  were  found  to  be  related  to  each 
other  a  few  generations  back,  and  about  i,ooo  progeni- 
tors and  relatives  were  charted.  They  were  neatly 
classified  as  having  been  worthless  in  one  way  or  another, 
having  been  feeble-minded,  insane,  inebriate,  paupers, 
or  what  not.  The  question  arose  how  in  the  world  the 
investigators  had  been  able  to  obtain  information  relia- 
ble enough  to  make  the  diagnosis  of  so  many  dead  per- 
sons for  tabulation.  The  manner  in  which  such  cases 
are  tabulated  is  explained  in  a  book  which  has  become 
well  known  of  late,  and  in  which  two  branches  of  the 
family  of  a  certain  youth  of  Revolutionary  times  are 
traced.     It  says  there  :^ 

In  determining  the  mental  condition  of  people  in  the  earliei' 
generations  (that  is,  as  to  whether  they  were  feeble-minded  or 
not)  one  proceeds  in  the  same  way  as  one  does  to  determine  the 
character  of  a  Washington  or  a  Lincoln  or  any  other  man  of  the 
past.  Recourse  is  had  to  original  documents  whenever  possible. 
In  the  case  of  defectives,  of  course,  there  are  not  many  original 
documents.  Oftentimes  the  absence  of  these  where  they  are  to 
be  expected,  is  of  itself  significant.  For  instance,  the  absence 
of  a  record  of  marriage  is  often  quite  as  significant  as  is  its 
presence.  Some  record  or  memory  is  generally  obtainable  of 
how  the  person  lived,  how  he  conducted  himself,  whether  he 
was  able  to  make  a  living,  how  he  brought  up  his  children,  what 
was  his  reputation  in  the  community;  these  facts  are  frequently 
sufficient  to  enable  one  to  determine,  with  a  high  degree  of 

1  Goddard,  "The  Kallikak  Family." 


EUGENIC  CONSIDERATIONS  403 

accuracy,  whether  the  individual  was  normal  or  otherwise. 
Sometimes  the  condition  is  marked  by  the  presence  of  other 
factors.  For  example,  if  a  man  was  strongly  alcoholic,  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  determine  whether  he  was  also  feeble- 
minded, because  the  reports  usually  declare  that  the  only 
trouble  with  him  was  that  he  was  always  drunk,  and  they  say 
if  he  had  been  sober  he  would  have  been  all  right.  This  may 
be  true,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  quite  possible  that  he  was 
feeble-minded,  also. 

After  some  experience  the  field-worker  becomes  expert  in 
inferring  the  condition  of  those  persons  who  are  not  seen,  from 
the  similarity  of  the  language  used  in  describing  them,  to  that 
used  in  describing  persons  whom  she  has  seen. 

It  is  obviously  impossible  to  consider  this  method  of 
gathering  information  as  scientifically  reliable.  The 
definition  of  mental  defect  is  yet  too  vague;  the  meth- 
ods of  determining  the  mental  status  of  an  individual 
are  yet  in  the  process  of  development.  We  know  too 
well  how  easily  misjudged  a  man  is  by  his  neighbors, 
and  how  indistinct  the  memories  even  of  our  own  de- 
parted friends  become  in  our  minds  after  a  short  time. 
If  we  feel  that  we  know  something  more  definite  about 
historic  figures  like  Washington  and  Lincoln,  it  is  be- 
cause we  have,  of  course,  considerably  more  documen- 
tary information  of  them  than  we  have  of  the  obscure 
dweller  in  the  obscure  village.  But  history  often  re- 
verses the  judgment  of  contemporaries,  and  the  inside 
history  of  even  such  heroes  is  sometimes  very  difi^erent 
from  what  is  popularly  known. 

We  can  never  have  anything  like  a  rehable  history  of 
an  individual  and  his  family  until  we  have  ample  and 
trustworthy  vital  statistics  enforced  by  law,  and  suit- 
able methods  of  testing  and  diagnosing  the  mental  and 
moral  status  of  the  living. 


404  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

The  author's  own  investigations  have  taught  him 
great  caution  in  accepting  such  family  charts  as  proofs. 
We  are  not  quite  sure  yet  of  the  best  methods  of  test- 
ing the  mental  caHber  of  the  living.  Many  of  those 
who  have  been  put  down  rather  low  in  the  scale  of  in- 
telligence will  surprise  us  by  becoming  perfectly  useful 
citizens  as  soon  as  their  economic  conditions,  their  en- 
vironment in  general  and,  with  this,  their  opportuni- 
ties, are  improved.  To  judge  the  dead  who  can  no 
longer  defend  themselves  or  give  counterproof  after 
relief  from  pressure,  on  the  basis  of  unprovable  reports, 
seems  very  unfair.  Many  a  person  has  been  ostracized 
in  his  community  because  he  was  different  from  his 
Philistine  neighbors.  He  became  a  failure  in  life 
through  disappointment.  Possibly  he  sank  to  the  level 
of  despair  and  self-effacement  through  drink  to  escape 
in  forgetfulness  the  unsurmountable  prison  walls  which 
his  narrow-minded  neighbors  had  erected  around  his 
aspiring  soul.  We  should  think  twice  before  we  judge. 
To  put  down,  as  has  been  done  in  scientific  articles,^  a 
humble  family  hving  in  a  shack  as  mentally  inferior  to 
their  wealthy  neighbors  living  in  a  well-appointed  house, 
is  invidious.  The  successful  neighbor  may  have  been 
an  unscrupulous  crook  in  his  business  methods,  and  the 
dweller  in  the  shack  may  have  been  one  of  his  victims.^ 

Constructive  Methods. — Evidence  has  been  evolved 
that  in  the  Hving  generation  delinquency,  pauperism, 
inebriety,  and  other  vicious  conditions  can  be  controlled 
and  eliminated  by  improving  the  environment  and  by 
socially  constructive  methods  of  uplift.    Almost  all  our 

>C/.  "The  Village  of  a  Thousand  Souls,"  The  American  Magazine, 
May,  1913. 

«  Cf.  also  Chapter  II,  "The  Problem  of  Efficiency." 


EUGENIC  CONSIDERATIONS  405 

misfits  and  failures  can  be  saved  if  we  give  them  the 
right  chance.  It  would  therefore  seem  reasonable  to 
admit  that  at  least  a  large  percentage  of  the  unfortu- 
nates, now  set  down  in  these  family  histories  as  dereUcts 
and  degenerates,  were  in  reality  the  victims  of  a  vicious 
environment  and  of  lack  of  opportunity. 

Stories  of  tainted  heredity,  holding  up  to  our  eyes 
the  horrors  of  degeneracy,  have  had  a  depressing  effect 
upon  multitudes  of  sensitive  men  and  women.  It  is 
time  that  we  realize  the  world  is  not  any  worse  to-day 
than  it  has  been  at  any  previous  time.  Yea,  we  are 
growing  better.  It  is  well  enough  that  our  social  con- 
science has  been  awakened  to  a  clearer  appreciation  of 
its  function.  It  is  needful  that  we  face  the  dangers  to 
body  and  soul  with  unflinching  and  seeing  eyes.  It  is 
encouraging  that  we  have  learned  to  understand  the 
right  of  children  to  be  well  bom  and  to  be  well  brought 

up. 

But  it  seems  wisest  not  to  dwell  exclusively  on  the 
negative  and  pessimistic  side  of  things.  Methods  of 
preventing  evil  do  not  necessarily  mean  prohibitive  and 
restrictive  measures.  There  is  positive,  constructive, 
uplifting  work  to  do. 

An  appeal  to  the  good  that  is  in  men  is  better  than  to 
concentrate  on  punitive  and  restrictive  laws.  Teaching 
the  young  the  beauty  and  wonder  of  sex  and  procrea- 
tion, the  sweetness  of  fatherhood  and  motherhood,  is 
more  conducive  to  morality  and  to  the  securing  of 
proper  matings  and  sound  oflispring  than  to  teach  a 
crude  and  repulsive  sex  hygiene.  To  encourage  early 
marriages  of  the  fit  and  strong,  and  to  convince  these 
that  it  is  their  privilege  to  propagate  the  race  instead  of 
allowing  the  weak  to  outstrip  them  by  a  preponderant 


406  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

number  of  their  offspring,  leads  more  effectively  to  a 
rejuvenation  of  the  race  with  every  incoming  generation 
than  a  minute  regulation  of  the  physical  requirements 
for  the  marriage  contract.^  Bettering  the  economic  and 
environmental  conditions  of  the  masses,  improving  our 
educational  systems,  developing  the  social  conscience, 
giving  each  new-bom  babe  his  chance  in  life,  will  be 
surer  ways  to  prevent  degeneracy  and  crime  than  a 
morbid  study  of  the  mysterious  laws  of  heredity  and 
the  clamor  for  sterilization  laws  to  be  applied  on  a  large 
scale. 

The  laws  of  heredity  in  their  application  to  human 
beings  are  still  quite  obscure  and  are  pre-eminently  a  mat- 
ter of  exact  scientific  investigation.  They  cannot  yet  be 
popularized.  Their  study  may  bring  many  surprises,  as 
it  has  already  done.  And  we  cannot,  with  the  best  of 
intentions  and  the  most  carefully  worded  statutes,  con- 
trol heredity.  We  are  not  prepared  to  apply  the  meth- 
ods of  the  breeder  to  human  matings,  human  intelli- 
gence, human  sentiments,  human  souls. 

Practical  Eugenics. — Even  with  what  we  know  of  the 
conditions  affecting  marriage  and  procreation,  there  is 
enough  sound  counsel  to  be  given  to  prospective  spouses 
and  parents.  It  is  well  that  either  partner  to  the  mar- 
riage vow  enters  into  this  sacramental  state  with  a  full 

'  Very  pertinently  Florence  Hull  Winterbum  says  in  the  chapter  on 
defective  children  in  her  book,  "The  Children's  Health":  "Most  adults 
consume  each  day  all  the  force  nature  supplies  to  them.  They  have  no 
reserve  strength  to  employ  in  parenthood.  How  is  it  possible  for  jaded, 
nervous,  feeble  men  and  women  to  provide  that  abundance  of  rich  blood 
and  spiritual  vitality  demanded  by  this  supreme  function?  The  off- 
spring they  persist  in  having  get  merely  the  dregs  of  their  exhausted 
IHe,  and  must  be  nursed  and  coaxed  by  every  device  known  to  medical 
science  to  sustain  the  burdens  of  an  existence  they  scarcely  deem  worth 
the  while." 


EUGENIC   CONSIDERATIONS  407 

realization  of  the  responsibilities  implied  in  it,  not  only 
to  themselves  mutually  but  to  the  expected  offspring 
and  to  society,  so  that  the  future  generations — toward 
whose  number  they  will  contribute — may  be  composed 
of  healthy  and  sane  individuals,  effective  and  spiritually 
well  qualified  for  their  functions  as  citizens  and  members 
of  human  society. 

Of  course  there  are  hereditary  factors.  When  there 
are  diseased  conditions,  mental  weaknesses,  emotional 
abnormalities  in  either  partner,  caution  is  advisable. 
An  otherwise  sound  constitution  may  have  been  weak- 
ened by  inebriety,  or  inebriety  may  point  toward  some 
inherent  weakness  of  body  or  character.  There  may 
be  venereal  disease.  Either  partner  must  realize  that 
he  or  she  does  not  only  marry  the  woman  or  the  man, 
but  the  whole  family — socially,  and  as  representing  a 
certain  level  of  culture  and  life  habits,  but  also  with  all 
the  antecedent  physical  and  mental  endowments  and 
defects  which  will  affect  their  offspring  in  their  cumula- 
tive, combined,  or  selected  traits.  Headlong  marriages, 
contracted  in  a  spirit  of  recklessness  or  momentary  pas- 
sion, are  doomed  to  produce  unhappiness  and  to  preju- 
dice the  career  of  the  children  born  from  them;  they 
are  the  prime  cause  of  the  divorce  evil,  which  is  increas- 
ing in  magnitude,  and  which  places  the  children  of  these 
unions  in  the  most  precarious  positions.  Flirtations, 
unguided  passion,  are  poor  guides  in  selecting  life  part- 
ners. To  allow  ulterior  motives,  considerations  of 
wealth,  rank,  title,  influence,  to  determine  the  choice 
of  husband  or  wife,  is  one  of  the  greatest  crimes  against 
humanity  and  the  future  generations  that  can  be  com- 
mitted, be  it  through  the  parents'  own  traditional  preju- 
dices, or  through  the  young  people's  folly.     If  parents, 


408  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

in  their  educational  policy  in  the  home,  will  take  care 
that  the  natural  instincts  and  tendencies  of  childhood 
and  youth  are  preserved  in  their  healthy  integrity;  if 
love  reigns  supreme  in  the  home — love  of  that  pure  type 
which  binds  parents  and  children  together  with  bonds 
that  can  never  break — then,  in  the  children's  emotional 
evolution,  in  their  sexual  relation,  affection  will  be  the 
determining  factor.  And  love,  as  has  been  said  before, 
is  after  all  a  safe  guide  in  marital  selection. 

Many  of  the  hereditary  influences,  such  as  may  be 
difficult  of  control,  can  be  overcome  by  sanity  and 
proper  hygienic  regime  during  pregnancy. 

Early  Marriages. — It  has  become  a  custom  in  this 
country  to  discourage  early  marriages.  The  higher  edu- 
cation of  women,  which  keeps  many  in  colleges  away 
into  the  third  decade  of  their  age;  the  economic  inde- 
pendence of  women  who  find  lucrative  employment, 
which  they  are  unwilling  to  sacrifice  for  the  duties  of 
married  life;  and  a  general  tendency  toward  lengthen- 
ing the  period  of  "freedom,"  have  contributed  their 
share  to  this  condition.  On  the  part  of  the  young  man 
it  is  the  desire  to  place  himself  firmly  on  the  ground  of 
economic  independence  in  the  fierce  struggle  for  exist- 
ence which  prompts  him  to  postpone  the  founding  of  a 
family,  with  the  added  responsibilities.  These  causes 
may  be  understood,  even  though  they  are  deplorable. 
Another  less  reasonable  cause  is  the  disinclination  of 
young  people  to  put  up  with  a  modest  manner  of  Hfe  in 
the  beginning.  They  do  not  know  or  care  for  the  joy 
of  building  up,  by  happy  co-operation,  a  home  of  their 
own  which  is  distinctly  the  expression  of  their  own  evo- 
lution in  the  married  state.  They  think  that  the  style 
and  luxury  which  some  of  them  have  enjoyed  in  their 


EUGENIC  CONSIDERATIONS  409 

parents'  home  are  indispensable  to  their  happiness;  they 
want  to  begin  where  the  old  folks  have  left  off. 

But  postponement  of  marriage  is  a  sad  thing  in  many- 
ways.  The  first  fire  of  youth  is  burnt  out  when  the 
young  man  finally  takes  his  bride  into  their  common 
home;  life  has  already  been  tasted  at  many  points,  and 
not  always  in  the  purest  sense.  The  physical  develop- 
ment of  the  woman  who  waits  to  be  married  late  is 
prejudicial  to  childbirth,  and  at  least  the  first  child  is 
the  sufferer  of  the  consequences. 

As  soon  as  marriage  is  consummated  home  life  begins. 
We  shall  consider  the  "eugenic"  conditions  of  home 
life,  and  the  circumstances  which  determine  a  healthy 
growth  of  childhood  in  the  home,  in  the  next  chapter, 
briefly,  at  least. 


CHAPTER  XX 

HOME  LIFE  AND  HOME  EDUCATION 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  treat  exhaustively  in 
this  book  all  the  problems  under  this  head.  Only  a  few 
salient  points  can  be  mentioned,  leaving  the  bulk  of  the 
argument  to  other  opportunities.^ 

Unwelcome  Children. — One  of  the  saddest  spectacles 
in  any  home  is  the  unwelcome  child — the  child  that 
came  after  unsuccessful  efforts  were  made  to  abort  it. 
It  is  invariably  doomed  to  develop  unwholesomely  in 
some  way.  While,  under  very  special  circurnstances,  it 
may  be  permissible  to  prevent  conception  (there  is  a 
movement  among  a  number  of  well-known  and  well- 
meaning  sociologists  to  have  "regulation  of  births"  by 
preventive  measures  legalized),  it  is  nothing  short  of 
criminal  to  kill  the  budding  life.  Artificial  abortion  is 
justly  placed  on  the  statute-books  of  all  civilized  com- 
munities as  a  crime  against  life  and  society.  It  is  un- 
fortunate enough  when  the  condition  of  the  mother 
should  cause  still-births  and  miscarriages.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  these  conditions  may  affect  the  physical  and 
mental  health  of  the  children  who  are  born  after  such 
birth-failures. 

The  percentage  of  reported  still-births  and  miscar- 
riages is  higher  than  may  be  thought,  and  it  must  be 

1  Parts  of  this  chapter,  in  a  somewhat  different  form,  were  first  pub- 
lished in  The  Mother's  Magazine. 

410 


HOME   LIFE  AND   HOME   EDUCATION        411 

remembered  that  most  of  the  artificial  killings  of  em- 
bryos, and  of  abortions,  are  kept  secret.  This  is  a  dis- 
grace to  modern  civilization. 

No  one  ought  to  enter  the  state  of  matrimony  who 
is  not  willing  and  anxious  to  take  the  responsibility  of 
married  life,  of  parenthood.  In  choosing  a  husband  or 
a  bride,  be  sure  that  your  prospective  Hfe  partner  loves 
children  and  wants  children.  Marriage  is  not  merely  a 
physical  union  of  the  sexes;  it  is  a  sacred  union  for  the 
propagation  of  the  race  in  which  both  partners  should 
wish  to  contribute  what  is  best  in  their  physical,  mental, 
and  ethical  selves. 

"Marriage  is  a  matter  of  more  worth 
Than  to  be  dealt  in  by  attorneyship." 

— Henry  VI. 

The  Sacrament  of  Matrimony. — In  other  words,  it  is 
infinitely  more  than  a  mere  civic  contract.  It  is  as  much 
a  spiritual  union  as  it  is  a  union  of  bodies  and  hearts. 
Shakespeare,  like  many  others,  calls  *'God  the  best 
maker  of  all  marriages";  and  truly,  were  it  not  for  a 
divine  spark  to  electrify  the  emotional  relations  between 
husband  and  wife,  these  relations  were  little  more  than 
animal  passions.  The  very  purpose  of  matrimony, 
physiologically  speaking,  viz.,  the  propagation  of  the 
human  race,  the  production  of  offspring,  is  in  its  very 
essence  an  approach  toward  the  divine  privilege  of  cre- 
ativeness.  The  sweetness  and  the  miracle  of  this  ever- 
new  creation  of  human  life,  full  of  promise  and  poten- 
tialities, can  never  be  expressed  in  its  completeness  by 
mere  words.  It  can  only  be  felt,  and  constitutes  that 
sacred  bliss  which  makes  human  love  and  marriage  the 
sweetest  thing  on  earth;  that  which  sanctifies  the  nup- 


412  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

tial  relations  as  much  as  it  does  the  love  of  parent  for 
child.  It  is  indeed  difficult  to  say  which  is  the  holier 
and  more  felicitous  thing — the  love  of  parent  for  child 
or  the  love  of  husband  and  wife.  They  are  both  one, 
one  intimately  interwoven  with  the  other.  Milton  hails 
"wedded  love"  as  the  "mysterious  law,  the  true  source 
of  human  offspring" — for  wedded  love  has  this  distinc- 
tion from  sexual  hcense  that  it  recognizes  the  full  dig- 
nity and  the  happy  but  awe-inspiring  responsibility  of 
this  union  of  man  and  woman.  Entering  upon  it,  the 
married  couple  at  once  assume  grave  functions,  not  only 
toward  each  other  but  toward  the  expected  offspring, 
and  by  force  of  these  parental  functions,  they  assume 
a  tremendous  obligation  toward  humankind,  present  and 
future.  Sexual  license  dreads  the  consequences,  or 
ignores  them.  With  it  children  are  an  accident  to  be 
avoided.  In  wedlock  the  advent  of  the  child  marks 
the  completion  of  happiness. 

Health  of  the  Prospective  Mother. — It  should  not  be 
necessary  to  assert  with  special  emphasis  that  women 
must,  during  their  pregnancy,  endeavor  to  secure  for 
themselves  the  most  auspicious  hygienic  conditions. 
Too  many,  alas,  enter  into  this  state  poorly  equipped 
physically.  From  a  circular  letter  of  the  "National 
Consumers'  League"  the  following  two  paragraphs  paint 
the  picture  of  starved  girls  who,  when  plunging  them- 
selves into  the  current  of  love  and  marriage,  will  be  apt 
to  starve  their  offspring  in  the  womb : 

"Sometimes  I  just  long  for  a  good  thirty-cent  meal,"  said  a 
girl  who  was  earning  $6  a  week.  "But  I  never  have  the  price 
in  my  pocketbook.  I  get  so  tired  of  those  fifteen-cent  dinners 
year  in  and  year  out,  that  I  think  often  I'd  rather  not  eat  at 
aU." 


HOME  LIFE  AND   HOME  EDUCATION        413 

This  hopelessness — the  feeling  that  expenditures  must  forever 
be  hedged  about  by  petty  savings,  stands  out  most  prominently 
in  stories  gathered  from  girls  in  stores  and  factories.  Their  bud- 
gets mirror  starved  and  dreary  lives. 

It  is,  of  course,  not  only  the  lowly  girl  who  is  thus 
doomed  to  prejudice  her  offspring,  but  many  mothers 
of  means  injure  their  vitality  during  this  most  impor- 
tant period.  Gay  women  who  will  not  forego  the  plea- 
sures of  the  social  swirl;  pampered  women  who  never 
give  their  bodies  a  chance  to  function  actively  and  vig- 
orously will  be  responsible  for  the  production  of  chil- 
dren bearing  the  stigma  of  weakness  from  birth.  Proper 
nutrition  and  exercise,  the  following  of  the  most  patent 
laws  of  health,  are  necessary  to  secure  for  the  unborn 
child  such  chances  as  will  grant  him  a  normal  and  effec- 
tive existence. 

Naturally  the  emotional  and  mental  condition  of  the 
mother  during  pregnancy  plays  a  very  important  part. 
Anxieties,  stress  of  emotion,  excitements,  fears,  and 
other  psychic  influences  leading  to  hysteria,  neurasthe- 
nia, and  general  nervous  depletion  are  responsible  for 
much  unhealthy  child  life.  An  unhappy  mother  may 
have  children  predestined  for  unhappiness. 

The  father's  part  during  this  period  is  to  do  all  in  his 
power  to  remove  from  his  wife's  path  all  those  obstacles 
which  would  cause  ill  health  and  unhappiness.  He  has 
two  lives  in  trust,  and  he  should  be  conscious  of  his 
wonderful  privilege  to  watch  over  the  mystery  of  crea- 
tion coming  into  his  own  life — the  rebirth  of  his  own 
self  blended  in  sacred  communion  with  the  personality 
of  another  self  dear  to  him. 

All  these  things  may  sound  commonplace  and  self- 
evident.    The  author  wishes  they  were. 


414  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Care  in  Labor. — Much  and  often  irreparable  damage 
is  done  at  the  birth  of  the  child,  through  unskilful  han- 
dling. The  evils  of  midwifery  are  only  beginning  to  be 
controlled,  through  licensing  midwives  after  examining 
them  for  fitness.  Poorer  mothers  will  for  some  time 
to  come  have  to  rely  upon  midwives,  perhaps,  but  some 
method  should  be  found  to  regulate  assistance  in  labor 
by  proper  legislation,  through  the  agency  of  boards  of 
health,  with  the  obligation  of  immediate  registration  of 
births.  Infection  in  labor,  on  account  of  lack  of  cleanli- 
ness, transmission  of  disease  from  assistant  to  the  par- 
turient or  to  the  child  is  all  too  frequent.  Ophthalmia 
neonatorum,  the  dreaded  disease  dooming  a  child  to 
blindness,  is  as  often  the  result  of  this  cause  as  of  vene- 
real infection  of  the  mother  herself. 

It  will  always  be  best  to  place  a  prospective  mother 
in  charge  of  a  reliable  physician  and  obstetric  nurse. 
Physicians  will  have  to  exercise  great  care  in  employing 
and  supervising  the  nurse;  it  is  the  author's  experience 
that  much  damage  is  done  by  lack  of  judgment  and 
conscientiousness  on  the  part  of  the  nurse — often  en- 
tirely unknown  to  the  physician  in  charge.  The  mother 
rarely  has  the  physical  and  mental  strength  to  resist  the 
insidious  influence  of  an  injudicious  nurse,  and  is  too 
much  at  the  latter's  mercy  to  have  the  courage  to  com- 
plain to  physician  or  husband.  It  is  the  husband's  plain 
duty  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  secure  for  wife  and  child 
the  best  possible  assistance  at  this  critical  moment. 
Often  it  is  most  advisable  to  transfer  the  mother  from 
the  home  to  a  well-directed  maternity  hospital. 

Of  the  care  of  mother  and  child  after  the  first  weeks 
of  confinement,  much  has  been  written.  It  is  unneces- 
sary here  to  duplicate  what  can  be  easily  read  in  books 


HOME  LIFE  AND  HOME  EDUCATION        415 

intended  as  mothers'  guides,  and  written  by  reliable 
authors,  like  Kerley,  Holt,  and  others.  But  it  may  be 
suggested  that  from  the  date  of  the  child's  birth  the 
family  physician  should  be  considered  a  steady  and  con- 
fidential adviser,  not  merely  to  be  called  in  when  the 
chUd  seems  sick,  but  to  regulate,  with  the  idea  of  pre- 
vention, a  child's  health  life  continuously. 

A  Healthy  and  Happy  Home  Life. — No  "eugenic" 
childbirth  is  possible  where  there  is  not  a  healthy,  happy 
home  life.  It  goes  without  saying  that  the  husband  is 
one  of  the  factors  in  the  making  of  this  home  Ufe.  But, 
after  all,  it  is  woman  who  is  the  home-maker.  She  de- 
termines the  spirit  of  the  home.  She  is  the  keeper  of 
her  husband,  whom  she  makes  or  unmakes.  It  is  usu- 
ally wrong  to  place  the  exclusive  blame  of  a  husband's 
erring  ways  to  his  debit — man  is  wax  in  the  hand  of 
woman.  The  worst  man  will,  if  his  woman  cares,  fight 
the  battles  of  Hfe  for  her,  and  will  be  swayed  in  his 
actions  and  emotions  by  her  praise  or  disapproval. 
Since  women  have  sought  so  much  activity  outside  of 
the  home;  since  they  have  decried  the  home  duties  as 
menial  and  as  drudgery;  since  the  individual  home  has 
given  way,  in  so  many  instances,  to  hfe  in  "family 
hotels,"  which  are,  in  their  way,  as  detrimental  to  the 
sacredness  of  the  hearth  as  are  tenements  and  slums, 
home  Hfe  has  begun  to  depreciate.  Even  the  ordinary 
apartments  are  not  homes  for  children;  many  landlords 
distinctly  bar  children  from  their  premises,  or  restrict 
their  play  to  common  nurseries.  Most  homes,  for  that 
matter,  are  not  so  conducted  that  they  offer  the  child  a 
real  home.  They  are  homes  for  the  conveniences  of 
adults;  the  children  are  often  really  in  the  way,  and 
have  to  be  put  out  of  the  way,  in  the  comer,  or  to  bed, 


416  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

so  that  the  adults  may  have  their  life  opportunities. 
And  when  the  adults  want  to  go  out,  unless  they  can 
hand  over  their  children  to  some  more  or  less  rehable 
and  competent  relative,  older  child,  or  employee,  they 
drag  them  along  to  places  of  amusement  and  noise, 
bringing  them  home  at  all  hours  of  the  day  or  night, 
exposing  them  to  a  host  of  physically  and  mentally 
imhygienic  conditions. 

The  Profession  of  Parenthood. — Parental  functions 
have  rarely  been  considered  in  the  Hght  of  professional 
duties.  Because  every  one  may  be  a  parent,  the  dis- 
charge of  parental  functions  has  never  impressed  people 
as  being  a  serious  business  which  must  be  learned  like 
any  other  business.  And  yet,  upon  a  proper  discharge 
of  these  duties  depends  not  only  the  happiness  of  mil- 
lions of  homes,  the  fate  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  little 
children,  their  very  life  and  death,  their  morality  or 
criminality,  but  even  the  future  of  all  the  generations 
to  come,  the  future  of  our  race  on  the  earth. 

There  seems  to  be  an  implied  supposition  that  as 
soon  as  a  man  or  a  woman  becomes  a  parent,  the  abiUty 
to  deal  with  the  new-born  child  will  come  to  them  by 
special  revelation  or  by  instinct.  It  is  true  there  exists 
an  instinctive  predisposition  in  women  to  be  helpful  to 
tender  babes;  nature  has  indeed  endowed  them,  like  the 
mothers  among  the  brute  creation,  with  those  qualities 
that  enable  them  to  understand  intuitively  the  needs  of 
children  better  than  does  the  average  man.  But  this 
instinct  is  of  a  somewhat  general  character;  it  shows 
itself  as  a  matter  of  emotion  rather  than  of  intellect.  A 
woman  may  devote  much  tender  care  to  a  child,  with 
the  motherly  instinct  which  is  her  natural  privilege,  and 
yet  injure  her  charge  more  than  it  would  have  been 


HOME  LIFE  AND   HOME   EDUCATION        417 

injured  had  she  left  it  entirely  alone.  In  our  complex 
conditions  of  life,  instinct  unguided  by  experience  and 
understanding  is  apt  to  be  misleading,  especially  as  an 
adult  has  acquired  so  many  artificial  and  conventional 
habits  that  natural  instincts  often  manifest  themselves 
in  a  vitiated  form. 

There  is  another  way  in  which  women  are,  in  a  gen- 
eral manner,  preparing  for  the  motherly  duties  that 
may  await  them — hy  observation  and  absorption  of  what 
they  see  their  elders  do.  Even  in  their  doll  play,  which 
is  another  form  in  which  the  native  instinct  asserts  it- 
self, little  girls  practise  many  maternal  duties,  and  it  is 
to  be  deplored  that  little  boys  are  not  rather  encour- 
aged than  discouraged  to  play  with  dolls,  also.  For  it 
is  a  great  mistake  to  think  that  the  father's  tenderness 
and  educational  co-operation  can  be  spared  in  the 
bringing  up  of  children,  or  that  he  needs  less  prepara- 
tion and  enlightenment  in  regard  to  his  sacred  functions 
than  does  the  mother. 

Yet  observation,  absorption,  and  imitation  do  not 
suffice  for  apprenticeship  in  any  line  of  human  endeavor. 
He  would  be  a  genius,  indeed,  who  would  by  imitation 
alone  be  able  to  make  a  perfect  shoe,  or  plan  a  bridge, 
or  produce  a  truly  great  work  of  art.  There  are  princi- 
ples to  be  studied,  there  is  need  of  guidance  and  sys- 
tematic practice,  there  must  be  purposeful  effort  on 
the  basis  of  the  experience  of  teachers. 

Frobel  suggested  that  every  girl  should  be  expected 
to  take  a  course  somewhat  along  the  lines  of  kindergar- 
ten training,  to  prepare  for  motherhood.  One  of  the 
first  schools  having  for  their  special  object  the  training 
of  nurses  and  mothers  was  founded  in  England — the 
"House  of  Educators,"  in  Ambleside.     The  "Frobel- 


418.  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Haus"  in  Berlin  has  long  ago  introduced  similar  courses. 
During  the  last  two  or  three  decades  the  new  impulse 
which  is  due  to  the  child-study  movement  has  had  the 
result  of  arousing  many  parents  in  different  parts  of  the 
civilized  world  to  a  clearer  appreciation  of  their  duties 
and  responsibilities,  and  also  of  their  sad  lack  of  prep- 
aration for  their  sacred  functions.  Parents'  and  moth- 
ers' societies  have  sprung  up  and  give  promise  of  much 
helpful  work.  Lately  a  school  of  mothercraft  has  been 
established  in  New  York.  Chicago  University  has  quite 
recently  offered  a  college  course  in  motherhood.  And  a 
new  literature  has  sprung  up  intended  to  teach  to  pros- 
pective parents  the  gospel  of  the  child. 

Fundamental  Realities. — "The  home  is  for  the  child," 
said  Reverend  George  R.  Merrill,  of  Minneapohs,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Congregational  Club  of  Minnesota,  some 
years  ago.  "It  is  not  fashioned  by  statute.  It  is  such 
a  union  of  a  man  and  a  woman  that  in  very  truth  they 
have  become  a  unit.  The  child  is  the  expression  and 
exponent  in  miniature  of  realities  actually  joined  in 
such  a  union." 

These  realities  are  hereditary  and  environmental. 
The  problem  of  heredity  has  already  been  discussed  in 
these  pages.  Only  a  few  things  may  further  be  said 
here  under  this  heading. 

Hereditary  Elements. — It  has  been  wittily  said  that  a 
child  must  be  educated  a  hundred  years  before  his  birth. 
This  seeming  paradox  points  to  the  vast  influence  of 
transmitted  elements.  A  child  is  the  last  link  of  a 
chain  the  beginning  of  which  is  lost  in  the  dim  past. 
He  will  reproduce  race  characteristics,  national  pecu- 
liarities, family  traits.  They  are  all  born  with  him. 
In  the  different  issues  from  the  same  stock  the  mixture 


HOME  LIFE   AND   HOME   EDUCATION        419 

of  elements  will  vary,  producing  a  multitude  of  possi- 
bilities of  which  the  separate  individuals  will  be  the 
exponents.  In  fact,  no  child  is  bom  into  this  world 
under  exactly  the  same  conditions  as  another,  even 
though  he  be  born  from  the  same  parents.  Each  new 
birth  represents  a  different  period  in  the  parents'  life, 
and  new  conditions  of  the  conjugal  union.  Some  of  the 
hereditary  elements  are  physical,  others  are  emotional 
or  mental.  It  is  sometimes  almost  amusing  to  observe 
how  faithfully  children  revive  in  their  young  lives  the 
peculiarities  of  their  progenitors — the  nervous  twitching 
of  the  eyes  belonging  to  some  great-aunt;  the  form  of 
the  nose  is  characteristic  of  a  grandfather;  the  smile  is 
the  mother's;  the  quick  temper  the  father's,  and  the 
genius  an  uncle's.  We  inherit  from  our  ancestors  ten- 
dencies and  potentialities  of  infinite  variety.  In  nature 
there  is  no  equality — there  is  the  greatest  possible  in- 
equality. 

As  parents  we  must  be  constantly  on  our  guard  lest 
our  life  habits  have  a  disastrous  effect  upon  our  chil- 
dren's future.  Many  fathers  whose  nervous  system 
has  become  depleted  in  the  mad  rush  for  gain  have 
left  a  pernicious  inheritance  of  defectiveness.  Intem- 
perate habits  in  the  parents  may  result  in  constitutional 
weakness  in  the  offspring.  There  are  many  mothers 
suffering  from  chronic  fatigue:  be  it  from  overwork  in 
the  home  or  in  service;  be  it  the  effect  of  overstimulating 
their  nervous  system  by  overstudy  or  by  the  excitement 
consequent  upon  the  pursuance  of  amusement  and 
"social  duties" — their  children  will  pay  the  penalty  of 
their  mothers'  folly  or  misfortune. 

Apart  from  those  habits  and  conditions  of  the  parents 
which  have  a  hereditary  significance,  there  are  those, 


420  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

and  their  number  is  legion,  which  are  continued  by 
imitation.  Children  are  immensely  imitative  and  sug- 
gestible. Every  word  we  speak,  every  expression  of 
our  face,  every  gesture  we  make — in  fact,  all  we  do  finds 
a  ready  echo  in  the  child's  receptive  mind.  It  has  been 
justly  claimed  that  many  a  trait  which  we  thought 
hereditary  was  really  acquired  by  imitation.  This  leads 
over  to  the  second  group  of  influences,  those  of  environ- 
ment. 

Environmental  Factors. — Under  environment  we  un- 
derstand all  those  impressions  which  the  child  receives 
after  birth,  and  which  help  in  shaping  his  character. 
They  are  generally  divided  into  two  classes:  those  that 
are  conveyed  to  the  child  with  a  direct  educational  pur- 
pose, such  as  teachings  and  admonitions  at  home  and 
in  school,  and  those  which  affect  the  child  without  such 
direction.  The  silent,  undirected  influences  of  the  more 
or  less  passive  environment — the  influences  of  example, 
of  conditions,  of  traditions,  of  experiences — are,  as  a 
rule,  much  more  numerous  and  much  more  effective 
than  the  other.  Even  in  the  educational  efforts  of 
parents  and  teachers,  there  is  a  large  admixture  of  in- 
voluntary elements  so  that  no  hard-and-fast  line  can  be 
drawn  between  the  two  groups  of  environmental  influ- 
ences. 

Let  us  be  quite  clear  about  the  extent  of  these  influ- 
ences. A  picture  in  the  nursery  may  have  as  much 
formative  effect  upon  the  child's  imagination  as  an 
actual  scene  witnessed  in  the  street,  or  a  visit  to  the 
circus.  The  parents'  lodgings,  the  streets  traversed  in 
the  daily  walks,  the  locality  where  the  parents  reside; 
their  immediate  and  more  distant  surroundings;  the 
State;  the  country; — and  starting  again  at  the  home 


HOME  LIFE  AND   HOME   EDUCATION        421 

along  a  different  line — the  parents,  the  brothers  and 
sisters,  the  servants,  aunts,  uncles,  relatives,  and  kins- 
people  in  general;  friends  and  acquaintances;  the  milk- 
man and  the  grocer;  the  people  in  the  street,  the  citizens 
of  the  State — all  these  elements  help  to  mould  the  child's 
soul,  and  were  it  merely  by  their  passive  presence  and 
example,  not  to  speak  of  active  influences.  All  these 
factors  have  a  pecuHar  educational  significance — they 
constitute  the  child's  setting.  The  spirit  of  the  home 
and  the  parents'  relation  to  the  world  of  human  en- 
deavor about  them;  the  habits  and  conventions  of  the 
p>eople;  the  moral  and  intellectual  atmosphere  of  the 
community,  all  leave  their  mark  upon  the  impression- 
able mind  of  the  growing  child.  This  demonstrates  very 
forcibly  that  while  the  child  can  never  be  too  cautious 
in  the  selection  of  his  parents,  the  parents  in  their  turn 
can  never  be  too  solicitous  in  the  selection  and  improve- 
ment of  the  environment  in  which  they  place  their  child. 
They  must  naturally  have  a  deep  interest  in  all  public 
affairs  touching  upon  public  welfare  and  the  healthy 
condition  of  the  community  in  which  they  live,  since 
every  tree  planted  in  a  public  park,  every  advancement 
in  the  public  education  and  administration — or  every 
wretched  outcast  met  with  in  the  public  streets,  every 
evidence  of  iniquity  or  corruption  in  the  management 
of  public  affairs — will  influence  their  child's  salvation. 
To  any  one  who  wants  to  have  a  clear-cut  pen-picture 
of  the  machinery  back  of  our  politics;  of  the  bribery, 
corruption,  and  graft  which  are  so  unhappily  character- 
istic of  community  life  in  our  great  republic  (and  for  that 
matter,  in  other  countries  quite  as  much);  of  the  petty 
selfishness  that  rules  our  so-called  Christian  civiliza- 
tion, the  author  recommends  the  reading  of  a  powerful 


422  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

little  story  published  in  the  July,  191 5,  issue  of  McClure's 
Magazine,  "The  Honesty  of  Honest  Tom,"  by  the  well- 
known  writer,  Lincoln  Steffens.  We  are  living  in  a 
commonwealth  in  which  it  requires  the  most  strenuous 
efiforts  of  many  broad-minded  people,  organized  in  the 
National  Child  Labor  Committee,  to  fight — more  or 
less  successfully — the  constant  practice  of  many  of  our 
manufacturers  and  business  men  to  exploit  child  life  in 
the  most  ruthless  manner.  The  revelations  of  the  work- 
ers of  this  organization  have  been  appalling.  Do  we 
want  to  save  children  from  becoming  diseased  and 
broken  down  before  their  prime,  to  pile  up  the  refuse- 
heap  of  human  society?  Do  we  want  to  rely  upon  or- 
ganized society  to  establish  and  maintain  charity  and 
correction  measures  to  deal  with  the  victims  of  bad 
economic  conditions  and  of  exploitation  by  unscrupulous 
employers  ? 

This  is  part  of  the  "environment"  in  which  our  chil- 
dren grow  up.  Is  it  not  the  solemn  duty  of  every  parent 
to  give  his  and  her  most  consecrated  effort  to  wipe  out 
social  iniquity  and  to  purge  society  of  those  germs  of 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  disease  which  are  so  likely 
to  affect  their  own  children?  Alas,  in  only  too  many 
cases  parents  themselves  are  exploiters  of  their  chil- 
dren's bodies  and  souls;  and  the  deceptions  they  prac- 
tise, the  Hes  they  tell  and  make  their  children  tell,  are 
not  conducive  to  implanting  in  the  youthful  minds  a 
love  of  truth,  integrity,  and  uprightness.  The  moral 
principles  of  the  average  home  are  rather  hazy. 

Children  Are  Not  the  Property  of  Their  Parents. — 
The  old  notion  that  children  are  the  private  property 
of  their  parents;  in  other  words,  that  parents  have 
absolute  control  over  them — whether  they  are  to  go  to 


HOME  LIFE  AND  HOME  EDUCATION        423 

school  or  not,  as  to  what  profession  the  children  must 
choose,  whom  they  are  to  marry,  what  they  must  be- 
lieve and  profess,  etc. — this  idea  is  an  exploded  theory. 
There  are  such  things  as  children's  rights,  rights  quite 
inalienable,  and  among  them  are  life,  Uberty,  and  hap- 
piness. Since  the  days  when  a  Roman  father  could  con- 
demn his  new-bom  babe  to  death  if  it  displeased  him, 
the  recognition  of  these  rights  has  gradually  become 
incorporated  in  the  statute-books  of  nations.  Compul- 
sory education  laws,  child-labor  laws,  and  the  like,  are 
among  the  measures  most  notably  intended  for  the  pro- 
tection of  helpless  children.  We  may  educate  and 
counsel,  guide  and  inspire,  but  all  our  efiforts  must  be 
directed  toward  enabling  our  children  to  become  inde- 
pendent and  self-reliant,  toward  developing  their  native 
individuaUty  which  we  are  bound  to  respect.  We  have 
no  right  to  force  our  child  into  conformity  with  our 
own  preconceived  notions  and  prejudices;  to  predestine 
our  child  for  a  career  which  strikes  our  fancy  or  ajjpeals 
to  our  individual  standard,  or  even  to  the  popular 
standard,  of  "practical,"  conventional  profitableness; 
but  we  must  endeavor  to  discover  his  natural  bent,  and 
develop  the  child  along  the  line  which  nature  has  f>ointed 
out  for  him.  Through  heredity  and  imitation  the  child 
will  anyway  be  somewhat  inclined  to  reproduce  his 
parents'  type  in  a  measure.  But  we  may  not  implant 
in  the  plastic  soul  of  the  young  our  own  opinions,  likes, 
and  dislikes;  we  must  studiously  avoid  prejudicing  the 
child,  and  must  give  him  the  freedom  to  form  his  own 
opinions  and  individual  attitude,  and  must  help  him  to 
develop  that  strength  of  character  which  is  needful  for 
the  maintenance  and  manly  defense  of  a  conviction 
which  is  the  result  of  spiritual  growth.    We  can  never 


424  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

hope  to  transmit  to  him  in  their  fuhiess  those  spiritual 
realities  which  have  become  powerful  in  our  own  lives, 
as  the  composite  result  of  our  strivings  for  perfection. 
All  we  can  do  is  to  imbue  the  child  with  the  same  long- 
ing for  perfection,  with  the  same  love  of  the  beautiful, 
the  true,  and  the  good,  which  has  inspired  us  to  form 
those  ideals  which  give  purpose  to  oui  own  standard 
of  excellence,  and  which  may  lead  them  perchance  to 
estabhsh  a  higher,  nobler,  more  enlightened  standard 
than  ours.  Every  new  generation  stands  in  need  of  ad- 
vanced ideals  so  that  the  progress  of  the  world  may 
continue. 

Individualization  in  the  Home. — ^To  do  justice  to  our 
children  does  not  mean  that  we  must  treat  them  all 
alike.  Quite  the  contrary.  Each  child  has  a  very  dis- 
tinct personaHty  of  his  own  which  must  be  carefully 
studied  and  intelligently  understood.  Even  children  in 
the  same  family  usually  differ  widely  in  talents  and 
temperament,  in  morals  and  moods,  according  to  the 
varying  conditions  under  which  they  came  into  this 
world.  By  studying  their  interests,  in  plays  and  games, 
in  books  and  studies,  in  company  with  others  and  in 
their  occupations,  we  shall  learn  to  know  them.  Each 
one  wants  to  be  treated  in  accordance  with  his  own  par- 
ticular needs — justice  means  an  adaptation  to  these 
needs,  an  adjustment  of  educational  effort  to  the  indi- 
vidual case.  Such  justice  is  not  a  simple  thing,  and 
truly  educational  treatment  at  home  cannot  be  easily 
reduced  to  a  patent  formula.  The  parents'  closest  at- 
tention and  interest  are  required.  If  parents  would 
give  some  of  the  time  they  devote  to  the  fluctuations  of 
the  stock-market  or  of  the  fashions  to  a  loving  observa- 
tion of  the  fluctuations  of  the  soul  activities  in  their 


HOME  LIFE  AND   HOME  EDUCATION        425 

children,  they  would  render  a  greater  service  to  them 
and  to  the  race  at  large  than  by  attempting  to  control 
the  price  of  wheat  or  by  conducting  a  charity  baU. 
Frobel's  word,  "Lasst  uns  unsern  Kindern  leben!" 
means  that  we  must  live  not  only  for  our  children,  but 
with  them  and  among  them,  so  that  we  may  enter  into 
their  very  souls  and  understand  the  subtle  workings  of 
their  budding  minds.  Only  then  can  we  do  them  justice. 
Education  in  the  Nursery. — The  nursery  should  be  a 
sacred  place  in  every  home.  Here  past  and  present 
join  hands  in  the  growing  and  maturing  of  the  child. 
In  the  child  of  to-day  we  may  observe  the  gradual  un- 
folding of  civilizing  powers  and  factors  which  have  been 
at  work  from  the  dawn  of  civilization  to  the  most  mod- 
em phases  of  human  Hfe.  The  evolution  of  the  indi- 
vidual repeats  the  experiences  of  the  race.  As  the  sav- 
age man  was  surrounded  by  a  world  of  wonders  and 
mysteries  which  he  only  vaguely  divined  and  which 
filled  him  with  terror  and  strange  longings,  so  the  infant 
finds  himself  confronted  with  a  world  of  forces  which 
he  realizes  but  indistinctly,  and  whose  indefinite  and 
infinite  content  and  extent  he  learns  gradually  to  reduce 
to  symbolic  terms,  in  his  own  consciousness,  through 
language,  measurement,  organization,  co-ordination. 
He  learns  to  grasp  the  mysteries  of  his  life  by  grasping 
with  his  feeble  hand  the  objects  which  are  nearest  to 
him — through  them  he  will  learn  to  understand  and  in- 
terpret the  possibilities  of  the  infinite.  The  nursery  is 
a  temple  in  which  the  divine  manifests  itself  in  its  eter- 
nal creativeness;  it  is  a  laboratory  in  which  a  new  soul 
is  formed  by  the  thousand  and  one  experiments  which 
the  child  undertakes  instinctively  to  build  up  a  con- 
ceptual world  through  the  medium  of  his  senses,  from 


426  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

the  messages  which  the  outside  world  sends  him  inces- 
santly along  the  wires  of  his  nervous  system. 

In  the  nursery  the  foundation  is  laid  for  all  future 
education.  During  the  first  seven  years  of  his  life  a 
child  assimilates  more,  ''learns"  more,  than  in  all  his 
subsequent  life.  Instinctively  the  child  is  constantly 
studying,  experimenting,  storing  up  experiences,  con- 
cepts, and  ideas.  There  is  divine  wisdom  in  his  activity, 
but  ignorant  and  unsympathetic  parents  only  too  often 
counteract  his  natural  instincts  when  they  might  do  so 
much  toJielp  them  and  guide  them  intelligently.  Brain- 
less chatterboxes  are  often  thought  bright  by  foolish 
parents,  and  coddled  and  indulged  in;  the  noisy  activity 
of  the  normal  child  is  often  denounced  as  "naughtiness." 
In  the  nursery  much  can  be  done  for  the  training  of 
the  observing  powers;  there  should  be  plenty  of  objects 
for  manual  and  visual  inspection.  Children  will  and 
must  touch  all  things,  try  all  things.  Their  muscular 
activity  must  not  be  checked;  it  means  health  and 
knowledge  to  them.  Rather  let  us  dispense  with  costly 
and  superfluous  bric-a-brac  if  we  are  afraid  it  will  be 
broken.  Let  us  rather  sacrifice  a  cherished  piece  of 
breakable  material  than  the  valuable  information  your 
child  will  receive  from  handling  it.  Bric-^-brac  costs 
only  money.  Checking  the  child's  instinctive  tendency 
for  inspection  may  cost  a  soul. 

And  let  us  play  with  the  child — ^not  so  much  by  di- 
recting his  play,  but  by  entering  into  his  spirit  and 
helping  him  to  develop  all  the  tremendous  possibilities 
and  potentialities  of  his  play  instinct.  Play  symptom- 
atizes  the  evolution  of  a  child's  psyche,  in  its  various 
stages,  from  savagery  to  altruistic  humanity.  Playing 
with  dolls,  /.  i.,  is  not  only  indicative  of  the  parental 


HOME  LIFE  AND  HOME  EDUCATION        427 

instinct  in  children,  but  also  represents  an  early  stage 
in  religious  development.  The  endowing  of  lifeless 
sticks  and  bundles  of  straw  or  rags  with  personality, 
the  passionate  tendency  to  treat  dolls  as  if  they  were 
real  living  beings,  is  a  relic  of  fetichism  and  idol-worship 
translated  into  childish  conception.  Then  there  is  the 
dramatic  instinct  of  children,  reminding  us  of  the  dawn 
of  poesy  and  hterature.  Children  will  embody,  in  their 
dramatic  fancies,  those  notions  and  aspirations  which 
they  cherish  most  at  the  time.  They  will  prefer,  in 
the  characters  of  drama  and  fiction,  either  those  that 
are  most  Hke  themselves,  or  represent  what  they  feel 
is  wanting  in  them.  This  process  of  involuntary  self- 
projection  will  often  aid  us  in  discovering  the  child's 
real  self  which  he  may  otherwise  try  to  hide  from  our 
prying  eyes. 

Children's  Growth  and  Health. — ^The  foundation  of  a 
sound  development  of  the  child-soul  is  a  healthy  body. 
The  child's  first  right  is  that  of  health.  Many  enough 
children  are  born  into  this  world  burdened  with  inherited 
body-weakness,  suffering  from  the  sins  of  their  fathers 
through  generations.  To  discover  such  inherited  ten- 
dencies is  one  of  the  first  duties  of  a  conscientious  parent 
whose  constant  assistant  and  counsellor  will  be  the 
family  physician.  But  there  are  many  more  dangers 
to  health,  and  the  hygiene  of  child  life  should  be  care- 
fully considered  in  the  home. 

Children  need  plenty  of  Ught,  fresh  air,  freedom  from 
disturbing  influences,  and  proper  nourishment.  As  a 
rule  they  get  little  of  these  essentials,  and  many  of  the 
chronic  troubles  that  harass  our  race  are  due  to  the 
irrational  practices  in  the  nursery.  The  statistics  of 
infant  mortality  are  sadly  instructive.     Children  are 


428  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

often  treated  as  if  they  were  merely  little  men  and 
women,  small  and  undeveloped,  but  essentially  the 
same  as  the  adult.  The  truth  is  that  they  are  quite 
different,  and  that  their  nature  varies  in  often  rapid  suc- 
cession of  periods.  Of  these  periods  each  requires  differ- 
ent treatment.^    Only  a  few  facts  will  be  mentioned  here. 

There  are  several  crises  in  the  development  of  the 
child.  The  first  is  during  the  infant  period.  The  in- 
fant, owing  to  the  predominance  of  the  vegetative  func- 
tions, is  subject  to  gastric  troubles,  which  are  generally 
but  erroneously  attributed  to  teething.  They  are  due 
to  developments  in  the  alimentary  tract,  which  is  as  yet 
too  sensitive  not  to  yield  easily  to  disturbances.  Infant 
nutrition  is  therefore  a  grave  problem.  Malnutrition  is 
one  of  the  most  potent  causes  of  atypical  or  even  abnormal 
development. 

The  years  from  seven  to  nine  are  the  fatigue  period. 
This  is  the  time  when  the  brain  has  attained  almost  its 
full  weight  and  when  the  functional  development  begins. 
The  nervous  system  now  prepares  itself  for  finer  adjust- 
ments. This  period  is  characterized  by  the  child's  easy 
yielding  to  mental  and  physical  fatigue  and  exhaustion. 
Accompanying  there  is  often  the  anomaly  of  a  dilated 
heart,  and  quite  frequently  evidence  of  cardiac  incom- 
petence, such  as  shortness  of  breath  and  readiness  of 
fatigue.  The  danger  lies  in  the  extremely  insidious 
character  of  its  approach;  one  of  the  surest  symptoms 
is  the  appearance  of  general  laziness,  which  must  not  be 
punished,  as  it  often  is.  The  child  should  rather  be 
rested  and  the  demands  upon  his  physical  and  mental 
activity  should  be  temporarily  diminished. 

The  time  of  rest  granted  to  the  child  during  this  and 
1  Cf.  p.  42,  Chapter  III. 


HOME  LIFE  AND  HOME  EDUCATION        420 

the  next  critical  period  must  not  be  counted  as  a  loss; 
contrarily,  timely  rest  will  secure  greater  strength  dur- 
ing the  ascending  periods,  while  irrational  stimulation  at 
these  stages  'unll  produce  a  lasting  weakness. 

The  period  fraught  with  gravest  dangers  and  char- 
acterized by  most  remarkable  developments  is  that  of 
pubescence  and  adolescence.  It  requires  special  treat- 
ment. It  will  repay  the  most  careful  study,  being  an 
age  of  most  important  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
changes. 

The  period  of  infectious  diseases  extends  from  the 
second  to  the  fifteenth  year  of  age.  An  early  recogni- 
tion of  the  symptoms  of  infection,  and  energetic  mea- 
sures against  the  spread  of  these  diseases  would  mean 
much  for  maintaining  a  better  condition  of  public  health 
and  for  reducing  the  death-rate.  But  the  parent  should 
be  especially  interested  in  the  fact  that  infectious  dis- 
eases are  responsible  for  more  other  defects  leading  to 
mental  and  moral  inefficiency  than  is  generally  appre- 
ciated. They  leave  even  those  who  recover  in  a  state 
of  debilitation  which  it  requires  special  efforts  to  over- 
come. Eye  and  ear  defects  are  particularly  frequent 
after-effects,  and  these  in  turn,  as  has  been  shown  be- 
fore in  these  pages,  lead  to  much  mental  and  moral  dis- 
turbance. Again,  impaired  hearing  may  be  due  to 
nasal-pharyngeal  obstructions,  enlarged  tonsils,  and  ade- 
noid vegetations,  which  make  normal  breathing  difficult. 
The  "mouth-breather"  has  a  dull  app>earance  and  is 
really  often  dulled  in  his  mental  activity.  The  dele- 
terious effect  of  cerebrospinal  meningitis,  infantile  paral- 
ysis, and  other  diseases  of  this  kind,  which  have  only 
recently  been  recognized  as  being  infectious,  are  well 
enough  known. 


430  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

It  is  easily  seen  how  necessary  it  is  to  recognize  the 
danger-signals  in  time.  Parents,  like  teachers,  must  ac- 
quire the  art  of  reading  symptoms.  They  must  learn 
to  recognize  the  first  indications  of  disease;  to  know 
whether  the  backbone  is  straight  or  beginning  to  show 
a  curvature;  whether  the  hearing  is  normal  or  impaired; 
whether  their  children's  vision  is  regular  or  not  (head- 
aches are  frequently  caused  by  visual  imperfections), 
etc.  When  the  parents'  knowledge  is  insufiicient,  the 
co-operation  of  the  physician  should  be  secured,  who 
indeed  ought  to  play  a  much  more  important  part  in 
education  than  is  yet  accorded  to  him.  An  ounce  of 
prevention  is. better  than  a  pound  of  cure.  The  physi- 
cian, it  may  be  repeated,  should  appear  in  the  r61e  of  a 
counsellor  and  adviser  before  a  disease  has  had  a  chance 
to  develop  rather  than  in  that  of  a  healer  of  neglected 
trouble.  To  understand  the  development  of  a  child 
and  to  recognize  diseases  in  their  incipient  stages,  fre- 
quent examinations  and  measurements  of  the  children 
are  a  valuable  help:  slight  abnormalities  in  weight,/,  i., 
indicate  possible  functional  disturbance  or  disease  at 
every  stage  of  a  child's  life,  not  only  in  infancy. 

The  hygiene  of  the  nursery,  using  this  term  so  as  to 
include  children  of  all  ages,  is  a  fruitful  field  of  study 
for  parents.  Proper  nutrition  and  clothing,  ventilation 
and  lighting,  proper  seating  and  exercise,  sense  training 
and  mental  exercise — at  home  and  in  school — all  these 
require  careful  attention. 

Abnormal  Developments. — Disease,  as  shown  before, 
is  often  responsible  for  mental  and  moral  aberrations 
and  defects.  The  results  of  careful  examinations  have 
shown  that  precocious  children  are,  as  a  rule,  heavier 
and  dull  children  lighter  than  the  mean  for  a  given  age. 


HOME  LIFE  AND  HOME  EDUCATION        431 

Precocious  children  are  usually  also  taller,  have  larger 
chests  and  wider  heads  than  the  mediocre  and  the  dull. 
No  child  whose  weight  is  below  the  average  should  be 
permitted  to  enter  a  school  grade  beyond  the  average 
of  his  age,  except  after  such  physical  examination  as 
shall  make  it  probable  that  the  child's  strength  is  equal 
to  the  strain.  Physical  weakness  often  produces  an 
abnormal  mental  state.  In  illness  or  convalescence,  or 
when  suffering  from  hunger  and  fatigue,  most  of  us  are 
more  irritable  than  when  we  have  our  full  strength. 
Selfishness,  untruthfulness,  ill  temper,  and  the  like,  have 
very  frequently  a  pathological  basis.  This  is  so  char- 
acteristically true  that  we  may  in  most  cases  consider 
moral  aberration  as  conclusive  evidence  of  some  physical 
defect.  Thus,  if  you  should  discover  in  your  child  some 
sudden  moral  discrepancy,  do  not  run  for  the  rod,  but 
for  the  physician.  But  be  careful  as  to  what  you  call 
a  moral  discrepancy.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  so- 
called  naughty  child  is  the  normal  child,  and  the  fault 
lies  with  you  who  do  not  understand  him,  not  with  the 
child.  The  healthy  child  must  be  active,  noisy,  bois- 
terous; beware  of  the  quiet  child  which  is  so  often 
praised  and  petted.  Refinement  and  self-control  must 
not  be  forced  before  their  time.  There  are  normally 
quiet  children,  dreamers,  true  enough;  but  the  majority 
of  quiet  children  are  more  or  less  atypical,  subnormal, 
or  abnormal.  They  are  either  dull,  or  painfully  preco- 
cious, or  oversensitive,  or  diseased,  fatigued,  or  bored. 
Be  thankful  for  your  noisy,  healthy  little  savage ! 

Do  not  try  to  hasten  your  child's  development;  do  not 
give  him  a  hothouse  culture;  do  not  drive  him;  do  not 
suppress  his  natural  instincts !  Let  him  be  a  child  as  long 
as  he  may,  lengthening  the  "days  of  plastic  infancy." 


432  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Misunderstanding  a  Child. — How  easily  is  a  child 
misunderstood  because  parents  apply  an  adult  standard 
to  his  doings !  The  following  may  be  quoted  from  an 
article  written  by  Miss  Ellen  M.  Haskell,  years  ago,  to 
illustrate  the  point  (Case  73): 

Reminiscences  sometimes  disclose  the  fact  that  the  conduct 
of  children  is  grossly  misinterpreted  by  adults.  The  writer  of 
the  last-quoted  record  relates  that  one  summer  day  she  went 
to  a  wood-lot  on  her  father's  farm  to  spend  an  hour  in  being  a 
fairy.  To  aid  her  fancy  she  went  without  her  dress,  her  neck 
and  arms  being  thus  uncovered.  On  her  return  she  was  seen 
by  her  father,  who  somewhat  sternly  ordered  her  into  the  house 
to  put  on  her  dress.  His  manner  made  her  feel  that  she  had 
behaved  in  a  manner  unbecoming  to  a  modest  girl,  and  an  hour 
of  grief  and  shame  followed  her  innocent  and  poetic  enjoyment. 
The  readiness  to  think  evil  of  children  arises,  in  part,  no  doubt, 
from  the  great  desire  on  the  part  of  parents  that  their  children 
shaU  be  free  from  faults  and  vices,  but  also  in  part  from  a  for- 
getfulness  of  their  own  youth.  A  bad  motive  is  attributed  to 
a  child  simply  because  in  an  adult  a  bad  motive  would  underlie 
a  similar  act,  when  in  truth  the  child  is  utterly  incapable,  intel- 
lectually, of  the  conceptions  involved. 

Truthfulness  and  Obedience. — Truthfulness  and  obe^ 
dience  are  thought  to  be  the  prime  virtues  of  children. 
But  if  you  find  your  child  to  be  lying  to  you,  do  not  be 
promptly  excited  and  indignant.  First  investigate  the 
possible  cause.  Lying  may  be  due  to  a  phase  in  the 
child's  physical  development;  it  may  be  the  result  of  a 
vivid  imagination  unguided  by  the  power  of  discrimina- 
tion. There  are  many  other  causes  of  lying.  Perhaps 
your  child  is  timid,  and  easily  frightened;  perhaps  he 
uses  a  lie  to  defend  himself  against  your  own  violent 
temper. 

And  obedience?     In  the  strict  sense  of  this  word  the 


HOME  LIFE  AND  HOME  EDUCATION        433 

child  does  not  owe  us  obedience  at  all.  Obedience  may 
be  merely  a  mechanical  response,  born  of  timidity,  fear, 
and  moral  weakness,  and  not  at  all  a  sign  of  moral 
strength  and  self-control.  At  best  it  is  a  habit  produced 
by  enforced  practice.  It  is  the  parents'  business  to 
secure  their  children's  ready  response  and  co-operation 
by  treating  them  fairly  and  squarely  and  by  inspiring 
them  with  confidence  and  love.  Disobedience  is  not 
infrequently  the  result  of  unsocialized  instincts  at  a  time 
in  the  child's  life  when  these  instincts  are  unorganized 
or  disorganized;  sometimes  it  is  the  product  of  mis- 
guided independence,  and  perhaps  also  an  evidence  of  a 
strong  moral  will-power.  Intelligent  and  loving  treat- 
ment will  usually  forestall  any  cases  of  stubborn  insub- 
ordination. A  child  who  respects  his  parents  will  respect 
their  directions.  But  parents  who  do  not  command  such 
respect;  those  whose  course  with  children  is  inconsis- 
tent, who  forbid  to-day  what  they  allowed  yesterday; 
who  act  merely  on  behalf  of  their  own  convenience  and 
whim;  who  may  be  coaxed,  or  cried,  into  yieldin:g,  into 
recalling  an  order,  or  reconsidering  a  restriction;  when 
the  mother  is  indulgent  and  the  father  strict,  or  vice 
versa;  parents  who  discuss  their  children  and  even 
quarrel  over  them  in  their  very  presence;  those  who 
cannot  intelligently  lead  their  children's  activities  into 
constructive  outlets,  so  that  they  remain  destructive — 
such  parents  need  not  wonder  that  they  have  to  con- 
tend with  their  children's  disobedience,  ill  temper,  and 
ugliness. 

A  True  Family  Government. — The  discipline  of  the 
home  must  wisely  adjust  itself  to  the  varying  needs  of 
growing  children.  The  children  must  be  taken  into  the 
confidence  of  their  parents  in  proportion  to  their  devel- 


434  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

opment  of  judgment,  reliability,  and  efficiency.  Out  of 
a  monarchical  form  of  government  the  family  must 
gradually  emerge  into  a  more  democratic  organization, 
in  which  the  children  are  given  respectful  and  sympa- 
thetic hearing,  and  in  which  their  opinions  and  votes 
count.  Individual  conditions  will  be  modifying  factors. 
But  the  underlying  principles  must  be  those  of  freedom, 
mutual  regard,  and  co-operation,  on  the  basis  of  educa- 
tional insight  and  adjustment.  If  parents  would  think 
less  of  their  own  convenience  and  self-gratification,  if 
there  were  less  of  hysterical  emotionaHsm  in  their  rela- 
tions to  their  children,  and  more  consideration  for  what 
is  needed  to  develop  manliness,  womanliness,  citizen- 
ship, much  misery  and  much  perversion  would  be  ob- 
viated. 

Here  we  have  also  the  measure  of  inefficiency  for  those 
homes  where  economic  pressure,  shiftlessness,  poverty, 
illness,  and  the  thousand  and  one  conditions  which  pro- 
duce the  dissolution  of  the  home  spirit  and  home  oppor- 
tunity/deprive  the  children  of  the  uplifting  influences 
which  can  nowhere  be  obtained  but  in  the  home.  How 
many  children  in  this  wide  and  rich  country  of  ours 
have  the  right  kind  of  home — or,  for  that  matter,  a 
home  at  all  ? 

One  of  the  principal  requisites  for  wholesome  home 
education  is  that  there  be  a  bond  of  mutual  trust  and 
friendship  uniting  parents  and  children.  A  parental  and 
fihal  love  which  does  not  blossom  out  into  unrestricted 
confidence  is  a  spurious  thing.  Parent  and  child  ought 
to  need  no  mediator;  no  chum  or  schoolmate  or  chance 
companion  ought  ever  to  stand  nearer  the  child's  heart 
than  his  father  and  mother.  The  parents  must  always 
be  their  children's  best  friends;  the  children  must  know 


HOME  LIFE  AND  HOME  EDUCATION        435 

that  they  will  find  sympathy,  that  they  may  weep  at 
their  parents'  breast  when  they  have  erred,  rather  than 
be  chided  and  repulsed;  that  they  will  be  raised  and 
lifted  up  to  a  higher  level  from  their  humiliation  by 
confiding  in  those  who  have  given  them  Ufe.  Parents, 
convert  your  children  as  soon  as  they  are  old  enough 
into  your  companions  and  friends,  and  their  new  dignity 
will  imbue  them  with  a  new  spirit  and  enthusiasm  which 
will  help  them  to  withstand  many  a  treacherous  temp- 
tation. Make  their  lives  a  part  of  your  own  hfe,  right 
along — from  the  time  they  were  babes  in  swaddling- 
clothes,  when  they  played  their  first  innocent  games, 
when  they  had  their  first  doll,  during  the  period  of  their 
school  years,  through  the  dangers  with  which  the  path 
of  adolescence  is  beset,  away  into  the  bliss  of  their  own 
married  life. 

During  the  formative  j)eriod  of  school  life,  secure  the 
most  cordial  and  close  co-operation  with  the  school 
your  child  attends.  As  a  rule,  parents  imagine  they  have 
fulfilled  their  duty  when  they  send  their  child  to  the 
public  school,  or  to  some  private  school  which  they  have 
selected  according  to  their  own  best  light.  But  few 
really  know,  or  care  to  investigate,  what  happens  to 
the  child  at  school,  or  by  what  standard  they  should 
gauge  the  child's  progress.  They  are  perhaps  ready 
enough  to  criticise  and  find  fault,  but  they  rarely  co- 
operate with  the  school  in  a  constructive  manner.  Yet 
school  life  often  reveals  a  phase  of  the  child's  nature  of 
which  the  parents  remain  totally  ignorant.  Home  and 
school  are  two  factors  in  education  which  can  never  be 
absolutely  separated;  their  course  must  not  only  be 
parallel,  but  connected  and  co-ordinated  in  numerous 
ways. 


436  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

The  True  Home  Spirit. — In  the  home,  mainly,  the 
foundations  of  an  ethical  character  are  laid.  "Home  is 
not  the  place  where  we  eat,  sleep,  and  dress  to  go 
abroad,"  says  Mortimer  A.  Warren  in  his  valuable  little 
book,  "Almost  Fourteen."  "Home  is  the  place  where 
we  share.  We  share  not  only  food,  shelter,  and  clothing, 
but  we  share  a  common  name  and  blood,  and  common 
joys  and  sorrows.  We  cannot  escape  it  if  we  would, 
and  we  would  not  if  we  could.  The  children  cannot 
escape  their  inheritance,  and  the  parents  cannot  escape 
their  marriage  vows." 

The  spirit  of  the  home  is  the  most  potent  educational 
factor.  Make  the  home  an  ideal  place,  a  place  where 
love,  sympathy,  and  justice  reign  supreme,  where  there 
is  an  atmosphere  of  refinement,  enthusiasm,  moral  vir- 
tue, and  strength;  an  appreciation  of  the  beautiful,  the 
noble  and  true;  a  readiness  of  moral  courage  and  self- 
sacrifice,  of  simplicity,  uprightness,  and  charity — and  the 
children  will  absorb  and  assimilate  this  spirit,  they  will 
catch  the  inspiring  infection. 

This  true  home  spirit  will  inevitably  be  based  upon 
genuine  religion.  There  must  be,  in  the  parents,  a  reali- 
zation of  the  spiritual  Hfe  which  is  the  pivot  of  all  phe- 
nomenal life  in  the  soul  of  man;  there  must  be  a  recog- 
nition of  the  eternal  facts  of  creation  which  link  us,  one 
and  all,  inseparably  to  those  infinite  powers  upon  whose 
operation  all  life  depends.  Men  have  called  these  pow- 
ers by  different  names,  and  different  modes  have  been 
estabhshed,  in  the  course  of  centuries,  to  worship  them. 
The  most  sublime,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  lov- 
able of  these  conceptions  of  the  eternal  forces  has  been 
personified  by  generations  of  human  souls  under  the 
sacred  name  of  God.     But  even  though,  with  some  of 


HOME  LIFE  AND  HOME  EDUCATION        437 

us,  this  divine  conception  has  become  sublimated  into 
an  abstraction,  devoid  of  human-like  personality — it  is 
a  reality  at  once  awe-inspiring  and  wondrously  precious. 
It  must  be  like  a  living  presence  in  the  souls  of  all  of  us. 
It  must  be  the  most  potent  inspiration  to  the  parent  in 
the  education  of  the  child. 

The  proper  religious  education  of  children  is  still  a 
much-disputed  problem.  We  must  guard  ourselves 
against  attempting  to  imprint  upon  the  plastic  soul  of 
our  children  our  own  individual  rehgious  notions,  sym- 
bols, and  prejudices — which,  once  implanted  there,  are 
hable  to  become  encysted,  and  to  be  spurious  growths, 
obstructions  to  their  individual  spiritual  development; 
or  to  degenerate  into  mere  forms  and  conformities.  In 
fine,  the  religious  education  of  our  children  is  a  difficult 
and  delicate  task,  to  be  undertaken  with  great  care, 
self-restraint,  and  humility.  Yet  from  the  realization 
of  a  divine  presence  in  the  parent  will  spring  the  sense 
of  reverence  which  is  the  corner-stone  of  all  genuine 
religion.  Let  us  take  care  that  we  represent  to  our 
children,  in  our  own  lives,  a  symbol  of  the  divine  rela- 
tions. Notwithstanding  the  psychological  fact  that  the 
idea  of  a  divine  fatherhood  is  but  a  symbol  of  the  real, 
truly  inexpressible,  and  unfathomable  relation  of  the 
eternal  powers  to  humankind,  an  idealization  of  human 
parenthood;  this  very  idealization  not  only  sanctifies 
the  parental  bond  and  renders  parental  influence  more 
beneficial  and  powerful,  but  it  is  perhaps  the  nearest  ap- 
proach to  a  conception  of  divinity  of  which  the  human 
mind  is  capable. 

Upon  such  homes  rest  the  welfare  and  progress  of 
the  community  and  the  commonwealth.  They  are  the 
strongholds  of  liberty,  purity,  and  happiness. 


438  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Such  home  ties  will  remain  the  strongest  of  all  forever 
and  ever  with  the  child.  The  memory  of  a  happy  child- 
hood, of  the  blissful  home,  of  the  beloved  father,  mother, 
sister,  and  brother,  will  strengthen  the  struggling  soul 
in  moments  of  doubt,  temptation,  and  despair. 

Note. — ^The  problem  of  the  boy  whose  home  is  only  semi-functioning, 
or -who  is  altogether  homeless;  of  the  boy  whose  play-life  is  spent  in 
"street-land";  whose  natural  activities  are  constantly  coming  into 
conflict  with  the  law  and  the  convenience  of  the  community; — the 
problems  of  providing  proper  recreation  facilities  for  the  mass  of  boys, 
of  boys'  clubs  and  their  functions;  of  the  responsibilities  of  community, 
school,  and  church;  and  the  relations  of  all  these  factors  with  the 
problems  of  juvenile  delinquency,  backwardness,  and  failure:  are 
treated  in  a  contribution  by  Mr.  Albert  B.  Hines,  under  the  title, 
"  The  City  and  Her  Boys,"  in  the  appendix  of  this  book. 


CHAPTER  XXI 
SCHOOL  PROBLEMS 

The  problems  of  the  home  and  the  street  are  re- 
flected in  the  problems  of  the  school.  That  our  public 
and  private  schools  in  their  present  organization  do  not 
meet  the  demands  of  an  individualized  training  of  chil- 
dren has  been  evident  for  a  long  time,  not  only  to  out- 
siders, but  to  the  teachers  themselves.  Their  difficulty 
is  that  they  cannot  easily  overcome  the  obstacles  which 
are  in  their  way  when  they  try  to  free  the  schools  from 
old  traditions.  The  problem  has  been  plainly  stated  in 
the  first  chapter  of  this  book. 

A  Powerful  Arraignment. — In  his  little  volume,  "Idols 
of  Education,"  which  contains  some  very  highly  sugges- 
tive criticisms  of  present-day  education  in  school  and 
university  (some  of  them  unfortunately  vitiated  by  a 
complete  misunderstanding  of  the  principles  of  Frobel 
and  the  play  instinct),  Professor  Charles  Mills  Gay  ley 
has  this  to  say: 

The  boy  enters  our  colleges  "a  badly  damaged  article."  One- 
sidedly  prepared,  or  not  prepared  at  all,  he  goes  through  college 
accumulating  courses,  but  not  education;  desperately  selecting 
studies  least  foreign  to  his  slender  capability  for  assimilation, 
or  most  easy  to  slur,  or  most  likely  to  turn  to  superficial  ends. 
He  is  by  no  means  always  lazy,  nor  oblivious  that  now  is  the 
chance  of  his  life;  but  he  has  no  core  of  knowledge  to  which 
the  facts  he  fumbles  may  cling,  no  keen-edged  linguistic  or 
scientific  tools  with  which  to  cut  to  the  heart  of  the  matter;  no 

439 


440  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

memory  trained  and  enriched,  no  taste,  no  imagination,  no  Judg- 
ment balanced  by  frequent  trial,  no  habits  of  remorseless  appli- 
cation. He  has  bluff  but  not  confidence;  he  has  promise  but 
not  power.  The  subjects  of  his  study  have  not  been  correlated. 
The  goal  has  been  neither  discipline  nor  intrinsic  worth.  He 
has  probably  never  studied  one  thing  thoroughly.  He  has  not 
been  guided;  he  has  not  been  taught;  he  has  not  conquered  work- 
He  has  been  distracted;  he  has  been  amused. 

Fundamental  Verities. — The  sad  results  which  Pro- 
fessor Gayley  describes  are  due  not  altogether  to  causes 
such  as  he  has  in  mind.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  the  in- 
struction in  most  of  our  schools  is  one-sided  and  super- 
ficial; that  a  child  rarely  uses  his  intellectual  faculties 
with  thoroughness.  But  that  is  caused  mainly  by  a 
thorough  misunderstanding  of  the  needs  of  the  growing 
child  mind,  and  of  the  process  of  civilization. 

Civilization  has  not  come  to  us  through  books.  It  is 
the  result  of  the  material  conquest  of  the  world  by  man's 
brain.  His  brain  grew  with  his  mastery  of  the  tool.^ 
The  old  humanistic  idea,  culture  through  books,  has  to 
be  materially  modified  to  meet  the  newer  conceptions  of 
psychic  growth.  The  child  needs  vital  sttidies  first,  those 
that  give  typical  experience.  To  understand  his  own 
wild  desire  to  learn  real  things  as  against  the  artificial 
substitutes  of  the  schoolroom,  one  should  read  over  and 
over  Whittier's  wonderful  study  of  boy-Hfe,  "The  Bare- 
foot Boy."  Books  give  second-hand,  vicarious  experi- 
ence. Reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  are  mere  inci- 
dentals. They  are  also  tools,  like  hammer  and  saw, 
like  clay  and  wood,  to  be  used  for  self-expression,  for 
experiment  and  production,  and  as  such  worthy  of  care- 

»  Cf.  Doctor  Paul  Carus,  "The  Philosophy  of  the  Tool,"  Chicago,  The 
Open  Court  Publishing  Company. 


SCHOOL  PROBLEMS  441 

ful  handling  and  development.  But  they  represent  the 
second,  not  the  first  stage  of  learning.  There  are  many 
otherwise  well-endowed  and  intelligent  children  to  whom 
these  "  symbols  of  reality  "  will  forever  remain  stumbling- 
blocks,  just  as  there  are  others  who  will  never  be  able 
to  hit  a  nail  straight  on  the  head,  or  model  a  human 
form,  or  sing  a  melody  without  grating  on  your  nerves, 
but  who  will  play  with  words  and  write  beautiful  poetry, 
or  soar  to  the  heights  of  mathematical  abstraction. 

Here  we  have  the  different  types  of  mind  which  have 
been  so  fully  treated  before  that  no  further  explanation 
need  to  be  given  here. 

But  a  realization  of  these  facts  must  lead  to  a  break- 
ing up  of  our  ordinary  school  courses,  so  that  each 
individual  or  group  of  similarly  minded  individuals 
will  receive  differentiated  attention,  in  fairness  to  all. 
There  will  then  be  no  hard-and-fast  grades  and  grade 
standards,  but  groups  and  group  aims,  with  elastic 
courses  allowing  of  quick  adjustment  and  of  an  easy 
transition  from  one  to  another  whenever  new  develop- 
ments should  appear  in  an  individual.  All  this  will 
finally  lead  to  a  recognition  of  different  types  of  effi- 
ciency, of  different  vocational  and  occupational  apti- 
tudes and  inclinations,  so  that  there  may  be  vocational 
discrimination,  guidance,  and  training,  each  at  the  right 
time  in  a  child's  career. 

The  special  bent  need  not  one-sidedly  twist  a  child's 
education.  It  should  furnish  the  point  of  vantage  from 
which  the  entire  field  of  learning  may  be  entered,  thus 
counterbalancing  narrowing  tendencies.  But  unless  the 
child's  main  interest  is  taken  as  the  starting-p>oint,  he 
will  become  hopelessly  averse  to  study  and  all-around 
culture. 


442  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

An  Experiment  and  Its  Lesson. — It  has  often  been 
pointed  out  that  the  traditional  school  courses  in  which 
the  three  R's  play  the  principal  parts  have  been  fashioned 
for  the  purpose  of  preparing  the  pupils  not  for  life  so 
much  as  for  the  next  higher  educational  step,  the  high 
school.  This  principle  of  considering  the  lower  school 
essentially  preparatory  for  the  next  higher  is  adhered  to 
throughout  the  entire  scholastic  career  of  the  child,  from 
the  primary  school  to  the  university.  The  fact  that 
each  step  should  be  adjusted  to  the  needs  of  the  student 
at  that  stage  of  his  development,  irrespective  of  what 
may  come  after,  is  almost  entirely  lost  sight  of. 

To  prove  that  the  three  R's  are  not  even  necessary  in 
the  preparation  for  high  school — that  the  entire  theory 
of  "essentials"  is  wrong — and  that  we  may  consider  the 
children's  natural  tendencies  without  risking  eventually 
their  "higher"  education.  Professor  J.  L.  Meriam,  of  the 
University  of  Missouri,  has  for  some  years  conducted  an 
elementary  school  in  the  work  of  which  "emphasis  is 
given  to  the  immediate  needs  of  the  pupils  rather  than 
to  preparation  for  high  school  work."  The  following 
statements  are  quoted  from  Doctor  Meriam's  report  in 
the  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology  of  June,  191 5: 

The  pupils  throughout  the  seven  grades  pursue  four  "studies": 

1.  Observation  of  nature  and  industrial  activities. 

2.  Playing  games  of  present  interest. 

3.  Handwork:  making  things  of  immediate  usefulness. 

4.  Enjoyment  of  stories,  pictures,  music. 

Reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  other  such  "common 
branches"  are  not  taught  as  such  at  all.  The  content  of  such 
branches  is  used  only  as  needed  in  one  or  more  of  the  four  studies 
constituting  the  curriculum  of  this  school. 

This  does  not  mean  that  pupils  in  this  school  do  not  learn  to 
"read,  write,  and  cipher."     It  does  mean,  however,  that  pro- 


SCHOOL  PROBLEMS  443 

ficiency  in  these  common  school  studies  is  made  quite  subordi- 
nate, as  a  purpose,  to  proficiency  in  "Observation,"  "Play," 
"Handwork,"  and  "Enjoyment  of  Stories."  Thus  it  might  be 
rightly  claimed  that  the  work  of  this  school  should  be  measured, 
not  in  terms  of  school  subjects,  but  in  terms  of  the  out-of-school 
activities  of  the  pupils.  But  one  of  the  cardinal  principles  of 
this  school  is:  Preparation  for  later  efiiciency  is  acquired  by 
being  efficient  in  present  activities.  .  .  .  Thus,  while  prepara- 
tion for  high  school  work  has  been  treated  in  this  school  as 
quite  subordinate  to  another  purpose,  the  assumption  has  been 
made  that  pupils  trained  in  this  school  would  prove  equal  to 
doing  at  least  average  work  in  the  high  school. 


The  University  Elementary  School  has  been  dealing 
with  small  classes,  as  might  have  been  expected.  After 
ten  years  of  activity  the  total  enrolment  had  reached 
347.  Seventy-five  have  been  graduated,  but  not  all  of 
these  had  all  their  work  in  this  school.  Sixty-six  of 
those  who  graduated  have  done  work  in  nine  different 
secondary  schools.  An  investigation  into  the  standing 
of  these  students  from  a  school  where  no  formal  work 
in  the  common  branches  is  given,  as  compared  with  the 
other  high  school  students,  readily  indicated  that  they 
ranked  well  right  through  the  classes.  Professor  Meriam 
concludes: 


This  is  not  a  local  problem.  The  formal  subjects  in  the  ele- 
mentary schools  are  adversely  criticised  and  are  undergoing  a 
change.  Yet  parents  and  teachers  are  loath  to  give  up  the 
drill  in  the  three  R's  on  the  ground  that  those  subjects  are  pre- 
requisite for  successful  high  school  work.  But  the  majority  of 
elementary  school  pupils  are  destined  not  to  enter  the  high 
school.  These  pupils  should  be  taught  the  things  that  are  of 
value  to  them,  viz.,  the  practical  things  of  every-day  life.  If  it 
can  be  shown  that  such  studies  prepare  those  who  do  go  further 
in  school  as  well  as  the  study  of  the  "common  branches,"  a 


444  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

change  in  the  curriculum  of  our  elementary  schools  would  be 
advisable.  The  investigation  referred  to  above  supports  this 
theory. 

It  is  not  uncommon  that  young  people  who  have  not 
had  the  advantage  and  opportunity  of  an  early  school 
training,  will  secure  admission  to  high  schools  and  even 
colleges,  sometimes  perhaps  informally,  but  with  the 
chance  of  improving  their  belated  opportunity.  They, 
who  have  had  only  "practical"  training  and  experience 
in  their  childhood  days,  usually  compare  very  favorably 
with  their  "learned"  fellow  pupils  whose  mastery  of  the 
three  R's  did  not  necessarily  give  them  common  sense. 

It  may  also  be  useful  to  refer  here  to  a  most  interest- 
ing discovery  made  some  years  ago  in  Springfield,  Mass. 
Examination  papers,  written  by  pupils  of  the  public 
schools  forty  years  or  so  before,  were  found  which  gave 
striking  evidence  of  the  "proficiency"  of  these  pupils 
when  almost  the  entire  school  work  consisted  of  a  con- 
centration upon  the  three  R's.  The  papers  did  not 
show  the  superiority  which  some  might  have  expected 
at  all,  but  were  rather  mediocre  in  comparison  with  the 
work  done  in  the  modern  schools  of  "frills  and  fancies." 
This  mediocre  work,  however,  did  not  prevent  these 
pupils  of  a  generation  ago  from  succeeding  in  life.  One 
of  the  poorest  arithmetic  papers,/,  i.,  was  written  by  a 
boy  who  later  became  a  successful  banker.  The  formal 
work  in  the  "common  branches,"  therefore,  does  not 
seem  to  have  the  value  which  has  been  attributed  to  it. 

Doctor  Meriam's  successful  experiment  shows  that 
the  author's  contention  in  regard  to  differentiation  of 
courses  to  meet  individual  needs  has  a  basis  in  fact.  By 
starting  with  the  immediate  interests  and  needs  of  the 
pupils,  we  may  differentiate  considerably  without  preju- 


SCHOOL  PROBLEMS  445 

dicing  scholastic  progress  when  that  is  expected.  And 
in  case  of  changing  interests  and  the  springing  up  of 
unexp)ected  variations,  a  new  adaptation  is  perfectly 
possible. 

Another  Experiment:  The  Play  School. — Another  in- 
teresting and  instructive  experiment  was  made  in  the 
summer  of  191 3  in  the  University  of  California,  under 
the  direction  of  C.  W.  Hetherington,  by  the  institution 
of  the  "Play  School."  1 

Hetherington  defines  this  experimental  school  as  "an 
outdoor  school  and  play  centre  combined,  where  the 
teacher's  interest  is  centred  in  the  children  and  their 
activities,  not  merely  in  subjects  of  study;  where  the 
educational  efforts,  including  the  moral  and  social,  are 
put  on  a  basis' of  practical  Uving  experience  radiating 
into  the  whole  environment;  and  where  children  are  con- 
sidered both  as  free  agents  and  as  immature  social  crea- 
tures requiring  aid,  social  control,  and  discipline.  In- 
stead of  teaching  subjects,  it  organizes  activities  out  of 
which  subjects  develop,  as  they  have  in  racial  history. 
The  activities  organized  are  the  natural,  more  or  less 
distinct  phases  of  the  child's  complete  life.  The  usual 
school  subjects  develop  as  phases  of  these  activities." 

In  the  following  is  given  a  classification  of  activities 
as  organized  in  Hetherington's  Play  School: 

I.     Big  Muscle  Activities  (Locomotion  and  Manipulation), 
including: 
(i)  Spontaneous  and  General  Locomotion;  (2)  Loco- 
motion with  Toy  Machines,  Animals,  etc.;  (3; 
Spontaneous  or  Playful  Gymnastics;  (4)  Games; 
(5)  Dancing;  (6)  Aquatics. 

'  "The  Demonstration  Play  School  of  1913,"  University  of  California 
Press,  Berkeley. 


446  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

II.    Rhythmic  and  Musical  Activities,  including: 

(i)  Rhythmic  Movements,  Dalicing  and  Singing 
Games,  "Eurhythmies";  (2)  Tone  Plays;  (3) 
Singing;  (4)  Instrumental  Activities. 

III.  Manual  Activities. 

(i)  General  Manipulation  with  Miscellaneous  Objects, 
Toys,  and  Educational  Materials;  (2)  Con- 
struction (all  Materials — Tools);  (3)  Drawing; 
(4)  Manual  Dramatization  (Sand  and  Floor 
Plays  and  Construction). 

IV.  Environmental  and  Nature  Activities,  including: 

A.     Excursions  with  Outing    B.    Experimentation. 
Arts,  Adventure  and 
Observational  Games, 
(i)  Observation   on   Physical 

Nature and.  Physical  Nature 

Experiments. 

(2)  Observation   on   Plant  Na- 

ture  and    Plant    (Garden) 

Experiments. 

(3)  Observation  on  Animal  Na- 

ture   and   Animal    Experi- 
ments. 

(4)  Observation   on  Social   En- 

vironment, with  Geograph- 
ical and  Historical  Rela- 
tionships   (See  Games  and  Social 

Activities). 
V.     Linguistic  Activities,  including: 

(i)  Spontaneous  Vocalization  and  Expression. 

(2)  Free  Conversation  and  Discussion  in  all  Activities. 

(3)  Organized  Intercommunication,  i.  e.: 

(a)  Discussion,  Oral  Expression,  Story-Telling, 

Debate. 

(b)  Story-Hearing,  Revealing  Larger  Relation- 

ships. 

(c)  Reading  to  supplement  Observations,  to 

interpret  and  communicate. 


SCHOOL  PROBLEMS  447 

(d)  Written  Expression,  Communication: 
Composition,  Spelling,  Penmanship, 
Narrative,  Story-Writing. 

(4)  Mechanics  of  Reading  and  Writing.     Games,  etc. 

Preliminary  3c,  3J. 

(5)  Mechanics  of  Number,   Games,   etc.     Economic 

Dramatization. 

(6)  Foreign  Language.     By  Play  and  Conversation. 

VI.     Dramatization  (associated  with  other  activities). 

(i)  Imitative  Dramatization;  (2)  Manual  Dramatiza- 
tion; (3)  Adaptation  and  Constructive  Dra- 
matization; Plays;  Pageants. 

Vli.     Economic  Activities,  including: 

Production  and  Service  of  Economic  Value.     Accounts. 
(Economic  Dramatization,  see  Numbers.) 

VIII.     Social  Activities,  including: 

(i)  General  Contacts  involved  in  the  Social  Aggrega- 
tion of  the  School  and  in  the  Several  Activities. 
Friendships. 

(2)  The  Social  Hour: 

(a)  Music,  general  and  by  groups. 

(b)  Dancing. 

(c)  Story  Hearing  and  Telling. 

(d)  Dramatics  by  Groups, 
(c)   Exhibits. 

(3)  Social  Functions,  Celebrations,  Pageants. 

(4)  Group  Club  Activities. 

(5)  Civic  Service. 

The  author  had  an  opportunity  of  observing,  during 
his  visit  to  the  University  of  California  in  1913,  the 
splendid  success  of  this  exp)erimental  work.  It  was 
altogether  unique  and  bold,  and  illustrated  forcibly  how 
the  education  of  children  may  be  approached  quite 
properly  from  very  different  angles. 

A  Contrast. — Let  us  compare  with  the  natural  swing 
of  work  of  this  kind  the  formal  exercises  of  our  ordinary 


448  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

schools.  The  following  few  samples  are  taken  at  ran- 
dom from  the  State  Examinations  for  the  pupils  in  the 
highest  elementary  grade  of  an  Eastern  State: 

Geography. — Although  England  is  comparatively  small  in 
area,  she  is  a  great  world  power.  Give  three  reasons  to  account 
for  this. 

Explain  why  free  labor  produced  more  farm  products  in  the 
South  than  slave  labor. 

Physiology. — What  effect  does  alcohol  have  on  the  heart? 
On  a  man's  character? 

Tell  in  a  few  words  your  opinion  of  patent  medicines  and  their 
use.     What  does  each  contain  that  is  harmful  to  the  body  ? 

History. — (a)  What  is  the  purpose  of  a  tariff?  {b)  State  the 
attitude  of  each  of  the  two  great  parties  at  the  present  time 
toward  a  tariff. 

(a)  From  what  sources  is  the  revenue  derived  to  maintain 
the  government  of  the  United  States?  (h)  Name  five  purposes 
for  which  it  is  expended. 

Compare  the  United  States  in  1800  with  that  of  1900  as  to 
{a)  population,  {b)  wealth,  (c)  area,  {d)  industries,  (e)  transpor- 
tation facilities. 

English. — Analyze  the  following  sentence:  "We  sleep  but  the 
loom  of  life  never  stops;  and  the  pattern  which  was  weaving 
when  the  sun  went  down  is  weaving  when  it  comes  up  to-mor- 
row." 

Write  the  following  and  underscore  the  illustrative  words: 

{a)  A  simple  sentence  with  a  compound  subject. 

(6)  A  sentence  with  a  phrase  used  as  a  subject. 

(c)   A  sentence  with  a  noun  clause  as  the  object. 

{d)  A  sentence  with  an  adverbial  clause. 

(e)   A  sentence  with  a  verb  in  the  passive  voice. 

Arithmetic. — A  family  that  rented  a  house  for  $55  a  month 
concluded  that  it  was  less  expensive  to  buy  a  house  for  $6,500. 
They  paid  annually  $63.50  on  account  of  taxes,  $12  for  water 
rent,  $15  for  insurance,  and  $75  for  repairs.  Before  buying  the 
house  they  received  an  income  of  6  per  cent  on  their  money. 
How  much  money  did  they  save  or  lose  by  buying  the  house? 


SCHOOL  PROBLEMS  449 

These  questions  are  typical.  No  doubt  a  number  of 
children  were  perfectly  ready  to  answer  them  correctly. 
Of  course  the  rating  was  on  a  percentage  basis.  But 
the  problem  is  this: 

Do  questions  of  this  kind  in  any  way  appeal  to  the 
natural  interests  and  experiences  of  fourteen-year-old 
children  ? 

Can  children  of  that  age  have  mature  judgment 
enough  to  treat  these  subjects  rationally  and  indepen- 
dently ? 

Will  they  carry  into  their  lives  after  leaving  school 
any  appreciable  benefit  from  handling  these  sub- 
jects ? 

Will  work  of  this  kind  not  give  children  the  illusion 
that  they  are  capable  of  handling  big  economic,  histori- 
cal, and  political  problems  with  a  minimum  of  wisdom, 
information,  and  scientific  accuracy? 

If  they  can  answer  those  questions  at  all,  is  it  not  be- 
cause of  the  mechanical  memory  work  and  book-lore  to 
which  they  have  been  subjected  throughout  their  school 
career  ? 

By  being  forced  to  devote  so  much  time  and  energy 
to  unprofitable,  superficial,  and  ill-adjusted  work,  have 
they  not  lost  time,  opportunity,  and  energy  for  the  real 
work  they  ought  to  have  done  during  this  important 
formative  period  of  their  lives? 

Will  they  not  leave  school  under  these  circumstances, 
ill  prepared  for  what  is  before  them,  and  with  an  unfor- 
tunate mental  twist  which  will  prevent  them  from  dis- 
criminating between  essentials  and  unessentials  ? 

Is  it  not  perfectly  clear  that  consequently  many  of 
these  graduates,  not  to  sp>eak  of  those  who  do  not  gradu- 
ate but  leave  school  earlier  or  on  account  of  non-gradu- 


450  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

ation,  will  be  unable  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  prob- 
lems of  life  and  become  failures  ? 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  even  where  manual  training  and 
other  life  branches  have  been  introduced,  hardly  any- 
where is  proficiency  in  them  credited  to  the  pupils  to 
offset  weaknesses  in  the  "common  branches."  This  is 
the  case  even  in  high  schools  of  the  ordinary  kind,  where 
graduation  is  rarely  affected  by  talent  in  art  or  con- 
structive work.  Only  in  those  secondary  schools  which 
bear  a  technical  or  "vocational"  character  is  such  con- 
sideration given. 

In  some  progressive  school  systems  an  innovation  has 
been  introduced  which  promises  much  for  the  future. 
There  home-work  credits  are  given,  that  is  to  say,  the 
home  activities  of  the  pupils,  their  assistance  in  house- 
hold duties,  in  helping  in  the  garden,  on  the  farm,  in 
the  performance  of  chores  of  all  kinds,  are  valued  in 
terms  of  conduct,  appHcation,  and  proficiency,  and  the 
marks  thus  obtained  are  included  in  the  school  record.^ 
This  revives  the  opportunities  of  earlier  times,  when 
children  had  a  wealth  of  educational  opportunity  through 
the  performance  of  these  home  duties. 

Two  decades  ago  the  author  tried  out,  in  the  Ethical 
Culture  School  of  New  York  City,  the  plan  of  issuing  two 
different  kinds  of  certificates  to  those  who  left  at  the  close 
of  the  eight  years'  course.  Those  pupils  who  showed 
themselves  capable  of  higher  education,  so-called,  with 
whom,  therefore,  the  completion  of  the  elementary 
course  was  a  stepping-stone  to  further  work,  a  diploma 
was  given  stating  this  fact.  To  the  others,  who  had 
completed  the  course  without  showing  scholastic  ten- 
dencies, even  perhaps  having  failed  in  some  of  the  "com- 

^  Cf.  The  School  Bulletin,  Syracuse,  N,  Y.,  November,  1915,  p.  63^. 


SCHOOL  PROBLEMS  451 

mon  branches,"  but  who  had  given  evidence  of  mental 
maturity  entitling  them  to  graduation,  a  certificate  was 
issued  giving  them  full  credit  for  their  faithful  and  suc- 
cessful work,  without  branding  them  as  scholastic  fail- 
ures. They  usually  made  good  in  their  various  callings. 
Either  of  the  two  certificates  was  accompanied  by  an 
elaborate  statement  of  the  details  of  the  pupil's  efficiency 
and  personal  endowments. 

The  Problem  of  Methods. — Many  are  the  mistakes  in 
school  methods,  in  the  methods  of  presenting  the  various 
subjects  of  instruction.  There  is  lack  of  depth  and  co- 
ordination, and  often  a  most  astounding  lack  of  appre- 
ciation of  fundamental  facts  on  the  part  of  the  teachers. 
Even  at  this  time,  when  so  much  attention  has  been 
given  in  normal  schools  to  psychological  principles  in 
method,  the  most  flagrant  errors  and  abuses  are  ram- 
pant. This  is  evident  in  the  most  elementary  beginnings 
of  school  work  which  is  unfortunately  left  to  be  done  by 
the  least  experienced  novices  in  the  profession  who  work 
for  the  minimum  salary.  Take,  for  instance,  the  teach- 
ing of  the  multiplication  table.  It  is  rarely  appreciated 
that  the  sign  X  does  not  read  "times,"  but  stands  for 
the  operation  of  multiplying.  It  signifies  "multipUed 
by."  To  illustrate:  When  we  have  6  -|-  2,  it  means  that 
6  is  the  number  to  which  "something  is  done" — another 
number,  2,  is  added  to  it.  When  we  have  6  —  2,  it 
again  means  that  6  is  the  number  operated  upon;  some- 
thing is  taken  away  from  it.  When  6  is  divided  by  2 
(6  12),  the  op>eration  is  that  we  want  to  find  either  the 
result  of  a  division  of  the  quantity  into  two  equal  parts, 
or  the  number  of  times  2  is  contained  in  6.  But,  again, 
6  is  the  fundamental  number.  Thus,  when  we  have 
6  X  2,  it  implies  that  we  wish  to  take  6  two  times,  not 


452  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

2  six  times.  But  if  we  should  read  the  example  six  times 
2,  it  would  reverse  the  meaning  of  the  operation.  It 
should  be  read  either  6  multiplied  by  2,  or  2  times  6. 
Unless  this  fact  is  borne  carefully  in  mind,  the  young 
pupils  will  from  the  very  start  be  confused  in  their 
mental  conceptions  and  operations.  But  how  many 
teachers  do  appreciate  this  fact?  And  this  is  but  one 
of  the  multitude  of  fatal  errors  made  in  the  primary 
grades. 

Professor  Shiels,  of  the  Catholic  University  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  has  written  a  book  on  "The  Making  and 
Unmaking  of  the  Dullard."  And  over  fifty  years  ago 
R.  B.  Carter,  an  Englishman,  wrote  a  brief  essay  on 
"The  Artificial  Production  of  Stupidity  in  Schools." 
Said  he: 

An  urchin  may  be  able  to  say  correctly  that  a  word  pointed 
out  to  him  is  an  adverb  or  a  pronoun,  may  proceed  to  give  a 
definition  of  either,  and  examples  of  instances  of  occurrence, 
and  may  produce  the  impression  that  he  understands  all  this, 
when  the  truth  is  that  he  has  only  learned  to  make  certain 
noises  in  a  particular  order  and  is  unable  to  say  anything  intel- 
ligible about  the  matter  in  language  of  his  own.  Or  he  may 
repeat  the  multiplication  table,  and  even  work  it,  saying  that 
7  X  8  =  56,  without  knowing  what  56  is,  or  what  7X8  means. 
He  knows  all  about  7  or  8,  not  from  schooling,  but  from  the 
lessons  of  life,  from  having  had  7  nuts  or  8  marbles;  but  of  56, 
which  is  beyond  his  experience,  he  knows  nothing.  The  nature 
of  the  mental  operations  of  these  children  is  perhaps  as  little 
known  to  the  teacher  ...  as  the  mental  operations  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Saturn.  The  adults  distinctly  understand  a 
thing  which  they  feel  to  be  very  easy,  and  do  not  know  that  any 
children  can  talk  about  it  correctly  without  attaching  an  idea 
to  their  words. 

To  how  many  of  us  does  56  mean  anything  concrete  ? 
Let  us  be  modest  and  ask,  To  how  many  of  us  does  as 


SCHOOL   PROBLEMS  453 

small  a  number  as  20  mean  anything  concrete?  How 
many  of  us  will  recognize  this  small  number  accurately 
and  promptly  in  the  following  irregular  mass  of  dots  ? 


As  soon  as  we  arrange  this  number  of  dots  in  some 
conventional  form,  we  add  them  up  easily: 


Examples  of  this  kind  can  be  multipUed.  It  is  in  part 
the  great  mass  of  methodical  errors  which  vitiates  the 
didactic  process  and  causes  pupils  to  become  muddled 
in  their  mental  operations,  to  live  on  words  and  symbols 
without  ever  touching  reality,  to  fail  in  their  school 
tasks,  and  finally  to  be  launched  from  school  into  a 
world  of  actualities  of  which  they  have  no  understand- 
ing, and  in  the  battle  with  whose  stem  demands  they 
are  defeated. 

Just  because  the  beginnings  of  rational  didactic  work 
are  the  most  important  and  fundamental,  the  first  step 
in  school  work  is  to  be  most  carefully  considered.  The 
author  has  devoted  the  next  chapter  to  a  consideration 
of  methods  adapted  to  the  youngest  children.     Chapter 


454  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

XXII  is  a  discussion  of  the  kindergarten  period  in  lay- 
ing the  foundation  of  sane  mentality  by  recognizing 
individual  differences.  A  discussion  of  the  Montessori 
method  is  inserted.  This  insertion  has  been  made  be- 
cause so  many  educators  and  lay  people  have  hailed  this 
new  movement  as  the  one  great  liberator  of  the  child 
from  the  fetters  of  irrational  school  training.  It  is  well, 
therefore,  that  in  a  discussion  of  the  problem  of  school 
adjustment  to  the  individual  child,  for  the  purpose  of 
forestalling  his  failure  in  life,  some  attention  should  be 
given  to  the  claim. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  KINDERGARTEN  PERIOD 

A  New  Gospel  of  Freedom. — When  the  kindergarten 
was  first  introduced  in  this  country,  it  was  justly  hailed 
with  enthusiasm  as  a  new  gospel  of  freedom  from  scho- 
lastic narrowness  and  pedantry.  It  gave  a  new  outlook 
upon  the  p>ossibilities  of  child  development.  It  took 
advantage  of  those  valuable  formative  years  which  had 
been  neglected  by  the  traditional  school  where  education 
was  held  to  be  synonymous  with  book-learning.  It  led 
the  educator  back  to  some  reaUties  in  child  life.  And 
it  recognized  the  symbolic  stage  in  the  development  of 
the  child  mind. 

It  has,  however,  not  altogether  justified,  in  its  practi- 
cal development,  the  expectations  of  its  advocates.  Its 
symbohsm  has  run  wild;  its  system  has  degenerated  in 
many  places  into  a  rigid  formalism;  the  externals  have 
pushed  the  underlying  principles  into  the  background, 
and  the  kindergarten  has  suffered  from  the  same  diffi- 
culty which  has  been  the  curse  of  primary  education 
throughout  the  land,  namely,  that  the  youngest  tyros 
in  education  were  considered  good  enough  to  teach  the 
youngest  children,  those  precious,  delicate  minds  and 
souls  to  whom  the  wonderland  of  the  world  is  just  un- 
folding itself. 

Genetic  Psychology  vs.  Stereotjrped  Forms. — It  is  not 
the  purpose  of  this  book  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of 
these  criticisms.    But  two  great  mistakes  which  have  been 

455 


456  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

made  must  be  discussed  here:  The  one  is  that  in  the 
general  kindergarten  practice  the  original  Frobel  Gifts 
and  Occupations,  Games  and  Songs  have  been  adhered 
to  without  modification,  in  a  stereotyped  form,  and  with 
the  exclusion  of  everything  that  might  have  enriched 
and  broadened  the  life  of  the  kindergarten  children. 
Thus,  there  was  a  relative  paucity  and  one-sidedness  of 
educational  material  which  left  many  a  child  of  that  age 
unprovided  for  and  unappealed  to.  For  the  newer  ap- 
preciation of  genetic  psychology  has  taught  us  that  the 
child  is  a  much  more  complex  being  than  was  known  at 
the  time  of  Frobel,  and  that  the  laws  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  individual  cannot  be  understood  without  a 
knowledge  of  race  psychology  and  biology. 

Uniform  Standards. — ^Again,  the  rigidity  of  general 
practice  makes  itself  felt  in  the  tendency  toward  uni- 
formity. Group  work  is  the  rule;  individual  work  the 
exception.  All  children  in  the  same  group  are  supposed 
to  do  the  same  thing  practically  in  the  same  way  at  the 
same  time.  Individual  differences  in  execution  which, 
of  course,  cannot  be  avoided,  are  as  far  as  possible  dis- 
couraged so  that  a  uniform  standard  of  perfection  may 
be  attained. 

The  children  march  and  sing  at  the  same  time,  they 
dance  and  play  in  a  prescribed  and  imitative  fashion 
when  the  programme  requires  it;  they  weave  and  model 
and  draw  and  lay  sticks  and  build  at  the  same  time,  in 
a  formal  way  and  following  conventional,  traditional 
patterns. 

Penalty  of  Success. — It  has  been,  in  a  measure,  a 
misfortune  for  the  kindergarten  that  it  has  succeeded 
so  weU  in  this  country.  In  its  own  native  home  it  has 
never  been  fully  recognized  in  the  public  school  system; 


THE  KINDERGARTEN  PERIOD  457 

and  private  initiative,  adapting  itself  to  local  and  special 
needs,  kept  the  kindergarten  idea  freer  from  formalism 
than  it  was  possible  here.  As  soon  as  the  kindergarten 
became  a  feature  of  public  school  education,  in  the 
American  system,  it  partook  of  the  faults  characteristic 
of  that  system.  It  ceased  to  be  a  kindergarten  and  be- 
came a  classroom  arrangement.  It  imprisoned  the  chil- 
dren indoors  and  became  a  matter  of  chairs  and  tables, 
and  order  and  discipline,  and  quiet  and  co-ordination. 
However,  the  young  child  is  repeating,  in  his  life  in- 
stincts, his  games,  his  experiments  with  the  world  about 
him,  the  experience  of  early  race  history.  He  wants  to 
play  on  the  floor,  not  to  sit  orderly,  for  any  length  of 
time,  on  a  chair;  he  wants  to  play  in  a  sand-heap,  not 
on  a  sand- table;  he  wants  to  be  dirty,  not  neat;  he 
wants  to  play  with  water,  and  wade,  and  throw,  and 
climb,  and  drop  things,  and  play  hide-and-seek,  and  use 
a  stick,  and  do  all  sorts  of  primitive  things.  The  child 
who  easily  conforms  to  the  routine  of  an  orderly  kin- 
dergarten is  either  abnormal  or  subdued. 

The  Young  Child  Is  Individualistic. — Again,  the  young 
child  is  not  naturally  a  social  being.  He  is  individual- 
istic, just  as  his  remote  ancestors  were  who  saw  a  com- 
petitor in  every  other  individual.  True,  this  indepen- 
dence and  asocial  condition  must  be  converted  into  a 
realization  of  the  social  conscience.  But  this  is  a 
growth  which  cannot  be  forced,  or  else  it  will  be  an 
artificial  thing,  and  the  child  so  constricted  will  harbor 
an  everlasting  resentment  against  a  social  order  which 
curtails  his  freedom.  No  wonder  that  we  have  so  little 
community  spirit  among  our  grown-up  population.  The 
time  comes  naturally  when  the  child,  seeking  companion- 
ship for  the  projection  of  his  own  personality  into  other 


458  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

lives,  and  enlarging  his  own  personality  by  making 
others  a  part  of  his  own  emotional  and  mental  being, 
will  socialize  himself.  Then  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  community  life,  as  well  as  the  duties  and  functions 
involved  in  it,  will  enter  into  his  consciousness. 

Montessori  Influence. — It  is  here  that  the  so-called 
Montessori  methods  have  hit  the  kindergarten  hard. 
These  methods  and  suggestions  are  by  no  means  origi- 
nal, having  been  used  for  a  long  time  in  a  progressive 
reconstruction  of  school  and  kindergarten  systems. 
They  have  characterized  the  work  for  the  difficult  and 
abnormal  child  in  particular,  and  had  been  formulated 
long  before  we  had  heard  of  Montessori.  It  is,  however, 
interesting  to  note  how  the  American  public,  as  soon  as 
a  foreign  voice  was  raised  in  iconoclastic  enthusiasm, 
immediately  clamored  for  the  recognition  of  principles 
which  it  had  so  long  considered  with  distrust.  Now,  all 
of  a  sudden,  teachers  discover  that  it  is  really  possible 
to  have  a  group  of  children  under  individual  freedom 
much  greater  than  it  had  been  thought  feasible.  In  the 
light  of  these  principles  the  teacher  is  first  of  all  an 
observer.  She  studies  the  situation  and  acts  accordingly; 
she  does  not  approach  the  child  with  a  preconceived  idea 
of  system.  She  realizes  that  obedience  is  a  sacrifice 
of  self  on  the  part  of  the  child;  a  sacrifice  that  will  be 
made  more  readily  when  the  child — not  knows,  for  that 
is  impossible  at  that  stage — but  feels  the  necessity  for 
it,  through  the  confidence  which  his  educational  leader 
and  his  comrades  inspire  in  him.  This  is  certainly  the 
manner  in  which  a  normally  vigorous  child  is  educated 
in  the  home.  Force  and  punishment,  fear,  and  even 
an  artificially  stimulated  desire  to  please,  will  never  de- 
velop a  child's  best,  innermost  faculties.     He  may  be- 


THE  KINDERGARTEN   PERIOD  459 

come  a  conformer,  a  pattern,  a  hypocrite,  a  coward,  a 
prig,  an  "average"  child,  but  never  a  character. 
'  Racial  Differences. — The  Montessori  movement  sug- 
gests another  thought.  It  represents  an  effort  at  educa- 
tional reform  largely  adapted  to  the  children  of  Italy. 
Some  of  the  singular  omissions  observable  in  the  sys- 
tem, some  of  its  surprising  features,  yes,  even  the  very- 
extremes  to  which  it  goes  in  the  matter  of  freedom, 
must  have  their  cause  and  origin  in  the  conditions  under 
which  it  was  developed.  These  local  conditions  are 
racial  and  historical.  For  this  very  reason  it  cannot  be 
merely  copied  in  America.  These  conditions  have  been 
discussed  elsewhere  in  this  book;  suffice  it  to  say  that 
here  is  a  field  of  fruitful  study  and  discovery.  But  what 
we  may  learn  from  these  facts  is  this:  that  in  applying 
any  educational  system  or  method  we  must  consider 
racial  differences.  There  is  a  difference  in  racial  atmos- 
phere and  attitude,  Ufe  habits  and  emotional  response, 
even  in  cultural  development.  What  appeals  to  one 
race  will  not  appeal  to  another.  In  our  country,  with 
its  mixture  of  raw  material  cast  upon  our  shores  from 
different  countries,  it  is  absurd  to  think  that  kindergar- 
ten practice  can  be  the  same  in  the  Italian  sections  as 
in  the  ghettos,  in  the  Polish  districts  as  in  those  inhab- 
ited by  families  of  German  or  American  lineage.  And 
where,  in  any  individual  kindergarten,  there  is  a  con- 
glomeration of  racial  types,  the  work  will  have  to  be 
carefully  differentiated  to  meet  the  needs  of  native  in- 
stincts and  ideals.  And  even  within  the  racial  groups 
there  are  different  civilization  levels  {cj.  Chapter  III). 
For  the  children  of  these  various  elements  the  kinder- 
garten period  of  development  means  many  different 
things. 


460  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Individual  Tj^es  of  Mind. — It  is  almost  superfluous 
to  add  that  further  adjustments  of  the  daily  routine 
must  be  made  to  suit  the  needs  of  individual  types  of 
mind.  Do  not  say  that  the  young  child  does  not  pre- 
sent such  a  variety  of  problems.  Quite  the  contrary: 
It  is  essential  to  make  distinctions  at  the  early  age,  so 
as  to  start  the  child  right  on  his  career.  It  must  be 
admitted  that  the  finer  individual  differences,  such  as 
represent  an  accumulation  of  family  traits,  imitations 
of  environmental  conditions,  and  special  endowments 
and  preferences,  manifest  themselves  fully  only  at  the 
period  of  adolescence.  Yet  even  in  the  baby  difference 
of  type  is  clearly  recognizable. 

Differences  in  Growth-Rate. — There  is,  first,  the  dif- 
ference in  physical  and  mental  growth-rate.  Not  all  chil- 
dren of  3  or  4  can  even  wear  garments  of  the  regulation 
size,  or  react  upon  stimuli  in  a  uniform  manner.  Their 
sense-perceptions  and  reactions  will  show  wide  differ- 
ences; their  motor  co-ordination,  their  balance,  their  imi- 
tative and  constructive  abihty  will  vary  within  wide 
limits.  Their  endurance,  their  concentration,  their  abil- 
ity to  learn  from  errors  will  show  a  multitude  of  differ- 
ences. They  will  progress  with  a  very  great  diversity 
of  speed.  Some  will  still  need  the  large  gifts  and  to 
work  in  their  occupations  on  a  large  scale,  when  others 
will  have  proceeded  to  be  able  to  cope  with  rather  minute 
adjustments.  Some  will  still  be  satisfied  with  the  sym- 
bol when  others  will  want  realities.  Age  is  a  very  rela- 
tive thing. 

Mental  Attitudes  and  Aptitudes. — Further,  there  are 
distinct  differences  in  mental  attitude  and  aptitude. 
Some  children  are  born  individuahsts,  born  leaders; 
others  are  naturally  conformists  and  want  to  be  led. 


THE   KINDERGARTEN   PERIOD  461 

There  is  the  child  who  is  afraid  of  nothing;  and  the 
other  who  shrinks  from  publicity  and  competition. 
There  is  the  one  who  is  always  original  and  inventive, 
and  who  hates  to  merely  imitate;  others  have  no  spark 
of  originality  and  depend  absolutely  upon  models  and 
patterns.  Should  we  not  consider  these  differences 
among  many  others?  Surely  it  cannot  be  said  that  it 
is  one  of  the  first  duties  of  the  kindergartner  to  curb 
the  forward  child,  to  check  the  impulse  of  leadership,  to 
mould  the  heretic  thought  and  non-conformist  method 
into  the  form  of  conventionality.  The  history  of  the 
race  is  so  full  of  bloody  struggles  against  orthodoxy  of 
all  kinds  that  we  should  guard  against  the  stifling  of 
souls  in  the  beginning  of  their  growth.  Not  oppression, 
but  wise  guidance  on  the  basis  of  a  real  understanding 
and  appreciation  of  underlying  motives  and  conditions 
is  what  is  needed.  It  is  only  too  often  the  bright  child, 
the  child  of  initiative,  that  is  made  the  victim  of  the 
levelling  efforts  even  at  this  early  period,  so  that  his 
career  is  hazarded  from  the  first.  So  few  of  us  have 
the  faculty  or  the  patience  to  enter  into  the  intentions 
of  Uttle  children.  Their  actions  are  often  gravely  mis- 
understood, their  motives  unappreciated,  their  minds 
and  morals  undervalued,  their  emotions  misrepresented. 
A  gulf  will  then  open  between  the  teacher,  or  parent,  and 
this  budding  soul,  a  gulf  difficult  of  bridging;  and  the 
young  heart  will  shut  itself  in  and  the  young  mind  will 
be  warped. 

Conventional  Symbolism. — To  illustrate,  reference 
may  be  made  to  a  very  common  practice.  The  kinder- 
garten teacher  will  draw  houses,  tables,  cats,  and  other 
things  on  the  blackboard,  or  show  these  forms  in  the 
way  of  stick-laying;  or  develop  sequences  with  the  build- 


462  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

ing  gifts,  illustrating  steps,  bridges,  and  other  struc- 
tures; or  punch  holes  in  sewing  cards  for  the  sewing  out 
of  conventional  and  life  forms,  etc. ;  and  the  children  are 
expected  to  imitate  these  things  in  the  regulation  way. 
This  presupposes  that  they  see  the  things  represented  in 
the  same  symboHcal  form  the  teacher  sees  them,  and 
which  is  intended  to  contain  all  the  essential  features  of 
the  objects  thus  delineated.  But  a  study  of  the  sponta- 
neous drawings  and  structures  of  children  shows  that 
this  is  a  mistake.  Children  do  not  see  things  in  the 
regulation  way.  To  them  features  seem  essential  that 
are  quite  different  from  those  the  teacher  thinks  should 
be  shown  in  the  reproduction. 

The  blackboard  forms  of  houses,  cats,  etc.,  are  noth- 
ing but  pictographs,  picture-writings,  hieroglyphics,  as 
it  were,  symbols  of  the  real  things,  and  the  child  uses 
them  as  such.  In  the  ordinary  practice,  whenever  he 
is  asked  to  draw,  or  lay  with  sticks,  or  build  with  blocks, 
or  what-not,  a  certain  object  first  presented  in  the  form 
described,  he  will  always  reproduce  the  original  symbol 
without  any  freedom  of  deviation,  or  any  attempt  to 
express  what  is  really  in  his  mind.  Thus,  a  conventional 
method  is  introduced  which  counteracts  the  natural  in- 
stinct of  the  child  to  represent  things  in  his  own  way. 
The  ordinary  exercises  perpetuate  this  conventionaliza- 
tion. Individual  attitudes  and  visions  are  entirely  lost 
sight  of,  and  much  opportunity  is  lost  of  studying  and 
understanding  what  is  really  in  the  child's  mind,  or 
where  his  aptitude  lies. 

Imitation  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  fundamental  in- 
stincts of  the  child  at  early  stages.  True  enough;  but 
imitation  rightly  understood.  As  said  before,  there  are 
children  who  can  do  little  more  than  imitate;  but  they 


THE   KINDERGARTEN   PERIOD  463 

must  not  set  the  pace  for  all.  As  soon  as  the  teacher 
leads  the  child  into  stereotyped  form,  she  is  on  the 
wrong  track.  She  must  always  first  appeal  to  the  child's 
own  method,  and  merely  assist  him  in  expressing  himself. 
In  this  connection  the  author  is,  as  he  often  is,  reminded 
of  the  paradoxical  saying  of  the  late  Doctor  Harris: 
"Of  course,  the  teacher  must  be  an  example;  but  she 
must  take  care  that  no  one  follows  it."  In  other 
words,  while  she  should  be  an  inspiration  to  the  child 
to  find  the  right  path,  she  must  never  be  a  pattern 
after  which  he  moulds  his  own  individuality. 

Illustrative  Cases. — It  may  be  of  interest  to  quote 
here  the  contrasting  t>'pes  of  two  boys  from  a  report 
of  a  kindergartner  at  "Herbart  Hall"  (Cases  74  and 
75).  A  is  older  than  M,  and  an  entirely  different 
type  of  mind,  although  both  were  very  backward  when 
they  came  and  really  beyond  kindergarten  age,  so- 
called. 

A  showed  in  his  Gift  work  a  preference  for  small  material, 
dull  colors  (always  chose  the  brown  tablets  instead  of  the  red, 
blue,  and  yellow),  and  accurate  details  in  construction.  His 
natural  diffidence  called  for  an  encouraging  method.  I  used  at 
first  the  free  play,  then  combined  it  with  imitation  and  sugges- 
tion. Toward  the  end  of  the  year  he  had  acquired  confidence 
in  his  own  powers,  and,  in  response  to  any  given  suggestion, 
would  bravely  choose  his  own  material  to  carry  out  an  idea. 

In  many  cases  the  suggestions  came  from  his  little  school- 
fellow, M.  This  child  has  a  powerful  imagination  and  at  the 
same  time  a  marked  tendency  to  utilize  the  things  he  can  get 
hold  of.  Once,  while  building  with  the  Sixth  Gift  (large  size) 
he  found  that  his  train  was  so  tall  that  it  could  not  pass  under 
a  four-block,  high  bridge.  He  then  brought  two  loads  of  boxes 
(8)  from  the  cupboard  and  made  a  fine  bridge.  When  A  saw 
what  M  did,  he  took  the  cover  of  a  cardboard  box  and  improved 
his  house. 


464  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

As  a  rule  A  would  spend  the  full  Gift  period  in  making  and 
perfecting  one  construction,  while  M  would  build  ten  different 
things,  in  a  careless,  rapid  way.  A's  perseverance  in  his  work 
is  quite  remarkable.  One  day  he  tried  to  buUd  a  castle  with 
the  tablets  of  the  Seventh  Gift.  As  the  task  seemed  too  hard, 
he  tried  to  make  a  tunnel.  When  told  that  the  tablets  were 
not  intended  for  that  purpose  he  begged  to  be  allowed  to  try. 
And  although  he  spent  thirty  minutes  in  trying  (the  tunnel 
came  down  twelve  times)  he  finally  succeeded  in  showing  me  a 
smooth,  carefully  finished  tunnel  about  ten  inches  long. 

Examples  might  be  multiplied. 

The  Kindergarten  Principle. — ^The  author  wishes  to 
have  it  understood  that  he  believes  in  the  possibilities 
of  a  real  kindergarten.  All  the  Gifts  and  Occupations, 
all  the  Games  and  Songs,  and  all  the  traditions  have 
their  legitimate  place.  But  the  kindergarten  is  more 
than  all  that.  It  is  a  principle,  and  around  that  princi- 
ple we  may  assemble  a  multitude  of  means  and  methods 
among  which  we  may  discriminate  for  the  sake  of  reach- 
ing the  individual  child. 

The  Montessori  Cult. — Inasmuch  as  a  surprising 
number  of  lay  people,  parents,  and  even  teachers  in  this 
country  have  hailed  the  Dottoressa  Montessori  as  the 
new  savior  of  the  child,  and  her  doctrines  as  a  veritable 
gospel  of  child  conservation,  it  seems  necessary  to  say 
here  at  least  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  "new  method." 

Of  course,  it  is  not  a  new  method  at  all.  It  contains 
no  new  principles  or  inventions.  Frobel  was  a  forerun- 
ner of  modern  psychology,  the  creator  of  a  new  thought 
(no  matter  how  imperfect  some  of  his  methods  were),  a 
seer,  and  his  work  will  have  to  be  recognized  as  having 
broken  new  paths  even  after  his  Gifts  and  Occupations 
are  long  forgotten.  Montessori  is  mainly  a  compiler 
and  digester. 


THE   KINDERGARTEN   PERIOD  465 

The  Principle  of  Freedom. — Both  Frobel  and  Mon- 
tessori  appeal  to  the  same  period  in  child  life,  the  age  of 
3  to  6.  Frobel  gave  many  of  his  suggestions  for  use  in 
home  education,  and  his  ''Mutter-  und  Koseheder" 
("Mother-Play  Songs")  will  be  immortal.  Montessori 
seems  to  lay  less  stress  on  the  home  element,  perhaps 
under  the  influence  of  ItaUan  conditions.  But  just  in 
this  period  of  a  child's  life,  the  principle  of  freedom  is 
of  the  greatest  importance.  It  has  been  claimed  that 
this  freedom  has  found  its  first  thorough  realization  in 
the  "case  dei  bambini."  Montessori  rejects  stationary 
desks  and  chairs  and  says: 

The  lesson  must  be  presented  in  such  a  manner  that  the  per- 
sonality of  the  teacher  shall  disappear.  She  must  be  warned 
of  two  things:  First,  not  to  insist  by  repeating  the  lesson;  and 
second,  not  to  make  the  child  feel  that  he  has  made  a  mistake. 

These  demands  are  psychologically  valuable,  but  can- 
not be  enforced  too  rigorously.  Besides,  the  freedom 
which  she  demands  is  rather  illusory,  as  she  has  very 
fixed  rules  and  restrictions,  and  says: 


The  liberty  of  the  child  should  have  as  its  limit  the  collective 
interest;  as  its  form,  what  we  universally  consider  good  breed- 
ing. We  must,  therefore,  check  in  the  child  whatever  offends 
or  annoys  others,  or  whatever  tends  toward  rough  or  ill-bred 
acts.  But  all  the  rest — every  manifestation  having  a  useful 
scope — whatever  it  be,  and  under  whatever  form  it  expresses 
itself,  must  not  only  be  permitted,  but  must  be  observed  by 
the  teacher.  Here  lies  the  essential  point:  from  her  scientific 
preparation  the  teacher  must  bring  not  only  the  capacity  but 
the  desire  to  observe  natural  phenomena.  In  our  system  she 
must  become  a  passive,  much  more  than  an  active  influence,  and 
her  passivity  shall  be  composed  of  anxious  scientific  curiosity, 


466  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

and  of  absolute  respect  for  the  phenomenon  which  she  wishes  to 
observe.  The  teacher  must  understand  and  feel  her  position  of 
observer;  the  activity  must  lie  in  the  phenomenon. 

Little  objection,  if  any,  can  be  made  against  this 
conception.  It  has  been  preached  by  progressive  edu- 
cators for  many  years  past.  Frobel  knew  no  stationary 
desks  or  chairs;  and  movable  seats  and  tables  have  been 
introduced  in  many  leading  schools  long  ago.  German 
pedagogy  has  always  recognized  the  child  as  the  real 
centre  of  instruction,  and  has  taught  the  gospel  of  "edu- 
cation in  freedom."  Pestalozzi,  a  century  before, 
preached  the  same  sermon  over  and  over  again. 

Wise  Teachers  Required. — Education  in  freedom  and 
for  freedom  is,  however,  a  very  difficult  task,  and  re- 
quires well-trained,  experienced,  and  wise  teachers.  The 
want  of  these  has  wrecked  many  a  kindergarten;  it  will 
be  the  danger-point  for  the  "Montessori  school." 

Objectivity  of  Instruction. — It  is  hardly  necessary  to 
emphasize  that  Montessori's  suggestions  on  behalf  of 
objectivity  of  instruction  and  of  proper  -sense  training  are 
restatements  of  old  pedagogical  teachings  and  offer  lit- 
tle that  is  new,  unless  it  were  the  introduction  of  such 
terms  as  "thermic,"  "baric,"  and  " stereognostic " 
senses.  This  does  not  mean  that  we  may  not  feel  in- 
debted to  her  for  several  skilfully  planned  pieces  of 
didactic  apparatus.  Some  of  them  are  taken  from  the 
methods  of  teaching  the  feeble-minded  from  which  the 
Dottoressa  originally  started,  and  which  have  been  in 
use  for  many  years.  One  of  these  is  the  form  board, 
first  developed  by  Seguin  when  he  was  superintendent 
of  the  institution  in  Waverley,  Mass.,  together  with 
other  similar  material  suggested  and  used  by  him.  Her 
advice   to   use   with   normal   children   methods   which 


THE  KINDERGARTEN  PERIOD  467 

were  originally  intended  for  the  instruction  of  the  men- 
tally deficient,  valuable  as  it  is,  is  again  nothing  new. 
In  fact,  there  is  no  fundamental  difference  between 
methods  used  for  the  feeble-minded  and  those  employed 
in  regular  schools.  The  principles  are  the  same,  only 
that  in  teaching  the  retarded  or  even  the  defective  child 
we  must  lay  special  stress  upon  the  first  steps  and  pro- 
ceed much  more  slowly  and  cautiously.  To  leave  out 
these  first  and  fundamental  steps  in  the  education  of 
the  so-called  normal  child,  is  indeed  a  great  mistake, 
which  has  its  cause  in  a  misappreciation  of  the  develop- 
mental stages  of  the  child's  mind.  In  fact,  this  misap- 
preciation and  the  consequent  neglect  of  the  first  steps 
are  the  chief  causes  of  many  derailments  and  "excep- 
tional" developments. 

Montessori  lays  much  stress  upon  systematic  sense 
training.  She  has  definite  exercises,  also,  for  the  tem- 
perature-sense, the  muscle-sense,  and  the  perception  of 
weight,  etc.,  which  have  been  much  neglected  by  teach- 
ers. The  child's  diet  and  physical  training  are  also 
given  much  attention.  To  her  the  generally  accepted 
idea  of  gymnastics  seems  inadequate.  She  recommends 
exercises  in  walking  and  running,  breathing,  talking  and 
articulation,  dressing  and  undressing,  buttoning  and 
lacing,  in  carrying  and  handling  things  like  cubes,  balls, 
etc.  She  emphasizes  walking  and  running,  as  there  are 
very  specific  morphological  changes  going  on  in  the 
body  of  children  of  that  age  which  are  stimulated  by 
these  exercises.  But  she  eliminates  rhythm  from  march- 
ing and  insists  mainly  upon  correct  posture  and  gait. 
Group  work  does  not  appeal  to  her;  she  wants  to  indi- 
vidualize almost  exclusively.  This  is  in  contrast  to  her 
demand  that  the  child  must  be  prepared  for  the  forms 


468  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

of  social  life.  By  way  of  games  and  occupations  she 
recommends  Frobel's  geometric  gifts,  balls,  hoops,  kites, 
bean-bags,  also  running  games  like  puss-in-the-corner, 
catching,  etc. — most  of  which  can  certainly  not  be 
played  without  group  work. 

Facts  vs.  Imagination. — ^AU  this  contains  much  that  is 
good  and  useful.  But  her  system  has  a  fatal  defect  in 
principle  which  places  it  in  sharp  contrast  to  Frobel's. 
She  wishes  nothing  taught  but  facts.  Children  must 
learn  the  "truth"  and  nothing  but  the  truth.  In  other 
words,  she  confines  the  work  to  cold,  dry  observations, 
and  in  the  explanation  and  expression  of  these  she  de- 
mands the  fewest  words,  the  briefest  sentences  possible. 
Her  motto  is:  nothing  superfluous.  Imagination,  the 
play  of  fancy,  anything  symbolic — she  wishes  to  be  put 
under  ban  in  the  education  of  these  Uttle  ones.  She 
rejects  the  dramatic  games  of  the  kindergarten,  like 
those  of  the  carpenter  and  the  shoemaker,  and  re- 
places them  by  real  sawing  and  hammering.  The 
fanciful  stories  of  the  kindergarten  are  condemned  as 
silly. 

Culture  Epochs. — These  extreme  views  give  evidence 
of  her  misunderstanding  and  misinterpretation  of  a 
child's  early  development.  This  is  the  more  surprising 
as  she  seems  to  have  some  conception  of  the  culture- 
epoch  theory  which  has  been  explained  elsewhere  in 
this  book  (pp.  41^.).  Says  she:  ^^The  child  follows  the 
natural  way  of  development  of  the  human  race.  In  short, 
such  education  makes  the  education  of  the  individual 
harmonize  with  that  of  humanity.  Man  passes  from 
the  natural  to  the  artificial  state  through  agriculture. 
When  he  discovered  the  secret  of  intensifying  the  pro- 
duction of  the  soil,  he  obtained  the  reward  of  civiliza- 


THE  KINDERGARTEN  PERIOD  469 

tion.  The  same  path  must  be  traversed  by  the  child 
who  is  destined  to  become  a  civilized  man." 

In  this  way  she  endeavors  to  justify  the  gardening 
occupations  of  the  young  child,  being  engrossed  in  the 
material  externals  and  forgetting  the  conditions  of  psy- 
chic evolution.  The  beginning  of  culture  in  the  human 
race  is  a  period  of  mythos,  of  nature-worship,  of  per- 
sonification of  the  natural  forces,  of  fetichism,  of  sym- 
bolism. The  young  child,  likewise,  lives  in  a  symbolic 
world  of  his  own,  fairy-tale  like,  and  does  symbolic 
things,  plays  in  a  world  of  fancy  out  of  which  the  real 
must  evolve  as  the  truly  ideal.  Even  the  child  of  i  and 
2  does  many  unreal  things,  "makes  believe,"  feeds  his 
doll  or  hobby-horse  from  an  empty  plate,  plays  he  is 
somebody  else,  etc.  The  entire  psychic  complexus  of 
primitive  man  is  mirrored  in  the  young  child.  Frobel, 
in  his  games,  has  recognized  the  dramatic  instinct  of 
the  child  and  gives  ample  space  to  the  child's  world  of 
fancy.  That  Montessori  fails  to  do  this  is  a  fundamen- 
tal defect  of  her  system.  She  goes  to  the  other  extreme 
— while  mistaken  kindergarten  methods,  as  was  shown 
before,  have  overemphasized  the  symbolic  element. 

Premature  Scholastics. — Her  "practically"  inclined 
mind  also  induced  her  to  instruct  her  pupils  as  early  as 
possible  in  scholastic  things  prop>er,  and  to  suggest 
methods  which  may  lead  to  a  rapid  mastery  of  reading, 
writing,  and  arithmetic.  Modern  pedagogy  is  suspicious 
toward  the  early  introduction  of  these  arts.  One  is 
justified  in  claiming  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  natural 
development  of  the  youthful  mind  and  cannot  be  sui>- 
f)orted  by  the  facts  of  physiological  psychology.  The 
young  child  must  master  a  wealth  of  impressions  and 
expyeriences  before  he  needs  to  approach  formal  instruc- 


470  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

tion.  Of  course,  children  vary  in  their  type  and  in  the 
rate  of  their  bodily  and  mental  growth,  and  some  may 
be  able  to  bear  an  early  taxing  with  "learning"  more 
easily  than  others.  And  it  has  often  enough  been  dem- 
onstrated that  it  is  quite  feasible  to  teach  otherwise  per- 
fectly normal  children  the  arts  of  reading,  writing,  and 
figuring  at  an  early  age,  by  the  employment  of  suitable 
methods  and  by  special  emphasis  being  laid  upon  this 
teaching.  This  has  been  done  in  many  cases.  Some 
of  them  have  been  discussed  in  Chapter  VII.  But  these 
early  readers  frequently  grow  up  to  be  rather  mediocre 
adults,  and  it  is  hardly  intelligible  what  purpose  can  be 
accomplished  by  driving  methods  which  rob  the  children 
of  most  of  what  is  necessary  and  natural  at  the  early 
age.  It  is  certainly  not  educational  in  the  broad  sense 
to  do  these  things  so  that  the  children  may  be  early 
bread-winners.     They  are  apt  to  lose  in  the  long  run. 

Methodical  Devices. — Montessori's  methods  in  teach- 
ing reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  have  been  used  in 
more  or  less  modified  form  for  years.  Her  form  boards, 
her  number  rods  (c/.,  for  instance,  the  "graduated 
wooden  rods"  in  Shuttleworth  and  Potts's  book  on 
"Mentally  Deficient  Children,"  p.  153),  her  Big  Stair, 
and  other  devices  which  have  aroused  so  much  admira- 
tion, have  been  employed  before,  although  sometimes 
on  a  smaller  scale.  To  have  them  in  large  size  is  com- 
mendable and  in  harmony  with  the  newer  kindergarten 
practice  of  having  large-size  gifts. 

Her  reading  method  in  which  she  lets  children  read 
words  and  sentences  mechanically  without  understand- 
ing their  meaning,  cannot  be  seriously  defended. 

Montessori  is  a  clever  practical  teacher,  of  a  pleasant 
and  magnetic  personality.     She  has  a  solid  foundation 


THE   KINDERGARTEN  PERIOD  471 

of  physiologic  and  anthropologic  information  and  is  well 
schooled  psychologically  and  medically.  She  has  read 
much  and  has  the  knack  to  compile  and  work  out  didac- 
tical ideas  and  material  which  have  come  down  to  her. 
She  is  essentially  constructive  and  an  intelligent  or- 
ganizer. This  has  given  her  occasion  to  do  a  valuable 
piece  of  work  which  should  and  will  be  recognized. 
Her  so-called  system  is  defective  because  it  is  one-sided 
and  incomplete.  But  in  conjunction  with  other  pro- 
gressive methods  it  can  be  utilized  in  formulating  proper 
methods  of  teaching  and  training  young  children.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  space  has  been  given  it  in  this  book 
which  is  devoted  to  a  brief  discussion  of  provisions  and 
methods  which  may  prevent,  if  possible,  educational 
failures  due  to  faulty  methods  of  early  education. 

An  Ideal  Plan  for  the  Kindergarten  Period. — ^A  kin- 
dergarten should  have  the  wide  scope  of  a  well-regulated 
home  in  which  each  child  may  live  his  own  life  and 
share  the  Hfe  of  his  fellows.  There  should  be  presiding 
over  it  a  motherly  spirit  of  large  sympathies  and  of  fine 
discriminative  power,  with  large  resources  as  to  self- 
adjustments  to  ever-changing  situations.  There  must 
be  the  atmosphere  of  freedom  and  encouragement. 
There  must  be  readiness  of  a  true  interpretation  of  all 
manifestations  of  the  budding  infantile  minds.  There 
must  be  open-air  work,  in  a  garden,  in  a  yard,  with 
sand-piles,  flower-beds,  climbing-ladders,  swings,  and 
puddles.  The  room  of  the  kindergarten  must  be  a 
paradise  of  toys  and  activities.  Add  the  work-bench 
and  the  multitude  of  really  educational  toys  and  oc- 
cupations which  are  so  abundant  nowadays,  to  the 
traditional  gifts  of  the  kindergarten.  Break  up  the 
monotony  and  the  routine  of  the  orthodox  programme, 


472  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

and  introduce  the  child  into  a  world  of  real  life.  There 
are  numberless  songs  and  games  that  can  be  safely 
adopted  into  the  system.  Let  the  children  express  their 
own  feelings  in  free  rhythm,  in  dance  and  song.  Do  not 
tarry  too  long  over  the  songs  of  the  shoemaker,  black- 
smith, and  carpenter,  but  take  the  children  to  the 
workshops  to  see  the  men  at  work.  Take  them  on  ex- 
cursions to  the  country  instead  of  merely  singing  and 
talking  about  the  farmer  and  about  sowing  and  reaping 
and  thrashing.  Let  them  have  miniature  garden-farms 
and  shops  of  their  own,  with  real  tools  and  spades  and 
wheelbarrows  and  work  that  will  give  their  growing 
bodies  exercise  such  as  mere  caHsthenics  will  never  pro- 
vide. There  should  be  more  viriHty  in  the  kindergarten, 
not  merely  girlish  notions  of  butterflies  and  dandelions 
and  chickadees.  Do  not  for  a  moment  forget  that  even 
little  boys  are  real  boys  after  all.  Then  there  will  soon 
be  a  wonderful  activity  and  bustle,  and  the  individual 
aptitudes  will  manifest  themselves  for  you  to  observe 
and  study  and  make  use  of.  Use — not  for  the  indi- 
vidual child  alone,  but  for  the  child-community  which 
will  profit  by  this  sharing.  And  the  sharing  will  react 
in  a  socializing  way  upon  the  individual.  Break  up  the 
lockstep  in  the  kindergarten  and  set  the  example  for 
our  elementary  and  high  schools  so  that  they,  also,  may 
set  the  child  free  and  give  the  different  types  oppor- 
tunity to  grow  unfettered,  but  discreetly  guided. 

After  all,  we  can  do  our  best  only  when  we  can  act  in 
our  own  way,  and  be  ourselves.  Then  we  shall  also 
appreciate  other  selves  and  enter  into  genuine  altruistic 
relations.  A  community  built  up  by  enfranchised  indi- 
viduals who  care  neither  for  convention,  nor  tradition, 
nor  precedent,   nor   fashion;   whose  judgment  is  not 


THE   KINDERGARTEN   PERIOD  473 

affected  by  fear  or  false  ambition;  who  strive  for  the 
best  that  is  in  them  and  feel  sure  of  an  appreciation  of 
their  motives — will  be  the  strongest  on  earth.  The 
p>oet's  word  is  applicable  to  the  kindergarten  child  as 
it  is  to  the  grown-ups: 

"To  thine  own  self  be  true, 
And  it  must  follow,  as  the  night  the  day. 
Thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man." 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

GENERAL  PROVISIONS  FOR  VARIATIONS  FROM  TYPE 
AND  FOR  DEVIATIONS  FROM  THE  NORMAL 

In  the  previous  chapters  of  this  part  two  particular 
problems  have  been  discussed.  The  one  was  how  to 
secure,  as  far  as  it  is  humanly  possible,  a  clean  and  nor- 
mal birth  to  a  child  so  as  to  prevent  conditions  which 
would  lead  to  failure  and  derailment  from  hereditary 
and  congenital  causes.  The  other  was  a  consideration 
of  an  educational  policy  in  school  and  home,  and  of  such 
social  and  environmental  conditions  as  would  grant  to 
normal  and  potentially  normal  children  opportunities  for 
complete  individual  development,  giving  full  swing  to 
individual  variations  of  type. 

In  this  and  the  following  chapters  we  shall  approach 
the  problem  of  those  children  who  represent  difficulties, 
physical,  mental,  or  moral.  Having  discussed  previously 
the  "typical"  and  "pseudoatypical"  children  {cf.  classi- 
fication), we  are  now  dealing  first  with  the  truly  "atypi- 
cal" child,  and  then  with  those  children  who  belong  to 
the  subnormal  and  abnormal  groups.  The  "atypical" 
children  represent  variations /row  type;  the  others  are 
deviations  from  the  normal. 

Much  has  already  been  said  in  the  first  two  parts  of 
this  book  of  the  methods  required  to  deal  with  these 
children  adequately  and  justly.  So  these  considerations 
will  be  more  in  the  nature  of  a  concise  statement  and 
summary. 

474 


VARIATIONS  AND   DEVIATIONS  475 

Proper  Diagnosis  the  First  Requisite. — It  is  plain  that 
the  first  requirement  for  dealing  with  genuinely  handi- 
capped children  is  to  make  a  thorough  diagnosis  of  each 
case. 

In  order  to  safeguard  all  children  as  far  as  possible, 
inasmuch  as  mere  observation  in  ordinary  class  work 
is  a  slow  and  inaccurate  process,  every  child  entering 
school  should  be  examined  first  of  all  in  the  educational 
clinic  described  in  the  second  part  of  this  book.  This 
will  give  the  opportunity  of  classifying  the  children  as 
to  type,  physical  and  mental  endowments  or  weaknesses, 
etc.  Child  history  items,  statements  about  home  condi- 
tions, reports  of  family  physicians,  etc.,  should  be  kept 
on  record  for  reference.  The  department  of  medical  in- 
spection should  be  expected  to  co-operate  promptly  with 
the  educational  clinic  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  the 
physical  status  of  the  child.  This  will  help  to  deter- 
mine a  child's  powers  of  endurance  and  resistance,  the 
keenness  or  defects  of  his  sense  reactions  (thus  regulating 
the  problems  of  seating,  light,  etc.,  for  each  pupil),  and 
all  those  other  conditions  which  enter  into  a  valuation 
of  the  child's  physiological  and  biological  characteristics 
and  needs. 

The  medical  clinic  should  have  departments  for  exami- 
nations and  measurements  of  anatomical  and  functional 
conditions,  for  the  testing  of  vision,  hearing,  and  other 
senses;  for  ear  and  throat  examinations,  dental  work,  etc. 
It  should  be  under  the  direction  of  a  competent  physi- 
cian with  a  sufficient  staff  of  trained  assistants  and 
nurses.  The  chief  inspector  should  be  in  constant  touch 
with  the  chief  of  the  educational  clinic,  and  the  entire 
department  is  best  under  the  management  and  control 
of  the  educational  authorities. 


476  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Objects  of  Medical  Inspection. — The  objects  of  medi- 
cal inspection  may  be  summed  up  as  follows: 

A.  Prevention  of  development  of  disease  or  of  physical  de- 
rangement in  children. 

B.  Recognition  of  existing  physical  difficulties  and  of  their 
manifold  complications. 

C.  Removal  of  ailments,  and  co-operation  in  overcoming  ed- 
ucational, social,  and  other  handicaps  resulting  therefrom. 

A.  Prevention  of  Development  of  Disease  or  of  Physical  Derange- 

ment in  Children. 
This  requires: 

1.  Regular  and  thoroughgoing  examinations  and  physical  mea- 

surements to  immediately  offset  incipient  unhealthy 
development  of  any  description. 

2.  Guarding  the  health  of  the  school  community  by  prompt 

measures    when    contagious    and    infectious    diseases 
appear. 

3.  Enforcing  the  rules  of  proper  school  hygiene,  and  encourag- 

ing the  hygienic  care  of  the  individual  pupil  and  his 
home. 

4.  Instruction  given  to  teachers  and  school  officers  to  recognize 

danger-signals  promptly. 

B.  Recognition   of  Existing  Physical  Difficulties  and  of  Their 

Manifold  Complications. 
Here  we  must  distinguish: 

1.  The  recognition  of  physical  difficulties  as  such: 

Defects  in  the  special  senses;  diseases  of  the  ear,  eye, 
nose,  throat,  teeth;  disturbances  of  digestion,  cir- 
culation, assimilation;  skin  diseases;  tuberculosis; 
venereal  infection;  bad  sexual  habits,  and  malfor- 
mations of  the  sexual  organs;  neuropathic  and 
psychopathic  conditions,  etc. 

2.  The  relation  of  these  physical  difficulties  to  the  mental  life 

of  the  child. 

3.  The  relation  of  these  conditions  to  the  moral  life  of  the  child. 

4.  Recognition  of  the  effect  these  conditions  (acute  or  chronic 

in  character)  may  have  upon  the  vocational  career  of  the 
child  and  upon  his  usefulness  as  an  independent  citizen. 


VARIATIONS  AND  DEVIATIONS  477 

C.     Removal  of  Ailments,  and  Co-operation  in  Overcoming  Edu- 
cational, Social,  and  Other  Handicaps  Resulting  Therefrom. 
Under  this  head  these  points  have  to  be  considered: 
I.  A  mere  removal  of  some  physical  ailment  is  not  a  complete 
remedy,  nor  is  it  always  a  simple  or  rapid  process; 
educational    methods    must    be    employed    after    the 
medical  relief,  or  even  along  with  it,  to  accomplish  res- 
toration to  normal  functioning. 
a.  Thus,  diagnosis  and  treatment  require  the  co-operation  of 
the  educator  and  the  psychologist  with  the  physician, 
inasmuch  as  the  physiological  aspect  of  a  case  is  in- 
timately bound  up  with  psychological  and  emotional 
elements,  and  with  facts  of  educational  and  social  im- 
port. 

3.  Phj^ical  difficulty,  combined  with  mental  and  moral  varia- 

tion, is  the  keynote  of  exceptional  development  in 
children;  hence,  in  their  cases,  medical  and  educational 
co-operation  is  particularly  indicated. 

4.  Just  as  physical  conditions  affect   the  mental  and  moral 

states,  the  latter  have  their  specific  influence  upon 
physical  developments  as  such.  In  other  words,  emo- 
tional elements,  volitional  control,  psychic  states, 
imaginings,  etc.,  react  upon  the  body  in  general  and 
influence  functional  reactions.  Hence,  again,  the  need 
of  an  all-sided  co-operation. 

If  all  this  is  to  be  accomplished  by  medical  inspection, 
it  must  be  developed  to  a  high  state  of  efficiency.  At 
present  we  have  makeshift  arrangements  in  most  places. 
In  lieu  of  busy  practitioners  who  are  employed  on  a 
meagre  salary  to  do  some  ill-organized  inspection  work 
in  the  schools,  we  should  have  a  corps  of  specially  trained 
and  well-paid  physicians  with  whom  this  work  is  a  life- 
calling.  We  need  them  for  the  schools  at  least  as  much 
as  we  need  them  for  hospitals  and  asylums.  If  we  com- 
pare the  number  of  trained  men  and  women  employed 
in  the  asylums  for  the  insane  with  the  number  employed 


478  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

in  the  schools,  we  shall  realize  the  inadequacy  of  the 
school  provisions. 

School  nurses  and  social  visitors  will  complete  the  work 
by  co-operating  with  the  homes  of  the  pupils  whenever 
necessary.  An  effective  following-up  system  should  be 
devised  so  that  each  child  may  have  the  full  benefit  of 
these  provisions. 

Repeated  Examinations. — Children  change,  often 
quite  rapidly,  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  growth, 
which  work  with  each  individual  in  compUance  with  all 
the  factors  which  differentiated  him  from  the  others,  so 
that  there  is  an  endless  variety  of  combinations.  In 
this  manner  the  unfolding  of  an  individual  psyche  is 
full  of  surprises.  To  catch  the  budding  instincts  and 
capacities,  to  keep  on  the  track  of  every  new  change,  it 
is  necessary  to  repeat  the  examinations  of  body  and 
mind  at  regular  intervals. 

In  this  wise  we  may  forestall  derailments,  or  if  we 
cannot  turn  the  course  of  an  undesirable  develop- 
ment, we  may  at  least  discover  its  origin  and  follow 
it  up. 

At  certain  junctures  a  child  should  be  under  closer 
observation  than  ordinarily.  For  school  adjustment, 
for  the  sake  of  his  moral  evolution,  or  even  for  his  physi- 
cal development,  he  will  then  need  greater  care  and 
more  minute  scrutiny.  Co-operation  with  the  home 
will  always  be  indicated.  But  each  school  system  should 
organize  observation  classes,  perhaps  even  observation 
schools,  for  scholastic  and  disciplinary  purposes,  without, 
of  course,  attaching  any  penal,  stigmatizing,  or  com- 
promising features  to  the  transfer  into  classes  or 
schools  of  this  kind.  It  may  be  well  to  have,  also,  in 
addition  to  the  observation  day  school,  an  observation 


VARIATIONS  AND  DEVIATIONS  479 

parental  school,  where  the  children  can  be  observed  and 
studied  in  their  habits  of  life  and  conduct. 

A  System  of  Clinics. — As  has  been  shown  in  the  chap>- 
ter  treating  of  the  meaning  of  an  educational  clinic, 
these  clinics,  together  with  the  medical  clinics,  may  be 
considered  as  feeders  for  a  number  of  special  clinics  in 
which  much  expert  work  shall  have  to  be  done,  to  sup- 
plement the  work  of  the  clinics  of  the  first  order.  There 
will  have  to  be  pathological  laboratories  at  the  service  of 
the  school  clinics,  for  the  making  of  blood  tests,  sputum 
tests,  examination  of  faeces,  urine,  and  cultures  of  all 
kinds.  There  should  be  psychological  clinics  for  the 
study  of  cases  which  require  more  elaborate  and  intimate 
psychological  examinations.  These  psychological  clin- 
ics will  also  be  helpful  through  developing  accurate 
methods  for  determining  the  vocational  aptitudes  of  the 
youth  of  our  land.  Those  children  who  give  evidence 
of  psychopathic  derangements  should  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  being  referred  to  psychopathic  clinics.  There 
will  be  so  much  need  of  dental  clinics  that  they  should 
be  co-ordinated  with  the  regular  medical  work.  But  we 
may  further  have  special  arrangements  for  orthopedic 
work,  also  in  connection  with  open-air  classes  and  schools 
inasmuch  as  many  of  the  orthopedic  cases  have  a  tuber- 
cular character. 

Clinics  for  Delinquents  and  Dependents. — A  similar 
.system  of  clinics  should  be  operated  in  connection  with 
2very  children's  or  juvenile  court,  morals  court,  and 
detention  home.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  detention  homes 
may  be  utilized  as  observation  clinics.  The  problem  of 
charity  for  dependent  and  destitute  or  ill-used  children, 
involves  likewise  the  careful  study  of  the  individual  case. 
Therefore  private  charity  bureaus  no  less  than  municipal 


480  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

and  State  charity  commissions  should  provide  for  edu- 
cational, medical,  psychological,  and  other  clinics  in 
the  same  organized  manner  as  has  been  suggested  for 
the  schools.  The  sociological  investigations  to  which 
these  agencies  usually  confine  themselves  tell  only  part 
of  the  story.  The  best  plan  will  be,  as  has  been  rec- 
ommended repeatedly  in  these  pages,  to  organize  all 
this  work  jointly  under  the  educational  authorities. 

Medical  Aspect. — In  order  to  exemplify  the  function 
and  importance  of  medical  relief  and  co-operation  in 
solving  the  problem  of  the  exceptional  child,  the  author 
has  invited  a  number  of  eminent  physicians  to  con- 
tribute to  a  "medical  symposium,"  each  one  to  treat  of 
this  great  subject  from  his  own  standpoint  and  experi- 
ence. He  has  preferred  such  expressions  from  experts 
to  his  own  statements,  for  the  reason  that  this  method 
of  presentation  will  make  the  argument  much  more 
powerful  and  convincing.  This  brilliant  symposium  is 
given  in  the  Appendix. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

PROVISIONS  FOR  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILDREN  IN 
SCHOOLS  AND  INSTITUTIONS 

Special  and  Ungraded  Classes. — The  terms  "special" 
and  "ungraded"  classes  have  been  used  interchange- 
ably. They  mark  the  first  attempt  to  segregate  children 
who  do  not  conform.^  But  they  have  been  grossly  mis- 
used, largely  through  lack  of  differentiation.  They  have 
been  a  sort  of  dumping-ground  for  all  those  children 
with  whom  the  regular  grade  teacher  does  not  know 
what  to  do. 

In  some  school  systems  there  is  a  rule  that  pupils  who 
have  been  for  two  years  in  the  same  grade  must  be 
moved  on  to  the  next  higher  grade,  no  matter  whether 
they  can  do  the  higher  grade  work  or  not.  Sometimes 
this  method  works  beneficially  as,  with  the  progress  of 
maturing,  the  mind  of  a  child  wakes  up  to  its  higher 
responsibilities.  In  other  schools  the  opf>osite  method 
is  followed.    The  author  has  had  under  his  observation 

*  Germany  took  the  lead  in  this  movement  as  in  so  many  other  edu- 
cational and  cultural  movements.  Special  classes  for  mentally  defi- 
cient children  were  established  there  in  1867;  Norway  followed  in  1874, 
and  England,  Switzerland,  and  Austria  in  1892.  In  the  United  States, 
Providence,  R.  I.,  opened  three  schools  for  backward  children  in  1893; 
Boston  organized  its  first  special  class  in  1899.  In  1901  the  first  special 
class  was  established  in  the  public  schools  of  Philadelphia.  Other  cities 
followed.  In  191 1,  220  American  cities  had  special  classes  for  back- 
ward children,  although  many  of  them  followed  the  bad  example  of  Eng- 
land in  allowing  low  types  of  defective  children  to  enter. 

481 


482  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

children  who  had  been  left  in  the  same  grade  for  as 
long  a  time  as  five  years.  These  had  been  forced  to  do 
the  same  grind  over  and  over  again  until  they  became 
sick  of  it,  or  went  to  sleep  mentally,  and  consequently 
became  either  obstreperous,  or  absolutely  unresponsive 
to  anything — fit  only  for  the  human  refuse-heap.  They 
are  saved  only  if  their  native  power  is  strong  enough  to 
assert  itself  in  time,  unschooled  as  it  will  be  under  the 
circumstances,  and  will  defy  their  pedantic  upbringing, 
what  there  was  of  it. 

Ungraded  Classes. — For  pupils  of  this  type  the  "un- 
graded" class  can  sometimes  do  much  good,  provided  it 
does  not  stigmatize  them  as  defectives  and  does  not  in 
that  manner  deprive  them  of  the  incentive  of  self- 
esteem. 

Many  of  the  children  now  retained  in  "ungraded" 
classes  are  in  reality  mental  defectives  and  ought  to  be 
in  custodial  institutions.  Many  other  "ungraded"  pu- 
pils would  do  better  in  "parental"  institutions  where 
they  would  live  away  from  their  homes. 

Rightly  understood,  an  ungraded  class  is  one  in  which 
the  ordinary  grade  requirements  are  suspended.  It  is 
best  adapted  to  those  children  whom  the  author  has 
called  pseudoatypical.  This  class  comprises  those  whose 
progress  in  school  was  hindered  by  irregularity  of  at- 
tendance, or  change  of  schools;  by  a  slower  rate  of  de- 
velopment without  pathological  retardation;  by  a  more 
or  less  uneven  development,  with  more  rapid  progress  in 
some  and  temporary  retardation  in  other  subjects;  by 
temporary  illness,  or  by  slight  physical  difficulties,  such 
as  lameness  and  minor  deformities;  slightly  impaired 
vision  or  hearing;  adenoids,  etc.  The  "ungraded" 
class  will  also  be  of  great  help  to  children  who  have 


SCHOOL  PROVISIONS  483 

suflFered  from  neglect;  for  the  children  of  our  immi- 
grants with  whom  there  are  difficulties  of  language  ad- 
justment, although  they  are  mentally  and  instruction- 
ally  advanced,  or  with  whom  a  racially  differentiated 
instruction  is  needed  for  a  while. 

It  should  be  the  function  of  the  "imgraded"  class 
to  restore  its  pupils  as  soon  as  feasible  to  ordinary  school 
conditions. 

Many  pupils,  for  that  matter,  would  make  better 
progress  even  in  their  regular  classes  if  their  teachers 
would  recognize  their  exceptional  condition  and  would 
adjust  the  work  in  a  measure  to  their  type  and  rate  of 
speed.  This,  of  course,  would  require  much  smaller 
classes  than  is  now  the  rule.  But  this  demand  is  so 
self-evident  for  the  handling  of  children  in  general  that 
it  hardly  needs  to  be  stated.  Public  schools  compare 
very  unfavorably  with  private  schools  in  regard  to  the 
number  of  pupils  to  a  class  and  a  teacher. 

Ungraded  classes  and  elastic  courses  of  study  require 
a  type  of  teacher  much  better  trained  and  much  more 
professionally  dep>endable  than  is  the  average  teacher 
of  to-day. 

Special  Classes. — The  "special"  class  should  be  dif- 
ferentiated from  the  "ungraded"  class.  It  may  share 
with  the  latter  the  distinction  of  offering  opportunities 
for  individual  observation.  As  has  been  stated  before, 
it  may  be  desirable  in  some  of  the  larger  school  sys- 
tems to  have  observation  classes  established  to  try  out 
pupils  who  offer  difficulties  of  one  kind  or  another,  be- 
fore they  are  placed  either  in  a  "special"  or  an  "un- 
graded" class,  or  altogether  into  another  kind  of  edu- 
cational institution.  But  whatever  the  arrangement 
be,  it  should  never  appear  as  if  the  placing  in  any  of 


484  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

these  particular  types  of  classes  or  schools  were  in  the 
nature  of  a  discrimination  against  a  child.  It  should  be 
understood  that  the  special  child  is  being  privileged  by 
having  his  opportunity.  The  circumstance  that  some 
of  these  classes  in  certain  school  systems  have  been 
called  "opportunity  classes"  does  not  take  away  from 
the  stigma  of  being  placed  there  when  they  are  popu- 
lated by  the  dunces  and  defectives  of  the  school. 

Various  Tjrpes  of  Special  Classes. — The  "special" 
class  should  also  abandon  the  "regular"  course  of  study 
and  adapt  itself  to  the  needs  of  different  types  of  chil- 
dren. There  may  be  a  number  of  different  kinds  of 
special  classes,  each  with  different  functions  to  meet 
various  needs.  In  some  systems  these  classes  may  be 
assembled  in  separate  school-buildings,  at  least  certain 
types  of  them. 

Here  children  who  are  difficult  of  management  may 
find  the  educational  atmosphere  more  congenial  than 
that  of  the  regular  class  because  of  the  elasticity  of  the 
course,  and  because  their  individual  adaptations  are 
more  readily  taken  into  account.  Here  the  manual 
child,  the  artistic  child,  the  child  of  special  aptitudes  and 
difficulties  may  find  his  relief.  It  will  prove  an  especial 
boon  to  children  of  unusually  rapid  development  who 
would  feel  the  burden  of  mediocrity  and  slowness  in 
the  "regular"  class  too  harassing.  And  of  course  the 
slow  child  will  welcome  the  special  class  where  he  can 
walk  his  dog-trot  while  the  quick  child  runs  along  the 
race- track. 

Caution,  however,  is  needed  here.  Children  may 
catch  the  contagion  of  our  present-day  post-haste 
method  of  hving.  We  have  lost  the  contemplative, 
beneficially  composed  habits  of  the  ancients  and  of 


SCHOOL  PROVISIONS  485 

more  primitive  races.  We  have  become  imp>ersonations 
of  the  incessant  tick-tack  of  the  watch  in  our  vest- 
pockets,  which  races  through  seconds  and  never  stops. 
Much  of  our  morbid  bodily,  emotional,  and  mental 
tension  is  due  to  the  hyperstimulated  action  of  our 
heart  which  emulates  the  clock.  Our  life  "tempo" 
multiplies  normal  consumption  of  energy  by  ten.  All 
phases  of  our  life,  all  occupations,  all  our  amusements 
and  pleasures  are  permeated  and  infested  by  this  race- 
course rush.  It  ruins  health  and  beauty  and  degrades 
man  to  be  merely  a  ramming  and  on-rushing  head  which 
painfully  drags  its  body  behind  simply  because  it  can- 
not rid  itself  of  the  encumbrance.  Children  catching 
this  racing  fever  will  soon  be  psychopathic.  The  ner- 
vously bright  child,  the  precocious  child,  has  no  place 
in  a  special  class  where  his  already  overstimulated  brain 
will  be  further  edged  on.  He  ought  to  be  in  a  sanatorium 
school. 

Professor  Yasusaburo  Sakaki,  of  Tokyo,  quoted  in 
the  chapter  on  exceptionally  bright  children,  page  138, 
says  justly: 

Our  experiments  and  their  results  served  to  convince  us  that 
there  is  urgent  need  for  reform  in  the  present  system  of  class- 
making,  for  this  system  renders  it  difficult  to  differentiate  indi- 
vidual children,  and  consequently  those  who  stand  most  in  need 
of  judicious  and  expert  handling  are  neither  recognized  as  such 
nor  likely  to  receive  the  training  and  education  adapted  to  their 
sp>ecial  requirements. 

Institutions  for  Atjrpical  Children. — Sometimes,  in  the 
homes  of  the  wealthy,  atypical  children  (and  those  of 
the  subnormal  group  as  the  author  has  enumerated  as 
of  arrested  and  rudimentary  development)  are  placed 


486  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

under  private  tutorship.  This  is  rarely  satisfactory, 
since  the  study  and  better  understanding  of  these  cases 
is  a  matter  of  profound  scientific  research  and  much  ex- 
perience. Besides,  the  method  of  private  tutorship  de- 
prives the  children  of  the  benefit  and  stimulus  of  com- 
panionship and  healthy  competition. 

Atypical  children,  needing  sanatorium  treatment  and 
training;  children  morally  or  emotionally  unbalanced, 
and  those  where  there  is  suspicion  of  arrest  of  some  of 
the  faculties,  cannot  be  successfully  handled  in  day 
schools  of  any  kind,  or  while  they  are  living  at  home. 
There  would  always  be  the  struggle  between  the  home 
and  the  school  environment  for  the  dominant  influence 
in  the  child's  development.  In  the  home  there  is  usu- 
ally nervous  and  emotional  tension  which  affects  these 
children  who  may  be  considered  the  cause  as  well  as 
the  product  of  this  condition.  Their  parents  seldom 
find  the  right  angle  of  vision  to  contemplate  their  needs. 
Harmony  of  educational  methods  and  control  is  practi- 
cally impossible  when  the  child  pendulates  from  one 
set  of  environmental  influences  to  the  other.  This 
struggle  will  be  present  also  under  private  tutorship  in 
the  home.  In  this  way  the  child  will  never  gain  an 
equilibrium  of  habits  and  attitude.  Besides,  the  proper 
training  of  these  children  is  only  secondarily  a  matter 
of  instruction,  and  requires  primarily  a  detailed  care  of 
the  physical  and  emotional  development;  in  other  words, 
a  well-systematized  re-education,  a  well-regulated  gen- 
eral regimen  in  mental  and  physical  exercise,  in  habits 
of  life,  in  diet,  sleep,  etc. 

Hetherington's  "Play  School"  {cf.  pp.  445  jf.),  which 
was  a  day-school  experiment,  can  well  be  organized  in- 
stitutionally; the  principles  would  be  the  same. 


SCHOOL  PROVISIONS  487 

As  to  Methods  in  Special  and  Ungraded  Classes. — 

The  clinical  findings  as  described  in  Chapter  XVI  will 
give  valuable  hints  as  to  the  kind  of  training  a  child 
should  receive  in  a  special  or  ungraded  class. 

If  it  is  found  that  there  is  lack  of  memory-power ^ 
special  exercises  in  attention,  concentration,  and  mem- 
ory must  be  devised.  If  the  child  lacks  keenness  of 
visualization,  attempts  should  be  made  to  develop  this 
power.  Of  course  not  all  such  training  will  succeed, 
but  we  must  at  least  try  to  lead  the  child  along  the  road 
where  he  must  go.  If  he  does  not  respond,  let  us  ob- 
serve where  he  can  go  and  make  his  steps  as  secure  as 
we  can.  In  most  cases  the  mind  of  the  child  needs  a 
new  start,  being  bound  up  in  false  habits  of  thought, 
feeling,  and  action.  We  must  go  back  to  first  principles, 
so  to  speak,  and  re-establish  simple  life-conditions  and 
experiences.  The  child  must  build  his  own  experience, 
not  lean  on  others  vicariously;  only  in  this  way  will  he 
build  for  himself  a  conceptual  world  all  his  own,  and 
live  his  true  life.  This  process  will  require  time,  inas- 
much as  the  re-education  usually  has  to  begin  after  the 
period  of  unconscious  absorption  is  passed.  The  con- 
scious effort  which  has  to  be  made  by  the  child  to  re- 
establish simple  conditions  acts  as  an  obstruction  to 
quick  response  and  new  habituation. 

It  is,  therefore,  of  importance  to  utilize  the  natural 
instincts  and  the  play  element  in  the  child  as  points  of 
vantage;  his  "paradise  of  childhood"  must  be  re- 
established for  him.  The  great  world  with  its  wonders 
must  not  only  be  brought  close  to  the  schoolroom,  but 
the  child  must  be  taken  out  into  it,  like  Whittier's 
"Barefoot  Boy."  This  does  not  imply  at  all  that  the 
child  should  lose  himself  in  idle  play  and  pastime.     He 


488  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

will  leam  spontaneously  the  satisfaction  which  comes 
from  application  to  hard  work. 

Great  stress  must  be  laid  on  motor  training,  through 
physical  and  manual  culture.  Motor  exercise  (educa- 
tionally as  well  as  historically,  in  the  development  of 
the  racial  instincts  and  impulses)  is  the  foundation  upon 
which  the  entire  mental  and  moral  superstructure  rests. 
All  our  intellectual  and  ethical  measures  and  standards 
are  based  upon  these  primordial  instincts  and  activities. 
Physiologically  speaking,  motor  expression  is  connected 
with  every  activity  of  the  brain,  the  majority  of  the 
cells  of  which  are  motor  centres. 

It  would  seem  unnecessary  to  state  expressly  that,  in 
the  matter  of  instruction  generally,  objective  methods, 
adjusted  to  the  needs  of  the  individual  pupil,  must  be 
employed.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  no  "special" 
method  for  a  special  class  or  school;  what  we  need  is 
the  individuaUzed  application  of  rational  principles  of 
method,  such  as  are  essential  in  all  school  work  and  for 
all  children,  in  a  manner  which  will  reach  the  "special" 
child.  It  is  a  matter  of  emphasis  and  gradation,  of 
regulated  speed,  of  careful  attention  to  the  details  of 
successive  steps,  of  the  avoidance  of  sins  of  omission 
and  commission,  etc. 

In  the  matter  of  discipline,'^  firmness  and  gentleness 
must  combine  to  produce  in  the  child  a  wholesome 
growth  of  moral  habits  and  principles.  A  moral  life,  at 
least  in  its  lower  terms,  is  largely  a  matter  of  well- 
regulated  habits  of  action  and  reaction.  The  problem 
of  discipline  is  often  thought  to  be  a  problem  of  training 
a  child  in  obedience.  But  the  author  ventures  to  main- 
tain that  it  is  wrong  on  the  part  of  an  educator,  parent, 
I  Cf.  "The  Career  of  the  ChUd,"  chap.  XVH. 


SCHOOL  PROVISIONS  489 

or  teacher,  to  expect  obedience.  Obedience  is  not  an 
innate  moral  quality.  Obedience  in  the  ordinary  sense 
is  a  subjugation  of  the  child's  will  under  that  of  the 
stronger  adult.  It  is  no  virtue  whatever.  The  "obe- 
dient" child  is  either  weak  or  in  danger  of  becoming  a 
hypocrite.  Naturally  the  child  is  not  "obedient"  at 
all.  What  the  child  has  got  to  learn  is,  first  of  all,  con- 
fidence in  his  educator,  so  that  he  would  follow  his  lead 
through  the  belief  that  his  teacher  or  parent  knows 
best.  Again,  the  child  is  as  much  an  independent  per- 
sonality as  his  educator,  and  must  learn  through  his 
own  experience,  in  the  companionship  of  his  elders 
whose  chum  he  is.  They  must  go  together  through  these 
experiences  which  the  wise  educator  will  manage  to 
make  typical,  following  the  lead  of  the  child's  own  in- 
stincts and  interests.  Let  us  be  reminded  of  the  culture- 
epoch  evolution  of  the  child,  so  that  this  injunction  be 
fully  understood.  Further,  the  child  should  have  an 
opportunity  of  learning  to  concentrate  his  attention 
through  the  awakening  of  his  normal  instincts  in  the 
right  sequence  of  budding  periods,  and  to  respond  in- 
stantly to  prop>er  stimuli.  His  mind  should  become  an 
ordered  domain,  where  all  details  are  organized  and 
co-ordinated.  "Obedience"  will  then  take  care  of  it- 
self. Whenever  a  child  is  "disobedient,"  let  us  find 
out  what  the  matter  is  with  ourselves,  rather  than 
punish  the  child. 

That  of  which  the  child  does  not  p>ossess  the  poten- 
tiaUty,  of  course,  cannot  be  accomplished,  and  the  secret 
of  training  the  special  child  consists  in  understanding 
his  individual  case,  the  causes  and  conditions  of  his 
individual  combination  of  abilities  and  weaknesses,  tak- 
ing him  on  his  own  terms.    In  other  words,  his  training 


490  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

is  a  process  of  eliminations  and  substitutions,  and  of 
concentrating  the  child's  attention  upon  higher  motives 
of  action. 

Power  of  attention  is  practically  identical  with  the 
power  of  self-direction,  of  voluntary  effort,  of  will-power. 
But  you  cannot  give  to  anybody  the  will  to  do.  You 
may  give  him  the  physical  strength  and  nerve  force 
which  will  form  the  foundation  and  prerequisite  of  vol- 
untary effort,  and  without  which,  effort  and  the  psycho- 
logic development  generally  would  lack  their  physiologic 
substratum  and  counterpart;  but  you  cannot  supply  the 
will  itself.  That  must  come  from  within  the  child's 
own  soul.  All  you  can  do  is  to  supply  the  motive  power 
for  the  exercise  of  voluntary  effort.  The  most  effective 
agents  for  the  production  of  this  motive  power  are  inter- 
est and  joy.  There  is  no  action  without  an  emotion; 
emotion  is  first,  releasing  the  motion.  Joyful  exercises 
inspire  the  child  with  self-confidence,  so  that  he  will 
overcome  morbid  fears  and  shyness.  Many  atypical 
,   children  have  fallen  behind  the  others,  not  from  inherent 

\  mental  weakness,  but  from  a  morbid  self-consciousness 

\  .    .   . 

'  and  timidity.     Not  that  you  should  be  sentimental  and 

gushing  in  your  joyful  efforts.  A  little  wholesome  rigor 
and  sternness  will  serve  as  an  effective  tonic  for  the  dis- 
organized minds  and  wills  you  have  occasionally  to  deal 
with.  But  all  efforts  must  concentrate  on  giving  the 
child  confidence  in  himself.  To  accomphsh  this  you,  as 
his  educator,  must  first  believe  in  him  so  that  you  may 
inspire  him  with  your  own  enthusiasm. 

These  suggestions,  of  course,  do  not  fit  only  the  work 
in  the  special  day  class,  but  also  the  work  in  institutions 
devoted  to  various  types  of  exceptional  children.^ 

^  The  Boston  public  schools  have  issued  a  syllabus  for  special  classes 
which  offers  valuable  suggestions  for  all  special  work.     Although  the 


SCHOOL  PROVISIONS  491 

Truants  and  Incorrigibles ;  Juvenile  Delinquents. — 

The  problems  of  these  classes  have  been  discussed  in 
various  chapters  of  this  book.  A  few  practical  sugges- 
tions and  statements  may  be  added. 

First,  attention  may  be  called  to  the  valuable  publica- 
tion of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  (Bulletin 
No.  2,  1914)  on  "Compulsory  School  Attendance"  re- 
ferred to  before.  W.  S.  Deffenbaugh,  the  bureau's 
speciahst  in  school  administration,  has  written  the  first 
paper  in  this  bulletin.  The  entire  paper  is  of  the  great- 
est value  to  the  student  of  this  problem.  Among  other 
things  Mr.  Deffenbaugh  refers  to  a  new  kind  of  ofiicer, 
the  "school  visitor"  or  "visiting  teacher,"  who  has 
become  one  of  the  efl&cient  means  in  some  cities  for 
securing  regular  attendance  at  school.  He  quotes  Miss 
Mary  Flexner,  who  has  made  a  recent  study  of  the  work 
of  these  officers: 

The  visiting  teacher  was  created  to  bridge  a  gap  in  the  exist- 
ing school  machinery.  Her  province  lies  outside  that  of  the 
regular  teacher,  the  attendance  officer,  and  the  school  nurse, 
though,  like  the  attendance  officer  and  the  school  nurse,  she 
goes  into  the  child's  home.  To  her  is  assigned  the  group 
called  the  "difficult"  children,  and  it  is  her  aim  to  discover,  if 
possible,  the  cause  of  the  difficulty  which  manifests  itself  in 
poor  scholarship,  annoying  conduct,  irregular  attendance,  or 
the  need  of  or  desire  for  advice  on  some  important  phase  of  life. 
It  is  too  much  to  exp>ect  the  regidar  teacher,  handicapped  as  she 
is  by  her  large  class,  to  cope  with  such  situations.     Nor  is  it  to 

backward,  even  the  mentally  defective  child  is  considered  first  in  this 
syllabus,  the  work  outlined  fits  admirably  into  courses  for  potentially 
normal,  derailed,  neglected,  delinquent,  and  other  classes  of  sp>ecial 
children.  Of  course  only  in  its  broad  outline;  the  adjustment  will  have 
to  be  made  to  fit  the  case.  The  syllabus  contains  directions  for  manual 
work,  art-work,  domestic  science,  games,  entertainments,  folk-dancing 
and  gymnastics,  nature,  language,  number,  reading,  penmanship,  spell- 
ing, and  sense  training. 


492  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

be  expected  that  those  qualified  to  act  as  attendance  officer  or 
school  nurse,  were  they  not  already  burdened,  should  do  the 
work  of  the  visiting  teacher.  In  her  is  united  the  training  that 
makes  a  teacher  and  a  social-service  worker,  and  it  is  because 
of  this  combination  that  she  is  able  to  widen  the  regular  teacher's 
reach  and  help  her  to  interpret  and  solve  the  problems  as  they 
present  themselves.  From  the  school  she  learns  that  the  child 
is  apparently  making  little  effort,  that  his  work  is  " C"  or  worse, 
or  that  he  is  perpetually  making  trouble  in  the  classroom  and 
is  never  attentive,  or  that  he  seems  lifeless,  unable  to  keep  pace 
with  the  class,  or  that  he  attends  so  irregularly  it  is  impossible 
to  teach  him  anything,  or  that  he  has  not  time  to  study,  and 
the  situation  at  home  is  such  that  he  must  leave  school  and  go 
to  work. 

With  these  facts  as  clews  she  sets  to  work;  it  is  impossible  to 
define  her  methods,  for  they  vary  with  her  tact,  her  resource- 
fulness, as  with  the  specific  character  of  the  problem  before  her. 
Briefly,  they  are  the  methods  that  spring  from  a  friendly  inter- 
est, an  intimate  personal  relation. 

Between  the  home  and  the  school  the  visiting  teacher  vibrates, 
carrying  to  the  former  the  school's  picture  of  the  child,  and  re- 
turning to  the  school  to  reinforce  that  impression  or  to  shed 
new  light  upon  the  problem.  There  is  no  fixed  number  of  times 
that  she  travels  this  path,  as  there  is  no  fixed  hour  of  the  day. 
The  urgency  and  complexity  of  the  situation  alone  determine 
her  movements.  Nor  is  there  any  regular  routine  of  action 
that  she  follows.  Whatever  in  her  judgment  seems  imperative 
she  endeavors  to  effect,  using  to  this  end  everything  that  the 
ingenuity  of  man  has  devised  to  make  smooth  the  rough  places 
in  life.  It  is  a  focusing  of  interests  that  she  demands.  The 
child  is  the  pivotal  point  on  which  she  hopes  to  bring  all  her 
knowledge  and  experience  to  bear.  Sometimes  it  is  the  expert 
teacher's  training  that  she  invokes;  sometimes  the  psychologist 
or  the  physician,  general  or  special,  that  she  consults,  or  again 
it  is  the  social  worker  to  whom  she  appeals.  Before  these  she 
lays  the  facts,  the  reasons  why  her  services  have  been  sought, 
and  from  them  she  asks  co-operation. 

The  results  achieved  do  not  always  show  a  complete  cure. 
In  some  cases  there  has  been  a  marked  improvement  in  scholar- 
ship, conduct,  or  attendance.    At  least  a  good  start  in  the 


SCHOOL  PROVISIONS  493 

right  direction  has  been  made.  In  others  the  child  has  been 
transferred  to  another  class — regular,  special,  or  ungraded — or 
to  a  trade  school,  where  his  chances  at  succeeding  in  making  a 
place  for  himself  are  increased.  In  others  the  information  that 
the  visiting  teacher  shares  with  the  child's  teacher  has  resulted 
in  a  change  of  attitude  on  her  part  or  an  expansion  or  contrac- 
tion of  the  course  of  study,  or  in  giving  the  child  extra  instruction 
in  study  periods  or  out  of  school  hours.  Finally,  he  has  been 
helped  to  promotion,  even  to  graduation. 

In  the  pap>er  itself  Mr.  Defifenbaugh  studies,  also,  the 
problems  of  the  immigrant,  of  child  labor,  or  poverty, 
or  private  schools,  etc.  He  has,  as  he  expressed  him- 
self recently  in  another  place,  a  new  conception  of  what 
a  truant  officer  should  be: 

The  old  idea  of  the  truant  oflBcer  as  a  "kid  cop"  is  passing 
away.  The  new  truant  officer  is  a  man  of  entirely  different 
type;  quite  frequently,  in  fact,  a  woman.  In  several  cities  a 
large  percentage  of  truant  officers  are  college  graduates;  in 
other  cities  they  are  men  and  women  with  exp>erience  as  social 
workers;  but  whether  college  graduates  or  not,  they  are  required 
to  know  and  understand  the  home  conditions  of  school  children. 
Attendance  officers  of  the  new  type  are  interested  in  removing 
fundamental  causes  of  truancy  rather  than  in  merely  catching 
the  offenders.  The  chief  cause  of  failure  to  obey  attendance 
laws,  according  to  the  National  League  of  Compulsory  Education 
Officials,  is  inadequate  family  life.  Resolutions  adopted  at  the 
recent  meeting  of  this  organization,  therefore,  called  for  "ade- 
quate and  uniform  marriage  and  divorce  laws  for  the  protection 
of  childhood;  enactment  and  enforcement  of  laws  pertaining 
to  the  issuance  of  marriage  licenses  that  will  prevent  child  mar- 
riages and  prohibit  the  marriage  of  persons  physically,  morally, 
and  mentally  unfit  to  wed."  *  They  urge  that  the  juvenile 
courts  be  given  definite  authority  to  place  parents  as  well  as 
children  on  probation  for  truancy  and  delinquency;  they  ask 
better  State  supervision  of  dependent  children;  civil  service  for 

» C/.  Chapter  XIX. 


494  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

all  truant  oflScers,  and  the  maintenance  of  parental  schools, 
special  rooms  for  truants  and  incorrigibles,  and  health  inspec- 
tion of  schools  as  material  factors  in  child  welfare.  The  atten- 
dance officer  of  the  new  type  is  to  be  a  far  better  trained  man 
or  woman,  and  is  to  receive  better  pay.  Superintendents  of 
some  of  the  largest  school  systems  in  the  United  States  joined 
in  advocating  a  minimum  salary  of  $ioo  per  month,  with  ser- 
vices for  twelve  months  in  the  year,  in  order  that  the  officers 
may  be  in  constant  touch  with  the  home  conditions  of  the  boys 
and  girls. 

Some  of  the  remedies  suggested  may  not  touch  the 
root  of  the  evil,  although  all  of  them  deserve  attention 
and  discussion.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  regu- 
lation of  marriages  is  a  two-edged  sword;  again,  that 
many  boys  (and  girls)  play  truant  and  are  "incorrigi- 
ble," because  the  routine  of  the  school  does  not  appeal 
to  their  special  type  and  genius. 

In  his  "Conclusions,"  at  the  end  of  his  paper,  Mr. 
Deffenbaugh  states  the  following  demands  as  the  most 
important  factors  in  the  enforcement  of  compulsory 
education  laws: 

1.  An  annual  school  census  taken  by  the  school  authorities 
of  the  city  or  district. 

2.  Prompt  reports  by  teachers  of  public  and  private  schools 
of  all  absentees  not  legally  excused. 

3.  Properly  qualified  attendance  officers  who  give  all  their 
time  and  attention  to  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  and  also 
school  visitors  in  cities  having  a  large  foreign  or  negro  popula- 
tion. (?) 

4.  State  agents  to  see  that  the  laws  are  enforced. 

5.  Special  schools  for  truants  and  pupils  irregular  in  atten- 
dance. 

6.  Relief  for  indigent  parents  having  children  of  compvdsory 
age. 

7.  A  definite  annual  period  of  attendance. 


SCHOOL  PROVISIONS  495 

8.  Well-enforced  child-labor  laws. 

9.  Employment  certificate  made  to  employer,  and  not  to  be 
used  by  child  when  seeking  a  new  position. 

10.  Proper  penalties  on  all  concerned  in  the  enforcement  of 
the  law. 


The  suggestions  contained  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs 
apply  also  on  a  large  scale  to  the  treatment  of  youthful 
offenders.  A  large  prop>ortion  of  the  criminals  are  boys 
of  17  or  18,  who,  as  Judge  Edward  Swarm,  of  New  York, 
says,  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  are  "infants." 

The  old  idea  of  the  ^'reform  school"  as  a  penal  institu- 
tion is  passing  away.  The  youthful  offender  must  be 
considered  as  an  imdeveloped,  underdeveloped,  handi- 
capped, or  derailed  individual,  whose  chances  in  life 
should  be  carefully  studied.  His  treatment  is  an  edu- 
cational problem,  not  a  judicial  one.  For  this  reason  it 
must  be  made  dependent  upon  a  clear  diagnosis  of  the 
educational  status  of  the  individual  offender,  who  should 
not  be  looked  upon  as  essentially  different  from  the  boy 
or  girl  who  subjects  himself  or  herself  to  measures  of 
parental  or  school  discipline.  This  view-point  has  been 
fuUy  discussed  in  various  chapters  in  this  book.  Says 
Professor  Thomas  H.  Haines,  in  the  article  quoted  be- 
fore: 

There  will  result  a  new  conception  of  the  work  of  our  reform 
school  and  also  a  new  conception  of  the  work  of  its  field  offi- 
cers. The  reform  school  is  not  to  be  exp>ected  to  overcome 
native  defect,  but  it  is  to  be  an  exjjeriment  station  trying  out 
doubtful  cases,  ascertaining  what  retardations  may  be  over- 
come. The  field  officer  is  to  be  a  very  highly  trained  practical 
sociologist,  skilled  in  all  the  arts  of  guiding  into  proper  lines 
the  forces  of  socialization.  His  is  to  be  the  art  of  making  per- 
sonalities. 


496  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

And  Doctor  Healy,  of  Chicago,  in  an  article  in  the 
Journal  of  Educational  Psychology ,  May,  1915,  entitled 
"An  Outline  for  Institutional  Education  and  Treatment 
of  Young  Offenders,"  gives  his  first  two  main  points  as 
follows: 

A.  The  entire  aim  of  the  activities  of  a  training  school  for 
delinquents  is  to  fit  the  individual  to  cope  with  aU  phases  of 
an  ordinary  social  environment. 

B.  The  human  material  to  be  worked  on  in  this  type  of  an 
institution  must  be  selected  for  it  by  prior  diagnosis.  Uneduca- 
ble  persons  do  not  belong  therein.  (Under  the  exigencies  which 
some  institutions  have  to  meet,  mental  defectives  are  accepted, 
but,  of  course,  needs  of  defectives  are  only  to  be  fulfilled  by  giv- 
ing them  special  discipline  and  education,  with  which  we  are 
not  here  concerned.) 

All  this  sounds  different  from  the  traditional  attitude 
toward  the  unsocialized  elements  which  rub  up  against 
the  laws  of  organized  society.  It  stands  to  reason  that 
these  will  never  be  socialized  if  they  are  handled  as  out- 
casts and  moral  lepers. 

Abnormal  and  Feeble-Minded  Children. — The  segre- 
gation of  an  abnormal  and  feeble-minded  child  in  sepa- 
rate classes  in  day  schools  does  not  solve  his  problem  at 
all,  not  even  during  the  prepubescent  period,  when  he 
(or,  rather,  she)  is  said  not  to  be  dangerous  or  in  danger. 
Outside  of  school  hours  he  mingles  with  his  normal 
fellow  pupils,  and  with  children  in  general  in  his  parental 
environment.  This  benefits  neither  the  abnormal  nor 
the  normal.  And  when  he  can  no  longer  be  retained  in 
his  special  class,  having  passed  the  age  of  compulsory 
school  education  (if  this  reaches  him  at  all) ;  after  all  the 
money  and  time  and  energy  the  school  has  spent  on 
him,  he  still  remains  feeble-minded  or  degenerate,  and 


SCHOOL  PROVISIONS  497 

must  be  segregated  from  the  body  social.  In  other 
words,  he  is  just  as  much  a  burden  to  society  as  if  he 
had  not  gone  "to  school"  at  all,  and  the  money  spent 
on  his  schooling  cannot  be  considered  in  the  light  of  an 
investment. 

It  has  been  pleaded  that  inasmuch  as  there  are  as 
yet  very  insufficient  provisions  for  placing  feeble-minded 
and  abnormal  children  in  institutions  for  custodial  care, 
they  should  at  least  be  segregated  in  special  classes. 
As  a  makeshift  such  an  arrangement  may  pass,  provided 
the  feeble-minded  are  not,  in  these  classes,  mixed  with  chil- 
dren of  other  types.  But  we  must  face  the  issue  squarely 
and  state  the  case  clearly. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  this  book,  and  repeatedly  in 
other  places,  attention  has  been  called  to  the  fact  that 
these  children,  unless  properly  taken  care  of  in  time, 
will  be  a  burden  to  society  anyway,  with  a  dispropor- 
tionate cost  of  maintenance,  in  almshouses,  poor  farms, 
reformatories,  prisons,  and  with  a  tremendous  apparatus 
of  pohce,  courts,  charity  and  correction  commissions, 
etc.,  to  boot.  Properly  placed  from  the  beginning,  they 
will  reduce  the  cost  of  their  presence  in  society  enor- 
mously. In  the  following  paragraphs  just  a  few  of  the 
arguments  sustaining  this  contention  will  be  given. 

The  plea  has  been  made  that  the  finances  of  the  com- 
monwealth do  not  allow  the  establishment  of  custodial 
institutions  rapidly  enough.  It  can  be  shown  that  the 
money  which  is  being  expended  for  special  classes  for 
these  unfortunates  is  wastefully  greater  in  amount. 
Let  us  calculate. 

In  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  for  example,  the  average 
cost  per  pupil,  calculated  on  enrolment,  including  inter- 
est on  investments,  is  about  $35  per  annum,  that  is  to 


498  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

say,  for  the  ten  regular  school  months.^  According  to  a 
recent  State  law,  classes  for  the  "mentally  defective" 
are  to  be  formed  which  should  have  no  less  than  ten  and 
no  more  than  fifteen  pupils  each.  The  usual  number  of 
pupils  in  a  regular  class  varies,  but  is  certainly  at  least 
three  times  as  high  as  that  in  the  "defective"  class. 
This  alone  would  mean  that  each  pupil  in  such  a  special 
class  would  cost  about  three  times  as  much  as  an  "ordi- 
nary" pupil,  making  the  average  per  capita  cost  at  least 
$105.  The  State,  however,  pays  an  extra  bonus  of  $300 
for  each  teacher  of  such  a  special  class,  which  raises  the 
per  capita  cost  to  at  least  $125.  Figuring  on  the  basis 
of  twelve  school  months,  as  we  do  in  institutions,  it 
would  raise  the  minimum  expense  to  $150.  The  aver- 
age expense  per  inmate  of  the  Vineland  Traim'ng  School 
is  given  as  a  httle  more  than  $250;  figuring  the  interest 
on  the  investment  would  raise  this  to  about  $290.  The 
Vineland  School,  with  its  relatively  small  number  of 
inmates  and  model  equipment,  is  comparatively  expen- 
sive as  compared  with  the  $216.64  which  is  the  per 
capita  cost  in  the  Massachusetts  Institution  for  the 
Feeble-Minded,  at  Waverley.  The  figures  for  the  New 
York  State  Institution  at  Syracuse  are  similar.  Quoting 
from  Doctor  Helen  MacMurchy's  ninth  report  (1914) 
on  the  feeble-minded  in  Ontario: 

In  a  well-organized  and  well-managed  County  House  of 
Refuge,  on  a  good  farm  in  Ontario,  the  weekly  cost  per  inmate 
varies  from  $1.50  to  $2.50,*  according  to  the  fertility  of  the 
land,  the  type  of  building  and  equipment,  and  the  thrift,  skill, 
and  knowledge  with  which  farming  and  housekeeping  are  car- 
ried on. 

*  In  some  school  systems,  as  in  Newark,  the  schools  are  now  open  all 
the  year  round. 

*  Or  $78  to  $130  per  year. 


SCHOOL  PROVISIONS  499 

In  an  industrial  farm  colony  for  mental  defectives  those  un- 
der the  mental  age  of  3  years  (formerly  called  idiots)  are  not 
able  to  do  much.  The  middle  grade  and  high  grade  may  be 
taught  to  pick  the  stones  of  a  field,  and  carry  things  from  one 
place  to  another  under  direction,  and  these  occupations  have 
some  commercial  and  industrial  value.  All  those  of  the  men- 
tal age  of  3  to  7  years  (formerly  called  imbeciles)  can  contribute 
something  to  their  own  maintenance,  and  in  many  of  them 
there  resides  some  ability,  which  shovdd  be  found  out.  Their 
powers  are  frequently  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  partly  earn 
their  own  Uving  under  good  supervision  in  an  institution. 

Permanent  care  in  a  suitable  institution  is  the  only  successful, 
economical,  and  humane  method  of  dealing  with  mental  defec- 
tives. .  .  . 

In  the  best  institutions  of  this  kind  the  industrial  work  grows 
more  practical  every  day,  and  thus  better  and  more  economical 
administration  is  secured,  as  well  as  more  satisfactory  training 
of  the  children. 

They  should  do  all  their  own  work,  make  and  mend  all  their 
own  clothes,  weave  the  cotton,  linen,  and  woollen  materials  used 
in  the  institution,  make  their  blankets,  produce  vegetables, 
flowers,  and  fruit,  and  food  products  of  all  kinds,  and  learn 
every  industrial  trade  and  other  employment  that  can  be  made 
useful  in  their  own  or  other  institutions,  especially  those  relating 
to  food,  clothing,  agriculture,  and  building. 

At  Darenth  Industrial  Colony,  Dartford,  England,  the  fol- 
lowing estimates  have  been  made: 

Forty-five  feeble-minded  women  can  do  the  laundry  work 
which  twenty  normal  women  (good  laundry  workers)  can  do. 
Taking  a  rough  average  of  all  kinds  of  occupations,  four  feeble- 
minded persons  can  do  the  work  of  one  normal  person. 

Doctor  Fernald,  Waverley,  Mass.,  has  shown  that  in  an  in- 
dustrial farm  colony  for  mental  defectives  strong,  able-bodied 
men  can  practically  earn  enough  to  support  themselves,  if  a  fair 
market  price  is  received  for  the  farm  produce. 

In  Vineland  there  are  from  ten  to  fifteen  inmates,  one  em- 
ployed in  the  school,  one  in  the  engine-room,  one  in  the  shops, 
and  a  number  on  the  farm,  each  of  whom  does  the  work  that 
otherwise  would  have  to  be  done  by  a  normal  person.  .  .  . 


500  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  as  has  been  shown  in  the  chapters 
on  efl&ciency  and  on  the  feeble-minded  group  in  this 
book,  "high-grade"  feeble-minded  may,  under  custodial 
care  and  supervision,  reach  a  high  grade  of  skill  in  vari- 
ous occupations,  such  as  lace-making,  printing,  weaving, 
etc.,  which  would  give  their  products  a  market  value 
above  the  cost  of  their  maintenance. 

The  following  figures  will  assist  in  understanding  the 
relative  cost  of  special  classes  and  custodial  institu- 
tions: 

Taking  the  figures  given  above  as  a  basis,  the  annual 
rate  of  expenditure  for  one  "defective"  pupil  would  be 
$105;  for  an  entire  class  of  15  this  would  mean  an  annual 
outlay  of  $1,575.  It  will  require  $3,150  to  care  for  30 
pupils  for  ten  school  months;  $6,300  to  care  for  60; 
$12,600  to  care  for  120  children.  This  money  will  easily 
allow  the  purchase  of  a  small  farm  and  the  erection  of 
buildings  to  start  a  colony  with.  Maintenance,  includ- 
ing interest  on  the  investment,  in  the  succeeding  years 
will  be  considerably  cheaper  than  the  maintenance  of 
the  special  classes,  and  the  saving  will  soon  become 
evident. 

More  than  that.  In  a  city  having  a  school  population 
of  100,000  there  may  be  a  maximum  of  2,000  abnormal 
children  of  all  kinds,  roughly  estimated.  Even  if  we 
should  count  the  cost  of  each  individual  "  special  class  " 
defective  only  at  an  even  $100,  this  would  imply  the 
expenditure  of  $200,000  annually,  if  all  of  these  were 
cared  for  in  special  classes.  The  enormous  economy  if 
custodial  institutions  and  farm  colonies  would  be  es- 
tablished for  them  is  at  once  evident.  And  if  they  are 
not  cared  for?  This  book  gives  the  answer  to  this 
question  on  almost  every  page. 


SCHOOL  PROVISIONS  501 

Special  Provisions. — Some  municipalities  have  already 
included  in  their  school  system  special  classes,  or  day 
schools,  for  blind,  deaf,  amBmic,  tuberctdous,  and  crippled 
children.  If  the  latter  are  tuberculous,  they  will  share 
the  provisions  made  for  that  class  of  children.  With 
those  cripples  who  are  not  tuberculous  it  is  largely  a  mat- 
ter of  transportation  to  and  from  school,  and  of  adjust- 
ment of  the  school  curriculum.  For  the  anaemic  child 
and,  of  course,  also  for  the  tuberculous  patient,  the  open- 
air  school  is  the  ideal  provision.  Some  of  these  open-air 
arrangements  are  in  the  form  of  roof -gardens;  others  are 
tent  colonies  in  open  spaces;  still  others  make  use  of 
barges  floating  on  rivers  and  lakes.  The  school  work 
itself  must  take  the  limit  of  physical  strength  and  en- 
durance in  these  children  into  consideration.  The  work 
done  in  New  York  may  be  considered  an  example. 

The  blind  and  the  deaf  have  heretofore  been  segre- 
gated in  institutions.  This  method  of  providing  for 
them  has  recently  been  superseded  in  many  places  by 
arrangements  through  which  they  are  accepted  into  the 
regular  classes  under  special  regulations.  This  gives 
them  the  opportunity  to  adapt  themselves  to  natural 
life  conditions  such  as  they  will  have  to  battle  with  in 
their  struggle  for  existence  when  grown  up.  This  ar- 
rangement, however,  presupposes  a  home  training  of 
these  children  before  they  are  of  school  age.  Where  this 
training  cannot  be  given  in  the  home  it  should  be  given 
in  special  institutions  or  home  schools.  The  Inter- 
national Sunshine  Society  has  done  some  pioneer  work 
with  blind  babies.  The  most  remarkable  and,  indeed, 
leading  work  for  the  training  in  speech  of  deaf  children 
before  they  are  of  school  age  has  been  done  by  the  Gar- 
rett sisters  in  Philadelphia.    Their  Home  School,  since 


502  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

1893  conducted  by  Mary  S.  Garrett  as  a  Pennsylvania 
State  Institution,  has  done  a  very  great  amount  of  good, 
and  has  shown  the  way  for  the  true  solution  of  the 
problem. 

Of  course  when  a  blind,  deaf,  crippled,  or  otherwise 
physically  defective  child  is  found  to  be  also  mentally 
difficult,  his  case  requires  adjustment  to  that  condition. 

The  New  Jersey  Commission  for  the  Blind  maintains  a 
department  for  the  home  teaching  of  the  blind,  having 
ministered  to  266  blind  persons  scattered  throughout 
the  State  in  191 2-13.  There  is  also  a  department  of 
investigation  and  prevention.  The  commission,  in  its 
report  for  19 13,  made  the  following  typical  recommen- 
dations: 

Family  care  and  normal  life  for  the  blind  of  all  ages  in  pref- 
erence to  institutional  care  and  segregation. 

{a)  The  blind  baby  should  be  properly  trained  in  its  own 
home,  with  the  help  of  the  district  nurse,  friendly  visitor,  and 
home  teacher. 

(6)  The  blind  youth  should  be  educated  in  special  classes  in 
the  pubhc  schools  in  preference  to  residential  schools. 

(c)  Blind  adults  should  be  trained  and  given  opportunities 
for  industrial  self-support  in  their  own  homes,  rather  than 
segregated  in  State  industrial  homes. 

{d)  The  deaf  blind,  both  youth  and  adult,  should  have  indi- 
vidual instruction  in  their  homes. 

(e)  The  epileptic  blind  should  be  provided  for  in  their  own 
homes  or  in  boarding  homes  of  the  sighted. 

(/)  The  destitute  blind  should  be  provided  for  in  their  own 
homes  or  in  boarding-homes  of  the  sighted. 

The  Vineland  Training  School  should  be  equipped  to  train 
the  feeble-minded  blind  of  the  State. 

In  this  schedule  of  suggestions  there  seems  to  be  one 
self-contradiction.     If  the  feeble-minded  blind  are  to  be 


SCHOOL   PROVISIONS  603 

trained  in  an  institution  for  the  feeble-minded,  why 
should  the  epileptic  blind  not  be  transferred  to  the 
colony  for  epileptics? 

Otherwise  the  suggestion  that  the  blind,  like  the  deaf, 
should  be  trained  in  a  manner  which  will  give  them 
from  the  start  a  habituation  to  natural  conditions,  so 
that  they  may  be  better  equipped  for  conducting  their 
life  in  the  world  of  the  non-defective,  is  most  sound. 

It  would  seem  hardly  necessary  to  refer  once  more 
to  the  case  of  Helen  Keller,  who,  in  her  wonderfully  in- 
spiring life,  has  demonstrated  the  truth  of  these  conten- 
tions so  powerfully.  Another  equally  handicapped 
girl,  Kathryne  Frick,  of  Harrisburg,  Pa.  (Case  76),  deaf 
and  blind,  now  18  years  of  age,  has  been  similarly  trained 
at  the  Pennsylvania  Institute  at  Mount  Airy.  She  has 
learned  to  speak  clearly  and  to  write  a  good  English; 
she  reads  the  classics,  is  generally  well  read,  runs  a  sew- 
ing-machine, threading  her  own  needle,  and  is  a  wizard 
with  her  fingers. 


CHAPTER   XXV 
SANATORIUM  SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CHILDREN » 

Purpose  of  the  Sanatorium  School. — ^An  institution  for 
atypical  children  should  be  a  homelike  school  where  the 
children  live  all  the  year  round. 

It  must  attempt,  first,  to  understand  the  child,  his 
tendencies,  characteristics,  or  genius;  second,  to  place 
him  in  harmony  with  the  world  around  him  by  suitable 
adjustment  in  the  educational  environment;  Ihird,  to 
encourage  and  develop  those  aptitudes  in  him  which 
will  best  prepare  him  for  independent  existence  in  later 
life,  training  him  to  reach  his  highest  performance  level 
of  skill  and  efficiency. 

Tests  and  Records. — Before  a  pupil  is  enrolled,  his 
previous  history  must  be  carefully  studied.  Also,  physi- 
cal and  mental  tests  of  the  order  described  in  this  book 
must  be  made,  so  that  there  be  no  guesswork  in  recog- 
nizing his  real  needs,  and  no  haphazard  plans  for  his 
education.  These  examinations  need  to  be  repeated  at 
regular  intervals;  the  body  measurements  as  often  as 
once  a  month. 

All  work  with  the  child  must  be  based  upon  a  close 
correlation  of  educational  and  medical  science. 

A  careful  record  should  be  kept  of  each  pupil's  devel- 
opment, sleep,  baths,  diet,  exercise,  etc.     Whatever  ele- 

*  Some  of  the  suggestions  contained  in  this  chapter  are  derived  from 
the  practical  work  done  at  "Herbart  Hall,"  Plainfield,  N.  J. 

604 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CHILDREN        505 

ments  may  in  any  way  ajBfect  the  physical  or  mental 
health  must  be  carefully  studied.  The  pupils  may  be 
divided  into  small  groups  both  for  "school"  training 
and  for  "home"  training,  and  will  have  to  be  regrouped 
and  readjusted  frequently  to  meet  the  changing  condi- 
tions. 

All  members  of  the  stafif,  whether  they  be  teachers  or 
caretakers,  or  even  other  employees  (those  who  are 
intelligent  enough  to  make  observations),  must  be  ex- 
pected to  make  frequent  reports  covering  the  pupil's 
mental  and  moral  conduct,  his  health,  etc.  These  re- 
ports are  best  made  on  cards,  which  are  easily  carried 
and  filed.  Every  interesting  observation  is  supposed  to 
be  recorded:  the  pupil's  personal  habits,  visits  at  home, 
visits  from  parents  or  relatives  and  friends,  and  all 
occasions  that  make  up  the  history  of  the  child  while 
under  observation  and  training.  The  object  is  to  estab- 
lish a  continuous  child  history,  which  may  furnish  data 
for  a  better  understanding  of  the  individual  case.  It  is 
required  that  these  reports  should  contain  facts,  not 
opinions.  All  judgment  of  a  child's  conduct  or  condi- 
tion ought  to  be  held  in  abeyance  until  reports,  covering 
the  various  phases  of  the  child's  life,  are  collected  to 
insure  accurate  and  impartial  analysis  of  the  various 
factors  operating  at  a  given  time.  For  example:  a 
child's  unresponsiveness  in  class,  which  to  the  teacher 
may  appear  as  laziness  or  lack  of  interest,  or  again, 
troublesomeness  apparently  requiring  discipline,  as- 
sumes an  entirely  different  significance  when  it  is 
known  that  the  child  has  had  a  sleepless  night  or  has 
been  constipated  for  days. 

Monthly  reports  may  summarize  a  child's  progress, 
difficulties,  or  retrogression. 


506  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Daily  Life. — The  atmosphere  of  a  healthy  family  life 
must  be  carefully  preserved.  It  is  best  not  to  have 
dormitories,  but  small  rooms  for  one  or  two,  or  the 
cubicle  arrangement  which  is  found  in  some  of  the  best 
private  schools  of  the  country,  e.  g.,  at  the  famous  Gro- 
ton  School.  A  child  should  be  encouraged  to  develop 
an  individual  atmosphere  in  his  own  room,  with  pic- 
tures, toilet  necessities,  hangings,  and  decorations  of 
his  own.  Birthdays  and  all  festive  occasions  which 
usually  brighten  up  homes  and  communities  may  be 
celebrated  in  the  old-fashioned  manner.  Such  a  home 
atmosphere  will  entwine  the  sentiments  of  the  children 
around  their  school  home,  giving  a  natural  and  happy 
life  content,  such  as  rational  treatment  in  the  ordinary 
home  and  school  will  supply  under  natural  conditions. 

The  daily  personal  life  of  the  child  should  not  be  in- 
trusted to  the  care  of  a  mere  attendant  who  is  an  un- 
trained menial,  but  should  be  under  the  supervision  of  a 
caretaker  who  has  had  educational  training. 

Discipline  should  be  based  upon  a  clear  and  fair  un- 
derstanding of  conditions  and  motives,  coupled  with  a 
consistent  and  constructive  attitude.  There  should  be 
a  distinct  effort  to  develop  an  ethical  perspective  and 
a  moral  atmosphere.  Each  child  must  be  trained  and 
encouraged  to  develop  his  own  individual  interpretation 
of  life  in  terms  of  service. 

The  school  lessons  should  be  adjusted  to  the  fatigue 
curves  of  the  day,  considering  the  hours  when  mental 
alertness  is  at  its  maximum  or  the  reverse.  Outdoor 
work  should  be  done  whenever  possible;  even  the  more 
formal  lessons  will  gain  from  open-air  arrangements. 

Physical  training,  including  eurhythmies,  nature 
study,  art,  and  manual  training,  gardening,  etc.,  must 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CHILDREN        507 

alternate  systematically  with  seat  work  and  book-lore. 
The  play  and  the  dramatic  instincts  must  supply  the 
motive  in  most  instances  to  appeal  to  the  vital  interest 
of  the  child.  On  the  other  hand,  the  child  must  learn 
the  joy  derived  from  overcoming  obstacles,  even  if  these 
obstacles  were  his  own  lethargy  or  lack  of  interest.  He 
will  easily  be  convinced  that  many  a  task  which  looms 
up  forbidding  and  uninteresting  to  him  may  reveal  hid- 
den beauties  and  powers — and  its  conquest  may  unfold 
to  him  unexpected  possibilities  of  his  own  mind  and 
body.  This  method  of  testing  a  child's  strength  and 
self-control  to  its  limits  is,  however,  very  different  from 
the  old  idea  that  there  is  virtue  "per  se"  in  having  a 
child  do  a  task  just  because  it  is  loathsome  to  him. 

The  lessons,  occupations,  exercise,  diet,  and  general 
regimen  must  be  carefully  planned  for  each  pupil.  In 
the  matter  of  school  work  it  is  best  that  the  work,  on 
the  basis  of  a  general  outline  as  suggested  later  in  this 
chapter,  be  regulated  weekly  in  advance  by  each  indi- 
vidual worker.  These  advance  plans  should  be  very 
much  in  detail,  so  that  the  principal  may  look  them  over 
for  criticism  and  suggestions.  Comparing  the  new  work 
as  planned  with  the  work  which  had  been  accomplished 
the  previous  week,  together  with  the  principal's  visits 
to  the  classrooms  and  inspection  of  children's  work, 
gives  immediate  opportunity  for  checking  up  and  read- 
justing work  and  method  to  individual  cases.  As  soon 
as  it  is  noticed  that  the  child  does  not  respond  as  was 
expected,  the  subject-matter,  the  method  of  presenta- 
tion, the  personality  of  the  teacher,  etc.,  not  to  forget 
the  physical  and  hygienic  side  of  the  problem,  must  be 
subjected  to  analysis.  Failure  on  the  part  of  a  child 
should  never  be  primarily  placed  at  the  child's  door. 


508  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Outside  of  the  set  lessons,  the  groups,  under  careful 
supervision  and  guidance,  should  have  ample  opportu- 
nity for  work,  games,  and  occupations.  Like  the  work 
in  the  school,  the  free  time  must  be  carefully  planned 
and  organized,  enlisting  as  far  as  possible  the  spontane- 
ous interests  of  the  children.  Every  game,  every  occu- 
pation, every  walk  or  excursion  should  have  an  object, 
and  were  it  only  that  of  organized  exercise  or,  for  that 
matter,  systematized  observation.  There  should  be  no 
waste  of  time  or  energy.  This  is  the  very  secret  of  train- 
ing for  efficiency.  The  children  should  be  kept  con- 
structively busy  all  the  time.  Individual  tendencies, 
interests,  energies,  and  other  attributes  must  be  given 
expression  in  a  manner  which  will  best  suit  the  pupil's 
need  and  contribute  to  the  activities  of  all.  Of  course 
the  children  must  be  largely  unconscious  of  the  under- 
lying plan.  Much  depends  upon  the  skill  and  ingenuity 
of  the  teacher  to  make  the  chosen  games  and  occupations 
spontaneous.  There  should  be  also  excursions  to  facto- 
ries, to  historic  places,  to  points  of  interest  and  pleasure, 
etc. 

INSTRUCTION   AND   METHODS 

No  Patent  Methods. — The  question  has  often  been 
asked  of  the  author:  "What  particular  methods  do  you 
use  in  educating  and  teaching  exceptional  children?" 
There  is  a  feeling  among  those  unfamiliar  with  work  of 
this  kind  that  special  methods  of  instruction,  based  on 
entirely  new  principles,  or  some  sort  of  patent  prescrip- 
tion, must  be  employed  with  these  children.  This  is  a 
misconception.  Most  of  "these  children"  are,  anyway, 
just  children  in  need  of  a  better  understanding  of  their 
needs.     It  is  necessary  that  teachers  "  speciahzing  "  with 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CHILDREN        509 

these  "unusual"  types  (in  reality  they  are  quite  usual; 
that  is  to  say,  many  of  them  are)  have  a  broad 
and  thorough  knowledge  of  educational  principles  and 
methods  in  general,  such  as  are  used  with  ''ordinary" 
children.  Also,  a  teacher  must  be  resourceful,  and  be 
in  full  command  of  his  "stock  in  trade."  He  must  be 
able  to  rearrange  and  readjust  his  methods  and  princi- 
ples instantaneously  so  as  to  fit  an  individual  case  at  a 
given  moment.  More  emphasis  must  be  laid  on  some 
reactions  than  upon  others.  The  factors  of  emphasis 
and  individiiaJ  adjustment  are  the  real  secret  of  suc- 
cess. 

Objective  and  Creative  Methods. — Generally  speak- 
ing, the  objective  and  creative  methods  are  most  ef- 
fective. And  the  emphasis  must  be  on  experience,  not 
on  book-learning.  It  is  a  common  error  in  dealing  with 
children  to  take  too  much  for  granted.  Word  knowl- 
edge and  memory  are  confused  with  a  knowledge  of 
things  and  realities,  also  with  judgment.  It  is  impor- 
tant, first  of  all,  to  definitely  circumscribe  the  real  mind 
content  of  each  child.  Having  established  the  apper- 
ceptive basis,  the  danger  of  overestimating  a  child's 
actual  knowledge,  or  of  underestimating  his  power,  is 
avoided.  Each  child  must  be  taken  at  his  own  terms. 
The  school  environment  must  be  so  organized  as  to 
permit  quick  adaptation  to  changing  needs,  to  the  men- 
tal caliber  and  to  the  gait  of  the  individual. 

Native  Experience. — The  various  branches  of  instruc- 
tion are  so  many  phases,  or  facets,  of  world  knowledge, 
serving  also  as  points  of  vantage  from  which  to  survey 
and  interpret  human  experience.  The  experiences  of 
the  child  himself  form  the  focal  point  in  which  the 
teacher,  as  mediator  of  the  world  of  experience  and 


510  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

reality,  must  concentrate  its  rays  as  upon  a  periscopic 
lens. 

It  is  a  common  error  to  give  a  "definition"  as  a  start- 
ing-point for  a  new  thought.  In  reaHty  a  definition  is 
the  highest  form  of  abstract  qualitative  analysis.  There- 
fore it  represents  the  culmination  of  human  knowledge. 
To  give  this  first  is  to  give  what  a  child  can  least  com- 
prehend. His  ability  to  retain  a  definition  depends 
upon  memory,  not  upon  understanding.  It  is  far  more 
valuable  to  the  child  to  form  his  own  concept,  even  if  it 
be  incomplete  and  incorrect,  than  to  make  him  accept, 
upon  faith  and  authority,  the  clearest  crystal  of  human 
wisdom.  Under  guidance  he  can  later  check  up  and 
correct  his  own  imperfect  ideas  through  increased  experi- 
ence, and  by  comparison  with  the  concepts  of  others. 
To  accept  the  wisdom  of  the  ages  is  not  the  first  step  in  mind 
development,  hut  the  last. 

One  way  to  clarify  the  child's  ideas  is  to  have  him 
clinch  each  new  set  of  experiences  by  formulating  them 
as  exactly  as  he  can  in  his  own  words. 

Course  of  Study. — Naturally  the  teachers  must  be 
expected  to  follow  a  more  or  less  definite  course  with 
each  child.  In  an  organized  school  system  a  definite 
"course  of  study "  is  needed.  Such  an  outline,  however, 
cannot  be  specific  in  its  application  to  groups  and  indi- 
viduals. It  must  not  pretend  to  be  more  than  a  general 
exposition  of  principles,  methods,  and  practical  aims. 
It  can  serve  only  as  a  working  basis  for  more  particular 
directions  of  adjustment.  A  combination  of  the  general 
plan  and  the  specific  recommendations  gives  the  teacher 
a  fairly  definite  course  of  action  for  each  child. 

As  has  been  stated  before,  the  teacher  must  be  of  a 
mental  type  which  can  work  over  these  general  and 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CfflLDREN        511 

particular  directions  in  such  a  manner  that  the  daily 
and  hourly  variations  of  a  pupil  may  be  promptly  gauged 
and  met.  While  he  must  know  his  limitations  and  keep 
within  the  general  and  particular  plan,  he  must  not  be  a 
blind  follower  of  the  letter,  or  a  mechanical  agent. 

Methods  of  Presentation. — When  the  pupil  is  to  have 
a  text-book  in  his  hand,  as  in  geography  or  history, 
the  subject-matter  should  first  be  developed  orally  and 
practically.  His  apperception  should  be  called  into 
action,  and  upon  this  foundation  alone  can  his  further 
progress  be  built.  While  it  is  legitimate  to  train  a  young 
pupil  occasionally  to  obtain  information  from  the  printed 
page  without  previous  objective  presentation,  so  that 
books  may  become  handy  and  valuable  helpers  to  him, 
this  method  of  information  must  not  be  the  rule.  The 
subject-matter  comes  first.  The  book  can  serve  to 
clinch  and  systematize  the  matter  discussed  and  experi- 
enced, and  may  be  used  advantageously  for  review 
work. 

It  would  be  imp>ossible  to  give  here  the  specific  meth- 
ods applicable  in  individual  cases.  Also,  only  a  few 
examples  of  subjects  in  a  general  course  of  study  may 
here  be  briefly  described. 

SENSE    TRAINING 

Use  the  songs  presented  in  "Timely  Games  and  Songs 
for  the  Kindergarten,"  by  Reed-Brockunier: 

"The  Bell-Ringer."     (Sense  of  hearing.) 
"Two  Little  Windows."     (Vision.) 
"The  Mystery  Man."     (Touch.) 
"The  Wonderful  Bag."     (Taste.) 
"The  Surprise."     (Smell.) 


512  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

Color  and  Form. — In  connection  with  gift-work,  par- 
quetry, ring-laying,  colored  papers  and  paper  cutting 
and  pasting.  Painting  in  solid  colors,  also  in  oil  on 
wood,  etc.  Building-blocks,  geometric  solids,  etc.  De- 
velop ideas  of  temperature  and  weight — cold,  warm,  tepid, 
heavy,  light.  Recognizing  materials  and  goods  by 
touch — rough,  smooth,  silky,  woollen,  velvety,  etc. 
Identifying  objects  and  materials  by  indirect  touch, 
using  a  stick  or  other  intervening  medium.  Sense  of 
location.  All  these  exercises  can  be  varied  in  many 
ways,  and  there  is  hardly  a  lesson  on  the  programme 
which  cannot,  in  one  or  the  other  of  its  aspects,  be  a 
sense-training  lesson.  Articulation  is  to  be  connected 
with  acute  hearing. 

ARTICULATION 

Articulation  should  be  consistently  followed  up  with 
each  child,  in  school  and  out.  There  is  hardly  a  child 
anywhere  that  should  not  be  improved  in  enunciation, 
and  teachers  must  never  be  satisfied  with  mumbled  or 
ill-connected  sentences  or  answers.  In  the  formal  classes 
where  articulation  is  the  special  object  sought,  the 
teacher  should  carefully  follow  the  process  of  language 
evolution  (articulate  speech)  as  it  has  come  down  to  us 
through  the  centuries.  Breathing  in  the  upright  posi- 
tion was  the  primary  condition  for  human  sounds  and 
articulate  speech.  Music  is  one  of  the  first  forms 
of  expression  and  is,  therefore,  important  as  a  starting- 
point.  Deep  breathing  (diaphragmatic)  is  essential,  and 
special  breathing  exercises  form  a  part  of  the  course  in 
this  branch,  in  music,  and  in  physical  training.  Each 
pupil  must  have  regular  drill  in  vowels  at  different  pitch- 
levels  and  tone-intensities.     This  phase  of  the  work  may 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CHILDREN        513 

be  made  more  interesting  by  the  use  of  a  musical  instru- 
ment. The  child  may  eventually  learn  to  carry  entire 
tunes,  using  one  vowel  sound.  With  the  introduction 
of  the  consonants,  there  should  be  free  use  of  the  phonic 
elements  and  diphthongs. 

In  case  a  pupil  shows  nervous  fear  or  a  tendency  to 
stutter  while  speaking  or  reading,  insist  that  the  child 
take  a  deep  breath  before  attempting  to  speak. 

MUSIC 

Music  has  the  fourfold  aspect  of  (i)  rhythm;  (2)  tone; 
(3)  melody;  and  (4)  harmony.  Being  an  elemental  force 
in  civilization,  music  plays  a  most  important  part  in 
education  and  re-education.  Not  all  children  may  learn 
to  discriminate  harmony  from  discord,  or  to  carry  a  tune. 
Some  will  never  be  able  to  reproduce  a  musical  tone  at 
the  right  pitch,  while  others  have  the  natural  musical 
ear.  But  all  can  be  trained  in  rhythm;  in  fact,  rhythm 
is  the  most  fundamental  thing  in  all  hfe  processes  and 
thought  processes,  and  must  therefore  be  religiously  cul- 
tivated. 

In  addition  to  its  significance  for  proper  articulation, 
music  is  the  expression  of  emotion,  and  as  such  is  worthy 
of  the  most  careful  cultivation.  Singing  should  be  uti- 
lized for  emotionalizing,  in  a  natural  and  sane  way,  the 
various  aspects  of  nature,  of  man's  attitudes,  aptitudes, 
and  aspirations;  of  occupations  and  vocations.  In  con- 
nection with  it,  dramatic  expression  should  be  practised. 
There  are  motion-songs,  dance-songs,  etc. 

Simple  instrumental  music,  and  if  it  were  merely  the 
rhythmic  tapping  with  sticks,  or  drumming,  should  be 
introduced  to  be  developed  into  some  form  of  orchestral 
co-operation. 


514  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 


PHYSICAL  TRAINING  AND   GAMES 

As  long  as  the  season  allows  it,  much  of  these  exercises 
should  be  outdoors.  In  fact,  even  brisk  winter  weather 
is  the  best  thing  for  outdoor  sports. 

1.  Exercises  in  standing  erect  (the  distinguishing  char- 
acteristic of  man  as  compared  with  the  lower  creation), 
with  chest  out,  abdomen  drawn  in,  muscles  tense. 
Proper  standing  is  very  important;  it  is  exercise.  A 
consciousness  of  all  muscles  is  developed,  as  it  were. 
Lax  standing  is  bad  in  every  way.  Standing  should  be 
practised  for  an  increasing  number  of  minutes,  beginning 
with  fifteen  seconds,  not  longer  than  two  minutes  at  a 
time,  but  repeated  until  pupils  have  control.  Never  go 
beyond  the  fatigue-point,  but  push  that  point  out  far- 
ther and  farther.  The  same  rule  holds  good  for  all 
exercises. 

2.  Exercises  in  walking  and  running,  with  hands  on 
hips,  or  in  combination  with  free  and  calisthenic  exer- 
cises. There  are  two  ways  of  walking  and  running :  one, 
with  muscles  tense;  another  with  muscles  more  or  less 
relaxed, 

3.  Exercises  in  complete  relaxation.  Practice  with 
one  limb  at  a  time,  or  with  the  abdomen  alone,  the  neck- 
muscles  alone,  etc.,  until  the  children  know  what  is 
wanted.  Then  have  complete  relaxation  (limpness), 
standing  or  reclining,  and  partial  relaxation  in  walking, 
etc.  This  is  a  very  necessary  exercise.  Nervous  pupils 
are  apt  to  be  always  on  tension. 

4.  Regular  free  and  calisthenic  exercises,  with  hands, 
arms,  legs,  including  raising  of  knees,  bending  of  knees, 
tiptoe  exercises,  wands,  dumb-bells,  Indian  clubs,  dance 
steps,  etc.     Introduce  folk -dances.     Combinations  of  all 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CfflLDREN        515 

kinds,  also  with  walking,  running,  dancing,  etc.  Eu- 
rythmic  exercises  for  the  free  expression  of  emotions, 
also  in  dramatic  elaboration,  are  of  great  value. 

5.  Exercises  in  formation,  including  marching,  lines, 
figures,  "Reigen,"  etc. 

All  these  exercises  can  be  developed  into  dramatic 
expression. 

6.  Corrective  and  curative  exercises:  Breathing,  abdom- 
inal exercises  (bending,  rotating,  churning,  etc.),  bal- 
ancing exercises  (with  or  without  arms  outstretched)  like 
walking  along  chalk-line,  or  raised  board,  on  various 
points  of  support,  walking  blindfolded,  stepping  over 
rungs  of  ladder  lying  horizontally  on  floor,  etc.  Active 
and  passive  exercises  on  mat,  sitting  on  chair,  etc.  Set- 
ting-up exercises,  massage,  etc. 

The  first  and  principal  aim  should  be  to  train  the 
pupils  in  prompt,  vigorous  response,  and  in  proper  co- 
ordination.^ 

7.  Apparatus-work:  This  may  be  given  either  in  the 
indoor  or  the  outdoor  gymnasium.  It  must  be  system- 
atic, under  the  supervision  and  direction  of  the  trained 
teacher,  and  cautiously  used  as  mere  play  exercise. 
When  properly  used  it  is  very  helpful.  Use  trapeze, 
rings,  upright  ladder,  horizontal  ladder,  parallel  bars, 
horizontal  bar,  climbing  pole  and  rope,  see-saw,  jumping 
and  vaulting  apparatus. 

8.  Games:  Ball  games  of  various  kinds  alone  offer  a 
very  great  diversity  of  wholesome  exercise.  Games  of 
precision,  like  the  throwing  of  rings,  can  be  easily  prac- 
tised, also  outside  of  the  regular  gymnasium  hour.  Chil- 
dren should  dramatize  what  they  read  and  study  about 
in  their  other  lessons,  in  their  play  activity.     Connect 

>  C/.  "The  Career  of  the  ChUd,"  chaps.  IV  and  XVI. 


516  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

with  camping,  sewing,  occupations.  Build  wigwams, 
bridges,  etc.  These  games  may  assume  the  character  of 
group  games,  gymnastic  dramatization,  as  in  folk-dances, 
etc.  Let  the  pupils  play  Indians,  Eskimos,  carpenter, 
birds,  etc.  This  harmonizes  with  the  primitive  stages 
in  the  development  of  civilization  (totem-worship,  tribal 
emblems,  animal-dances,  etc.).  Also  outdoor  games, 
like  red  rover,  fox  and  geese,  puss-in-the-corner,  tether- 
ball,  croquet,  tennis,  baseball,  simple  football,  cross- 
country runs.  Winter  sports:  snow  forts,  snow  men, 
coasting,  skating,  etc. 

ART-WORK 

In  regard  to  this  branch  of  training  ("training  in  civi- 
lization") it  seems  best  to  refer  to  the  author's  book, 
**Some  Fundamental  Verities  in  Education."  Here  are 
given  only  a  few  hints: 

Clay-Modelling  of  familiar  forms  and  statuettes  should 
precede  the  painting  thereof  and  can  be  used  in  connec- 
tion with  the  teaching  of  form.  The  connecting-link 
between  modelling  and  flat  painting  is : 

Free-Hand  Paper  Tearing  and  Cutting,  which  still  deals 
with  the  mass,  this  time  with  the  entire  surface  in  solid 
character.  This  is  the  first  projection  of  the  soKd  on 
the  flat.     Shadow  and  silhouette  work.     Paper  designs. 

Designing  and  Composition, — This  can  be  introduced 
by  the  use  of  blue-printing.  Arrange  leaves,  flowers, 
sprays,  even  cut-out  paper  designs,  in  printing-frames, 
and  print.  The  white  designs  on  the  blue  background 
may  afterward  be  colored  appropriately  by  the  pupils. 
Or  they  may  be  cut  out  and  used  for  stencil-work.  Or 
they  may  be  imitated  in  free-hand  cutting  and  free-hand 
soUd  painting  (in  one  color). 


I":g.  40.— HliR'-|<rint  dcsijin  from  nature:  l'"erns. 


Fic.  41. — Hluc-prinl  dcsijin  from  natiirr:  Xiolets.  arraiiK^'fi  l\v  impils 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CHILDREN         517 

Painting. — Use  ink-washes,  water-colors,  oil-paints, 
crayons,  without  outlines,  giving  the  bold  swing  of  the 
object:  vegetables,  flowers,  plants,  vases,  still  life  (Jap- 
anese models).  Painting,  in  dealing  with  the  large  mass, 
precedes  drawing. 

Drawing. — Use  crayons,  and  large  marking  and 
drafting  pencils  first.  Avoid  outlines,  except  to  mark 
leading  p>oints,  but  give  the  bold  mass  and  swing  with 
large  shading.  This  form  of  expression  is  most  suitable 
for  illustrative  work.  Throughout  the  work  in  all 
branches  it  is  very  desirable  to  have  the  pupils  construct 
imaginative  drawings,  either  original  or  portraying  their 
mental  images  of  incidents  in  fairy-tales,  legends,  myths, 
and  other  forms  of  folk-lore.  Outline-work  at  this  stage 
is  in  the  nature  of  picture-writing. 

Cutting  and  Pasting. — Commence  with  the  cutting  and 
pasting  of  pictures,  in  making  scrap-hooks  for  geography, 
history,  domestic  work,  nature-work,  etc.  The  pupils 
are  expected  to  make  their  own  scrap-books,  sewing 
manila  or  wrapping  paper  into  books.  These  may  be 
decorated  by  their  own  designs. 

Cardboard  Construction  of  familiar  objects,  like  boxes, 
trays,  houses,  wagons,  etc.,  should  be  used  to  introduce 
the  third  dimension,  the  concrete  concept  of  volume. 
The  objects  may  then  be  painted  with  washes  and 
crayon. 

Clay-work  may  be  colored.  Designs  of  Indian  or 
other  character  may  be  made  for  pottery. 

Rafia  and  Basket  Work  needs  no  special  description 
here. 

This  leads  over  to  other  forms  of  manual  work.^ 

» Cf.  "The  Career  of  the  Child,"  chap.  VI,  "The  Manual  Principle," 
and  chap.  VII,  "Kinds  of  Manual  Expression." 


618  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 


MANUAL  TRAINING 

The  foregoing,  of  course,  contains  a  great  deal  of  op- 
portunity for  manual  training.  The  following  more 
specific  suggestions  refer  to  several  definite  forms  of  it, 
more  particularly  adapted  to  serve,  in  addition  to  their 
general  educational  value,  as  a  preparation  to  eventual 
industrial  training,  or  training  for  manual  vocations. 

Shop- Work. — The  aim  of  shop-work  is  to  develop  mo- 
tor control  in  specific  forms,  and  to  acquaint  the  pupils 
with  the  typical  tools  (hammer,  saw,  hatchet,  plane,  chisel, 
auger,  screw-driver,  etc.)  and  the  typical  occupations. 

Motor  Training. — Begin  with  large  movements,  pro- 
ceeding but  slowly  to  exercises  requiring  the  activity  of 
the  finer  muscles.  Thus,  there  should  be  rough  work 
at  first,  with  big  pieces  of  wood,  and  a  modicum  of 
accuracy.  In  this  group  of  exercises  may  be  placed  the 
rougher  type  of  outdoor  work,  such  as  crude  masonry, 
levelling  of  ground,  digging  ditches,  making  road-beds, 
garden  work,  etc.  Also  large  rustic  building,  making  of 
concrete  foundations  and  other  structures,  building  of 
huts,  wigwams,  houses,  and  woodcraft  of  the  pioneer 
kind.  This  is  in  harmony  with  the  principle  of  adjust- 
ing training  to  the  culture  epoch  periods  as  described 
elsewhere.  It  corresponds  to  the  early  stages  and  re- 
quirements of  primitive,  pioneer,  and  frontier  life. 
Thus,  it  connects  the  principle  of  motor  training  with 
the  following: 

Typical  Occupations  and  Tools. — Here  enters  also  the 
element  of  dramatic  representation,  as  in  the  kindergar- 
ten games,  of  the  blacksmith,  the  carpenter,  etc.  The 
shop  leads  over  to  reality.  At  first  the  work  is  only  a 
more  or  less  playful  imitation  of  adult  activity.    As  the 


Fig.  42. — Exhibit  of  i>upils'  woric.     Caqjentn',  basketry,  dressmaking, 
weaving,  etc. 


Fio.  43. — F.xhibit  of  pupils'  work.     Miscellaneous. 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CHILDREN        519 

adult  standard  of  accuracy  cannot  be  understood  or 
reached  by  the  child,  the  ordinary  "sloyd"  courses  are 
contrary  to  the  biological  laws,  of  child  growth.  Just  as 
the  race  has,  through  industrial  development,  learned  to 
conquer  the  earth  and  to  produce  civilization,  the  child 
will  be  helped,  through  his  experience  in  shop  and  out- 
door occupations,  to  reconquer  earth's  forces  for  him- 
self and  to  build  up  his  own  world  of  concepts  and 
culture. 

Shop-work,  in  this  sense,  is  laboratory -work.  The  child 
becomes  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  materials  and 
with  the  mechanical  forces  which  produce  them  as 
raw  material,  and  with  those  other  forces  by  which 
the  raw  material  can  be  shaped  into  humanly  useful 
things. 

Large  work,  in  the  making  of  rough  sleds,  sawbucks, 
trelUses,  etc.,  will  precede  the  more  exact  tasks  of  box- 
making,  carpentry,  making  and  mending  of  furniture, 
setting  of  window-panes,  work  in  tin,  wire,  lead  forging, 
work  on  the  lathe,  etc. 

There  will  be  much  opportunity  for  co-ordination  with 
other  branches,  so  as  to  objectify  them,  and  to  make  use 
of  the  child's  creative  and  imaginative  abihties  to  illus- 
trate facts  in  geography,  nature,  history,  etc. 

A  detailed  course  will  depend  much  upon  the  composi- 
tion of  the  groups  and  upon  individual  aptitudes. 

Sewing  and  Needlework. — Both  boys  and  girls  should 
have  instruction  in  the  occupations  that  come  under 
this  head,  even  though  it  is  supposed  that  girls  should 
s|>ecialize  in  this  work.  But  there  are  boys  who  are 
endowed  with  capacities  in  these  lines  (tailors,  shoe- 
makers, weavers,  etc.),  while  there  are  many  girls  whose 
special  propensities  lie  in  other  directions. 


520  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

The  first  step  should  be  to  ascertain  definitely  how 
much  the  pupils  know  about  materials,  threads,  needles, 
threading  a  needle,  kinds  of  needles  for  different  work, 
kinds  of  work,  such  as  sewing,  embroidering,  knitting, 
crocheting,  weaving,  darning,  patching,  etc.  They  must 
understand  the  meaning  of  the  words,  not  from  defini- 
tions, but  from  examples.  Study  materials  of  which 
threads  are  made.  Kinds  of  goods:  linen,  cotton,  wool, 
silk,  etc.  Where  and  how  they  are  obtained.  Use  of 
needlework. 

Have  the  pupils  find  out  all  these  things  as  far  as  pos- 
sible in  their  own  wardrobe,  in  their  room,  in  the  build- 
ing. Have  them  state  and  write  down  the  correct  name 
applied  to  each  article,  the  material  it  is  made  of,  the 
process  of  manufacture,  its  use.  Find  out  how  many 
of  these  they  have  seen  being  made.  Excursions  to  fac- 
tories, workshops,  etc.  Mechanical  vs.  hand  produc- 
tion. Looms,  sewing-machines,  other  mechanical  con- 
trivances. Arouse  interest  in  developing  the  ability  to 
make  things. 

With  the  girls  appeal  to  the  home-making  instinct  of 
woman.  Correlate  with  the  household  aspect  of  the 
work,  keeping  things  going  in  the  home.  With  the  boys 
emphasize  the  vocational  side. 

The  work  itself  must  at  first  be  primitive,  large  and 
coarse.  The  real  sewing  as  a  mechanical  art  is  an  after- 
development  and  not  desirable  for  young  pupils.  It  is 
left  to  older  girls  and  boys. 

Use  shoe-strings  with  metal  ends,  the  cheapest  kind. 
With  them  the  pupils  can  practise  all  the  different  kinds 
of  stitches  on  perforated  cardboard.  Even  the  embroi- 
dery and  buttonhole  stitch  can  be  so  introduced.  Make 
cardboard  constructions  on  a  large  scale,  like  baskets, 


I'lc.  44.— Sand-labk'  work.      "The  lake-dwellers.' 


-'S^ 

;J^ 

Img.  45.— Pupils'  work.     X'ocational  trainins>;-s(hool.      Building  a  house 
with  eonrrete  foundation. 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CHILDREN         521 

boxes,  etc.  The  aim  should  be  to  employ  the  stitches  at 
once  in  some  practical  construction  rather  than  to  make 
meaningless  samplers. 

Lacing  and  braiding  can  be  taught  in  much  the  same 
way.  Make  mats  from  torn  waste  cloth.  Crocheting  of 
mats.  Raffia  lends  itself  well  to  this  work,  which  is 
related  to  basketry.  String  and  cord  work  (making  knots, 
tackle  of  all  kinds,  connected  with  the  building  of  boats, 
machinery,  and  the  like)  introduces  a  new  thread:  coarse 
cord  and  twine,  then  the  finer  grades,  leading  over  to 
worsted,  coarse  linen  threads,  finally  thin  threads  and 
silk. 

The  use  of  real  needles  will  be  preceded  by  the  use  of 
bodkins  and  darning-needles,  using  tape,  baby-ribbon, 
and  other  ribbon.  All  this  follows,  in  modern  adapta- 
tion, the  prehistoric  development  of  this  art. 

Now  cardboard  constructions  may  be  varied :  designs  in 
running  stitch,  overhanding,  cross,  and  buttonhole  stitch 
may  be  made.  Make  book  signs,  fancy  baskets,  mats — 
in  silver  cardboard  and  other  fancy  qualities  of  card- 
board. 

For  sewing  proper  use  first  coarse  canvas  (sack  and 
packing  cloth),  then  rough  kinds  of  goods,  like  denim, 
bag  cloth,  leading  up  to  coarse  cheesecloth,  cotton  and 
linen,  silk,  etc. 

Make  bags  (laundry  and  sewing  bags),  doilies,  table- 
covers.  Introduce  a  large,  life-size  doll,  for  whom  a 
trousseau  may  be  made  (the  furniture  to  be  made  in  the 
shop,  to  a  scale),  including  all  of  a  house  outfit,  like  bed- 
ding, bedclothes,  mats,  carp>ets,  dresses,  underwear,  etc. 
First  use  the  simplest  and  coarsest  stitches  and  the  sim- 
plest patterns.  Even  bone  needles  may  be  employed  in 
the  beginning,  reproducing  the  experiences  of  the  women 


522  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

of  the  Stone  Age.  Lead  up  to  more  elaborate  forms. 
Make  all  patterns  first  in  paper. 

Dress  dolls  (smaller  size)  as  Indians,  Eskimos,  and 
other  nationalities  or  representatives  of  different  occu- 
pations, illustrative  of  the  work  in  geography,  history, 
shop-work,  etc. 

Simple  embroidery  may  be  applied  to  these  clothes 
and  outfits,  first  in  running  stitch,  later  even  in  raised 
designs. 

The  pupils  should  learn  to  keep  their  own  clothes  in 
order,  sewing  on  buttons,  darning  stockings,  learning  how 
to  mend  and  clean  their  clothes;  also  how  to  collect  their 
laundry,  how  to  wash,  to  iron,  to  fold,  and  to  put  away. 
This  connects  with  the  household  work. 

Buck  and  Draum  Work  on  a  large  scale  may  be  in- 
troduced. Also  the  making  and  trimming  of  simple 
straw  hats  (millinery). 

Domestic  Work. — ^Here,  again,  it  would  be  prejudicial 
to  make  a  distinction  between  boys  and  girls,  on  prin- 
ciple. Household  managers  and  cooks  (chefs)  are  just 
as  often  males  as  females,  speaking  vocationally. 

First  take  the  children  all  over  the  house  and  give 
them  a  systematic  idea  of  what  a  house  and  a  household 
is,  and  what  a  household  requires.  To  many  this  will 
be  a  revelation. 

The  different  departments  of  housekeeping:  Cleaning, 
cooking,  marketing,  laundry,  care  of  linen,  mending,  etc. 
Household  accounts  are  fitly  connected  with  arithmetic. 
(Model  storekeeping.) 

Then  begin  with  an  imaginary  empty  house;  or  take 
them  to  a  newly  built  unfurnished  house,  perhaps  one 
of  their  own  building. 

Assign  the  different  functions  to  the  different  rooms: 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CHILDREN        523 

Living-room,  reception-room,  library,  bedrooms,  bath 
and  toilet,  kitchen,  pantry,  laundry,  cellar,  boiler-room, 
garret,  etc.  Discuss  the  different  sets  of  furnishings  for 
these  rooms  so  that  they  may  serve  their  respective  func- 
tions. Make  scrap-books  of  furniture  pictures  (from 
magazine  and  other  advertisements)  and  arrange  the 
pictures  by  rooms.  Add  wall  and  floor  coverings,  pic- 
tures, curtains,  etc.  Excursions  to  furniture  stores  and 
factories. 

Bring  out  the  idea  of  suitableness  of  furnishings  for 
these  rooms,  and  the  beauty  and  fitness  of  each  piece. 
Practical  and  impractical  furnishings.  Harmonious  and 
inharmonious  effects.  Water-supply,  heat-supply,  plants 
serving  these  purposes,  fuel,  stoves,  furnaces,  fireplaces, 
chimneys.  Old  methods  of  house  appointments.  (C/. 
"Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days,"  by  Alice  Morse  Earle.) 

Diferent  Types  of  Houses. — Huts,  log  houses,  cot- 
tages, bungalows,  farmhouses,  city  houses,  one  and  two 
family  houses,  apartment  and  flat  houses,  hotels,  institu- 
tions, public  buildings,  churches.  Primitive  dwellings. 
Houses  in  foreign  lands.  Streets,  squares,  city  systems. 
Country  houses  and  grounds  surrounding  them.  Build- 
ing material:  wood,  stone,  brick,  concrete;  where  to  be 
obtained,  how  made,  how  transported.  Connection  with 
shop- work. 

Keeping  the  House  in  Order. — Cleaning,  sweeping, 
washing  of  floors,  scrubbing,  dusting,  cleaning  win- 
dows, etc. 

Give  idea  of  work  involved,  amount  of  it,  time  and 
energy  it  takes.  Have  each  pupil  clean  one  room,  giv- 
ing as  many  activities  as  p>ossible;  then  count  the  num- 
ber of  rooms  cleaned  to  find  the  time  needed  for  the 
entire  operation.     Eventually  repair-work  in  connection 


524  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

with  shop — painting,  tightening  screws,  resetting  win- 
dow-panes, and  the  like.  Have  each  child  take  care  of 
his  or  her  own  room,  making  the  bed,  keeping  washing 
materials  (bowls,  pitchers)  in  order,  keeping  tab  of  soap, 
towels;  hanging  pictures,  curtains. 

Laundry. — Collecting  wash,  soiled  and  clean.  Folding 
it  up  properly  and  putting  it  away.  The  beauty  of 
order:  "A  place  for  everything  and  everything  in  its 
place."  Practice  in  washing,  mangling,  and  ironing, 
also  in  mending.     Dolls'  clothes;  their  own  clothes. 

Kitchen. — Care  of  stove  and  dishes.  What  consti- 
tutes a  set  of  dishes.  Kitchen  outfit  in  detail.  Menus. 
Marketing.  Cost  of  meals,  economy.  Using  left-over 
materials  in  new  form  so  as  to  avoid  waste.  Variety  of 
menus,  also  for  different  seasons.  Reason  of  mixed  diet. 
Sources  of  supply  (connect  with  geography  and  nature). 
To  the  maturer  pupils  some  idea  may  be  given  of  the 
chemistry  of  food  and  digestion;,  simple  dietary  and 
physiological  instruction  may  be  given  even  to  younger 
children. 

Have  children  observe  how  meals  are  prepared  and 
have  them  help  in  getting  things  ready:  peeling  potatoes, 
trimming  vegetables,  etc.  As  an  introduction  to  sys- 
tematic lessons  in  cookery  which  are  given  to  the  older 
pupils,  the  younger  ones  may  learn  to  make  simple  sal- 
ads, toast,  to  prepare  cereals,  boil  potatoes,  water,  eggs, 
tea;  skim  milk,  serve  milk,  make  butter.  They  may  fill 
the  sugar-bowls,  salt  and  pepper  cellars,  etc.  Later  they 
will  learn  to  make  simple  dishes  and  to  prepare  simple 
meals,  also  serving  special  meals  on  trays.  In  the  dining- 
hall  they  should  learn  how  to  set  a  table,  how  to  take 
care  of  table-linen,  how  to  wait  on  the  table,  how  to 
dear  tables  and  to  care  for  cutlery,  dishes,  glasses. 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CHILDREN        525 

Camping-time  will  serve  to  emphasize  the  lessons  of 
a  simple  life. 

Nature  Study.^ — It  is  unnecessary  here  to  elaborate  a 
course  in  nature  study.  Only  the  following  remarks 
may  be  inserted: 

While  some  time  is  allowed  for  regular  periods,  with 
experiments  of  all  kinds  in  the  classrooms,  including 
botany,  zoology,  biology,  physics  (models  of  machinery, 
engines,  motors,  pumps,  etc.),  and  chemistry,  much 
of  the  work  is  done  outside  of  these  periods.  These 
periods  can  be  used  to  advantage  to  crystallize  and  re- 
view what  has  been  taken  up  while  the  children  went  on 
walks  and  excursions. 

The  children  should  learn  to  know  the  world  about 
them  in  all  its  phases,  at  least  through  typical  examples. 
Collections  of  plants,  flowers,  leaves,  nuts,  seeds  of  all 
kinds,  stones  and  minerals,  soils,  etc.,  should  be  made  in 
abundance.  (Correlated  with  art-work.)  The  habitat 
of  each  specimen  should  be  carefully  studied.  Butter- 
flies, insects,  birds,  domestic  and  wild  animals,  etc., 
should  receive  attention.  Pet  animals.  Aquaria.  Ter- 
raria.  The  grounds  about  the  school  can  be  converted 
into  a  sort  of  botanical  garden,  all  trees,  shrubs,  vines, 
vegetable  patches,  etc.,  being  labelled. 

Little  time  should  be  spent  in  artificial  classifications 
and  cumbersome  minutiae. 

The  older  groups  are  to  be  organized  into  regular 
working-squads  to  systematically  cultivate  the  garden 
on  a  large  scale,  care  for  the  orchard,  grape-vines,  ber- 
ries, and  the  like;  in  short,  they  are  to  learn  real  truck- 
gardening  and  simple  farming.     They  are  expected  to 

»  "The  Career  of  the  Child,"  chap.  XI,  "Nature  Work  as  an  Objective 
Basis." 


626  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

clean  up  the  grounds,  mow  the  grass,  make  hay,  trim 
trees,  cut  out  underbrush,  collect  and  cut  up  wood  for 
winter  use,  clean  horses,  take  care  of  them  and  hitch 
them  up,  clean  and  oil  wagons  and  harness,  learn  to  milk 
cows  and  do  dairy-work,  etc. 

Study  of  Geography.^ — Make  the  work  strictly  objec- 
tive. Connect  with  walks,  excursions,  and  games. 
Stress  to  be  laid  upon  having  the  pupils  study  geographi- 
cal features  experimentally  and  by  direct  observation. 
After  the  excursion  the  class  lesson  should  be  given  to 
review  and  organization.  This  will  lead  to  generaliza- 
tions and  to  application  to  more  distant  localities.  The 
study  should  include  discussion  of  the  various  land  for- 
mations, crops,  industries,  population,  government,  lo- 
cation with  reference  either  to  adjoining  townships, 
counties,  or  States.     Imaginary  journeys. 

The  pupils  reproduce  land  formations  on  the  sand-ta- 
ble or  preferably  on  a  larger  scale  on  the  school-grounds, 
learning  to  utilize  power  and  energy,  such  as  water, 
wind,  etc.  Reproductions  of  geographical  features  may 
also  be  made  in  papier-mache  (paper-pulp),  clay,  or 
putty,  with  natural  rocks,  moss,  bridges,  etc.,  on  a  large 
table  which  may  be  used  for  the  illustration  of  entire 
landscapes  {cf.  ''History").  Mechanical  railway  sys- 
tems (electric  toys).  The  composition  of  various  soils 
and  rocks,  and  their  geographical  significance  may  be 
studied  by  the  older  children,  in  conjunction  with 
nature-work. 

The  motions  of  earth,  moon,  sun,  stars,  constellations, 
must  be  observed  by  actual  study  of  existing  phases. 
Records  of  weather  conditions  can  be  systematically 

i"The  Career  of  the  Child,"  chap.  IX,  "Geography  as  a  Collective 
Centre." 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL   CfflLDREN         527 

kept.     Rough  maps  of  excursion  scenery,  the  grounds, 
the  neighborhood,  should  be  frequently  made. 

History  Study.' — ^The  work  should  never  be  dependent -^ 
upon  a  text-book.  It  must  be  done  by  oral  presenta- 
tion, study  of  causes  and  sources,  ever  so  elementary, 
and  a  proper  development  of  the  subject-matter  through 
discussion  and  story.  The  text-book  serves  as  a  refer- 
ence book  and  reader  mainly,  perhaps  as  a  guide  to  the 
teacher.  Emphasis  must  be  laid  upon  the  historical  and 
geographical  setting  of  events.  The  biographical  and 
generally  human  element  must  preponderate.  This  may 
be  made  as  objective  as  possible  by  introducing  suitable 
historical  books  and  novels  as  references;  pieces  of  poetry 
(also  contemporaneous) ,  illustrative  games,  collections  of 
various  kinds  (school  museum),  excursions  to  historical 
places  and  to  museums,  indoor  and  outdoor  dramatic 
representations,  sand-table  illustrations,  constructions  in 
wood  and  other  material  (connect  with  manual  training 
and  geography),  the  use  of  "modelling  sheets"  and 
other  cardboard-work,  illustrating  houses,  mills,  castles, 
etc.,  dressing  dolls  in  the  costumes  of  various  lands, 
climes,  and  times,  etc. 

Number,  Space,  and  Fonn.^ — In  number  the  work 
with  younger  children  is  almost  exclusively  oral,  the 
text-book  being  seldom  in  the  hands  of  the  children. 
The  development  of  the  concept  of  number  as  precise 
quantity  is  the  object  to  be  striven  for.  A  child  must 
realize  that  the  conception  of  quantity  is  different  from 
counting.     Following  the  lead  of  primitive  methods  of 

>"The  Career  of  the  Child,"  chap.  X,  "History  as  a  Collective 
Centre." 

«  "The  Career  of  the  Child,"  chap.  VIII,  "The  Mathematical  Evolu- 
tion of  the  Child." 


628  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

counting  and  computing,  introduce  knotted  cords  and 
beads,  notched  sticks,  and  the  counting-frame  (abacus) 
of  the  toy  store  and  the  Chinese.  As  early  number- 
concepts  are  usually  space-concepts,  the  geometrical 
method  should  be  carried  through  all  the  lower  groups. 
Lines  and  distances,  surfaces,  desk  tops,  windows,  doors, 
rooms,  carpet  lengths,  corridors,  porches,  roads,  garden- 
beds,  and  whatever  offers  an  opportunity  for  such  work 
should  be  measured.  Recognition  of  larger  units,  like 
yards  and  feet,  are  developed  first;  gradually  smaller 
units  may  be  added ;  finally,  fractional  parts.  The  young 
child  should  be  taught  to  verify  his  number-concepts  in 
problems,  thereby  also  beginning  to  grasp  concretely  the 
important  steps  of  mathematical  processes.  All  mechan- 
ical processes,  such  as  division,  subtraction,  multiplica- 
tion, addition,  fractional  parts,  must  first  be  taught  as 
concrete  problems  and  be  made  abstract  or  automatic 
only  after  the  true  meaning  of  the  process  itself  is  clearly 
grasped.  When  difficulties  arise  in  the  presentation  of 
new  matter  (as  in  the  introduction  of  fractions)  the 
cause  should  be  ascertained.  This  cause  may  not  always 
be  found  in  the  method  employed,  but  often  in  the 
mental  unpreparedness  of  the  pupil.  Fractions,  e.  g., 
are  usually  introduced  too  early,  before  the  child's  mind 
is  ready  to  handle  them. 

With  a  development  of  right  concepts  and  mechanical 
facility  the  child  begins  to  visualize.  The  individual 
power  of  ready  visualization  is  in  a  measure  a  native 
gift,  and  has  much  to  do  with  success  in  mastering  the 
mechanical  processes.  Connected  with  a  definite  con- 
crete experience  begins  the  estimating  of  lengths,  dis- 
tances, areas.  To  check  up  and  reconstruct  the  gradu- 
ally forming  precise  concepts,  frequent  practice  in  veri- 


SCHOOLS  FOR  ATYPICAL  CHILDREN        529 

fication  and  re-estimation  is  of  value.  All  children 
should  be  taught  to  tell  time,  using  the  watch,  the  i)osi- 
tion  of  the  sun,  the  sun-dial,  as  guides;  the  days  of  the 
week;  the  months;  computing  dates  in  the  past  and 
future;  manipulating  money  and  change,  also  buying 
and  selling  in  definite  values,  using  a  **  Model  Store  Out- 
fit,"* or  similar  contrivances. 

The  puzzle  interest  can  be  introduced  to  great  ad- 
vantage, suiting  the  complexity  of  the  puzzle  to  the  type 
and  maturity  of  the  child. 

Much  exercise  can  be  given  in  card,  lotto,  and  domino 
games,  number-cards,  etc.  Whenever  possible,  number- 
work  should  be  connected  with  concepts  in  manual  ac- 
tivity, nature-work,  history,  geography,  etc.  The  nu- 
merical aspect  leads  to  "precise  cognition"  of  values. 

All  signs  and  op>erations  should  be  simplified  inde- 
pendently of  the  text-books.  No  distinction  should  be 
made  between  "long"  and  "short"  division.  All  prob- 
lems must  be  based  on  the  idea  of  equation,  and  alge- 
braic methods  can  be  introduced  at  an  early  stage. 

The  study  of  form,  area,  space,  etc.,  through  geometric 
puzzles  (anchor  puzzle),  geometric  construction  and  de- 
sign (in  co-ordination  with  manual  and  art  work)  will 
not  only  be  a  study  in  itself,  but  offer  methodical  sug- 
gestion for  the  presentation  of  arithmetical  problems. 

Language  Teaching.^ — The  purpose  of  this  subject  is 
not  to  impart  knowledge  of  grammar  as  a  logical  science 
or  mechanical  information.  It  is  to  educate  the  child 
in  the  use  of  good  English,  orally  and  in  writing.     Em- 

*  C/.  "Model  Store-Keeping  Department"  of  the  "Educational 
Foundations,"  New  York. 

*  "The  Career  of  the  Child,"  chap.  XII,  "Language  Teaching  from  a 
Child  Study  Point  of  View." 


530  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

phasis  upon  the  formal  side  of  this  subject  should  be 
laid  only  in  so  far  as  it  is  necessary  to  secure  correct 
speech  and  enunciation,  composition-writing,  clearness 
of  spoken  and  written  language,  correct  sp>elling,  and 
the  division  of  words  into  their  phonetic  elements  when- 
ever advisable.  In  every  case  the  child's  vocabulary 
should  be  enlarged.  This  does  not  mean  that  mere 
words  should  be  added,  but  that  more  concepts  be  devel- 
oped in  connection  with  the  work  in  every  branch  of 
instruction.  The  language-work  must  he  utilized  to  work 
over  these  concepts  and  make  them  clear-cut  through  label- 
ling them  with  their  proper  names,  and  hnk  them,  through 
language  expression,  with  previous  concepts.  These 
names,  by  way  of  conversation,  constructing  definite 
statements,  debates,  and  compositions,  are  systemati- 
cally added  to  the  vocabulary. 

Care  must  be  taken  in  all  this  work  not  to  super- 
impose the  teacher's  more  or  less  conventionalized  mode 
of  expression.  The  child's  own  methods  of  self-expres- 
sion can  be  respected,  and  discreetly  developed,  even 
though  they  would  strike  the  teacher  as  crude  and  un- 
conventional in  the  beginning.  The  pupils  should  con- 
vert their  compositions  into  dramatic  and  conversational 
forms,  eventually  to  such  a  degree  that  groups  may  pre- 
sent their  work  to  other  groups  in  school  exercises. 

Spelling  and  language  puzzles  can  be  used  systemati- 
cally to  great  advantage.  Pupils  may  invent  similar 
puzzles,  from  the  samples  given,  of  their  own  initiative. 

Children  must  learn  to  take  notes  on  their  walks,  ex- 
cursions, during  the  lessons,  etc.,  and  proper  methods  of 
taking  such  notes  and  of  expanding  them  into  a  more 
complete  reproduction  of  their  experiences  must  be  sys- 
tematically taught. 


Vu;.  46. — Dramatics:  Scene  from  "The  Sleeping  Beauty. 


IK..  47. — Dramatics:  Dance  of  the  ice-bears, 
to  Northern  Lands." 


From  ".\  Dream-Trip 


SCHOOLS   FOR   ATYPICAL    CHILDREN         531 

Formal  exercises  are  secondary.  Insistence  upon  cor- 
rect speech  is  mandatory  in  all  lessons,  but  care  must  be 
taken  not  to  make  this  insistence  irksome  to  the  pupils. 
Too  much  pedantry  will  repress  the  desire  of  the  child 
to  express  himself  freely,  and  it  is  better  to  leave  crude  and 
incorrect  forms  of  speech  unchallenged  than  to  silence  the 
child. 

Oral  and  written  composition^  and  letter-writing,  by 
dictation  and  blackboard  development,  by  the  class  and 
by  individuals;  the  evolution  of  tabulations,  schedules, 
paradigms,  synopses,  etc.,  for  the  organizing  of  the  ma- 
terial studied,  so  that  the  mind  of  the  pupils  would  ar- 
range it  in  proper  order,  must  be  constantly  emphasized 
in  all  lessons.  Dictated  work  may  be  typewritten  or 
printed*  and  used  as  reading-matter  for  the  dictator  and 
his  group. 

Reading  and  Literature.^ — While  it  is  necessary  to  cul- 
tivate loud  reading  for  the  training  in  proper  enuncia- 
tion, elocution,  and  modulation,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
checking  up  the  child's  progress  and  precision,  it  must 
never  be  forgotten  that  reading  aloud  is  a  separate  motor 
activity,  and  that  the  main  purpose  of  learning  how  to 
read  is  to  train  the  pupil  in  the  ability  to  abstract  informa- 
iion  from  the  printed  or  written  page,  and  to  teach  him 
how  to  find  this  information.  Too  much  forcing  of  oral 
reading  to  teacher  and  class  may  tempt  a  timid  or 
nervous  child  to  stutter. 

Silent  reading,  with  subsequent  reporting  on  what  has 
been  read,  is  therefore  very  important.     The  ability  to 

» "The  Career  of  the  ChOd,"  chap.  XIV,  "Oral  and  Written  Com- 
position." 

'  The  introduction  of  typesetting  and  the  printing-press  is  a  valuable 
addition  to  the  occupational  work. 

» "The  Career  of  the  Child,"  chap.  XIII,  "Reading  and  Literature." 


632  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

absorb  the  sense  of  a  sentence,  of  a  paragraph,  and,  in  the 
higher  groups,  of  a  chapter,  or  a  whole  book,  after  rapid 
perusal,  must  be  carefully  developed.  Pupils  must  ac- 
quire a  sufficient  vocabulary,  and  the  skill  of  finding  un- 
known words  in  the  dictionary. 

Quick  recognition  of  words  and  their  analysis  as  to 
component  parts,  so  that  the  reading  and  understanding 
of  words  may  be  facilitated,  must  be  carefully  taught. 
The  derivation  and  composition  of  words  will  therefore 
be  a  helpful  method  in  teaching  spelHng.  Pupils  are 
of  two  different  types,  visual  and  aural;  each  type  re- 
quires a  method  of  learning  and  spelling  words  commen- 
surate to  its  apperceptive  faculty. 

Spelling  has  the  purpose  to  help  in  the  formation  of  the 
word-form  concept,  and  to  enable  a  person  to  write  a  word 
correctly,  so  that  the  reader  may  recognize  it.  Copying 
and  writing  certain  words  frequently  in  proper  sentence 
setting  will  do  more  than  mere  oral  drill.  It  is  a  com- 
mon observation  that  pupils,  in  learning  a  foreign  lan- 
guage, have  little  difficulty  in  mastering  the  spelling  of 
the  foreign  words.  This  gives  a  most  helpful  suggestion 
in  the  matter  of  teaching  English  spelling. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS' 

The  Teacher  as  an  Essential  Factor. — Inasmuch  as 
the  teaching  of  exceptional,  "different,"  non-conforming, 
difficult  children  does  not  require  any  patent  methods, 
but  simply  the  application  of  rational  methods  to  indi- 
vidual conditions,  it  may  be  said  that  special  training 
for  the  teacher  of  non-conforming  children  is  unneces- 
sary. This  is  not  quite  true.  Of  course,  every  teacher 
should  be  so  thoroughly  trained'  that  adjustment  to  dif- 
ferent child  types  would  be  ingrained  in  his  or  her  prac- 
tice. The  sj>ecial  difficulties  of  exceptional  develop- 
ment in  children,  however,  make  it  desirable  that  a 
selection  should  be  made.  There  are  also  differences  of 
type  among  the  teachers,  and  some  are  better  fitted  to 
undertake  finely  discriminating  work  than  others;  some 
have  the  artist-teacher  spirit,  that  deeper  insight  into 
child  nature  which  puts  them  in  almost  immediate  rap- 
port with  their  pupils.  But  even  the  artist  needs  special 
training. 

In  many  places  in  this  book  the  teacher  has  been 
pointed  out  as  the  essential  factor  in  approaching  and 
appreciating  differences  in  children.  Were  our  teachers 
generally  better  trained  in  understanding  child  nature, 
there  would  be  less  failure  in  educational  efforts. 

"•The  Career  of  the  Child,"  chap.  I,  "Dignity  and  Responsibility 
of  the  Teacher's  Profession." 

533 


534  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

The  Teacher's  Function. — The  popular  idea  that 
teaching  means  merely  the  imparting  of  knowledge  is 
very  superficial,  of  course.  True  teaching  means  pre- 
paring a  child  to  understand  the  world  in  terms  of  his 
own  experience;  placing  him  and  his  conduct  in  harmony 
with  a  social  body,  so  that  he  may  become  a  constructive 
factor  in  community  life  and  avail  himself  of  the  op- 
portunities for  right  living  which  are  offered  to  him 
by  his  fellow  men. 

Teaching  refers,  therefore,  not  so  much  to  "what"  a 
child  can  be  made  to  learn.  It  means  to  train  him 
"how"  to  attack  a  problem  placed  before  him.  Merely 
to  learn  certain  facts  about  arithmetic  or  history,  de- 
pending largely  upon  memory  for  retaining  this  "knowl- 
edge," will  prove  very  unreliable,  and  will  rarely  fit  the 
child  for  the  demands  of  life.  Even  a  mentally  defective 
child — an  abnormal  child — can  be  "taught"  in  this 
manner  without  gaining  thereby  in  human  efficiency. 

Meaning  of  Education. — Education,  to  be  vital,  means 
that  a  child  must  learn: 

First. — To  absorb  and  interpret  every-day  experiences. 

Second. — To  organize  daily  experiences  so  that  they 
may  constitute  a  new  apperceptive  basis  for  further 
progress. 

Third. — To  realize  and  appreciate  the  relation  of  cause 
and  effect. 

Fourth. — To  develop  a  mental  perspective  in  which 
new  situations  jnay  be  foreshadowed  to  be  met  with 
ready  preparedness. 

Fifth. — ^To  select  the  right  course  of  action  in  meeting 
real  or  imagined  situations. 

Sixth. — To  control  his  acts  by  a  properly  poised  atti- 
tude. 


THE  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS  535 

Seventh. — ^To  understand  his  relations  to  others  and 
the  reaction  of  his  conduct  upon  them  and  their  welfare. 

These  are  some  of  the  essential  considerations  to  be 
borne  in  mind  in  planning  the  education  of  a  child.  To 
give  such  an  education  the  teacher,  assuming  a  function 
supplementary  to  the  parental  function,  must  be  pre- 
pared. 

The  Child's  Point  of  View. — To  teach  a  child  success- 
fully "how"  to  learn  implies  that  the  teacher  must  first 
of  all  appreciate  the  child's  point  of  view  and  his  state 
of  mind.  Unless  he  can  put  himself  in  the  child's  place 
he  will  fail  to  understand  his  mental  horizon.  It  will 
depend  upon  the  child's  mental  vision  what  daily  experi- 
ences he  will  absorb  and  how  he  will  interpret  them. 
The  teacher  must  know,  as  far  as  possible,  the  child's 
app>erceptive  basis,  his  way  of  *' taking  in"  a  new  experi- 
ence, how  he  will  connect  the  new  with  the  old,  so  as  to 
have  an  orderly  knowledge.  Cause  and  effect,  especially 
with  new  experiences,  are  matters  of  the  individual 
point  of  view.  The  young  child  does  not  learn  things 
on  the  basis  of  logical  order — to  him  nothing  is  definitely 
impossible  or  irrational;  he  learns  from  isolated  experi- 
ences which  he  relates  to  each  other  in  his  own  way. 
This  question  of  relationship  may  be  quite  fortuitous  in 
registering  the  experience-units  in  the  child's  mind. 
Hence  the  frequently  twisted  connections,  the  gross  mis- 
understandings, often  distinctly  ludicrous  from  the 
adult's  point  of  view,  which  crop  out  in  a  child's  re- 
sponses. They  show  the  accidental  combination  of  ex- 
I>eriences  which  were  registered  in  the  child's  mind  at 
some  time  and  which  became  connected  in  his  thoughts 
through  propinquity  rather  than  through  rational  rela- 
tion.   Here  the  wise  guidance  of  the  true  teacher  is 


536  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

needed,  so  that  the  idea  of  cause  and  effect  may  come 
to  the  child  on  a  basis  of  correct  association  of  ideas. 

Qualitative  Differences  of  Subjects. — Further,  the 
teacher  must  realize  that  the  different  branches  of  in- 
struction, as  differentiated  in  the  ordinary  school  courses, 
offer  distinct  and  inherent  qualitative  problems  in  pres- 
entation. For  this  reason  each  will  appeal  differently 
to  a  child,  so  that  he  may  be  more  ready  to  learn  his- 
tory than  arithmetic,  or  vice  versa.  Again,  apart  from 
their  inherent  qualitative  differences,  the  subjects  may 
be  taught  by  various  methods.  That  the  child  may  size 
up  the  situation,  that  he  may  array  before  his  mental 
vision  possible  new  situations  from  which  he  may  find 
guidance  for  his  further  course — very  different  mental 
processes  may  be  called  into  play  when  studying  one 
subject  than  when  studying  another.  Suppose  a  teacher, 
in  teaching  mathematics,  would  use  merely  mechanical, 
abstract  drill  and  an  appeal  to  memory;  the  pupil's  prog- 
ress may  be  completely  blocked  because  the  situations 
presented  do  not  project  themselves  into  his  rational 
consciousness,  do  not  articulate  themselves  with  his 
apperceptive  powers.  Thus  he  will  fail  in  arithmetic. 
On  the  other  hand,  nature  study,  lending  itself  more 
readily  to  concrete  presentation,  may  appeal  immediately 
to  the  child's  interest,  to  his  apperceptive  powers,  to  his 
ability  and  desire  to  compare  and  to  differentiate — and 
will  thus  promptly  open  up  a  wealth  of  associations, 
broadening  the  pupil's  field  of  vision,  relating  facts  with 
facts  and  thus  allowing  the  child  to  employ  facts  as 
measures  of  new  situations. 

Native  Differences  of  Individuals. — A  recognition  of 
these  conditions  will  lead  the  open-minded  teacher  to 
the  appreciation  of  the  further  fact  that  there  are  essen- 


THE  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS  537 

tial  differences  between  individual  pupils;  that  the  emo- 
tional quality  as  well  as  the  mental  type  of  one  child 
may  vary  considerably  from  that  of  another.  The  emo- 
tional quality  alone  is  of  tremendous  moment  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  individual  psyche.  This  very  emotional 
vitalization  of  neutral  external  phenomena,  mediated  to 
the  p>erception  by  the  senses,  is  the  essential  force  in 
our  minds  which  colors  our  motives,  shapes  the  relation- 
ship of  our  ideas,  ideals,  and  deeds,  and  is  the  chief  fac- 
tor in  our  interpretation  of  Hfe. 

These  differences  of  emotional  attitude  and  of  mental 
type — the  latter  being  in  a  measure  the  result  of  the 
emotional  attitude  combined  with  the  result  of  uneven- 
ness  of  growth  of  the  mental  faculties — cause  one  child 
to  make  rapid  progress  in  a  subject  in  which  another 
will  lag  behind.  They  present  p>erplexing  problems  to 
the  teacher.  When  these  differences  in  progress  assume 
large  proportions,  we  recognize  what  we  have  learned  to 
call  unusual  or  exceptional  children. 

It  is  evident  that  one  of  the  first  requirements  in  the 
preparation  of  teachers  for  their  work  is  that  they  be 
trained  in  recognizing  and  valuing  correctly  these  dif- 
ferences. More  than  his  ability  to  master  the  intricacies 
of  a  subject,  or  of  a  number  of  subjects,  counts  a  teacher^ s 
ability  to  master  the  child  problem,  the  intricacies  of  a  child 
soul.  When  the  teachers  will  have  learned  to  assume 
the  right  attitude  toward  this  fundamental  problem, 
there  will  be  a  surprising  shrinkage  in  that  group  of 
school  failures  now  stigmatized  as  "subnormal,"  "de- 
fective," "delinquent,"  "incorrigible,"  or  "backward" 
children.  We  shall  then  learn  that  very  many  of  these 
troublesome  children  are  not  lacking  in  possibihties — 
that  it  is  not  their  fault  that  they  fail,  but  the  school's 


538  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

which  fails  to  reach  them.  After  all,  to  solve  these  indi- 
vidual riddjes,  using  the  word  "solve"  in  its  broadest 
sense,  is  the  true  mission  of  the  teacher. 

Specialization  in  Teaching. — We  are  breaking  away 
from  the  older,  ungraded  method  of  having  one  teacher 
teach  all  subjects.  With  the  centralization  of  schools, 
produced  on  the  one  hand  by  the  increased  concentra- 
tion of  the  urban  population,  and  on  the  other  by  the 
merging  of  rural  schools  into  district  centres,  there  is  a 
constantly  increasing  tendency  on  the  part  of  teachers 
to  select  special  branches  of  instruction,  or  at  least  spe- 
cial fields  of  application.  We  have  the  primary,  gram- 
mar, and  high  school  teachers;  the  teachers  who  confine 
themselves  to  some  one  or  to  a  small  group  of  related 
subjects;  the  teachers  of  music,  of  art,  of  manual  train- 
ing, of  domestic  work,  etc. 

This  specialization  has  its  drawbacks.  It  tends  to 
narrow  dowja  the  mental  outlook  of  the  student  who 
specializes  too  early.  The  broad  view  of  the  educational 
problem  must  be  the  foundation.  It  may  be  suggested 
that  specialization  of  a  pronounced  kind  should  be  the 
second  step  in  teacher  training.  This,  however,  might 
invite  the  pernicious  practice,  still  so  common,  that  the 
tyro  teachers  are  let  loose  upon  the  tyro  children,  those 
precious  blossoms  of  humanity  which  just  open  their 
petals  to  the  sun  of  knowledge.  Primary  teaching  is 
really  a  very  delicate  problem,  worthy  of  the  most  careful 
specialized  preparation. 

It  will  at  once  become  evident  that  much  of  the  gen- 
eral subject-matter  now  included  in  teacher  training  will 
become  extraneous  under  more  intensive  preparation. 
While  this  intensive  preparation  acts  in  a  measure  as  a 
restriction  of  individual  activity,  it  offers  at  the  same 


THE  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS  539 

time  a  wider  field  for  selection  and  better  training,  com- 
mensurate to  the  special  talents  and  abilities  of  the  indi- 
vidual teachers.  For,  naturally,  each  teacher  is  also  an 
individual  personality,  and  represents  a  mental  type 
different  from  the  "average" — if  he  is  a  teacher  at  all. 

Review  of  a  Suitable  Curriculum. — ^The  curriculum  of 
a  teachers'  training  course  should  include,  it  would  seem, 
the  following  main  divisions: 

First:  A  comprehensive  presentation  of  a  classifica- 
tion of  the  various  tj^Des  of  children,  with  their  more  or 
less  pronounced  variations.  With  these  types  the  stu- 
dents must  be  confronted  face  to  face.  They  must 
learn  about  the  various  physical  and  mental  tests  used 
to  diagnose  types.  They  must  learn  to  read  danger- 
signals.  They  should,  however,  from  the  start  learn  to 
understand  their  b'mitations  in  this  field,  and  that  they 
will  have  to  co-ordinate  their  future  work  with  experts 
in  the  field  of  medicine,  psychology,  and  scientific  peda- 
gogy. After  all,  the  rank  and  file  of  teachers  cannot 
all  be  experts  and  leaders;  they  must  understand  pro- 
fessional discipUne  and  modesty,  without  ever  giving 
up  the  striving  for  higher  perfection. 

This  presupposes  the  demand  that  teaching  must  he- 
come  a  true  profession. 

The  study  here  outlined  would  eventually  enable  the 
student  to  recognize  what  type  of  children  he  could  best 
train,  to  what  type  he  could  most  forcibly  app>eal — 
whether  his  heart  leads  him  to  let  little  children  come 
to  him  that  he  may  guide  them  along  the  road  of 
knowledge  and  mind-power,  or  whether  he  would  wish 
to  struggle  with  the  problem  of  adolescence ;  whether  it 
is  the  manual,  the  graphic,  the  artistic,  the  scientific, 
the  scholastic  mind,  or  whichever  else  that  most  ap- 


540  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

peals  to  his  instincts.  He  will  naturally  select  the  t)^e 
most  akin  to  his  own.  Should  he  choose  to  specialize 
with  the  unusual  child,  varying  to  a  marked  degree  from 
ordinary  types,  he  would  have  a  clear  survey  of  the 
field,  its  scope,  his  own  fitness,  what  he  would  have  to 
study,  etc.  So  he  may  map  out  his  studies  to  insure 
real  efficiency. 

Second:  The  teaching  of  methods  will  have  to  be 
essentially  revised.  Only  too  often  the  young  teacher 
leaves  the  normal  school  permeated  with  methods  of  aU 
kinds  and  just  brimming  over  with  the  desire  to  try  them 
out  in  his  own  way  on  the  pupils  given  over  to  his  care. 
Only  too  often  the  result  is  disastrous.     Why  ? 

"Method,"  as  generally  conceived,  is  related  to  the 
subject-matter  primarily,  not  to  the  individual  psyche 
of  the  child.  It  is  more  or  less  theoretically  defended  on 
general  grounds.  Thus,  in  learning  to  read  and  to  spell, 
children  have  been  subjected  to  the  "word  method," 
the  "alphabetic  method,"  the  "phonetic  method,"  the 
"phonogram  method,"  and  a  host  of  others.  One 
teacher  recommends  the  one  as  the  only  salvation  of 
the  child,  another  is  enthusiastic  over  another.  In  re- 
ality the  success  depends  upon  the  response  of  the  child, 
which  in  its  turn  depends  upon  the  type  of  child  mind 
appealed  to.  It  is  a  matter  of  selecting  the  proper 
method,  not  only  for  a  particular  group  of  children,  but 
for  individuals  within  the  group.  In  the  same  class 
several  different  methods  may  have  to  be  used  along- 
side of  each  other,  or  superseding  one  another,  to  reach 
out  to  all. 

Again,  a  method  depends  for  success  much  upon  the 
p>erson  who  employs  it.  It  is  to  a  considerable  degree 
the  expression  of  the  teacher's  own  personality.    One 


THE  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS  541 

teacher  may  make  a  certain  method  work  with  abnost 
any  class  of  children,  when  another  will  fail  utterly. 
Young  teachers  make  the  mistake  of  following  the  lead 
of  their  normal  school  teachers  too  slavishly.  They 
must  first  learn  what  they  themselves  can  do  with  a 
method,  how  they  can  project  themselves  into  the  souls 
of  their  pupils.  The  personal  equation  plays  an  im- 
portant part. 

"Methods"  can  only  serve  as  a  working  basis  in 
training  a  child,  a  sort  of  reserve  fund  from  which  to 
draw  from  time  to  time  to  meet  new  situations. 

Third:  The  subject  of  educational  psychology  needs 
revision  to  be  of  value  to  the  practical  teacher.  As  it  is 
taught  in  our  training  schools  it  hardly  helps  the  teacher 
materially  in  his  professional  work.  A  great  deal  is  in- 
cluded because  sanctioned  by  tradition,  or  is  retained  in 
the  curriculum  because  of  a  general  idea  that  it  has,  or 
ought  to  have,  a  general  value  in  one  way  or  another  for 
the  teacher.  Just  what  this  value  is  has  not  been 
accurately  ascertained  by  psychological  analysis.  While 
other  subjects  have  been  thus  analyzed,  psychology  it- 
self has  not  applied  its  own  method  to  itself.  Hence,  the 
whole  subject  is  encumbered  by  a  mass  of  material  lack- 
ing in  direct  bearing  on  classroom  experience;  it  is  pre- 
sented without  a  clear  conception  of  the  relation  of  edu- 
cational psychology  as  a  subject,  to  psychology  as  an 
important  phase  of  educational  principles.  To  illus- 
trate: Knowing  what  mental  imagery  is  and  how  it 
develops  is  one  thing;  recognizing  mental  imagery  as  it 
unfolds  in  an  actual  child's  mind,  understanding  that 
child's  personality,  and  then  applying  psychologically 
the  best  methods  to  develop  that  imagery  rationally  is 
an  entirely  different  thing. 


542  THE  EXCEPTIONAL  CHILD 

Educational  psychology  must  be  so  taught  that  it 
drives  home  to  the  teacher  the  need  and  method  to  find 
the  child's  point  of  view,  to  experience  the  child's  state 
of  mind.  It  must  lead  to  an  understanding  of  the  psy- 
chologic significance  of  the  different  school  subjects, 
and  of  the  causes  of  their  differences;  and  also  to  an 
understanding  of  the  causes  of  differences  of  individual 
minds.  Of  course  psychology  cannot  be  taught  from 
text-books  alone.  It  must  be  vitalized  by  taking  the 
student  right  into  the  labyrinth  of  practical  child  prob- 
lems, not  only  in  the  schools  but  in  the  homes,  the 
streets,  the  courts,  etc. 

Fourth:  The  student  teachers  should  therefore  be 
given  ample  opportunity  of  practical  experience  with 
children.  Not  only  in  the  schoolroom,  with  "practice 
teaching,"  but  as  school  visitors,  social  workers,  in  the 
larger  life  of  the  community.  Before  a  teacher  under- 
takes to  "teach"  a  child  he  should  understand  the  souls 
and  conditions  of  children,  he  should  study  the  many 
pathetic  problems  of  child  life.  And  let  him  not  deceive 
himself  that  this  pathos  is  to  be  found  only  among  the 
lowly  and  the  outcast;  it  casts  a  shadow  over  many  a 
child  of  the  wealthy  and  mighty.  There  are  sad  child 
faces,  wicked  child  faces,  debauched  child  faces  in  the 
palaces  as  in  the  hovels. 

Compared  with  the  problems  of  this  practical  child 
psychology,  the  problems  of  subjects  and  methods  wiU 
seem  almost  insignificant. 

Fifth:  The  student  should  receive  a  broad  training 
in  physiology  and  hygiene.  Even  the  ordinary  class 
teacher  should  be  able  to  recognize  patent  physical  and 
psychic  disorders,  so  that  he  may  co-operate  intelli- 
gently with  the  school  nurses,  medical  inspectors,  and 


THE  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS  543 

specialists  of  different  kinds.  A  knowledge  of  physical 
and  mental  hygiene  and  the  elements  of  medicine  would 
also  help  him  to  realize  the  effect  of  his  teaching  upon 
the  physical  and  mental  life  of  the  pupils.  Only  too 
frequently  there  is  an  artificial  production  of  exceptional 
development  going  on  right  under  the  teacher's  eyes, 
caused  by  him,  yet  entirely  unobserved  and  ununder- 
stood  by  him.  The  teacher  must  learn  to  assume  the 
"medical  attitude"  in  looking  for  causes  and  in  the 
endeavor  to  diagnose. 

These  are  some  of  the  main  p>oints  where  teacher  train- 
ing needs  to  be  lifted  out  of  tradition  upon  a  new  and 
higher  plane  of  efficiency.  It  goes  without  saying  that 
there  must  be  a  course  in  the  history  of  education,  as  a 
history  of  human  ideals;  a  careful  training  in  the  sub- 
ject-matter of  knowledge  and  occupations,  etc. 

Training  of  Teachers  for  Exceptional  Children. — ^To 
specialize  in  the  education  of  exceptional  children  is  a 
delicate  problem.  Of  course,  there  are  again  many  sub- 
divisions of  this  training.  These  subdivisions  have  so 
far  been  as  httle  recognized  as  have  been  the  divisions 
of  the  exceptional  children  themselves.  The  term  has 
been,  as  was  shown  before,  indiscriminately  applied  to 
"defective"  children,  with  a  great  confusion  of  terms, 
employing  such  words  as  "subnormal,"  "abnormal," 
"backward,"  and  a  host  of  others  interchangeably  and 
vaguely. 

The  teacher  of  the  blind  needs  a  special  training  differ- 
ent from  the  kind  the  teacher  of  the  deaf  requires.  The 
atypical  child  is  a  very  different  problem  from  the  child 
of  arrested  development,  or  the  feeble-minded  child. 
The  retarded  child  needs  different  treatment  from  the 
child  who  is  exceptionally  bright.     The  psychopathic 


544  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

child  must  be  placed  under  a  regimen  which  would  be 
entirely  out  of  place  for  the  dull  and  unresponsive. 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  teachers'  training  courses  must 
be  adapted  to  these  various  needs;  and  that  again  the 
personaHty  of  the  teachers  themselves,  differing  in  tem- 
perament and  attitudes,  must  be  determinative  in  the 
choice  of  the  special  field  of  work. 

Many  of  the  courses  offered  in  universities,  colleges, 
and  similar  institutions  in  recent  years  for  the  training 
of  special  teachers  of  this  kind  have  been  undifferentiated 
and  lacking  in  perspective.  The  only  courses  which 
deserve  to  be  called  specific  are  those  which  have  been 
given  in  several  of  the  institutions  for  the  feeble-minded. 
Yet  even  these  have  suffered  from  two  grave  errors — 
one  being  that  they  were  too  short  to  afford  thorough- 
going training;  the  other  that  they  were  advertised  and 
utilized  for  the  training  of  teachers  of  ungraded  classes 
and  of  "experts"  in  testing  children,  when  in  the  very 
nature  of  their  organization  they  could  be  nothing  more 
than  courses  for  acquainting  teachers  with  the  problem 
of  the  feeble-minded. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

CONCLUSION 

This  book  has  covered  a  large  field.  Naturally  it 
cannot  be  expected  that  it  has  treated  every  detail  ex- 
haustively. But  the  author  hopes  that  he  has  stated 
the  problem  in  its  completeness,  and  that  he  has  given 
its  perspective  clearly  and  unmistakably. 

In  the  first  part  the  author  attempted  to  state  the 
nature  of  the  problem,  and  to  portray,  somewhat  in 
detail,  the  different  kinds  of  the  human  material  which 
makes  up  this  civilization  of  ours.  It  must  have  become 
evident  to  the  careful  reader  that  the  problem  of  the 
exceptional  child,  as  here  presented,  is  really  a  problem 
of  civilization  itself — that  it  goes  to  the  very  root  of  the 
tree  of  human  life;  that  upon  its  solution  depends  the 
progress,  yea  the  very  existence  of  the  race.  If  it  is  not 
solved  in  a  sane  and  constructive  manner  our  present 
civilization  will  be  swept  away  as  other  civiHzations  have 
perished  in  the  past,  to  give  way  to  new,  raw  attempts, 
by  untried  races,  to  build  up  a  better  human  society  than 
there  was  before.  The  dreams  of  perfection,  of  salva- 
tion, of  the  millennium,  such  as  are  in  the  minds  of  our 
religious  enthusiasts  and  philosophers,  may  never  come 
true.  Yet,  if  there  is  to  be  at  any  time  "a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth,  when  all  men  will  speak  a  pure 
language,  and  no  one  will  hurt  another  any  more,  and 
no  one  will  wrong  another  any  more,"  we  certainly 
must  first  give  full  opportunity  for  each  individual  to 

545 


546  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

be  himself,  to  live  up  to  the  potentials  which  God  has 
planted  in  his  soul,  so  that  he  can  be  true  to  himself. 

"To  thine  own  self  be  true, 
And  it  must  follow,  as  the  night  the  day, 
Thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man," 

In  other  words,  more  practically  speaking,  we  must 
recognize  and  cherish  variations  of  the  human  type, 
acknowledging  in  them  the  very  safeguards  and  guaran- 
tees of  progress  and  higher  culture. 

The  second  part  discusses  and  describes  methods  of 
diagnosis.  In  detail  the  suggestions  made  by  the  author 
in  this  part  may  be  open  to  criticism  and  revision.  Of 
the  need  of  further  correction  of  details,  of  rearticulation 
of  parts,  of  greater  precision  and  condensation,  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  of  expansion,  no  one  is  more  fully  convinced 
than  the  author  himself.  This  need  impresses  itself 
upon  him  with  every  new  application  of  his  own  method 
of  testing.  But  every  new  application  strengthens  his 
conviction  that  the  principles  upon  which  he  bases  his 
suggestions  are  essentially  correct.  It  can  only  he 
through  the  co-operation  of  many  workers  in  this  field, 
through  intelligent  and  harmonious  collaboration  of  experi- 
ences, through  willingness  to  share  and  exchange  in  fair 
measure  the  success  which  every  individual  effort  may 
achieve,  that  a  final  form  will  be  created,  out  of  the  multi- 
fariousness of  forms  now  offered  for  experiment. 

The  third  part  is  intended  to  elucidate  the  bearing 
these  facts  have  upon  active  constructive  work  for  the 
betterment  of  the  race.  We  discussed  eugenic  problems 
and  problems  of  the  home;  questions  of  school  reorgani- 
zation and  social  adjustment.  It  was  discovered  that 
the  old  adage,  "Mens  sana  in  corpore  sano,"  had  as- 


CONCLUSION  547 

sumed  a  new  significance,  and  that  the  problems  under 
discussion  were  in  a  large  measure  medical  problems, 
problems  of  mental  health  through  physical  health. 

The  author's  demand  that  there  must  be  adjustment 
to  individual  types  and  interests  must  not  be  miscon- 
strued. This  demand  is  far  from  placing  the  child  at 
the  mercy  of  passing  impulses  and  passions,  fashions 
and  whims.  It  does  not  imply  a  ''cult  of  flabbiness" 
as  the  mistaken  yielding  to  the  line  of  the  least  resist- 
ance has  recently  been  called.  Quite  the  contrary.  The 
healthy  instincts  of  the  child  are  not  flabby.  They  are 
impulses  for  strenuous  action.  As  soon,  as  the  baby 
feels  the  strength  of  his  muscles  and  nerves,  he  wants  to 
exercise  his  young  limbs  to  the  utmost;  he  wants  to  sit 
up,  to  stand  up,  to  walk,  even  when  his  timid  mother  is 
yet  afraid  of  trusting  the  weight  of  her  precious  to  his 
little  feet.  The  author  knows  a  very  little  boy  who  has 
never  wanted  to  walk  on  the  easy  path.  He,  living  on 
a  mountain  top,  has  ever  since  he  began  to  walk  selected 
the  roughest  places  to  climb  up,  the  rockiest  trails  to 
exercise  his  little  legs  and  his  sense  of  balance,  and  has 
forever  spurned  assistance,  unless  it  was  absolutely 
needed.  And  in  all  other  pursuits  he  does  likewise,  al- 
ways looking  for  difficulties  to  overcome,  always  exer- 
cising his  patience  as  well  as  his  skill  to  master  a  task 
which  he  has  set  before  himself. 

A  child  who  is  lazy,  who  looks  for  the  easy  things  of 
life,  is  either  spoiled  by  misdirected  education,  or  a  sub- 
ject of  medical  and  psychopathic  examination. 

The  author  is  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
Kantian  philosophy,  in  its  educational  aspect.  Kant, 
the  sage  of  Konigsberg,  pronounced  the  "categorical 
imperative,"  meaning  duty  as  the  supreme  rule  of  life, 


548  THE   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

as  the  pivotal  point  around  which  life's  activities  must 
revolve.  The  joy  of  hard  work,  of  self-sacrifice,  of  the 
devotion  of  the  individual  to  unremitting  service  in  the 
interest  of  the  commonwealth,  is  characteristic  of  this 
idea.  It  is  a  modern  form  of  Stoic  philosophy,  or,  if 
you  will,  of  Spartan  ideals  of  efficiency. 

He  would  therefore  be  the  last  one  to  advocate  the 
cultivation  of  effeminate  and  self-gratifying  habits  in 
the  young.  But  he  is  likewise  convinced  that  only  that 
individual  will  make  his  best  efforts  for  service  who  can 
be  himself — ^who  is  allowed  to  foUow  the  lead  of  his 
natural  genius. 


APPENDICES 


APPENDIX   I 

THE  CITY  AND  HER  BOYS^ 

Classification. — For  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  city  and 
her  boys  let  us  make  a  broad  classification.  It  has  been  esti- 
mated that  there  are  500,000  boys  in  New  York  between  the 
ages  of  seven  and  sixteen,  and  these  boys  may  be  roughly  classi- 
fied for  our  purposes  into  the  following  groups: 

(i)  The  boys  of  wealth; 

(2)  The  boys  of  the  middle  class,  with  full-functioning  homes; 

(3)  The  boys  of  the  semi-functioning  homes; 

(4)  The  homeless  boys. 

The  first  group  contains  those  boys  who  are  amply  protected 
by  families  of  established  reputation.  The  second  group  is  the 
largest,  that  of  boys  who  are  fairly  well-to-do,  whose  fathers 
work  while  the  mothers  care  for  the  home.  The  boys  of  this 
class  usually  enter  high  school  and  secure  their  recreation 
through  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Scout  movements,  and  similar  organiza- 
tions. This  group  is  well  provided  with  recreation  as  compared 
with  Groups  3  and  4.  The  third  group  contains  those  boys 
that  may  have  to  work  to  help  support  the  home.  The  mother 
frequently  is  required  to  work  outside  of  the  home,  thus  leaving 
the  boy  to  the  street.  //  is  this  group  that  furnishes  the  majority 
of  delinquents  and  truants.  The  boys  from  this  group  live  pri- 
marily in  the  congested  districts  where  parental  control  is  in- 
sufficient. The  fourth  group  are  the  boys  without  a  home,  the 
occupants  of  our  lodging-houses  and  institutions.*  A  great 
many  boys  in  this  group  are  transients. 

This  classification  is  as  inaccurate  as  any  classification  of 
human  beings. 

>  This  section  has  been  contributed  by  Mr.  Albert  B.  Bines,  Director  of 
Madison  Square  Boys'  Club;  Member  of  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  as- 
signed to  social  work  in  coonection  with  wayward  boys. 

549 


550  APPENDIX 

The  City's  Duty  Toward  the  Boy  Problem. — What  is  the  duty 
of  the  official  city  as  constituted  by  the  State  to  the  boy  prob- 
lem? The  value  of  the  city  lies  not  in  her  property,  her  courts, 
her  railroad  facilities,  her  location,  but  in  her  citizens.  The 
city  has  her  department  for  the  protection  of  health,  public 
safety,  fire,  parks,  courts,  and  so  on.  Why  should  she  not  have 
a  department  for  the  protection  of  her  children?  It  might  be 
called  a  Child  Welfare  Department,  and  its  duties  would  be  to 
see  that  all  the  available  facilities  possessed  by  the  city  for 
children's  work  should  be  used  to  their  highest  efficiency. 
When  we  realize  that  at  the  present  time  only  5  per  cent  of  the 
boys  are  given  suitable  recreation,  and  when  we  further  under- 
stand what  John  Collier  has  said:  "Juvenile  crime  is  a  play 
problem — not  only  in  the  sense  that  play  is  an  alternative  to 
crime,  a  cure  for  crime;  but  in  a  more  specific  sense,  namely: 
in  the  streets  of  New  York  under  present  conditions  play  is 
crime  and  crime  is  play  " — we  shall  approach  the  solution  of 
the  problem  intelligently. 

There  are  streets,  open  places,  parks,  buildings,  various  city 
departments,  recreation  centres,  pools,  libraries,  and  many 
other  city-owned  properties  that  might  be  put  to  use  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  children.  The  cost  of  such  a  bureau  as  suggested 
would  soon  be  returned  to  the  city.  The  boy  problem  is  a  city 
problem;  the  city's  wealth  consists  in  her  human  assets,  and  it  is 
within  the  city's  power,  since  she  has  the  means  to  make  this 
human  asset  what  she  will.  The  city  has  shown  the  parental 
attitude  when  the  child  has  broken  her  law — why  should  she 
not  go  further  and  show  this  parental  attitude  to  the  child  for 
the  purpose  of  preventing  it  from  breaking  the  law  ?  The  city 
of  Toronto,  Canada,  has  recently  taken  over  a  number  of  pri- 
vate boys'  clubs  which  she  will  manage  as  part  of  her  city 
business.  This  social  spirit  of  civic  responsibility  has  grown 
rapidly  ii;  the  last  few  years,  and  we  may  expect  more  cities  to 
assume  responsibility  for  their  children. 

Street  Life. — As  the  Spartans  used  Moimt  Taygetus  as  a 
place  to  test  their  children  by  exposure,  we  use  the  streets  of 
our  city  to-day,  and  without  a  doubt  the  streets  offer  the  more 
severe  test.  Ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  modern  children  are 
exposed  to  the  hardships  and  dangers,  physically  as  well  as  mor- 
ally, of  our  American  cities.     It  is  remarkable  that  only  12,000 


THE  CITY  AND  HER  BOYS  551 

of  the  350,000  that  are  turned  out  upon  the  streets  by  the 
schools,  come  into  an  open  break  with  the  law. 

John  Collier  says  that  "  play  is  the  way  of  life  to  the  child. 
It  is  his  means  of  growth,  his  motive  for  study  and  work,  his 
greatest  asset.  New  York  City  has  made  play  a  child's  pitfall. 
Child  crime  in  New  York  City  is  built  on  play.  Juvenile  crime 
is  increasing  more  rapidly  than  adult  crime.  A  child  crime 
begins  with  the  attempt  to  play  on  the  streets  in  violation  of 
the  law,  and  in  forbidden  places  under  conditions  of  trespassing." 

These  350,000  children  who  represent  perhaps  only  one-half 
of  the  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age  who  use  the  streets, 
have  the  tremendous  leisure  time  of  two  million  hours  on  the 
average  day  to  be  spent  in  "  street-land."  Justice  Hoyt  of  the 
New  York  Children's  Court  says:  "  We,  who  have  actual  ex- 
perience in  dealing  with  juvenile  delinquency,  are  constantly 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  much  of  our  work  would  be  un- 
necessary if  the  boy  had  the  proper  environment  and  leadership 
during  his  leisure  time." 

This  "  street-land  "  is  so  attractive  that  10,000  children  have 
become  chronic  truants.  Many  of  the  studies  that  have  been 
made  about  the  cause  of  juvenile  delinquency  lay  great  stress 
upon  truancy.       m- 

A  recent  survey  of  street  life  (as  regards  play)  made  by  the 
People's  Institute  in  New  York,  with  the  assistance  of  400 
social  workers,  gives  an  excellent  picture  of  the  means  adopted 
by  the  children  to  spend  their  leisure  time.  The  children  try 
to  engage  in  wholesome  play  which  to  the  city  or  the  com- 
munity is  a  nuisance,  but  which  to  the  child  is  his  very  life. 
There  has  grown  up  a  feeling  of  intolerance  toward  the  activities 
of  children  when  they  interfere  with  the  community  life. 

This  survey  observed  119,987  children,  of  whom.  65,000  were 
boys,  and  22,000  of  these  were  engaged  in  games  or  occupations 
that  lie  on  the  border-land  of  the  law.  Two  thousand  of  these 
boys  were  playing  games  that  were  actually  violations  of  the 
law.  Thirty-seven  thousand  of  these  children  were  simply 
idling,  ready  to  be  moved  by  any  suggestion.  One  of  the  con- 
stant dangers  of  the  child  in  the  city  are  the  adult  individuals 
seeking  recruits  for  various  forms  of  evil.  There  were  30,000 
adults  watching  these  children  at  play,  a  tremendous  number 
when  we  consider  that  to  every  fovir  children  at  play  there  was 


552  APPENDIX 

one  adult  who  was  unoccupied  and  interested  in  what  these 
children  were  doing. 

The  street  trades  that  boys  engage  in  are  a  constant  problem 
to  the  police.  There  were  6,000  children  absorbed  in  some 
form  of  street  trading  such  as  peddling,  selling  papers,  soliciting 
baggage,  and  various  other  trade  activities.  Philip  Davis,  in 
his  recent  comprehensive  study  of  street  life  throughout  the 
United  States,  puts  into  the  mouths  of  these  young  street  work- 
ers the  following  appeal: 

Friends,  you  have  permitted  me  in  youth  to  squander  my  resources, 
instead  of  conserving  them.  You  have  encouraged  me  to  sell  papers 
and  shine  shoes  since  I  was  but  a  child.  You  have  tipped  me  liberally, 
meaning  to  be  good  to  me.  In  the  meantime  I  grew  up  without  a  trade 
and  now  I  am  at  the  end  of  a  blind  alley.  I  am  not  as  energetic  as 
I  was.  My  parents  have  long  disowned  me.  I  can't  make  a  living. 
I  have  therefore  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  World  owes  me  a  living. 

The  Law. — The  extreme  congestion  of  the  city  makes  the  law 
and  the  boy  natural  enemies.  The  law  as  it  appeals  to  the  boy 
is  a  prohibition  of  many  actions  which  are  but  normal  to  him. 
What  may  be  an  infraction  of  the  law  in  one  locality  may  not 
be  in  another.  The  perfect  natural  play  of  the  country  boy 
would  be  an  oflfense  in  the  city. 

The  policeman  impresses  the  boy  as  a  blue  giant  in  brass 
buttons  who  belongs  to  the  land  of  "  Thou  shalt  not."  But 
this  idea  of  the  policeman  is  being  rapidly  changed  through  the 
efforts  of  persons  who  believe  that  the  policeman  ought  to  be 
more  than  an  "  arresting  officer";  that  he  should  be  a  social 
worker,  a  "  big  brother  "  of  all  the  "  kids  "  in  his  block.  The 
juvenile  delinquent  is  not  so  much  a  police  problem  as  a  problem 
of  education.  The  purpose  of  the  children's  courts  is  not  to 
treat  the  boy  as  a  criminal  but  rather  to  act  in  the  role  of  a 
physician  who  is  administering  to  the  needs  of  his  patients. 
The  tendency  is  now  for  the  parents  to  bring  their  incorrigible 
children  to  the  court.  The  judge  acts  toward  these  children  as  a 
foster-parent. 

The  policerhan  is  the  biggest  factor  in  juvenile  delinquency, 
as  he  brings  to  the  court  73  per  cent  of  the  cases.  Shall  his 
interest  stop  when  he  delivers  the  boy  to  the  Gerry  Society, 
or  shall  it  stop  when  the  boy  is  placed  on  probation?     His  police 


THE  CITY  AND  HER  BOYS  553 

interest  should  stop  with  the  arrest,  but  his  social  interest  should 
continue  as  long  as  he  is  brought  in  touch  with  the  boy.  The 
probation  officer  should  use  the  p>oliceman  as  one  of  the  agencies 
which  he  uses  in  treating  a  particular  boy  for  delinquency. 

After  the  policeman  leaves  his  charge  in  the  hands  of  the  court, 
the  boy  is  in  control  of  those  who  will  bring  to  bear  on  him  aJl 
the  forces  of  rehabilitation.  The  idea  of  punishment  is  not 
paramount  in  the  court's  treatment  of  a  case.  The  atmosphere 
is  wholesome  as  compared  with  that  of  the  criminal  courts. 
Yet  there  is  an  element  entering  into  the  court  which  is  dangerous 
to  the  boy,  namely  the  intimate  association  he  has  with  boys 
who  are  adult  to  him,  and  much  more  experienced  in  wrong- 
doing. There  was  remanded  recently  to  the  Gerry  Society  for 
one  week  a  boy  arrested  for  a  minor  offense.  While  he  was 
detained  by  the  Society  he  learned  a  good  deal  about  things 
that  are  wrong  which  he  did  not  know  before.  There  was 
another  case  of  a  boy  who  was  placed  in  P.  S.  120  for  truancy, 
who,  while  in  this  school,  met  boys  from  whom  he  learned  to 
steal.  While  the  offense  for  which  he  was  sent  to  the  school 
was  truancy  only,  and  not  stealing,  he  has  since  been  arrested 
three  times  for  more  serious  offenses. 

Probation  has  been  to  many  boys  a  means  of  return  to  a  nor- 
mal life.  The  probation  officer,  considering  the  vast  field  he 
is  forced  to  cover,  does  extremely  efficient  work  with  the  boys. 
The  officers  have  been  able  to  develop  considerable  co-operation 
of  various  agencies  in  their  work  with  the  children.  The  Big 
Brother  and  the  Big  Sister  movement  has  been  of  great  assist- 
ance to  the  officers  in  the  development  of  moral  character  in 
the  probationers. 

Mr.  George  Everson  of  the  Criminal  Courts  Committee,  in 
his  examination  of  the  court  record,  shows  that  J7  per  cent  of 
the  hoys  placed  on  probation  are  retarded  in  school.  Where  the 
boys  have  been  examined,  a  high  percentage  of  mental  "  kinks  " 
have  been  discovered.  A  percentage  of  them  may  be  truly 
defective,  some  even  needing  custodial  care;  others  merely  re- 
quiring the  right  environment  and  stimulus  to  overcome  their 
defects.  Their  very  retardation  is  very  often  the  direct  effect 
of  unfavorable  life  conditions.  Three  boys  who  escaped  detec- 
tion by  the  court  were  recently  examined  and  found  to  be  so 
defective  mentally  that  they  were  a  menace  to  society.     Many 


554  APPENDIX 

are  merely  sufferers  from  physical  defects  which  affect  their 
emotional  and  mental  equilibrium.  Before  a  delinquent  can 
receive  full  justice  from  the  court,  it  is  necessary  that  a  mental 
and  physical  diagnosis  be  made  to  discover  whether  the  cause 
of  his  trouble  arises  in  his  mind  or  in  his  body.^ 

If  the  court  is  to  be  completely  efficient  in  dealing  with  ju- 
venile delinquency,  it  must  not  only  pass  sentence  but  must 
take  an  aggressive  part  in  eliminating  from  the  city  life  those 
elements  that  cause  delinquency  in  the  normal  boy,  and  it  must 
be  instrumental  in  placing  at  the  disposal  of  the  boy  all  the 
agencies  he  needs  to  make  him  a  completely  socialized  indi- 
vidual. 

Recreation. — It  is  through  the  efforts  of  boys  to  have  a  good 
time  that  they  frequently  get  into  trouble.  The  facilities  for 
recreation,  both  private  and  public,  are  wholly  inadequate  to 
meet  the  demand.  It  is  this  lack  of  wholesome  recreational 
facilities  that  makes  the  boy  problem  such  a  difficult  one  to 
solve. 

New  York  furnishes  to  its  500,000  boys  only  one  hundred  and 
twenty-nine  acres  of  play  space  within  walking  distance  of  their 
homes.  The  parks  owned  by  the  city  are  so  situated  that  they 
are  not  usable  without  a  ten  or  twenty  cent  carfare — for  the 
boys  and  girls  that  need  them  the  most.  They  are  really  play- 
grounds for  the  well-to-do.  Even  for  the  lowlier  dwellers  in  the 
near-by  districts,  the  streets  are  much  more  interesting  than  the 
parks. 

The  nervous  life  of  the  city  has  entered  into  the  athletic  ac- 
tivities of  the  boys.  The  games  that  they  are  interested  in 
must  have  an  element  of  excitement  in  them.  A  great  many  of  the 
games  are  patterned  after  adult  life.  One  of  the  popular  games 
is  "  Cops  and  Robbers."  In  this  game  one  boy  is  set  upon  by 
a  number  of  others  and  sand-bagged,  then  robbed,  and  the 
group  is  then  chased  by  one  of  the  boys,  who  takes  the  part  of 
the  "  cop."  This  is  a  direct  imitation  of  observed  crime.  The 
element  of  chance  is  so  strong  that  it  is  well-nigh  impossible 
to  arrange  baseball  games  during  the  summer  without  a  side 
bet.     The  chance  element  and  financial  reward  has  become  so 

'  The  author  of  this  book  has  recently  examined  a  number  of  boys  and  girls 
at  the  Children's  Court  of  New  York  County.  His  findings  bear  out  Mr. 
Hines's  statements  in  every  detail. 


THE  CITY  AND  HER  BOYS  555 

much  a  part  of  track  athletics  that  the  word  "  amateur  "  has 
lost  its  original  meaning.  All  this  spirit  has  had  its  lowering 
influence  upon  the  life  of  the  boy.  Instead  of  his  recreation 
developing  the  idea  of  squareness,  it  has  developed  in  him  the 
idea  to  win  at  any  cost,  and  his  conscience  is  satisfied  with  the 
feeling  that  it  is  all  right  "  if  you  can  get  away  with  it." 

The  fifty-three  settlements  in  the  city  furnish  a  considerable 
amount  of  the  recreation  to  the  boys.  Many  of  these  settle- 
ments maintain  gymnasia  and  summer  camps  at  a  nominal 
cost.  They  furnish  a  greater  element  to  the  recreational  prob- 
lem than  the  physical,  namely,  the  socializing  element  in  the 
group  clubs,  which  are  nothing  more  than  the  gangs  under 
adult  leadership.  I  consider  this  to  be  the  supreme  contribu- 
tion of  the  settlements  to  the  boy  problem.  In  addition  to  the 
fifty-three  settlements.  New  York  has  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  churches  that  maintain  means  such  as  gymnasia  and 
club-rooms  where  the  boys  may  find  wholesome  recreation. 

The  city  maintains  for  recreation  thirty-one  centres  which 
accommodate  about  9,000  boys.  It  would  go  a  long  way 
toward  solving  the  recreation  problem  if  all  the  schools  were 
thrown  open  in  the  evenings  to  be  used  as  social  centres  for  the 
children.  Experiment  has  proved  that  these  social  centres 
can  be  to  a  great  extent  self-supporting. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  largest  factors  in  the  recreation  problem, 
outside  of  the  street,  is  the  motion-pictures  place.  The  form  of 
life  exhibited  on  the  screen  is  not  the  kind  that  the  boy  ought 
to  see.  The  scenes  which  he  frequently  sees  are  reproduced 
in  his  own  way,  thus  placing  him  within  the  clutches  of  the 
law.  The  boy  has  strong  imitative  and  dramatic  instincts 
which  make  these  reproductions  perfectly  normal.  The  National 
Board  of  Censorship  cannot  censor  pictures  when  there  is  such 
a  wide  group  to  consider,  both  for  adults  and  the  child.  The 
motion  pictures  are  in  many  cases  an  incentive  to  truancy,  and 
also  offer  an  excellent  place  for  hiding  while  on  the  **  hook," 
or  for  clandestine  meetings  of  boys  and  girls.  There  has  been 
little  pretense  of  enforcing  the  age  law.  If  the  age  law  against 
children  were  in  force,  many  of  the  picture-shows  would  go  out 
of  business.  It  might  be  a  good  thing,  remembering  that 
children  are  admitted  to  the  theatres,  always  to  have  a  matron 
present  to  see  that  the  children  are  in  no  danger. 


556  APPENDIX 

The  Part  of  the  Schools. — There  is  no  institution  that  has  as 
much  opportunity  of  affecting  the  boy  as  the  Public  Schools 
System.  It  reaches  278,889  children  for  five  hours  a  day,  and 
then,  for  the  remainder,  closes  its  perfectly  usable  buildings. 
There  are  10,000  truants  a  year  that  the  school  evidently  does 
not  adapt  itself  to.  The  school  systems  are  made  to  fit  the 
"  normal  "  boy,  that  is  to  say,  the  conforming  boy,  thus  handi- 
capping the  exceptional  chUd  whether  he  is  above  or  below 
normal,  or  just  normal  with  some  trouble  of  his  own. 

The  result  of  the  examination  of  children  coming  before  the 
courts  shows  that  the  boys  have  received  good  memory  train- 
ing, but  poor  training  in  constructive  or  initiative  activity. 
The  intellectual  development  that  may  come  from  books  alone 
is  not  the  one  which  the  city  boy  needs;  he  needs  experience 
that  comes  from  some  form  of  constructive  and  productive  ac- 
tivity. He  should  not  only  acquire  skill  of  hand,  but  it  is  im- 
portant that  he  should  get  an  idea  of  the  elements  involved  in 
all  the  productive  processes,  namely,  material,  labor,  and  time. 
The  boy  should  acquire  the  ability  of  a  master  workman,  the 
power  to  grasp  a  situation,  and  the  ability  to  see  the  end  from  the 
beginning.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  school  to  make  thinkers  of  the 
hoys. 

The  obligation  which  the  public  schools  owe  to  society  does 
not  end  when  they  have  developed  thinkers,^  but  their  duty  is 
only  then  completed  when  they  have  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  boys  their  vast  equipment  for  the  full  development  of  life 
opportunities.  Instead  of  taking  care  of  boys  for  five  hours 
a  day  only,  the  school  building  should  be  open  for  use  the  re- 
mainder of  the  day  and  evening,  and  particularly  on  holidays. 

The  public  schools  of  the  city  are  used  only  40  per  cent  of  the 
time,  and  the  churches  are  used  only  10  per  cent  of  the  time. 
The  development  of  a  boy's  religious  nature  is  absolutely  essential 
to  his  life. 

The  Church. — Boys  without  active  church  connection,  or 
some  other  form  of  spiritual  uplift,  are  pretty  sure  of  moral 
tripping.  The  maximum  age  for  delinquency  is  the  same  as 
the  maximum  age  for  the  development  of  the  religious  instinct 
in  the  boy.  Juvenile  delinquents  show  no  religious  develop- 
ment. The  age  at  which  most  crime  is  committed  falls  within 
the  period  of  life  known  as  adolescence.     The  boy  is  unstable  and 


THE  CITY  AND  HER  BOYS  557 

at  the  same  time  independent,  thus  making  his  judgment  un- 
trustworthy. This  is  the  period  during  which  he  needs  gui- 
dance, and  it  is  also  the  most  fertile  period  for  the  development  of 
his  religious  life.  It  is  at  this  time  that  his  sex  life  commences 
to  unfold,  and  that  the  idealistic  elements  of  his  nature  begin  to 
assert  themselves.  It  is  the  church's  peculiar  debt  to  the  boy 
to  supply  him  with  an  environment  of  inspired  religious  and 
social  life  at  this  particular  period. 

The  church  is  a  negative  factor  in  the  street  boy's  life.  As  an 
institution  it  has  not  adapted  itself  to  the  street  boy.  Its  vast 
machinery  is  too  unwieldy  to  adjust  itself  readily  to  the  boy 
who  needs  it  the  most.  New  York  City  is  dotted  with  churches, 
situated  in  the  midst  of  the  most  intense  social  night-life;  but 
yet  they  remain  bleak  and  dark  and  unattractive  in  contrast 
to  the  cheery  surroundings  of  commercialized  amusements. 
These  churches  are  not  without  equipment,  and  are  not  with- 
out attractions  that  are  more  desirable  to  the  boy  than  those 
furnished  by  the  street — if  they  were  put  before  him  in  a  form 
as  enticing  as  the  commercialized  amusements. 

To  give  the  boy  this  religious  life  which  is  essential  to  his  life, 
will  require  more  than  a  sermon,  more  than  a  Sunday-school, 
more  than  a  gymnasium  or  social  service.  The  minister  has  not 
done  his  duty  when  the  sermon  is  over,  nor  is  his  duty  done 
when  the  church  is  thrown  open  under  paid  instructors  for  the 
neighborhood.  His  duty  is  done  only  when  all  these  social 
activities  are  used  to  inculcate  the  religious  motive  in  the  boy — 
not  the  denominational  religious  motive  of  a  Protestant,  Catholic, 
or  Jew,  the  motive  which  divides;  but  the  development  of  the 
religious  spirit  which  fosters  human  fellowship  and  brotherhood. 
A  gymnasium,  unless  properly  supervised,  can  counteract  all 
the  good  work  of  the  minister.  Foul  tactics  are  often  indulged 
in  in  these  gymnasia  with  the  knowledge  of  the  instructor. 
The  spirit  of  winning  at  any  cost  leads  to  the  unsportsmanlike 
practices  that  are  so  common  in  basket-ball  especially.  The 
gymnasium  can  be  used  by  the  minister  to  develop  moral  fibre 
in  the  boy  which,  if  strongly  developed,  will  sustain  his  attitude 
through  life. 

The  church  is  responsible  for  the  environment  surrounding  it. 
We  would  think  the  physician  foolish  who  attempted  to  cure  a 
contagious  disease  without  changing  the  environment  which 


558  APPENDIX 

contains  the  germs.  Yet  we  have  the  religious  physician  at- 
tempting to  cure  the  boys  of  wrong-doing  while  they  never  try 
to  remove  the  source  of  the  contagion.  Frequently  the  dark 
steps  of  the  city  churches  serve  as  hang-outs  for  gangs  with 
vicious  activities.  Sunday  is  the  maximum  day  for  offenses; 
yet  the  church  does  not  attempt  to  get  more  than  an  hour  of 
the  boy's  time  during  that  day.  How  frequently  have  I  seen 
boys  hurry  from  the  church  service  to  the  neighboring  pool- 
rooms, or  hustle  through  their  dinner  to  attend  some  of  the 
immoral  Sunday  afternoon  dances.  The  church  can  hope  to 
get  small  results  when  it  has  only  one  hour  sandwiched  in 
between  pool-rooms  and  immoral  dances,  for  the  older  boys, 
and  the  attractive  excitements  of  street  life  for  the  younger 
ones.  If  we  are  to  judge  from  the  outward  results,  we  must 
admit  that  the  environment  of  a  boy  has  a  stronger  influence 
upon  him  than  does  the  inspiration  of  his  church.  If  the  church 
is  to  discharge  the  peculiar  duty  that  falls  upon  it,  it  must  give 
to  the  boy  a  religion  which  is  natural  to  him. 

The  Working  Boy. — The  working  boy  needs  attention  per- 
haps more  than  any  other  normal  type.  There  were  over 
100,000  working  papers  issued  in  the  last  two  years  for  boys  to 
go  to  work.  This  group  forms  a  vital  part  of  our  commercial 
life,  but  only  one-seventh  of  these  boys  have  yet  the  guidance 
necessary  to  a  correct  choice  of  vocation.  Many  of  these  boys 
are  the  despair  of  the  employer,  and  they  frequently  drift  aim- 
lessly from  one  position  to  another.  There  are  so  many  of  these 
working  boys  before  the  Children's  Court  that  it  is  necessary 
to  make  special  provision  for  them. 

It  is  from  this  class  of  boys  that  the  pool-rooms,  cheap  theatres, 
prize-fights,  and  burlesque  shows  draw  their  financial  support. 
These  boys  may  work  all  day  at  monotonous  labor,  but  they 
require  excitement  and  novelty  at  night.  You  can  find  a  group 
of  them  at  every  corner,  jostling  and  pushing  around.  The 
working  boy  is  independent,  with  the  desires  of  a  man,  but  with 
the  judgment  peculiar  to  that  unstable -middle  period  of  adoles- 
cence. 

It  is  during  this  middle  period  of  adolescence,  during  the 
years  of  fourteen  to  seventeen,  that  the  boy  leaves  his  church 
organization.  It  is  the  time  of  his  life  when  he  imperatively 
needs  guidance  and  control.     He  needs  club  life,  with  all  its 


THE  CITY  AND  HER  BOYS  659 

social  and  athletic  activities.  He  should  be  given  the  opjKjr- 
tunity  of  girls'  society  in  a  healthy  environment.  The  moral 
conditions  under  which  he  now  meets  his  girl  friends  are  ap- 
palling, especially  the  conditions  in  the  dance-halls,  which  are 
more  demoralizing  and  degrading  than  even  those  on  the  street. 
The  dance-halls  have  had  such  a  tremendous  effect  up>on  the 
social  usage  that  it  is  very  nearly  imjxjssible  to  run  clean  dancing 
in  the  various  public  social  centres.  Not  only  does  this  type 
of  boy  need  wholesome  recreation  after  work,  but  he  needs 
sup)ervision  while  at  work;  for  he  is  thrown  in  contact  with  con- 
ditions that  are  often  immoral  and  a  menace  to  his  character. 

The  working-boy  problem  has  been  very  successfully  handled 
in  such  places  as  Fall  River  and  Pittsfield,  Mass.  These  in- 
dustrial towns  have  provided  large  buildings  with  gymnasia, 
swimming-pools,  athletics,  libraries,  pool-rooms,  dramatics,  in- 
dustrial classes,  amusements,  and  a  cheery  hang-out  with  good 
companions.  These  opportunities  have  been  made  attractive, 
and  they  are  supplemented  by  the  personal  character  of  a  strong 
superintendent.  The  success  of  a  boy  in  commercial  life  de- 
pends upon  how  he  spends  his  time  between  "  quitting  "  and 
"  bedtime."  Instead  of  offering  to  her  boys  only  the  street- 
comers,  pKjol-rooms,  and  saloons,  the  city  should  feel  that  it  is 
part  of.  her  duty  to  provide  sufficient  clubs  of  this  type,  with 
the  right  supervision  and  personnel.  The  school  buildings  are 
admirably  adapted  to  the  use  of  the  mass  club. 

The  Unclubbed  Boy. — Society  has  created  her  institutions 
for  the  "  normal  "  boys,  for  they  are  in  the  majority;  but  she 
has  not  made  sufficient  provisions  for  the  exceptional  boy.  It 
is  from  the  non-conforming,  the  exceptional  children,  either 
below  or  above  the  normal,  the  variations,  or  those  that  have 
become  derailed  through  some  handicap,  that  the  criminals  are 
recruited.  It  is  for  the  "  normal  "  boy,  the  conformist,  the  boy 
of  full-functioning  home,  that  the  greatest  amount  of  money  is 
spent.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  reaches  mainly  the  boys  from  the  full- 
functioning  home  class.  This  organization  has  a  wonderftd 
equipment,  and  an  efficient  organization  of  workers.  The  Boy 
Scout  movement  appeals  to  the  boy  of  the  middle  class,  to  the 
boy  who  can  afford  equipment  and  the  money  for  trips.  The 
settlements  app>eal  to  the  street  boy,  to  the  boy  of  the  congested 
districts,  to  the  boy  of  the  semi-functioning  home — but  only 


560  APPENDIX 

to  the  "  normal "  boy  in  these  various  groups.  The  recreation 
centres  appeal  to  the  street  boy,  to  the  working  boy,  and  to  the 
boy  of  the  poor-functioning  home. 

The  unclubbed  boy,  the  unorganized  boy,  the  homeless  boy, 
whose  home  is  the  street,  furnishes  the  fertile  soil  for  crime. 
This  type  of  boy  has  no  place  in  the  above-mentioned  organiza- 
tions. There  are  at  least  100,000  boys  that  belong  to  the  un- 
clubbed group  which  does  not  fit  itself  into  any  of  the  above- 
mentioned  organizations.  A  survey  recently  made  in  the  dis- 
trict bounded  by  Fifth  Avenue,  East  River,  29th  Street,  and 
57th  Street  on  the  East  Side  of  New  York,  gave  the  astounding 
result  that  only  5,000  boys  and  girls  out  of  a  population  of 
33,000  boys  and  girls  belonged  to  any  club  in  that  district. 
This  leaves  28,000  boys  and  §irls  who  must  find  their  amusement 
on  the  streets  or  in  some  form  of  commercialized  enterprise. 

There  is  little  provision  made  for  the  "  different,"  the  re- 
tarded, the  truant,  the  subnormal,  the  adventuresome,  the 
**  incorrigible,"  the  defective  and  delinquent  boys  in  the  social 
organization.  A  probation  officer  recently  asked  a  recreation- 
centre  principal  to  take  in  a  certain  group  of  boys.  She  refused 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  these  "  roughnecks."  The  director 
of  a  settlement  with  a  membership  of  a  thousand  boys  was 
asked  to  take  care  of  certain  boys  who  had  got  into  trouble. 
This  director  replied  that  these  boys  would  not  fit  into  his  scheme. 
The  director  of  one  of  the  largest  church-house  settlements  in 
the  city,  when  approached  in  regard  to  some  work  for  a  group 
of  boys  who  were  troublesome,  replied  that  it  was  not  his  busi- 
ness to  handle  these  street  boys. 

The  boy  of  this  type  is  a  very  hard  problem,  but  an  important 
problem,  because  in  this  group  there  is  a  considerable  proportion 
of  defectives  of  some  kind.  From  an  intensive  study  of  one 
hundred  cases  of  delinquency,  the  writer  is  firmly  convinced 
that  the  boy  who  is  caught  when  the  offense  is  committed  by 
a  gang,  is  frequently  the  one  with  lower  mental  faculties,  and  of 
course  the  one  least  at  fault.  The  mentally  defective  boy  is 
so  open  to  suggestion  that  he  easily  becomes  the  tool  of  more 
capable  boys  and  adults.  The  real  criminality  lies  with  the 
more  capable.  A  boy  recently  arrested  for  driving  a  wagon  was 
found  to  be  such  a  slow  thinker  that  he  was  frequently  made 
the  dupe  of  the  other  boys.     In  another  case,  two  boys  arrested 


THE  CITY  AND  HER  BOYS  561 

for  trying  to  kiss  the  teacher  of  an  ungraded  class  committed 
the  offense  at  the  suggestion  of  older  boys.  Another  boy  is 
now  in  the  Catholic  Protectory  who  was  made  the  tool  of  adults. 
It  is  this  acceptance  of  suggestion  which  makes  the  truly  defec- 
tive a  danger  to  society. 


APPENDIX   II 

A  MEDICAL   SYMPOSIUM 

This  section  is  unique  in  that  it  is  composed  of  contributions 
by  a  number  of  leading  specialists  who  are  deeply  interested  in 
the  subject  of  this  book,  and  have  honored  the  author  with 
their  co-operation  and  counsel.  They  represent  a  very  much 
larger  medical  constituency;  for  this  work  has  succeeded  in 
enlisting  the  earnest  consideration  of  many  practitioners  and 
specialists  who  have  given  it  ever-increasing  attention,  and  who 
have  encouraged  the  author  by  their  sympathy  and  good-wiU 
to  follow  the  path  he  had  broken. 

The  first  contribution  is  by  the  Nestor  of  American  medicine, 
Doctor  Abraham  Jacobi,  who,  however,  is  by  no  means  agreed 
that  this  plan  of  a  symposium  is  a  good  one.  He  writes:  "lam 
interested  in  your  subjects,  and  want  you  to  go  into  their  dis- 
cussion yourself.  .  .  .  Your  book  should  be  one  man's  book." 
Nevertheless,  he  gives  the  author's  work  his  blessing  in  the  fol- 
lowing words: 

y^our  "Tentative  Classification"  contains  so  much  material,  so  many 
themes  for  extensive  and  difficult  treatises,  that  it  proves  protracted 
studies  on  your  part  and  the  necessity  of  filling  volumes  even  for  a 
man  whose  life  is  filled  with  the  special  studies  you  have  selected  for 
your  life  work.  .  .  .  Feeble-mindedness,  "exceptional"  conditions, 
such  as  apply  to  you  for  correct  education,  training,  etc.,  are  subjects 
for  medical  studies,  it  is  true;  but  unfortunately  more  objects  of  study 
than  for  improvement.  On  a  few  pages  in  my  third  edition  (of  1903) 
of  "Therapeutics  of  Infancy  and  Childhood,"  which  you  may  have  seen 
years  ago,  I  have  discussed  the  correspjonding  topics  as  concisely  as  I 
could.  In  my  "non  nocere"  address  before  the  Roman  Congress  of 
1894  I  have  discussed  premature  ossification  of  the  cranium  and  con- 
demned operative  interference.  Neurological  and  psychiatric  books 
treat  of  the  medical  (and  surgical)  aspects  of  such  cases.  Little's  Disease, 
as  you  know,  has  been  the  subject  of  quite  an  extensive  literature,  etc. 

662 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  56a 

All  this  shows  that  the  anatoniy  and  physiology  of  abnormal  brains 
has  interested  a  great  many,  but  what  interests  you  principally  is  the 
inability  of  medicine  to  aid  you  in  individual  cases.  The  causality  of 
abnormal  conditions  of  the  kind  has  been  studied,  and  in  many  indi- 
vidual cases  with  success.  The  results  of  such  studies  point  to  the 
possibility  of  prevention  rather  than  cure.  The  faulty  condition  of  the 
embryo  and  fcEtus  should  be  influenced  if  possible.  Diseases  of  those 
prenatal  developments  should  be  treated  and  cured.  This  very  day 
sj'philis  of  parents  and  grandparents  is  not  sufficiently  appreciated; 
accidents  before  and  during  labor  may  kill  the  new-bom,  or,  what  is 
more  frequent,  may  add  to  the  incompetency  of  the  new  creature  for 
life.  The  statistics  collected  by  Karl  Pearson  .  .  .  prove  that  in- 
feriority of  the  first-bom  is  a  frequent  occurrence,  etc. 

It  had  been  the  author's  intention  to  arrange  the  medical 
contributions  in  accordance  with  the  classification  of  exceptional 
children  which  forms  the  basis  of  his  discussions.  But  inasmuch 
as  they  are  somewhat  overlapping  in  content,  this  plan  could 
not  be  carried  out  strictly.  The  individual  contributions  are 
printed  without  any  but  casual  comment,  even  where  the  points 
of  view  expressed  do  not  precisely  coincide  with  the  author's 
own  convictions.  The  problem  is  too  big  to  be  a  one  man's 
problem,  and  although  this  book  is  intended  to  present  more 
particularly  the  author's  conception  of  it,  he  has  felt  that  this 
section,  at  least,  should  be  more  in  the  nature  of  a  forum, 
where  various  experiences  and  methods  of  approach  should  have 
a  hearing.  He  is  happy  to  find  that  the  consensus  of  opinion, 
in  most  of  the  essential  details,  favors  his  own  conception. 

I.     GENERAL  PROCEDURE 
By  Doctor  A.  Emil  Schmitt,  New  York  City 

The  procedure  which  to  my  mind  will  bring  best  results  in  the 
study  and  education  of  the  exceptional  child  is  about  as  follows: 

The  teacher  should  state  his  or  her  problem  regarding  the 
individual  child  in  question  after  making  a  comprehensive 
statement  of  the  pupil's  mental,  moral,  and  physical  character- 
istics as  observed  in  school,  throwing  as  much  light  as  possible 
on  the  home  surroundings  and  the  parentage. 

The  physician  should  then  obtain  the  history  of  the  early 


564  APPENDIX 

childhood,  the  past  illnesses,  and  the  present  condition  from  the 
parents,  and  make  a  medicophysical  examination  of  every  or- 
gan and  function  of  the  body. 

The  accompanying  history  form,  which  was  used  at  the 
Ethical  Culture  School  of  New  York,  is  the  outcome  of  my  ten 
years'  experience  at  that  institution,  and  has  proved  most  help- 
ful and  essential,  especially  when  I  made  the  examinations  per- 
sonally. Its  only  drawback,  in  fact,  was  that,  mo^  of  the  ex- 
aminations being  made  by  the  family  physicians,  the  standards 
varied  so  much,  and  the  purposes  of  the  examinations  were  so 
misunderstood  that  only  one-third  of  those  received  were  of 
value  for  my  purpose  as  medical  director  of  the  school. 

The  best  results  are  therefore  obtained  if  the  examinations 
are  carried  out  by  one  examiner  for  each  institution,  and  the 
higher  his  standards  of  precision  and  technic  the  more  satisfac- 
tory the  data.  Combine  this  with  good  judgment  shown  in  the 
suggestions  of  remediable  measures,  and  they  will  be  of  the  ut- 
most value. 

After  the  remediable  physical  defects  have  been  corrected,  a 
neuropsychologist  should  examine  and  give  his  opinion  on  the 
neuropsychological  aspects  of  the  case.  There  should  then  be 
a  full  discussion  with  teacher,  physician,  neuropsychologist, 
pupil,  and  parent  attending,  with  a  view  of  having  parent  and 
teacher  co-operate  in  the  subsequent  development  of  the  child 
according  to  the  suggestions  made  by  the  physician  and  neuro- 
psychologist, whose  interest  and  further  advice  should  be  sought 
according  to  the  requirements  of  the  case. 

Accompanying  Schedule 
Confidential. — The  information  on  the  record  will  be  held  in 
the  strictest  confidence  by  the  School  Physician  and  Chairman 
of  Executive  Committee.  Part  I  may  be  filled  out  by  the  parent, 
with  or  without  the  assistance  of  the  family  physician.  Part  II 
is  to  be  filled  out  by  a  physician  in  connection  with  the  physical 
examination. 

PART  I 
To  be  filled  out  by  parent. 

Name  of  pupil Date Address 

Grade Room Teacher 

Nature  of  dwelling Age Birthplace Sex 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  565 

Family  History 

Name  of  parents:  Father Mother Guardian 

Nationality  "       "      "       

Occupation  "       "      "       

Health  of  father If  dead,  cause Age  at  death. . 

Health  of  mother If  dead,  cause Age  at  death. . 

Number  of  brothers  living ....  Health ....  No.  dead Cause 

Number  of  sisters  living Health. . .  .No.  dead Cause 

Order  of  birth  of  pupil 

Past  History 

Breastfed  or  bottlefed How  long. . . . Sicily  or  strong  babe 

First  tooth  at  what  age Walked  at  what  age 

Talked  at  what  age 

Dates  of  vaccination  (smallpox) Any  unsuccessful 

Check  ofif  any  of  the  following  conditions  from  which  pupil  has  suf- 
fered, and  state  year  for  each  affection: 

Convulsions Marasmus Rickets. .  .  .Anemia 

Diphtheria Complication  (paralysis,  etc.) 

Scarlet  fever Complications  of  ear,  heart,ior  kidneys 

Measles Complications  of  ear,  lungs,  or  heart 

German  measles Chicken-pox Whooping-cough 

Mumps Tuberculosis Typhoid 

Dysentery Meningitis Infantile  paralysis 

Influenza Rheumatism Smallpox 

Trachoma Other  eye  conditions 

Ear  diseases Mastoiditis 

Nasal  affections Catarrh 

Tonsillitis Bronchitis Pneumonia 

Bronchopneumonia Pleurisy Heart  affections 

Nervous  conditions Hysteria Epilepsy 

St.  Vitus's  dance Habit  spasms Neuralgias 

Headaches Skin  eruptions Rupture 

Injuries Fall  on  head 

Of)erations:  Adenoids Tonsils Hernia 

Appendix Mastoid Other  operations 

State  nature  of  any  additional  affections  of 

Lungs Heart Glands 

Stomach Bowels App)endix 

Liver Kidneys.  .* Other  vital  organs 

Present  CoNornoN 

Does  pupil  keep  his  lips  apart  or  mouth  open  during  day  or  night  ? 

Use  of  tea,  coffee,  stimulants 


666  APPENDIX 

Daily  quantity  of  cocoa ....  meat ....  eggs ....  cream ....  sweets 

Hour  of  going  to  bed ....  Hour  of  rising ....  Sleep  quiet  or  restless . . 

Sleep  with  open  windows Hours  in  open  air 

Member  of  athletic  club  or  recreation  group ....  Nature  of  exercise . 

Lessons  in  music  (state  duration  and  time  of  day) 

Lessons  in  languages Dancing Theatre 

Amount  of  home-work 


PART  II 

Subjective  Symptoms 

Present  condition:  General  health Languor 

Appetite Mastication Digestion  (sour  eructations,  gas, 

heaviness  on  stomach,  nausea,  vomiting) : 

Abdominal  pain Constipation Diarrhoea 

Flatus Taking  medicines  of  any  kind 

Palpitation Short  breath Nervous  condition 

Habit  spasms Fidgeting Bed-wetting 

Objective  Signs 

To  be  filled  out  by  physician. 

General  appearance:  Nutrition Stigmata 

Mouth-breathing Speech  defects  (due  to  tongue-tie,  cleft  palate, 

enlarged  tonsils,  adenoids,  nasal  obstruction,  paralysis  of  speech 
muscles) : 

Tics Nervousness Co-ordination 

Pulse Blood-pressure ....  Height Weight 

Chest  expansion:  At  rest Inspiration Expiration 

Lymph  glands Thyroid 

Condition  of  heart Heart,  rate  at  rest. . .  .After  exertion 

Lungs Skin  lesions  (pediculi) 

Deformities  of  chest Spine Shoulders 

Abdomen Ptosis Distension 

Liver Spleen Stomach 

Hernia Genitalia  (phimosis) 

Adolescence  (menstruation) 

Kjiees Ankles Feet 

Gait Posture,  standing Sitting 

Hearing  (watch-tick):  R L Audiometer:  R L 

Condition  of  ears:  R L 

Vision:  R L Both Astigmatism:  R L 

Wearing  glasses  (how  long) When  last  corrected 

Condition  of  eyes Conjunctivae 

Strabismus Pupils Nystagmus ., 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  567 


Lips Teeth  (malocclusion) 

Tartar Caries 

Tongue Palate Uvula 

Tonsils Pharynx Nasopharynx.. . 

Nose Breathing  through  nose 

Hemoglobin Blood-count 

Urine:  Spec.  Gr Indican Albimiin Sugar. 

Remarks  and  recommendations  to  school  physician: 


NoTE.^-C/.  this  schedule  with  the  schedules  proposed  in  the  author's  book, 
•The  Study  of  Individual  Children." 


II.    PHYSICAL   CAUSES   OF   GENERAL  AND 
MENTAL   DEFICIENCIES 

By  Thomas  D.  Wood,  M.D.,  New  York 

Statistics  of  Physical  Defects/  A  study  of  the  physical  causes 
of  general  and  mental  deficiencies  among  school  children  re- 
veals facts,  and  leads  to  conclusions,  which  are  of  striking 
significance. 

From  60  to  75  per  cent  of  all  school  children  possess  physical 
defects  which  are  potentially,  if  not  actually,  detrimental  to 
health  and  general  efficiency.  Health  in  this  relation  is  to  be 
considered  as  affecting  physical,  mental,  moral,  and  social  well- 
being.  Fortunately  for  the  children,  and  for  the  nation,  most 
of  the  defects  are  partially  or  completely  remediable. 

The  statistics  of  these  physical  defects  among  school  children 
vary  widely  according  to  the  standards  used  for  the  examina- 
tion of  the  children  and,  in  part,  according  to  the  locality  in 
which  the  examinations  are  made.  It  is  difficult,  therefore,  to 
give  a  general  estimate  of  the  number  of  children  handicapped 
by  the  various  defects.'  There  are  in  the  schools  of  the  United 
States  to-day  something  over  20,000,000  pupils.  Careful  study 
of  statistics  and  estimation  of  all  conditions  lead  to  the  follow- 
ing general  estimate: 

From  (iK  to  2  per  cent)  300,000  to  400,000  of  these  have 
organic  heart-disease. 

>C/.  p.9. 


568  APPENDIX 

Probably  (5  per  cent)  1,000,000  at  least  have  now,  or  have 
had,  tuberculous  disease  of  the  lungs.  From  recent  investiga- 
tions it  seems  probable  that  a  much  larger  percentage  of  chil- 
dren (perhaps  25-30  per  cent)  have  received  in  some  part  of  the 
body  before  the  age  of  entering  school  the  primary  foci  of 
tuberculous  infection,  which  may  serve  as  the  sources  of  more 
or  less  serious  tuberculous  disease  later. 

Over  (5  per  cent)  1,000,000  have  defective  hearing. 

About  (25  per  cent)  5,000,000  have  defective  vision. 

About  (25  per  cent)  5,000,000  are  suffering  from  malnutrition, 
in  many  cases  due  in  part  at  least  to  one  or  more  of  the  other 
defects  enumerated. 

Over  (30  per  cent)  6,000,000  have  enlarged  tonsils,  adenoids, 
or  enlarged  cervical  glands  which  need  attention. 

Over  (50  per  cent)  10,000,000  (in  some  schools  as  high  as  98 
per  cent)  have  defective  teeth  which  are  potentially  if  not 
actually  detrimental  to  health. 

Several  millions  of  the  children  possess  each  two  or  more  of 
the  handicapping  defects. 

Dental  Defects. — The  defects  of  the  teeth  are  most  numerous, 
and  very  few  intelligent  people  even  appreciate  as  yet  the  actual 
or  possible  injury  to  health  that  may  result  from  defective 
teeth.  Sir  William  Osier  has  said  with  great  confidence  that 
he  believes  defective  teeth  cause  more  physical  deterioration 
among  children  in  Great  Britain  than  is  produced  by  alcohol. 

Country  Children  More  Handicapped.— Comparative  study 
of  statistics  of  physical  defects  among  children  of  city  and 
country  schools  has  brought  to  light  the  astonishing  fact  that 
country  school  children  are  handicapped  by  more  physical  de- 
fects than  are  children  in  city  schools.  All  available  statistics 
of  mental  defects  show  the  same  striking  relationship;  that  is, 
a  greater  number  of  mentally  defective  children  are  found  among 
rural  school  children  than  among  those  in  city  schools. 

Physical  Defects  Interfere  with  Mental  Development. — Care- 
ful study  of  the  possible  influence  of  the  various  physical  de- 
fects upon  mental  health  and  efficiency  leads  to  the  conserva- 
tive conclusion  that  most  of  these  physical  defects  may  interfere 
to  some  extent  with  normal  mental  development,  and  some  of 
them  may  have  a  direct  causal  relation  to  actual  mental  defi- 
ciency.    Comparison    of    statistics    with    professional  opinions 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  569 

shows  a  great  variation  in  judgment  regarding  the  extent  of 
mental  retardation  caused  by  physical  defects  alone;  but  there 
is  abundant  ground  for  the  belief  that  the  influence  of  all  the 
physical  defects  affecting  childhood  loom  important  even  as  com- 
pared with  defective  heredity  in  producing  various  forms  of 
mental  handicaps.  Fortunately,  most  of  the  mental  retardation 
or  deficiency  produced  by  physical  defects  alone  may  be  cured 
entirely  or  in  great  part  if  these  defects  are  recognized  in  time, 
and  are  corrected  to  the  greatest  possible  degree. 

Early  Detection  of  Defects. — It  must  be  considered,  then,  of 
the  greatest  importance  to  the  race,  to  the  nation,  to  the  com- 
munity, as  well  as  to  the  individual  child,  that  all  of  these  defects 
should  be  detected  at  the  earliest  p>ossible  moment  by  a  thor- 
ough and  efficient  method  of  examination,  and  that  the  com- 
munity or  the  State  should  provide  adequate  means  for  cor- 
rection and  treatment. 

Necessary  F*rovisions. — The  necessary  provisions  for  such 
health  care  are  comprehended  in  the  following: 

I.  Health  examination  and  supervision  of  all  school  children. 

II.  Dental  examination  and  dental  care  for  the  teeth  of  all 
children  in  the  schools. 

III.  The  service  of  the  school  or  district  nurse  to  provide 
the  practical  health  service  and  follow-up  work  which  (it  has 
been  so  clearly  demonstrated  in  our  cities)  can  be  best  accom- 
plished by  the  school  nurse.  The  work  of  the  nurse  is  even 
more  vitally  important  in  rural  than  in  city  schools. 

IV.  Warm  school  lunches  for  all  children  in  rural  as  well 
as  in  city  schools.  The  indirect  educational  benefits  of  the 
school  lunches  upon  the  children  and  the  homes  are  even  more 
imp>ortant  than  the  immediate  health  improvement  of  the  chil- 
dren themselves. 

V.  Correction  of  physical  defects  which  are  interfering  with 
the  health,  the  general  development,  and  the  progress  of  the 
children.  For  this  remedial,  preventive,  and  constructive  health 
service  a  rational  socialization  of  medical  care  is  needed  to  in- 
sure the  best  attention  that  medical  knowledge  and  skill  can 
provide.  Such  a  comprehensive  health  programme  involves, 
both  in  country  and  city,  community  health  centres,  clinical 
facilities,  medical,  dental,  surgical,  and  others,  sufficient  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  children. 


670  APPENDIX 

VI.  Co-operation  of  physicians,  medical  organizations,  health 
boards,  and  social  organizations  in  the  health  programme  of  the 
schools. 

VII.  Effective  health  instruction  for  all  pupils,  which  shall 
aim  decisively  at  the  following  results: 

(a)  Establishment  of  health  habits  and  inculcation  of  lasting 
ideas  and  standards  of  wise  and  efficient  living  in  pupils. 

(b)  Extension  through  the  pupils'  effort  and  influence  of  health 
conduct  and  care  to  the  school,  to  the  homes,  and  to  the  entire 
community. 

VIII.  Provision  of  adequate  space,  facilities,  and  supervision 
for  wholesome  motor  activities — play,  recreation,  and  games. 

IX.  Better-trained  and  better-paid  teachers  for  the  schools, 
who  shaU  be  adequate  to  meet  the  health  problems  as  well  as 
the  other  phases  of  the  work  of  education. 

Present  Status  of  Health  Service. — Measures  for  the  adequate 
detection  and  treatment  of  health  deficiencies  are  being  rapidly 
put  into  use  in  many  States  of  the  Union.  About  four  hundred 
cities  in  our  country  have  some  form  of  medical  inspection  of 
school  children.  The  relative  efficiency  of  the  systems  employed, 
however,  varies  greatly. 

The  rural  schools  are  far  behind  the  city  schools  in  making 
provision  for  the  health  care  of  the  children,  just  as  the  standards 
of  living  and  of  health  care  in  rural  America  are  decidedly  in- 
ferior to-day  to  corresponding  standards  and  care  in  our  cities. 

Mentally  Backward  and  Deficient  Children. — The  adequate 
treatment  of  school  children  who  are  mentally  backward  or 
really  mentally  defective  involves  two  different  procedures: 
First,  both  classes  should  be  freed  to  the  fuUest  possible  extent 
from  all  physical  defects.  Secondly,  special  educational  pro- 
visions should  be  made  for  them.  Those  whq  are  only  back- 
ward, or  were  handicapped  by  removable  physical  defects, 
should  be  given  all  the  educational  advantages  which  their 
special  cases  require.  Children,  on  the  other  hand,  who  possess 
inherent  mental  deficiency  should  be  treated  in  special  schools 
which  should  be  provided  in  every  community,  whether  urban 
or  rural. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  571 


III.     PRENATAL  AND  NATAL  CAUSES  OF  EXCEP- 
TIONAL DEVELOPMENT  IN   CHILDREN 

By  Doctor  Ira  S.  Wile,  New  York  City 

Beginning  of  Life. — In  general,  educators  begin  their  inter- 
ests in  children  when  they  present  themselves  for  schooling. 
It  is  undoubtedly  true,  however,  that  the  incapability  of  chil- 
dren to  take  advantage  of  educational  opportunities  is  largely 
dependent  upon  their  physical  health  and  heritage,  developed 
by  environment  during  the  years  preceding  entrance  into  the 
pedagogical  world.  The  beginning  of  the  life  of  a  child  dates 
back  to  his  conception,  and  must  not  be  regarded  merely  as 
coincidental  with  his  birth. 

The  brain  development  of  children  is  affected  by  various 
factors  so  markedly  that  one  must  consider  cerebral  organization 
during  intrauterine  life,  the  natal  period,  in  addition  to  the 
postnatal  years.  The  actual  development  of  the  cerebral  cells 
during  intrauterine  life  is  of  maximum  importance.  If  there 
is  failure  of  cerebral  cellular  development  or  the  brain  cells  are 
imperfectly  developed,  there  will  naturally  result  some  form 
of  mental  incapacity,  varying  from  idiocy  to  the  moron  state. 
The  actual  failure  of  development  of  cellular  substance  in  the 
brain  may  be  due  to  causes  inherent  in  the  germ-plasm.  Gross 
injuries  of  the  brain  or  its  coverings  occurring  at  the  time  of 
birth  may  interfere  with  mental  development  so  as  to  later 
retard  school  progress. 

Exceptional  Development. — Exceptional  development  is  not 
infrequently  started  during  the  prenatal  period.  The  struc- 
tural or  functional  variations  are  of  two  types  during  the  pre- 
natal months.  They  may  be  hereditary  or  germ-plasmic  in 
origin,  or  they  may  be  acquired  intrauterine  variations.  This 
distinction  is  made  because  the  term  "  congenital  "  is  frequently 
applied  so  as  to  include  all  conditions  existent  at  the  time  of 
birth,  though  part  of  these  should  be  distinguished  as  hereditary. 

During  the  natal  period,  disabilities  may  result  incapacitating 
children  to  function  normally,  and  requiring  special  forms  of 
education.  The  physical  and  mental  defects  resultant  there- 
from may  be  due  to  infection  or  traumatism. 


572  APPENDIX 

During  the  prenatal  or  natal  period  children  may  be  handi- 
capped physically  through  a  sensory  defect,  a  motor  defect, 
or  a  cerebral  defect.  Sensory  defects  would  include  functional 
variations,  diseases,  or  deformity  of  the  special  senses,  as  sight 
and  hearing.  Motor  defects,  interfering  with  the  normal  develop- 
ment of  the  neuromuscular  system  would  include  paralyses, 
amputations,  and  special  deformities.  Cerebral  defects  are  rep- 
resented by  the  agenetic  type,  in  which  a  failure  of  brain-cell 
development  occurs;  the  dysgenetic  form,  in  which  the  cellular 
development  is  imperfect  in  form;  and  the  par  agenetic  variations, 
where  originally  normal  brain  cells  are  vitiated  in  activity 
through  superposed  disease. 

Heredity  and  Environment. — It  is  needless  in  this  special  dis- 
cussion to  dwell  upon  the  relative  importance  of  defects  due  to 
heredity  and  those  occasioned  by  environmental  maladjust- 
ments. It  is  probably  safe  to  state  that  heredity,  with  its  various 
potentialities,  requires  a  favorable  environment  for  its  maximum 
evolution  and  most  favorable  developments. 

Redemption  of  Childhood. — With  the  development  of  a  so- 
cial consciousness,  child  nurture  has  received  a  relatively  more 
important  position  than  during  previous  centuries.  The  dis- 
abilities due  to  prenatal  or  natal  agencies  no  longer  necessarily 
lead  to  death,  or  to  a  concealed  vegetative  existence.  Society 
is  seeking  to  redeem  childhood  and  to  preserve  for  itself  all 
children,  regardless  of  their  handicaps.  Life  thus  being  retained, 
an  obligation  rests  upon  communities  to  afford  the  fullest  op- 
portunity to  such  children  for  the  development  of  their  physical, 
mental,  and  moral  possibilities  into  actualities  productive  of 
good  character,  capable  citizenship,  and  vital  service.  The  lim- 
itations of  children  arriving  at  the  school  age  merely  increase 
the  responsibilities  of  educational  authorities  to  afford  them 
every  opportunity  of  receiving  the  best  type  of  education  for 
which  each  child  is  adapted. 

Special  Defects. — In  a  consideration  of  defects  incidental 
to  prenatal  influences,  one  is  immediately  confronted  with  an 
exceedingly  large  variety  of  conditions  interfering  with  normal 
educational  development.  Just  as  the  racial  factors  in  heredity 
may  be  determinative  of  the  size  of  individuals,  and  as  family 
relationship  may  influence  physical  and  mental  resemblances, 
so  there  may  be  inherent  in  the  germ-plasm,  either  because  of 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  573 

the  presence  of  special  determiners  or  the  absence  of  particular 
determiners,  intrinsic  variations  which  predetermine  the  neces- 
sity of  special  education.  Illustrative  of  this,  one  immediately 
thinks  of  such  conditions  as  juvenile  cataract,  glaucoma,  and 
jxjlydactylism.  Similarly,  a  lack  of  special  determiners  may 
cause  the  development  of  children  sufifering  from  albinism,  nyc- 
talopia, hemophilia,  deaf-mutism,  cleft  palate,  color-blindness, 
imbecility,  idiocy,  and  epilepsy.  Psychoses  and  neuroses  result 
from  neuropathic  inheritance.  Migraine  may  develop  from 
the  same  cause.  On  the  other  hand,  the  nervous  instability 
may  eventuate  in  precocity  or  genius.  Speech  defects  may 
be  inherent  in  hereditary  factors  latent  in  the  germ-plasm, 
and  not  counterbalanced  by  favoring  environment  and 
training. 

Racial  Immunities. — From  another  standpoint  one  must  con- 
sider even  the  inheritance  of  racial  immunities,  as,  for  example, 
the  lower  susceptibility  of  the  negro  to  yellow  fever,  or  com- 
pared with  the  negro  the  lower  susceptibility  of  the  whites  to 
tuberculosis.  The  negro  is  less  liable  to  acne,  lupus,  and  irri- 
tation by  animal  parasites.  Favus  is  more  likely  to  occur 
among  Italians  and  Hungarians.  Amaurotic  family  idiocy  is 
almost  exclusively  found  among  Jews. 

Equally  vital  from  the  standpoint  of  inheritance  is  the  rela- 
tive degree  of  resistance  or  immunity  to  disease.  Even  among 
the  skin  diseases  one  may  enumerate  the  inheritance  of  ichthyosis 
and  psoriasis,  exanthema  multiplex,  and  predisp>ositions  to 
eczema.  In  passing,  one  must  also  recall  the  existence  of  hered- 
itary cerebellar  and  hereditary  spinal  ataxia,  particularly 
Friedreich's  ataxia. 

These  various  conditions  all  result  in  the  birth  of  children 
physically  or  mentally  handicapped  who,  if  they  reach  the  school 
age,  require  special  adaptations  of  education  in  order  to  receive 
their  proper  development. 

Other  Intrauterine  Anomalies. — The  conditions  which  are 
prenatal  though  not  germ-plastic  in  origin  are  due  to  faulty 
development  or  injuries  during  intrauterine  life.  They  also 
present  types  of  exceptional  children  who  later  merit  special 
consideration.  Among  the  numerous  anomalies  of  development 
one  need  only  think  of  intrauterine  amputations,  congenital 
heart-disease,  cretinism,  spina  bifida,  chondrodystrophy,  dwarf- 


674  APPENDIX 

ism,  clubfeet,  hydrocephalus,  hernia,  microtia,  and  congenital 
absence  of  the  middle  and  internal  ear. 

Many  of  the  speech  defects,  because  of  the  intimate  relation 
between  disorders  of  speech  with  the  development  of  the  organs 
of  speech  and  the  cerebral  centres  of  intelligence,  are  to  be 
regarded  as  results  of  developmental  anomalies.  Such  types  of 
speech  defects  may  be  due,  for  example,  to  a  congenital  occlu- 
sion of  the  posterior  nares,  or  to  the  shortness  of  the  geniohyo- 
glossus  muscle,  or  to  tongue  tie. 

Care  of  the  Prospective  Mother. — In  order  to  safeguard  the 
child  during  the  period  of  prenatal  life,  in  so  far  as  may  be 
possible,  it  is  essential  that  the  prospective  mother  place  herself 
under  the  direction,  supervision,  and  guidance  of  a  physician 
carefully  selected  because  of  his  ability.  The  longer  the  preg- 
nant woman  is  under  medical  care,  the  greater  is  the  likelihood 
of  her  escaping  miscarriage,  and  a  gfeater  advantage  appears 
to  accrue  to  the  unborn  child.  Prenatal  care  thus  far  has  in- 
dicated that  the  mortality  rate  during  the  first  month  of  life 
may  be  cut  in  half,  and  those  disabilities  not  due  to  inherent 
defects  of  the  germ-plasm  decreased  to  a  remarkable  extent. 

Natal  Causes. — The  natal  causes  may  be  infections  with 
gonorrhea,  producing  the  blindness  of  the  new-born,  or  syphilitic 
infection  at  birth,  with  its  later  evidences  of  interstitial  keratitis, 
progressive  deafness,  large  lymph-glands,  and  ulcerations  of  the 
throat.  There  may  be  paralysis  from  blood-clots  on  the  brain, 
or  obstetrical  paralysis,  particularly  those  of  the  upper  arm 
(Erb's  paralysis)  or  the  lower  arm  (Klumpke's  paralysis). 

The  importance  of  excellent  obstetrical  and  nursing  care  at 
the  time  of  childbirth  cannot  be  overstressed,  in  order  to  obvi- 
ate diseases  and  deformities  incident  to  the  forces  operating  in 
childbirth,  such  forces  being  either  internal  or  external. 

Adjustment  to  Individual  Needs. — Even  this  brief  resume  is 
indicative  of  the  large  variety  of  conditions  among  children  of 
school  age  that  are  due  to  prenatal  or  natal  factors.  The  vari- 
ous conditions  mentioned  may  be  productive  of  various  school 
■  types  of  exceptional  children.  They  may  be  characterized  by  a 
varied  group  of  symptoms  which  are  discouraging  to  pupil, 
parent,  and  teacher  in  connection  with  educational  development. 
The  children  may  be  nervous,  irritable,  restless,  quiet,  inatten- 
tive, sensitive,  difl&dent,  shy,  self-conscious,  apathetic,  retiring, 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  575 

hjrsterical,  uncommunicative,  headstrong,  explosive,  emotional, 
passive,  vegetative,  unsocial,  antisocial,  quick  or  dull  in  sen- 
sory or  motor  reactions,  incapable  in  some  special  work  involving 
a  sensory  or  motor  mechanism,  suspicious,  fearful,  fatigued, 
backward,  and  disinterested.  They  may  be  blind,  deaf,  mute, 
with  speech  defect,  with  skin  eruptions,  faulty  dentition,  cutane- 
ous disease,  or  some  evident  physical  impairment  or  disability 
in  gait  or  with  inco-ordinate  muscular  movements. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  specify  the  particular  physical  and 
mental  conditions  arising  in  connection  with  each  specific 
handicap.  It  is  patent  that  children  of  all  these  types  require 
special  attention.  Educational  methods  must  be  adjusted  to 
individual  needs.  Auxiliary  classes  are  essential  so  that  the 
children  from  these  groups  may  be  attended  to.  There  should 
be  classes  for  the  blind,  the  crippled,  the  deaf,  for  children  with 
cardiac  diseases,  speech  defects,  etc. 

In  order  to  secure  the  maximum  educational  results,  the  cur- 
riculum must  be  sufficiently  elastic  to  permit  of  the  widest 
modifications,  while  adequate  pedagogical  methods  must  be 
constantly  devised  for  the  manifold  needs  of  these  no  less  than 
other  classes  of  exceptional  children.  There  is  a  wealth  of  so- 
cially constructive  thought  bound  up  in  the  fact  that  this  handi- 
capped element  of  the  school  population  is  the  victim  not  so 
much  of  the  failure  of  a  postnatal  environment  as  of  dysgenic 
factors  existent  before  or  at  the  time  of  actued  birth. 


IV.    MEDICOEDUCATIONAL  METHODS  IN  THE 
TREATMENT  OF  ATYPICAL   CHILDREN 

By  Doctor  C.  Hudson-Makuen,  Philadelphia 

Medicoeducational  Methods. — The  term  "  medicoeducational" 
is  one  that  is  frequently  used  and  it  explains  itself,  but  its 
successful  application  as  a  system  of  treatment  depends  entirely 
upon  the  judgment  of  the  physician. 

Medicoeducational  methods  are  applicable  in  a  measure  to 
all  classes  of  patients,  but  they  are  especially  indicated  in  the 
treatment  of  so-called  atypical  children,  and  as  Doctor  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes  has  suggested,  to  be  curative  in  every  instance 


'576  APPENDIX 

they  should  be  instituted  several  generations  before  the  birth 
of  the  child. 

Medicoeducational  methods,  therefore,  have  a  twofold  func- 
tion: namely,  the  prevention  of  disease  and  the  cure  of  it. 

Principle  of  Eugenics. — The  principle  of  eugenics  has  been 
advocated  as  a  means  of  preventing  disease,  and  but  for  the 
difficulties  of  establishing  or  enforcing  the  principle  it  would 
doubtless  be  of  great  value.  The  chief  obstacle  also  to  the  suc- 
cessful practice  of  any  medicoeducational  methods,  whether 
for  the  prevention  or  cure  of  disease,  is  the  difficulty  arising, 
first,  in  outlining  a  suitable  course  of  procedure,  and  second,  in 
seeing  that  the  course  is  properly  carried  out. 

The  Medicoeducationalist. — To  successfully  meet  these  diffi- 
culties the  medicoeducationalist  must  be  a  specialist  in  the  true 
sense  of  the  term.  He  must  be  a  medical  man  and  an  educational 
man;  he  must  be  at  once  a  physiologist  and  a  psychologist,  a 
physician  and  a  teacher;  he  must  know  his  medicine  well,  and 
he  must  know  the  workings  of  the  human  mind  equally  well. 
He  must  know  not  only  what  should  be  done  for  the  prevention 
and  cure  of  certain  abnormal  conditions,  but  he  must  know 
how  to  do  it,  and  how  to  teach  others  to  do  it.  "  To  do  "  is 
not  as  easy  as  "to  know  what  to  do,"  and  the  great  medico- 
educational problem  is  to  make  men  do  the  things  that  are  good 
for  them,  and  leave  undone  the  things  that  are  not  good  for 
them. 

Psychological  Conditions. — Failure  in  the  successful  applica- 
tion of  medicoeducational  methods  of  treatment  is  often  due 
to  the  physician's  own  lack  of  belief  in  them.  If  we  would  con- 
vince another  of  the  error  of  his  ways,  we  must  ourselves  be 
keenly  alive  to  the  error;  and  when  we  have  once  really  convinced 
our  patient  of  his  error,  we  have  him  in  the  true  psychological 
condition  for  the  adoption  of  means  which  make  for  its  complete 
eradication. 

Physicians  are  constantly  making  the  mistake  of  separating 
the  mind  from  the  body  in  their  diagnosis  and  treatment  of  dis- 
ease, and  this  is  especially  true  in  the  diagnosis  and  treatment 
of  diseases  of  childhood. 

Mind  and  Brain. — The  mind  of  the  child  is  always  a  product 
or  function  of  the  child's  brain,  and  defective  mentality  always 
suggests  a  defective  action  in  some  of  the  cerebral  structures. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  577 

This  defective  action  does  not  necessarily  indicate  organic  cer- 
ebral defects,  but  it  may  be  due  merely  and  wholly  to  a  bad 
start  in  the  growth  and  development  of  the  brain  tissues. 

A  study  of  child  psychology  teaches  us  that  of  all  the  organs 
of  the  body  the  brain  is  the  most  susceptible  to  physical  and 
functional  development.  The  cerebral  convolutions  increase 
enormously  in  number,  and  the  enveloping  gray  matter,  which 
forms  the  so-called  cortex  of  the  brain,  undergoes  a  correspond- 
ing increase  in  its  surface  growth  during  what  we  call  mental 
development. 

Moreover,  the  so-called  associational  fibres  of  the  brain,  upon 
which  its  mental  functions  so  largely  depend,  are  merely  rudi- 
mentary in  early  childhood,  and  only  attain  their  full  functioning 
p>owers  after  years  of  growth  and  development. 

These  anatomical  and  physiological  facts  must  be  taken  into 
consideration  in  the  application  of  medicoeducational  measures 
in  the  treatment  of  children.  Even  the  normal  child  should  be 
given  plenty  of  time  for  physical  development  before  any  special 
mental  development  is  attempted,  always  keeping  in  mind  his 
physical  and  psychical  limitations. 

Difference  Between  Normality  and  Abnormality. — A  striking 
difference  between  the  mentally  normal  and  the  abnormal  child 
appears  in  the  fact  that  the  one  develops  automatically,  while 
the  other  halts  in  his  development,  or  actually,  in  some  instances, 
loses  ground  or  undergoes  a  retrograde  development. 

Psychophysical  Education. — The  physician's  aim  in  the  treat- 
ment of  all  children  should  be  to  assist  them  in  both  their 
physical  and  mental  development.  The  phrase  that  best  ex- 
presses this  work  is  psychophysical  education,  or,  better  still, 
physicopsychical  education,  because  the  physical  education 
precedes  the  psychical  and  forms  its  basis. 

Concentration. — It  has  been  found  that  doing  things  with 
purposeful  intent  has  a  far  greater  educational  value  than  doing 
things  at  random,  or  with  no  special  object  in  view.  Concen- 
tration, therefore,  upon  the  thing  in  hand  should  always  be  the 
watchword  in  the  psychophysical  training  of  children,  and  ob- 
serving a  daily  improvement  in  the  child's  faculty  of  concen- 
tration constitutes  one  of  the  greatest  pleasures  in  connection 
with  carrying  on  this  work. 

The  physician,  above  all  ebe,  shovdd  be  a  teacher,  because  of 


578  APPENDIX 

his  numerous  opportunities  for  teaching  how  to  avoid  disease 
as  well  as  bow  to  recover  from  disease. 

Two  Important  Elements. — The  two  important  things  to  keep 
in  mind  in  the  psychophysical  education  of  children  are,  first: 
a  correct  postural  attitude,  and,  second,  correct  breathing. 
These  two  things  have  been  said  to  constitute  a  cardinal  prin- 
ciple in  the  treatment  and  prevention  of  disease,  and  at  all  events 
they  should  form  the  starting-point  of  all  medicoeducational 
systems  of  treatment.  Their  application  in  the  case  of  normal 
children  is  comparatively  simple,  but  in  atypical  or  subnormal 
children  the  problem  is  more  difficult  and  more  complex. 

Correct  Postural  Attitudes. — To  teach  correct  postural  atti- 
tudes requires  much  knowledge,  patience,  and  skill  on  the  part 
of  the  physician,  and  for  the  child  to  acquire  and  develop  normal 
orthograde  positions  of  the  body  requires  a  considerable  well- 
directed  practice  on  his  own  part. 

Moreover,  this  practice,  to  be  of  psychical  as  weU  as  physical 
benefit,  should  have  a  purpose  in  view,  and  it  should  be  carried 
on  volitionally  and  under  the  direction  of  the  mind.  Such 
physical  exercises  have  a  value  far  beyond  that  which  is  usually 
attributed  to  them,  and  when  they  can  be  made  use  of  in  the 
training  of  atypical  or  otherwise  exceptional  children  they 
should  not  be  neglected  or  entirely  supplanted  by  the  usual 
methods  of  manual  training. 

Correct  Breathing. — Physicians  differ  widely  as  to  just  what 
correct  breathing  is,  but  nothing  is  more  important  in  the 
physical  development  of  the  child  than  the  acquirement  of  nor- 
mal and  efficient  respiratory  habits.  Such  habits,  to  be  sure, 
are  likely  to  follow  naturally  upon  correct  postural  attitudes, 
especially  in  normal  children.  But  in  atypical,  subnormal,  and 
abnormal  children  they  must  be  acquired,  oftentimes  by  per- 
sistent practice,  sometimes  covering  long  periods  of  time. 

Speech  Training. — The  psychophysical  education,  to  which  I 
have  referred,  should  precede  and  accompany  speech  training, 
which  should  constitute  an  important  factor  in  all  this  work, 
because  of  its  close  relationship  to  the  mind  of  the  chUd. 

A  Forcing  Process. — Atypical  or  backward  children  should 
not  be  coddled  but  encouraged,  and,  like  plants  of  slow  growth, 
in  some  instances  they  should  be  "  forced."  This  may  be  done 
by  supplying  favorable  conditions  for  growth  and  development, 
and  by  directing  their  physical  activities  in  the  right  channels. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  579 

Comparative  ill  health  is  not  always  a  contraindication,  but 
oftentimes  a  decided  indication  for  this  forcing  process.  Many 
a  child  immediately  begins  to  improve  physically  as  well  as 
mentally  when  well-directed  pressure  is  brought  to  bear  upon 
him  in  psychophysical  education. 

It  is  not  enough  to  merely  lead  these  children,  but  they 
must,  in  a  measure,  be  driven,  and  in  this  way  they  soon  find 
that  in  the  words  of  the  country  boy  who  went  to  hear  Rubin- 
stein play  the  piano:  "  It  is  happier  to  be  miserable  than  to  be 
happy  without  being  miserable." 

V.     MALNUTRITION 

By  Doctor  Ira  S.  Wile,  New  York  City 

Definition  of  Malnutrition. — Among  the  various  problems  re- 
lating to  the  physical  health  and  educational  welfare  of  public 
school  children,  none  is  less  understood  or  more  misunderstood 
than  malnutrition.  The  statistical  side  of  medical  inspection 
has  thus  far  failed  to  establish  satisfactory  or  definite  relations 
between  malnutrition  and  specific  physical  defects.  The  term 
"  malnutrition  "  has  not  been  clearly  defined,  and  its  connota- 
tions are  so  numerous  as  to  confuse  the  entire  problem. 

Hogarth  has  defined  malnutrition  as  an  "  abnormal  or  dis- 
ordered growth  in  the  development  of  the  tissues  and  organisms 
of  a  child's  body  not  necessarily  synonymous  with  under- 
feeding"; and  he  wisely  states:  "  Malnutrition  is  at  once  the 
most  common,  and  until  recently  the  least  observed  of  all  the 
unrecogni2jed  diseases  and  affections  among  children  attending 
elementary  schools."  From  this  definition  it  is  apparent  that 
malnutrition  is  not  concerned  with  breakfastless  children,  but 
with  all  the  children  who  for  long  periods  of  time  are  receiving 
at  home  a  dietary  that  is  not  adapted  to  their  needs,  and  in 
consequence  of  which  there  is  marked  physical  or  mental  de- 
terioration. 

Extent  of  Malnutrition. — The  extent  of  malnutrition  has  not 
been  scientifically  determined.  The  figures  available  for  vari- 
ous communities  vary  according  to  the  personal  equations  of 
the  medical  inspectors  noting  these  defects.  MacKenzie  re- 
gards one-third  of  all  the  school  children  in  Edinburgh  as  poorly 
nourished.  Warner  and  Tuke  found  28.5  p>er  cent  of  London 
school  children  suffering  from  deficient  feeding.     Estimates  of 


580  APPENDIX 

malnutrition  in  New  York  City  vary  from  5  per  cent  to  40  per 
cent,  with  15  per  cent  adjudged  to  be  marked  cases  of  mal- 
nutrition. In  Chicago  in  1908,  12  per  cent,  and  in  Boston, 
1909,  16  per  cent,  of  the  children  examined  were  reported  as 
suffering  from  malnutrition.  Thomas  D.  Wood  regards  25  per 
cent  of  the  school  children  in  this  country  as  suffering  from  mal- 
nutrition. 

Causes  of  Undernourishment. — While  the  causes  of  under- 
nourishment are  exceedingly  numerous  and  closely  connected 
with  sociological  problems  as  housing,  overcrowding,  low  wages, 
underemployment,  alcoholism,  poor  hygiene,  and  ignorance  of 
food  values,  it  is  impossible  to  attack  these  causal  factors  in 
specific  instances  unless  malnutrition  itself  has  been  recognized. 
Poor  assimilation,  insufficient  clothing,  overstimulation,  worry, 
grief,  anxiety  may  also  enter  into  the  basic  causes  leading  to 
individual  states  of  malnutrition.  It  is  patent  that  the  initial 
step  and  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  chronic  undernourish- 
ment is  the  determination  of  the  existence  of  malnutrition. 

Symptoms  of  Malnutrition. — The  symptoms  of  malnutrition 
which  are  too  frequently  overlooked  or  insufficiently  considered 
are  anaemia,  with  various  types  of  blood  deficiencies,  pallor, 
harsh  and  inelastic  skins,  muscular  weakness  with  spinal  cur- 
vatures, or  flatfoot,  carious  teeth,  squints,  diseases  of  the  ex- 
ternal eye,  lassitude,  inattention,  twitchings,  backwardness, 
and  mental  dulness.  The  height,  weight,  and  chest  measure- 
ments are  usually  below  par.  The  stunted  growth,  the  delayed 
physical  and  mental  development,  the  weaknesses  of  the  muscles, 
the  increased  susceptibility  to  infectious  diseases,  and  marked 
liability  to  tuberculosis  may  all  be  related  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent  to  a  more  fundamental  condition  of  malnutrition. 

While  coefficients  of  growth  and  vital  capacity  have  been 
determined,  they  are  not  to  be  relied  upon  as  final  determinants 
in  diagnosing  malnutrition.  At  times  valuable  information 
may  be  secured  by  the  application  of  Oppenheimer's  formula 
which  makes  the  index  of  nutrition  equal 

Girth  of  the  arms  (midway  between  shoulder  and  elbow) 
Chest  girth  (average  of  inspiration  and  expiration) 

This  should  equal  at  least  30. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  681 

During  the  eariy  years  of  school  life,  nutrition  may  suffer 
from  educational  maladjustments.  The  metamorphosing  years 
preceding  puberty  severely  attack  nutrition,  and  it  has  long 
been  recognized  that  the  chronically  underfed  or  malnourished 
child  requires  a  longer  period  of  time  for  pubertal  development 
than  his  better  cared  for  brother. or  sister. 

Effect  of  Malnutrition. — The  prepondering  proportion  of  den- 
tal defects  should  call  attention  to  the  imp)ortant  fact  that  the 
f>ermanent  teeth  develop  during  the  school  period.  There  ap- 
pears to  be  an  important  relation  between  deteriorated  denti- 
tion and  malnutrition. 

Insufficient  thought  has  been  devoted  to  the  effect  of  vmder- 
nourishment  during  the  years  of  life  previous  to  school  work. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  the  relative  starvation  in  proteins,  lime, 
iron,  calcium,  and  magnesium  during  the  first  five  years  of  life 
helps  to  produce  the  school  child  suffering  from  malnutrition. 

Unfortunately,  the  diagnosis  of  malnutrition  is  rarely  made 
if  any  other  defect  is  present.  The  dependence  of  defects,  like 
anaemia,  adenitis,  chorea,  tuberculosis,  visual  defects,  mental 
dulness  and  increased  susceptibility  to  infections,  upon  mal- 
nutrition, or  their  interdependence,  or  their  coincidence,  is  not 
uniformly  entered  into  the  record.  In  consequence,  corrective 
measures  are  not  applied. 

Chronically  underfed  children  are  more  vvdnerable  to  con- 
tagious diseases  and  more  susceptible  to  protracted  colds  and 
bronchitis.  Not  only  are  they  more  likely  to  fall  victims  to 
disease,  but  for  the  same  reason  their  convalescence  is  retarded, 
their  complications  are  more  numerous,  and  their  loss  of  educa- 
tion and  training  exceeds  that  of  other  children  of  the  same  age 
in  a  better  state  of  nutrition. 

In  so  far  as  defects  of  vision  are  related  to  malnutrition,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  visual  approach  to  the  mind  presents  many 
obstacles  to  the  undernourished  child.  Mental  dulness  is  by 
no  means  uncommonly  dependent  ufKsn  a  state  of  chronic  mal- 
nutrition. 

Nutrition  Records. — Regardless  of  the  primary  factor  in  mal- 
nutrition, whether  it  be  due  to  a  deteriorative  reaction  against 
an  oppressing  physical  environment  or  to  unhygienic  home 
conditions,  or  to  lack  of  adequate  or  insufficient  food,  no  child's 
physical  record  should  be  regarded  as  complete  without  some 


582  APPENDIX 

notation  regarding  the  state  of  his  nutrition.  This  position  is 
strengthened  by  the  comment  of  the  Chief  Medical  Officer  of 
London,  1910:  "  It  is  certain  that  malnutrition  and  physical 
defects  are  closely  associated,  and  react  upon  each  other,  but  it 
is  difficult  to  determine  their  exact  relation  to  each  child,  or  to 
say  in  what  degree  malnutrition  causes  the  other  physical  evils. 
Merely  to  increase  the  supply  of  food  would,  in  many  cases, 
not  solve  the  complex  problem  of  the  individual  child,  although 
in  many  cases  lack  of  food  lies  at  the  root  of  the  mischief." 

Interdependence  of  Conditions. — The  extent  to  which  mal- 
nutrition is  causative  of  physical  defects,  or  the  degree  to  which 
physical  defects  are  responsible  for  malnutrition  has  not  been 
determined.  Their  interdependence  appears  to  be  certain,  or 
their  coincidental  occurrence  may  be  due  in  part  to  their  mutual 
dependence  upon  a  series  of  basic  factors  underlying  the  health- 
ful functioning  of  the  human  body. 

Solution  of  the  Problem. — The  solution  of  the  problem  of  mal- 
nutrition is  not  at  hand,  nor  will  it  be  imtil  medical  inspectors 
give  greater  consideration  to  malnutrition.  Considered  as  a 
unit  defect,  it  possesses  unusual  significance  in  a  constructive 
programme  for  the  establishment  of  the  preventive  and  cor- 
rectional methods  so  necessary  for  the  protection  or  the  conser- 
vation of  school  children.  Considered  from  the  standpoint  of 
education,  malnutrition  is  undoubtedly  a  factor  in  retardation, 
elimination,  and  mediocre,  or  worse,  school  work.  The  powers 
of  attention,  concentration,  memory,  and  directive  effort  are 
undermined  in  children  whose  blood  tissues  are  lacking  in  the 
elements  necessary  to  normal  function.  There  is  more  than  a 
grain  of  truth  in  Bacon's  statement:  "  The  brain  is  in  some  sort 
in  the  custody  of  the  stomach." 

From  the  standpoint  of  prevention,  the  school  environment 
with  its  poor  air,  overstrain,  excitement,  and  attendant  worry 
demands  frequent  inspection  lest  it  serve  to  destroy  appetite 
and  impair  digestion  with  a  resultant  deterioration  in  nutrition. 

Special  cases  of  malnutrition  demand  various  treatments  from 
the  educational  standpoint  according  to  the  underlying  causal 
factors.  Obviously,  poverty  in  the  home  cannot  be  directly  rem- 
edied by  the  school,  b\it  the  institution  of  school  lunches  may  serve 
to  partially  correct  the  disadvantage  of  the  home  environment. 
Special    classes  for  ancemics  and  open-air  classes  for  children 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  583 

physically  impaired  appear  to  be  essential  in  order  to  prevent 
further  malnutrition  or  to  correct  nutritional  defects  whenever 
noted.  The  correction  of  physical  defects  interfering  with  diges- 
tion or  calling  forth  vmnecessary  expenditures  of  energy  are  pre- 
requisite of  any  systematic  endeavor  to  remedy  malnutrition. 

The  social  disabilities  effecting  undernourishment  may  be  at- 
tacked through  the  institution  of  school  nurses,  home  and  school 
visitors,  or  through  the  direct  utilization  of  the  various  social 
and  philanthropic  agencies  seeking  to  improve  the  welfare  of 
families  in  the  community. 

Determination  of  Malnutrition. — Beyond  a  doubt,  the  first 
step  in  the  solution  of  the  problem  is  the  actual  determination 
of  malnutrition.  The  ix)tentialities  of  educational  measures  are 
dependent  upon  the  state  of  nutrition.  Nutritional  deficiencies 
cannot  be  overcome  until  a  thorough  investigation  has  been  made 
along  modem  scientific  lines  in  order  that  there  may  be  reached 
a  uniform  conception  of  malnutrition  itself,  the  basic  causes 
oj>erating  to  produce  it,  together  with  such  essential  reconstruc- 
tive measures  in  our  educational  institutions  as  will  enable 
them  to  cope  successfully  with  all  phases  of  the  problem. 

\T.     CLINICAL   STUDIES  AND   OBSERVATIONS  IN 
THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  EXCEPTIONAL   CHILD 

By  Arthur  Zentler,  D.D.S.,  New  York  City 

Oral  Hygiene. — The  oral  hygiene  movement  has  made  such 
gigantic  strides  in  the  last  few  years,  all  through  the  entire 
civilized  world,  that  it  mxist  reach  out  to  the  problem  of  the 
atypical  child. 

If  it  is  at  all  true  that  it  plays  an  important  r6le  in  the  life 
of  the  "  typical  "  child — and  who  will  gainsay  this  to-day? — 
then  it  certainly  must  be  true  that  oral  hygiene  is  doubly  im- 
portant in  the  life  and  redemption  of  the  "  atypical  "  or  other- 
wise handicapped  child. 

If  the  lack  of  proper  mouth  conditions  in  any  given  case  is 
not  the  only  reason  preventing  the  child  from  rising  from  the 
atypical  state  into  the  typical,  from  the  subnormal  into  the 
normal,  it  certainly  is  an  impeding  factor. 

In  order  that  this  be  clearly  understood  it  behooves  me  to 


584  APPENDIX 

give  not  only  a  brief  definition  of  oral  hygiene,  which  means 
health  of  the  mouth,  but  to  explain  it  in  its  broader  mean- 
ing. 

Meaning  of  Oral  Hygiene. — Oral  hygiene,  aside  from  complete 
asepsis  of  the  hard  and  soft  structures  of  the  mouth,  implies  the 
constant  keeping  of  each  tooth  individually  in  such  condition, 
and  all  teeth  collectively  in  such  relation  to  each  ^^other,  as  to 
preserve  normal  occlusion,  which  means  that  when  the  mouth 
is  in  a  state  of  repose  all  the  teeth  should  be  in  such  contact 
as  to  afford  to  each  other  the  greatest  possible  support — which 
contact  will  enable  their  occlusal  surfaces  to  give  the  greatest 
possible  service  in  the  act  of  mastication. 

Pictures  Nos.  48,  49,  and  50  represent  the  casts  of  the  same 
mouth  where  the  left  side  is  in  normal  occlusion,  showing  the 
contact  spoken  of,  while  the  right  side  is  thrown  into  mal- 
occlusion, because  of  the  extraction  of  only  one  tooth,  thus 
showing  lack  of  contact. 

How  Early  Should  Care  of  Mouth  Begin? — The  desire  to 
obtain  the  ideal  conditions  of  normal  occlusion  would  lead  one  to 
the  natural  question  of  how  early  one  must  begin  the  care  of 
the  mouth.  I  believe  I  have  answered  this  question  in  my 
essay  ^  read  before  the  Section  on  Stomatology  of  the  A.  M.  A. 
at  its  annual  meeting  of  191 1,  written  with  the  purpose  of  point- 
ing out  that  the  care  of  the  teeth  of  the  child  must  begin  in  the 
mouth  of  the  mother  during  pregnancy. 

During  infancy  the  foundation  to  well-developed  jaw-bones 
should  be  breast-feeding  as  against  bottle-feeding,  the  former 
stimulating  growth  through  activity,  while  the  latter  does  not 
possess  this  advantage.  After  weaning,  it  is  essential  that  a  diet 
requiring  thorough  mastication  be  observed.  Mushy  foods  so 
generally  used  should  be  replaced  by  dry  toast,  not  such  softened 
by  liquids;  meat  broths  should  be  replaced  by  the  actual  meat 
given  the  child  to  chew  on,  of  course  care  being  taken  that  only 
the  juice  is  swallowed,  etc.  This  admonition  as  to  eating  such 
foods  which  need  thorough  mastication  holds  good  from  baby- 
hood all  through  the  rest  of  one's  life. 

Scrupulous   cleanliness   of   the   teeth   must   begin   with   the 


1  "Oral  Development  in  Progeny  Influenced  by  the  Buccal  Tissues  During 
Pregnancy." 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  585 

emerging  of  the  first  tooth  in  the  baby's  mouth,  and  be  continued 
throughout  life. 

Caries. — If  in  spite  of  all  care,  caries  make  their  appearance, 
the  lost  portion  of  a  tooth  must  be  so  replaced  that  the  original 
suape  of  the  tooth  is  again  obtained.  Nothing  short  of  this 
will  answer  the  purpose  of  oral  hygiene  in  its  broadest  sense. 
If  any  one  or  more  teeth  are  lost  they  must  be  replaced,  and 
this  in  such  a  manner  as  to  afford  to  the  adjoining  and  opposing 
teeth  that  contact  of  which  I  spoke  in  the  beginning. 

Wrong  Alig^nment. — If  from  prenatal  or  postnatal  causes  the 
jaw-bones  have  failed  to  develop  normally,  and  thereby  teeth 
emerge  or  shift  into  wrong  alignment,  the  cause  for  lack  of  jaw 
development  must  be  ascertained,  removed  if  possible,  and  nature 
aided  through  artificial  stimulation  to  properly  develop  the 
jaw-bones,  i.  e.,  if  indications  for  future  narrow  dental  arches 
are  present  appliances  should  be  anchored  on  the  teeth  as  early 
as  their  shape  will  allow  it,  for  the  purpose  of  expanding  the 
jaw,  etc. 

Other  Pathologic  Manifestations. — Pathologic  manifestations 
of  less  ordinary  occurrence  such  as  cleft  palate,  harelip,  etc., 
must  of  course  be  attended  to  in  earliest  infancy. 

If,  however,  for  one  or  another  reason,  proper  mouth  condi- 
tions do  not  exist,  the  child  so  afflicted  will  show  the  evil  sequelae 
in  a  more  or  less  marked  degree.  This  will  be  in  proportion  to 
the  seriousness  of  the  defects,  although  even  minor  defects  have 
their  influence  as  well  upon  the  physical  as  uf>on  the  mental 
status  of  the  child. 

The  Mouth  as  a  Cause  of  Retardation. — It  will,  therefore,  be 
easy  to  understand  that  even  where  the  general  clinical  history 
points  to  negative  findings,  a  thorough  examination  of  the  mouth 
may  contribute  to  the  discovering  of  the  reason  of  a  retarded 
mental  development,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  following  case: 

The  casts  of  the  mouth  of  C.  G.,  Case  77,  26  years  old  (Figs. 
51  and  52),  whose  clinical  history  runs  as  follows:  Male,  only 
child,  no  hereditary  traits  reported,  deficient  animation  at  birth, 
some  convulsions  during  teething,  had  diphtheria  at  i,  language 
developed  slowly,  walked  and  talked  at  3,  had  measles  at  9, 
tonsils  removed  at  10,  is  undersized  and  heavy,  and  mental  de- 
velopment at  present  is  like  that  of  a  child  of  12  or  13. 

When  one  considers  that  among  all  the  evil  effects  resulting 


586  APPENDIX 

from  the  abnormal  condition  found  in  the  mouth  of  C.  G.,  such 
as  poor  assimilation  due  to  improper  mastication,  etc.,  improper 
oxygenation  due  to  faulty  respiration,  the  cause  of  the  retarded 
mental  development  may  readUy  be  traced  to  a  brain  lacking 
a  sufficient  supply  of  weU-oxygenated  blood.  Who  may  say 
that  if  C.  G.,  who  to-day  clearly  belongs  to  the  defective  class, 
due  to  pathologically  retarded  development,  would  have  ob- 
tained, in  early  childhood,  the  needed  care  resulting  in  the  es- 
tablishment of  proper  mouth  conditions,  his  mental  develop- 
ment would  not  be  a  much  simpler  problem  than  it  now  is? 

Whether  in  a  condition  as  aggravated  as  his,  and  at  an  age 
as  advanced  as  his,  great  beneficial  results  could  be  derived 
from  remedying,  to  such  an  extent  as  would  be  possible,  his 
oral  defects,  is  not  altogether  certain.  But  from  past  experi- 
ences the  attempt  is  warranted. 

In  another  case,  the  one  of  D.  T.,  Case  65,  18  years  old 
(Figs.  53  and  54),  male,  there  are  perhaps  prenatal  causes  work- 
ing along  with  the  postnatal  causes.  The  one  important  fac- 
tor always  assisting  normal  jaw-bone  development — I  refer  to 
breast-feeding — being  reported  positive  in  D.  T.'s  clinical  his- 
tory, the  underdeveloped  maxUla  and  mandible  can  be  accounted 
for  either  as  an  inheritance,  or  as  the  result  of  prolonged  exist- 
ence of  adenoids  and  enlarged  tonsils.  These  were  not  removed 
until  the  age  of  10,  which  means  that  mouth  breathing  was 
allowed  to  interfere  with  proper  respiration  during  the  period 
of  jaw-bone  growth. 

Mouth  Breathing. — Breathing  through  the  mouth  instead 
of  through  the  nose  changes  the  normal  action  of  the  muscles 
controlling  the  position  of  the  lips,  and  changes  the  position  of 
the  tongue,  which,  when  the  mouth  is  in  repose,  in  normal  breath- 
ing, rests  fiat  against  the  roof  of  the  mouth,  thereby  contributing 
mechanically  to  a  lateral  development  of  the  maxillary  bones. 
When  in  breathing  the  mouth  is  kept  open,  instead  of  closed, 
as  it  should  be,  the  upper  lip  is  drawn  upward,  depressing  the 
subnasal  anterior  portion  of  the  maxillary  bones,  contributing 
to  underdevelopment  of  these  parts,  which  accounts  for  the  orig- 
inal crowded  condition  of  the  upper  anterior  teeth  of  D.  T. 

The  unfortunate  remedy  resorted  to,  in  this  case,  in  the  de- 
sire to  cope  with  this  condition,  namely,  the  extraction  of  the 
right  and  left  upper  cuspids,  presumably  for  the  purpose  of 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  587 

making  room,  has  resulted  in  further  narrowing  of  the  upper 
arch  and  in  further  crowding  of  the  lower  teeth,  in  a  mandible 
already  much  underdeveloped. 

It  would  be  indeed  interesting  to  see  to  what  extent  the  ex- 
panding of  both  the  maxilla  and  mandible  would  improve 
D.  T.'s  mental  faculties,  as  undoubtedly  the  remedying  of  these 
conditions  will  have  as  immediate  result  the  bettering  of  the 
brain  pabulum  quality. 

Bottle-Feeding. — In  D.  L.'s  case,  Case  78,  14  years  old, 
male  (Figs.  55  and  56),  the  general  clinical  history  reports 
alongside  of  similar  causes,  as  in  the  previous  case,  the  one 
other  most  important  factor  responsible  for  lack  of  jaw  devel- 
opment— I  am  now  referring  to  bottle-feeding — which  was  in- 
flicted upon  this  child  for  two  years. 

The  maxillary  protrusion,  the  complete  lack  of  anterior  oc- 
clusion, and  the  faulty  posterior  occlusion  might  have  all  been 
prevented  if  adenoids  and  tonsils  had  been  removed  in  their 
incipiency.  They  were  removed  after  the  completion  of  the 
jaw-bone  development.  In  addition  to  the  enumerated  defects 
from  underdevelopment,  defects  from  sheer  negligence  have 
operated  their  evil  sequelae  in  D.  L.'s  mouth.  Caries  were 
allowed  to  destroy  almost  to  the  roots  two  of  the  four  most  im- 
portant teeth  in  the  mouth,  the  first  permanent  molars.  The 
reported  premature  extraction  of  deciduous  teeth  had  its  share 
in  causing  the  crowded  condition  of  the  permanent  teeth  in  his 
mouth. 

With  all  these  causes  present,  interfering  on  one  hand  with 
proper  mastication,  on  the  other  with  proper  respiration,  is  it 
surprising  that  underweight  is  ref)orted,  that  the  general  physical 
condition  is  stated  as  jxxjr;  and  would  it  be  surprising  that  in 
giving  due  attention  to  D.  L.'s  teeth  and  correcting  his  mal- 
occlusion, a  bettering  of  his  physical  condition  would  be  obtained, 
and  will  this  not  materially  contribute  to  raise  D.  L.'s  mental 
status  ? 

Other  Cases. — The  casts  of  E.  K.,  Case  79,  age  14,  female 
(Figs.  57  and  58),  show  again  every  indication  corroborating  the 
facts  pointed  out  in  the  cases  enumerated  above. 

There  are,  in  the  general  history  of  this  case,  prenatal  as  well 
as  postnatal  findings  reported.  The  maternal  grandmother 
had  pulmonary  tuberculosis,  the  mother  is  reported  as  a  very 


588  APPENDIX 

nervous  woman,  and  E.  K.  herself  has  had  her  troubles  from 
birth  on,  almost  all  through  her  life,  but  was  fortunate  in  bene- 
fiting by  one  advantage,  breast-feeding;  and  were  it  not  that 
adenoids  and  tonsils  were  allowed  to  interfere  with  her  nasal 
respiration,  she  might  have  developed  normal  jaw-bones.  As 
it  is,  she  has  a  pronounced  maxillary  protrusion,  both  the 
maxUla  and  mandible  being  constricted  and  needing  expansion. 

I  need  not  repeat  that  on  account  of  the  condition  caused  by 
leaving  adenoids  and  tonsils  undisturbed  until  the  age  of  13, 
the  advantage  for  jaw-bone  development  gained  through  breast- 
feeding was  entirely  lost,  mouth  breathing  taking  place. 

For  more  than  one  reason,  E.  K.  rightly  belongs  in  the  atypical 
class,  and  it  can  only  be  said  that  hers  is  another  case  where 
an  improperly  nourished  brain,  due  partly  to  improper  breathing, 
contributes  to  the  difficulty  of  solving  the  problem  of  this  ex- 
ceptional child. 

In  H.  H.,  Case  80,  9  years  old,  female  (Figs.  59  and  60), 
is  found  marked  corroboration  of  the  contention  that  early  re- 
moval of  adenoids  checks  the  nefarious  influence  which  their 
existence  has  upon  jaw-bone  development.  Her  clinical  history 
reports  that  beginning  with  the  initial  handicap,  bottle-feeding, 
she  goes  through  whooping-cough,  measles,  is  twice  left  listless 
and  feverish  for  three  days  from  falling;  had  inco-ordination  of 
posture  and  gait,  walking  sometimes  on  hands  and  knees  up 
and  down  stairs;  digestion  is  retarded;  has  bad  fits  of  temper, 
throwing  herself  on  the  floor,  kicking  and  screaming;  is  gaining 
poorly  in  weight,  and  her  heart  does  not  seem  strong.  With  all 
this,  H.  H.  is  reported  to  be  bright  in  school  work,  and  rather 
beyond  her  age  in  school  accomplishments. 

When,  as  in  this  case,  the  clinical  history  points  to  such 
positive  findings  of  serious  nervous  disturbances  which  naturally 
would  interfere  with  general  development,  and  in  spite  of  it 
the  jaw-bones  have  developed  almost  normally,  seeing  that  the 
mesio-distal  relation  of  the  first  permanent  molars  is  normal, 
and  only  a  slight  tendency  to  maxillary  protrusion  is  present, 
what  accounts  for  it  ?  The  bottle-feeding  has  worked  its  initial 
evil  influence  resulting  in  this  just-mentioned  slight  maxillary  pro- 
trusion, but  this  has  not  progressed  very  far,  the  mouth  breath- 
ing resulting  from  adenoids  having  been  checked  through  their 
early  removal,  once  at  the  age  of  4,  and  again  at  the  age  of  5. 


r 

A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  589 

Perhaps  a  still  earlier  removal  of  the  adenoids  would  have  shown 
its  beneficial  effects  in  a  still  slighter  progress  of  the  maxillary 
protrusion.  However,  the  condition  obtained  was  sufficient  to 
allow  a  proper  respiration,  and  does  it  not  seem  as  if,  this  hav- 
ing contributed  to  a  flow  of  well-oxygenated  blood-supply  to 
the  brain,  it  has  kept  the  mental  faculties  of  H.  H.  above  her 
physical  status?  Does  it  not  appear  clearly  that  a  better  res- 
piration was  obtained  through  checking  the  progress  of  the 
maxillary  protrusion  and  its  consequences? 

Again,  in  this  same  case,  are  found  several  decayed  teeth, 
and  some  inadequately  filled  teeth.  And  again,  the  clinical 
history  reports:  "  Digestion  was  normal,  but  recently  is  retarded 
and  seems  to  point  to  fecal  poisoning,  which  may  be  at  the  bottom 
of  much  of  her  seemingly  nervous  trouble."  It  is  quite  likely 
that  the  digestion  was  normal,  and  that  with  the  progress  of  the 
decaying  of  her  teeth,  to  the  extent  that  proper  mastication 
b  interfered  with,  the  digestion  suffers,  and  if  this  be  the  direct 
cause  of  her  "  nervous  troubles,"  may  they  not  be  remedied  by 
giving  due  attention  to  her  teeth,  re-establishing  thereby  proper 
mastication  and  normal  digestion? 

Would  the  elimination  of  the  sources  of  H.  H.'s  "  nervous 
troubles,"  i.  e.,  the  fecal  poisoning  from  retarded  digestion,  not 
be  a  fKJtent  factor  in  avoiding  the  danger  of  her  sliding  into  the 
subnormal  type?  Would  it  not,  perhaps,  even  help  her  to  glide 
with  facility  through  the  atypical  class  into  the  typical  ? 

I  now  take  up  the  case  of  M.  A.,  Case  8i,  14  years  old, 
male  (Figs.  61  and  62),  and  comparing  his  general  clinical  his- 
tory with  his  casts,  I  find  my  observations  along  these  lines 
substantiated  more  than  in  other  cases  I  have  yet  seen. 

The  anterior  occlusion,  the  mesio-distal  relation  of  the  right 
first  molars  and  with  it  the  posterior  occlusion  of  the  right  half 
of  M.  A.'s  mouth  are  almost  normal  with  the  exception  of  the 
inlocked  upper  right  cuspid. 

Were  it  not  for  this  and  for  the  unfortunate  error  of  having 
his  upper  left  first  molar  extracted,  which  caused  the  lower  left 
second  molar  to  erupt  out  of  alignment,  M.  A.  could  have  boasted 
of  absolutely  perfect  occlusion.     Why? 

His  general  clinical  history  reports  that  up  to  the  age  of  7 
his  physical  condition  was  normal;  he  was  not  a  mouth  breather, 
he  had  neither  tonsils  nor  adenoids,  and  last  but  not  least,  he 


590  APPENDIX 

was  breast-fed.  In  one  word,  he  passed  through  the  develop- 
mental stage  of  jaw-bone  growth  without  any  handicaps. 

M.  A.  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  cases  where  the  causes  for 
a  stunted  mental  development  are  to  be  looked  for  elsewhere, 
not  in  the  mouth;  and  when  these  causes  are  looked  into,  it  is 
found  that  while  they  have  influenced  brain  development,  their 
occurring  later  in  childhood,  after  the  age  of  7,  have  left  un- 
touched the  facial  expression  oi  M.  A.,  which  in  spite  of  his 
unfortunate  mental  status  presents  an  intelligent  appearance. 
The  proper  jaw-bone  development  and  the  contributing  of  it 
to  the  proper  development  of  the  rest  of  the  bones  of  the  face 
has  blessed  him  with  at  least  one  handicap  less.  From  a  psy- 
chical standpoint,  a  pleasant  exterior  is  perhaps  no  small  factor 
contributing  to  overcome  the  difficulties  with  which  the  excep- 
tional child  has  to  count  in  the  world. 

The  six  illustrated  cases  were  taken  from  among  a  number 
of  about  twenty  children  examined  and  observed  at  Herbart 
Hall,  in  Plainfield,  N.  J. 


VII.    HABITUAL   CONSTIPATION » 

By  Doctor  B.  Onuf,  Park  Ridge,  N.  J. 

Constipation  and  Exercise. — How  often  is  the  neurotic,  who 
is  so  frequently  subject  to  habitual  constipation,  directed  to 
take  much  exercise!  Careful  observation  teaches,  however, 
how  ineffective  or  sometimes  even  harmful  such  a  direction  can 
be  if  not  taken  in  the  right  sense.  The  exercise  in  itself,  be  it 
walking  or  gymnastics,  bicycling  or  bowling,  etc.,  is  not  at  all 
conducive  to  repairing  the  disturbed  intestinal  function  under- 
lying the  constipation.  In  the  cases  in  which  it  is  of  any  use 
the  improvement  is  not  caused  by  the  exercise  itself  but  by  the 
accompanying  mental  relaxation.  Without  this  psychic  re- 
laxation all  exercise  is  useless.  The  intestinal  function  requires, 
so  to  say,  a  certain  amount  of  mind  for  its  successful  performance, 
and  has  to  suffer  when  deprived  of  the  same.     If  the  mind  is 

•  This  contribution  is  part  of  a  paper  published  by  Doctor  Onuf  under  the  title 
"Psychotherapy,"  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association  of  June 
6,  1908,  and  is  here  reprinted  in  modified  form  by  permission  of  the  author  as 
being  of  great  value  for  the  physical  welfare  of  children. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  691 

occupied  by  a  certain  train  of  thought  to  the  exclusion  of  every- 
thing else,  there  is  nothing  left  of  it  for  the  intestine. 

In  such  cases  exercise  may  be  directly  harmful,  the  patient 
needing  at  times  complete  physical  and  psychic  rest  instead. 
Lying  on  a  couch  for  half  an  hour  will  then  benefit  him  more 
than  a  long  walk  or  other  physical  exercise. 

The  above  deductions  find,  in  a  certain  sense,  an  interesting 
confirmation  in  the  investigation  carried  on  by  Doctor  Joseph 
Merzbach.  This  author  made  inquiries  from  233  letter-carriers, 
243  f)olicemen,  and  102  office  clerks  in  regard  to  the  movements 
of  their  bowels.  This  clinical  material  represented  therefore 
occupations  with  excessive,  moderate,  and  little  bodily  exercise, 
respectively.  His  conclusions,  expressed  with  a  certain  re- 
serve, it  is  true,  were  these:  "  Rest  and  ordinary  exercise,  but 
not  excessive  exercise,  are  equivalent  in  their  functional  results. 
Violent  exercise  certainly  contains  a  factor  influencing  peristalsis, 
but  this  influence  is  more  frequently  in  the  direction  of  inhibi- 
tion rather  than  in  that  of  stimulation.  Rest  acts  least  favorably 
{i.  e.,  in  the  smallest  percentage  of  cases),  but  also  much  less 
unfavorably  than  moderate  and  excessive  exercise." 

Mental  Attitude  in  Defecation. — Of  great  impKjrtance  is  also 
the  attitude  during  defecation.  In  this  act,  too,  the  intestine 
requires  a  certain  participation  of  mind  for  securing  proper 
function.  Defecation  is  only  to  a  small  extent  an  act  of  the  will, 
but  is  in  a  large  part  dependent  on  peristalsis,  which  cannot  be 
influenced  by  the  will.  Pressure  movements,  if  not  made  at 
the  right  moment,  are  therefore  not  only  unsuccessful  to  the 
immediate  result,  but  even  detrimental  to  the  final  result 
through  the  discouragement  which  the  inefficiency  causes. 
The  action  of  mind  must  restrict  itself  to  paying  attention  to 
the  intestinal  stimuli  and  yielding  to  them.  This  is  accom- 
plished chiefly  through  the  relaxation  of  the  sphincter  and 
usually  results  in  the  discharge  of  gases  which  facilitates  a 
further  movement  of  the  fecal  mass.  In  this  way,  conscious- 
ness supports  indirectly  the  peristaltic  movement  of  the  intes- 
tine which  it  cannot  influence  directly.  For  this  reason  the 
patient  needs  not  feel  discouraged  when  the  result  of  his  efforts 
is  only  a  discharge  of  gases  and  no  defecation,  for  the  movement 
of  the  fecal  mass  has  been  furthered  by  this  action,  and  his  next 
attempt  is  apt  to  be  successfiil,  i.  e.,  to  produce  stool,  especially 


592  APPENDIX 

if  the  patient  will,  as  I  would  recommend,  make  two  attempts 
daily  at  defecation.  If  one  does  not  take  his  time  about  it, 
and  fails  to  heed  the  intestinal  stimuli,  being  taken  up  with  other 
matters,  and  is  anxious  to  get  through  quickly,  the  above- 
mentioned  intestinal  stimuli  will  often  fail  to  appear,  or  rather 
they  are  psychically  suppressed,  crowded  out  by  the  predomi- 
nance of  other  contents  of  consciousness.  Furthermore,  the  at- 
tention is  too  much  diverted  to  react  properly,  and  thus  the 
effect  is  frustrated. 

The  Psychic  Factor. — This  does,  of  course,  not  exhaust  the 
subject  of  habitual  constipation.  It  was  only  my  intention  to 
emphasize  the  importance  of  the  psychic  factor  in  the  treat- 
ment of  such  conditions,  and,  in  closing,  to  draw  attention  to 
the  brilliant  results  achieved  in  many  cases  by  a  purely  psychic 
treatment,  of  which  fact  Dubois's  experience  gives  most  eloquent 
evidence. 

VIII.    DEFORMITIES  IN   CHILDREN 

By  Doctor  E.  H.  Arnold,  New  Haven,  Conn. 

Classification. — Deformities  in  children  are:  A.  Congenital; 
B.  Acquired. 

A .  Under  the  congenital  deformities  those  that  show  hereditary 
traits  are  in  a  sense  the  more  consequential,  since  they  are  apt 
to  recur  in  a  family.  A  type  of  such  deformity  is  polydactylism. 
Congenital  hereditary  clubfoot  is  not  particularly  rare.  In  these 
cases  the  tendency  to  deform  attaches  to  the  primary  germ-cell. 
A  variety  of  hereditary  deformities  which  need  not  necessarily 
repeat  in  a  family  is  the  atavistic  deformity.  As  an  example  of 
this  we  have  the  cervical  rib.  This  is  not  infrequent  in  children, 
and  may  give  rise  to  no  symptoms  during  childhood  and  youth; 
but  as  the  normal  skeleton  has  completed  its  growth,  growth 
seems  to  start  in  these  ribs  and  they  may  then  grow  to  quite 
the  size  of  an  adult  rib,  causing  pressure  on  the  nerves  and  large 
blood-vessels  in  their  neighborhood.  The  symptoms  from  such 
pressure  are  usually  felt  first  in  the  arms. 

B.  Acquired  deformities  occur  as  (i)  Weight  Deformities; 
(2)  Contractures. 

(i)  Weight  deformities:  If  superincumbent  weight  is  faultily 
distributed,  the  bones  supporting  such  weight  will  be  deformed. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  593 

If  the  bones  supporting  this  weight  be  diseased,  the  chances  for 
establishment  of  deformity  are,  of  course,  greater  and  the  de- 
formity is  apt  to  be  graver  in  degree.  Unsound  bony  tissue 
may  deform,  however,  even  under  proper  amount  and  properly 
distributed  weight.  In  looking  for  a  causative  agent  in  im- 
properly distributed  weight,  we  find  that  they  may  be  (c)  static, 
(b)  habitual,  and  (c)  vestimentary.  The  terms  explain  them- 
selves. One  leg  considerably  shorter  than  the  other  may  make 
so  much  tilting  necessary  that  a  lateral  curvature  of  the  spine 
may  readily  be  necessary  to  throw  the  weight  of  the  upper  part 
of  the  body  so  as  to  bring  the  centre  of  gravity  within  the  base 
of  support.  Quite  a  percentage  of  lateral  curvatures,  however, 
have  been  properly  attributed  to  bad  habits  of  distributing 
weight  in  standing  or  sitting.  Faulty  sitting  posture  in  poorly 
devised  and  adjusted  school  seats  has  been  held  responsible 
for  the  establishment  of  bad  sitting  habits.  One  of  the  most 
frequent  forms  of  deformities  caused  by  clothing  is  the  de- 
formity of  the  chest  due  to  wearing  ill-fitting  corsets.  Much 
more  frequent  still  are  the  deformities  of  the  feet  due  to  poorly 
constructed  shoes. 

(2)  Contractures,  as  the  name  would  imply,  are  shortenings 
of  the  soft  tissues.  Quite  a  variety  of  these  are  met  with.  We 
have  here: 

(a)  Skin  contractures  in  consequence  of  extensive  scarring,  es- 
pecially after  bums. 

(b)  Connective-tissue  contractures,  such  as  the  contraction  of 
tissue  around  the  joints  after  inflammation  of  a  rheumatic 
character,  the  contraction  of  the  tissue  around  veins,  etc. 

(c)  Muscular  contractures.  These  are  fairly  rare.  In  one 
variety  the  muscle  contracts  primarily  after  injuries.  Much 
more  frequent  are  the  second  great  muscular  contractions  or 
shortenings  that  become  established  as  a  consequence  of  paralysis 
of  some  standing.  In  this  category  belong  the  contractures  of 
apoplectic  paralysis,  also  those  of  infantile  paralysis.  Naturally, 
the  latter  variety  will  have  its  greatest  toll  among  children. 

(d)  Contractures  due  to  disturbances  of  the  nervous  organs. 
Under  this  heading  we  recognize  reflex,  spastic,  and  paralytic 
contractures. 

Under  the  heading  of  reflex  contractures  we  have  faulty  reflexes 
of  the  several  special  senses;   for  instance:   great  difference  of 


594  APPENDIX 

sight  in  the  two  eyes,  great  difference  of  hearing  in  the  two 
ears  may  readily  bring  about,  as  a  reflex,  a  habitual  bad  posture 
of  the  head  which  will  ultimately  end  in  a  contracture  of  the 
soft  tissue,  being  an  example  of  a  habitual  weight  deformity 
ending  in  a  contracture  which  we  shall  see  hereafter  is  quite 
frequently  an  outcome  of  the  conditions. 

Spastic  contractures  may  be  the  consequence  of  peripheral  or 
central  nervous  disturbances.  Under  the  second  heading  we 
find  spinal  and  cerebral  spasms  responsible  for  contractures. 

The  paralytic  kind  likewise  presents  the  spinal  and  cerebral 
varieties. 

Etiology. — The  classification  given  above  carries  in  a  large 
measure  an  account  of  the  etiology  of  deformities.  A  word 
may,  however,  not  be  amiss  about  the  etiology  of  those  weight 
deformities  that  come  to  exist  from  unsound  bone  tissue.  Two 
of  the  etiological  factors  are  important  by  their  frequency. 

The  first  one  is  rickets,  a  disorder  becoming  more  and  more 
prevalent  in  the  United  States,  where  it  was  formerly  a  rarity, 
except  in  the  very  largest  centres  of  population.  It  is  largely 
a  matter  of  artificial  feeding  of  infants,  poor  oxygenation  of 
blood  by  living  in  crowded  quarters,  and  the  lack  of  sunshine. 
Fortunately,  most  of  the  rickety  deformities  are  inconsequential. 
They  have  a  tendency  to  cure  out  spontaneously  in  the  cases 
which  are  milder  in  form  and  shorter  in  duration.  On  the  other 
hand,  dwarfing  and  microcephalus  occurring  in  consequence  of 
rickets  present  the  severer  degrees  of  the  sequelae  of  this  dis- 
order. 

The  other  frequent  cause  of  unsound  bony  tissue  is  tuber- 
culosis.  It  would  be  ''  carrying  coals  to  Newcastle  "  to  speak  of 
the  frequency  or  the  cause  of  tuberculosis  in  these  days.  Bone 
tuberculosis  presents  all  degrees  of  severity,  from  the  lightest 
that  pass  over  without  any  deformity  or  loss  of  function  even 
without  treatment,  to  those  that  will  go  to  appalling  degrees 
of  deformity  in  spite  of  the  best  of  treatrnent.  Bone  tuber- 
culosis, like  rickets,  is  especially  a  disease  of  early  childhood,  the 
classical  age  being  between  3  and  4.  The  most  sinister  out- 
come in  bone  tuberculosis  is  presented  by  the  fact  that  though 
comparatively  few  people  fall  victims  directly  to  the  onslaught 
of  bone  tuberculosis,  a  great  many  succumb  to  intercurrent 
diseases,  for  in  a  series  of  people  of  advanced  age,  50  to  60  and 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  596 

more  years,  one  will  find  a  very  small  percentage  indeed  of  people 
with  tubercular  deformity. 

Diagnosis. — The  diagnosis  of  existing  deformity  can  be  made 
by  a  layman.  To  diagnose  deformity  before  it  becomes  firmly 
established  must  be  the  most  desirable  way  in  approaching  the 
problem  of  deformity.  The  treatment  of  deformity  can  only 
be  instituted  intelligently  if  the  etiological  factor  is  known. 
For  unless  we  remove  the  cause,  a  good  many  of  the  deformities 
show  a  most  pertinacious  tendency  to  recurrence.  It  is  not 
always  easy  to  establish  the  fact  whether  we  are  dealing  with  a 
weight  deformity  or  a  contracture,  since  weight  deformity  of 
long  standing  wiU  have  secondary  contractures  as  a  necessary 
consequence;  and  it  is  equally  true  that  contractures  of  long 
standing  will  bring  about  weight  deformities.  In  order  to  treat 
to  the  best  effect,  the  sequence  of  events  and  the  etiological  fac- 
tor operating  in  bringing  the  deformity  to  the  degree  which  it 
presents  at  examination  must  be  known.  In  the  last  instance, 
a  differential  diagnosis  is  important  for  a  proper  prognosis. 

Treatment. — The  treatment  of  deformities  is  general  and 
special. 

The  general  treatment  is  that  of  good  hygiene  and  sanitation 
as  a  preventive  measure.  The  deformity  established,  general 
treatment  is  largely  symptomatic. 

Special  treatment  is  preventive  as  well  as  treatment  of  the 
actual  deformity.  Congenital  deformities  do  not  lend  them- 
selves to  preventive  measures  in  any  degree;  but  acquired  de- 
formities are  practically  all  preventable.  In  the  last  instances, 
rickets,  tuberculosis,  infantile  paralysis,  which  form  such  a  large 
quota  of  acquired  deformities,  are  certainly  preventable.  Static 
weight  deformity,  habitual  weight  deformity,  and  vestimentary 
ones  with  sound  tissue  are  practically  all  preventable.  Even  a 
great  many  of  the  spastic  paralyses  are  preventable  as  far  as 
they  rest  upon  syphilitic  ground,  or  upon  trauma  to  the  skuU 
at  birth.  A  vigorous  campaign  of  education  against  the  above- 
cited  causative  agents  of  deformity  will  certainly  make  them 
diminish  in  numbers.  The  deformities  once  established  can  be 
reached  by  local  treatment,  which  may  be  mechanical  or  surgical. 

Under  the  mechanical  treatment,  treatment  by  massage,  pas- 
sive and  active  exercise,  as  well  as  retentive  apparatus  and 
braces  are  all  of  great  use. 


596  APPENDIX 

The  surgical  treatment  of  deformities  has  made  great  strides 
forward  in  the  last  decade.  The  reclaiming  of  overioaded 
muscle  by  proper  brace  support,  the  prevention  of  paralytic 
deformities  by  brace,  have  been  followed  by  tendon  and  muscle 
transplantation,  by  silk,  tendon  and  silk  ligaments  (intra-  and 
extra-articular).  Osteoplastic  operations  on  joints,  osteotomy 
on  bone  shafts,  arthrodesis  on  flaU  joints  have  all  proved  their 
value  in  given  cases.  To  these  has  been  added  bone-grafting, 
which  has  a  large  field  of  usefulness  in  the  relief  of  deformity. 
Decompression  for  the  relief  of  cerebral  spastic  paralysis,  the 
cutting  of  the  sensory  spinal  nerve  roots  for  spinal  spastic  paral- 
ysis, have  had  some  brUliant  results  in  the  treatment  of  these 
otherwise  intractable  and  distressing  conditions. 

It  is  for  the  orthopedic  surgeon  to  weigh  off  which  one  of  these 
procedures  is  to  be  used  at  certain  stages  of  deformity.  Sur- 
gical procedure  is  becoming  so  complex  that  orthopedic  surgery 
has  come  to  be  recognized  as  a  special  branch  of  surgery,  and 
its  mission  is  mainly  the  choosing  of  proper  means  of  treatment 
at  the  proper  time. 

In  the  prevention  and  treatment  of  deformities,  it  is  evident 
the  home,  the  school,  and  the  orthopedic  expert  must  co-operate. 
Early  clinical  diagnosis  is  essential. 

IX.    THE   ROLE   OF   NEUROMUSCULAR  EDUCATION 
IN  TRAINING   ATYPICAL   CHILDREN 

By  Doctor  C.  Ward  Crampton,  New  York  City 

Three  Parts  of  Conscious  Reaction. — An  atypical  child  is 
deficient  or  exceptional  in  one  of  the  three  parts  of  conscious 
reaction  to  environmental  necessities.  First,  he  may  be  actually 
deficient  in  some  one  or  all  of  his  sense-perceptions.  The  rate 
of  percept  reception  may  be  either  too  slow  or  too  rapid.  Next, 
the  sense-perception  once  received  may  fall  upon  a  mental  equip- 
ment which  is  either  intrinsically  lacking  in  receptive  abilities, 
or  too  dull,  untrained,  or  unalert  to  successfully  incorporate 
the  percept  with  proper  relation  to  previous  knowledge;  third, 
the  apperceptive  mass  may  be  too  busy  with  internal  affairs, 
or  lacking  in  ability  to  discriminate  and  assort,  to  receive  im- 
pressions   from    a    hyperesthetic    sense-mechanism.     Further, 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  597 

either  too  dull  or  too  nervous  a  mind  will  be  relatively  devoid 
of  memory  images  or  previously  received  sense-perceptions, 
and  we  have  an  account  of  too  high  or  too  low  a  nervous  po- 
tential, a  failure  of  the  perceptiveness  to  adequately  incorporate 
the  new  stimulus  within  itself. 

Handicap  of  Habits. — With  these  possibilities  of  deficiency 
in  the  receptive  process,  deliberative  habits  which  might  lead 
to  proper  kinetic  response  are  severely  handicapped,  and  there 
results  either  no  action  at  all,  or  an  inappropriate,  inadequate 
motor  expression.  With  these  points  cleacly  in  mind,  the  com- 
mon practice  of  finding  fault  with  children  because  their 
behavior  is  inappropriate,  assumes  a  deeper  significance  thaa 
formerly.  It  is  comparatively  useless  to  find  fault  with  inaccu- 
rate and  inco-ordinated  moods  and  expressions  of  personality. 

Processes  of  Dealing  with  the  Handicaps. — In  dealing  with 
crippled  minds  it  is  best  to  follow  the  principle  which  this  de- 
partment* has  used  in  dealing  with  crippled  or  defective  bodies, 
i.  e.,  blind,  deaf,  tubercular,  and  crippled,  and  to  develop  the 
j)owers  that  exist  in  the  hope  of  developing  their  processes  to 
overshadow  unremediable  deficiencies.  In  a  mind  where  cer- 
tain faculties  are  left  out,  this  course  should  be  pursued.  For 
a  mind  whose  processes  are  weak  or  faulty  in  speed,  much  caa 
be  done  by  persistently  and  intelligently  training  in  simple 
motor  problems. 

Process  i:  Strengthening  Weak  Powers. — For  the  inert,  un- 
responsive child  apparently  unable  to  exercise  volition,  simple 
passive  movements  accompanied  by  the  gymnastic  command 
should  first  be  used.  For  instance,  the  teacher  commands: 
"  Raise  the  arms!"  and  herself  moves  the  arms  of  the  child. 
This  is  followed  by  a  command  similarly  executed:  "  Lower 
the  arms! "  This  may  be  done  slowly  not  more  than  eight  times, 
but  may  be  rei)eated  thrice  within  twenty  minutes.  After  a 
sufficient  practice,  the  child  may  be  made  to  get  the  appropri- 
ate response  with  the  passive  movement.  The  teacher  may  in- 
dicate the  movement  herself  without  touching  the  chUd.  This 
method  should  then  be  extended  to  other  movements.  By  this 
process  the  powers  of  reception,  deliberation,  and  volition  are 
gradually  awakened  if  they  exist  potentially  in  any  degree 

*  Department  of  Physical  Training,  New  York  Public  Schools. 


698  APPENDIX 

whatsoever.  Upon  this  basis,  all  kinds  of  instruction  in  any 
appropriate  field  whatsoever  may  be  set  forward. 

Process  2:  Objective-Subjective  Methods. — It  will  be  found 
that  many  atypical^  children  are  able  to  do  various  simple 
natural  movements  which  have  some  purpose.  They  are  un- 
conscious of  any  volition  in  connection  with  them.  These  move- 
ments may  be  used  to  establish  the  process  of  learning  and  of 
conscious  subjective  volition,  the  highest  and  usually  the  weak- 
est of  all  mental  processes.  Take,  for  instance,  walking,  which 
most  children  can  accomplish  without  difficulty.  The  teacher 
gives  instructions  to  walk  to  the  front  of  the  room,  pick  up 
something  and  return  to  the  seat ;  next  to  walk  around  the  room 
and  in  order  up  and  down  the  aisles,  and  to  various  places  and 
return,  always  commending  accuracy,  and  gently  criticising 
failure.  Variations  in  rate  should  follow,  and  variations  in 
length  of  step  may  be  undertaken.  Next,  there  should  be  in- 
troduced jumping,  skipping,  and  the  like.  Arm  movements 
may  then  follow  in  combination;  first  the  arms  may  be  extended 
sideways,  then  moved  up  and  down  as  if  flying.  Next,  move- 
ments of  the  arms  should  be  undertaken  in  the  same  rhythm 
as  the  walking.  The  greatest  care  should  be  taken  not  to  make 
progress  too  rapidly  and  earlier  lessons  should  be  reviewed  step 
by  step. 

The  next  step  should  be  the  correlation  of  the  external  and  the 
internal  rhythm.  For  this  purpose  the  phonograph  provides  the 
most  excellent  means.  The  simple  marches  and  waltzes  with  a 
most  decided  and  emphatic  rhythm  should  be  used.  The  whole 
process  should  begin  again  with  simple  walking,  and  elaboration 
may  be  made  in  a  manner  above  indicated.  It  is  of  great  profit 
to  introduce  some  of  the  simpler  folk-dances  which  are  appro- 
priate for  normal  children  of  6  to  8  years.  Some  of  these 
have  a  song  in  connection  with  them,  and  this  provides  an  ad- 
mirable method  of  awakening  the  whole  child  to  a  co-ordinated 
mental  and  physical  activity.  The  results  which  have  been 
derived  from  this  process  are  astonishing.  Minds  apparently 
hopelessly  lacking  in  reception,  deliberation,  and  volition  have 
disclosed  their  hidden  abilities,  and  others  too  dull  or  too  active 
for  accurate  co-ordination  have  adjusted  their  modes  of  combined 

^  Doctor  Crampton  does  not  use  this  tenn  precisely  in  the  sense  of  the 
author's  terminology. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  699 

action  to  each  other  with  a  beautifully  smooth  and  natural  ter- 
minal product  of  normal  child  activity. 

As  a  last  term  in  the  series  of  subjective-objective  motor 
problems,  and  as  an  item  of  daily  motor  practice  for  pupils  in 
process  of  training,  the  simple  folk-dance  has  an  undoubted 
value  and  a  peculiar  significance.  It  is  a  form  of  whole-child 
activity  which  has  been  practised  spontaneously  by  hundreds 
of  generations  of  children;  only  the  most  appropriate  forms 
have  survived,  and  these  are  the  ones  that  have  passed  the 
great  human  test  of  child  choice.  They  are  of  tremendous 
biological  significance,  and  when  learned  and  practised  they 
bring  children  into  a  realm  of  normal  human  activities  from 
which  their  deficiencies  have  previously  barred  them.  To  de- 
velop the  ability  to  practise  them  is  indeed  a  wholesome  gift 
to  these  children,  and  upon  this  solid  basis  a  normalized  struc- 
ture of  mental  activity  may  often  be  successfully  raised. 

X.    THE  INFLUENCE  OF  BREATfflNG  AND  SPEECH 
UPON  THE   CHILD'S   MENTALITY 

By  Otto  Glogau,  M.D.,  New  York 

Speech  and  Breathing. — In  comparison  with  speech,  breathing 
is  a  rather  low  function,  met  with  in  both  plants  and  animals. 
Through  it,  exhaust  substances  of  the  body  are  exchanged  by 
fresh  chemical  elements  of  the  surrounding  medium.  Speech, 
the  expression  of  thought,  is  the  exclusive  privilege  of  the  human 
race.  It  serves  the  exchange  of  mental  fiuidum  between  human 
souls.  There  exists,  however,  an  intimate  relationship  between 
the  physical  process  of  breathing  and  the  psychic,  complex  act 
of  speaking.  We  shall  endeavor  to  reveal  the  influence  exerted 
upon  the  child's  mind  by  disturbances  of  breathing  and  of  speech. 

As  the  brain  matter  is  the  organic  substratum  for  every 
p>sychic  manifestation,  the  latter  will  deviate  more  or  less  from 
the  norm  when  the  former  is  insufficiently  nourished.  The 
mechanical  hindrances  which  affect  breathing  interfere  with  the 
normal  oxygenation  of  the  blood,  and  thus  produce  an  under- 
nourishment of  the  sensitive  brain  tissues.     In  nasal  obstruc- 


600  APPENDIX 

tion,  whether  due  to  hypertrophied  turbinates,  deviation  of  the 
nasal  septum,  or  enlarged  adenoids,  the  child  is  forced  to  breathe 
through  the  mouth.  Thereby  the  air  reaches  the  sensitive 
alveoli  of  the  lungs  in  a  cold,  dry,  and  dirty  condition.  By 
passing  through  the  nose,  the  air  would  have  been  priorily 
warmed,  moistened,  and  purified  by  the  vascular  activity  of  the 
nasal  turbinates.  The  insufficient  supply  of  air  produces  a 
variety  of  symptoms,  such  as  headaches,  lassitude,  inability  to 
study  or  to  do  anything  requiring  mental  concentration.  The 
mechanical  nasal  obstructions  interfere  with  the  aeration  of 
the  Eustachian  tube,  the  channel  between  the  nose  and  the  ear. 
The  middle  ear  will  dry  out,  and  will  easily  become  infected. 
The  catarrhal  and  suppurative  processes  of  the  middle  ear 
cause  impaired  hearing.  Thus  the  acquisition  of  normal  speech 
and  consequently  a  normal  mentality  are  interfered  with. 

Faulty  Breathing. — Faulty  breathing,  accompanied  by  mental 
abnormalities,  occurs,  however,  even  with  perfectly  normal  air 
passages.  For  breath  is  not  only  the  oxygen-carrier  for  the  body, 
it  provides  also  the  propelling  power  for  speech.  Normal  speech 
depends  upon  the  mastering  of  the  difficult  art  of  correct  breath- 
ing. To  facilitate  matters,  we  shall  term  the  process  of  breathing 
that  serves  exclusively  the  conservation  of  the  organism  as 
*'  animal  breathing."  We  differentiate  it  thereby  from  the 
type  of  breathing  that  is  employed  during  articulate  speech,  and 
term  the  latter  as  "  articulatory  breathing." 

Mechanism  of  Respiration. — The  mechanism  of  respiration 
is  as  follows:  the  flattening  and  downward  movement  of  the 
diaphragm  and  the  rising  and  expansion  of  the  ribs  widen  the 
thorax.  The  lungs,  during  this  act  of  inspiration,  passively  fol- 
low the  expansion  of  the  thorax  and  diaphragm.  The  recoil- 
ing elasticity  of  the  ribs  and  lungs  induces,  without  any  mus- 
cular activity,  the  expiratory  movement.  Flourens  assumed 
within  the  medulla  oblongata  a  regulating  respiratory  centre, 
wherefrom  impulses  are  supposed  to  emanate  down  to  the 
branches  of  the  respiratory  muscles  within  the  spinal  cord. 
Recent  experiments  on  animals,  especially  those  made  by  Jacques 
Loeb,  prove,  however,  that  in  animal  breathing  the  assumption 
of  a  regulating  centre  is  not  necessary. 

The  structural  peculiarity  of  segmentation  met  with  in  the 
low  animal  forms  exists  even  in  the  highest  developmental  stage. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  601 

Each  segment  is  dominated  by  a  ganglion  wherein  reactive 
powers  of  both  the  sensory  and  motor  nerves  are  stored.  By 
very  painstaking  experiments  on  Limulus,  Loeb  proved  that 
if  the  whole  central  nervous  system  with  the  exception  of  these 
ganglia  be  removed,  the  rhythmical  respiratory  activity  con- 
tinues unchanged.  He  also  proved  that  every  ganglion  is  the 
seat  of  an  automatic  periodic  activity.     He  says: 

In  higher  animals,  the  conditions  controlling  respiration  scarcely 
differ  from  those  in  Limulus.  There  is  a  series  of  segmental  ganglia 
in  the  thoracic  portion  of  the  spinal  cord  which  sends  nerves  to  the 
thoracic  respiratory  muscles  of  the  respective  segments.  Chemical 
changes  which  are  continually  going  on  in  the  body,  or  in  these  seg- 
mental ganglia,  xmder  the  influence  of  heat  (the  temi>erature  of  the  body) 
produce  a  periodic  activity  in  these  ganglia  and  consequently  in  the 
respiratory  muscles.  The  segmental  connection  existing  between  the 
ganglia  and  the  muscles  would  bring  about  co-ordination  just  as  it  does 
in  Limulus. 

Human  Breathing  a  Reflex  Action. — Basing  on  these  and  other 
exp)eriments,  we  assume  that  animal  breathing  in  the  human 
being  is  also  a  segmental  function,  and  as  such  a  reflex  action. 
We  believe  that  animal  breathing  is  localized  within  the  ganglion- 
cells  of  the  motor-nerve  roots  of  the  respiratory  muscles.  The 
ganglion-cells  of  the  different  spinal  segments  are  connected  with 
one  another  by  fibres  whereby  cells  of  different  levels  may  be 
stimulated  by  the  sensory  irritation  of  ganglion-cells  below  and 
above  their  location.  From  the  ganglion-cells  of  the  different 
motor  horns  of  the  respiratory  muscles,  numerous  conductive 
fibres  also  go  upward  toward  the  medulla  oblongata,  and  form 
a  connection  with  the  nuclei  of  the  speech  muscles.  Another 
set  of  conductive  fibres  go  from  the  respiratory  ganglion-cells 
through  the  medulla  oblongata  up  to  the  brain.  These  fibres 
are,  however,  centrifugal.  They  originate  in  what  we  call  the 
articulo-respiratory  centre. 

Inarticulate  Sounds  Also  Reflex  in  Nature. — It  is  a  fact  that 
crowing,  quacking,  etc.,  animals  continue  to  utter  their  inartic- 
ulate sounds  even  after  their  brain  has  been  removed  up  to  the 
corpora  quadrigemina.  Children  born  without  a  brain  (anen- 
cephalics),  and  children  whose  brain  has  been  destroyed  during 
delivery,  are  still  producing  crying  or  whistling  sounds.     These 


602  APPENDIX 

facts  induced  Kussmaul  to  localize  the  centre  for  inarticulate 
sounds  behind  the  corpora  quadrigemina.  Believing  that  the 
formation  of  articulate  sounds  depends  upon  the  integrity  of 
this  centre,  Kussmaul  called  it  the  basal  sound  centre. 

It  is  our  assumption  that  there  does  not  exist  such  a  thing  as 
a  centre  for  inarticulate  sounds.  Within  the  medulla  oblongata 
originate  all  motor  nerves  of  the  head,  and  terminate  all  sensory 
head  nerves,  including  those  of  the  muscles  of  speech.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  interlacing  of  the  nuclei  within  the  medulla  oblon- 
gata, by  numerous  connecting  fibres,  we  assume  that  they  are 
connected  by  special  conductive  paths  with  the  ganglion-cells 
of  the  motor-nerve  roots  of  the  segmental  respiratory  muscles. 
In  this  way  a  reflex  arc  is  established  between  breathing  and  the 
uttering  of  inarticulate  sounds. 

The  first  cry  the  new-bom  baby  utters  is  nothing  but  a  reflex 
stimulation  of  the  nuclei  of  the  vocal  and  articulatory  move- 
ment ;  the  sensory  part  of  the  reflex  arc  is  the  external  irritation 
(lowered  temperature  and  changed  skin  sensation)  which  simul- 
taneously causes  the  first  breath. 

Both  animal  breathing  and  the  uttering  of  inarticulate  sounds 
can  therefore  be  easily  explained  as  reflexes  without  the  assump- 
tion of  any  regulating  centres. 

Breathing  and  Articulate  Speech. — We  will  now  describe  the 
changes  in  the  type  of  breathing  that  occur  when  the  uttering 
of  inarticulate  sounds  develops  into  the  articulate  language  of 
the  human  race.  Suffice  it  to  state  that  the  articulatory  move- 
ments of  the  first  babbling  sounds  are  reflex  impulses  that  may 
be  compared  to  the  inco-ordinate  movements  of  the  baby's  little 
hands  and  feet  preliminary  to  the  mastering  of  the  arts  of  grasp- 
ing and  walking. 

Through  the  aid  of  the  senses  of  hearing,  vision,  and  touch, 
assisted  also  by  the  muscular  sense,  the  baby  first  learns  to 
copy  and  repeat  his  own  (primitive)  sounds  and  gradually  also 
those  constantly  repeated  by  the  surrounding  persons.  Thus, 
through  continuous  training,  first  the  mechanical,  and  gradually 
the  psychic  side  of  speech  is  learned. 

In  producing  the  above-mentioned  primitive  babbling  sounds, 
there  is  not  only  deposited  within  the  brain  a  picture  of  the  posi- 
tion and  tension  of  the  articulatory  muscles,  but  also  a  reminis- 
cence of  the  power  of  breath  passing  by  these  gateways  of  speech 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  603 

during  the  utterance  of  sound.  The  first  consonants  the  baby 
uses  are  "  p  "  and  "  t."  The  first  words  are  "  papa  "  or  "  tata." 
In  order  to  pronounce  the  "p,"  it  is  not  enough  to  press  the 
lips  upon  one  another  and  to  open  them.  It  needs  an  air- 
current  of  a  definite  p>ower  to  explode  the  closing  of  the  lips  so 
that  the  sound  of  "  p  "  may  be  heard.  The  same  holds  good  for 
the  other  "occlusives,"  "fricatives,"  etc.,  where  the  air-current 
has  either  to  push  open  a  closed  portal  or  to  rush  through  a 
narrow  one. 

Language  Centres. — ^The  centres  for  language  as  recognized 
up  till  now  may  be  divided  into  two  types,  sensory  and  motor, 
and  are  as  follows: 

First:  a  centre  for  the  reception  of  the  memories  of  spoken 
words; 

Second:  a  centre  for  the  reception  of  the  memories  of  the 
apF>earance  of  objects  as  seen,  and  of  words  as  written; 

Third:  a  centre  for  the  reception  of  the  appearance  of  objects 
gained  through  the  sense  of  touch; 

Fourth:  a  centre  for  the  memory  of  the  muscular  movements 
necessary  for  the  performance  of  articulate  speech; 

Fifth:  a  centre  for  the  memory  of  muscular  movements  con- 
cerned in  writing. 

The  hitherto  acknowledged  centres  of  speech  are,  however, 
not  adequate  for  the  explanation  of  the  entire  process  of  articu- 
lation. We  must  assume  the  existence  of  an  "  articulo-respira- 
tory  centre  "  within  the  cortex  of  the  brain.  Within  the  "  articulo- 
respiratory  centre"  there  is  deposited  the  memory  of  the  action 
of  the  respiratory  muscles  during  articulation.  The  articulo- 
respiratory  word-picture  thus  obtained  is  due  to  the  centripetal 
impulses  originating  from  the  sensory  nerves  of  the  lungs  and 
the  respiratory  muscles.  The  exact  state  of  the  respiratory 
tract  and  the  respiratory  muscles  during  the  production  of  the 
particular  p>ower  of  breath  essential  to  the  articulation  of  the 
respective  word  is  thus,  so  to  say,  registered  within  the  articulo- 
respiratory  centre.  The  centrifugal  pathway  from  the  articulo- 
respiratory  centre  is  formed  by  the  innumerable  conductive 
fibres  between  it  and  the  ganglion-cells  of  the  respiratory  mus- 
cles within  the  spinal  cord.  If  we  now  add  the  articulo-respira- 
tory  centre  to  the  above-mentioned  centres  of  speech,  the  process 
of  speech  will  take  place  as  follows: 


604  APPENDIX 

Process  of  Speech. — Assuming  that  the  impulse  to  articulate 
a  certain  word  has  arisen  within  the  transcortex,  the  "throne 
of  reason  and  thought,"  it  will  be  immediately  carried  to  the 
different  centres.  The  abstract  idea  of  the  word  will  thus  be- 
come invested  with  all  the  material  qualities  of  its  object.  The 
strongest  impulses,  however,  will  be  imparted  where  the  memories 
of  the  articulated  word  are  deposited,  viz.,  of  its  sound-picture, 
of  the  muscular  activities  during  articulation,  and  of  the  articulo- 
respiratory  power  during  its  articulation. 

These  three  centres,  by  means  of  intricate,  associative  fibres, 
stimulate  one  another  and  thereby  enhance  the  co-ordination 
of  their  activity.  The  sensory  speech  centre  seems  to  be  the 
most  vibrating  one.  The  memory  of  the  sound  of  the  word  to 
be  articulated  rises  nearer  to  the  surface  of  consciousness  than 
that  of  its  muscular  and  articulo-respiratory  peculiarities.  The 
impulses  are  then  conducted  from  the  motor  speech  centre  to  the 
cortical  area  of  the  speech  muscles,  and  thence  to  their  nuclei 
within  the  medulla  oblongata.  Simultaneously,  the  impulses 
from  the  articulo-respiratory  centre  travel  to  the  cortical  area 
of  the  respiratory  muscles,  and  from  there  to  their  spinal  gan- 
glion-cells. While  the  sound-picture  of  the  word  rings  upper- 
most in  the  mind,  the  speech  muscles  are  set  into  the  appro- 
priate speech  positions,  and  the  articulo-respiratory  air-current 
passes  by  them  in  the  adequate  strength. 

From  these  considerations  it  becomes  evident  that  any  affec- 
tion of  the  articulo-respiratory  centre  or  its  connections  with  the 
other  speech  centres  wiU  cause  more  or  less  marked  disturbances 
of  speech  which,  in  turn,  influence  the  psychic  state  of  the  child 
unfavorably. 

The  Psychic  Mechanism. — Breathing  during  speech  (articu- 
latory  respiration)  is  a  psychic  act.  In  a  normal  mentality  we 
also  find  a  so-called  normal  type  of  articulatory  respiration. 
This  type  of  breathing  will,  however,  deviate  more  or  less  from 
the  norm  in  the  atypical,  subnormal,  and  abnormal  children, 
as  -Doctor  Groszmann  so  ably  classifies  them.  Before  going 
into  detail  about  the  influence  of  abnormal  breathing  upon  the 
child's  mentality,  we  shall  first  describe  the  so-called  normal 
type  of  breathing. 

Normal  Breathing. — Breathing  during  rest  (animal  breathing) 
is  automatic  or  reflex.     Thoracic  and  abdominal  breathing  pro- 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  605 

ceed  quite  symmetrically.  The  inspiration  is  of  about  the  same 
length  as  the  expiration.  Only  a  small  volume  of  air  is  moved. 
Breathing  takes  place  exclusively  through  the  nose,  provided 
there  does  not  exist  any  nasal  obstruction.  The  vocal  cords 
during  inspiration  and  expiration  form  an  oblong  triangle.  The 
type  of  breathing  as  met  with  during  speech  differs  from  the 
former  quite  considerably.  Here  the  breathing  is  distinctly 
under  the  influence  of  the  brain,  a  so-called  voluntary  action. 
The  thoracical  or  costal  type  of  breathing  prevails.  The  inspira- 
tion is  very  short,  the  expiration  very  long.  Quite  a  large 
volume  of  air  is  moved.  During  speech,  breathing  takes  place 
exclusively  through  the  mouth.  During  inspiration,  the  vocal 
cords  form  a  very  large  pentagon,  in  order  to  admit  the  on- 
rush of  air;  during  expiration,  they  form  only  a  very  narrow 
sHt. 

The  Two  Types  of  Breathing. — The  difference  between  the  two 
types  of  breathing  can  also  be  demonstrated  by  certain  labora- 
tory methods  whereby  so-called  records  of  breathing  are  taken. 
The  inspiratory  and  expiratory  movements  of  the  chest  and 
abdomen  both  during  rest  and  during  speech  are  recorded  by 
the  so-called  pneumograph.  This  instrument  consists  of  a 
closed  rubber  tube  expanded  by  a  spiral  spring.  The  tube  has 
at  its  end  a  smaU  outlet  which  is  connected  by  means  of  a  rubber 
tube  with  a  so-called  Marey's  tambour.  The  pneumograph  is 
fastened  around  the  thorax  and  abdomen.  The  expansion  and 
contraction  of  the  thorax  and  the  abdomen  cause  within  the 
rubber  tube  differences  of  air-pressure  that  are  imparted  to  the 
thin  rubber  membrane  which  covers  the  metal  cap  of  Marey's 
tambour.  To  this  membrane  a  very  sensitive  lever  is  fastened. 
With  the  afflux  or  efflux  of  air  from  the  pneumograph,  the  point 
of  the  lever  moves  up  and  down  on  a  rotating  recording  drum. 
Thereby  a  white  line  is  registered  on  the  soot  of  the  paper 
stretched  around  the  metal  cylinder.  The  rotation  of  the  latter 
is  regulated  by  clockwork.  After  obtaining  the  record,  the 
paper  (which  had  been  previously  smoked  over  a  candle  or  a 
gas  flame)  is  removed  from  the  metal  cylinder  and  dipped  into 
a  shellac-alcohol  solution.  By  drying  in  the  air,  the  record 
becomes  fixed. 

Relatioii  of  Normal  Breathing  and  Normal  Speech. — During 
the  past  two  years  I  had  the  opportimity  of  taking,  at  the 


606  APPENDIX 

Speech  Research  Laboratory  (Neurological  Department,  Co- 
lumbia University),  numerous  breathing  records  of  children 
suffering  from  various  speech  disturbances.  1  found  deviations 
from  the  normal  type  of  breathing,  often  during  rest,  and  always 
during  speech,  not  only  in  those  central  speech  affections  where 
the  intellectual  development  of  the  child  had  been  interfered 
with  (sensory  and  motor  aphasia,  congenital  deafness,  etc.),  but 
also  in  those  speech  defects  where  mostly  psychic  overirrita- 
bility  is  present  (stuttering,  stammering,  etc.).  Due  to  lack  of 
space  we  shall  restrict  ourselves  to  a  discussion  of  the  breathing 
abnormalities  of  the  stuttering  child. 

The  Abnormal  Breathing  of  the  Stutterer. — The  normal  breath- 
ing records  show  that  during  rest  the  waves  for  inspiration  and 
expiration  are  almost  of  the  same  length.  During  speech,  how- 
ever, when  we  talk  on  a  prolonged  expiration,  the  wave  of  the 
latter  is  considerably  longer,  while  the  inspiratory  wave  is  im- 
mensely shortened. 

The  study  of  the  breathing  curve  of  the  stutterer  reveals  the 
following  interesting  facts.  In  lighter  cases  of  stuttering  the 
curves  in  breathing  during  rest  (animal  respiration)  may  appear 
normal.  But  in  quite  a  number  of  the  more  pronounced  cases 
of  stuttering  even  the  curves  of  breathing  during  rest  show  ir- 
regular elevations,  sudden  jerks  and  other  deviations  from  the 
normal  curve,  such  as  point  to  a  lack  of  control  over  the  econ- 
omy of  breath.  Basing  on  these  findings,  the  experienced  ob- 
server may  in  many  instances  diagnose  the  case  as  one  of  stut- 
tering, without  the  stutterer  having  spoken  even  one  word. 
During  speech  (articulatory  respiration)  the  thoracic  and  ab- 
dominal breathing  curves  of  the  stutterer  become  directly 
pathological  or,  so  to  speak,  pathognomonic.  We  find  the  short 
inspiration  and  long  expiration  replaced  by  an  irregular  con- 
glomerate of  inspiratory  and  expiratory  jerks,  by  straight  lines 
indicating  the  stoppage  of  breath,  and  by  asymmetrical  un- 
dulations. 

Abnormal  Breathing  as  a  Cause  of  Psychic  Disturbance. — 
How  are  the  psychic  irritations  in  the  stuttering  child  produced 
through  these  abnormalities  in  breathing  ? 

Let  us  suppose  that  through  any  reason  whatsoever  (trauma, 
fright,  shock,  infectious  disease,  etc.)  a  predisposed  child  ac- 
quires an  affection  of  the  articxilo-respiratory  centre  or  of  the 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  607 

fibres  connecting  it  with  the  other  speech  centres.  This  child 
suddenly  notices  that  he  is  unable  to  explode  the  closed  lips 
with  the  strength  necessary  to  articulate  the  letter  "  p."  The 
same  may  be  noticeable  with  any  other  consonant.  Of  course 
he  will  try  to  overcome  the  obstacle  by  increasing  the  air-pres- 
sure from  the  lungs  toward  the  closed  lips.  This  attempt  to 
overcome  his  articulo-respiratory  disturbance,  when  repeated 
over  and  over  again,  finally  leads  to  the  tonic  and  clonic  con- 
tractions of  the  diaphragm  and  the  other  respiratory  muscles 
which  are  the  cause  of  the  irregularities  of  the  breathing  records 
of  the  stutterer. 

When  the  attempts  to  direct  an  adequate  articulo-respiratory 
current  of  air  toward  the  consonant  portals  have  failed,  the 
stutterer  will  try  to  bring  about  the  correct  articulation  of  the 
intended  consonant  by  concentrating  his  attention  to  the  speech 
muscles  involved.  The  contraction  of  the  respective  speech 
muscles  will  gradually  tighten  and  will  last  longer,  whereby,  in 
time,  so-called  tonic  cramps  will  be  brought  about.  If  this 
attempt  fails,  a  rapid  succession  of  contractions  and  relaxations 
of  the  respective  speech  muscles  will  be  resorted  to,  a  procedure 
which,  through  inevitable  exaggerations,  will  finally  lead  to 
their  clonic  cramps.  At  this  stage,  the  psychic  effects  of  the 
described  attempts  of  correcting  the  faulty  articulatory  respira- 
tion will  become  evident. 

"A  never-failing  symptom  is  the  patient's  lack  of  confidence 
in  his  ability  to  speak  correctly.  In  some  cases,  the  mere  thought 
*  Will  I  be  able  to  say  that  word  ? '  is  sufficient  to  make  it  abso- 
lutely impossible  for  the  person  to  say  it.  The  stutterer  always 
lives  with  the  fear  that  'his  speech  may  go  back  on  him';  when 
the  dreaded  word  is  coming  he  avoids  it  by  selecting  another  that 
will  serve  just  as  well.  The  fear  of  being  ridiculous  is  nearly  al- 
ways present,  also  usually  a  condition  of  mental  flurry.  The 
embarrassment  and  sad  experiences  of  the  stutterer  often  lead 
to  an  abnormal  mental  condition.  The  patient  is  nervous,  shy, 
easily  embarrassed,  retiring,  odd  in  his  ways,  sad,  etc.  In  some 
cases  the  change  does  not  go  beyond  an  increase  of  sensitive- 
ness. Many  stutterers,  especially  young  women  and  school- 
boys, acquire  a  permanent  facial  expression  that  is  typical  of 
the  profoundest  sadness.  The  thought  of  suicide  is  frequent." 
(Scripture.) 


608  APPENDIX 

Defective  Hearing  and  Speech  Troubles. — ^It  is  a  well-known 
fact  that  children  with  impaired  hearing,  especially  those  suffer- 
ing from  acquired  or  congenital  deafness,  show  a  tendency  to 
deteriorate  or  lose  entirely  the  faculty  of  speech.  Through  this 
impaired  conceptual  ability,  these  children  "  may  lose  their 
normal  characteristics  and  degenerate  into  permanent  defective- 
ness." (Groszmann.)  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  in  these 
children  with  defective  hearing  the  type  of  breathing  deviates 
considerably  from  the  normal.  In  acquired  deafness,  the  pneu- 
mographic  curve  in  mere  breathing  shows  no  peculiarities;  it 
differs,  however,  during  speech  considerably  from  the  normal. 
The  inspirations  are  extremely  frequent.  The  relation  between 
the  length  of  inspiration  and  of  expiration  also  deviates  greatly 
from  the  rule.  The  deaf  child,  in  comparison  with  the  normal 
child,  speaks  remarkably  few  syllables  on  one  breath.  Evidently, 
much  more  power  is  expended  in  the  articulatory  movements, 
as  evidenced  by  the  expiratory  jerks  of  the  thoracic  record. 
This  fact  causes  the  characteristic  heavy  speech  of  the  deaf. 
In  a  congenitally  deaf  child  the  foregoing  peculiarities  appear 
much  more  pronounced.  The  number  of  inspirations  during 
speech  exceeds  those  during  mere  breathing  in  an  astonishing 
degree.  The  thoracic  breathing  curves  show  an  extremely 
ataxic  character.  The  later  in  life  deafness  is  acquired,  the 
more  will  the  breathing  curve  during  speech  approach  the  nor- 
mal. We  may  diagnose  immediately  from  the  breathing  curves 
of  a  deaf  child  whether  his  affection  is  acquired  or  congenital. 
(Gutzmann.) 

Other  Causes  of  Speech  Disturbances. — Disturbances  of 
speech  may  be  due  to  organic  causes,  such  as  defects  in  the 
organs  of  speech,  obstructions  to  the  current  of  air,  etc.,  or  to 
central  causes,  such  as  fright,  trauma,  shock,  etc.  I  agree  with 
Doctor  Groszmann  in  classifying  the  child  suffering  from  an 
organic  speech  defect  as  pseudoatypical  or  atypical,  respectively. 
I  object,  however,  to  considering  a  child  suffering  from  a  central 
speech  defect,  even  if  due  to  congenital  deafness,  as  "  sub- 
normal," per  se.^    I  am  much  pleased  to  find  that  Doctor  Grosz- 

1  This  objection  is  possibly  due  to  the  impression  caused  by  the  constant 
abuse  of  the  term  "subnormal"  as  more  or  less  confused  with  "abnormal." 
The  absence  of  one  or  more  "normal  fx)tentials"  stamps  a  child  as  "subnormal," 
no  matter  what  his  intellectual  abilities  otherwise  are.  This  is  clearly  shown 
in  other  chapters  of  this  book. — ^The  Author. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  609 

mann,  in  the  newly  revised  form  of  his  classification,  as  used  in 
this  book,  has  made  a  distinction  between  "  deaf  "  and  "  dumb." 
For  every  deaf  child,  by  proper  instruction,  can  be  taught  how 
to  talk. 

Correction  of  Speech  Defects. — The  results  gained  from  the 
experiments  made  in  the  Speech  Research  Laboratory  have 
taught  us  what  the  normal  type  of  breathing  is,  both  during  rest 
and  during  speech.  It  may  be  assumed  that  in  every  case  of 
speech  defect,  causing  a  disturbance  of  the  normal  mentality 
of  the  child,  the  type  of  breathing  also  deviates  from  the  norm. 

The  correction  of  speech  defects,  aiming  also  toward  the  im- 
provement of  the  mental  qualities  of  the  child,  will  therefore  be 
greatly  aided  by  appropriate  breathing  exercises.  This  training 
in  the  economy  of  breath  wUl  restore  the  lost  control  over  the 
respiratory  muscles.  In  order  to  prove  successful,  the  breath- 
ing exercises  must  be  founded  on  the  scientifically  established 
facts  of  the  normal  physiology  of  breathing  and  of  speech. 
The  improvement  in  breathing,  the  "conditio  sine  qua  non" 
for  the  correction  of  speech  defects,  may  be  easily  controlled 
by  breathing  records  taken  at  regular  intervals.  Especially  in 
the  instruction  of  the  stuttering  and  of  the  speaking  deaf  child, 
methodical  breathing  exercises  are  of  immense  aid.  With  the 
successful  progress  of  the  treatment,  the  breathing  records  show 
more  and  more  a  tendency  to  return  to  the  normal  type.  For 
this  reason,  every  clinic  where  the  treatment  of  speech  defects 
and  simultaneously  a  remoulding  of  the  child's  mind  is  under- 
taken, should  be  aided  in  its  aims  by  the  valuable  work  of  a 
Si>eech  Laboratory. 

It  ought  to  be  impressed  upon  both  parents  and  teachers 
that  normal  sj>eech  and  normal  breath  are  the  foundation  of  a 
normal  mind. 

The  physical  impediments  to  breathing  and  speech  should  be 
diagnosed,  corrected  or  removed  by  the  physician.  The  central 
defects  of  breathing  and  of  speech  should  be  restored  to  the 
norm  by  the  speech  instructor  or  by  the  Speech  Clinic,  greatly 
aided  by  the  intelligent  and  sympathetic  efforts  of  the  parents 
and  the  school-teacher.  Through  this  co-operation  between 
physician,  parents  and  educator,  innumerable  children  will  re- 
gain their  mental  equilibrium  after  it  had  been  almost  upset  by 
their  handicap  in  the  expression  and  reception  of  thought. 


610  APPENDIX 


XI.    THE  DEAF   CHILD   FROM   THE   STANDPOINT 
OF  THE  EDUCATOR 

By  John  Dutton  Wright,  M.A.,  New  Yory 

Classification. — In  the  classification  of  exceptional  children 
as  adopted  in  this  volume,  deaf  children  would  appear  under 
each  of  two  primary  divisions.  Under  Division  A,  they  should 
be  placed  in  Subdivision  4  of  Group  (a)  of  Section  2:  "  Impaired 
Hearing."  Under  Division  B,  they  would  come  under  Section 
I.     The  term  in  that  section  is:  "  deaf,  dumb."  ^ 

For  educational  purposes,  deaf  children  who  are  otherwise 
normal  should  be  divided  into  four  general  classes. 

(i)  Those  with  hearing  slightly  impaired  after  speech  has  been 
acquired. 

(2)  Those  whose  hearing  has  been  entirely  destroyed,  or  very 
seriously  impaired,  after  speech  has  been  acquired. 

(3)  Those  with  hearing  slightly  impaired  from  birth  or  early 
infancy. 

(4)  Those  totally  deaf,  or  with  hearing  very  seriously  impaired, 
from  birth  or  early  infancy. 

Each  of  these  four  groups  requires  different  educational  treat- 
ment in  order  to  bring  the  children  most  nearly  to  the  educa- 
tional standard  of  the  normal  child.     The  problem  grows  pro- 


1  This  is  the  only  not  strictly  medical  contribution  to  this  chapter;  but  it 
fills  its  place  most  legitimately  and  will  be  fully  appreciated. — M.  P.  E.  G. 

'  A  comma  seems  a  small  and  insignificant  thing,  yet  its  presence  after 
the  word  "deaf"  in  this  place  indicates  an  advanced  state  of  intelligence  on 
the  part  of  the  creator  of  this  classification.  Too  often,  both  by  professional 
men  and  laymen,  the  term  "deaf  and  dumb"  is  used  indiscriminately  to  describe 
the  speaking  deaf  and  those  who  have  never  learned  to  speak.  Unfortunately, 
there  are  "deaf  and  dumb"  persons.  But  there  are  thousands  of  persons  who, 
though  born  deaf,  are  not  dumb,  since  they  have  been  taught  to  speak.  There 
are  also  persons  who  are  dumb,  but  not  deaf,  their  dumbness  being  due  to 
some  malformation  of  the  organs  of  speech,  or  to  some  mental  defect. 

The  author  of  this  classification  has  very  cleverly  indicated  these  facts,  and 
avoided  the  absurd  nomenclature  too  often  employed,  by  the  simple  device 
of  inserting  a  comma  after  the  word  deaf,  thus  providing  a  category  for  the 
speaking  deaf,  and  showing  that  he  knows  that  dumbness  is  not  necessarily  an 
accompaniment  of  even  total  congenital  deafness.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  deaf 
children  of  normal  intellect  who  are  given  proper  educational  treatment  do  not 
grow  up  dumb. — ^J.  D.  W. 


A   MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  611 

gressively  difficult  from  the  first  group  to  the  fourth,  in  which 
last  very  special  skill  and  experience  are  required  to  even  ap- 
proximate the  normal. 

Effect  of  Impairment  of  the  Auditory  Sense. — Even  slight 
impairment  of  hearing  in  a  child  is  a  far  more  serious  handicap 
than  a  considerable  degree  of  deafness  in  an  adult,  since  it  is 
very  largely  through  the  hearing  that  during  childhood  we 
acquire  our  speech  and  our  understanding  of  language.  A  de- 
gree of  deafness  that,  occurring  in  adult  years,  would  not  in- 
capacitate a  person  for  the  ordinary  pursuits  of  life  and  general 
social  intercourse,  would,  if  it  occurred  at  birth  or  in  early  in- 
fancy, prevent  the  child  from  learning  to  speak  properly  and  from 
acquiring  language  and  mental  development  for  which  language 
and  speech  are  essential. 

Need  of  Early  Diagnosis. — Every  child  should,  therefore,  be 
subjected  to  very  careful  observation  during  the  first  eighteen 
months,  and  if  there  are  any  indications  of  even  slightly  impaired 
hearing,  some  good  ear  specialist  should  be  consulted  at  once, 
and  with  equal  promptness  the  advice  and  guidance  should  be 
sought  of  some  teacher  of  the  deaf  trained  in  the  speech  methods. 
The  physician  may  be  able  to  restore  normal  hearing  or,  if  not, 
then  the  teacher  will  enable  the  parents  to  render  the  special 
assistance  that  the  child  needs  in  order  not  to  fall  behind  in  learn- 
ing to  speak  and  to  understand. 

Educational  Treatment. — The  space  available  in  this  volume 
will  not  permit  the  inclusion  of  detailed  directions  for  the  edu- 
cational treatment  of  little  deaf  children,  but  the  author  of  this 
contribution  has  provided  this  information  in  his  little  book 
entitled  "  What  the  Mother  of  a  Deaf  Child  Ought  to  Know." 
We  can  only  briefly  indicate  here  the  lines  along  which  the  edu- 
cational treatment  of  deaf  children  of  the  four  classes  must  run 
if  the  closest  possible  approximation  to  the  normal  is  to  be  at- 
tained. 

Home  Care. — Parents,  and  the  daily  associates  of  children  of 
the  first  group,  those  with  hearing  slightly  impaired  after  speech 
has  been  acquired,  can  do  all  that  is  necessary  for  them.  Con- 
stant and  unremitting  care  should  be  taken  to  speak  distinctly 
to  these  children,  and  there  should  be  great  insistence  upon  care- 
ful speech  on  their  part.  It  will  help  greatly  if  the  child  is 
trained  always  to  look  at  the  lips  of  the  person  who  is  speaking, 


612  APPENDIX 

and  if  those  speaking  to  the  child  will  form  the  habit  of  watch- 
ing the  child's  eyes,  and  only  speaking  when  his  eyes  are  directed 
toward  them.  Also  to  stand,  or  sit,  in  such  a  way  that  the  light 
will  come  from  behind  the  child  and  fall  upon  the  face  of  the 
speaker.  The  child  should  be  taught  to  read  early,  and  each 
day  should  be  made  to  read  aloud  in  the  most  painstaking  way, 
and  should  be  taken  into  the  lap  and  be  read  to  in  such  a  tone 
of  voice  as  will  carry  every  sound  distinctly  to  its  ears.  He 
should  also  be  talked  to  while  held  in  the  lap  as  often  as  possible 
each  day. 

The  ordinary  talk  that  is  addressed  to  little  children  about 
the  pussy,  the  chickens,  the  dog,  his  brothers  and  sisters,  father, 
mother,  and  playfellows,  his  toys  and  his  occupations,  should  be 
the  subject  of  these  lap  talks.  Great  care  should  be  taken  to 
use  good,  straight,  connected  English,  not  the  foolish  "baby 
talk  "  which  is  so  unfortunately  common  when  speaking  to 
children. 

When  the  child  begins  to  go  to  school  it  would  be  well  to 
arrange  with  some  teacher  to  give  him  a  little  special  attention 
in  order  to  be  sure  that  he  does  not  miss  some  things  which 
other  pupils  hear. 

The  Second  Group. — The  second  group,  those  whose  hearing 
has  been  entirely  destroyed  or  very  seriously  impaired  after 
speech  has  been  acquired,  presents  a  more  difficult  problem. 
The  first  element  in  success  is  a  prompt  beginning  of  special  in- 
struction immediately  upon  the  occurrence  of  the  deafness.  If 
the  matter  is  intelligently  handled,  the  change  in  method  of 
understanding  speech  from  hearing  to  seeing  can  be  made  with 
comparative  ease,  and  without  much  loss  of  ground  education- 
ally. Unless,  however,  prompt  and  intelligent  measures  are 
taken,  there  wiU  be  a  sudden  and  complete  cutting  off  of  spoken 
communication  with  the  unfortunate  child  who  has  become 
deaf.  Furthermore,  a  rapid  deterioration  in  speech  will  follow 
the  loss  of  hearing  unless  unremitting  and  expert  attention  be 
given  to  the  preservation  of  correct  enunciation.  The  rapidity 
and  degree  of  this  impairment  of  speech  will  depend  upon  the 
age  at  which  deafness  occurs.  The  younger  the  child  the  more 
quickly  and  completely  will  speech  be  lost.  This  misfortune  is 
preventable  if  the  case  is  properly  handled.  If  the  child  has 
learned  to  read  before  deafness  occurred,  some  time  each  day 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  613 

should  be  devoted  to  having  him  read  aloud,  pajnng  the  strict- 
est attention  to  the  clear  and  perfect  articulation  of  every  sound 
in  each  word.  Great  care  should  be  taken  to  keep  the  child 
talking  as  much  as  possible  all  day  long,  as  the  tendency  is  to 
stop  talking  when  the  hearing  is  lost.  Careless  and  imp)erfect 
speech  should  not  be  accepted,  but  distinct  and  careful  enuncia- 
tion should  be  insisted  upon  from  the  very  start.  It  is  almost 
essential  that  the  aid  of  some  one  experienced  in  teaching  speech 
to  the  deaf  should  be  secured. 

Lip-Readlng. — Lip-reading,  that  is,  the  understanding  of 
speech  by  watching  the  face  of  the  speaker,  is  usually  hard  at 
first,  and  all  who  come  in  contact  with  the  deaf  child  should 
show  the  greatest  patience  and  gentleness,  and  repeat  as  often 
as  is  necessary,  in  order  that  he  may  not  get  the  idea  that  peo- 
ple do  not  like  to  talk  with  him,  and  so  cause  him  to  stop  trying 
to  understand.  The  future  happiness  and  success  of  the  child 
depends  so  much  upon  the  treatment  that  he  receives  by  those 
about  him  during  the  first  year  after  deafness  comes  that  too 
much  stress  cannot  be  laid  upon  these  points. 

The  Third  Group. — Those  whose  hearing  has  been  slightly  im- 
paired from  birth  or  early  infancy  require  still  a  different  sort  of 
attention.  In  these  cases  the  greatest  possible  use  of  the  hearing 
that  remains,  and  the  avoidance  of  imperfect  articulation  are  the 
two  things  to  be  aimed  at.  An  impairment  of  hearing  so  slight 
as  in  the  case  of  an  adult  would  not  greatly  matter,  is  a  very 
serious  thing  in  the  case  of  a  little  child,  because  it  prevents  the 
unconscious  acquisition  of  natural  speech,  and  results  in  the 
child's  speaking  and  understanding  imperfectly  unless  very 
special  care  is  exerted.  From  the  moment  that  the  slightest 
impairment  of  hearing  is  noticed  all  those  who  have  to  do  with 
the  child  should  take  the  greatest  care  to  always  speak  clearly 
to  him  in  a  tone  loud  enough  to  be  distinctly  heard. 

The  habit  should  also  be  formed  by  those  in  charge  of  the 
child  of  watching  his  eyes  and  speaking  to  him  usually  when 
his  gaze  is  on  the  face  of  the  speaker.  If  this  is  done  for  a  few 
months  the  child  will  form  the  habit  of  watching  the  lips  of 
those  addressing  him,  and  will  gradually  acquire  a  considerable 
ability  to  read  the  lips  and  so  supplement  with  his  eyes  his  im- 
perfect ears. 

He  should  be  frequently  held  in  the  lap  and  talked  to  close 


614  APPENDIX 

to  his  ear,  and  when  he  is  old  enough  to  appreciate  simple  little 
stories  he  should  be  read  to  while  sitting  on  the  knees  of  the 
reader,  whose  lips  should  be  near  enough  to  his  ear,  and  whose 
voice  should  be  so  pitched  as  to  make  certain  that  every  sound 
reaches  the  child. 

Great  care  should  also  be  taken  that  he  does  not  form  wrong 
habits  of  articulation.  His  speech  should  be  watched  carefully 
and  every  effort  made  to  teach  him  to  make  the  sounds  correctly. 
He  should  not  be  allowed  to  form  the  habit  of  substituting  ts 
and  ds  for  ks  and  gs,  or  of  dropping  off  the  final  letters  and  sylla- 
bles of  words.  In  short,  much  more  painstaking  care  should 
be  given  to  his  speech  than  is  required  by  children  whose  hear- 
ing is  acute. 

The  Fourth  Group. — Those  totally  deaf,  or  with  hearing  very 
seriously  impaired,  from  birth  or  early  infancy,  include  the  most 
difficult  cases  resulting  from  deafness.  Without  the  greatest 
care  and  the  most  intelligent  treatment  these  children  will  be- 
come typical  deaf-mutes.  Being  totally  deaf,  or  very  hard  of 
hearing  before  any  speech  has  been  acquired  in  the  natural  way, 
they  will  never  learn  to  speak,  or  to  understand  the  speech  of 
others,  without  the  most  expert  instruction  continued  over  a 
period  of  eight  or  ten  years,  and  under  conditions  that  surround 
them  with  an  atmosphere  of  spoken  communication.  If,  during 
the  educational  period,  between  birth  and  i6  years  of  age, 
these  children  are  permitted  to  develop,  or  are  taught,  any  silent 
method  of  communication  by  means  ol  finger-spelling  or  the  sign- 
language,  they  will  never  attain  to  the  maximum  ability  to  speak 
and  to  understand  speech,  of  which  each  individual  is  capable. 

Even  when  a  child  is  totally,  congenitally  deaf,  if  he  is  other- 
wise normal,  he  can  be  given  as  much  education  as  he  would 
have  received  had  his  hearing  been  perfect,  and  he  can  be  taught 
some  useful  occupation  by  which  he  can  be  self-supporting. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  employ  either  finger-spelling  or  the  sign- 
language  in  giving  him  this  instruction.  Unfortunately,  in  some 
schools  in  the  United  States  the  speech  environment  required 
for  the  best  results  in  speech-teaching  does  not  exist  at  present, 
though  it  does  exist  in  many  other  schools.  Conditions  are 
gradually  improving,  however,  and  in  the  course  of  time  all 
schools  will  at  least  have  a  department  in  which  there  exists  a 
speech  atmosphere — that  is,  in  which  all  persons  having  to  do 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  615 

with  the  pupils  will  use  only  the  spoken  form  of  communication 
with  them. 

Occupations  for  the  Deaf. — It  would  be  hard  to  name  any 
human  activity  in  which  some  totally  deaf  person  is  not  en- 
gaged, but  those  spheres  of  usefulness  most  open  to  them  are 
agriculture  and  the  manual  trades  and  arts. 

Surround  the  Deaf  with  Normal  Conditions. — The  variations 
from  the  normal  of  education  and  attitude  toward  life  found  in 
the  deaf  are,  to  a  very  considerable  degree,  due  to  the  treatment 
which  it  has  been  customary  to  accord  them.  It  is  possible  for 
the  deaf  to  approximate  much  more  closely  to  the  normal  when 
they  are  surrounded  by  more  normal  conditions  between  the 
ages  of  5  and  i6.  If,  instead  of  herding  them  by  hundreds  in 
great  buildings  under  a  single  roof,  and  using  finger-spelling  and 
the  sign-language  in  their  education,  they  could  be  housed  on 
the  cottage  plan  in  their  schools,  or  be  provided  with  properly 
organized  day  schools  in  their  own  towns,  as  is  done  in  many 
instances,  and  were  taught  exclusively  by  the  speech  method  in 
a  speech  environment,  the  unfortunate  tendency  of  deafness  to 
segregate  its  victims  and  exclude  them  from  the  ordinary  inter- 
course of  life  would  be  tremendously  reduced. 

From  the  moment  deafness  is  discovered  the  treatment  of  a 
deaf  child  should  not  differ  in  kind  from  that  of  the  hearing  chUd, 
though  it  shotdd  differ  in  degree.  Much  more  attention  must  be 
paid  to  certain  things  and  just  as  much  attention  to  all  other 
things.  A  vastly  greater  amount  of  thought  and  effort  must  be 
given  to  the  child's  speech  and  understanding  of  language  when 
he  is  deaf,  and  just  as  much  attention  must  be  paid  to  his  educa- 
tion and  character-building. 

Methods  of  Teaching. — It  must  at  once  be  understood  that 
those  things  which  we  ordinarily  learn  through  our  ears  must 
be  taught  him  through  his  eyes.  Unfortunately,  the  eyes,  un- 
like the  ears,  must  be  consciously  focussed  upon  the  source  from 
which  the  impression  comes,  and  that  means  that  attention 
through  the  eyes  must  be  secured  and  developed.  Without  this 
focussed  attention  the  deaf  child  gets  no  impressions  that  have 
a  bearing  uj)on  language.  Therefore,  from  the  very  beginning, 
those  associated  with  the  deaf  child  should  acquire  the  habit 
of  watching  the  direction  of  his  gaze,  and  of  considering  the  light 
that  falls  upon  the  point  they  wish  him  to  observe.    So  far  as  is 


616  APPENDIX 

possible  the  source  of  fight  should  always  be  behind  the  child, 
as  it  is  difficult  to  get  accurate  visual  impressions  when  looking 
toward  a  bright  light.  Good  light  conditions  should  be  care- 
fully maintained  and  the  sight  of  the  child  safeguarded  at  all 
times.  The  child,  also,  should,  from  the  first,  be  trained  to 
direct  his  gaze  to  the  faces  of  those  addressing  him.  The  earlier 
this  habit  of  watching  the  lips  of  those  speaking  to  him  can  be 
developed  the  more  rapid  and  satisfactory  will  be  his  progress 
in  understanding  spoken  language.  The  greatest  difficulty  in 
learning  lip-reading  for  a  child  is  to  get  as  many  opportunities 
of  seeing  language  spoken  when  the  thought  that  is  being  expressed 
is  in  his  mind  as  the  hearing  child  has  of  hearing  spoken  language 
at  the  moment  when  the  situation  makes  its  meaning  clear.  It 
is  surprising  how  well  the  eye  can  interpret  speech  without  the 
help  of  the  ear,  and  if  the  deaf  child  could  have  as  much  practice 
in  seeing  speech  under  the  same  favorable  conditions  that  the 
hearing  child  hears  it,  he  would  learn  to  understand  when  spoken 
to  almost  as  well  as  if  he  heard  instead  of  saw  the  speech.  Even 
then,  however,  he  would  be  greatly  handicapped  by  his  inability 
to  catch  anything  that  was  said  when  his  eyes  did  not  happen 
to  be  fixed  on  the  speaker,  and  would  require  much  more  atten- 
tion than  a  hearing  child  of  the  same  mentality  in  order  to  give 
him  the  same  amount  of  information  and  mental  development. 
Unless  very  exceptional  attention  has  been  given  a  congeni- 
tally  deaf  child,  he  is  at  4  years  of  age  behind  the  hearing 
child  of  2  so  far  as  mental  development  and  understanding 
of  language  is  concerned.  He  has,  however,  a  maturity  of  mind 
and  of  body  not  possessed  by  the  child  of  2,  and  if  properly 
and  efficiently  taught  can  gradually  overtake  his  hearing  brother, 
until  at  18  they  are  approximately  equal  from  an  educational 
standp)oint.  This  result  can  only  be  attained  when  he  has  been 
given  the  most  intelligent  and  unremitting  attention  both  at 
home  and  in  school.  If  the  specific  suggestions  contained  in  the 
little  handbook,  "  What  the  Mother  of  a  Deaf  Child  Ought  to 
Know,"  have  been  faithfuUy  followed  in  the  home  up  to  4K  or 
5  years  of  age,  and  the  child  is  then  placed  in  a  good  oral  school 
where  a  speech-environment  is  maintained,  and  is  there  given 
expert  instruction  in  speech  and  effijcient  teaching  along  the 
ordinary  educational  lines,  by  the  time  he  is  18  he  will  be 
able  to  do  about  all  that  he  would  have  been  capable  of, 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  617 

with  his  individual  mental  equipment,  if  he  had  possessed  un- 
impaired hearing.  To  attain  such  a  result  under  such  a  severe 
handicap  is  a  triumph  of  skill,  patience,  and  devotion,  as  well  as 
of  efficient  organization,  that  forms  one  of  the  laurels  of  our 
civilization. 

Deaf  Children  with  Defective  Mentality. — Up  to  this  point  I 
have  been  discussing  the  deaf  child  who  has  at  least  ordinary 
intelligence.  Fortunately  by  far  the  greater  number  of  deaf 
children  are  of  average  mentality,  and  if  it  were  not  for  their 
deafness  would  require  no  different  treatment  from  that  pro- 
vided for  the  perfectly  normal  child. 

There  are,  however,  deaf  children  of  defective  mentality  just 
as  there  are  such  hearing  children,  and  just  as  these  mentally 
defective  hearing  children  should  be  segregated  from  mentally 
normal  children,  and  should  be  given  special  care  and  instruc- 
tion, so  should  the  mentally  defective  deaf  be  carefully  segre- 
gated from  the  mentally  average  deaf,  and  given  a  special  form 
of  treatment.  This  statement  would  seem  axiomatic;  yet, 
strangely  enough,  this  segregation  is  rarely  provided  for  the 
deaf.  A  great  injustice,  both  to  the  mentally  defective  child 
and  the  mentally  normal  child,  is  inflicted  by  placing  the  men- 
tally defective  deaf  in  the  same  schools  as  the  mentally  normal 
deaf.  I  cannot  protest  too  strongly  against  this  procedure.  It 
is  a  disgrace  to  the  intelligence  of  those  responsible  for  the  fact, 
and  the  sooner  that  this  is  understood  the  better  it  will  be  for 
all  concerned.  The  regularly  organized  schools  for  deaf  chil- 
dren are  no  more  the  proper  place  for  a  feeble-minded  deaf  child 
than  the  regularly  organized  public  schools  for  the  hearing  are 
the  proper  place  for  a  feeble-minded  hearing  child.  The  public 
are  too  prone  to  think  that  the  regular  schools  for  the  deaf  are 
not  only  the  places  to  put  the  feeble-minded  deaf,  but  even 
those  abnormal  or  subnormal  children  who  fail  to  acquire  speech 
for  some  other  reason  than  deafness.  For  many  years  the 
public  schools  for  the  deaf  were  in  all  States  under  the  Depart- 
ment of  Charities  instead  of  the  Board  of  Education.  This  has 
already  been  altered  in  many  States,  thus  removing  an  unjust 
stigma  from  the  deaf  as  a  class  whose  education  is  no  more  a 
charity  than  that  of  any  other  children. 


618  APPENDIX 

XII.     THE  BLIND   CHILD » 

By  Doctor  F.  Park  Lewis,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Fundamental  Needs. — In  the  training  of  the  blind  child, 
three  things  must  be  emphasized: 

1.  The  necessity  of  recognizing  the  fact  that  the  child  is 
blind  or  has  defective  sight,  at  the  earliest  age  possible. 

2.  The  manner  in  which  the  brain  is  developed  through  the 
training  of  the  remaining  special  senses  in  the  absence  of  sight. 

3.  The  existence  of  that  unusual  condition,  more  highly  de- 
veloped in  the  blind  than  those  who  see,  and  what  is  some- 
times termed  the  sixth  sense,  touch  at  distance,  but  which  consists 
in  the  recognition  of  the  nearness  of  any  material  body  having 
a  sufficiently  large  surface  area  by  the  perception  of  its  approach 
through  some  other  than  that  of  conscious  sight,  hearing,  or 
personal  contact. 

Early  Recognition. — If  there  is  reason  to  suspect  that  the 
sight  is  imperfect  it  is  of  great  importance  that  the  existence  of 
marked  refractive  errors  be  discovered  as  soon  as  possible.  In  a 
very  large  number  of  markedly  hypermetropic  eyes,  or  far- 
sighted  eyes,  or  those  in  which  the  two  eyes  are  focally  different, 
and  more  especially  when  one  eye  converges  and  there  is  a  per- 
manent squint,  the  brain  area  corresponding  to  the  sight  centre 
of  the  inturned  eye  ceases  to  function,  and,  following  the  law  of 
nature,  those  functions  which  are  not  used  cease  to  have  the 
power  of  use.  There  has  developed,  therefore,  an  amblyopia, 
or  dull  sight,  which,  if  uncorrected,  becomes  permanent,  and  a 
semiblindness  of  the  inturned  eye,  lasting  through  life,  is  the 
consequence. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  proper  refractive  correction  is 
made  early  enough,  and  the  neurons,  or  nerve-endings  in  the 
brain  corresponding  to  the  sight  centres,  are  made  to  function, 
the  sight  may  be  permanently  preserved. 

It  is  a  matter  of  first  importance  that  in  cases  of  squint  the 
child  be  sent  to  an  oculist  as  soon  as  the  defect  is  discovered. 
I  have,  myself,  used  with  great  satisfaction  strong  correcting 
glasses  upon  a  baby  as  young  as  five  and  one-half  months  old. 

'  This  contribution  is  a  compilation  from  several  of  Doctor  Lewis's  papers, 
made  with  the  author's  special  authorization. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  619 

Sometimes  the  presence  of  congenital  myopia,  or  near  sight,  in 
very  high  degree  gives  the  child  a  vague  blind  look  which  may 
lead  to  a  mistaken  diagnosis  of  idiocy. 

I  have  seen  such  an  instance  in  the  case  of  a  5-year-old 
child  whose  eyes  were  myopic  to  the  extent  of  ten  diopters. 
To  such  a  child  all  objects  beyond  five  or  six  inches  would  have 
the  appearance  of  being  shrouded  in  mist,  and  the  educative 
value  of  the  visual  pictures  that  are  constantly  being  presented 
to  the  seeing  child  was  thereby  lost  to  him.  The  correction  of 
the  refraction  gave  the  child  such  a  degree  of  improved  mental 
control  as  would  hardly  be  thought  possible. 

As  all  young  babies  roll  their  eyes  aimlessly  during  the  first 
weeks  of  Ufe  it  is  difficult  to  determine,  from  observation  merely, 
the  absence  of  sight.  This  difficulty  is  increased  if,  as  more 
commonly  happens,  blindness  is  not  complete,  but  objects  are 
imperfectly  seen.  If,  however,  the  pupils  are  widely  dilated 
and  unresfKinsive  to  light;  if  the  eyes  continue  to  move  aim- 
lessly from  side  to  side  without  attempt  to  fix  them  on  any 
object;  and  more  particularly  when  nystagmus,  or  spasmodic 
twitching  of  the  eyeballs  is  present,  associated  with  an  unwill- 
ingness or  an  inability  on  the  part  of  the  child  to  follow  a  light 
with  his  eyes  when  it  is  moved  before  him,  there  would  be  strong 
presumptive  evidence  after  the  sixth  month  that  the  vision  was 
so  imperfect  as  to  warrant  an  ophthalmoscopic  examination  by 
a  capable  oculist  by  which  a  conclusion  can  be  reached  with 
much  greater  certainty. 

Early  Impressions. — However  rapid  may  be  the  development 
of  the  child  after  he  has  reached  school  age,  the  period  of  great- 
est plasticity  and  quickest  responsiveness  is  during  the  months 
of  babyhood  and  the  early  years  immediately  following,  and  it 
is  through  the  sense  of  sight  that  impressions,  carried  to  the 
cortex,  or  surface  of  the  brain,  exercise  the  most  profound  influ- 
ence upon  the  brain  development.  With  the  visual  images  every 
other  sense  impression  is  correlated.  The  object  which  the 
child  sees,  in  order  that  he  may  realize  its  position  in  space, 
must  be  verified  by  the  sense  of  touch.  All  of  those  sensory 
nuclei,  therefore,  which  have  been  energized  by  the  touch  of 
the  fingers,  if  the  object  is  held  in  the  hand,  of  the  feet  as  they 
touch  the  floor,  of  the  arms  and  limbs  as  they  move  through 
the  air — every  one  of  these  millions  of  neurons  is  brought  into 


620  APPENDIX 

direct  relationship  with  the  corresponding  number  of  other 
neurons  in  the  sight  centre,  so  that  every  motion  is  sending  a 
flood  of  nervous  energy  surging  through  the  brain  of  the  child. 
In  that  way  he  becomes  conscious  of  his  position  in  space,  and  he 
develops  what  is  known  as  the  stereognostic  sense — or  the  con- 
sciousness of  solid  objects. 

Cut  off  as  the  blind  child  is  from  the  primary  energizing  in- 
fluence of  the  visual  impressions,  he  is  intellectually  hampered 
and  limited  unless  every  possible  supplemental  effort  is  employed 
to  replace,  as  far  as  may  be,  the  advantages  which,  in  comparison 
with  the  seeing  child,  he  is  obliged  to  sacrifice. 

The  blind  baby,  not  seeing  the  objects  around  him,  is  not,  as 
is  the  seeing  child,  unconsciously  or  persistently  being  educated 
as  to  their  form,  their  size,  their  importance,  their  meaning,  in 
a  word:  their  value.  He  lives  in  the  dark,  and  every  motion  or 
every  step  which  he  attempts  to  make  is  an  experiment  and  an 
adventure.  The  next  step  may  precipitate  him  he  knows  not 
where.  It  may  be  from  the  top  of  a  stairway.  He  can  have 
no  means  of  knowing.  He  is  living  in  a  world  separate  and  dis- 
tinct from  that  of  his  seeing  associates.  This  fact  should  be 
early  recognized  and  constantly  borne  in  mind.  The  blind 
baby  must  be  talked  to  more  than  the  child  who  sees.  He  must 
be  allowed,  carefully,  to  touch  the  objects  about  him,  in  order 
that  in  that  way  he  may  learn  what  he  can  about  them.  He 
must  not  be  startled  by  being  touched  suddenly  and  without 
warning.  He  must  not  be  allowed  to  be  frightened  by  taking  a 
misstep.  A  nervous  impression  of  that  kind  may  leave  its 
results  for  months,  if  not  for  years,  upon  that  sensitive  organism. 
When  he  is  old  enough  to  creep  he  should  be  allowed  the  freedom 
of  a  room  from  which  all  objects  against  which  he  might  hurt 
himself  have  been  removed.  The  floor  should  be  of  one  level 
so  that  there  may  be  no  pitfalls  for  him.  He  must  be  allowed 
all  manner  of  harmless  things  to  handle,  and  he  must  always  be 
spoken  to  when  one  comes  near  him  that  he  may  not  be  startled. 
Large  motor  and  sensory  areas  may  be  trained  by  allowing  him 
to  feel,  to  touch,  and  to  handle  things  varying  in  degrees  of 
hardness,  and  smoothness,  and  of  different  shapes  and  forms. 
He  will  in  that  way  be  getting  such  approximate  impressions  as 
he  can,  limited  as  those  are  compared  to  the  possibilities  of  the 
seeing  child. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  621 

At  a  very  early  age,  too,  auditory  areas  may  be  actuated  by 
singing  simple  melodies  to  the  child,  not  in  a  vague  and  mean- 
ingless way,  but  carefully  and  in  tune  where  it  is  possible  for 
the  mother  to  do  so.  The  attention  in  that  way  can  be  directed 
and  a  recognition  of  different  tones  will  begin  at  a  much  earlier 
age  than  is  ordinarily  supposed.  Let  it  constantly  be  remem- 
bered that  all  of  the  moving  pictures  that  pass  before  our  eyes 
are  blotted  out  for  the  blind  baby.  There  is  nothing  but  dark- 
ness before  his  unseeing  eyes,  and  this  monotony  must  be  varied 
by  greater  attention  to  details  that  will  interest  him  than 
would  be  necessary  with  a  seeing  child. 

At  a  very  early  age  any  other  existing  corrigible  physical 
defects  should,  if  possible,  be  removed.  It  is  bad  enough  for 
the  child  to  be  blind.  He  should  not  be  still  further  handi- 
capp)ed  by  the  presence  of  large  tonsils,  by  adenoids,  and  the 
consequent  otitis  and  deafness,  or  any  other  defects  of  the  body. 

The  training  of  the  voice  to  make  it  as  musical  and  sympa- 
thetic as  possible  will  be  a  great  advantage  to  the  child,  and  a 
quiet,  self-possessed  manner  instead  of  a  nervous  and  jerky  one 
will  not  only  make  him  more  agreeable,  but  will  give  him  bal- 
ance of  mind  as  he  has  poise  of  manner. 

In  a  word,  before  the  child  can  be  placed  under  the  systematic 
and  special  training  provided  for  the  sightless,  much  can  be 
done  by  the  intelligent  mother,  under  the  advice  of  the  physi- 
cian, to  so  aid  the  child's  development  as  to  make  life  easier 
and  simpler  when  the  systematic  training  of  the  school  com- 
mences. 

School  Training. — The  time  in  which  the  blind  child  should 
be  placed  under  the  instruction  of  those  specially  qualified  to 
train  him  in  a  school  for  the  blind  is  the  earliest  period  at  which 
children  are  admitted,  and  that  is  the  kindergarten  age.  Very 
often  mothers  do  great  injustice  to  their  children  by  failing  to 
realize  this  imp>ortant  fact.  The  mistake  is  often  made  in  keep- 
ing him  at  home  through  nustaken  sympathy,  when  he  should 
be  under  definite  and  systematic  training.  It  is  not  at  all  un- 
usual to  find  that  blind  children  are  denied  the  privileges  of 
training  until  they  are  13  or  14  years  old,  and  are  then 
reluctantly  sent  to  the  special  schools  and  find  themselves 
utterly  handicapped  by  their  inability  to  do  the  simple  things 
that  other  blind  children  easily  do,  because  of  the  mistaken 


622  APPENDIX 

kindness  of  parents  and  friends.  They  are  unable  to  put  on 
their  own  clothes,  to  button  their  shoes,  or  to  use  their  hands 
and  fingers  in  the  simplest  mechanical  efiFort.  The  handicap 
which  they  suffer  is  so  great  that  it  can  never'  be  completely 
overcome. 

If  the  blind  receive  suitable  training  at  a  sufficiently  early 
age  to  develop  in  them  that  strength  of  body,  of  intellect,  and  of 
character  that  is  the  prerequisite  of  any  successful  life,  their 
possibilities,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  are  not  greatly  lessened  by 
their  loss  of  sight.  This  has  been  demonstrated  in  the  lives  of 
a  multitude  of  successful  blind  men  and  women.  England's 
ablest  postmaster-general,  Mr.  Faucett,  was  blind.  He  rode 
horseback,  skated,  and  did  many  things  that  are  supposed  to 
require  eyesight.  The  most  wonderful  and  exact  observations 
on  the  life  history  of  the  bee  were  made  by  a  blind  man,  who 
directed  the  eyes  of  his  servant.  Blind  musicians  have  written 
and  played,  and  Mount  Blanc  has  been  scaled  by  blind  men. 
It  is  the  mind  and  the  spirit  which  control,  and  when  these 
are  great  they  dominate  and  rise  superior  to  mere  physical 
deficiencies.  The  inspiration  of  great  ideals  must  be  held 
out  to  the  blind,  even  more  than  to  the  seeing  from  the 
beginning. 

Need  of  Normal  Companionship. — At  as  early  a  period  as 
possible  in  the  child's  life,  he  should  be  given  an  opportunity 
to  play  with  other  children  of  his  own  age.  With  a  little 
supervision,  he  can  be  taught  to  enter  into  all  of  their  games, 
and  to  do  a  great  many  things  that  are  done  by  seeing  chil- 
dren. It  is  as  true  of  the  blind  as  it  is  of  those  who  see  that 
the  most  important  elements  in  their  education  come  not 
from  teachers  but  from  their  associates.  The  effect  of  hav- 
ing a  blind  child  among  a  group  of  seeing  children  is  mutually 
helpful.  If  the  children  are  properly  taught,  they  will  soon 
learn  to  supplement  the  lack  of  sight  in  their  companion  by  giv- 
ing him  a  little  help  when  necessary.  They  will  learn  to  tell 
him  of  things  that  are  about  him  and  describe  the  things  as  they 
see  them,  and  in  consequence  they  will  learn  how  to  observe 
and  express  their  thoughts,  while  he  will  quickly  begin  to  form 
mental  images,  as  far  as  he  can  form  them,  from  his  surroundings. 

Special  teachers  for  blind  children  are  exceedingly  difficult  to 
obtain,  and  they  are  rarely  necessary.     It  is  not  usually  desir- 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  623 

able  that  the  child  should  be  placed  under  the  care  of  a  gov- 
erness or  tutor,  so  essential  to  the  development  of  the  child  is 
the  contact  with  other  children.  In  some  of  the  larger  cities, 
such  as  Chicago  and  New  York,  provision  is  made  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  for  blind  children,  and  those  having  such  defective 
sight  that  they  are  unable  to  follow  the  usual  school  curricu- 
lum. In  almost  every  State  there  is  now  a  school  for  the 
blind,  and  where  special  provision  is  not  made  in  the  public 
schools,  or  even  sometimes  when  there  are  special  classes,  the 
child  should  be  sent  to  a  school  for  the  blind  at  the  kinder- 
garten age. 

It  is  the  general  opinion  of  those  teaching  the  blind  that  the 
more  nearly  they  can  be  trained  as  seeing  children  are,  and  the 
fewer  distinctive  methods  are  employed,  the  easier  will  it  be 
for  them  to  adjust  themselves  later  in  life  to  conditions  that 
obtain  among  the  seeing. 

It  has  seemed  necessary  up  to  the  present  time  that  special 
schools  should  be  provided  for  the  blind,  but  thoughtful  students 
of  i>edagogy  are  beginning  to  believe  that  to  have  the  blind  in 
classes  of  seeing  children  is  not  infrequently  of  mutual  advan- 
tage. During  a  period  in  which  a  school  for  the  blind  was  un- 
dergoing repairs,  a  bright  and  ambitious  pupil  was  taken  tem- 
porarily into  a  class  of  a  high  school  in  a  near-by  city.  When, 
after  some  months,  he  returned  to  his  own  school,  the  superin- 
.tendent,  in  speaking  of  this  boy's  work,  said  that  his  presence 
in  the  school  had  been  of  greatest  help  to  the  other  lads  with 
whom  he  had  worked  in  class.  His  success  in  overcoming  diffi- 
culties was  a  stimulus  to  their  pride,  and  an  incentive  to  their 
ambition.  His  presence  in  class  was  a  constant  reminder  to 
them  of  their  superior  physical  advantages,  and  they  were 
ashamed  to  have  him  outstrip  them  as  he  did  in  their  intellectual 
work.  The  lad  was  of  a  gentle,  kindly  disposition,  and  his  fellow- 
students  emulated  each  other  in  showing  little  kindnesses  to 
him,  and  he  introduced  thereby  into  the  atmosphere  of  the  school 
a  quality  of  self-sacrifice,  of  courtesy,  and  of  chivalry,  the  effect 
of  which  was  long  continued. 

The  added  importance  of  having  blind  children  educated  in 
connection  with  those  who  see  is  that  they  may  realize  more 
keenly  the  real  difficulties  of  life  which  are  to  be  met  and  which 
have  to  be  overcome.    They  will  not  always  find  kindness  and 


624  APPENDIX 

courtesy,  and  they  must  be  prepared  to  adjust  themselves  to 
the  harder  conditions  when  they  arise. 

Some  Remarks  on  Method. — Even  for  the  younger  children, 
special  appliances  for  the  ordinary  conveniences  of  life  are 
rarely  necessary.  They  must  eat  at  the  common  table,  they 
must  use  the  knives,  forks,  spoons  and  plates  that  other  people 
use,  and  in  the  way  that  other  people  use  them. 

One  of  the  most  important  elements  in  the  instruction  of  the 
blind  is  that  they  should  be  trained  early  to  distinguish  coins 
from  the  sense  of  touch.  This  is  not  difficult  but  it  requires  a 
little  special  application.  The  size  of  a  penny,  a  dime,  and  a 
quarter  are  sufficiently  unlike  to  make  it  possible  for  blind  per- 
sons of  keen  intelligence  to  immediately  distinguish  them. 
When  the  sense  of  touch  is  sufficiently  trained  it  is  possible  to 
differentiate  between  American  and  Canadian  coins,  even  when 
of  the  same  denomination.  A  blind  lad  in  one  of  the  State 
schools  has  his  ear  so  acutely  trained  that  when  coins  are  jingled 
together  in  the  pocket  he  is  able  to  tell  with  almost  absolute 
accuracy  the  number  of  coins  and  their  value,  and  whether  they 
are  silver,  copper,  or  nickel.  As  each  has  a  tone  peculiarly  its 
own,  it  is  only  necessary  that  the  ear  should  be  keen  and  that 
close  attention  be  given  in  order  that  this  may  be  done. 

In  the  training  of  the  special  senses  other  than  that  of  vision, 
the  absence  of  sight,  so  far  from  being  a  disadvantage,  is  a  posi- 
tive help.  While  it  is  now  generally  recognized  that  no  one 
sense  is  made  more  acute  by  the  absence  of  others,  the  oppor- 
tunities for  special  training  are  greater,  and  the  probabilities 
are  that  the  blind  child  will  have  keener  hearing,  if  no  organic 
defect  is  present,  than  the  child  who  sees.^ 

Varieties  of  Work. — In  the  education  of  the  blind  child  of 
course  it  must  be  early  determined,  as  with  those  who  see,  what 
in  general  are  the  broad  lines  of  limitation.  There  are  those 
who  are  mentally  sluggish  who  may  be  made  more  active,  and 
there  are  those  who  from  congenital  deficiencies  must  always 
remain  upon  the  border-line  of  intelligence,  or  among  the  vast 

'  It  cannot  be  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  enter  into  the  details  of  the  teach- 
ing of  the  blind.  The  author  therefore  omits  references  to  methods  of  teaching 
reading  and  writing  (the  "American  Braille"  or  point  print;  the  Moon  alphabet), 
the  use  of  the  typewriter  for  the  blind,  etc.  All  this  is  special  work  which  can 
be  studied  by  those  interested  in  the  literature  of  the  subject. — M.  P.  E.  G. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  625 

number  of  those  in  whom  the  loss  of  sight  is  the  only  incorrigible 
defect.  The  possibilities  of  mental  development  are  quite  as 
great  as  among  those  who  see. 

The  possibilities  of  the  blind  and  the  varieties  of  work  which 
they  can  do  are  much  wider  than  ordinarily  realized.  There  are 
blind  persons  who  are  successful  in  business,  in  the  law,  in  medi- 
cine; they  have  become  successful  teachers,  musicians,  and 
writers.  Many  simple  mechanical  lines  of  work  are  satisfac- 
torily taken  up  without  the  aid  of  sight.  It  is  readily  evident, 
however,  that  those  occupations  which  are  mental  rather  than 
physiczd  are  those  in  which  they  succeed  in  the  highest  degree, 
and  when  it  is  possible  these  should  be  the  lines  chosen  for  those 
who  must  make  their  way  in  the  world  without  sight. 

Amusements  and  Special  Inventions  for  the  Blind. — The 
amusements  of  the  blind  must  not  be  neglected.  It  is  depress- 
ing to  live  in  a  night  that  has  no  morning.  It  is  frequently  easy 
for  friends  to  bring  much  cheer  into  such  lives  with  little  effort. 
The  New  York  Association  for  the  Blind  had  as  its  initiative  the 
establishment  of  a  ticket  bureau  to  which  those  having  tickets 
for  concerts  and  lectures  which  they  were  unable  to  attend  were 
asked  to  send  them  for  distribution  to  the  poor  blind,  to  whom 
such  opportunities  were  rare.  Such  bureaus  are  easily  conducted 
and  give  much  pleasure  at  little  cost.  Playing-cards  are  made 
for  the  use  of  the  blind,  having  on  one  comer  raised  marks  in- 
dicating their  value.  They  also  have  special  forms  of  games, 
such  as  chess,  dice,  dominoes,  mechanical  puzzles,  and  other 
objects  of  interest  and  instruction. 

The  most  convenient  method  of  correspondence  for  the  blind 
is  by  all  means  the  typewriter.  Its  use  is  easily  acquired,  and 
no  sj)ecial  appliances  are  necessary.  It  can  be  used  by  means 
of  the  touch  system  without  the  necessity  of  sight.  Many 
blind  typists  are  as  expert  and  as  accurate  as  those  who  see.  A 
system  of  stenography  has  also  been  devised  for  the  blind  in 
which  raised  notes  can  rapidly  be  taken,  and  these  are  rapidly 
transcribed  by  the  typist. 

A  watch  has  been  invented  for  the  blind  or  those  who  wish 
to  tell  time  in  the  dark.  The  hours  are  represented  by  twelve 
movable  metal  dots.  Each  dot  disappears  as  its  hour  is  reached. 
This  necessitates  only  the  use  of  a  minute  hand.  The  four  pegs 
placed  at  the  quarters  enable  a  quicker  reading  of  the  time. 


626  APPENDIX 

For  the  intelligent  blind  man,  however,  no  such  device  is  usuaUy 
necessary.  He  uses  the  ordinary  watch  from  which  the  crystal 
has  been  removed,  and  from  his  knowledge  of  the  location  of 
the  hours  he  is  usually  able  by  touching  the  minute  hand  with 
the  finger,  to  determine  the  time  with  great  accuracy. 


XIII.     HEREDITARY  WEAKNESS,  PREDISPOSING 

TO  TUBERCULAR  DISEASES,  AND   ITS 

PREVENTION 

By  Doctor  Theodore  Toepel,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

Predisposition  vs.  Heredity. — It  is  a  well-known  fact  which 
is  supported  by  scientific  findings  that  tubercular  conditions 
are  not  inherited,  but  that  the  predisposition,  such  as  bodily 
weakness,  is  transmitted  from  the  parents  to  the  children. 

It  therefore  becomes  the  duty  of  the  parents  to  live  a  hygienic 
life  under  the  most  favorable  sanitary  conditions  in  order  to 
have  their  children  endowed  with  the  most  essential  requisite 
of  life,  namely  health. 

Systematic  Habits  of  Living. — The  parents  must  adopt  sys- 
tematic habits  of  living;  to  do  the  right  thing  over  and  over 
again  relieves  the  brain  of  unnecessary  thinking  about  what 
must  be  done. 

It  is  well  to  start  the  day  on  schedule  time  without  losing  a 
minute;  this  necessarily  requires  regular  habits  of  retiring  in 
order  to  give  the  body  rest  in  the  form  of  sleep. 

In  my  opinion  and  experience  I  have  found  the  sleefing-porch, 
open  on  two  sides,  to  be  the  best  place  to  get  a  good  night's  rest; 
where  this  is  not  possible  one  should  sleep  with  all  windows 
open,  invigorating  the  body  with  fresh  air  for  the  next  day. 

The  length  of  time  necessary  to  rest  the  body  depends  alto- 
gether upon  the  individual,  his  nervous  system,  muscles,  organs, 
temperament,  and  his  daily  pursuits  in  life.  Our  great  Edison 
claims  that  four  hours  is  sufficient  for  any  one,  and  sleeping  more 
thaji  that  is  stealing  from  productive  power;  while  the  famous 
Gladstone  found  eight  hours  necessary  to  keep  his  body  re- 
freshed for  daily  work  But  to-day  most  hygienists  agree  that 
the  average  body  requires  eight  hours  of  sleep. 


A  MEDICAL   SYMPOSIUM  627 

Exercise. — Exercise  being  as  necessary  as  sleep  and  food,  it 
is  advisable  on  arising  to  go  through  a  set  of  exercises  which 
involve  the  large  muscles  of  the  body,  in  a  room  where  the  tem- 
perature is  comfortable  so  that  the  body  is  in  a  glow  before  the 
bath.  These  morning  exercises  start  every  organ  in  your  body 
in  the  right  direction,  especially  the  circulation,  and  you  are 
ready  for  the  bath. 

Stimulants — Some  people  require  their  morning  toddy  as  a 
stimulant  to  start  the  day,  others  must  have  a  cup  of  strong 
coffee  or  coca  cola.  But  I  agree  with  Benjamin  Franklin,  whose 
rules  of  life  were:  "  Tolerate  no  uncleanliness  in  body,  clothes,  or 
habitation."  The  best  morning  tonic  after  the  exercise  is  to 
get  into  a  tub  of  cool  water,  giving  the  body  a  good  rubbing 
with  a  coarse  towel  before  putting  on  clean  clothes.  At  least 
twice  a  week,  just  before  retiring,  every  one  should  take  a 
warm  bath,  using  plenty  of  soap. 

Mouth  Hygiene. — More  and  more  does  the  medical  profes- 
sion realize  the  importance  of  proper  mouth  hygiene.  In  co- 
operation with  the  dentists,  much  has  been  accomplished  in 
reducing  the  spread  of  diseases,  especially  that  of  tuberculosis, 
by  keeping  the  mouth  clean.  Brush  the  teeth  every  morning 
with  warm  salt  water,  then  drink  a  glass  of  cool  water. 

Dress  quickly  and  carefully  without  rushing,  being  sure  that 
the  underclothing  is  clean,  and  that  the  top  clothing  is  brushed 
and  neat-looking. 

Bieakfast. — The  breakfast  should  consist  of  simple,  plain 
food,  such  as  fruit,  cereal,  and  milk  with  bread  and  butter  rather 
than  steak,  fried  potatoes,  hot  biscuits,  and  muddy  coffee.  Take 
your  time  and  eat  slowly;  you  will  get  more  benefit  from  it. 
It  is  not  how  much  you  eat,  but  how  well  you  assimilate  that 
makes  it  nourishing. 

When  all  the  processes  of  digestion  work  together  properly, 
there  should  be  a  perfectly  natural  and  regular  evacuation  of 
the  bowels.  The  frequency  of  such  evacuations  varies  somewhat, 
and  is  largely  a  matter  of  habit.  With  some  people  it  is  twice 
a  day,  with  others  once  every  other  day.  But  with  the  vast 
majority  it  is  normally  once  a  day,  and  about  the  same  time, 
shortly  after  breakfast. 

Professional  Precautions. — To  enumerate  all  the  many  pre- 
cautions that  the  different  occupations  and  professions  require 


628  APPENDIX 

would  make  this  contribution  too  lengthy.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  a  number  of  States  are  now  protecting  the  employees  of 
dangerous  occupations  by  requiring  safety  appliances  on  ma- 
chines, and  guards  to  prevent  the  inhaling  of  dust  or  poisonous 
fumes. 

Other  Matters  of  Daily  Routine. — Go  to  your  place  of  busi- 
ness leisurely,  avoid  rushing  so  as  not  to  disturb  the  diges- 
tion, if  possible  walk — walk  with  your  head  high  and  your 
chest  up. 

With  all  these-  good  habits  formed  you  will  begin  your  work 
cheerfully,  you  will  choose  friends  who  are  cheerful  and  amiable, 
and  your  daily  life  will  be  one  of  joy. 

If  possible,  take  a  rest  at  noon,  go  home  and  eat  a  meal  in 
company  with  your  loved  ones.  Again,  as  for  breakfast,  eat 
simple  food,  such  as  soup,  vegetables,  one  meat  and  a  glass  of 
water;  rest  fifteen  minutes  after  the  meal,  then  return  leisurely 
to  your  place  of  business. 

Some  time  during  the  hours  after  noon,  a  person  should  find 
time  to  do  some  recreative  work,  i.  e.,  work  different  from  the 
daily  routine  in  the  ofiice,  shop,  or  home;  an  [hour  spent  in 
the  garden,  or  on  the  golf-links,  or  tennis-court,  will  tone  up 
the  whole  organism,  and  will  help  to  remove  the  accumulated 
poisons  collected  during  the  hours  of  routine  labor. 

When  you  sit  down  to  your  evening  meal,  remember  only  the 
pleasant  and  humorous  things  of  the  day  which  you  can  relate. 
It  is  very  necessary  that  the  food  shall  be  light,  wholesome,  and 
easily  digestible.  After  supper,  in  company  with  the  family, 
every  one  should  partake  of  some  interesting  recreation  which 
will  act  as  a  safety-valve  or  outlet  for  superfluous  energy,  as 
well  as  rest  and  change  from  the  regular  work. 

Special  Precautions. — Besides  these  general  rules  of  hygiene 
it  is  well,  if  one  of  the  parents  has  contracted  the  tubercular 
bacilli — which  fact  has  to  be  ascertained  by  a  competent  physi- 
cian— that  special  precautions  be  taken  so  as  to  prevent  the 
spread  of  bacilli  to  some  other  members  of  the  family. 

The  wisest  plan  is  to  isolate  the  infected  member  either  by 
sending  him  to  one  of  the  many  institutions  where  he  receives 
special  care  and  where  the  disease  is  arrested;  or  by  having  him 
sleep  and  live  in  the  open  air  at  home,  practising  the  necessary 
precautions.    If  the  patient  has  fever,  absolute  rest  is  essential; 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  629 

where  no  fever  is  present,  moderate  exercises  may  be  taken  with 
care. 

He  should  have  an  abundance  of  nourishing  food,  especially 
of  fatty  food,  meat,  eggs,  and  milk.  Any  other  foods  that  he 
likes  to  eat  and  can  digest  should  be  taken.  Lunches  should 
be  eaten  between  meals  and  on  retiring.  A  skilled  physician 
should  watch  and  guide  him  in  the  treatment  and  should  institute 
such  regulations  in  the  household  which  protect  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  family  against  any  possibility  of  contracting  the  tu- 
bercular disease. 

The  patient  should  always  think  of  the  safety  of  others,  and 
should  take  care  not  to  endanger  those  about  him. 

Conclusion. — I  wish  to  reiterate  that,  although  it  is  a  fact 
that  some  families  are  more  affected  by  tuberculosis  than  other 
families,  it  is  not  true  that  children  in  these  families  are  bom 
with  the  tubercular  bacilli  in  their  bodies.  But  it  means  that 
they  have  less  power  to  kill  these  bacilli.  Every  person  has  the 
opportunity  of  increasing  his  power  of  resistance  by  adopting  a 
hygienic  life  such  as  is  laid  down  in  this  simple  outline. 

XIV.    OUTDOOR   SCHOOLS  AND   MEDICAL  TREAT- 
MENT FOR   EXCEPTIONAL   CHILDREN 

By  Doctor  Edwakd  S.  Rrans,  Plainfield,  N.  J. 

The  writer's  experience  has  been  limited  to  the  groups  of 
pseudoatypical  children  and  atypical  children  proper.  The 
former,  as  a  rule,  respond  quickly  to  fresh  air,  food,  and  the  cor- 
rection of  minor  bodily  ills;  while  the  latter  require  more  time, 
more  pedagogic  manipulation,  more  care  in  adapting  the  daily 
regime. 

Routine  of  Medical  Treatment. — In  undertaking  the  medical 
treatment  of  such  cases  the  following  routine  is  observed  as  far 
as  p>ossible: 

(i)  Provision  is  made  for  suitable  diet,  bathing,  outdoor  air, 
exercise,  and  abundance  of  sleep. 

(2)  Investigation  of  conditions  at  home  and  in  school  to  in- 
sure proper  mental  and  moral  training,  congenial  pursuits,  and 
giving  parents  and  teachers  explicit  advice. 

(3)  The  correction  of  physical  abnormalities,  especially  as 


630  APPENDIX 

regards  the  teeth,  eyes,  nose  and  throat,  genitalia,  digestive 
tract,  blood,  and  spine. 

Pedagogical  Co-operation. — In  regard  to  the  ethical  and  intel- 
lectual phases  of  the  problem,  the  physician  needs  the  aid  of  a 
good  pedagogue,  and  for  difficult  cases,  one  specially  trained  in 
the  psychology  of  childhood  and  adolescence. 

Outdoor  Provisions. — The  writer  believes  that  the  proper 
environment  for  exceptional  children  is  nearly  always  found 
outdoors.  The  open-air  school,  the  open-window  or  doih-window 
classes,  are  simple  adjuncts  to  public  or  private  schools,  and  may 
easily  be  applied  in  principle  to  one  or  more  pupils  under  tutor 
or  governess.  The  open-window  and  cloth-window  classes  are 
the  ideal  for  all  classes,  and  are  inexpensive,  involving  no  altera- 
tion in  buildings.  The  open-air  school  is  an  ungraded  class 
with  not  more  than  twenty  members,  to  whom  are  administered 
carefully  adjusted  doses  of  fresh  air,  good  food,  mental  and 
manual  work,  play,  rest,  and  exercise. 

School  Routine. — Experience  has  evolved  certain  essentials 
in  regard  to  the  school  routine  and  to  the  structure  in  which  the 
school  is  located.  So  far  as  the  day's  programme  is  concerned, 
it  is  the  ideal  programme  for  the  exceptional  child  indoors  or 
outdoors,  and  subject  to  necessary  variation  it  should  be  about 
as  follows: 

In  the  morning,  on  arrival,  the  children  have  pulse,  tempera- 
ture and  respiration  recorded;  the  hungry  ones  receive  milk  and 
bread,  after  which,  as  after  all  meals,  they  brush  their  teeth. 
After  a  cold  shower-bath,  an  hour  and  a  half  is  devoted  to  study; 
then  comes  a  twenty  minutes'  recess  of  active  play,  followed  by 
a  half-hour  of  rest  with  music  or  out-loud  reading.  Then  study 
is  resumed  for  an  hour  until  dinner-time.  After  dinner  the 
children  have  a  period  of  actual  sleep,  from  which  they  are 
called  to  their  classes  for  one  or  two  hours.  Before  leaving  in 
the  afternoon,  temperature,  pulse,  and  respiration  are  once  more 
recorded,  and  those  desiring  it  may  have  bread  and  milk.  In 
the  case  of  poor  children  the  school  or  district  nurse  should  visit 
the  homes  to  look  over  conditions,  make  suggestions,  and  take 
cases  to  hospitals  or  dispensaries;  while  among  those  in  better 
circumstances  the  task  falls  to,  and  is  usually  neglected  by,  the 
family  physician.  Examinations  of  the  children,  stripped  to 
the  skin,  should  be  thoroughly  made  at  regular  intervals,  with 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  631 

at  least  one  examination  of  blood  and  urine,  and  such  other 
laboratory  work  as  seems  necessary  in  each  case. 

Practical  Conditions. — The  success  of  an  outdoor  school  de- 
pends in  a  large  measure  upon  a  few  practical  conditions.  For 
example:  It  should  be  possible  to  enclose  the  school  on  three 
sides  that  are  removable,  or  that  contain  windows.  There 
should  be  a  rain-proof  roof  and  a  dry  floor.  The  open  side  must 
face  the  south,  and  along  it  is  a  broad  windbreak,  as  high  as  the 
children's  waists  when  seated,  to  keep  off  the  cold  winds  from 
feet  and  legs;  for  it  is  impossible  to  keep  the  children  warm  if 
the  feet  are  cold.  Very  heavy  woollen  suits  with  hoods,  and  felt 
lumberman's  boots  are  worn  in  winter,  and  on  the  cots  ready  for 
the  rest  hour  are  several  large  army  blankets,  one  beneath  and 
two  or  more  on  top  of  each  child.  Close  at  hand  there  should 
be  a  warmed  room  for  changing  clothes,  warming  up  the  chilled, 
as  a  refuge  from  storm,  and  with  a  bathroom  and  toilet  adjacent 
to  it. 

Results  from  Outdoor  School  Life. — The  results  from  outdoor 
school  life  have  been  gratifying.  This  is  especially  true  in  the 
case  of  neglected  children,  the  anaemic  following  acute  illnesses, 
tonsil  and  adenoid  cases,  and  children  considered  predisposed 
to  tuberculosis.  Good  results  have  also  been  obtained  in  chorea, 
neurasthenia,  hysteria,  habit  spasm,  and  imcontroUed,  emotion- 
ally unstable  children. 

As  a  rule,  no  effort  should  be  made  to  hurry  the  pupils  through 
a  grade,  but  rather  to  secure  accuracy  and  quickness  in  the 
mental  processes;  and  the  teacher's  tests  will,  with  few  excep- 
tions, prove  what  progress  of  this  qualitative  sort  can  be  made. 
Attendance  and  conduct  ratings  are  higher  than  for  the  same 
children  in  the  ordinary  school.  In  addition  there  is  a  marked 
improvement  in  health  indicated  most  graphically  by  an  ascent 
in  the  weight  curve.  In  a  school  under  the  writer's  observation 
this  gain  in  weight  averages  between  seven  and  eight  pounds 
for  the  nine  months  of  the  school  session. 

The  first  open-air  school  in  this  country  was  started  ten 
years  ago,  and  the  records  of  each  succeeding  year,  and  of  each 
new  school  have  emphasized  the  therapeutic  value  of  the  method. 
About  15  per  cent  of  them  are  for  the  tuberculous — the  remain- 
der, about  85  per  cent,  for  children  roughly  classified  as  below 
par,  as  anaemic,  debilitated,  delicate,  neurotic,  backward,  predis- 


632  APPENDIX 

posed  to  tuberculosis,  and  including  a  variety  of  children  for  the 
most  part  included  in  the  pseudoatypical  and  atypical  groups. 

Medical  Treatment. — In  addition  to  hygiene,  the  medicinal 
treatment  must  be  briefly  considered.  Excepting  the  emergen- 
cies of  acute  illness,  the  use  of  drugs  with  these  children  is  re- 
stricted to  iron,  arsenic,  strychnine,  malt,  cod-liver  oil,  olive-oil, 
paraffin-oil,  mercury,  salvarsan,  sometimes  bromide,  and  not  in- 
frequently some  preparation  of  the  ductless  glands.  Among  the 
last  mentioned  there  are  great  possibilities  as  well  as  disappoint- 
ments in  their  use  in  childhood;  as  for  instance  the  use  of  thy- 
roid not  only  for  cretins  but  for  children  showing  mental  and 
physical  anomalies  that  have  a  cretinoid  tinge.  The  effect  of 
thyroid  on  calcium  metabolism  has  led  to  its  use  in  rickets, 
faulty  dentition,  and  nutritional  disorders,  i.  e.,  in  conditions  in 
which  were  formerly  used  thyroid-gland  stimulants,  such  as  cal- 
cium, arsenic,  and  iodine.  Thyroid  is  of  value  in  enuresis  and 
eczema,  provided  it  is  used  in  small  doses  and  in  patients  of  a 
myxoedematous  type,  while  with  the  alert  and  physiologically 
active  type  it  is  useless  or  injurious.  In  enuresis,  the  pituitary 
may  act  when  the  thyroid  preparation  fails.  Pituitary,  and 
sometimes  adrenal  medication  relieves  the  constipation  that  is 
so  troublesome  in  asthenic  children.  Thymus  gland,  and  occa- 
sionally and  paradoxically  small  doses  of  thyroid,  exert  a  benefi- 
cent effect  in  children  of  the  hyperthyroidal  type — the  type  that 
in  extreme  form  in  older  patients  presents  the  clinical  picture  of 
Basedow's  disease.  Another  stigma,  not  uncommon  in  child- 
hood, is  obesity,  which,  as  in  adults,  is  of  two  kinds:  a  flabby, 
sluggish  hypothyroidal  form  that  improves  on  thyroid  extract; 
and  a  massive,  sthenic  variety  that  may  be  modified  by  pituitary 
administration. 

Of  the  sex  glands,  ovarian  substance  will  stimulate  menstrua- 
tion and  uterine  growth,  while  corpus  luteum  regulates  the  men- 
strual flow.  In  sexual  infantilism,  it  is  claimed  that  the  use, 
singly  or  combined,  of  thyroid,  thymus,  pituitary,  and,  in  the 
female,  ovarian  preparations,  will  induce  normal  development; 
and  it  is  interesting,  in  view  of  the  long-recognized  relation  be- 
tween uterus  and  mammae,  to  note  that  mammary  gland  will 
often  control  the  flow  of  blood  from  the  uterus  (not  in  acute 
bleeding),  and  that  ovarian  medication  will  assist  the  growth  of 
the  breasts. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  633 

Suprarenal  extracts  are  useful  in  asthma,  and  possibly  whoop- 
ing-cough. 

The  organs  mentioned  have  been  used  for  other  purposes 
with  varying  results  by  dififerent  observers,  and  some  of  the  state- 
ments made  might  properly  be  questioned.  Many  of  the  con- 
tradictory results  of  opotherapy  are  due  to  failure  to  recognize 
a  truth  that  lurks  behind  the  following  theory:  In  administering 
one  gland  not  only  may  Us  effects  be  elicited,  but  also  those  that 
follow  the  stimulation  or  depression  by  it  of  interrelated  glands; 
and  further,  a  glandular  preparation  may  be  given  to  replace  de- 
ficient secretion,  or  in  small  amounts  to  act  as  a  regulator  of 
irregular  functioning.  An  illustration  of  the  first  statement  is 
the  tonic  effect  of  thyroid  extract  on  ovarian  function;  and  of 
the  second,  the  astonishing  result  of  light  thyroid  dosage  in  cer- 
tains cases  with  symptoms  of  thyroid  overaction. 

Co-opeiation  of  Medical  and  Pedagogic  Science. — Children 
with  fresh  tissues  and  sharper  physiologic  responses  are  better 
subjects  than  adults  both  for  hygiene  and  for  therapeutics.  It 
is  a  duty,  ethically  and  economically,  to  bring  to  the  solution  of 
the  child  problem,  especially  this  aspect  of  it,  every  crumb  of 
scientific  experience.  It  is  natural  that  physicians  should  em- 
phasize the  deviations  from  normal  physiology  in  these  excep- 
tional children,  and  it  is  quite  as  natural  that  educators  should 
lay  stress  on  the  aberrant  psychology  of  them.  But  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  as  mind  and  body  travel  in  company  in  the  child, 
so  a  representative  of  each  may  be  found  among  those  who  guide 
him. 


XV.    DUCTLESS   GLAND  IRREGULARITIES  IN 

EXCEPTIONAL   CHILDREN  AND 

THEIR   TREATMENT 

By  Doctor  E.  Bosworth  McCready,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Importance  of  the  Ductless  Glands. — It  is  now  generally  con- 
ceded that  the  chain  of  ductless  glands,  comprising  the  pineal, 
pituitary,  thyroid,  thymus,  and  adrenals,  is  of  the  greatest  im- 
p>ortance  in  the  development  of  the  cerebrospinal  and  osseous 
systems  in  early  life,  and  that  impairment  of  function  of  one  or 
another  of  these  glands  underlies  many  disorders  of  nutrition 


634  APPENDIX 

which  inhibit  proper  physical  and  mental  development.  While 
our  knowledge  regarding  the  normal  action  of  these  glands  is 
still  somewhat  hazy,  yet  they  are  found,  ih  some  manner,  to 
preside  over  certain  correlations  of  the  body.  These  correla- 
tions are  exceedingly  variable,  and  this  variability  is  most  ap- 
parent when  and  where  circumstances  are  abnormal.  The  ad- 
justing mechanisms  of  development  are  more  or  less  reciprocal; 
thus  a  ductless  gland  not  only  influences  development,  but  is 
itself  influenced  by  changes  in  general  development. 

Various  Functions  of  the  Glands. — There  is  reason  to  suppose 
that  in  the  harmony  produced  through  the  concerted  action  of 
the  ductless  glands,  the  leading  role  is  played  by  the  thyroid, 
which  supplies  the  stimulus  for  bodily  metabolism.  As  a  check 
upon  the  influence  of  the  thyroid  in  infancy  and  childhood,  the 
thymus,  the  general  lymphatic  system,  and  perhaps  the  pineal 
gland  also  become  active.  These,  in  addition  to  their  inhibitory 
action,  produce  that  delay  of  sexual  activity  which  is  essential  to 
the  proper  maturation  and  stability  of  the  somatic  functions. 
In  due  time  the  adrenal  system  stimulates  the  sexual  organs  to 
action,  as  well  as  hastening  the  growth  of  the  muscular  and 
skeletal  systems.  Of  great  importance  at  this  time  is  the  action 
of  the  secretion  from  the  pituitary  gland,  which  stimulates  the 
development  of  every  organ  in  the  body.  This  much  may  be 
postulated  regarding  the  influence  of  the  internal  secretions  upon 
somatic  development.  Their  influence  upon  psychic  develop- 
ment is  no  less  important. 

Seldom,  if  ever,  do  we  find  a  case  of  defective  development  in 
which  the  anomaly  can  be  attributed  exclusively  to  irregularity 
of  action  of  a  single  gland.  Even  in  cretinism  there  is  some  doubt 
as  to  whether  hypothyroidism  is  the  only  factor,  as  this  condition 
has  been  found  accompanied  by  an  enlarged  pituitary.  It  may 
be  stated  that  even  in  the  acquired  forms  of  ductless  gland  dis- 
order, such  as  result  from  infection,  trauma,  new  growths,  etc., 
in  a  gland  previously  healthy,  disturbance  of  one  of  the  chain 
throws  others  more  or  less  out  of  harmony,  with  resulting  varia- 
tion in  development. 

Ductless  Gland  Irregularity  in  Exceptional  Children. — The 
majority  of  exceptional  children  in  whom  the  condition  is  not 
due  to  purely  environmental  influences,  present  evidence  of  duct- 
less-gland irregularity,  emphasized  often  in  one  particular  gland. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  635 

The  involvement  may  be  due  to  caiises  distinctly  hereditary  in 
origin,  to  antenatal  agencies  affecting  the  child  in  utero.  or  to  a 
combination  of  these  with  exciting  factors,  toxic,  emotional,  or 
traumatic,  of)erating  postpartum.  Thus  conditions  having  a 
vitiating  influence  upon  cell  development,  as  tuberculosis,  syph- 
ilis, cancer,  alcoholism,  chemical  poisons,  malnutrition,  and 
environmental  influences  of  various  kinds  occurring  in  the  pro- 
genitors, result  in  imperfect  growth  of  the  development  embryo. 
In  the  first  few  weeks  of  fetal  life,  when  the  ductless  glands  begin 
to  appear,  the  cells  of  which  they  are  composed  also  grow  im- 
perfectly; and  failing  to  secrete  to  the  extent  to  which  they  were 
destined,  further  defective  development  ensues,  and  we  have 
as  a  result  a  constitutional  inferiority,  infantilism,  hypoplasia, 
degeneracy — call  it  what  you  will — in  varying  degree.  Of  these 
terms  1  prefer  "  hyp)oplasia."  "Constitutional  inferiority"  is 
liable  to  confusion  with  Doctor  Adolph  Meyer's  more  specific 
term,  "  psychic  constitutional  inferiority,"  which  is  often  used 
without  the  qualifying  adjective.  "  Infantilism,"  especially 
when  qualified  as  "  thyroid  infantilism,"  "  pituitary  infantilism," 
etc  .  conveys  the  impression  of  a  clinical  entity.  "  Degeneracy," 
from  long  misuse,  carries  with  it  a  stigma  of  moral  obliquity. 
"  Hypoplasia."  on  the  other  hand,  seems  to  be  a  generic  term 
admitting  of  wide  application.  Hypoplasia  may  affect  any  or- 
gan or  any  structure,  and  to  almost  any  degree.  Thus  hypo- 
plasia of  the  nervous  system  may  give  us  the  idiot  as  one  extreme, 
and  what  is  called  the  neurotic  make-up  as  the  other.  The 
various  stigmata  of  degeneracy  are  somatic  manifestations  of 
hypoplasia.  Certain  neuroses  and  psychoses,  drug  habits,  al- 
coholism, etc.,  if  not  the  direct  result,  are  prone  to  occur  in  in- 
dividuals presenting  symptoms  of  hypoplasia  of  the  nervous 
system  in  greater  or  less  degree.  Chlorosis,  appendicitis,  tuber- 
culosis, and  a  host  of  other  dyscrasias,  diatheses,  infections  and 
morbid  states  are  common  in  the  hypoplastic. 

The  Hypoplastic  Child. — The  hyp>oplastic  exceptional  child  is 
distinguishable  from  his  normally  constituted  fellow  through 
anatomic,  physiologic,  and  psychic  characteristics,  the  interpre- 
tation of  which  will  implicate  the  glands  of  internal  secretion  as 
a  factor  of  etiological  significance.  The  clinical  picture  most 
often  observed  is  the  undersized,  undernourished  child  whose 
unstable  nervous  system  is  still  further  handicapped  by  the  effect 


636  APPENDIX 

of  disturbances  arising  from  nasal  obstruction,  defective  vision, 
phimosis,  etc.  These  conditions  are  often  erroneously  consid- 
ered direct  causes  of  mental  deviation.  They  are,  in  reality, 
evidences  of  the  evolutional  hypoplasia  which  is  the  cause  of  the 
deviation.  Other  symptoms  are:  delayed  epiphyseal  union  (as 
revealed  by  the  X-ray),  irregular  dentition,  and  abnormalities 
in  the  growth  of  hair.  Deficiency  of  the  eyebrows  in  the  outer 
third,  the  signe  du  sourcil,  is  considered  a  symptom  of  thyroid 
insufficiency.  Enuresis  is  common.  Frequently  ptoses  of  the 
viscera  are  present,  especially  in  the  female,  and  postural  defects 
are  the  rule  in  both  sexes.  Puberty  may  be  delayed,  the  boy 
retaining  the  falsetto  voice  and  bodily  proportions  of  childhood, 
and  the  girl  the  "  neuter  "  form  lacking  secondary  sexual  char- 
acteristics. There  is  usually  a  corresponding  psychic  insuffi- 
ciency. The  high-arched  palate,  produced  by  yielding  of  the 
palatine  bones,  due  to  relative  poverty  in  calcium  salts,  is  a 
fairly  constant  symptom  of  hypoplasia,  and  resulting  dental 
malocclusions  are  frequently  found. 

The  temperature  is  apt  to  be  variable,  subnormal  at  times 
with  cold  extremities,  clammy  skin,  and  chilliness,  evidences  of 
deficient  oxidation  and  nutrition  often  due  to  hypothyroidism. 
Low  blood-pressure,  Sergent's  white  line,  adynamia,  sometimes 
with  slight  bronzing  of  the  skin,  and  decreased  resistance  to  in- 
fection point  to  underdevelopment  of  the  adrenals.  Anomalie? 
of  bony  development  hint  at  defective  function  of  the  thymus. 

Deformation  of  the  Sella  Turcica. — The  clinical  study  is  not 
complete  without  a  radiograph  of  the  region  of  the  sella  turcica, 
to  determine  possible  deformation  of  the  structure  with  resulting 
dyspituitarism.  The  findings  must  be  interpreted  with  reference 
to  symptoms  of  disorder  of  this  gland  as  well  as  their  relation 
to  other  glands  of  internal  secretion.  A  small  sella  turcica  will 
often  be  found  in  children  of  retarded  physical  and  mental  de- 
velopment, exhibiting  infantile  characteristics  approaching  the 
Lorain  type  or  the  dystrophia  adiposo-genitalis  of  Frohlich.  In 
some  there  is  an  enlargement  of  the  clinoid  processes,  particularly 
the  posterior,  practically  closing  the  space.  This  finding,  almost 
constant  in  certain  forms  of  epilepsy,  confirms  Johnston's  ob- 
servations.*   I  have  also  noticed  it  in  children  without  epileptic 

'  George  C.  Johnston,  "The  Pituitary  Gland  in  its  Relation  to  Epilepsy," 
Surgery,  Gynecology  and  Obstetrics,  April,  1914. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  637 

history  but  presenting  evidence  of  mental  instability.  I  am  in- 
clined to  believe  that  the  deformation  of  the  sella  and  of  the 
clinoids  is  but  another  of  the  already  long  list  of  stigmata  of 
degeneracy  common  in  hypoplastic  individuals,  and  that  its 
association  with  epilepsy  is  more  or  less  accidental,  and  that  it 
acts  as  a  causative  factor  only  in  so  far  as  the  resulting  mal- 
fvmctionating  of  the  pituitary  gland  influences  metabolism.  The 
high  neutral  sulphur  content  which  I  have  found  in  the  urine 
of  epileptic  children  with  encroaching  clinoid  processes  would 
tend  to  bear  out  this  theory. 

Treatment. — In  the  last  few  years  a  fund  of  knowledge  has 
been  gradually  acquired  that  has  placed  organotherapy  upon  a 
rational  foundation  and  furnished  concise  indications  for  the 
administration  of  definite  gland  substances  in  definite  diseased 
states.  While  in  the  class  of  cases  which  we  are  considering  the 
indications  are  not  so  definite  and  the  administration  must  be, 
for  the  present,  upon  more  or  less  empirical  grounds,  we  are  far 
removed  from  the  crude  empiricism  of  the  days  of  Brown- 
Sequard  and  his  overenthusiastic  followers. 

Though  the  most  brilliant  results  have  been  gained  from  the 
use  of  thyroid  gland  there  are  many  instances  in  which  much 
benefit  has  apparently  been  derived  from  the  use  of  preparations 
of  other  glands,  and  numerous  such  cases  have  been  reported. 
As  has  been  mentioned,  it  is  seldom  that  we  observe  a  case  in 
which  the  anomaly  can  be  attributed  to  irregularity  of  action 
of  one  particular  gland,  though  there  are  numerous  cases  in 
which  the  symptoms  involving  one  gland  are  more  prominent. 
With  a  polyglandular  condition  to  treat,  the  indication  is  for 
polyopotherapy.  I  am  in  the  habit  of  administering  to  such 
cases  small  doses  of  pituitary,  thymus,  thyroid,  and  adrenal 
glands.  For  males,  testicular  substance  is  added;  for  females, 
ovarian  and  mammary  substance.  The  usual  result  is  improve- 
ment in  nutrition,  increase  in  growth  rate,  increase  in  blood- 
pressure,  decrease  of  pulse-rate,  and  improvement  in  mentality. 
The  thyroid  should  be  omitted  entirely  or  reduced  to  a  minimum 
in  cases  showing  the  least  evidence  of  hyperthyroidism.  In  this 
same  class  of  cases  of  polyglandular  disorder  I  have  produced 
practically  the  same  results  in  some  cases  by  the  administration 
of  thyroid  alone  and  thymus  alone.  Improvement  following 
the  administration  of  glandular  preparations  has  been  reported 


638  APPENDIX 

by  other  observers.  Thus,  Dana  and  Berkeley  have  reported 
the  results  of  investigations  which  they  carried  on  under  a  grant 
from  the  Rockefeller  Institute.  Pineal  extract  was  fed  to  a 
number  of  defective  children  in  whom  no  grave  organic  brain 
defect  existed.  They  believe  that  the  pineal  gland  has  a  definite 
and  important  function,  viz.,  that  it  promotes  the  development 
of  the  human  nervous  system,  and  they  assume  that  it  supplies 
a  minute  amount  of  intracellular  ferment  accelerating  the  growth 
of  the  gray  matter  of  the  brain.  While  in  the  cases  which  they 
report  mentality  showed  a  steady  and  gratifying  improvement 
lasting  over  the  whole  period  of  administration,  such  improve- 
ment, as  reported,  was  no  more  marked  than  I  have  observed  in 
cases  treated  as  outlined  above.  It  is  my  opinion  that  improve- 
ment results  from  the  stimulation  of  metabolic  processes  by 
bringing  into  equilibrium  the  various  glands  with  their  common, 
though  tangled  relationship,  rather  than  through  any  selective 
action  upon  a  particular  gland. 

When  the  symptoms  pointing  to  one  gland  predominate,  as  in 
hyperthyroidism,  hyperpituitarism,  etc.,  the  indications  are  more 
specific.  I  have  known  an  apathetic,  listless  boy,  who  would 
take  no  part  in  the  occupations  of  his  school  fellows,  to  be  trans- 
formed in  a  few  weeks  by  small  doses  of  thyroid  into  a  lively, 
mischievous  youngster.  A  little  girl  of  three  years,  short,  fat, 
and  stolid,  who  showed  little  desire  to  talk,  was  put  upon  thyroid 
extract  with  the  result  that  her  mother  came  to  me  a  few  weeks 
later  with  a  request  from  the  family  that  I  give  her  something  to 
stop  her  talking.  Another  patient  of  mine,  a  case  of  infantilism 
with  symptoms  strongly  suggestive  of  hypophyseal  insufficiency, 
gained  one  and  a  half  inches  in  height  in  ten  weeks  (more,  his 
father  states,  than  he  had  grown  in  a  year  before)  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  pituitary  gland.^ 

Kerley  and  Beebe^  report  a  case  of  retarded  physical  develop- 
ment in  a  boy  in  which  treatment  by  thymus  extract  apparently 
gave  brilliant  results. 

The  efficiency  of  hormone- therapy  is  enhanced  when  it  is  pos- 

1  E.  Bosworth  McCready,  "Study  of  a  Case  of  Infantilism  with  Hypophyseal 
Insufficiency,"  Illinois  Medical  Journal,  October,  1914. 

'  C.  G.  Kerley  and  S.  P.  Beebe,  "A  Case  of  Delayed  Development  in  a  Boy 
Treated  with  Thymus  Gland,"  American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences, 
August,  19 1 2. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  639 

sible  to  subject  the  patient  to  the  hygienic  and  educational 
measures  which  modern  methods  of  dealing  with  the  exceptional 
child  have  shown  to  be  useful.  In  child-culture  as  in  horticul- 
ture it  is  intensive  effort  which  produces  results. 

XVI.    THE   MENTALLY  BACKWARD   CHILD   FROM 

THE   STANDPOINT  OF  THE   NEUROLOGIST 

By  Doctor  M.  Neustaedter,  New  York  City 

Children  Far  Below  the  Normal  Standard. — By  a  mentally  or 
intellectually  defective  child  I  mean  one  who  is  far  below  the 
normal  standard  as  accepted  by  well-established  intelligence 
tests.  I  say  far,  because  in  testing  the  mentality  of  a  child  sev- 
eral factors  must  be  taken  into  consideration,  namely  the  per- 
sonal equation  of  the  examiner,  the  home  environment  of  the 
child,  hereditary  influences,  and  lastly  whether  the  defect  is 
general  or  only  limited  to  certain  tendencies.  Thus,  a  child 
found  to  be  one  or  perhaps  two  years  behind  his  age,  according 
to  a  certain  intelligence  test,  I  would  hesitate  to  call  defective. 

The  inability  of  a  child  to  make  appreciable  progress  under  a 
skiUed  instructor  within  a  period  of  at  least  two  years  ought  to 
be  an  additional  criterion  of  its  mental  defect. 

Concomitant  Factors  of  Backwardness. — What  are  then  the 
concomitant  manifestations  of  backwardness — what  are  its  causa- 
tive factors,  and  to  what  extent  can  it  be  ameliorated  ? 

Frequently  the  concomitant  manifestations  are  of  a  functional 
nature,  such  as  various  types  of  neuroses  or  psychoses;  but  in 
the  vast  majority  of  cases  we  find  organic  brain  defects.  Among 
the  first  I  would  include  chorea,  habit  spasms,  neurasthenia,  hys- 
teria, essential  epilepsy,  psychical  equivalent,  dementia  praecox, 
and  types  of  manic-depressive  psychoses.  In  the  latter  I  would 
put  various  types  of  infantile  cerebral  palsies  with  or  without 
epileptiform  convulsions,  hydrocephalus,  micro-  and  macro- 
cephalus,  cerebellar  and  tabetic  ataxias,  organic  defects  of  the 
sp>ecial  sense-organs.  We  may  also  include  here  organic  defects 
which,  although  not  of  the  brain  proper,  are  concomitant  mani- 
festations of  the  mentally  retarded  child.  These  are  the  infan- 
tile dystrophies  and  diseased  ductless  glands,  which  latter  give 
rise  to  cretinism,  infantile  myxoedema,  Mongolian  family  idiocy, 
infantilism,  Basedow's  disease,  acromegaly  and  mixed  types. 


640  APPENDIX 

'  Etiological  Factors. — The  etiological  factors  are  generally  con- 
sidered pre-  or  post-natal.  They  may  arise  as  a  result  of 
trauma,  of  an  infectious  process,  or  again  be  the  result  of 
an  affect,  namely,  of  an  inherited  neuropathic  or  psychopathic 
constitution. 

The  most  frequent  traumatic  influences  are  delayed  labors  or 
instrumental  deliveries.  These  two  factors  are  elicited  in  fully 
one-third  of  my  cases,  and  that  is  in  agreement  with  the  reports 
of  most  investigators.  Other  forms  of  post-natal  traumata  are 
by  no  means  uncommon  and  are  present  in  the  histories  of  cases 
attended  by  convulsions.  I  want  to  call  attention  here  that 
psychical  trauma,  such  as  shock  from  fright,  is  a  frequent  ex- 
citing factor  in  the  production  of  neurosis,  and  even  a  psychosis 
on  a  neuropathic  or  psychopathic  constitution. 

Of  the  infectious  agents,  the  exanthemata  take  the  first  rank. 
Cerebrospinal  meningitis,  poliomyelitis,  pneumonia,  syphilis,  and 
tuberculosis  are  very  often  recorded.  Diphtheria  and  various 
streptococcic  infections  of  the  nose  and  throat  and  middle  ear 
frequently  give  rise  to  meningeal  involvement. 

Both  the  traumatic  and  infectious  agents  produce  inflamma- 
tory conditions  of  the  meninges  at  the  base  and  the  convexity 
of  the  brain.  If  at  the  base,  some  of  the  cranial  nerves  become 
involved,  and  give  rise  to  defects  of  the  special  sense-organs. 
Blindness  will  result  when  the  optic  nerves  are  involved,  and 
deafness  when  the  acoustic  nerves  are  affected.  Children  sur- 
viving from  basilar  meningitis  are  very  often  deaf  and  blind.  If 
the  convexity  of  the  brain  is  involved,  we  may  deal  with  a 
hemiplegia,  epileptiform  convulsions,  motor  or  sensory  aphasias, 
either  partial  or  complete.  The  ideational  faculties  may  be 
dulled,  or  retarded,  or  completely  destroyed.  In  cases  where 
the  communicating  foramina  between  the  ventricles  are  partially 
or  completely  occluded  by  inflammatory  deposits,  an  accumiila- 
tion  of  an  exudate  will  lead  to  internal  or  external  hydrocephalus. 
If  the  amount  of  fluid  in  the  brain  is  sufficiently  large  to  exert  an 
undue  pressure  upon  the  brain -cortex,  it  is  perfectly  evident  that 
we  shall  get  diplegias,  convulsions,  and  a  very  low  mentality. 
Vision  in  such  cases  is  always  interfered  with  on  account  of  the 
pressure  exerted  upon  the  optic  tract. 

Cortical  and  basilar  hemorrhages  are  frequently  produced  by 
traumata.     They  also  lead  to  depressions  of  the  skull,  which 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  641 

press  upon  the  brain-cortex.  In  these  localized  lesions  we  get 
focal  symptoms  in  conformity  with  the  place  involved. 

In  case  of  syphilis  I  distinguish  between  infection  and  affec- 
tion. In  an  infection  by  the  syphilitic  virus,  the  Treponema 
pallidum  is  inoculated.  Such  infection  of  the  central  nervous 
system  will  give  rise  to  cerebral  or  cerebrospinal  syphilis  with 
focal  symptoms  according  to  the  site  involved.  Blindness,  deaf- 
ness, convulsions,  paralysis,  ataxias,  and  even  psychoses  may 
result. 

By  an  affection  I  mean  a  state  of  lowered  vitality  as  compared 
with  the  normal  threshold.  This  is  the  result  of  the  chemotactic 
action  of  the  toxins  upon  the  protoplasm  of  the  brain-cells,  a 
pathological  change  in  the  normal  molecular  consistency.  Such 
lowered  vitality  is  inherited  by  the  offspring  without  the  virus 
producing  such  change.  This  affection  manifests  itself  in  what 
is  commonly  known  as  a  neuropathic  or  psychopathic  constitu- 
tion. Alcohol  and  tuberculosis  as  well  as  syphilis  are  productive 
of  such  conditions.  It  is  an  accepted  fact  that  such  hereditary 
taints  are  transmitted  from  generation  to  generation.  In  prog- 
enies of  consanguineous  marriages,  in  whom  there  are  such  dele- 
terious factors,  these  deteriorating  manifestations  are  brought 
out  more  promptly  and  certainly.  Upon  such  a  neuropathic  or 
psychopathic  constitution  psychic  or  physical  traumata  or  in- 
fectious diseases  will  engraft  some  form  of  mental  deterioration 
and  thereby  render  the  mind  decidedly  unstable  if  not  exactly 
insane. 

Alcohol,  even  in  small  quantities,  frequently  used,  affects  the 
protoplasm  and  therefore  the  entire  system.  It  lessens  the  ab- 
sorption of  oxygen  by  the  red  blood-corpuscles  and  the  exhala- 
tion of  carbon  dioxide,  thus  producing  a  toxic  condition.  It  not 
only  diminishes  the  powers  of  resistance  but  favors  the  growth 
of  pathogenic  organisms.  It  also  inhibits  to  a  great  extent  the 
metabolic  changes  in  every  organ  of  the  body. 

The  decrease  or  increase  of  mental  disorders  and  crime  are 
shown  by  statistics  to  be  in  direct  proportion  to  the  rise  and  fall 
of  the  consumption  of  alcoholic  beverages. 

Since  the  mother  has  a  greater  share  in  the  life  and  care  of 
the  child  maternal  alcoholism  is  of  far  greater  danger  than  the 
paternal.  It  has  been  proven  again  and  again  that  the  earlier 
in  her  pregnancy  a  woman  takes  to  drink  the  more  certain  will 


642  APPENDIX 

be  the  debility  of  her  offspring.  Among  others,  Bourneville 
made  a  close  study  of  2,555  children  who  were  classed  either  as 
idiots,  epileptics,  or  imbeciles,  or  who  suffered  from  some  form  of 
neurosis,  and  of  these  he  found  that  1,053  had  an  inebriate  par- 
entage. In  933  it  was  paternal;  in  80,  maternal,  and  in  40  it 
was  traced  to  both;  235  were  conceived  during  paternal  drunk- 
enness. 

We  may  therefore  conclude  that  parental  intemperance,  if 
not  itself  due  to  a  neurotic  heredity,  and  especially  if  emphasized 
by  disease  or  privation,  certainly  produces  a  marked  influence 
upon  nutrition  and  causes  mental  and  physical  degeneration, 
both  in  parents  and  offspring,  in  other  words  is  productive  of  a 
neuropathic  or  psychopathic  constitution. 

In  tuberculosis  we  also  deal  with  a  toxic  condition  that  ravages 
the  tissues  of  the  parent  and  produces  not  only  a  diminished 
resistance  to  the  infection,  but  gives  rise  to  imperfect  bodily 
development  of  the  child.  It  may  not  be  the  tubercle-bacillus 
that  the  surviving  offspring  inherits,  but  the  so-called  scrofulous 
condition — a  degeneration  due  to  a  toxaemia.  Such  children 
show  manifestations  due  to  an  underdevelopment  of  various 
tissues,  never  reaching  the  norm,  and  thereby  also  a  low  threshold 
of  their  functions.  One  notices  a  subnormal  body  weight,  a 
positive  sign  of  lack  of  proper  nutrition.  The  skin  is  spongy, 
pale,  rather  inelastic,  and  yet  not  tense.  The  muscles  are  as  a 
rule  flabby  and  weak,  prone  to  fatigue  easily,  and  to  become 
exhausted.  The  swelling  of  the  lymphatic  glands  is  a  constant 
accompaniment.  These  are  constant  signs  of  a  scrofulous 
diathesis,  and  as  the  children  get  older  they  develop  various  or- 
ganic diseases  of  the  viscera  and  bones  characteristic  of  a  faulty 
nutrition.  Hand  in  hand  with  that  goes  a  mental  backward- 
ness in  various  degrees  from  a  mere  retardation  to  a  complete 
imbecility. 

Syphilitic  affections,  as  stated  before,  do  not  yield  symptoms 
of  an  infectious  process,  but  rather  of  a  constitutional  inferiority. 
And  yet  the  fate  of  such  a  child  may  be  as  dark  as  that  of  an 
infected  one.  Its  general  physical  development  may  also  be 
retarded,  or  even  markedly  inhibited.  Agenesis,  aplasias  of 
various  tissues,  especially  of  the  central  nervous  system,  are  met 
with  in  no  rare  instances.  Dystrophies  are  now  regarded  as  due 
to  such  aplasias.     The  cells  may  possess  a  weak  power  of  re- 


A   MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  643 

sistance  and  fatigue  rather  early  in  life,  succumbing  easily  to  the 
very  onerous  tasks  required  of  them  in  the  daily  discharge  of 
their  functions,  unable,  as  it  were,  to  proportionally  assimilate 
new  food  and  replenish  energy  as  easily  as  lost.  Many  authors 
also  believe  that  the  toxins  of  the  syphilitic  virus  cause  organic 
changes  in  the  various  elements  of  the  central  nervous  system, 
the  ganglion-cells,  their  prolongations,  and  the  glia-cells.  The 
vessels  do  not  escape  injury  altogether.  An  obliterating  enar- 
teritis  or  a  gummatous  periarteritis  with  consequent  areas  of 
softening  are  not  uncommon.  Such  is  the  anatomical  basis  of 
various  juvenile  psychoses. 

Finally  we  come  to  consider  the  diseases  of  the  ductless  glands. 
The  secretions  of  these  glands  contain  chemical  substances  which 
profoundly  influence  the  bodily  functions.  According  to  one 
theory  they  enhance  the  assimilation  of  food  and  thereby  influ- 
ence growth,  and  according  to  another  one  they  are  supposed  to 
be  germicidal  and  neutralizers  of  toxins,  and  thus  are  a  preven- 
tive to  toxic  destruction  of  tissues.  Whatever  theory  may  prove 
to  be  the  correct  one,  it  has  been  established  experimentally  and 
clinically  that  whenever  the  balance  of  these  internal  secretions 
is  upset  by  a  lesion  in  any  of  these  glands  there  result  diseases 
which  give  rise  to  definite  clinical  manifestations.  Just  as  the 
various  organs  are  influenced  in  their  nutrition,  and  therefore  in 
their  growth,  so  are  the  functions  of  the  central  nervous  system 
profoundly  influenced  in  the  same  ratio.  All  children  suffering 
from  any  defect  of  the  ductless  glands  are  mentally  below  par. 
It  matters  not  whether  we  are  dealing  with  the  hyperthyroidism, 
giving  rise  to  the  syndrome  of  Graves's  disease,  or  its  antagonist 
hypothyroidism  resulting  in  cretinism,  infantile  myxcedema, 
or  again  hyperpituitarism  with  the  syndrome  of  acromegaly,  or 
that  of  hypopituitarism  with  the  symptom  complex  of  infantilism, 
imbecility,  or  even  idiocy.  Mental  backwardness  is  a  constant 
manifestation.  Of  course,  the  degree  of  the  child's  backward- 
ness depends  entirely  upon  the  extent  of  involvement  of  these 
glands.  The  particular  etiology  of  these  affections  is  not  defi- 
nitely known,  but  many  investigators  have  been  able  to  demon- 
strate that  alcohol,  tuberculosis,  and  syphilis  play  a  considerable 
r61e  in  their  production.  It  may  not  be  amiss  to  state  here  that 
enough  attention  has  not  been  given  to  the  defects  of  the  ductless 
glands  as  a  possible  etiological  factor  in  the  production  of  the  back- 


644  APPENDIX 

ward  child.  I  am  inclined  to  place  the  onus  upon  them  when- 
ever I  am  unable  to  elicit  any  other  factor  in  the  absence  of  focal 
symptoms  that  would  point  in  another  direction. 

Amelioration  of  These  Conditions. — From  what  I  have  said 
before  it  is  evident  that  the  possible  amelioration  of  such  condi- 
tions may  best  be  accomplished  by  prophylactic  measures  rather 
than  curative.  It  would  be  impossible  to  enter  upon  an  extensive 
discussion  in  this  paper,  but  a  few  general  remarks  may  prove 
of  value. 

The  education  of  the  public  in  eugenics  is  the  important  phase 
of  prophylaxis,  but  our  public  servants  must  strive  to  create 
ideal  social  conditions.  The  wage-earners  who  are  the  great  bulk 
of  the  social  organism  should  be  given  a  chance  to  live  in  ideal 
homes  as  well  as  to  make  a  fairly  comfortable  livelihood  under 
ideal  conditions,  in  the  factory. 

Consanguinity  in  marriage  should  be  restricted  by  legislation 
to  a  far  greater  extent  than  is  done  by  any  church  or  creed.  It 
should  be  made  compulsory  for  any  one  applying  for  a  marriage 
license  to  undergo  a  thorough  physical  examination  by  expert 
observers.  The  Wassermann  reaction  should  be  resorted  to  in 
every  case. 

As  the  production  of  these  unfortunates  is  not  limited  to  any 
particular  class  of  society,  but  is  the  result  of  the  outcroppings 
of  vicious  and  defective  tendencies  in  all  ranks  and  classes,  in- 
cluding the  highest,  where  the  black  sheep  of  the  family  does 
not  come  merely  by  chance,  the  avoidance  of  injudicious  matings 
of  those  who  are  utterly  xmfit  for  the  propagation  of  healthy  off- 
spring is  imperative. 

So  far  as  curative  measures  are  concerned,  they  must  be  both 
medical  and  educational.  Hygienic  surroundings  and  proper, 
nourishing,  and  easily  assimilable  diet  are  the  most  important 
prerequisites,  and  along  with  them, -proper  medication  as  the 
case  demands.  In  cases  which  are  still  amenable  to  medical 
treatment,  this  will  do  a  great  amount  of  good.  This  is  especially 
true  in  cases  of  syphilitic  infection.  Alongside  with  this  an  in- 
dividualizing, not  specializing,  pedagogue,  one  with  a  keen  power 
of  observation  and  fairly  well  equipped  with  a  knowledge  of 
psychology  and  anatomy  and  physiology  of  the  central  nervous 
system,  will  materially  aid  in  bringing  order  out  of  chaos.  All 
this  must  be  attempted  early  if  success  is  to  be  attained,  for  as 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  645 

the  child  grows  its  brain-cells  adjust  themselves  to  their  environ- 
ment, and  to  begin  late  would  mean  to  attempt  the  impossible. 
Conclusion. — In  conclusion  I  would  say  that  each  case  must 
be  studied  as  an  entity  by  itself,  and  we  must  minister  to  its 
particular  needs  as  the  case  may  demand.  As  to  the  general 
prophylactic  measures  which  I  have  pointed  out,  I  would  say 
that  they  seem  to  me  to  be  very  simple  and  not  at  all  costly, 
and  if  realized  by  our  educators,  social  workers,  physicians,  and 
legislators  they  would  find  a  perplexing  problem  well  in  hand.* 

XVII.    CARE  OF  THE  NEUROTIC  AND   PSYCHO- 
PATHIC  CHILD 

By  Doctor  Frederic  J.  Farnell,  Providence,  R.  I. 

Infantile  Roots  of  Adult  Psychopathy. — There  is  probably  no 
phase  of  modern  psychopathology  so  interesting  or  so  legiti- 
mately one  of  general  concern  and  attention  as  that  which  deals 
with  mental  development  of  the  neurotic  and  psychopathic  child. 
The  importance  of  this  early  period  of  development  is  steadily 
gaining  recognition,  yet,  just  how  far  and  just  the  reason  why 
adult  mental  abnormalities  are  the  distortion  of  memories  of 
childhood  experiences  is  still  a  matter  of  individual  opinion.  It 
has  been  stated,  nevertheless,  that  since  infantile  roots  are  rarely 
lacking  in  adult  mental  derangements,  the  study  of  an  adult 
might  be  viewed  as  "  child  study." 

The  Make-up  or  Personality. — Chief  among  the  conditions 
one  must  keep  in  mind  is  the  period  of  moulding  the  child,  ob- 
serving especially  those  different  elements  which  tend  toward  the 
make-up  or  personality.  A  knowledge  of  growth  is  necessary  for 
the  understanding  of  the  matured  state. 

Just  as  the  personality  or  make-up  of  the  mentally  afflicted 
individual  is  the  result  of  a  process  of  growth,  so  it  is  in  these 
types  of  children — the  beginning  of  a  process  of  growth.    The 

'  Doctor  Neustaedter's  views  differ  in  several  points  from  those  presented  in 
this  book,  in  the  general  conception  of  the  problems  of  heredity  and  of  prophy- 
lactic measures.  He  offers,  however,  from  his  great  fund  of  experience,  so  many 
valuable  suggestions  and  indisputable  facts,  that  the  author  is  happy  to  have 
him  among  his  contributors.  It  is  well,  anyway,  to  give  space  here  to  a  state- 
ment from  a  scientific  representative  of  another  point  of  view.  In  most  points, 
he  corroborates  the  main  coatentioos  of  this  volume. 


646  APPENDIX 

child  must  be  recognized  as  a  collection  of  forces,  and  he  should 
be  studied  from  the  dynamic  rather  than  from  the  static  stand- 
point. 

Uncpnscious  Elements. — One  must  take  into  consideration, 
however,  inborn  tendencies,  impulses,  and  instincts.  There  are 
also  forgotten  and  unrecognized  psychical  contents  which  have 
not  been  brought  into  the  actual  existence  of  the  memory. 
They  are  in  close  relationship  to  unconsciousness;  they  also  bear 
a  relationship  to  conscious  ideals  and  efforts,  but  owing  to  the 
presence  in  consciousness  of  opposite  ideals  and  efforts  they  are 
repressed  from  consciousness.  As  a  result  of  this  exclusion  from 
consciousness  the  content  of  the  unconsciousness  can  be  revealed 
only  by  its  consequences. 

Early  Repressions. — In  the  first  five  to  seven  years  of  a  child's 
life,  during  which  time  he  is  almost  entirely  in  the  home  receiving 
his  training  from  his  parents,  associations  are  made  which,  by 
the  poor  co-operation  of  the  parents  or  guardians,  may  be  re- 
pressed, not  only  offering  the  possibility  of  an  early  neurosis  but 
also  offering  seed  for  disturbance  of  his  whole  life.  Every  re- 
pression, even  in  a  child,  means  a  further  hindrance  of  mental 
development.  Various  authors  have  used  the  term  "  fixation," 
or  the  driving  and  encouraging  of  faulty  mental  habits  along  a 
pathway  which  it  would  not  otherwise  have  followed,  especially 
so  should  it  not  meet  with  the  interest  of  the  child.  The  repres- 
sion of  one  mental  content  is  naturally  followed  by  the  suppres- 
sion of  other  mental  processes,  even  those  which  may  be  of  use 
in  balancing  the  individual. 

For  example;  Take  a  child  who  expresses  himself  along  a  cer- 
tain line — saying  he  has  not  done  or  said  such  and  such  a  thing, 
which  was  later  demonstrated  to  be  a  lie.  Should  it  be  regarded 
immediately  as  a  He,  and  the  child  punished  accordingly,  one 
only  succeeds  in  demonstrating  to  that  child  the  mental  concep- 
tion of  a  lie  of  which  he  might  otherwise  have  remained  in  igno- 
rance. It  should  be  remembered  that  the  unconscious  factors  in 
falsifying  play  a  far  greater  role  in  the  child  mind  than  may  be 
supposed.  The  punishment  of  such  a  child  is  liable  to  create 
direct  antagonism  toward  that  parent,  which  antagonism  may 
become  hatred  or  distrust  according  to  the  deceptions  the  parent 
may  have  given  the  child  when  he  was  in  earnest  search  for  truth. 
There  is  no  question  which  will  stimulate  a  query  in  a  child's 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  647 

mind  more  than  that  to  which  the  answer  "  not  to  speak  of  such 
matters  again"  is  given. 

Relations  of  Parent  and  Child. — It  should  not  be  at  all  sur- 
prising to  hear  the  emphasis  laid  upon  the  relations  of  the  child 
to  parent  or  guardian;  their  relationship  is  of  marked  significance. 
The  formation  of  love  attachments  to  mother  or  father  should 
be  guarded,  and  the  most  careful  attention  given  to  the  proper 
purifying  of  instinctive  tendencies  as  they  may  become  mani- 
fest. One  should  not  be  too  strict  or  too  tender  with  the  child. 
Too  much  affection  or  too  severe  corrective  measures  may  be 
influential  in  producing  an  early  sensual  manifestation  in  the 
former,  or  a  serious  disturbance  in  temper  in  the  latter.  With 
the  former,  love  attachments  become  stronger  and  manifest 
themselves  in  later  years  in  various  peculiarities  of  character. 
In  the  latter,  love  attachments  weaken,  desires  are  converted 
and  energy  discharged  in  defects  in  conduct,  such  as  cruelty 
toward  animals  or  individuals.  The  many  other  psychical  and 
mental  abnormalities  can  frequently  be  traced  to  an  early  in- 
fantile fixation  or  an  erroneous  attitude  toward  a  parent. 

Interpretation  of  Misconduct — These  conditions  having  de- 
veloped, helpful  measures  should  be  instituted  and  the  child 
carefully  analyzed.  This  method  of  handling  this  particular 
type  of  child  has  met  with  excellent  success  in  the  hands  of  such 
men  as  Doctor  Pfister  of  Zurich  and  Professor  Healey  of  Chicago. 
It  resolves  itself  into  the  interpretation  and  explanation  of  mis- 
conduct and  bad  behavior  as  faulty  mental  habits  following  early 
childhood  experiences.  Its  value  is  dependent  upon  the  uncov- 
ering and  tracing  back  the  formation  of  the  child's  character,  re- 
adjusting the  individual  and  placing  such  props  as  may  be 
necessary  as  balancing  factors. 

It  is  of  great  importance  to  obtain  the  patient's  version  of  the 
defect  present,  and  then  retrace  its  development  in  and  out  of 
the  consciousness,  recalling  by  free  conversation  latent  memories 
and  laying  bare  the  unconscious  as  far  back  as  possible,  even  to 
3  or  4  years  of  age.  One  never  realizes  the  vast  amount  of  for- 
gotten memories  and  experiences  that  can  be  readily  and  easily 
recalled  through  psychological  analysis. 

Method  of  Handling  Patient. — One  must  consider,  however, 
not  only  the  reminiscences  and  forgotten  memories,  but  also  the 
setting  in  which  they  occur,  by  the  careful  handling  of  the  pa- 


648  APPENDIX 

tient's  resistances  and  affording  a  proper  transferrence  whereby  an 
adequate  affective  reaction  may  be  obtained.  This  constant  forc- 
ing of  memories  and  making  the  individual  reveal  all  thoughts, 
whether  in  relation  to  the  initial  defect  or  not,  forces  every  con- 
nection in  mental  activities  to  become  manifest.  There  is  not 
merely  one  string  of  mental  events  to  observe  but  many,  and 
each  seance  adds  more  to  the  accurate  guidance  which  is  neces- 
sary to  give  proper  weight  to  them.  These  individuals  are  usu- 
ally erroneously  informed  upon  many  subjects,  and  appear  to  be 
"all  mixed  up"  and  entangled  in  a  mass  of  creative  misappre- 
hensions. At  these  points  a  careful  reversion,  which  as  a  rule 
they  do  not  wish,  is  only  successful  by  tactful  questions  and  a 
perfect  understanding  of  what  they  themselves  mean,  readjust- 
ing as  well  as  possible  without  offering  too  many  suggestions. 
Once  they  observe  that  their  thoughts  are  interpreted  as  false 
knowledge  additional  resistances  crop  up  and  offer  more  bar- 
riers to  the  examiner. 

As  the  analysis  progresses,  however,  the  resistances  lessen, 
and  a  time  soon  approaches  when  the  unconscious  thoughts  flow 
freely  which,  with  the  help  of  dreams,  allow  the  synthesis  of  the 
misbehavior  or  faulty  mental  habits.  Much  of  the  personality 
of  all  these  individuals  is  below  the  threshold  of  consciousness. 

Correction  of  Faulty  Mental  Habits. — It  is  thus  seen  that  by 
the  process  of  analysis  faulty  mental  habits  may  be  corrected, 
the  demands  for  certain  lines  of  thought  and  action  may  be 
planed  down  to  a  fair  degree  of  smoothness  and  that  the  fearful 
emotional  disturbances  so  common  as  a  result  of  inner  associa- 
tions and  dream  states  may  be  brought  into  their  real  light. 
These  elaborate  methods  in  dealing  with  the  actual  facts  of  phys- 
ical and  mental  experiences  enable  one  to  interpret  and  formulate 
adjustments  in  the  cases  of  bad  behavior  and  conduct  disorders. 

XVIII.  A  BRIEF  STATEMENT  OF  THE  TREATMENT 
OF  THE  PSYCHOPATHIC  PERSONALITIES  OB- 
SERVED IN  THOSE  WHO  DEVELOP  DEMENTIA 
PRECOX 

By  Doctor  Howard  A,  Knox,  Ellis  Island,  N.  Y. 

Predementia  Prsecox. — My  experience  in  the  treatment  of 
these  personalities  has  not  been  extensive  and  it  is  largely  theo- 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  649 

retical,  but  I  do  believe  that  the  atypical  make-up  which  we  so 
constantly  see  in  those  who  develop  dementia  praecox,  will  be 
the  subject  of  fruitful  endeavor  in  the  future.  Unfortunately 
at  the  present  time  we  seldom  see  the  individual  until  he  has 
shown  definite  signs  of  insanity.  Adjustment  and  an  explana- 
tion of  the  psychic  mechanisms  involved  is  then  a  more  or  less 
useless  endeavor.  Any  efforts  of  a  prophylactic  nature  must 
necessarily  be  made  in  the  stage  of  predementia  praecox,  that 
is,  before  the  onset  of  a  definite  psychosis. 

Four  Types  of  Personality. — We  commonly  see  four  types  of 
personality  quite  constantly  in  our  cases,  and  the  first  of  these  to 
be  mentioned  is  of  most  importance  and  the  one  most  commonly 
seen.     They  are  the  following: 

(i)  The  shut-in  personality,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  the 
seclusive  make-up. 

(2)  The  overvirtuous,  or,  as  they  are  commonly  called  by 
their  fellows,  the  "  goody-goody  "  type. 

(3)  The  lazy  child  who  is  lacking  in  energy  and  ambition. 

(4)  The  changeable  or  easily  influenced  type. 

In  girls,  there  is  often  a  tendency  toward  early  immorality. 
I  have  called  the  latter  type,  the  facile  type. 

Influence  of  Adolescence. — Experience  shows  that  the  psy- 
chosis most  often  comes  at  the  beginning  of  adolescence,  at  which 
time  the  individual  is  called  upon  to  assume  the  duties  allotted 
to  him  by  nature.  The  shut-in  t)T)e  of  personality  is  the  one 
with  which  I  have  had  the  most  experience.  In  these  cases,  the 
individual  is  of  a  retiring,  bashful,  uncommunicative,  and  lachry- 
mose turn  of  mind.  There  is  often  a  definite  mother  attachment 
in  the  case  of  boys,  and  a  father  attachment  in  the  case  of  girls. 
They  dislike  the  opposite  sex,  do  not  play  or  associate  with  them, 
never  have  a  serious  love-affair,  and  frequently  are  given  to 
masturbation.  It  may  be  said  here  that  the  prevailing  idea  re- 
garding the  latter  symptom  is  that  it  is  of  etiological  importance, 
whereas  it  is  only  a  symptom  of  the  underlying  condition. 

Causation  and  Type. — The  theories  of  the  most  prominent 
authorities  on  dementia  praecox,  viz.,  Krapelin  and  Bleuler  in 
Europe,  and  August  Hoch  and  Adolf  Meyer  in  this  country, 
have  given  us  by  the  combination  of  their  work  an  excellent  in- 
sight into  the  causation  and  type  of  individuals  who  develop  this 
disease.    The  causation  remains  on  a  somewhat  theoretical  basis, 


650  APPENDIX 

but  the  personality  is  now  a  qiiite  well-established  fact,  thanks 
to  the  researches  of  Hoch. 

Toxic  Origin. — It  seems  probable,  judging  from  the  results  of 
the  work  of  these  men,  that  dementia  praecox  has  a  toxic  origin 
with  a  superimposed  psychosis  of  psychogenic  derivation.  From 
the  researches  of  Meyer  it  would  seem  that  these  persons  present 
constitutional  characteristics  from  earliest  childhood  that  later 
develop  into  the  usual  symptoms  of  dementia  praecox.  From 
the  results  of  Hoch  it  is  apparent  that  these  individuals  present 
certain  constant  and  definite  traits  that  brand  them  as  liable  to 
develop  this  disease. 

Prevention  of  the  Disease. — Starting  on  these  premises  we  are 
in  a  position  to  begin  to  think  of  the  prevention  or  prophylaxis  of 
this  most  dreaded  of  psychosic  entities.  If  the  individual  pos- 
sesses such  marked  prerequisites  that  he  will  develop  the  disease 
in  spite  of  any  measures  taken,  then  treatment  is  of  course  use- 
less. If,  however,  he  possesses  a  less  marked  susceptibility,  we 
may  hope  for  some  results  if  taken  early.  The  time  for  treat- 
ment is  evidently  in  the  preadolescent  period.  If  there  is  a 
toxic  basis  for  the  condition,  further  study  will  be  necessary  to 
determine  what  this  is.  The  time  of  onset  would  indicate  that 
there  might  be  a  deficiency  or  an  overproduction  of  the  hormones 
supplied  by  the  glands  of  internal  secretion  that  are  called  into 
play  when  sex  life  begins.  If  one  of  these  theories  should  sub- 
sequently be  verified,  the  treatment  would  be  obvious.  If  the 
condition  depends  more  especially  for  its  origin  on  psychic  mal- 
adjustment, then  explanation  of  mechanisms,  possibly  including 
psychoanalysis,  might  be  of  considerable  value.  It  is  in  this 
direction  that  I  have  already  made  some  endeavors.  It  will  take 
years  to  determine  whether  or  not  these  have  been  effective,  and 
even  then  I  shall  not  know  with  certainty  that  the  cases  would 
have  developed  dementia  praecox  if  it  had  not  been  for  my  ef- 
forts. 

It  is  probable  that  the  intelligent,  ingenious  neurologist  and 
psychiatrist  could  map  out  a  life  programme  for  these  pre- 
disposed children  that  would  enable  them  to  adapt  themselves 
to  the  demands  of  life.  It  would  be  quite  useless  to  ever  expect 
them  to  marry  successfully,  but  it  might  be  possible  to  sublimate 
their  energies  in  other  channels  and  thereby  procure  harmony 
for  them  and  usefulness  for  society. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  651 

It  seems  to  me  quite  reasonable  to  believe  that  a  much  earlier 
residence  in  a  well-conducted  institution  might  be  of  service,  in 
other  words,  that  if  the  predisposed  person  could  be  selected 
with  certainty  and  turned  over  to  competent  medical  men  and 
placed  in  the  well-ordered  routine  of  a  first-class  institution,  free 
from  the  strifes  and  cares  of  the  world,  they  might  be  tided  over 
the  dangerous  period  and  saved  to  themselves  and  their  friends 
and  thus  spare  the  State  the  burden  of  the  expense  of  their  in- 
carceration and  their  friends  the  sorrow  incident  to  their  plight. 

I  offer  these  suggestions  as  much  in  the  hope  that  they  may  be 
the  basis  of  fruitful  research  as  I  do  in  the  hope  that  they  may 
benefit  the  individual  prepsychotic.  To  those  interested,  the 
works  on  dementia  praecox  of  the  above-named  psychiatrists 
are  recommended. 


XIX.    THE  MEDICAL  TREATMENT  OF 
EXCEPTIONAL   CHILDREN 

By  Doctor  Tom  A.  Williams,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Causes  of  Deviation  from  Type. — Deviations  from  13^)6  may 
be  due  to  the  peculiarities  of  the  germ  plasm  (i);  or  may  be  the 
result  of  disease  after  the  formation  of  the  embryo,  no  matter 
whether  before  or  after  birth. 

Those  differences  from  the  normal  which  are  occasioned  by 
the  actions  of  parasites,  or  caused  by  gross  injuries  will  not  be 
considered  in  this  paper;  for  to  do  so  would  require  text-books 
on  medicine  and  surgery.  To  consider  in  detail  the  anomalies 
of  the  apparatus  of  vision,  hearing,  posture,  digestion,  and  nu- 
trition in  children  would  not  be  possible  in  this  volume.  What 
is  most  necessary  to  be  said  on  these  subjects  is  presented  in 
other  contributions  to  this  symposium. 

What  is  not  well  considered  in  text-books  on  pediatrics  is  the 
psychopathology  (2)  of  the  child;  and  the  directions  concerning 
the  physical  hygiene  of  the  neurotic  child  are  usually  perfunctory, 
conventional,  and  guilty  of  sins  both  of  omission  and  commis- 
sion, especially  regarding  study,  exercise,  play,  and  food. 

Accordingly,  there  will  be  considered  in  this  paper: 

First :  Some  of  the  physical  causes  which  produce  neurotic 
behavior. 


652  APPENDIX 

Second :  The  chief  psychological  sources  of  disturbance  to 
child  life. 

A.  Physical  Causes: 

I.  Insufficient  air  and  improper  clothing,  viz.,  too  tightly 
fitting. 

II.  Incorrect  food  and  drink. 

III.  Inadequate  or  improper  exercise  of  body. 

IV.  Imperfect  elimination. 

V.  Disordered  glandular  action. 

B.  Psychological  Causes: 

I.  Mismanagement  of  attention. 

(o)  Inconsequence  of  thought  and  action,  self-control,  sug- 
gestibility. 

{h)  Its  contrary:  oversustained  attention.     The  sequences. 

II.  Mismanagement  of  emotion  and  sentiment,  desires  and 
inclinations. 

(c)  Intemperance. 

(b)  Its  contrary:  overrepression. 

(i)  Affection.     Altruism.     Religiosity. 

(2)  Anger.     Pugnacity.     Sulkiness.     Hatred.     Dislike. 

(3)  Fear.     Anxiety.     Scruples.     Obsessions.     Shame. 

A.  Physical  Causes. — I.  The  Air. — Fretfulness  after  meals 
or  after  play  is  very  often  due  to  the  improper  atmosphere  sur- 
rounding the  child.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  heat  pro- 
duction in  a  child  is  very  active,  and  his  need  for  oxygen  much 
greater  than  in  the  case  of  the  adult.  It  is  only  prolonged  ex- 
posure which  is  dangerous  in  the  case  of  children.  But  even  the 
chilling  of  the  extremities  by  exposure  may  not  be  detrimental 
if  the  trunk,  especially  the  abdomen,  is  kept  warm.  The  sen- 
sations of  a  sedentary  person  with  poor  oxidation  are  a  very  poor 
guide  to  the  qualities  of  the  atmosphere  to  be  breathed  by  young 
children. 

The  thermometer  is,  of  course,  no  guide,  as  a  warm  air  may  be 
quite  pure,  and  a  cold  air  may  be  most  noxious.  Perhaps  the 
best  guide  is  the  sensation  of  a  sensitive  individual  returning 
from  brisk  exercise  in  the  open  air.  If  foulness  is  noticeable  to 
such  a  person,  the  atmosphere  is  injurious  to  a  delicate  child. 
The  best  way  to  secure  proper  ventilation  is  the  opening  of  win- 
dows from  the  top,  with  cross  ventilation.  Many  of  the  mechani- 
cal installations  for  changing  the  air  are  adequate  only  when  a 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  653 

small  number  of  persons  are  present.  They  are  incapable  of 
dealing  with  the  discharges  from  a  crowded  room. 

People  who  pooh-pooh  what  they  call  the  fresh-air  fad  should 
have  their  attention  directed  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  open- 
air  cure  of  tuberculosis,  pneumonia,  and  run-down  conditions. 

II.  Incorrect  Food  and  Drink. — Some  of  the  essentials  of  a 
healthy  dietary  are  lacking  in  the  regime  of  a  great  many  chil- 
dren of  our  day. 

To  insure  sufficient  bulk  in  the  intestinal  canal  an  adequate 
amount  of  solids  must  be  taken.  If  this  is  solely  composed  of 
digestible  material,  far  more  nutriment  than  can  be  advantage- 
ously assimilated  must  be  consumed. 

Now,  much  of  the  food  given  children  has  been  deprived  of  its 
indigestible  constituents,  the  husks  of  fibre  and  cellulose.  We 
are  in  the  age  of  pap.  Hence  the  child  to  get  enough  bulk  eats 
too  much.  The  sophistication  of  the  food,  furthermore,  deprives 
the  child  of  the  opportunity  to  exercise  its  teeth;  in  consequence 
the  jaws  and  blood-supply  of  the  teeth  are  imperfectly  developed, 
and  caries  is  apt  to  ensue.     (Sim  Wallace.) 

But  there  is  a  third  disadvantage  of  what  is  literally  an  emas- 
culation of  food.  In  the  process  of  refinement  unfortunately 
the  food  is  deprived  of  mineral  salts,  especially  phosphates,  and 
what  are  known  as  vitamines,  that  is  to  say,  protein  (3)  materials 
in  very  minute  amounts  which  are  necessary  complements  of  the 
larger  amount  of  better-known  constituents  in  nitrogenous  food. 

In  consequence  of  the  sophistication  of  the  cereals,  reliance  for 
body  growth  is  placed  upon  eggs  and  meat,  and  in  the  earlier 
years  on  milk.  The  objections  to  these  foods  are  not  only  eco- 
nomic. Flesh  contains  considerable  purin-producing  (4)  material 
and  putrifies  easily.  Eggs  rapidly  undergo  poisonous  disintegra- 
tion, and  the  albumen  is  too  concentrated  to  be  a  good  food  for 
a  species  which  is  constituted  as  a  mixed  feeder.  Milk  is  a  food 
only  for  babes,  unless  especially  prepared. 

The  best  diet  for  a  neurotic  child,  or  any  child  for  that  matter, 
is  a  plentiful  supply  of  such  cereal  foods  as  are  prepared  from 
entire  wheat  and  oats,  supplemented  by  an  abundance  of  fruit, 
especially  the  banana,  the  sugars  of  which  supply  energy  easily, 
and  the  saline  constituents  of  which  favor  the  rapid  metabolism 
of  childhood.  The  proteins  of  Indian  corn,  barley,  and  rice  are 
not  in  themselves  sufficient  for  active  growth,  but  must  be  sup- 


654  APPENDIX 

plemented  by  others,  such  as  are  found  in  wheat  or  oats,  or  in 
flesh,  eggs,  and  milk. 

We  are  just  beginning  to  learn  about  the  intimate  constitu- 
ents of  some  of  the  proteins.  Further  study  should  enable  us 
to  substitute  for  the  inadequate  corn  and  bacon  ration  of  the 
farm  something  less  expensive  than  the  abundant  mixed  dietary 
which  is  now  being  used  in  treating  pellagrins.  For  instance,  the 
nutritional  disease  beri-beri  can  be  prevented  by  the  addition 
to  the  food  of  an  infinitesimal  dose  of  a  substance  obtained  from 
rice  bran,  although  the  disease  otherwise  occurs  in  persons  fed 
on  milled  rice. 

The  psychology  of  children's  appetite,  inclinations,  and  fads 
about  feeding  is  very  important,  and  will  be  considered  in  the 
section  on  psychopathology. 

III.  Inadequate  or  Improper  Exercise. — Rickets,  usually  re- 
garded as  a  nutritional  disease,  is  by  some  thought  due  to  lack 
of  exercise  of  poor  children  in  cities  kept  off  the  streets  for  fear 
of  accident;  or  of  richer  children  paraded  in  perambulators  by 
thoughtless  mothers.  All  young  mammals  exercise  very  actively; 
it  is  in  their  play  that  they  develop.  Children  in  cities,  however, 
have  so  many  inducements  that  they  are  apt  to  fall  into  sedentary 
or  loafing  habits.  Hence  it  is  important  to  somewhat  system- 
atize and  supervise  the  play  of  children  in  these  days;  for  on  ac- 
count of  the  restrictions  of  civilization  their  play  has  to  be  some- 
what artificial,  and  is  often  too  complex  for  the  child  capacity 
to  manage.  Sad  to  relate,  it  has  become  difficult  for  the  child 
to  play;  and  the  difiiculties  are  sometimes  too  great  to  surmount 
except  by  the  most  adventurous  spirits.  These  facts  are  espe- 
cially important  for  the  parents  of  an  exceptional  child;  for  to 
these  handicaps  will  be  added  the  stresses  of  adaptation  to  his 
fellows  whose  unlikeness  to  himself  may  still  further  discourage 
his  inclination  to  play,  and  thus  prevent  the  proper  exercise  of 
his  body. 

Not  the  least  important  function  of  exercise  and  play  is  its 
value  in  psychological  development.  This  will  be  discussed  in 
the  section  on  psychopathology. 

IV.  Imperfect  Elimination. — Constipation,  as  is  well  known, 
has  serious  consequences.  To  avoid  these,  drugs  which  stimulate 
the  movements  and  secretions  of  the  intestines  have  been 
greatly  used.     The  relief  afforded  by  them  is  so  rapid  that  the 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  655 

laity — and  many  physicians — have  shortsightedly  countenanced 
the  frequent  use  of  aperients,  seeking  only  to  find  one  which 
will  have  no  weakening  effect  on  the  bowel.  Of  course,  such  a 
purgative  does  not  exist,  because  every  artificial  stimulation 
must  be  followed  by  a  reaction  which  makes  the  condition  of 
affairs  worse  than  before.  For  a  long  time  cascara  sagrada  was 
preferred,  having  superseded  the  rhubarb  of  our  grandmothers. 
Now  the  fad  has  become  Russian  mineral  oil,  recognition  of  the 
failure  of  cascara  now  being  general.  The  objection  to  mineral 
oil  is  that  it  prevents  the  access  of  the  digestive  fluids  to  the 
food  particles  by  coating  them  with  an  entirely  insoluble  sub- 
stance. If  purgation  by  lubrication  is  sought,  an  organic  fat, 
such  as  olive-oil  or  cream,  is  very  much  better. 

But  the  proper  way  to  prevent  constipation  is  to  adopt  the 
principles  given  in  the  paragraphs  concerning  food  and  drink. 
For  such  principles  give  a  proper  residue  with  which  to  distend 
the  intestine  without  at  the  same  time  furnishing  an  amount  of 
putrescible  matter  much  greater  than  can  be  rendered  innocuous 
by  the  digestive  juices. 

The  most  important  eliminating  organ  is  the  kidney;  but  when 
this  is  disordered  a  physician  must  be  consulted. 

Elimination  by  the  lungs  takes  care  of  itself  if  proper  air  is 
provided  and  clothing  is  not  too  tight,  and  if  the  respiratory  pas- 
sages are  kept  free.  This  demands  examination  of  the  nose  and 
the  back  of  the  throat  by  a  physician,  and  the  escape  from  catarrh 
by  good  hygiene  and  the  avoidance  of  contact  with  persons  in- 
fected with  catarrh. 

Elimination  by  the  skin  is  favored  by  proper  bathing  and 
changes  of  clothing,  and  the  avoidance  of  too  closely  woven  or 
heavy  underclothes.  Regarding  bathing,  indiscriminate  advice 
has  done  much  harm.  The  morning  cold  bath,  erected  into  a 
fetich  in  England,  does  much  harm  to  some  constitutions.  The 
danger  of  chill  after  a  tepid  bath  is  very  great;  but  if  a  bath  is 
taken  very  hot  and  remained  in  until  the  skin  is  thoroughly  per- 
meated by  the  heat,  leisurely  cooling  while  dressing  will  prevent 
active  perspiration  which  would  cause  liability  to  chill.  The 
delicate  child  or  neurotic  child  is  unusually  susceptible  to  the 
effects  of  heat  or  cold,  or  both,  and  his  bathing  habits  should  be 
determined  upon  only  after  careful  observation  of  his  constitu- 
tion, preferably  by  a  physician  conversant  with  nervous  children. 


656  APPENDIX 

They  should  not  be  imposed  arbitrarily  according  to  a  hard-and- 
fast  rule.  The  same  remark  applies  to  bathing  in  the  sea  or 
river.  For  while  nothing  is  more  beneficial  even  to  a  nervous 
child  than  swimming,  yet  some  children  are  quite  incapable  of 
withstanding  the  great  vasomotor  strain  of  sea-bathing  in  such 
a  temperature  as  is  afforded  by  the  coast  of  Maine  or  the  North 
Shore  of  Massachusetts. 

V.  Disordered  Glandular  Action. — The  relation  of  the  glands 
of  internal  secretion  to  the  functions  of  the  nervous  system  is 
very  important.  We  know  already  a  great  deal  about  the  thy- 
roid, adrenal,  pituitary,  the  thymus,  and  the  parathyroid  glands 
in  relation  to  nervous  disorders.  The  consideration  of  the  sub- 
ject is,  however,  very  complex  and  a  purely  medical  matter  not 
suitable  for  a  full  discussion  here. 

A  few  remarks,  however,  may  show  the  kind  of  symptoms 
which  should  lead  to  medical  consultations  for  the  child. 

Pituitary  Disorder. — A  girl  of  ii  (Case  82)  was  brought  by 
her  mother  because  of  loss  of  interest  in  her  lessons,  of  which  she 
had  previously  been  very  fond;  grimacing  of  the  face  in  spite  of 
all  corrections;  equivocations  and  fibbing  in  attempts  to  evade 
her  duties,  and  greediness  amounting  to  gluttony.  She  had 
always  been  a  stout  child,  but  had  become  enormous  during  the 
preceding  year  or  so. 

Exploration  of  a  possible  psychological  cause  for  this  change  of 
behavior  was  fruitless;  so  psychomotor  exercises  were  begun 
for  the  facial  tics.  The  only  efiEect  of  these  was  to  arouse  the 
patient's  resentment,  and  they  were  not  persevered  with. 

Some  time  after,  great  somnolence  manifested  itself,  the  child 
becoming  very  lethargic  and  even  dropping  off  to  sleep  in  the 
middle  of  a  task  or  at  the  table  for  a  few  moments. 

This  directed  attention  to  the  function  of  the  pituitary  gland. 
So  this  was  immediately  explored  by  the  levulose  test.  As  this 
showed  great  increase  of  the  tolerance  of  the  system  to  large 
amounts  of  sugar,  it  was  decided  that  the  pituitary  gland  was 
functioning  insufficiently:  great  increase  of  weight,  torpor, 
psychic  inadequacy  and  its  attendant  changes  in  behavior  being 
symptoms  of  lack  of  pituitary  secretion.  Feeding  with  increas- 
ing doses  of  pituitary  gland  was  at  once  begun. 

The  child  recovered  completely  in  a  few  months,  and  after 
the  onset  of  puberty  was  able  to  dispense  with  the  pituitary 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  657 

gland;  nov  four  years  later  she  is  active  and  comparatively 
thin. 

Thyroid  Disorder. — Excessive  secretion  by  the  thyroid  gland 
causes  restlessness,  excitability,  moist  skin,  rapid  heart,  and 
malnutrition.  It  is  apt  to  occur  in  a  slight  degree  near  puberty, 
and  although  it  may  disappyear  spontaneously  after  that,  it  often 
persists.  Thus  it  is  only  prudent  to  take  medical  advice  when 
the  foregoing  symptoms  appear  in  one's  child. 

Deficiency  of  thyroid  secretion  is  shown  by  many  symptoms, 
the  most  noticeable  being  sluggishness  of  body  and  mind,  coarse- 
ness of  body  and  hair,  thick  voice  and  stunted  growth.  Cretin- 
ism is  only  an  extreme  degree  of  this.  Hypothyroidism,  as  it 
is  called,  is  easily  met  by  feeding  with  the  thyroid  glands  taken 
from  animals  and  appropriately  prepared. 

Adrenal  Disorder. — What  is  commonly  called  weak  circula- 
tion, cold  extremities,  incapacity  for  severe  exercise  or  sustained 
work,  and  a  general  feebleness  with  lowered  resistance  to  infec- 
tious diseases  and  other  causes  of  illness  may  arise  from  a  defi- 
ciency of  the  adrenal  gland.  In  case  of  any  such  child  this  pos- 
sibility should  be  carefully  looked  for  by  a  physician  conversant 
with  the  symptomatology  of  the  diseases  of  the  suprarenal 
gland. 

Thymus  Disorder. — Children  subject  to  croup,  of  pale,  flabby 
constitution,  poor  resistance  to  infections  and  poisons,  and  apt 
to  die  suddenly  during  anaesthesis,  show  an  enlargement  of  the 
thymus  gland,  a  condition  which  can  be  quite  successfully  dealt 
with  medically. 

B.  Psychopathology. — I.  Mismanagement  of  Attention. — 
Attention  is  directed  by  motive,  and  motive  is  excited  by  inter- 
est. In  beings  without  memory,  such  reaction  as  movement, 
interest,  attention,  are  each  subject  to  immediate  activation  by 
whatever  presents  itself.  The  power  of  recollection  enables 
exp>erience  to  be  utilized  in  the  accumulation  of  motives  or  inter- 
ests. These  are  simply  the  selection  from  the  environment,  of 
the  activities  of  which,  of  course,  thought  is  not  the  least.  What 
interests  shall  be  sought  is  a  choice  determined  by  two  kinds  of 
factors.  The  first  of  these  is  inherited  disposition  which  will 
not  be  considered  here  as  we  are  now  concerned  with  children 
already  bom,  and  not  with  eugenics.  The  second  factor  of 
choice  comprises  the  influences  which  shape  behavior,  more  es- 


658  APPENDIX 

pecially  those  exerted  in  early  childhood.  In  human  brings  these 
are  of  paramount  importance,  although  they  are  innumerable 
and  often  unmanageable.  Still  in  the  degree  to  which  they  are 
understood  and  scientifically  utilized  do  we  have  a  proper  edu- 
cation as  against  a  haphazard  one,  which,  however,  is  sometimes 
successful  by  virtue  of  the  child  subjected  to  it  being  influenced 
by  episodes  which  determine  his  course  in  fruitful  direction. 

The  character  of  the  individual  is  a  composite  of  psychological 
trends,  and  each  of  these  is  acquired  by  virtue  of  the  cultivation 
of  the  attention  toward  each. 

A  young  infant  will  follow  any  bright  object  placed  before  it 
or  any  sound;  an  earnest  student  concentrated  on  his  task  does 
not  notice  the  noises  in  the  street,  nor  the  moving  objects  there: 
his  attention  is  elsewhere,  as  we  say. 

A  boy,  even  though  preferring  to  think  of  what  is  going  on  in 
the  playground,  yet  keeps  his  mind  on  his  task  from  a  more 
powerful  motive,  no  matter  whether  this  be  a  desire  for  accom- 
plishment, or  a  fear  of  failure  or  punishment.  I  need  not  enlarge 
upon  the  familiar  directing  of  the  inclinations  away  from  pleasure 
which  is  comprised  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  tasks  required 
for  the  cultivation  of  a  handicraft  or  profession. 

But  in  the  case  of  very  young  children  the  need  of  direction 
of  the  attention  and  guiding  the  inclinations  is  even  more  im- 
portant. 

It  is  to  the  ignorance  or  neglect  of  this  principle  by  parents 
that  neurotic  behavior  is  often  due. 

The  degree  to  which  cultivation  can  be  carried  by  an  intelli- 
gent direction  of  attention  is  illustrated  by  the  famous  case  of 
John  Stuart  Mill  (Case  14)  who  could  read  Greek  when  4 
years  old,  and  could  have  entered  the  university  at  6,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  father's  ingenuity  in  interesting  him  in  subjects 
usually  studied  at  a  much  later  time  of  life.  That  Mill  was  not 
a  "  lusus  naturae  "  he  himself  frequently  affirmed.  This  we  can 
readily  believe  as  modern  instances  are  not  uncommon.  Most 
people  are  familiar  with  the  story  of  William  James  Sidis  (Case 
40)  who  knew  much  of  human  anatomy  at  6,  entered  Harvard 
at  II,  and  is  professor  of  mathematics  at  18. 

The  manifold  accomplishments  of  Winifred  Stoner  (Case  18) 
are  familiar  to  newspaper  readers.  Young  Wiener  (Case  17)  is 
only  another  among  many  American  instances  of  to-day.     Quite 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  659 

apart  from  the  advisability  of  such  precocity,  they  all  were  pos- 
sible by  virtue  of  the  same  principle,  viz.,  a  directing  of  the  atten- 
tion and  interests.  They  go  to  show  how  very  ductile  is  human 
material. 

Results  of  Inattentiveness;  Hysteria. — In  the  absence  of  direc- 
tion of  attention  the  child  wanders  from  matter  to  matter  aim- 
lessly. The  misfortune  of  this  is  not  so  much  the  lack  of  learning, 
but  the  fact  that  he  does  not  learn  to  concentrate  his  atten- 
tion, and  to  master  a  temporary  disinclination  for  the  sake  of 
an  ultimate  satisfaction.  Sttidy  in  a  child  is  of  far  less  value  for 
the  material  gained  than  for  the  habits  of  thought  acquired  ;  not  the 
amount,  hut  the  method  is  the  important  matter.  A  coherent,  con- 
sistent plan  for  mentally  occupying  the  child  is  particularly  im- 
portant if  he  is  neurotic,  especially  if  hysterical  in  tendency. 

This  word  (hysterical)  is  used  to  denote  the  type  of  individual 
prone  to  uncritical  acceptance  of  the  environment,  and  in  con- 
sequence easily  influenced,  in  a  word:  oversuggestible.  Such 
persons  later  in  life  become  prone  to  imaginary  ailments;  for 
these,  they  are  apt  to  seek  relief  at  the  hands  of  charlatans. 
They  comprise  a  large  part  of  the  following  of  the  new  move- 
ments in  which  shibboleths  so  often  take  the  place  of  thought. 
If  there  is  a  pragmatic  sanction  for  a  cult  of  this  kind,  it  is  sure 
to  attract  a  large  number  of  these  uncritical  individuals,  for  most 
of  these  belong  to  the  class  of  "  practical,"  unimaginative  people. 
That  is  to  say,  their  imaginations  remain  crude,  lacking  breadth 
to  develop  a  cultivated  imagination  like  that  of  the  poet,  states- 
man, or  man  of  science. 

It  is  by  suggestion,  of  which  imitation  is  one  avenue,  that  vari- 
ous fads  and  dislikes  concerning  food  and  drink  are  acquired. 
The  following  case  is  an  illustration  of  the  degree  to  which  ideas 
can  carry  even  a  child  to  whom,  as  a  rule,  the  appetite  for  food  is 
paramount. 

Hysterical  Anorexia. — In  January,  1912,  a  child  aged  11  (Case 
83)  was  referred  by  Doctor  Jung,  who  had  been  treating  her  be- 
cause of  dyspepsia  and  a  capricious  appetite.  During  the  pre- 
ceding three  years  she  had  left  school  three  different  times  be- 
cause of  her  health;  the  only  occasion  on  which  a  definite  disease 
had  occurred  was  six  weeks  before  she  was  sent  to  me,  a  slight 
operation  upon  an  infected  corn.  After  this  she  had  been  dieted 
by  Doctor  Jung,  and  seemed  to  improve  for  about  two  weeks; 


660  APPENDIX 

but  during  the  week  preceding  my  consultation  she  had  lost  one 
and  a  half  pounds. 

Anamnesis. — Upon  going  to  bed  she  feels  sick  and  weak,  and 
pains  shoot  all  through  her.  She  has  had  a  constant  headache 
for  several  months.  When  she  feels  ill,  she  is  very  peevish;  and 
she  felt  homesick  for  playmates  as  she  had  made  no  friends  in 
Washington,  where  she  had  only  been  a  few  months.  Instead  of 
playing  she  sat  or  lay  about  most  of  the  day,  feeling  too  tired  to 
fetch  her  books  for  reading,  of  which  she  was  formerly  very  fond. 
She  had  also  been  fond  of  games  formerly.  She  had  had  glasses 
since  the  age  of  8,  but  had  not  worn  them  until  lately.  Her  ap- 
petite was  very  poor. 

Examination. — Showed  rather  feeble  reflexes.  Motility  less 
vigorous  than  normal,  especially  in  the  ankles;  the  feet  flat,  but 
not  pathologically  so.  Unskilful  diadocokinesis;  a  tic  of  the 
shoulder;  and  much  wriggling;  normal  sensibility. 

Psychologically  there  were  no  intellectual  abnormalities  nor 
marked  emotional  reactions  except  that  the  little  girl  wept  when 
it  was  proposed  to  take  her  away  from  her  mother  and  father  to 
the  hospital.  The  mother  had  been  very  conscientious  in  her 
upbringing,  and  this  had  reacted  on  the  child  before  whom  far 
too  much  attention  had  been  shown  regarding  both  manners 
and  physical  welfare.  Conversation  before  her  would  frequently 
concern  the  appropriateness  of  different  foods  and  their  digesti- 
bility, and  the  atmosphere  of  the  home  was  one  of  solicitude 
about  the  child's  health. 

As  an  infant,  she  was  not  retarded;  she  had  been  apt  in  school 
except  in  writing,  when  her  hands  would  jerk;  but  they  did  not 
do  so  in  sewing,  in  which  she  was  skilful.  Her  bad  writing  in 
school  disturbed  her,  and  she  would  become  "  hysterical."  Res- 
piratory infections  were  easy  and  frequent,  as  was  the  case  with 
her  father.  Perhaps  this  was  accountable  to  mouth -breathing; 
for  this,  adenectomy  was  done  when  she  was  8. 

Diagnosis. — As  Doctor  Jung  assured  me  that  the  stomach 
functions  were  performed  quite  well,  and  that  he  could  detect 
no  physical  disorder  of  the  digestive  apparatus,  and  as  the  con- 
dition for  the  implantation  of  an  idee  fixe  was  apparent,  and  as 
conversation  with  the  child  herself  corroborated  my  suspicion 
of  this,  it  was  evident  that  we  were  dealing  with  a  case  of  hys- 
terical nosophobia.     By  this  is  meant  a  fear  of  disease  implanted 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  661 

by  suggestion,  a  matter  very  easy  in  young  children  and  uncriti- 
cal f)eople  in  general.  But  it  is  quite  exceptional  for  food  and 
app>etite  to  be  the  subjects  of  a  phobia  in  so  young  a  child;  for 
in  the  child  the  vegetative  functions  and  instincts  are  usually 
paramount. 

While  in  Paris  in  1906- 1907  I  saw  one  other  case  of  this  type 
of  false  gastropathy  in  a  young  child  (published  by  Dejerine 
since). 

Treatment. — She  was  sent  to  the  hospital  on  account  of  the 
nosophobia  from  which  she  suffered,  the  result  of  too ,  much 
sympathy  at  home.  When  her  parents  left  her  she  wept  bit- 
terly; but  she  was  soon  cured  by  being  made  to  breathe  in  quad- 
ruplets and  by  a  little  jollying.  She  promised  she  would  try  to 
behave  properly  if  her  parents  were  allowed  to  visit  her.  The 
promise  that  they  might  do  so  stopped  the  weeping  for  twenty- 
four  hours;  the  visit  was  postponed,  however.  She  was  encour- 
aged to  play  with  another  little  girl  patient;  and  this  she  came 
to  enjoy  so  much  that  she  ceased  to  ask  to  go  home.  When  she 
had  become  quite  contented  and  happy  she  was  allowed  to  re- 
turn home,  where  she  has  remained  well  ever  since. 

The  treatment  in  the  hospital  consisted  of  creating  an  atmos- 
phere round  the  little  patient  designed  to  show  her  how  trivial 
were  her  own  preoccupations  about  what  she  should  eat  as  com- 
pared with  the  real  suffering  and  disabilities  of  the  patients  round 
her  in  the  ward.  Of  design  she  was  placed  in  the  open  ward  in 
preference  to  the  private  room.  She  was  shown  to  what  a  de- 
gree her  feelings  and  behavior  were  under  her  own  control,  and 
no  solicitude  was  shown  about  whether  her  food  would  agree 
with  her  or  not. 

It  is  not  possible  to  set  down  in  detail  the  numerous  measures 
used  to  destroy  the  inconvenient  suggestions  to  which  she  had 
been  subject  so  long.  While  the  therapeutics  inevitably  con- 
tained a  modicum  of  suggestion,  yet  the  end  worked  for  was 
always  the  giving  of  a  rational  understanding  to  the  little  pa- 
tient of  why  her  symptoms  had  occurred,  and  how  to  prevent 
them  in  future.  In  other  words,  the  modus  operandi  was  per- 
suasion and  re-education.  Toward  this  the  hospital  furnished 
a  valuable  aid,  but  not  merely  because  it  was  a  hospital,  but  be- 
cause the  nurse.s  were  intelligent  coadjutors  of  the  case.  The 
child  had  been  too  much  derationalized  to  have  been  manageable 


662  APPENDIX 

by  office  consultations  alone,  unless  the  mother  had  been  able  to 
collaborate,  which  she  was  unable  to  do,  not  from  lack  of  intelli- 
gence or  conscientious  desire  for  the  good  of  her  child,  but  because 
she  had  not  understood  the  psychological  mechanism  of  her 
daughter's  illness.  The  mother's  re-education  was  much  more 
readily  effected  when  imcomplicated  by  the  child's  presence. 
Its  success  was  shown  by  her  successful  management  of  the  child 
when  she  returned  home,  for  eighteen  months  later  there  had 
been  no  further  trouble.* 

Why  a  Child's  Mind  Needs  Work. — Because  they  fear  to  over- 
burden the  child  mind,  parents  hesitate  to  institute  systematic 
education  of  very  young  children.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  proper 
mental  labor  is  needed  for  sound  psychic  health.  Physiologists 
know  that  a  disused  organ  is  more  liable  to  disintegration,  or  to 
become  diseased,  than  one  which  is  regularly  used.  I  need  not 
expand  what  is  an  axiom. 

But  an  impression  prevails  that  growing  organs  should  not 
be  subjected  to  work.  This  is  a  gross  error,  for  organs  which  do 
not  work  cannot  grow  well.  Even  the  bones  become  tough, 
hard,  and  large  in  proportion  to  the  stresses  to  which  they  are 
subjected  by  frequent  and  vigorous  pulls  where  the  muscles  are 
attached.  The  comparison  of  the  average  male  skeleton  with 
that  of  the  average  female  strikingly  illustrates  this  fact.  But 
proper  development  is  possible  only  during  the  period  of  growth, 
the  growth  in  adult  structure  being  relatively  slight  however 
great  is  the  exercise  of  function.  What  is  true  of  structure  is 
true  of  functional  power.  From  ballet  dancers  to  violin  virtuosi, 
artists  must  be  trained  from  early  youth.  It  may  be  objected 
that  this  is  so  because  muscular  agility  is  required,  but  this  ob- 
jection is  only  superficial,  for  the  dexterity  of  an  artist  is  made 
possible  not  merely  from  superior  co-ordinations,  of  movement, 
but  by  means  of  the  superior  speed  and  accuracy  of  the  guiding 
mental  processes  which  reside  in  the  brain. 

Now,  as  intellectual  dexterity  is  also  a  function  of  orderly 

•  The  child  here  described  is  plainly  one  of  the  atypical  group  as  described 
in  the  classification  underlying  the  argument  of  this  book.  It  was  fortunate 
that  the  nurses  in  the  hospital  where  she  was  placed  were  intelligent  and  willing 
enough  to  deal  with  the  educational  problem  intrusted  to  them  But  such  a 
case  is  certainly  a  problem  of  re-education,  in  co-operation  with  psychiatric 
treatment.  It  is  for  cases  of  just  this  kind  that  special  educational  work,  as  typ- 
ified by  the  work  done  at  Herbart  Hall,  is  particularly  needed. — M.  P.  E.  G, 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  663 

functioning  of  mental  processes  seated  in  the  brain,  it  should 
be  manifest  that  these,  too,  should  reach  excellence  best  when 
they  are  trained  by  a  capable  hand  during  the  formative  period 
of  early  youth. 

To  Learn  to  Concentrate  Keenly,  Games  Are  the  Best. — There- 
fore, the  first  fault  to  avoid  in  order  to  prevent  neuroticism,  is  an 
inattentive  slovenliness  of  thought  and  act. . 

The  finest  of  all  means  for  developing  the  power  of  attention 
in  children  are  exercises  and  games,  more  especially  the  latter; 
because,  if  properly  conducted,  they  counteract  slipshod  ways, 
and  make  for  an  efficiency  the  results  of  which  are  evident  at 
once,  giving  a  satisfaction  which  sustains  the  attention.  But 
even  games  can  be  psychologically  harmful  if  they  are  allowed  to 
deteriorate  into  an  inattentive  go-as-you-please  without  zest. 

Active  play  stimulates  attention  in  two  ways:  firstly  by  the 
interest  and  by  the  pleasure  of  accomplishment;  and  secondly 
by  the  emulation  of  others.  On  account  of  that  very  interest, 
however,  games  must  be  used  moderately,  and  as  a  means  to 
an  end,  or  they  will  speedily  dwarf  in  the  child's  mind  his  inter- 
est in  more  directly  useful  accomplishments. 

The  social  function  of  play  will  be  spoken  of  when  the  inclina- 
tions, altruism,  anger,  and  anxiety  are  discussed. 

Over  sustained  Attention. — Every  athletic  trainer  knows  that 
staleness  supervenes  when  an  athlete  is  taxed  beyond  a  certain 
point.  To  be  stale  or  overdone  is  the  colloquial  expression 
for  what  physiologists  would  call  fatigue.  Now,  psychologists 
have  by  experiment  proved  that  attention  is  very  quickly 
tired;  and  the  more  intense  it  is,  the  sooner  it  fags,  even  while 
interest  is  maintained.  Pedagogy  shows  the  futility  of  prolong- 
ing children's  work  beyond  certain  hours  even  for  the  sake  of 
the  work  itself.  For  the  sake  of  the  child's  health,  physicians 
have  long  pointed  out  the  inimicalness  of  artificially  stimulating 
the  interest  of  a  fagging  child. 

Just  as  detrimental  to  concentration  of  attention  as  is  the  lack 
of  training  is  the  exhaustion  ensuing  upon  an  effort  too  sustained 
for  the  child's  capacity.  The  maximum  concentration  is  only 
possible  for  a  very  short  period,  and  even  then  is  proportionate 
to  the  favorableness  of  the  conditions  both  bodily  and  psychologi- 
cally. For  instance,  it  would  be  very  wrong  to  compel  a  child 
to  practise  concentration  while  his  energies  are  engaged  in  the 


664  APPENDIX 

digestion  of  a  heavy  meal,  or  immediately  after  strenuous  mus- 
cular activity,  or  when  in  need  of  sleep.  None  of  these  well- 
known  dangers  would  be  incurred  by  wise  parents  of  a  neurotic 
child. 

But  there  is  another  aspect  of  overprolongation  and  insistence 
upon  the  attention  of  a  nervous  child;  that  is,  the  cultivation  of 
an  overnice  or  scrupulous  manner  of  performance  and  of  thought. 
The  development  of  this  quality  becomes  interwoven  with  the 
deepest  feelings  of  the  personality;  in  consequence,  its  avoidance 
had  better  be  considered  after  we  have  discussed  the  relation  of 
the  feelings  to  neuroticism. 

Overmlensity. — Eagerness  and  overintensity  not  only  exhaust, 
but  frequently  lead  to  ineffective  effort,  a  kind  of  stammer  of 
movement,  a  lack  of  directness  and  precision.  Of  course  this 
physical  expression  in  movement  is  only  reflection  of  the  action 
of  the  brain  which  is  the  director  of  the  movements,  which  are 
merely  the  index  to  wavering  thought.  The  remedy  for  this 
condition  is  to  insist  upon  deliberateness  and  system  both  in 
play  and  work.  The  practice  of  musical  exercise  is  especially 
beneficial  in  teaching  steadiness  at  gradually  increasing  velocity. 
The  practice  of  recitation  from  memory,  or  the  systematic  rela- 
tion of  incidents  which  have  happened  is  another  useful  method 
in  the  correction  of  this  defect. 

Overeagerness  may  lead  a  child  to  neglect  his  meals  and  sleep, 
so  that  even  when  there  is  no  mental  stammer,  and  there  is  a 
high  degree  of  dexterity  at  work  and  play,  yet  nervous  instability 
ensues  on  account  of  imperfect  repair  of  waste.     For  example: 

A  boy  of  1 1  (Case  84)  was  brought  by  his  mother  because  of 
grimaces  and  nervous  movements  which  she  knew  presaged  a 
breakdown  such  as  he  had  had  twice  before  on  account  of  which 
he  had  to  spend  two  years  away  from  school,  rusticating.  He 
was  a  boy  of  extraordinary  capacity,  far  exceeding  others  of  his 
age  in  all  athletic  sports,  and  when  at  school  immediately  spring- 
ing to  the  top  of  his  class.  Conversation  showed  that  he  was 
no  mere  parrot,  but  had  both  common  sense  and  poise.  He  even 
recognized  his  own  overintensity,  but  his  ambition  made  him 
unwilling  to  lay  much  stress  upon  it  from  fear  of  being  kept 
from  school  and  athletics. 

His  good  sense  was  shown  by  his  retaining  a  friendly  attitude 
even  though  forbidden  the  competitive  athletics  which  he  loved. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  665 

This,  however,  was  perhaps  the  easier  as  the  other  restrictions 
were  minimal,  consisting  merely  of  a  modification  of  the  diet  to 
make  it  accord  with  the  principles  already  spoken  of  in  the  pre- 
ceding part  of  this  article,  and  the  enforcement  of  a  half-hour 
period  of  complete  rest  after  meals.  The  object  of  this  was  two- 
fold. First,  to  secure  repose  foi  digestion;  and  secondly,  in- 
directly to  prevent  hasty  eating,  as  when  he  could  not  go  out 
immediately  after  dinner  nothing  was  to  be  gained  by  bolting 
it.  These  simple  measures  produced  astonishing  results,  the 
grimaces  all  disapf>earing,  and  the  boy  acquiring  much  greater 
stamina. 

This  boy's  father  is  of  the  same  temperament,  a  type  whose 
mental  processes  ate  very  much  more  rapid  than  the  average 
individual's,  so  that  in  the  same  space  of  time  two  or  three  times 
the  usual  amount  of  work  can  be  accomplished,  at  a  correspond- 
ing expenditure  of  nerve- force. 

These  persons  are  nearly  always  subject  to  insomnia.  This 
is  not  due  to  worry,  not  even  to  a  desire  to  think  for  the  pleasure 
of  it.  It  is  because  the  energies  have  been  so  actively  deployed 
toward  the  cerebrum  that  the  body  processes  cannot  settle  down 
to  the  resting  pace.  The  condition  is  quite  similar  to  that  pro- 
duced in  most  people  by  tea  or  coflfee  It  has,  of  course,  a  purely 
physical  basis,  and  is  very  likely  due  to  an  overabundance  of 
substances  of  internal  secretion  which  activate  the  tissues  as  we 
know  is  done  by  the  products  of  the  thyroid  gland,  the  adrenal, 
and  the  pituitary  body. 

In  this  variety  of  exceptional  child  there  is  need  of  very  special 
treatment  in  the  direction  of  shorter  hours  of  work,  and  great 
attention  to  nourishment  and  rep>ose.  If  this  is  not  secured, 
the  vitality  needed  in  the  struggle  of  life  will  be  dispersed  pre- 
maturely, and  the  individual  will  faU  to  complete  his  undertakings 
from  lack  of  stamina. 

II.  The  Mismanagement  of  EtfwUon,  Sentiment,  Desires  and 
Inclinations. — (a)  Intemperance. — An  emotion  is  an  involuntary 
reaction  within  the  body  itself  without  reaction  upon  the  envi- 
ronment. For  instance,  the  word  pathos  expresses  the  idea  of  a 
suffering  of  the  subject  without  any  external  action.  This  ap- 
parent difference  between  emotion  and  action  has  an  anatomical 
foundation;  for  motion  is  accomplished  by  contraction  and  re- 
laxation of  muscles  in  which  the  protoplasm  (6)  is  arranged  in 


666  APPENDIX 

layers  across  the  grain,  and  it  is  subject  to  direct  control  by  what 
we  express  as  the  will;  whereas  emotion  is  accompanied  by  con- 
tractions and  relaxations  of  non-striped  muscle  which  moves 
only  such  tissues  as  the  coats  of  blood-vessels,  the  walls  of 
stomach,  intestines,  and  other  organs,  the  roots  of  the  hair,  the 
substances  contained  in  the  cells  of  the  glands.  So  much  is  this 
so  that  the  feeling  derived  from  these  movements  is  to  some  psy- 
chologists the  emotion;  and  a  person  without  these  structures 
would  feel  no  emotion  even  at  the  most  distressing  circumstances. 
But  while  the  reaction  of  emotion  cannot  be  influenced  directly 
by  willing  it,  yet  it  is  for  practical  purposes  under  the  influence 
of  the  central  nervous  system,  that  is  to  say,  through  the  im- 
pressions received  by  the  senses,  the  sensations  of  which  are  by 
association  elaborated  into  perceptions  on  account  of  the  memory 
of  similar  allied,  contiguous,  or  contemporaneous  sensations. 
These  are  abstracted  into  what  we  call  ideas,  and  the  process  of 
elaboration  is  called  thought. 

Now,  every  sensation  is  either  pleasurable,  painful,  or  indiffer- 
ent, and  likewise  is  each  percept,  idea,  and  process  of  thinking. 
The  chance  of  any  of  the  latter  being  entirely  indifferent  is  very 
small.  The  feeling  toward  a  thought  is  a  species  of  emotion 
known  as  feeling  tone.  It  is  a  practical  axiom  that  the  feeling 
tone  depends  upon  the  thought  of  that  moment,  and  is  a  con- 
densation of  the  numerous  feeling  tones  concomitant  upon  the 
episodes  of  which  that  thought  is  the  abstraction.  Which  ele- 
ment of  a  thought  shall  preponderate  is  a  matter  of  attention; 
and  as  each  thought  has  its  sombre  and  bright  elements  it  may 
be  made  capable  of  afifecting  the  feelings  either  pleasantly  or  un- 
pleasantly. The  popular  expression.  "  looking  at  the  bright 
side,"  has  a  teal  psychological  foundation.  By  deliberate  at- 
tention to  the  ugly  or  distressing  aspect  of  the  recollection  of 
an  episode,  pessimistic  feeling  is  readily  induced  along  with  its 
various  bodily  reactions,  muscular  relaxation,  shown  by  sagging 
back  and  shoulders,  drooping  mouth,  slow  movements,  lack  of 
ambition,  the  interference  with  digestion  and  assimilation,  show- 
ing themselves  as  indigestion,  constipation,  slowing  of  respira- 
tion, and  interference  with  the  internal  secretions  of  the  body. 

On  the  contrary,  if  attention  is  focussed  upon  the  pleasing  or 
beautiful  elements  in  the  concept,  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  is  en- 
gendered shown  by  bright  eyes,  radiant  face,  brisk  step,  active 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  667 

breathing,  good  digestion,  and  enterprising  mind  The  degree 
to  which  the  way  of  looking  at  things  can  affect  one's  judgment 
is  illustrated  on  a  large  scale  by  various  associations  of  optimists 
whether  these  band  together  under  a  religious  aspect  or  not 

Shakespeare  has  made  Hamlet  say:  "There  is  nothing  good  or 
bad.  but  thinking  makes  it  so."  This  is  not  a  mere  phrase.  The 
efifect  of  the  way  of  looking  at  things  upon  the  bodily  reactions 
is  most  profound  as  has  been  proved  beyond  refute  by  most 
carefully  controlled  experiments 

Pavloflf  by  his  experiments  on  the  dog  proved  that  merely 
showing  him  the  whip  would  suppress  the  flow  of  gastric  juice. 
The  dog  was  a  victim  of  his  imagination,  and  became  ill  to  the 
extent  of  an  incapacity  to  secrete  gastric  juice,  which  means  very 
ill  indeed.  In  fact,  psychogenetic  physical  illness  of  this  kind 
may  reach  such  a  degree  as  to  cause  death,  as  has  been  experi- 
mentally shown  by  Crile  and  others. 

The  sufferings  induced  by  the  "  gnawing  fox  "  of  the  Japanese 
are  made  pnassible  only  by  a  deeply  rooted  belief  in  its  existence. 
For  example,  a  woman  (Case  85)  after  labor  declared  she  felt 
the  "  fox  coming";  this  was  her  interpretation  of  the  after-pains 
she  felt.  The  great  parade  of  the  neighbors  in  attempting  to 
prevent  the  "  fox's  "  attack  only  reinforced  the  patient's  appre- 
hension, and  soon  a  horrible  convulsion  signalized  her  seizure  by 
the  fox.  Terror  and  convulsions  held  her  until  the  exorciser 
was  called.  He  declared  that  the  fox  would  leave  her  at  four 
o'clock  the  next  day  provided  certain  offerings  were  placed  on 
a  certain  tomb  for  it  to  eat.  This  simple  suggestion  caused  her 
to  dismiss  her  terror  suddenly  at  the  hour  designated.  The 
crudeness  of  the  mechanism  (7)  in  the  case  of  this  ignorant 
Oriental  need  not  make  us  smile,  for  some  of  our  Western  cases 
are  very  little  better. 

The  following  case  illustrates  the  mechanics  of  tics  (8)  and  in- 
somnia by  suggestion. 

A  child  had  a  series  of  tics  consisting  of  smacking  the  lips 
(Case  86)  and  bending  down,  touching  the  floor,  resulting  from 
her  desire  to  avoid  hurting  others  with  her  breath  which  she  be- 
lieved was  noxious,  and  to  avoid  hurting  the  floor  with  her  hard 
heels.  Therefore,  she  applied  the  "  healing  kiss  "  to  the  air 
which  she  expired,  and  the  "  healing  touch  "  to  the  floor.  After 
these  had  been  removed  through  sanatorium  treatment  she  was 


668  APPENDIX 

thought  to  be  too  nervous  for  school,  especially  as  she  could  not 
sleep  for  hours  after  her  mother  attempted  to  teach  her.  In 
reaUty  this  child  was  not  "  nervous  "  at  all.  She  was  neither 
apprehensive,  nor  fidgety,  nor  irritable,  nor  of  a  difficvilt  tem- 
perament. She  had  stayed  awake  by  suggestion,  because  her 
parents  had  let  her  see  that  they  were  afraid  of  it.  The  matter 
was  explained  to  child  and  parents,  and  in  consequence  of  the 
step  thus  taken  the  child  has  attended  school.  She  remained 
perfectly  well  ever  since.  ^ 

The  seeming  excessive  reactivity  of  people  who  feel  emotions 
deeply  is  not  direct,  but  merely  because  the  emotion  gives  a  more 
imperative  aspect  to  the  notions  in  consequence  of  which  they 
act.  If  the  action  is  intemperate  it  is  not  so  much  because  the 
emotion  is  so  as  because  the  ideation  is  not  adequate  to  form 
proper  judgments. 

Hysterical  Phobia. — For  instance:  A  boy  of  8  (Case  87)  was 
sent  to  me  because  he  was  subject  to  "  fits,"  previously  diagnosed 
epileptic,  which  consisted  of  sudden  attacks  of  fright,  and  the 
imperative  desire  to  rush  away.  I  soon  discovered  that  this 
was  due  to  his  fear  of  wild  animals,  induced  by  the  general  tim- 
orousness  inculcated  by  a  foolish  mother,  who  developed  in  him 
a  timidity  which  was  the  source  of  his  impulse  to  run  away.  A 
simple  explanatory  talk  and  some  psychomotor  (9)  exercises 
showed  the  boy  how  to  obtain  control;  and  after  the  interview 
he  recovered  completely  from  the  consequences  of  his  morbid 
fears.  This  case  illustrates  the  fact  that  even  in  children  a 
realization  of  the  situation  is  the  important  thing.  It  is  only 
when  a  patient  can  intelligently  interpret  the  symptoms  of  a 
psychogenetic  (10)  disorder  that  he  is  in  a  position  to  cause  them 
to  disappear.  The  patient  does  not  get  well  from  the  analysis, 
but  because  of  the  psychic  procedure  adopted  therefrom.  The 
reason  this  boy  ran  away  was  because  he  thought  there  was  a 
wild  beast;  both  the  emotion  of  fear  and  the  action  of  running 
away  were  natural  enough  from  the  premises.  The  f earsomeness 
of  his  surroundings  had  been  inculcated  by  the  attitude  of  an 
unwise  mother. 

Emotions. — The  most  incommoding,  and  often  dangerous,  of 

'  The  case  is  fully  described  in  my  paper  "Psychogenetic  Disorders  of  Child- 
hood," in  A  merican  Journal  of  Medical  Sciences,  191 2,  and  in  Journal  of  A  bnormal 
Psychology,  191 2. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  669 

all  the  emotioias  is  fear.  In  the  case  of  the  boy  just  related,  it 
was  the  induced  fear  which  caused  him  to  rush  away.  The 
whole  psychology  of  fear  would  take  too  long  to  ampUfy  here; 
but  as  it  is  the  foundation  of  most  of  the  disturbances  known  as 
psychoneuroses  (ii)  to  which  the  neurotic  child  is  most  subject, 
it  is  necessary  to  consider  its  prevention.  Perhaps  this  is  best 
done  by  an  illustration  and  the  commentary  upon  that. 

The  formation  of  a  night-terror  (12)  was  nipped  in  the  bud 
in  the  case  of  a  boy  ajed  three  and  three-quarters  (Case  88). 
For  several  weeks  he  had  been  visiting  the  zoological  garden 
every  afternoon  in  the  .company  of  a  French  maid  of  exception- 
ally forceful  character,  and  apparently  free  from  the  superstitious- 
ness  of  the  average  nurse.  For  a  long  time  all  went  well,  until 
one  evening  he  began  to  cry  in  bed  soon  after  he  was  left  for  the 
night.  At  this  unusual  occurrence  I  mounted  the  stairs  and  in- 
quired the  cause  of  the  boy's  trouble.  He  said  there  were  lions 
in  the  house,  and  that  he  did  not  want  to  stay  alone  as  he  was 
afraid  they  would  eat  him.  The  source  of  the  idea  had  been 
that  the  lions  had  roared  more  loudly  than  usual  on  that  partic- 
ular afternoon,  and  he  had  been  much  impressed,  standing  for 
some  time  quite  motionless  before  the  cage,  though  unterriiied. 
I  soon  convinced  the  boy  that  the  lions  had  to  remain  in  their 
cages  and  could  not  get  out,  hence  there  were  none  in  the  house, 
so  that  there  was  no  occasion  for  fear.  Of  course,  it  was  first 
necessary  to  give  him  the  feeling  of  security  gained  by  embrac- 
ing me,  and  secondly  to  begin  the  conversation  by  talking  of 
something  else.  In  this  way  the  state  of  terror  was  dismissed 
and  the  feeling  of  protection  was  induced  before  we  returned  to 
the  subject  of  the  lions.  Then  we  made  rather  a  joke  of  the 
funny  roaring  of  the  lions  before  we  had  finished,  and  he  finally 
lay  down  with  the  solemn  purpose  to  go  to  sleep  and  think,  as 
I  had  suggested,  of  the  cars  and  motors  passing  outside  his  open 
window.  It  was  all  a  very  simple  substitution  (13),  but  it  was 
the  prevention  of  what  might  have  become  a  serious  fear- 
psychosis  (14)  if  injudiciously  handled. 

When  the  fears  are  already  formed  the  resources  of  a  good 
neurologist  should  be  invoked  in  order  to  disperse  them,  I  give 
an  illustration. 

A  girl  of  16  (Case  89)  was  referred  by  Doctor  Litchfield,  of 
Pittsburgh,  November,  1913,  on  account  of  great  nervousness 


670  APPENDIX 

for  years.  She  had  never  been  regularly  to  school  until  the  fall, 
when  she  had  been  sent  to  boarding-school  after  convalescing 
from  appendectomy,  but  had  become  so  nervous  that  she  had 
to  return  in  two  days.  Inqviiry  showed  that  she  would  frequently 
wake  in  the  night  very  much  afraid  imless  she  were  soothed  by 
some  one  sleeping  with  her,  so  that  she  could  never  sleep  alone. 
Further  inquiries  showed  that  a  servant  had  told  terrifying  stories 
to  her  sister  as  a  child;  the  horrors  this  brought  ran  through  a 
family  of  three  children,  but  they  passed  away  from  all  of  them 
except  this  patient.  She  had  been  much  indulged  between  the 
ages  of  3  and  6,  and  had  been  somewhat  sp>oiled  since,  owing  to 
a  supposed  weak  heart,  and  had  always  been  considered  a  weatkly 
child.  Her  father  and  an  aunt  had  been  timorous  as  children; 
the  latter,  for  nine  years,  had  not  dared  to  be  alone  for  a  moment. 

Her  fears  are  either  of  fires  or  burglars,  and  they  only  occur 
when  in  bed  or  asleep;  she  whines  when  dreaming  and  wakes 
frightened.  She  never  screams,  but  clutches  her  companion 
desperately  for  reassurance.  She  is  sure  she  wants  to  get  rid 
of  this  trouble.  She  cannot  remember  the  first  occasion  of  fear. 
Noises,  such  as  creaking  floors,  make  her  think  there  is  some  one 
in  the  house;  although  she  knows  positively  there  is  not,  she  can- 
not make  herself  believe  it.  She  is  ashamed  of  the  emotion  and 
will  go  to  bed  alone,  although  terrified,  if  there  is  some  one  else 
up-stairs,  but  not  unless;  but  will  wait  vmtil  her  mother  comes. 
She  imagines  a  burglar  might  hurt  her  if  pushed  to  it. 

Analysis  shows  that  there  is  no  definite  fear  of  what  he  might 
do  to  her,  but  that  the  fear  is  of  the  unknown,  and  although  it 
might  help  her  to  know  it,  it  might  be  too  terrible.  Her  agita- 
tion upon  speaking  of  this  she  attributes  to  her  shame  of  being 
"  babyish."  I  explain  there  is  no  shame  in  what  one  cannot 
help,  but  she  cannot  recover  imtil  an  understanding  is  gained 
through  analyzing  the  situation.  She  is  not  less  frightened  when 
away  from  home,  but  any  person  in  the  room  will  tranquillize 
her  fear  upon  wakening  if  she  can  touch  her.  The  night  fear  is 
quite  diflferent  from  any  fears  in  the  daytime. 

After  the  analysis  she  was  asked  to  go  home  and  write  out  her 
impressions  of  the  situation,  which  she  did  as  follows: 

The  earliest  instance  I  can  remember  was  about  eight  years  ago 
when  my  nurse  sat  in  the  neict  room  while  I  went  to  sleep.    For  five 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  671 

or  six  years  afterward  some  one  was  with  me  when  I  was  going  to  sleep. 
If  I  woke  up  in  the  middle  of  the  night — which  I  usually  did — I  would 
be  terrified  and  go  into  mother's  bed,  with  her,  in  the  next  room.  It 
is  only  within  the  last  few  months  that  she  has  been  sleeping  in  the 
same  room  with  me  the  entire  night.  Before  that  I  alway-s  went  to  bed 
in  the  room  next  hers,  but  rarely  remained  there  all  night.  I  cannot 
ever  remember  having  the  nurse  put  me  to  bed  and  then  leave  me  to 
go  to  sleep  by  myself.  She  was  always  in  the  next  room.  It  made  very 
little  difference  whether  my  mother,  nurse,  or  sister  were  with  me.  I 
preferred  mother,  but  would  have  any  one  rather  than  be  alone.  I 
was  always  worse  in  our  city  home  than  in  our  coimtry  home,  because 
I  thought  there  would  more  likely  be  burglars  in  the  city  than  way 
off  in  the  country.  I  would  go  to  sleep  more  quickly  in  the  country, 
but  would  always  have  some  one  with  me.  As  long  as  I  can  remember 
I  have  dreaded  the  night.  I  always  lie  awake  a  long  time  after  going 
to  bed  fighting  with  my  terror  of  burglars.  Every  sound  made  me  think 
of  them,  and  I  used  to  hold  my  ears  shut  so  that  I  coidd  not  hear  the 
floor  creak,  and  try  to  go  to  sleep  in  that  way.  So  when  I  thought  of 
those  long,  sleepless  hours  I  would  wish  there  was  no  such  thing  as 
night. 

Her  dread  is  mingled  with  self-contempt  at  her  "  silly  baby- 
ishness."  Three  dreams  were  obtained.  The  first  and  second 
were  of  a  burglar  entering  a  window.  The  analysis  showed  only 
that  the  intruder  aimed  to  shoot  her  sister,  who  was  standing  up 
behind  her;  a  dream  of  fears  of  elevators  led  to  no  pertinent 
associations  (15). 

As  the  dream  analysis  was  so  unfruitful  I  believed  it  best  to 
proceed  at  once  to  reconditioning  of  the  psychological  reac- 
tions (16).  This  was  attempted  in  the  first  place  by  studying 
the  child's  power  of  understanding  of  what  I  gave  her  to  read 
about  the  psychology  of  fear,  and  by  making  clear  to  her  what 
she  could  not  understand  alone.  In  the  second  place,  she  was 
given  exercises  in  mental  concentration,  and  as  she  became  more 
proficient  in  these,  was  urged  to  apply  them  to  the  study  of  her 
own  feelings  of  nocturnal  apprehensions.  The  principle  she  was 
made  to  grasp  was  that  fear,  and  shame  of  her  fears,  prevented 
her  from  facing  and  examining  them,  which  was  the  essential 
preliminary  to  the  understanding  which  would  make  them  dis- 
appear. In  ten  days  she  returned  home,  not  yet  able  to  sleep 
alone,  but  beginning  to  obtain  mastery.  A  month  later  her 
mother  wrote  me  that  she  was  entirely  well,  and  when  she  awak- 


672  APPENDIX 

ened  in  the  night  would  quietly  turn  over  and  go  to  sleep  with- 
out troubling  any  one.  She  was  physically  and  in  mental  health 
better  than  at  any  time  in  her  life. 

This  child  has  been  at  school  now  two  years,  and  is  quite 
normal. 

Concerning  Shame  and  Anxiety. — Shame  plays  a  large  part  in 
this  case;  but  shame  is  merely  social  or  moral  dread,  and, 
physiologically  speaking,  must  be  treated  just  as  is  fear. 

When  the  moral  factor  is  very  strongly  present,  and  the 
physical  agitation  is  decided,  the  condition  is  termed  anxiety.  A 
great  deal  has  been  recently  written  about  the  victims  of  chronic 
anxiety;  but  most  of  the  writers  are  too  narrow  in  their  concep- 
tion in  relation  to  the  fear  or  shame  which  is  its  basis,  and  have 
often  sfrained  their  explanations  to  fit  a  preconceived  theory. 
In  this  respect  the  work  of  Doctor  Boris  Sidis,  in  this  country, 
and  of  Doctor  Pierre  Janet  and  of  Professor  Dejerine,  in  France, 
are  notable  exceptions.  Upon  the  foundation  of  anxiety  are 
frequently  developed  scruples  and  little  manias  (17)  or  even 
tricks  of  manner,  expression,  and  gesture.  The  grimaces  which 
children  make  sometimes  have  this  foundation. 

They  are  immediately  due  to  a  sensation  of  discomfort.  When 
this  is  more  purely  intellectual  it  gives  rise  to  a  feeling  of  incom- 
pleteness or  inadequacy  to  a  situation.  When  focussed  upon 
some  particular  idea  the  feeling  of  inadequacy  may  give  rise  to 
an  obsession  (18)  concerning  the  difficulty  presented.  This  be- 
setment  is  always  accompanied  by  a  certain  morbid  dread  known 
as  phobia  (19).  These  various  symptoms  have  the  same  psy- 
chological foundation,  and  very  frequently  alternate  in  the  same 
patient.  These  manifestations  are  termed  by  Janet  psychas- 
thenia.  Again  the  best  understanding  of  the  situation  is 
furnished  by  an  example,  although  the  well-developed  disease  is 
unusual  in  children,  as  the  manifold  symptoms  require  an  intel- 
lectual bent  which  few  children  possess. 

Multiple  Manias. — A  boy  of  14  (Case  90).  He  was  not 
doing  well  at  school;  he  would  take  hours  to  dress  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  would  go  away  and  dream  by  the  hour.  Analysis  of 
the  situation  showed  that  his  condition  was  the  result  of  reac- 
tions caused  when  the  child  was  only  three  and  one-half  years  of 
age.  He  had  been  the  only  child,  much  petted  and  loved.  When 
he  was  two  and  a  half  years  old  a  little  brother  was  born,  and  he 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  673 

was  jealous  of  the  newcomer,  who  immediately  became  the 
petted  and  loved  one  of  the  family.  He  was  reproached  by  his 
parents.  In  consequence,  he  was  made  to  feel  hyperconscien- 
tious  because  of  his  bad  behavior,  and  forthwith  developed  little 
"  manias  "  as  expiations  which  led  eventually  to  the  more  com- 
plex symptoms  which  had  developed  when  I  saw  him.  Instances 
of  these  are  not  uncommon  even  among  persons  judged  normal ; 
thus,  many  persons  feel  that  the  mere  touching  of  wood  or  avoid- 
ance of  the  number  thirteen  wards  oflf  misfortune.  People  tend 
to  do  these  things  to  be  rid  of  an  uneasy  feeling.  Whether  or 
not  these  are  interpreted  in  some  definite  way  or  not  depends 
on  the  environment.  This  boy,  for  instance,  felt  he  was  unrea- 
sonably jealous  of  the  little  brother,  and  that  he  must  do  some- 
thing to  compensate  for  it — to  touch  wood  or  to  put  on  his  clothes 
slowly  or  in  a  particular  way;  and  he  had,  as  a  result,  built  up 
this  elaborate  series  of  habits.  He  was  cured  in  a  few  months. 
Malady  of  Scrupulosity. — The  son  of  a  United  States  senator 
(Case  91)  was  30  years  of  age  when  seen.  His  condition  had 
been  very  serious  for  a  long  time.  He  was  cured  in  less  than  two 
years  by  a  gradual  education  which  freed  him  from  extreme  de- 
pendence upon  oversolicitous  parents.  The  young  man  would 
take  two  or  three  hours  to  dress  in  the  morning,  even  when 
helped.  He  had  lost  all  initiative,  and  before  performing  any 
act  felt  compelled  to  go  through  numerous  trivial  expiations. 
Manifestations  of  this  kind  are  not  uncommon.  The  persons 
subject  to  them  are  sometimes  mistakenly  called  neurasthen- 
ics (20).  But  the  condition  is  usually  psychogenetic,  and  always 
arises  from  habits  of  thought  and  emotion  which  have  been 
allowed  to  arise  during  childhood  because  the  parents  have  not 
known  of  the  danger  of  oversolicitous,  excessive  sympathy  or 
its  contrary:  neglecting  the  child's  affections  until  he  falls  back 
upon  self-pity.  Rigid  insistence  upon  discipline  and  routine  is 
a  fertile  source  of  psychasthenia.  In  the  United  States  it  has 
not  often  been  severe,  but  in  Germany  many  hundreds  of  chil- 
dren have  been  so  psychasthenic  that  they  have  committed  sui- 
cide because  unable  to  endure  the  stress  of  existence.  Over- 
insistence  up>on  religious  tenets,  more  especially  when  these  have 
a  basis  of  asceticism,  has  produced  a  great  deal  of  this  malady 
of  scruples,  as  Janet  has  called  it.  This  again  is  less  abundant 
in  the  United  States  than  in  countries  where  the  church  has 


674  APPENDIX 

greater  authority.  Especially  prone  to  these  dangers  are  chil- 
dren who  from  any  cause  are  kept  from  close  companionship 
with  other  children,  e.  g.,  an  only  child,  a  child  in  a  family  which 
thinks  itself  better  than  its  neighbors,  a  delicate  or  much-refined 
or  unusual  type  of  child  who  is  too  sensitive  to  the  gibes  and 
cruelties  of  youngsters,  tends  to  lack  the  intimate  companionship 
which  would  neutralize  the  morbid  influences  at  home.  Lastly, 
physical  disorders  themselves  may  give  rise  to  timorousness  and 
scruples  which  make  of  life  a  psychasthenic  thing. 

Psychic  Hardening. — Just  as  the  bones  and  muscles  become 
strong  by  arduous  exercise  in  childhood  and  early  youth,  so  does 
the  psyche  become  resistant  to  the  "  slings  and  arrows  of  out- 
rageous fortune  "  by  practice  against  them  during  childhood, 
the  formative  period.  It  is  a  crime  against  a  child  not  to  give 
him  practice  in  self-mastery  against  rebuffs,  snubs,  slights,  and 
discouragement;  for  if  he  encounters  them  for  the  first  time 
when  mature,  the  struggle  against  his  feeling  of  injury  will  re- 
quire enormous  energy,  and  seriously  interfere  with  both  happi- 
ness and  efficiency;  whereas  the  child  soon  rebounds  against  the 
insults  without  undue  melancholy  provided  the  education  is 
begun  very  young. 

Shame  of  Sex. — A  matter  which  causes  distress  of  mind  to 
some  young  people,  more  especially  girls,  is  shame  of  the  bodily 
functions.  The  painfulness  with  which  what  they  have  come  to 
regard  as  a  sacred  mystery  meets  the  shocks  of  what  to  them  is  a 
callous,  ribald  world,  would  have  been  avoided  had  their  educa- 
tion been  conducted  with  respect  to  their  own  physiology  at  the 
proper  time,  that  is  to  say,  when  they  made  inquiries  concerning 
what  they  observed.  Instead  of  that,  the  barbarous  idea  of  the 
shamefulness  of  a  normal  function  is  inculcated,  implicitly  at 
least,  and  the  consequence  is  a  large  number  of  what  have  been 
called  sexual  neurasthenics,  who  are  often  too  ashamed  even 
to  consult  a  doctor.  Hence  they  ask  advice  of  advertising 
charlatans,  who  only  add  to  their  horror  and  then  exploit  them 
for  gain. 

Shyness. — Social  timorousness,  which  is  only  a  kind  of  shame, 
finds  a  powerful  antidote  in  games;  for  these  encourage  the  free 
play  of  the  inclinations  and  initiative  in  dealing  with  persons  on 
an  equal  footing,  so  that  the  timid  child  is  often  surprised  into 
dealing  with  the  situation  just  as  any  one  else  does.    Therefore 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  675 

he  gains  confidence  in  his  capacity,  and  encouragement  to  try 
something  else  which  his  diffidence  has  prevented  hitherto. 

For  the  timorous  child,  social  intercourse  should  be  shorn  as 
much  as  possible  of  conventional  restrictions.  Americans,  es- 
pecially in  the  West,  can  scarcely  realize  to  what  a  degree  con- 
ventionality and  artificial  class  distinction  has  interfered  with 
social  life  and  the  integration  of  corix)rate  activity  in  monarchical 
countries. 

To  protect  a  thoughtful  child  from  being  victimized  by  social 
shame  which  he  would  allow  to  eat  his  heart  out  rather  than 
divulge,  a  good  method  is  to  explain  to  him  the  idea  of  social 
solidarity,  and  his  own  place  in  the  human  cosmos:  so  that, 
when  treated  rudely  or  superciliously,  he  will  understand  that 
he  need  feel  no  embarrassment — for  it  indicates  merely  a  lack  of 
good  breeding  on  the  part  of  the  person  who  so  treats  him. 


DEFINITIONS 

1.  Germ-Plasm.  The  portion  of  the  ovary  which  does  not  take  part 
in  the  development  of  the  body  of  the  embryo  but  gives  rise  to  the 
reproductive  elements  in  the  adult. 

2.  Psychopathology.  A  word  used  to  denote  abnormal  behavior  not 
due  to  physical  defect,  but  the  result  of  impressions  upon  the  mind. 
Peculiarities  of  temper,  bad  habits,  perverted  inclinations,  morbid  fears, 
annoying  thoughts,  irregularities  and  incapacities  in  movement  may 
each  be  the  result  of  causes  purely  psychological.  The  science  of  their 
causation  is  called  psychopathology.  The  science  of  their  treatment  is 
called  psychotherapy. 

3.  Protein.  The  nitrogen-containing  substances  of  living  bodies  as 
detected  by  chemical  analysis.  They  are  of  different  kinds  and  are  es- 
sential for  growth  and  the  maintenance  of  body  weight.  Their  chief 
dietetic  representatives  are  eggs,  lean  meat,  milk,  and  cheese. 

4.  Purin.    The  substances  which  give  rise  to  uric  acid. 

5.  That  is  from  unmilled  grain. 

6.  Protoplasm.  The  portion  of  the  body  which  is  alive  as  dis- 
tinguished from  bone,  skin,  and  other  substances  manufactured  by  it. 

7.  Mechanism.  A  simile  borrowed  from  mechanics  to  denote  the 
constituent  mental  processes  of  the  complete  account  of  any  psychologi- 
cal situation. 

8.  Tic.  An  abnormal  movement  not  produced  by  mechanical  or 
chemical  agents,  but  due  to  an  act  of  the  will.  It  has  the  character 
of  compulsion  and  inopportuneness  to  the  surroundings.     It  is  usually 


676  APPENDIX 

derived  from  some  purposive  movement  the  occasion  for  which  has 
ceased.  It  acts  as  a  relief  to  feeling  of  discomfort  or  tension.  When 
the  tic  is  frustrated  by  the  will,  much  distress  is  caused  at  first.  To 
cure  a  tic,  either  the  discomfort  upon  which  it  depends  must  be  dis- 
covered and  removed,  or  else  the  patient  must  be  taught  to  master  the 
impulse  to  perform  the  abnormal  movements.  This  is  accomplished 
by  disciplinary  exercises  in  controlling  those  muscles  which  tic.  This 
is  facilitated  by  all  kinds  of  training  in  self-control. 

9.  Psychomotor.  Movements  inaugurated  by  psychological  means  as 
against  automatic  movements,  and  especially  designed  to  develop  the 
function  of  control. 

10.  Psychogenetic.  That  which  is  produced  by  the  psyche,  that  is 
to  say,  the  emotions,  intellect,  and  will  as  against  the  soma,  or  body, 
which  comprises  purely  mechanical  and  chemical  agents. 

11.  Psychoneuroses.  Mental  disturbances  not  caused  by  bodily 
disease,  and  which  do  not  lead  to  dementia  or  other  mental  alienation. 

12.  Pavor  Nodurnus.  This  was  once  supposed  to  be  a  disease  in 
itself,  and  a  great  deal  of  superstition  gathered  round  its  very  alarming 
manifestations. 

13.  Substitution.  The  process  of  changing  one  idea  for  another 
which  dominates  the  mind. 

14.  Psychosis.  A  term  used  in  two  senses.  In  psychology  it  is 
equivalent  to  a  psychological  state  or  episode.  In  medical  psychological 
work  it  has  been  used  to  denote  a  condition  involving  insanity. 

15.  Associations.  Process  by  which  episodes  occurring  together  or 
in  sequence  are  linked  in  memory.  The  notion  of  causality  is  a  matter 
of  association.  Analysis  of  unusual  juxtaposition  of  ideas  sometimes 
reveals  circumstances  which  have  led  to  psychoneuroses. 

16.  Conditio7iing.  A  term  given  to  a  changing  of  reaction  to  cir- 
cumstance through  modifying  the  ideas  regarding  it.  It  is  a  change  of 
mental  attitude.    Its  potentialities  are  enormous. 

17.  Mania  has  two  senses.  The  best  known  one  is  that  of  violent 
insanity;  the  other  meaning,  used  here,  is  of  a  little  twist  of  thought, 
a  slight  obsession.     The  term  monomaniac  refers  to  this  sense  of  the  word. 

18.  Obsession.  A  morbid  idea  not  so  fixed  but  that  the  victim  ques- 
tions it,  and  quite  realizes  its  morbidity.  The  struggle  for  verification 
gives  rise  to  discontent  and  distress.  The  doubting  mania  is  a  form 
of  it. 

19.  Phobia.  An  obsessive  fear  not  warranted  by  external  circum- 
stances. Very  common  is  the  fear  of  high  or  wide  places,  the  fear  of 
microbes,  pollution,  assault,  animals,  the  dark,  of  rain,  in  fact  of  any 
situation  of  human  experience;  or  even  a  fear  of  the  imknown.  They 
are  entirely  curable  by  modem  psychotherapy. 

20.  Neurasthenic.    A  term  which  should  be  properly  restricted  to 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  677 

conditions  of  simple  exhaustion  or  failing  stamina  of  which  the  mechanism 
is  physical.  In  this  sense,  it  is  by  no  means  so  common  a  condition  as 
was  supposed  at  the  beginning  of  the  century. 

Note. — The  practical  suggestions  made  by  Doctor  Williams,  in  this 
illuminating  paper,  for  treatment  and  re-education  are  particularly 
welcome  in  this  volume  as  they  tally  so  well  with  the  methods  used  in 
the  author's  own  practical  work,  as  exemplified  at  "Herbart  Hall." 
— M.  P.  E.  G. 


XX.     EPILEPSY 
By  Doctor  D.  C.  Main,  and  Miss  Sakah  Basd,  Welaka,  Fla. 

Extent  of  the  Epilepsies. — The  epilepsies,  in  one  or  more  of 
their  various  manifestations,  claim  as  victims  approximately  one 
in  three  hundred  of  our  population. 

This  dreaded  disease  has  been  known  for  centuries,  but  it  is 
only  within  recent  years  that  any  material  progress  has  been 
made  in  its  scientific  study  and  treatment.  Modern  research 
has  opened  up  a  new  vista  of  hope  for  many  of  the  afflicted  ones, 
where  formerly  none  was  given. 

If  we  consider  only  the  extreme  forms  of  chronic  cases,  we  may 
regard  them  all  as  hopeless  and  unfit  to  remain  in  the  family  or 
under  normal  social  conditions. 

Causes  of  Epilepsy. — There  is  no  specific  cause  for  the  various 
manifestations  of  this  condition;  on  the  contrary,  its  causes  are 
numerous  and  varied. 

Epilepsy  is  less  distinctly  congenital  and  less  due  to  perverted 
development  without  disease  than  some  other  conditions  dis- 
cussed in  this  book. 

Epilepsy,  alcoholism,  and  insanity  in  the  parents;  brain  in- 
juries; the  infectious  diseases  of  childhood;  food  poisoning;  and 
the  specific  body  diseases  are  among  the  many  causes  of  epilepsy. 
Too  much  stress  cannot  be  laid  on  the  part  adenoids  play  in  the 
production  of  epileptic  seizures. 

Heredity  is  the  greatest  single  factor  in  epilepsy,  sixteen  out 
of  every  one  hundred  cases  being  directly  attributable  to  the 
same  disease  in  the  parents. 

Treatment  of  Epilepsy. — The  general  treatment  of  epilepsy  is 
only  possible  in  its  entirety  in  special  institutions  conducted  on 
the  colony  or  small  village  plan,  where  the  outdoor  life  with  a 


678 


APPENDIX 


regular  occupation,  such  as  gardening,  poultry-raising,  etc.,  can 
be  followed.  The  epileptic  patient  should  have  the  opportunity 
to  choose  the  line  of  work  on  the  farm  most  congenial  to  him, 
thus  employing  his  mind  and  preparing  him  to  be  self-supporting 
in  the  future. 

The  exercise  thus  obtained  is  conducive  to  long  hours  of  sleep 
and  good  digestion,  so  essential  in  these  cases. 

One  of  the  most  common  mistakes  parents  of  defectives  make 
is  to  allow  the  child  to  run  wild,  abandoning  all  discipline,  in 
the  hope  that  the  attack  will  come  less  often.  They  should  re- 
member that  the  victim  of  epilepsy  needs  more  than  most  people 
the  self-control  and  good  habits  which  only  wise  discipline  in 
early  life  can  establish. 

Dietetic  Treatment. — Too  much  stress  cannot  be  laid  on  the 
dietetic  treatment.  That  evolved  at  Craig  Colony  is  probably 
the  best.     The  schedule  is  here  inserted: 


Breakfast 

Dinner 

Supper 

Sunday 

Oatmeal 

Soup 

Bread 

Bread 

Vegetables 

Butter 

Butter 

Roast  beef 

Tea 

Coffee 

Bread,  butter 

Cookies 

Gelatine  pudding 

Milk  toast 

Monday 

Creamed  codfish 

Soup 

Stewed  prunes 

on  toast 

Boiled  rice 

Bread,  butter 

Bread,  butter 

Potatoes 

Tea 

Coffee 

Mutton 
Rice  pudding 

Tuesday 

Oatmeal 

Meat  stew 

Buttered  toast 

Bread,  butter 

Potatoes 

Baked  apples  or 

Coffee 

Vegetables 
Bread,  butter 
Fruit 

apple  sauce 

Wednesday  Oatmeal 

Soup 

Hot  com  bread 

Baked  potatoes 

Roast  beef 

Crackers 

Rolls,  butter 

Mashed  potatoes 

Cheese 

Coffee 

Vegetables 

Butter 

Tapioca  pudding 

Tea 

A   MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM 


679 


Thursday 


Friday 


Saturday 


Breakfast 
Oatmeal 
Bread,  butter 
Coffee 


Oatmeal 
Bread,  butter 
Coffee 


Oatmeal 
Rolls,  butter 
Coffee 


Dinner 
Soup 
Beefsteak 
Boiled  potatoes 
Vegetables 


Supper 
Apple  sauce  or  baked 

apples 
Bread,  butter 
Gingerbread 
Tea 


Soup  Canned  fruit 

Fresh  fish  (baked)  Bread,  butter 

Boiled  potatoes  Cheese 

Stewed  tomatoes  Tea 
Bread  pudding 

Soup  Hot  com  bread 

Roast  beef  Butter 

Boiled  potatoes  Fruit 

Macaroni  Tea 
Com-starch  pud- 
ding 


This  dietary  excludes  an  overabundance  of  nitrogenous  foods, 
sweets,  fats,  and  hot  breads.  The  meat  preferred  is  beef,  and 
the  only  other  meats  ever  given  are  mutton,  fish,  and  chicken. 

Potatoes,  beans,  peas,  onions,  turnips,  oyster-plant,  beets, 
parsnip,  celery,  com,  tomatoes,  carrots,  and  spinach  are  the 
vegetables  used. 

Medical  Treatment. — Space  forbids  many  words  on  the  medi- 
cal treatment,  but  if  the  cause  be  found  the  treatment  will  sug- 
gest itself.  If  adenoids  are  the  existing  causef<#perate;  if  food- 
p>oisoning,  correct  the  diet,  etc. 

Any  of  the  preparations  containing  the  bromides  are  harmful, 
only  giving  temporary  relief,  and  often  doing  the  brain  more 
permanent  injury  than  the  disease  itself. 

Every  departure  from  a  normal  anatomical  or  physiological 
condition  should  be  corrected,  so  far  as  possible,  in  the  hope — 
which  is  often  realized — that  it  is  in  some  way  a  factor  in  the 
production  of  the  seizures. 

Potential  Epilepsy. — The  subject  of  potential  epilepsy  can 
only  be  lightly  touched  upon. 

The  potentially  epileptic  child  has  the  epileptic  or  convulsive 
tendency,  and  is  only  waiting  for  conditions  to  arise  which  will 
favor  the  appearance  of  the  disease.     If  these  favorable  condi- 


680  APPENDIX 

tions  do  not  arise,  the  epilepsjr  never  appears.  Many  a  potential 
epileptic  has  been  saved  from  his  epilepsy,  beyond  doubt,  by  the 
early  correction  of  diet  and  habits,  and  the  early  removal  of  ade- 
noids and  other  surgical  conditions. 

The  child  who  is  subject  to  night  terrors,  or  who  has  had  con- 
vulsions as  a  result  of  dietetic  errors  or  during  dentition,  who  has 
had  any  of  the  specific  diseases  of  childhood,  who  has  had  rickets, 
severe  head  injuries  or  cerebral  palsy,  or  who  has  a  bad  parent- 
age may  be  a  potential  epileptic,  and  should  be  watched  and 
have  early  training  begun,  even  though  an  epilepsy  may  never 
appear. 

Mental  Condition  of  Epileptics. — Mentally  all  epileptic  chil- 
dren are  exceptional,  some  being  unusually  bright,  others  un- 
usually dull. 

Among  the  bright  and  clever  ones  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find 
that  they  are  allowed  to  outstrip  their  playmates,  by  way  of 
proving  that  there  is  nothing  the  matter  with  them;  but  to  the 
trained  observer  there  is  something  pathetic  in  the  iU-balanced 
morbidness  of  their  cleverness. 

Some  of  the  slow-minded  ones  are  found  to  be  extremely  con- 
scientious, and  it  is  well  to  watch  and  encourage  these. 

Since  the  types  vary  so  greatly,  the  proper  disciplinary  treat- 
ment must  vary  also,  each  child  being  dealt  with  according  to  his 
individual  peculiarities. 

Possible  Improvement. — It  has  come  to  be  regarded  that,  no 
matter  what  the  cause  of  the  epilepsy,  if  the  mental  condition 
remain  unimpaired,  improvement  and  often  a  cure  is  possible. 

Patients  having  Grand  Mai  attacks  are  also  more  amenable 
to  treatment  than  those  having  other  types,  or  those  in  which 
the  types  are  mixed. 

About  85  per  cent  of  all  epilepsies  begin  before  the  twentieth 
year,  the  essential  epileptic  periods  being  the  years  between  the 
fifth  and  the  eighth,  and  the  twelfth  and  the  seventeenth  year. 

An  epilepsy  arising  in  the  first  period  is  the  hardest  to  cure, 
recent  cases  being  twice  as  likely  to  respond  to  treatment  as 
chronic  ones. 

About  10  per  cent  of  all  epileptics  become  insane.  Repeated 
attacks  tend  to  weaken  the  mind  and  to  enfeeble  the  body. 
Some  forms  destroy  the  mind  in  two  or  three  years,  while  others 
persist  through  life  with  little  or  no  effect  on  the  mind. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  681 

Epileptics  are  especially  prone  to  tuberculosis,  organic  heart- 
diseases,  and  many  sustain  fatal  injuries  during  attacks. 


XXI.     SEXUAL  HYGIENE 
By  Doctor  Arthxjr  W.  Weysse,  Boston,  Mass. 

The  R61e  of  the  Sexual  Instinct. — What  can  be  done  for  the 
exceptional  child  in  the  matter  of  sexual  hygiene?  The  rdle 
played  by  the  sexual  instinct  in  the  normal  adolescent  is  a  very 
varying  one.  In  a  few  individuals  the  onset  and  development  of 
the  sexual  passion  are  gradual  and  uneventful,  and,  whUe  giving 
rise  to  new  sensations  and  emotions,  they  cause  no  disturbance 
of  the  metabolic  equilibrium.  Such  cases  are  rare,  but  they  do 
occur.  At  the  other  extreme  we  find  individuals  who  must  be 
regarded  as  normal  in  whom  the  sexual  passion  occupies  a  major 
place  in  the  personal  economy  It  obtrudes  itself  upon  their 
thoughts,  it  affects  all  their  bodily  activities  as  well.  Between 
these  two  extremes  we  find  all  possible  gradations.  The  majority 
of  adolescents,  then,  are  in  a  state  of  more  or  less  unstable  equilib- 
rium in  the  metabolic  processes — a  lack  of  stability  that  is  not 
due  alone  to  the  rapid  growth  of  the  child,  for  it  is  not  present 
(to  the  same  degree  at  least)  in  the  normal  child  before  puberty. 
The  exceptional  child  is  in  a  more  unstable  equilibrium  physio- 
logically than  the  normal  child;  hence  the  need  for  special  atten- 
tion to  sexual  hygiene  in  his  case. 

Masturbation. — Any  one  who  has  made  an  intensive  study  of 
sexual  matters  knows  that  the  practice  of  masturbation  is  ex- 
tremely common  in  children  of  both  sexes  during  the  adolescent 
period,  so  that  some  writers  have  been  led  to  consider  that  it 
is  normal  in  civilized  society,  that  it  is  no  more  harmful  than  the 
same  amount  of  normal  sexual  intercourse  would  be;  and  the 
percentage  of  children  addicted  to  the  practice  has  been  placed  in 
the  nineties.  However  that  may  be,  the  fact  remains  that  most 
children  indulge  more  frequently  than  they  would  indulge  in 
normal  intercourse,  as  we  know  Irom  studies  of  uncivilized  tribes 
where  no  restraint  is  placed  on  intercourse.  Further,  the  energy 
thus  expended  would  much  better  be  used  for  the  other  activities 
of  the  body,  and  the  weakening  of  the  will-power  through  the 
repetition  of  the  act  is  a  matter  of  no  small  moment.    If  these 


682  APPENDIX 

facts  are  true  for  the  normal  child,  they  are  even  more  significant 
for  the  exceptional  child.  I  believe  that  in  the  majority  of  cases 
masturbation  is  not  a  result  of  viciousness,  but  rather  of  excessive 
stimulation  of  the  reproductive  system  through  a  variety  of 
causes  for  which  the  child  is  not  personally  responsible. 

Causes  of  Masttxrbation. — The  diet  of  the  child  is  often  at 
fault.  Children  at  puberty  do  not  require  the  stimulus  of 
caflfein,  nor  is  it  desirable,  yet  many  of  them  get  it.  Excessive 
quantities  of  spices,  pickles,  and  sweets  result  in  abnormal  metab- 
olism, and  a  consequent  derangement  of  more  than  one  function 
of  the  body.  If  the  sexual  system  becomes  hypersensitive  under 
these  conditions,  it  is  the  fault  of  those  who  have  charge  of  the 
child.  The  genital  organs  themselves  should  receive  expert 
attention.  In  some  cases  the  cause  lies  in  an  adherent  or  in  a 
redundant  prepuce,  in  others  in  phimosis,  in  others  in  an  exces- 
sive secretion  of  smegma  which  the  boy  does  not  know  that  he 
should  remove.  There  is  a  great  variation  in  the  amount  of  this 
secretion  in  boys;  in  some  it  is  so  great  that  it  should  be  removed 
by  washing  at  least  once  every  twenty-four  hours.  Most  boys 
receive  no  instruction  whatever  in  this  matter.  Some  boys  have 
an  unsuspected  congenital  stricture  of  the  urethra  that  may  lead 
to  enuresis  and  involuntary  manipulation  of  the  genitals. 
Some  have  a  stone  in  the  bladder;  I  remember  seeing  a  vesical 
calculus  removed  from  a  boy  of  lo  in  a  London  hospital  a  few 
years  ago. 

In  girls  there  are  very  frequently  unsuspected  adhesions  about 
the  clitoris  that  lead  to  masturbation.  Such  cases  have  been 
reported  in  medical  literature  within  the  past  years;  they  are 
readily  relieved  by  circumcision.^  Vulvovaginitis  may  cause 
masturbation  in  little  girls;  it  is  a  much  commoner  disorder  than 
many  suspect,  and  its  etiology  is  often  obscure.  Sometimes  it  is 
due  to  the  gonococcus,  but  very  frequently  to  other  organisms. 
Careful  medical  examinations  of  the  genito-urinary  apparatus 
should  be  the  rule  in  the  case  of  exceptional  children,  and  for 

'  Not  always,  that  is  to  say,  only  when  there  are  no  other  complications  of  a 
physiological  or  psychological  character.  The  author  has  had  a  Uttle  girl  of 
lo  (Case  92)  under  observation  who  was  badly  affected.  Adhesions  to  the 
clitoris  were  removed,  and  vulvovaginal  treatment  established.  There  seemed 
to  be  no  other  physical  or  local  cause,  but  the  masturbation  was  not  checked 
by  these  measures. — M.  P.  E.  G. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  683 

that  matter  is  highly  desirable  in  the  case  of  normal  children 
as  well. 

Sexual  Education. — Concerning  the  normal  physiology  of  the 
genital  organs  at  puberty — the  appearance  of  the  menses  in  girls, 
and  of  nocturnal  emissions  in  boys — I  believe  that  each  child 
should  so  far  as  possible  receive  individual  instruction.  This 
information  may  be  imparted  by  the  parent  if  he  or  she  has  the 
proper  personality.  If  not,  it  would  much  better  come  from  a 
physician.  In  my  opinion,  class  instruction  is  much  less  de- 
sirable. 

Sexual  Abnormality  as  a  Cause  of  Exceptional  Development. 
— Some  children  are  undoubtedly  exceptional  through  abnormal 
development  of  the  sexual  organs,  which  causes  either  retarda- 
tion or  precocity.  Exact  knowledge  of  the  cause  of  these  condi- 
tions is  still  lacking,  but  recent  experiments  on  animals  and  the 
clinical  reports  of  several  years  show  us  that  the  endocrinal  or 
ductless  glands  have  a  very  pronounced  influence  on  sexual  de- 
velopment. The  two  glands  that  seem  to  be  most  important 
in  this  respect  are  the  pituitary  and  the  pineal,  but  we  know 
now  that  the  endocrinal  glands  do  not  act  entirely  independently. 
A  recent  case  reported  in  medical  literature  (Case  93)  is  illus- 
trative of  this:  Shortly  before  his  death,  a  boy  of  5  years  and  10 
months  was  42  inches  tall,  24  inches  around  his  chest,  and  had 
genitals  the  size  of  those  of  a  man.  His  death  and  his  excessive 
bodily  and  sexual  development  were  due  to  a  large  tumor  of  the 
cortex  of  an  adrenal  gland,  while  the  pineal  and  the  pituitary 
glands  were  normal.  Lack  of  secretion  of  the  pituitary  body 
results  among  other  things  in  retarded  sexual  development — the 
persistence  of  infantilism  so  far  as  the  sexual  organs  and  instinct 
are  concerned.  It  has  been  thought  that  the  pineal  gland,  which 
attains  its  maximum  development  between  7  and  13  years  of  age, 
and  then  degenerates,  might  exercise  a  retarding  influence  on 
the  development  of  the  sexual  organs,  and  that  precocity  might 
result  from  a  lack  of  pineal  secretion.  Recent  experiments  on 
young  animals,  however,  show  that  when  fed  with  this  gland 
they  developed  both  somatically  and  sexually  more  rapidly  than 
normal  animals  of  the  same  species.  Extract  of  the  pituitary 
body  has  been  given  in  cases  of  infantilism  with  good  effect,  and 
we  shall  doubtless  soon  be  able  to  treat  both  precocious  and  re- 
tarded sexual  development  more  effectively. 


684  APPENDIX 

XXII.     SOME   SEXUAL  ABNORMALITIES 

By  Doctor  W.  F.  Blake-Burke,  Plainfield,  N.  J. 

Atypical  Children  and  Sexual  Problems. — In  studying  the 
group  of  exceptional  children  which  Doctor  Groszmann  has 
designated  as  atypical,  we  are  confronted  with  many  cases  in 
which  the  sexual  life  is  perverted  or  at  least  gravely  endangered. 
This  is  more  particularly  true  of  Class  (o)  of  this  group,  "Neu- 
rotic and  Neurasthenic  Children."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  certain 
school  of  psychiaters  maintains  that  neurotic  and  psychopathic 
tension  is  invariably  and  intimately  associated  with,  or  even 
caused  by,  difficulties  and  abnormalities  in  the  early  sex  life  of 
children  of  both  sexes. 

The  second  class  of  atypical  children,  "  Children  of  Pathologi- 
cally Retarded  Development,"  furnishes  its  quota  of  sexual  per- 
versions and  inversions  (homosexual  manifestations).  For  it  is 
this  retardation  in  the  development  of  physiologic  function,  with 
its  bodily  counterpart  of  infantile  anatomical  conditions  in  the 
reproductive  brgans,  which  is  more  or  less  directly  responsible 
for  sexual  abnormalities.  It  would  be  perfectly  correct  to  say 
that  much  of  neuropathic  and  psychic  tension  is  produced  through 
this  pathologic  retardation  of  the  physiologic  growth  rate  in  the 
sexual  sphere  when  it  stands  in  contrast  with  overstimulation 
and  rapid  growth  in  other  directions. 

Infantile  Conditions. — The  fact  obtrudes  itself  upon  our  con- 
sciousness that  the  characteristic  manifestations  of  the  infantile 
sexual  life  persist  in  the  adolescent  of  these  types  as  inversions 
and  perversions. 

These  infantile  manifestations  become  exaggerated  in  the 
preadolescent  or  latent  period,  and  labor  against  the  influence 
of  education,  thus  producing  in  the  adolescent  a  generally  back- 
ward mental  condition.  The  sexual  life  in  these  children  seems 
to  eat  up  all  their  energy,  to  pervert  all  the  strength  they  need 
for  making  normal  intellectual  progress. 

In  other  cases  we  find  in  the  adolescent  a  seemingly  normal 
intellectual  development  which,  however,  when  put  to  the  test 
of  the  ordinary  struggle  for  existence,  fails  owing  to  weakened 
stamina  and  exhaustion  of  reserve  force. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  685 

Timely  Training. — My  own  practical  observations  strongly 
uphold  Doctor  Groszmann's  contention  that  it  is  in  the  second 
or  latent  (prepubertal)  period  that  special  educational  training 
will  have  the  best  chance  of  success.  It  is,  therefore,  absolutely 
necessary  to  watch  out  for  evidences  of  abnormal  sexual  manifes- 
tations in  this  period — although  it  should  be  admitted  that  the 
"  normal  "  for  this  period  has  still  to  be  definitely  determined. 
Nevertheless,  any  pronounced  interest  in  sexual  matters  and 
symptoms  of  self-abuse  or  sexual  aberration  will  have  to  be  con- 
sidered as  danger-signals.  There  is  little  hope  for  cases  of  this 
kind  without  timely  special  educational  training.  For  it  is  the 
instinct  of  sex  with  which  every  child  is  bom  which  furnishes 
energies  of  tremendous  power  which  are  needed  in  the  normal  life 
evolution  of  the  child,  but  which  are  deviated  or  sublimated  in 
the  latent  period.  Educational  methods  following  the  cultural 
development  of  the  race  will  use  them  as  barriers  against  which 
the  storm  and  stress  of  adolescent  days  will  battle  in  vain.  Out 
of  the  period  of  mere  sex-instinct,  represented  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  race  by  the  period  of  sex-worship  and  sex-fetichism, 
which  reverberates  in  many  of  the  early  sex  mannerisms  of  chil- 
dren, must  rise  the  consciousness  of  higher  entities  in  human  re- 
production. 

The  infantile  form  of  the  sex-instinct  is  intimately  associated 
with  other  bodily  functions,  especially  those  of  secretions  which 
are  located  in  or  near  the  sex-organs.  Allow  them  to  continue 
unchanged  through  the  latent  period,  and  they  will  recrudesce 
as  inversions  and  perversions  in  the  adolescent.  Ignorance  of 
the  infantile  sexual  life;  misappreciation  of  the  grave  significance 
of  abnormal  sexual  manifestations  in  the  latent  period,  be  it  from 
prudery  or  ignorance;  repression  of  sexual  consciousness  on  the 
part  of  the  child  himself,  from  terror,  shame,  or  ignorance,  are  at 
the  root  of  abnormal  developments  in  the  later  sex  life. 

The  result  is  that  mental  development  is  retarded;  even  the 
ordinary  somatic  changes  of  adolescence  are  often  absent.  The 
natural  purpose  of  sex  development  is  obscured,  the  individual 
lingers  in  the  preparatory  stage  and  is  led  into  harmful  prac- 
tices; and  in  the  cases  of  more  profound  infantilism  in  this 
province  we  find  even  anatomical  vestiges  of  hermaphroditism 
pointing  back,  to  the  beginning  of  the  formation  of  the  sexual 
organs  during  intrauterine  life. 


686  APPENDIX 

Constipation. — Constipation  in  children  of  the  type  to  which 
I  have  alluded  is  very  often  obstinate  and  of  special  significance. 
In  many  cases  it  yields  to  proper  methods  of  treatment:  diet, 
exercise,  mental  discipline,  and  suggestion,  etc.  Several  cases 
have  come  to  the  writer's  attention  in  which  these  methods 
seemed  unavailing  for  quite  some  time.  Two  cases  are  of  especial 
interest;  in  both,  there  seemed  to  be  intentional  retention  of 
fecal  matter  for  purposes  of  sexual  stimulation.  Both  had  suf- 
fered from  constipation  from  early  childhood,  so  that  it  must  be 
assumed  to  have  been  a  causal  element  in  the  production  of  ab- 
normal sexual  feelings.  After  this  had  been  recognized  by  the 
boys  in  question,  it  was  purposely  used  for  the  gratification  of 
these  feelings  which  had  been  found  pleasurable. 

Other  Irritations. — There  are,  of  course,  other  irritations  lead- 
ing to  similar  results.  Abnormalities  in  the  urinary  tract  and 
hyperacidity  of  the  urine  may  irritate  the  sexual  parts  and  cause 
sexual  reflexes  and  masturbation.  In  boys,  an  ill-fitting  saddle 
of  a  bicycle  or  horse  may  produce  an  irritation.  In  girls,  riding 
a  bicycle,  or  riding  a  horse  astride,  or  even  working  a  sewing- 
machine,  has  led  to  violent  masturbation.  The  sedentary  habits 
of  the  ordinary  school  child,  especially  during  the  preadolescent 
period,  have  played  sad  havoc  with  the  awakening  instincts. 
The  child  who  wriggles  in  his  seat,  or  seems  to  lose  himself  in 
self-absorption,  with  a  fixed  stare,  needs  a  teacher's  immediate 
attention. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  too  much  attention  to  the  fundamental 
bodily  functions  of  preadolescents,  even  of  young  children,  can- 
not be  paid  by  parents  and  family  physicians;  and  that  in  the 
treatment  of  sexual  aberrations,  observation  must  be  directed 
to  these  contributing  factors.  What  has  not  been  accomplished 
during  the  latent  period  in  a  child's  development  will  present 
particular  difficulties  of  management.  We  are  dealing  not  only 
with  psychopathic  or  neuropathic  symptoms  pure  and  simple, 
but  with  a  perpetuation  and  recrudescence  of  infantile  symptoms 
of  sex-consciousness.  While  it  is  true  that  there  is  a  distinct 
medical  aspect  to  these  cases,  the  matter  of  re-education  is  para- 
mount, and  this  educational  process  will  be  most  successful  when 
begun  before  or  during  the  latent  period.  An  early  diagnosis  is 
essential. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  687 

XXIII.    TREATMENT   OF   JUVENILE    DELINQUENTS 
By  John  Adams  Colliver,  A.B.,  M.D.,  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

A  Medico-Socio-Psychological  Problem. — The  treatment  of 
juvenile  delinquents  is  not  purely  a  medical  subject,  of  course; 
but  a  medico-socio-psychological  problem.  The  real  delinquent, 
the  repeater,  has  formed  a  bad  and  antisocial  habit,  and  his 
case  is,  therefore,  chronic.  In  order  to  bring  about  corrective 
results  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the  subject  from  an  etiological, 
pathological  (perversion),  curative,  and  prophylactic  point  of 
view. 

Etiology. — The  analysis  of  a  few  thousand  cases  examined  by 
me  shows  that  nearly  95  per  cent  are  from  broken  homes;  that 
is,  where  one  or  both  parents  are  dead,  or  morally  or  mentally 
unable  to  discipline  their  children  or  themselves.  Thus,  the 
child  has  little  or  no  home  training  of  any  value.  This  condition 
is  always  associated  with  bad  environment,  idleness,  rarely  with 
overwork,  and  is  productive  of  vice  and  perverted  habits  which 
affect  the  child  by  the  force  of  bad  examples.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  5  per  cent  from  good  homes  have  been  overindulged.  It  is 
useless  to  try  remedies  if  the  above-mentioned  contributory  fac- 
tors are  overlooked. 

Pathology.  Perversion. — Under  this  heading  we  consider  two 
kinds  of  cases:  those  which  cannot  be  helped,  and  those  which 
can.  In  the  first  class  we  find  about  18  per  cent  who  are  men- 
tally defective.  These,  of  course,  should  be  graded  and  schooled 
accordingly.  Another  species  of  this  same  class  is  afiiicted  with 
so-called  manias.  I  have  seen  numerous  cases  where  the  child 
was  apparently  normal,  but  p>ossessing  a  peculiar  mania  for  steal- 
ing certain  things,  as  money,  tools,  jewelry,  women's  clothing,^ 
bicycles,  and  the  like.  These  were  stolen  solely  for  the  irresisti- 
ble pleasure  of  doing  it.  , 

I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  characteristic  criminal  type  among 
children;  nor  that  a  blow  on  the  head  will  produce  criminality, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  many  parents  believed  that  the 
badness  in  their  children  dated  from  such  a  blow.  Scarcely  a 
week  passed  for  several  years  in  which  some  did  not  appear  in 
court  with  such  pleadings.     I  have  never  seen  a  case  of  delin- 

>  Here  we  may  be  dealing  with  a  perverted  sexual  instinct. — M.  P.  E.  G. 


688  APPENDIX 

quency  due  to  such  head  or  brain  injury.  Such  bumps  or  in- 
juries do  not  tend  toward  criminah'ty  any  more  than  any  other 
local  irritation.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  parents  are 
usually  prone  to  excuse  their  child,  and  the  blow  is  simply  a 
coincident  in  the  boy's  life.  It  has  been  found  that  a  percentage 
of  these  boys  were  mentally  defective. 

Under  this  same  heading  let  us  consider  drug  and  cigarette 
habits  and  sexual  perversions.  It  is  impossible  to  effect  a  cure 
while  these  habits  continue.  They  are  all  accompanied  by  lying. 
I  have  seen  a  number  of  cases  where  boys  had  committed  crimes, 
and  the  only  accountable  reason  was  one  or  all  of  these  habits. 
On  the  other  hand  I  have  seen  a  change  in  the  moral  character 
with  the  cassation  of  the  vicious  habit.  We  have  used  the  silver- 
nitrate  cure  for  cigarettes,  with  some  good  effects. 

Irritability  as  an  Initial  Symptom. — Irritability  is  an  initial 
symptom  of  juvenile  delinquency.^  There  is  a  physical  basis  for 
this  in  a  large  percentage  of  the  boys  I  have  examined.  Our 
records  show  that  over  90  per  cent  begin  their  career  by  irrita- 
bility at  home.  This  percentage  would  probably  be  higher  if 
better  statistics  were  available.  It  has  been  our  endeavor  to 
discover,  if  possible,  the  basis  for  the  irritability,  and  remove  the 
same.  The  years  before  puberty  represent  the  period  when  most 
good  can  be  expected  from  this  treatment.  The  nervous  system 
is  then  still  undeveloped  and  unstable,  and  inhibition  incom- 
pletely developed.  The  irritations  from  local  causes  have  ap- 
parently a  marked  deleterious  effect  upon  the  faculty  of  inhibition 
and  upon  the  exercise  of  the  will-power.  Their  removal  is  fol- 
lowed by  moral  improvement  in  about  16  per  cent  of  the  cases.^ 

Local  Causes  of  Irritation. — Such  defects  as  decayed,  aching, 
or  impacted  teeth;   enlarged  or  diseased  tonsils  and  adenoids; 

*  "The  Physical  Basis  for  Irritability  in  Boys — the  Beginning  of  Juvenile 
Delinquency."  Address  (by  Doctor  J.  A.  C),  illustrated  with  stereopticon,  be- 
fore the  Riverside  County  Medical  Society,  City  School  Board,  Teachers  and 
Probation  OflBcers,  Riverside,  Cal.,  April,  191 1.  This  paper  has  been  pubUshed 
in  the  Manual  of  the  Juvenile  Court  of  Los  Angeles,  1912.  Also  reprinted  by 
the  New  York  Probation  Commission,  March,  1913,  and  by  the  National  Proba- 
tion Commission,  September,  1913.  Reprinted  in  the  Journal  of  Sociologic 
Medicine,  December,  1915. 

'  CJ.  my  paper  :  "Does  the  Correction  of  Physical  Defects  of  Juvenile  Crim- 
inals Improve  Their  Moral  Conduct?"  Read  before  the  Southern  CaUfornia 
Medical  Society,  December,  1909;  reprinted  from  the  Southern  California 
Practitioner,  January,  1910. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  689 

defective  hearing  and  sight ;  disturbances  of  the  intestinal  tract, 
whether  due  to  worms,  undigested  material,  or  indigestion;  and, 
most  important  of  all,  irritations  and  defects  of  the  genito- 
urinary system.  These,  together  with  poor  nutrition,  toxic,  in- 
fectious, and  other  obscure  local  or  constitutional  causes,  tend  to 
block,  or  interfere  with,  the  normal  impulses  or  orders  from  the 
brain. 

Some  of  these  points  were  emphasized  and  illustrated  in  an- 
other paper  of  mine.^  There  it  was  shown  that  there  were  lo 
to  15  per  cent  more  cases  of  defective  teeth  among  juvenile  de- 
linquents than  among  normal  children  of  the  same  age.  We 
found  that  correction  of  decayed  or  aching  and  impacted  teeth 
produced  a  change  in  the  disposition  of  the  child.  I  believe  also 
that  imperfect  teeth,  or  lack  of  teeth,  contribute  indirectly  to 
delinquency.  For  lack  of  proper  mastication  is  followed  by  in- 
testinal indigestion,  toxaemia,  and  poor  nutrition.  Correction 
of  these  defects  eliminates  this  vicious  train  and  tends  to  im- 
prove metabolism.  I  have  seen  numerous  boys  change  in  dis- 
position entirely  when  their  metabolism  was  improved.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  that  my  data  showed  that 
the  nourishment  was  below  normal  in  52  per  cent  of  the  boys 
with  one  or  more  bad  teeth,  whereas  only  10  per  cent  were  poorly 
nourished  in  those  with  good  teeth.  It  is  also  instructive  to 
note  that  of  the  10  per  cent  poorly  nourished  with  good  teeth 
over  65  per  cent  were  cigarette-smokers,  and  had  nervous  dis- 
orders. Nutrition  must  be  built  up  to  improve  inhibition  or 
will-power. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  removal  of  diseased  tonsils  and 
adenoids  is  followed  by  a  physical  and  mental  improvement. 
We  find  also  that  a  moral  improvement  appears  in  about  the 
same  proportion  as  the  mental.     This  may  be  due  to  three  things: 

First:  As  in  the  correction  of  any  other  defect,  the  removal 
of  this  local  irritation  eliminates  the  source  of  numerous  im- 
pulses to  the  brain  which  have  been  continually  interfering  with 
the  normal  stimuli. 

Second:  Practically  all  these  cases  improved  physically,  and 
proportionately  improved  in  inhibition  and  will-power. 

'  "  Does  the  Abnormal  Condition  of  the  Teeth  Contribute  to  Juvenile  Delin- 
quency?" Given  before  the  Los  Angeles  County  Dental  Society.  Published 
in  Pacific  Denial  Gazette,  1910. 


690  APPENDIX 

Third:  Many  a  child  has  the  reputation  of  being  incorrigible 
simply  because  of  defective  hearing.  This  incorrigibility  is 
preceded  by  irritability,  and  followed  by  bad  associations,  vicious 
habits,  and  a  criminal  life.  By  removal  of  tonsils  and  adenoids 
the  hearing  is  often  restored,  and  the  child  is  saved  from  the 
degraded  future. 

Eye  defects  have  similar  results,  and  properly  fitted  glasses 
have  changed  the  moral  character  of  many  boys  appearing  in 
court. 

In  all  cases  of  incorrigibility  and  delinquency  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  make  repeated  thorough  examinations  before  a  contributing, 
local  cause  can  be  determined  upon.  Some  of  the  most  obscure 
cases,  I  believe,  are  toxic  or  infectious  in  origin,  intestinal,  or  so- 
called  rheumatic,  or  possibly  specific.  I  have  seen  numerous 
cases  in  which  the  chUd  cleared  up  in  disposition  after  irritating 
masses  like  worms,  undigested  material,  etc.,  were  removed  from 
the  intestinal  tract;  in  a  few  cases,  where  the  rheumatic  or  syphi- 
litic remedies  were  administered. 

Other  Curative  Measures. — Sometimes  it  is  well  to  break  in 
some  manner  the  continuity  and  periodicity  of  the  criminal 
offenses,  and  were  it  merely  by  temporary  change  of  environment 
and  occupation,  or  by  some  other  temporary  method.  Even  the 
stay  in  a  hospital,  or  the  treatment  of  some  ailment  may  serve 
the  purpose  of  interrupting  the  criminal  trend  or  habit.  Time 
is  thereby  given  for  readjustment. 

An  illustrating  series  of  observations  was  made  on  thirty-two 
cases  of  so-called  hopelessly  "bad"  boys,  who  were  submitted 
to  a  needed  operation.  In  each  case  it  was  a  circumcision.  The 
beneficial  effect  was  due  both,  I  think,  to  the  operation  itself 
which  removed  a  local  irritation,  and  to  the  break  in  the  routine 
of  their  lives.  Each  of  the  boys  had  appeared  in  court  on  an 
average  of  six  times,  once  every  three  months.  After  the  opera- 
tion, the  interval  was  increased  to  once  in  eighteen  months, 
although  they  were  living  in  practically  the  same  environment. 
Many  of  the  boys  who  were  bullies  and  leaders  of  gangs  tamed 
down  and  reformed;  others,  who  had  been  "  incorrigible  "  and 
persistent  truants  changed  in  character  entirely.  A  composite 
curve  of  the  thirty-two  boys  is  shown  in  the  accompanying 
diagram. 

In  this  group  we  have  what  would  ordinarily  be  called  bad 


A   MEDICAL   SYMPOSIUM 


691 


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692  APPENDIX 

boys,  who  have  been  tried  in  every  way  and  were  turned  over  as 
hopeless.  Some  had  appeared  in  court  for  as  many  as  ten 
offenses.  Since  operation,  some  of  the  boys  in  this  group  have 
not  committed  an  offense  or  appeared  in  court  in  five  years.  A 
record  of  their  conduct  at  home  and  at  school,  which  appears  in 
the  weekly,  biweekly,  or  monthly  reports  in  the  probation  office, 
showed  a  marked  improvement  in  their  morals. 

Psychological. — Habits,  good  or  bad,  when  long  continued, 
become  part  of  the  body,  and  are  normal  physiological  reflexes. 
The  physiology  of  the  boy  remains  the  same — passive,  ready  to 
be  acted  upon — while  his  social  environment  is  continually  chang- 
ing. What  you  could  do  with  impunity  when  you  were  a  boy 
is  now  a  trespass  or  a  misdemeanor.  Thus,  new  habits  must  be 
formed  in  adaptation  to  the  ever-changing  social  environment, 
and  to  the  demands  confronting  the  individual  in  his  ascent 
during  the  periods  of  growth.  As  a  curative  measure,  new  habits 
must  be  developed  so  as  to  supplant  the  old,  or  natural,  or  bad 
ones.  Most  important  is  the  demand  to  give  the  boy  proper 
psychological  employment,  that  is,  employment  which  has  his  best 
endeavor  and  attention.  The  value  of  this  demand  cannot  be 
overestimated.  Practically  aU  juvenile  courts  are  now  beginning 
to  recognize  the  importance  of  this  step.  If  such  employment 
is  impossible,  then  find  employment  which  is  furthest  from  his 
greatest  temptation.  The  boy  should  be  forced  to  work  at  some 
highly  co-ordinated  and  complicated  employment  which  will 
completely  occupy  his  mind,  and  he  should  do  this  daily  to  the 
point  of  fatigue.  This  would  establish  new  habits.  Hypnotism 
and  suggestion  have  been  used  to  some  extent,  but  never  with 
any  degree  of  success. 

The  conclusions  in  the  above  statement  are  based  upon  ten 
years  of  experience  in  the  Juvenile  Court  of  Los  Angeles  County, 
California,  presided  over  by  Judge  Curtis  D.  Wilbur. 


XXIV.    INHERENT  IMMORALITY 

By  Doctor  Ross  Moore,  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

Heredity  vs.  Free  Will. — Belief  in  free  will  is  the  central  fact 
in  the  system  of  justice  and  law  of  the  past  and,  to  a  great  extent, 
of  the  present.     So-called  "justice"  has  remembered  the  biblical 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  693 

suggestion  that  "whatever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap," 
and  has  wilfully  or  thoughtlessly  forgotten  that  other  statement 
that  "  the  sins  of  the  fathers  shall  be  visited  upon  the  children." 
Hence  the  tendency  of  all  of  us  has  been  to  hustle  the  one  who 
transgresses  our  rights  or  comfort.  This  has  made  us  complacent 
in  the  past  to  allow  the  courts  to  handle  all  persons  convicted  of 
breaches  of  the  peace  as  if  they  were  entirely  responsible.  Anom- 
alies of  character  often  escape  the  notice  of  even  the  most  expert 
character  readers  until  some  overt  act  calls  attention  to  them. 
The  line  of  distinction  between  the  person  who  is  morally  re- 
sponsible for  his  acts  and  him  who  is  not  is  often  a  very  difficult 
one  to  draw.  Society,  not  liking  to  be  troubled  with  unpleas- 
ant things,  says  in  effect:  "Take  them  all  away.  Maybe  some 
of  them  should  not  be  punished,  but  we  cannot  take  time  to  de- 
cide which  is  which." 

Types  of  Character. — This  contribution  to  the  Medical  Sym- 
posium is  an  effort  to  clarify  certain  types  of  character.  These 
types  which  we  are  to  study  are  denied  by  some  very  good 
psychologists  and  psychiatrists  who  believe  that  judgment  gov- 
erns the  acts  of  aU  persons  except  those  who  are  afflicted  with 
definite  psychoses.     Society  largely  believes  this  way. 

Other  psychiatrists  believe  that  the  majority  of  asocial  and 
antisocial  acts  is  the  result  of  a  definite  disorder  of  brain  function 
for  which  the  doer  should  not  be  punished  but  segregated. 

Between  these  two  extremes  lies  a  fertile  field  for  work.  In 
this  field,  and  rather  nearer  to  the  side  of  normality  than  in- 
sanity, are  to  be  found  the  types  of  character  about  to  be  studied. 

In  developing  them,  the  ideas  of  Tanzi,  the  Italian  psychia- 
trist, will  be  closely  followed,  because  they  are  clear  and  con- 
vincing. Quotations,  unless  otherwise  acknowledged,  will  be 
taken  largely  from  the  chapter  on  "  Constitutional  Immorality" 
in  his  book  "  Mental  Diseases." 

The  Inherent  Immoral. — The  "constitutional  immoral,"  or, 
as  I  have  chosen  to  call  him,  the  "  inherent  immoral,"  is  a  person 
who  lacks  something  out  of  his  character.  That  something  is 
large  enough  to  mark  him  as  being  below  or  away  from  the  aver- 
age man  in  character.  It  may  show  itself  day  by  day,  and  cause 
its  bearer  to  be  labelled  "queer,"  or  it  may  only  show  under 
especial  provocation. 

Tanzi's  translator  hit  upon  the  word  "altruism"  as  a  name 


694  APPENDIX 

for  that  something  which  is  lacking  in  these  persons.  It  is  ex- 
actly a  lack  of  care  for  others  which  is  the  keystone  of  these  para- 
normal characters. 

Varieties  and  Forms  of  Non-altruism. — There  are  many  varie- 
ties and  forms  of  this  non-altruism.  For  instance,  there  is  the 
hair-brained,  happy-go-lucky  fellow  who  pursues  his  pleasures 
and  excitements  to  his  own  social  and  financial  undoing.  At 
the  other  extreme  is  the  quiet,  forceful,  and  brainy  person  who, 
needing  ten  dollars  for  a  summer's  holiday,  goes  out  and  beats  a 
friend  to  death,  robbing  him  of  the  money. 

Society  never  puts  the  former  into  an  asylum  or  other  insti- 
tution for  the  mentally  afflicted  because  he  is  a  good  fellow — 
"foolish  but  a  good  sport." 

The  latter  is  often  hanged  by  society  because  the  monstrous- 
ness  of  his  offense  raises  against  him  a  furious  mob  resentment, 
which  listens  neither  to  reason  nor  to  justice. 

During  the  school  years,  the  former  type  is  a  problem  much 
more  internal  than  external — more  personal  than  social.  The 
latter  group,  on  the  other  hand,  lies  within  a  good  part  of  the 
children  who  cause  the  real  social  problems  of  school  life. 

Anomaly  of  Character. — I  have  given  the  name  "inherent 
immorals"  to  these  two  groups  of  pathological  personalities. 
Inherent  immorality  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  an  anomaly  of 
character.  Hallucinations,  illusions,  and  delusions,  are  not  found 
in  it.  Practically  all  those  symptoms  that  are  relied  upon  to 
make  the  diagnosis  of  insanity  are  absent.  To  the  occasional 
observer  these  persons  do  not  excite  interest,  or  even  a  second 
thought,  because  they  appear  as  normal  or  average.  The  flaw 
lies  in  a  suppression  or  congenital  absence  of  a  moral  sense. 

When  is  the  perpetrator  of  a  crime  a  criminal,  and  when  is  he 
immoral  or  insane  ?  A  criminal  should  be  punished.  An  insane 
person  should  be  treated.  An  immoral  should  be  permanently 
segregated  or  so  placed  as  to  remove  him  as  a  social  danger. 
He  should  be  legislated  for  and  cared  for  on  the  basis  of  his 
irresponsibility  the  same  as  the  imbecile.  But  he  is  not  an 
imbecile. 

Two  Distinct  Types. — There  are  two  distinct  types  of  the  in- 
herent immorals — the  "impulsive  immoral"  and  the  "calculat- 
ing immoral."  In  addition  to  these  there  is  a  mixed  type  which, 
of  course,  partakes  of  the  characteristics  of  both. 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  695 

Moral  insanity  in  the  adult  is  only  the  persistence  of  immoral 
tendencies  of  childhood.  It  is  easier  to  sketch  the  adult  immoral 
first,  and  then  go  back  to  study  his  youthful  appearance. 

Type  First:  the  Immoral  from  Impulsiveness. — This  type  is 
immoral  from  impulsiveness,  or  from  excess  of  egotistic  desires 
of  restlessness,  of  aggressiveness,  or  of  individualism. 

There  is  a  physiological,  or  rather  a  physiopsychological  basis 
for  the  acts  of  the  impulsive  immoral.  This  consists  in  a  certain 
instability  of  character.  A  sort  of  weakness  of  inhibition,  as 
for  instance  a  tendency  for  gambling.  Such  a  weakness  is  just 
as  real  in  the  realm  of  the  intellect  as  susceptibility  to  certain 
articles  of  food  such  as  strawberries  is  in  the  physical  realm.  It 
manifests  itself  in  a  constant  thoughtlessness  and  carelessness 
toward  consequences  which  is  the  despair  of  friends  and  relatives. 
Such  a  person  will  gayly  sacrifice  much  future  good  for  the  sake 
of  a  vivid  present  indulgence.  All  efforts  to  reason  with  him  will 
be  found  unavailing. 

When  such  a  pathological  personality  comes  into  conflict  with 
custom  or  the  law,  there  ensues  a  period  of  genuine  surprise  in 
the  first  instance.  Surprise,  because  he  is  unable  to  see  wherein 
he  is  wrong.  As  these  conflicts  recur,  surprise  is  replaced  by 
irritation  and  then  anger.  And  lastly  anger  breeds  a  desire  for 
"  getting  even  with  a  society  which  tries  to  down  a  man  who  is 
trjdng  to  live  properly." 

This  whole  mental  process  is  the  result  of  the  actual  mental 
inability  of  the  patient  to  understand  his  own  handicap  and  to 
adjust  himself  to  his  sphere  in  life. 

This  sad  human  wreck  is  the  result  of  the  inability  of  society 
to  understand  such  mental  handicaps. 

"  In  childhood  immorality  of  the  unthinking  type  displays 
itself  in  precocity  of  the  sexual  instincts,  arrogance,  overbearing 
conduct,  lying,  scheming,  disobedience,  running  away  from  school 
and  home,  vagabondage,  thirst  for  adventure,  etc.  These  ten- 
dencies become  accentuated  about  the  twentieth  year,  and  lead 
to  desertion,  sexual  offenses,  quarrelling,  swindling,  and  foolish 
changes  of  residence,  occupations,  and  friendships.  Thus,  out 
of  immorality  there  is  gradually  developed  criminality,  in  either 
generic  or  specific  form." 

The  key  phrase  to  describe  these  unfortunates,  young  and  old, 
is:  impulsive  thoughtlessness  with  carelessness  of  consequences. 


696  APPENDIX 

Type  Second:   the  Immoral  from  Deficiency  of  Sympathy. — 

This  type  lacks  sympathy  for  others,  and  therefore  also  al- 
truism, sentimental  reserve  of  solidarity,  compassion,  and  regard 
for  public  opinion  (Tanzi's  wording). 

I  have  called  this  type  the  "sluggish  immoral."  Not  that  he 
is  really  or  necessarily  sluggish  in  either  physique  or  mentality. 
Possibly  I  should  call  him  the  "deliberate  immoral."  He  lacks 
sympathy  wholly.  He  has  no  thought  for  others  except  when  his 
cold  and  selfish  reason  tells  him  that  by  helping  others  he  will 
further  his  own  ends.  If  he  is  polished  and  courteous  it  is  for 
good  and  selfish  reasons.  His  lack  of  moral  sense  leads  him  into 
no  such  headlong  dashes  as  fill  the  life  of  the  impulsive  immoral. 
His  decisions  are  planned  with  no  qualms  of  conscience  because 
that  phase  of  conscience  is  totally  undeveloped  in  him. 

As  such  a  personality  as  this  grows  from  childhood  to  adult 
life  there  is  first  a  period  of  surprise  at  the  tears  and  kindnesses 
of  others  around  him.  He  cannot  understand  motives  which 
have  any  other  origin  than  selfishness.  There  is  a  gradual  change 
until  he  develops  an  exaltation  of  his  own  ego,  because  of  his 
growing  conviction  that  his  own  callousness  is  superior  to  the 
altruism  of  his  associates.  Having  arrived  at  this  conclusion, 
he  is  ready  for  anything  his  fancy  dictates,  because  he  cannot 
sense  the  view-point  of  all  the  rest  of  the  world.  He  is  morally 
imbecile.  Nothing  has  atrophied  his  mind,  because  there  was 
nothing  to  atrophy.     He  lacked  the  moral  sense  from  birth. 

No  one  word  will  describe  the  second  group,  but  the  word  cal- 
culating comes  nearest  to  it.  He  is  calm,  frigid,  slow,  reflective, 
without  sympathy. 

The  treatment  of  the  two  groups  differs  radically.  The  key- 
note for  the  first  group  is  sympathetic  understanding.  That  for 
the  second  is  permanent  pitying  care. 

Diagnostic  Elements, — At  first  glance  it  may  seem  that  the 
first  group  will  be  hard  to  separate  from  the  harum-scarum  active 
youngster  who  is  entirely  normal.  This  is  not  so.  There  is  a 
vast  difference  between  the  peevishness  which  accompanies 
healthful  weariness  after  hard  play  in  the  normal  child  and  the 
restlessness  of  the  impulsive  immoral.  It  is  the  difference  be- 
tween normality  and  abnormality.  It  is  as  indescribable  as  the 
differences  between  many  things  in  our  experience  which  we  are 
able  to  sense  clearly  but  cannot  define  in  words.     The  impulsive- 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  697 

ness  is  of  a  kind  which  irritates  others.  A  driving,  impulsive, 
normal  youth  is  urged  on  and.  applauded  while  the  impulsive 
immoral  finds  himself  thwarted  by  the  immobility  or  active  hos- 
tility of  his  associates. 

Such  personalities  can  be  recognized  in  childhood.  They  are 
worthy  of  the  best  efforts.  Their  very  impulsiveness  can  be 
turned  into  right  channels  in  a  good  percent  of  the  cases,  and  when 
so  turned  will  often  provide  a  force  capable  of  more  than  average 
work  along  chosen  lines. 

Sustained  effort  will  be  necessary,  in  order  to  find  just  what 
irritants  in  daily  life  are  keen  enough  to  allow  impulse  to  domi- 
nate reason. 

The  recognition  and  treatment  of  the  second  class  will  usually 
have  to  wait  until  some  overt  act  is  committed.  This  is  because 
of  the  early  development  of  the  ability  to  simulate  contrition,  to 
cover  up  faults,  and  to  smooth  their  own  paths  by  smoothing 
the  paths  of  others.  There  is  little  hope  for  that  which  is  called 
"reformation"  in  these  persons.  It  would  have  to  be  recreation 
rather  than  reformation,  because  it  would  be  the  replacement  of 
a  thing  which  has  never  existed.  Their  proper  treatment,  there- 
fore, resolves  itself  into  the  instituting  of  such  measures  as  will 
protect  society  from  their  actions,  and  at  the  same  time  give  the 
unfortunates  all  the  freedom  possible. 

The  decisive  points  indicating  the  diagnosis  of  moral  insanity, 
according  to  Krafft-Ebing,  are: 

(i)  Insanity,  drunkenness,  or  epilepsy  in  the  parents. 

(2)  The  existence  of  anatomical  and  functional  signs  of  de- 
generacy, with  special  consideration  of  the  conditions  of  the 
sexual  life  as  the  most  important  foundation  of  the  development 
of  the  moral  sense. 

(3)  The  existence  of  signs  of  an  abnormal  state  of  the  vaso- 
motor functions  and  motor  functions,  as  in  tolerance  of  alcohol, 
epileptoid  symptoms,  etc. 

Further  diagnostic  light  is  thrown  on  the  moral  defect  by  the 
demonstration  of  intellectual  weakness;  abnormal  emotional 
irritability,  defective  reproduction  of  ideas;  impulsive,  perver- 
sive feelings  depending  upon  natural  impulses  and  instincts; 
and  finally  the  periodic  character  of  the  activity  so  frequently 
observed.     This  applies  equally  well  to  moral  imbecility. 

It  must  be  developed  from  the  history  of  the  individual 


698  APPENDIX 

whether  his  moral  obliquity  began  so  early  as  to  rule  out  the  in- 
fluence of  bad  example.  It  is  also  necessary  to  determine  whether 
the  conditions  under  which  he  has  spent  his  earlier  life  have 
been  favorable  or  unfavorable,  whether  he  has  had  the  benefit 
of  broadening  education.  If  under  good  conditions  and  in  spite 
of  proper  education  the  patient's  history  indicates  absolute  in- 
corrigibility, then  the  diagnosis  of  moral  imbecility  may  be 
tentatively  made.  If  observation  over  a  period  of  time  shows 
that  character  is  becoming  less  stable,  then  the  diagnosis  may  be 
made  permanent. 

Since  the  diagnostic  points  for  these  inherent  immorals  are  so 
intangible  and  elusive  it  is  well  to  characterize  each  type  in  gen- 
eral phraseology.  The  congenital  impulsive  immoral  is  charac- 
terized by  impulsive  thoughtlessness  with  carelessness  of  conse- 
quences. The  congenital  calculating  immoral  is  calm,  frigid, 
slow,  reflective,  without  sympathy. 

Treatment. — Little  more  is  to  be  said  about  treatment  be- 
cause the  locating  of  a  given  patient  in  one  or  the  other  class 
carries  with  it  the  general  indications  for  future  handling.  The 
first  group  can  be  fitted  into  the  proper  place  in  life  if  their  handi- 
caps are  discovered  and  allowed  for.  The  second  group  will 
always  require  supervision  because  they  lack  something  which 
is  entirely  necessary  for  life  in  a  free  community.  Most  of  them 
ultimately  reach  some  public  institution — penal,  corrective,  or 
charitable.  Most  of  them  get  to  these  institutions  only  after 
long  years  of  misunderstanding,  or  after  the  commission  of  acts 
of  criminal  nature  for  which  they  are  not  morally  responsible. 
"If  alienists  would  be  firm  and  unanimous  in  declaring  that 
congenital  immorality  is  an  anomaly,  and  not  a  disease,  legis- 
lators and  magistrates  would  also  be  more  precise  and  unani- 
mous in  assigning  to  the  immoral  by  nature  a  treatment  that 
would  assure  society,  and  still  be  in  accord  with  justice  and 
prudence." 

XXV.     THE   PROMISE   OF  RESEARCH  IN   THE 

ANATOMY  OF'FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 

By  E.  E.  SouTHAED,  M.D.,  Boston,  Mass 

The  Anatomy  and  Pathology  of  Feeble-Mindedness. — Doctor 
Groszmann  has  asked  me  to  state  in  a  few  words  the  general 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  699 

situation  as  to  feeble-mindedness  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
anatomist  and  pathologist.  My  own  researches  are  by  no  means 
complete,  and  in  point  of  fact  what  Doctor  Walter  E.  Fernald 
and  I  have  planned  will  take  five  years  in  the  execution.  The 
work  of  but  two  years  is  now  available.  Nothing,  however,  has 
interested  me  personally  so  much  in  my  varied  work  in  psychiatry 
as  this  very  problem  of  feeble-mindedness.  It  is  not  only  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  social  importance  of  the  problem  of  taking 
care  of  the  feeble-minded  properly.  It  is  not  merely  a  question 
of  our  interest  in  saving  society  from  the  evils  which  attend  the 
community  life  of  certain  types  of  feeble-minded  of  high  grade, 
namely,  the  subnormal^  and  moron  cases;  and  in  the  other  direc- 
tion, it  is  not  merely  a  satisfaction  of  scientific  curiosity  if  we 
attempt  to  study  the  brains  of  the  feeble-minded  with  all  the 
means  now  at  our  command.  It  is  true  that  the  anatomist  has 
much  to  learn  from  the  brains  of  the  feeble-minded  which  will 
be  of  value  to  the  science  of  brain  anatomy  itself,  and  it  is  true 
that  a  study  of  the  conditions  of  feeble-mindedness  in  the  com- 
munity will  throw  light  upon  a  great  number  of  economic  and 
political  problems. 

What  has  struck  me  of  late,  however,  is  that  there  is  an  in- 
terest attaching  to  feeble-mindedness  which  transcends  the  ana- 
lytic interest  of  the  anatomist  or  pathologist,  and  transcends  alike 
the  interest  of  the  social  statistician.  Between  the  medical  an- 
alysts, on  the  one  hand,  and  the  social  statistician,  on  the  other, 
it  has  become  increasingly  clear  in  modern  time  that  the  indi- 
vidual as  an  individual  gets  dropped  out  from  consideration. 
Now,  studies  in  feeble-mindedness  above  all  insist  upon  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  case  in  hand.  Not  even  the  epileptics  or  the 
insane  require  so  much  adherence  to  the  point  of  view  of  indi- 
vidualization since,  after  all,  epileptics  fall  into  major  groups,  and 
it  is  profitable  to  study  the  insane  in  a  daily  increasing  number 
of  forms  and  subforms  of  disease.  The  feeble-minded,  however, 
seem  all  to  differ  from  each  other,  and  at  any  rate  to  provide 
a  vast  number  of  particular  educational  problems. 

Individual  Problems. — The  study  of  feeble-mindedness  is  a 
study  of  individuality.  I  believe  it  will  be  found  to  be  one  of 
the  most  profitable  forms  of  individual  study  that  the  world  is 

■  It  will  be  seen  that  Doctor  Southard  does  not  use  this  tenn  in  the  manner 
employed  by  the  author  of  this  book. — M.  P.  E.  G. 


700  APPENDIX 

likely  to  see,  I  believe  this  will  be  found  to  be  the  opinion,  if 
not  of  Pinel  and  Itard,  then  certainly  of  the  great  leader  in  this 
field,  namely,  Seguin.  Whether  the  current  of  interest  flows 
from  Seguin  to  work  like  that  of  Doctor  Walter  E.  Fernald  or  to 
work  like  that  of  Doctor  Maria  Montessori,  insistence  from  the 
educational  point  of  view  is  naturally  and  invariably  focussed 
upon  the  individual. 

The  Personal  Attitude. — The  individual,  the  individuality,  the 
philosophical  principle  of  individuation  has  something  a  little 
too  subjective  about  it  to  appeal  to  the  man  in  the  street.  And 
it  is  to  be  suspected  that  the  physicians  themselves  do  not  suffi- 
ciently take  into  account  (at  all  events  early  in  their  practical 
lives)  the  phenomena  of  personality.  The  reason  why  one  pre- 
fers an  old  physician  to  a  young  man  is  not  that  he  is  likely  to 
know  more  about  the  analysis  of  the  human  body  (indeed,  he 
is  rather  likely  to  be  farther  away  from  analysis  than  his  younger 
colleague),  but  that  he  has  acquired  in  life  the  sympathetic  as- 
pect which  the  medical  school  failed  to  exhibit  to  him. 

A  book  like  Doctor  William  Healy's  "Individual  Delinquent  " 
brings  up  tort  upon  these  matters.  Written  primarily,  doubt- 
less, to  counteract  the  formulation  of  the  churches,  Healy's  book 
is  also  stimulating  to  the  physician  who  is  brought  face  to  face 
with  social  problems  of  the  handling  of  the  individual  which  his 
medical  knowledge  and  analytic  insight  do  not  cope  with.  Seguin 
himself,  or  even  Pinel,  would  doubtless  readily  have  granted  the 
point  just  made.  The  present  day,  however,  offers  advantages 
which  the  days  of  Seguin  did  not  offer. 

Mental  Tests. — In  the  first  place,  we  have  methods  of  testing 
children's  mentality  in  a  systematic  manner.  The  Binet  Tests, 
made  as  they  have  been  the  victims  of  overpraise,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  sweeping  contempt,  on  the  other,  have  beyond  ques- 
tion for  the  first  time  put  a  different  face  on  the  situation,  both 
in  hospitals  for  psychopaths  and  in  schools  and  courts.  The 
Binet  grade  which  the  psychologist  more  or  less  confidently  as- 
signs after  an  hour's  study,  is  something  that  the  commentator 
who  knows  more  about  the  case  than  the  examiner  may  not 
wholly  agree  with.  The  fortunate  thing  for  the  science  of  the 
situation  is  that  the  Binet  grade  is  something  concrete  which 
you  may  at  least  disagree  with.  Meantime,  these  tests,  which 
are  being  perfected  from  year  to  year,  and  applied,  as  by  my  col- 


A  MEDICAL  SYMPOSIUM  701 

league,  Professor  R.  M.  Yerkes,'  in  new  preferable  ways  (with 
new  and  more  modem  forms  of  casting  up  the  results),  are  grow- 
ing in  value,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  mental  tests  can  no  longer 
be  dispensed  with  in  the  best  clinics. 

Blood  Tests. — But  besides  the  educational  point  of  view  which 
has  flowed  from  the  work  of  Seguin,  and  the  mental  tests  which 
have  flowed  from  the  lucid  psychology  of  Binet,  we  have  another 
arm  at  the  present  day.  The  best  authorities  agree  that  any 
adult  with  mental  symptoms  deserves  at  least  a  suspicion  that 
he  may  be  syphilitic.  Accordingly,  the  Wassermann  Test  has 
become  an  indispensable  aid  to  diagnosis  in  psychopathic  hos- 
pitals and  psychiatric  clinics.  Anywhere  from  lo  to  20  per  cent 
of  the  intake  of  such  hospitals  and  clinics  may  well  prove  to  be 
syphilitic;  certainly  an  important  minority  of  cases.  The  data 
as  to  congenital  syphilis  and  the  syphilis  of  children  and  adoles- 
cents are  not  as  yet  so  exactly  statable.  The  fraction  among 
children  and  adolescents  is  doubtless  smaller  than  among  the 
adults,  but  there  is  no  question  that  an  important  field  of  re- 
search lies  in  the  relation  of  syphilis  to  a  certain  number  of  the 
feeble-minded.  Repeatedly  in  our  Massachusetts  experience 
cases  have  been  found  of  congenital  syphilitic  in  whom  the  ordi- 
nary clinical  features  were  entirely  absent. 

Somatic  and  Sociological  Elements. — If  we  can  now  proceed 
to  the  somatic  and  sociological  knowledge  of  cases,  having  the 
advantage  of  a  Wassermann  reaction  (negative  or  positive),  the 
Binet-Simon  mental  grading  (or  some  similar  grading),  and  ac- 
curate, progressive  records  of  educational  accomplishment  by 
the  feeble-minded,  then  we  can  proceed  far  more  confidently  to 
the  bodies  and  brains  of  the  cases  which  die,  with  the  hope  of 
learning  something  of  importance.  I  wish  to  insist,  therefore, 
that  we  are  far  more  able  in  the  year  1916  to  do  important  work 
in  the  brain  anatomy  of  feeble-mindedness  than  we  were  in  the 
days  of  Seguin;  far  more  than  even  in  the  long  years  which 
Bourneville  spent  up)on  the  topic  at  the  Bic^tre.  Indeed,  it  was 
only  a  little  over  ten  years  ago  that  books  like  Alfred  W.  Camp- 
bell's "Histological  Studies  on  the  Localization  of  Brain  Func- 
tion" began  to  appear,  offering  us  the  normal  topography  of 
the  cerebral  cortex  as  a  background  upon  which  to  study  the 

'  The  Yerkes  Point  Scale  uses  Binet  material,  it  is  true,  but  is  otherwise 
based  on  a  dififerent  conception  of  analysis  and  diagnosis. — M.  P.  E.  G. 


702  APPENDIX 

changes  and  deficiencies  in  feeble-mindedness.  It  is  true  that 
the  lamented  Hammerberg  twenty  years  ago  did  pioneer  work 
of  extraordinary  excellence  in  this  field.  And  it  is  a  matter  for 
congratulation  that  the  field  of  feeble-mindedness  should  have 
stimulated  such  important  work  on  normal  cerebral  topography 
from  the  histological  point  of  view  as  is  exhibited  in  the  plates 
of  Hammerberg's  posthumous  work  printed  at  Upsala. 

Brain  Anatomy  in  the  Feeble-Minded. — The  plan  which  Doc- 
tor Walter  E.  Fernald  and  I  have  formulated  with  respect  to  brain 
anatomy  in  the  feeble-minded  is  to  execute  with  every  brain  of 
a  long  series  (twenty-three  have  at  the  present  writing  been  in- 
vestigated) precisely  the  same  technical  devices.  We  think  that 
conclusions  of  importance  will  hardly  be  reached  before  one  hun- 
dred brains  have  been  systematically  examined. '  The  autopsies, 
which  are  not  always  easy  to  secure,  are  systematically  per- 
formed, with  due  attention  to  the  organs  of  the  soma,  including 
the  glands  of  internal  secretion,  and  the  brains,  preserved  in  ap- 
propriate ways,  are  photographed  systematically  so  that  a  per- 
manent record  is  obtained  of  each  marking  on  the  vertex  and 
base,  the  two  flanks,  and  the  two  mesal  surfaces.  The  brains 
are  then  sectioned,  and  again  photographed  in  six  or  eight 
frontal  views,  according  to  the  size  of  the  brain  in  question. 
Histological  preparations  are  made  from  chosen  areas,  preference 
being  had  for  the  moment  to  those  areas  about  which  the  physi- 
ologists know  most.  The  material  is  carefully  preserved  in  such 
wise  that  further  recourse  may  be  had  to  it  as  successive  problems 
may  arise  in  connection  with  the  material.  For  example,  if  in 
a  certain  region  exudate  is  discovered,  indicating  an  active  process 
(perhaps  unsuspected  in  life  or  at  the  autopsy),  then  further 
studies  on  adjacent  material  may  be  stringently  necessary  for  a 
drawing  of  proper  conclusions  as  to  the  congenital  or  acquired 
nature  of  some  of  the  changes  found. 

So  far  we  are  not  particularly  well  able  to  evaluate  the  his- 
tological changes.  The  original  conclusions  of  Hammerberg  as 
to  the  relative  importance  of  the  so-called  contraction  spaces 
due  to  artificial  shrinkage  in  preserving  fluids  and  the  com- 
parative unimportance  of  so-called  distortion  of  cellular  elements 
have  probably  been  justified  by  modern  work.  Except  in  cases 
which  turned  out  to  be  exudative  and  possibly  syphilitic,  we  have 
so  far  come  upon  the  richest  leads  in  connection  with  certain 


A   MEDICAL   SYMPOSIUM  703 

gross  appearances,  such  as  the  relative  complexity  of  the  con- 
volutions, the  relative  sizes  of  the  corpus  callosum  in  different 
cases,  and  the  like. 

Correlation  of  Findings. — What  we  have  tried  to  do  is  to  cor- 
relate, first,  the  educational  capacity  of  the  subject;  second,  the 
psychometric  level  as  indicated  by  the  Binet  or  other  tests;  and, 
third,  the  convolutionary  complexity  of  the  brain.  It  has  proved 
not  impossible  to  arrange  our  comparatively  short  series  of  brains 
in  very  suggestive  order.  It  will  probably  be  going  too  far  to  say 
that  the  simpler  the  brain,  the  lower  the  educational  capacity, 
and  the  lower  the  psychometric  level.  In  the  first  place,  psycho- 
metric level  and  pedagogical  capacity  do  not  always  agree;  but 
if  we  are  able  to  triangulate  these  scholastic  and  special  test  data 
with  the  brain  data,  we  are  enabled  in  certain  instances  to  get  a 
more  intimate  view  of  particular  cases.  It  is  true,  also,  that 
we  have  not  as  yet  been  able  to  examine  enough  of  the  brains  of 
the  feeble-minded  of  the  higher  grade.  This  is  a  lack  which  the 
total  literature  exhibits.  The  only  worker  who  has  put  a  long 
life  largely  at  the  disposal  of  the  brain  anatomy  of  the  feeble- 
minded is  Bourneville,  and  his  collection  is  comparatively  defi- 
cient in  these  high-level  cases. 

We  are  using  as  a  background  to  this  work  the  photographically 
recorded  brains  and  the  preserved  material  of  over  five  hundred 
other  cases  of  insanity,  epilepsy,  criminality,  and  the  like,  even 
including  certain  so-called  normal  brains.  But  of  all  this  mate- 
rial, it  seems  clear  that  the  brain  material  of  feeble-mindedness 
is  the  most  interesting. 

Application  to  the  Normal. — I  do  not  need  to  insist  upon  the 
value  to  the  education  of  the  normal  of  any  correlation,  however 
slight,  that  we  may  be  able  to  make  from  a  comparison  of  brain 
appearances,  educational  capacity,  and  mental  test  level.  One 
has  only  to  think  of  the  extraordinary  interest  of  work  like  that 
of  H.  H.  Donaldson  done  with  the  Laura  Bridgman  brain,  now 
about  twenty-five  years  ago.  What  an  extraordinary  comment 
upon  the  world's  inefficiency  it  is  that,  although  the  brain  is 
certainly  an  important  tool  in  education,  its  study  has  been 
treated  in  a  manner  little  short  of  stepmotherly. 


704  APPENDIX 


LIST  OF   CONTRIBUTORS  TO  THE   MEDICAL 
SYMPOSIUM 

E.  E.  Arnold,  M.D.,  1466  Chapel  Street,  New  Haven,  Conn. 
Director,  New  Haven  Normal  School  of  Gymnastics;  in- 
structor in  orthopedic  surgery,  Yale  Medical  School;  chief 
of  the  Orthopedic  Clinic,  New  Haven  Dispensary;  ortho- 
pedic surgeon.  Griffin  Hospital,  Derby,  Conn.,  etc. 

Wm.  F.  Blake-Burke,  M.D.,  "Watchung  Crest,"  Plainfield,  N.  J. 
Late  school  physician,  "Herbart  Hall";  medical  superin- 
tendent, "Wetumpka,"  Watchung  Crest,  Plainfield. 

John  Adams  Colliver,  A.B.,  M.D.,  412  West  6th  Street,  Los 
Angeles,  Cal.  Specialist  in  children's  diseases;  late  presi- 
dent of  Southern  California  Medical  Society;  late  examin- 
ing physician  to  Los  Angeles  County  Juvenile  Court;  late 
member  of  boards  of  education,  etc. 

C.  Ward  Crampion,  M.D.,  157  East  67th  Street,  New  York. 
Director  of  physical  education,  Department  of  Education, 
New  York  City. 

Frederic  J.  Farnell,  M.D.,  59  Blackstone  Boulevard,  Providence, 
R.  I.  Psychiatrist,  Providence  public  schools;  neuropatho- 
logist, Butler  Hospital  for  the  Insane;  neuroserologist,  State 
Hospital  for  the  Insane;  assistant  neurologist,  Rhode  Island 
General  Hospital,  etc. 

Otio  Glogau,  M.D.,  1320  Madison  Avenue,  New  York.  Assist- 
ant |Otolaryngologist,  Vanderbilt  Clinic,  College  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons,  Columbia  University;  otologist.  Odd 
Fellows  Home,  Tuckahoe,  N.  Y.,  etc. 

Abraham  Jacobi,  M.D.,  19  East  47th  Street,  New  York.  The 
Nestor  of  American  medicine,  specialist  in  children's  dis- 
eases. 

Howard  A.  Knox,  M.D.  Assistant  surgeon,  U.  S.  Public  Health 
Service,  Ellis  Island;  temporarily  detailed  assistant  physi- 
cian to  the  Psychiatric  Institute  of  the  New  York  State 
Hospitals. 

Edward  S.  Krans,  A.B.,  M.D.,  920  Park  Avenue,  Plainfield, 
N.  J.  Attending  physician,  Muhlenberg  Hospital ;  assistant 
director,  Antituberculosis  League  of  Plainfield;  attending 
physician,  Plainfield  Open-Air  School. 


A   MEDICAL   SYMPOSIUM  705 

F.  Park  Lewis,   M.D.,  454   Franklin  Street,   Buffalo,   N.  Y. 

Ophthalmologist  to  the  Buffalo  State  Hospital;  president, 
Board  of  Managers  of  the  State  School  for  the  Blind;  former 
president  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Conservation 
of  Vision,  etc. 
E.  Bosworth  McCready,  M.D.,  Pittsburg,  Pa.  Director,  "Wild- 
wood  Hall,"  Pa.;  pedologist.  South  Side  Hospital  and  Gusky 
Orphanage  and  Home,  Pittsburg. 

D.  C.  Main,  M.D.,  Alfred,  N.  Y.     Specialist  in  nervous  and 

mental  diseases;  member,  National  Association  for  the 
Study  of  Epilepsy,  etc. 

G.  Httdson  Makuen,  M.D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.     Professor  of  de- 

fects of  speech,  Philadelphia  Polyclinic  and  College  for 
Graduates  in  Medicine. 

Ross  Moore,  A.B.,  M.D.,  718  Brockman  Building,  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.  Attending  neurologist  to  Los  Angeles  County  Hos- 
pital; associate  professor  of  neurology  in  Los  Angeles  De- 
partment of  Medicine  of  the  University  of  California,  etc. 

M.  Neustaedter,  M.D.,  Ph.D.,  1215  Park  Avenue,  New  York. 
Lecturer  in  neurology,  New  York  University  and  Bellevue 
Hospital  Medical  College. 

B.  Onuf,  M.D.,  Park  Ridge,  N.  J.  Specialist  in  nervous  and 
mental  diseases;  medical  director,  "The  Oak,"  Park  Ridge, 
N.J. 

A.  Emit  Schmitt,  M.D.,  50  Central  Park  West,  New  York. 
Past  chief  medical  and  sanitary  officer,  Nile  Reservoir 
Works,  Assuan,  Egypt;  past  instructor,  operative  surgery, 
Columbia  University  Medical  College;  past  attending  sur- 
geon, German  Hospital,  O.  P.  D.,  etc. 

E.  E.  Southard,  M.D.,  Boston,  Mass.     Director,  Psychopathic 

Institute;   pathologist,  State  Board  of  Insanity. 

Theodore  Toepel,  M.D.,  Atlanta,  Ga.  Member  of  American 
Association  of  Industrial  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  etc. 

Arthur  W.  Weysse,  A.M.,  M.D.,  Ph.D.,  421  Marlborough  Street, 
Boston,  Mass.  Professor  of  experimental  psychology  and 
lecturer  on  venereal  diseases,  Boston  University;  fellow  of 
the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

Ira  S.  Wile,  M.D.,  230  West  97th  Street,  New  York.  Com- 
missioner of  Education,  New  York  City;  associate  editor 
of  American  Medicine;  lecturer  in  educational  hygiene,  New 


706  APPENDIX 

York  University;  instructor  in  dietetics,  Columbia  Univer- 
sity. 

Tom  A.  Williams,  M.B.,  CM.  (Edinburgh),  1704  N  Street, 
N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C.  Lecturer  in  nervous  and  mental 
diseases,  Howard  University,  Washington,  D.  C;  corre- 
sponding member  Soc.  Neurol,  et  Psychol.,  Paris,  etc.; 
neurologist  to  Freedmen's  and  Epiphany  Hospitals. 

Thomas  D.  Wood,  M.D.,  Columbia  University,  New  York. 
Professor  of  physical  education,  Columbia;  chairman. 
Committee  on  Health  Problems  in  Education  of  the  Na- 
tional Council  of  Education,  etc. 

John  Button  Wright,  M.A.,  i  Mount  Morris  Park,  West,  New 
York.  Founder  and  principal  of  the  Wright  Oral  School 
for  the  Deaf;  director  of  the  American  Association  to  Pro- 
mote the  Teaching  of  Speech  to  the  Deaf;  editor  of  the 
"Department  of  the  Deaf"  in  the  Laryngoscope,  etc. 

Arthur  Zentler,  D.D.S.,  8  West  40th  Street,  New  York.  As- 
sistant surgeon,  Department  of  Oral  Surgery,  New  York 
Nose,  Throat  and  Lung  Hospital  (advanced  courses  for 
practitioners,  Columbia  University);  instructor  in  oral 
surgery,  New  York  Postgraduate  Medical  School,  etc. 


APPENDIX    III 
FIRST  AND   SECOND   YEAR  DATA  OF  P.  E.  G.^ 

First  Year 

DAYS 

lo:  Prefers  light  to  darkness. 

12:  Smiles. 

13:  Follows  movements  with  his  eyes. 

15:  Croons  to  himself. 

17:  Raises  his  head. 

22:  Supports  himself  on  his  elbows,  holding  head  up. 

24:  Pushes  deliberately  against  resistance  (his  mother's  hands) 
with  his  feet.     Follows  voices  with  turn  of  head. 

26:  Turns  all  the  way  around,  lying  on  his  back.  Takes  liquid 
from  spoon. 

36:  Plays  with  his  father,  opening  and  closing  eyes,  as  if  going 
to  sleep,  peeping  through  half-closed  lids,  etc.;  appre- 
ciates the  fun  fully. 

38:  Laughs  aloud;  turning  his  head  away  quickly  as  if  teasing. 

45:  Knows  father,  recognizing  him  immediately. 

46:  Holds  his  hair-brush  tightly,  waving  it  to  and  fro,  as  if  try- 
ing to  use  it. 

57:  In  his  carriage,  he  always  prefers  to  be  wheeled  over  the 
roughest  roads  on  his  mountain  home. 

58:  Minds  his  father's  talk. 

62:  Connects  his  father's  getting  out  of  bed  in  the  morning 
with  his  father's  getting  dressed  and  then  playing  with 
him. 

63 :  Simultaneous  impulse  gives  way  to  indeF>endent  and  alter- 
nate movements.  Purposeful  movements  of  head. 
Imitates  mother's  lullaby  song  to  him,  in  almost  per- 
fect rhythm.     Loves  music. 

J 17:  First  speech  sound,  intelligently  connected  with  function. 

»C/.  pp.  IIS/. 
707 


708  APPENDIX 

DAYS 

121 :  Discovers  that  rattle  turns  on  pivot  between  forked  ends — 
holds  handle  in  one  hand  and  tries  to  turn  rattle  wheel 
with  other.  Never  sticks  playthings  in  his  eye,  never 
hurts  himself  that  way — has  from  the  start  had  perfect 
adjustment.  Always  jolly.  Plays  alone.  Recognizes 
faces  in  mirror. 

132:  Enjoys  Christmas  tree,  catches  at  ornaments  and  holds 
them.     Prefers  colored  things. 

143:  Raises  himself  up  to  a  sitting  position. 

144:  Strikes  keys  on  piano  intelligently,  in  good  imitation  of 
his  elders.     A  perfect  imitator. 

145 :  Tries  to  pick  printed  rose  from  wall-paper.  Holds  his  bottle 
all  alone.  Imitates  sounds;  listens  to  speech  and  un- 
derstands much  of  what  is  said  to  him.  Constantly 
and  purposely  investigates  and  experiments.  Move- 
ments well  co-ordinated. 

156:  Moves  his  arms  in  good-by  greeting. 

159:  FoUows  song  in  perfect  rhythm.     Follows  simple  directions. 

160:  Speaks  the  German  words  ach,  ja. 

166:  Dips  spoon  into  cup. 

178:  Pulls  his  arms  in  and  out  of  garment  in  dressing  and  un- 
dressing. 

179:  Definite  evidence  that  he  never  forgets  what  he  once  has 
done  or  observed. 

181:  To  the  question,  "  Do  you  love  your  father?  "  he  answers: 
"  Ja."     He  understands  both  German  and  English. 

182:  Drinks  from  cup.  Rings  bell.  Swims  around  in  big  bath- 
tub full  of  water. 

199:  Plays  "  hand  over  hand." 

206:  Rises  on  his  feet. 

209:  Being  held  in  arms  of  mother,  he  was  told:  "  Mach'  die 
Thiire  auf!  "  (Open  the  door!)  He  opened  the  door, 
which  was  just  a  trifle  open  so  that  he  could  manage  it 
with  his  hands. 

225:  Plays  many  "make-believe"  plays,  like  pretending  to  drink 
out  of  an  empty  glass,  eating  from  an  empty  plate,  etc. 

229:  In  going  out  with  parents  in  big  carriage,  holds  and  moves 
reins  as  if  driving. 

231:  Distinctly  free  wrist  movements. 


p.  E.  G.'S  RECORD  709 

DAYS 

235:  Wipes  his  face  dean  with  handkerchief. 

249:  Has  six  teeth. 

263:  Finds  things  hidden  under  cloth,  or  in  comer.  Throws 
things. 

272:  Follows  the  command,  "  Hands  down,"  in  gymnastic  play. 

275:  Plays  with  his  image  in  mirror,  recognizing  "  baby." 

276:  Feeds  himself  with  spoon. 

277:  Pulls  chain  to  turn  electric  light  on  and  off.  Folds  his 
hands.     Stands  up  supporting  himself. 

301 :  Sitting  in  his  high-chair,  from  which  he  has  been  dropping 
plates,  cups,  spoons,  etc.,  when  through  with  his  meal, 
for  days,  he  discovers,  while  dangling  his  enamel-ware 
platter  over  the  edge  of  his  "  table  "  ready  to  drop  it, 
that  it  would  make  a  noise  in  hitting  against  the  chair. 
Immediately  he  looks,  tries  it  again,  and  again,  and  after 
this  amuses  himself  in  making  the  noise  with  other 
things  instead  of  dropping  them.  This  is  an  example 
of  his  observation  and  experimenting. 

312:  Is  mostly  constructive  in  all  his  play;  rarely  breaks  or  de- 
stroys a  thing.  Shows  good  association  of  ideas  and 
skiU  in  play.  Fond  of  driving,  holding  and  using  reins 
and  whip.  Has  ridden  on  horse,  dog,  calf,  and  is  fearless. 

317:  Pulls  his  shirt  over  his  head.  Throws  ball  back  to  play- 
mate with  both  hands.  Misses  his  father,  who  has  gone 
on  a  long  trip,  holding  out  his  arms  for  him  to  come 
back.     Knows  his  father's  picture. 

333:  Stood  up  alone  in  moving  carriage,  holding  on  to  dash- 
board. Plays  with  dog,  enjoying  a  game  of  teasing  and 
fooling  him. 

361:  Says  "ank  00"  (thank  you). 

364:  Pours  water  from  bottle  into  cup  and  drinks. 

Second  Year 

On  tenth  day  he  took  his  first  walking  step.  He  had  been 
quite  heavy,  so  that  early  walking  had  been  discouraged.  At 
fourteen  and  a  half  months  he  began  really  to  walk.  A  month 
later  he  marched  to  the  sound  of  a  drum,  "  right,  left."  Built 
with  large  hollow  cubes  (nest),  also  balancing  himself,  stepping 
from  one  to  the  other. 


710  APPENDIX 

His  vocabulary  at  one  year,  four  months:  Mamma,  my  mam- 
ma, papa,  dada,  gaga  (all  three  meaning  his  father) ;  Hei  (name 
of  his  brother  Heinz),  Oward  (Howard),  Doctor,  moo-cow  (mean- 
ing also  horses),  kittie,  chickie,  quackquack  (duck),  doggie, 
wawa  (water),  baba,  bebe  (baby),  byebye,  nein  (German  for  no), 
ja  (yes),  ach,  ticktick  (watch),  hot,  left-right  (indistinct), 
c(r)ackers,  a(ll)  right,  (th)ank  (y)ou,  Robert,  ah-ah  (for  water 
and  other  things),  ta-ta  (also  meaning  thank  you,  water,  etc.). 

Enjoys  his  second  Christmas  wonderfully.     Loves  his  tree. 

At  seventeen  and  a  half  months  he  plays  in  sand-heap  with 
shovel  and  bucket.  Walks  up  the  greater  part  of  hill  (four  hun- 
dred feet  ascent).  Is  most  interested  in  living  things,  especially 
moo-cows,  by  which  he  means  mostly  horses,  cows,  and  other 
four-footed  animals,  except  dogs  and  cats.  He  understands 
practically  everything,  does  little  errands,  bringing  things,  etc. 

At  nineteen  and  a  half  months  he  picks  his  first  leaf.  From 
now  on  much  interested  in  flowers,  and  other  growing  things, 
picking  them,  bringing  them  home,  insisting  on  having  them  put 
in  water,  etc. 

He  will  always  choose  rocky  and  steep  paths,  looking  for  diffi- 
culties to  be  overcome  rather  than  shirking  them. 

When  twenty  months  old  he  discovers  that  a  family  at  foot 
of  hill  has  a  pony.  He  makes  daily  pilgrimages  down  the  hill 
to  see  and  admire  the  animal  until  it  is  bought  for  him.  He  loves 
his  pony  and  has  the  absolute  sense  of  proprietorship.  On  his 
first  ride  in  pony-cart,  pony  first  runs  away.  He  is  not  fright- 
ened, but  ready  to  get  back  into  the  cart  as  soon  as  animal  is 
under  control. 

When  a  little  over  twenty-one  months  old  he  has  his  first 
automobile  ride.  From  now  on  he  is  passionately  fond  of 
machines. 

At  twenty-two  months  he  is  a  wild,  happy  boy,  full  of  play 
and  tricks  and  sunshine.  Always  active,  always  in  the  open, 
loves  the  cold  better  than  warm  weather  or  warm  clothing. 

At  two  years  his  vocabulary  is  about  as  follows: 

Mamma;  papa;  Pat;  C(l)ara;  shep  (chef);  Teddy  (his  pony); 
Paul  (his  own  name);  Max;  Deewee  (name  given" him  by  big 
brother) ;  Mishi  (Mr.  Murphy) ;  Brownie  (name  of  his  dog) ;  God; 
George;  Doctor;  Princess  (name  of  another  dog);  John;  Howard; 
New  Lork  (New  York — for  another  year,  he  substituted  "1"  for 


p.  E.  G.'S  RECORD  711 

consonantal  "y");  dada;  mother;  gaga;  boy;  man;  girl;  bebe; 
sport;  tent;  towel;  rabbit;  basket;  horse;  party;  flag;  ball;  car; 
train;  house;  home;  peach;  feet;  hands;  pin;  headache;  wagon; 
cracker;  bread;  toast;  stars;  birthday;  cake;  hammick  (ham- 
mock); piece;  tea;  duck;  fish;  piano;  music;  toothpick;  cotton; 
soup;  butterbread;  heart;  quackquack;  milk;  ice-c(r)eam;  egg; 
penny;  money;  shoes;  stockings;  powder;  hair;  bucket;  morn- 
ing; lady;  stick;  chocolate;  cigar;  Hosen  (trousers);  potato  belly; 
Kartoffelbauch;  camp;  bed;  boat;  Madchen  (girl);  moon;  stairs; 
water;  eyes;  nose;  mouth;  berries;  schwarze  Beeren  (blackberries) ; 
choochoo  car;  spoon;  cup;  bottle;  night;  bird;  chickie;  moo- 
cow;  bad;  good;  happy;  hungry;  hot;  cold;  wet;  dear;  heavy; 
clean;  dirty;  still;  fine;  pretty;  grand;  more;  mehr  (more); 
enough;  nass  (wet);  wet;  open;  big;  little;  two;  bad  man;  bad 
boy;  bad  girl;  Beebee  hungry;  hello;  hurry;  stay  here;  mamma's 
tent;  my  towel;  way  down;  cease;  hurrah;  nein  (no);  no;  ja 
(yes);  yes;  down  there;  bang;  Papa's  Junge  (papa's  boy);  hoah; 
feet  down;  mamma  sleep  in  there;  I  love  lou;  dear  mamma,  head- 
ache; other  wagon  heavy;  look;  tanzen  (dance);  dance;  clean 
hand;  dirty  hand;  Baby  did  it  down  there;  ouch;  more  cotton; 
now;  bad  dog,  go  home;  come  Brownie;  go  on,  papa;  keep  still; 
stop  it;  I  will  go  now;  no  more;  another  piece;  sleep  fine;  dear 
heart;  eat;  drink;  now  I  go;  byebye;  good  morning;  poor  lady 
sick;  fly;  hit;  stop  it;  write  it  down;  moon  is  gone;  look  at  that; 
big  bed;  down-stairs;  up-stairs;  lie  down;  two  eyes;  get  up;  like; 
all  gone;  doggone;  over  there;  move  over;  I  don't  like  — ;  how 
do?  (how  do  you  do?). 

A  little  later,  there  were  these  enrichments  of  his  expressions: 
Climbed  tree  (after  doing  so) ;  monkey  in  the  tree  (meaning  him- 
self); Papa,  help  me;  Baby,  that's  me;  one  papa;  Papa,  get  up; 
ganz  nass  over  there  (all  wet  over  there);  two  pins;  two  mans; 
papa's  paper;  water  going  down;  baby's  romper;  Open  (door)  for 
papa;  Baby  (will)  pick  them  up;  pretty  moo-cow;  Baby's  book. 


APPENDIX   IV 

SPECIMENS  OF  REPORTS  ON   CHILDREN 
EXAMINED^ 

For  a  specimen  report  on  an  exceptionally  height  childi  cf. 
Appendix  III. 

The  following  report  on  a  boy  of  14  was  given  to  the  principal 
of  his  school  where  he  had  been  in  the  same  primary  grade  for 
five  years. 

Case  94. — ^This  boy  has  a  most  decided  handicap  in  his  greatly  im- 
paired vision,  which  the  glasses  he  wears  do  not  really  correct.  In 
addition,  he  is  deaf  fin  his  left  ear  and  the  hearing  in  his  right  ear  is 
diminished.  These  two  defects  alone  help  to  explain  his  failure  in  the 
ordinary  school,  where  no  attention  can  be  paid  to  them.  Whether  the 
shortness  of  his  visual  and  auditory  memory  and  his  practical  illiteracy 
are  due  only  to  these  two  defects,  or  also  to  the  fracture  at  the  base  of 
skull  and  the  consequent  inflammation  of  brain  which  he  suffered 
when  a  child  of  two  or  three  years,  is  doubtful.  Of  course  there  is  a 
chance  of  a  brain  lesion  having  occurred  at  that  time. 

He  is  certainly  very  backward  in  everything  that  refers  to  the  use  of 
words.  His  spelling  is  wretched  owing  to  his  lack  of  phonetic  concept. 
His  visual  imagination  is  poor.  A  picture-story  means  little  to  him. 
While  he  can  count,  he  cannot  construct  numbers  on  the  abacus.  In 
contrast  to  this  is  his  quickness  in  identifying  and  adding  figures  with 
dice. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  everything  that  implies  action  he  responds  well 
and  shows  good  retention.  He  can  carry  out  nine  directions  given 
simultaneously  without  a  single  break.  Out  of  school  his  life  is  full  of 
dramatic  interest  and  active  work.  He  has  made  his  father's  bam  into 
a  club-house  where  he  inspires  his  companions  to  play  cowboys  and  In- 
dians, where  they  have  a  moving-picture  machine,  etc.  He  helps  his 
mother  and  does  all  kinds  of  work  around  the  house.  To  have  been  kept 
in  the  same  primary  grade  (third)  for  five  years  without  proper  attention 
to  his  special  defects  must  have  killed  all  his  interest  in  school  work. 

1  Cf.  p.  367. 
712 


REPORTS   ON   CHILDREN   EXAMINED        713 

He  had  no  incentive.  His  interests  therefore  centred  on  the  out-o£- 
school  occupations  where  his  energies  had  some  outlet.  Neither  his 
teachers  nor  his  parents  seem  to  have  known  the  real  boy  well  enough 
to  appreciate  his  needs. 

It  is  plain  that  this  boy  needed  first  of  all  proper  medical  atten- 
tion. The  next  step  should  be  to  take  him  out  of  his  class  and 
place  him  in  an  educational  environment  where  his  faculties 
may  be  sounded,  and  where  he  may  develop  his  abilities  in  a 
normal  and  organized  manner.  A  special  class  of  the  right  kind 
may  answer  the  purpose;  but  a  removal  into  an  entirely  different 
regime,  such  as  a  laboratory  school  on  the  order  of  "  Herbart 
Hall  "  can  provide,  would  be  far  better,  also  because  it  would 
counteract  the  vitiating  effect  of  the  stigma  which  is  now  at- 
tached to  him  in  his  present  environment,  and  because  his  par- 
ents have  apparently  not  the  slightest  idea  of  what  their  boy 
really  is.  He  has  much  in  him  to  make  eventually  a  useful  and 
prosperous  citizen. 

The  following  are  a  few  examples  taken  from  a  series  of  rapid 
examinations  made  on  pupils  of  a  New  Jersey  township  which  is 
exceptionally  well  situated.  These  children  are  all  from  the 
poorer  classes  of  that  township. 

Case  95. — F.  G.,  boy,  7^  years  old.  Boy  has  no  home,  is  boardings 
and  has  no  regular  home  influences  at  all.  Report  is  that  he  is  nervous; 
perspires  freely;  suffers  from  biliousness  and  headaches;  has  had  inflam- 
mation of  bowels  and  much  bronchial  trouble.  Disobedient,  but  very 
unhappy  when  punished.  Pupil  of  first  grade  with  an  excellent  record 
in  art,  manual  work,  writing  and  story-telling,  but  backward  in  reading 
and  number. 

Clinical  Findings. — Diminished  vision  in  right  eye;  apt  to  confuse 
color  names,  either  because  he  is  color-blind,  or  because  he  has  no  confi- 
dence in  his  own  judgment.  Visual  and  aural  memory  very  defective. 
The  same  lack  of  memory-power  is  shown  in  his  attempts  to  follow  a 
series  of  simultaneous  directions. 

Immature  in  understanding  of  language  elements,  but  in  contradic- 
tion to  the  school  report  is  found  to  read  rather  well  and  understandingly 
from  the  primer,  with  excellent  expression.  Can  also  tell  stories  from 
pictures  very  nicely.  In  number-work  he  is  slightly  behind  his  age,  but 
exhibits  fair  ability  to  learn.  He  surprised  most  particularly  in  his  ra- 
tional and  prompt  solution  of  the  form-board  problem,  and  by  his  han- 
dling of  the  picture-arrangement  test,  which  he  would  have  \mdoubtedly 


714  APPENDIX 

solved  completely  had  it  not  been  for  his  lack  of  confidence  in  his  own 
judgment  {cf.  naming  of  colors).  He  showed  fair  idea  of  construction, 
and  drew  crudely  but  naturalistically,  in  perspective,  and  with  much 
detail  and  action.     He  carries  an  air  well. 

The  boy  is  slightly  retarded,  of  a  constructive  and  artistic  type,  and 
perfectly  able  to  get  along  in  school  if  he  is  given  training  commensurate 
to  his  needs.  He  needs  loving  care  and  home  life,  eventually  in  a  good 
institution.     His  bodily  condition  requires  medical  attention. 

Case  96. — A.  W.,  girl,  10  years  old.  One  of  twelve  children,  burdened 
with  bad  heredity  and  handicapped  by  filthy  home  conditions.  Has  had 
rheumatism  in  knee,  and  is  suffering  from  constant  headaches.  Still 
in  second  grade,  with  very  poor  progress,  although  she  is  good  and 
obedient.     Does  well  in  manual  work. 

Clinical  Findings. — Tactile  sense  practically  undeveloped.  Has  ade- 
noids and  enlarged  tonsils.  Her  teeth  are  neglected.  She  has  a  dis- 
tinct speech  defect. 

Her  visual  and  auditory  senses  are  normal,  but  her  memory  is  very 
weak.  While  she  has  some  power  of  primitive  association,  her  general 
intelligence  is  very  low.  She  has  a  good  idea  of  form,  but  no  idea  of 
construction.  Purely  mechanical  in  execution  of  manual  tasks.  Her 
drawing  is  crude,  primitive,  and  helpless.  The  only  spark  of  real  intelli- 
gence was  shown  in  her  correct  arrangement  of  the  picture  test,  which 
would  evidence  a  certain  amount  of  cunning,  at  least. 

Owing  to  her  defective  intelligence  and  adverse  home  conditions,  it 
would  seem  best  to  place  her  under  custodial  care,  especially  as  there  is 
moral  danger  ahead  of  her.     Medical  attention  may  bring  some  relief. 

Following  are  a  few  cases  of  brothers  and  sisters  which  illus- 
trate the  influences  of  heredity  and  home  environment  even 
more  strikingly: 

Cases  97  and  98. — D.  B.,  girl,  13  years  old,  and  W.  B.,  her  brother, 
xiyi  years  old.  Poor  and  neglected  home  conditions,  with  many  adverse 
influences. 

D.  is  the  oldest  of  six  children.  In  spite  of  the  dirtiness  of  her  home, 
she  keeps  herself  clean,  in  contrast  to  her  filthy-looking  brothers,  of 
whom  only  one  was  examined.  She  is  emotional,  does  not  seem  strong, 
and  the  condition  of  her  blood  is  not  good.  She  suffers  from  sick-head- 
aches, ill-healing  wounds,  menstrual  troubles,  and  enlarged  tonsils. 
She  is  still  in  the  third  grade,  and  her  school  progress  is  reported  as  un- 
satisfactory. 

Clinical  Findings. — Her  visual  and  auditory  memory  very  limited; 
she  cannot  retain  units  in  her  mind  sufficiently  securely  to  organize  them. 
Willing  enough,  but  hesitating  and  distrusting  herself  in  all  she  does. 


REPORTS   ON   CHILDREN  EXAMINED        715 

Command  of  oral  language  good;  shows  some  reasoning  power.  In 
fact,  her  quickness  in  sizing  up  a  situation  and  in  doing  some  other  judg- 
ment tests  was  surprising  as  compared  with  some  of  her  failures.  She 
is  well  capable  of  following  a  long  list  of  simultaneous  directions,  and 
when  given  time  and  some  suggestions  to  start  her,  is  able  to  solve  some 
of  her  practical  problems  satisfactorily. 

If  she  could  be  given  the  opportunity  of  healthful  environment  and 
training,  she  would  have  a  fair  chance  of  redeeming  herself.  Institutional 
care  (not  custodial)  would  be  best  for  her  under  the  circumstances. 
Since  she  is  the  oldest  child,  she  is  kept  home  from  school  the  greater  part 
of  the  time,  and  when  she  does  attend,  she  is  kept  busy  out  of  school 
hours,  helping  with  the  household  and  the  other  children,  thus  being  de- 
prived of  time  for  rest  and  healthful  play,  and  of  the  opportunity  of 
concentrating  on  her  educational  needs.  She  also  requires  medical 
attention. 

W.,  her  brother,  is  in  the  same  grade  ( ! ),  and  the  work  he  does  is 
generally  poor,  except  in  number,  writing,  and  manual  work. 

Clinical  Findings. — Health  fair,  nutrition  poor.  Enlarged  tonsils. 
In  height  and  weight  he  is  more  like  a  boy  of  13.  Left-handed.  Sus- 
picion of  astigmatism  which,  if  present,  may  account  for  his  difficulty 
in  spelling  and  reading.  Visual  and  auditory  memory  unreliable  in 
matter  of  order,  memory  span  short.  Of  the  primary  word-pictiu-e,  he 
recalled  all  of  the  thirty-one  images;  of  the  elementary  one,  only  sixteen 
out  of  twenty-eight.  This  is,  however,  a  fair  showing  as  compared  with 
his  memory  for  detached  units.  His  train  of  ideas  is  logical,  and  he 
gives  sufficient  evidence  of  rational  thought  in  many  ways.  He  under- 
stands a  situation,  and  has  good  ideas  of  form  and  construction.  Prompt 
and  eager  in  response.  Difficulties  discourage  him  easily,  but  he  is 
ready  to  try  when  encouraged.  Of  an  active  and  inventive  type,  hav- 
ing some  ability  in  drawing,  with  an  interesting  method  of  his  own. 

Needs  encouragement  and  special  attention,  possibly  first  in  a  special 
class,  better  in  a  special  school  (home  school).  He  has  sufficient  intel- 
lectual and  constructive  stamina  to  become  an  intelligent  and  useful 
member  of  society  if  the  effect  of  his  home  conditions  can  be  overcome. 

Cases  99  and  100. — R.  B.,  girl,  13  years  old,  and  T.  B.,  boy,  her  brother, 
10^  years  old. 

R.  B.  \s>  the  oldest  of  six  children,  of  whom  five  are  living.  Home 
conditions  very  poor  and  filthy,  and  she  is  neglected  in  body  and  dress. 
No  diseases  reported.     Second-grade  pupil. 

Clinical  Findings. — Looks  frail  and  poorly  nourished,  with  dark  circles 
vmder  her  eyes.     Undersized.     Teeth  very  poor. 

While  her  vision  and  hearing  seem  normal,  there  is  doubt  as  to  her 
ability  to  hear  articulate  sound  accurately.  Visual  and  auditory  memory 
weak;  can  retain  more  units  by  sight  than  by  hearing.     Power  of  asso- 


716  APPENDIX 

ciation  fair.  Reading  and  spelling  bad;  has  no  conception  of  phonics. 
Oral  expression  disconnected  and  vague. 

On  the  other  hand,  she  shows  that  she  understands  well  what  she  reads, 
and  gave  most  surprising  evidence  of  good  reasoning  ability,  of  the  power 
of  quick  judgment,  and  of  almost  immediate  perspective  of  a  situation 
(in  the  picture-arrangement  test).  Prompt  and  eager  in  her  response, 
and  apparently  perfectly  capable  of  learning.  Has  a  good  mathematical 
mind,  and  seems  to  be  naturally  active  and  progressive. 

She  needs  first  of  all  removal  from  her  unhygienic  home  and  an  op- 
portunity to  live  a  healthy  life.  A  parental  school  will  do  great  things 
for  her,  but  she  will  also  do  well  in  a  special  class  if  she  can  be  taken  care 
of  away  from  her  home. 

T.  B.,  her  younger  brother,  is  the  product  of  the  same  unfortunate 
home  conditions,  of  course.  Has  been  subject  to  many  diseases,  includ- 
ing stomach  troubles,  rhevmiatism,  and  convulsions.  His  left  eyelid 
droops,  and  vision  is  weaker  in  left  than  in  right  eye.  Diminished  hear- 
ing in  right  ear.  Suffers  from  chills  and  fever,  and  acts  as  if  he  were  out 
of  his  mind  when  thus  affected.  Conduct  is  good.  In  second  grade, 
like  his  sister,  and  school  progress  slow. 

Clinical  Findings. — His  physical  condition  alone  would  be  a  sufficient 
cause  of  his  mental  torpidity.  His  memory  is  weak,  and  he  is  very 
immature  and  helpless  in  oral  expression.  His  enunciation  is  faulty, 
either  from  imitation  of  poor  language,  or  from  lack  of  accurate  concep- 
tion.    Number  concept  underdeveloped. 

On  the  other  hand,  like  his  sister,  he  showed  some  good  judgment  and 
the  ability  to  approach  problems  of  situations  with  a  rational  process, 
so  that  he  cannot  be  considered  mentally  defective  in  the  full  sense  of 
that  term.  He  exhibited  interesting  constructive  ability  and  originality 
in  building.     His  drawing  is  primitive. 

He  is  certainly  very  backward  for  his  age,  and  needs  special  training 
badly,  preferably  in  a  parental  school  or  similar  institution.  It  would 
seem,  however,  that  attention  to  his  bodily  needs,  removal  from  his  bad 
home  environment,  and  special  training  will  develop  his  latent  faculties 
as  in  the  case  of  his  sister. 

Cases  loi  and  102. — J.  U.,  boy,  about  13  years  old,  and  R.  U.,  his 
brother,  nearly  11  years  old.  Both  are  the  products  of  a  very  unfor- 
tunate heredity  and  home  environment,  with  immorality,  filth,  and 
neglect. 

J.  U.  is  in  the  fourth  grade,  and  does  excellent  work  in  number,  being 
"fair"  to  "poor"  in  everything  else,  except  manual  work,  which  he  does 
well. 

Clinical  Findings. — ^Undersized  and  underweight;  nutrition  poor. 
Vision  so  defective  that  he  cannot  see  clearly.  Left  ear  slightly  affected, 
and  he  has  a  general  difficulty  in  catching  articulate  speech.     Does  not 


REPORTS   ON    CHILDREN    EXAMINED        717 

locate  sound  well  with  his  left  ear.  Teeth  very  defective.  His  speech 
is  much  afifected  by  these  conditions.  Tactile  sense  underdeveloped. 
Visual  memory  slightly  better  than  auditory  memory,  sufl&ciently  so  to 
make  him  more  dependent  upon  his  vision  than  upon  his  hearing.  But, 
as  vision  is  defective,  his  "  eye-mindedness "  is  rather  a  drawback. 

Language  expression  poor.  But  he  understands  directions  and  the 
content  of  stories.  He  showed  surprising  ability  in  the  completion  test 
and  in  the  logical  categories.  His  mathematical  conception  is  good, 
but  he  does  not  readily  grasp  a  situation.  Good  idea  of  form,  but  very 
inaccurate  in  construction.  In  drawing,  he  is  crude  but  has  the  idea  of 
perspective  and  action. 

If  this  boy,  with  his  gifts  and  defects,  cannot  be  removed  from  his 
home  environment  and  placed  imder  institutional  care  of  the  right  kind, 
he  will  probably  grow  up  to  be  a  menace  to  society.  His  physical  defects 
need  medical  attention. 

R.  U.  is  still  in  the  second  grade  and  his  school  progress  is  poor  all 
around. 

Clinical  Findings. — He  is  imdemourished  and  neglected.  Teeth  need 
attention  badly  and  he  has  a  speech  defect  similar,  it  is  reported,  to  his 
mother's.  Visual  and  auditory  memory  weak.  Vision  in  right  eye 
suffers  from  rapid  fatigue;  this  eye  seems  also  to  have  a  restricted  field 
of  vision.     Hearing  in  left  ear  diminished. 

Almost  illiterate  and  his  idea  of  number  is  limited,  although  it  would 
seem  that  here  he  is  teachable.  Good  idea  of  form,  but  little  concepn 
tion  of  construction.  His  graphic  expression  is  interesting  as  he  is  plainly 
in  the  "picture-writing"  stage.  Language  undeveloped  and  judgment 
distinctly  primitive. 

The  condition  of  this  boy  is  most  regrettable,  and  no  school  instruction 
will  be  of  much  help  to  him  unless  he  is  removed  from  his  home  environ- 
ment and  his  physical  handicaps  are  attended  to.  He  seems  teachable 
to  some  extent,  but  little  definite  can  be  stated  under  present  circum- 
stances.    Must  have  institutional  care. 

A  few  characteristic  cases  from  other  places  may  be  added. 
Only  such  are  selected  as  show  possibilities  in  spite  of  apparent 
school  failure. 

C«8e  103. — J.  E.  G.,  boy,  7  years  old.  Reported  as  being  in  Grade  iB, 
making  no  progress  in  school  at  all,  owing  to  sleepiness  and  total  incapa- 
bility. He  never  had  any  schooling  before  fall  the  previous  year,  having 
been  in  his  class  just  that  one  term.  His  home  conditions  seem  to  be 
fair.  No  diseases  are  reported  except  that  the  teacher  finds  he  is  con- 
tinually leaving  the  room,  so  that  she  suspects  bladder  trouble.  His 
teeth  need  attention. 


718  APPENDIX 

Clinical  Findings. — Sense  reactions  normal,  but  memory  span  is  short. 
His  train  of  ideas  is  meagre  and  wandering,  although  his  vocabulary  is 
fairly  good.  He  cannot  read,  write,  or  draw.  He  has,  however,  a  good 
idea  of  form  and  quite  some  original  conception  of  construction.  His 
conception  of  number  does  not  go  beyond  three  or  four  (just  as  his  mem- 
ory span  is  confined  to  three  or  four  units).  On  the  other  hand,  he  has, 
owing  to  his  good  idea  of  form,  a  fine  conception  of  comparative  lengths. 
The  most  surprising  feature  of  the  mental  life  of  this  child  is  that  in  the 
tests  of  performance  and  judgment  he  shows  an  intelligence  beyond  his 
years.     He  has  a  fine  sense  of  language  and  of  sentence  construction. 

There  is  no  question  that  this  interesting  boy  is  full  of  capabilities 
which  must  be  brought  out  by  encouragement  and  special  training.  His 
response  is  slow  and  halting,  but  when  once  started  he  surprises  the 
examiner  by  the  good  work  he  can  do.  His  greatest  obstacle  is  his 
timidity  and  diffidence.  He  seems  afraid  of  doing  anything.  He  will 
not  move  from  one  place  to  another  upon  a  simple  direction,  but  has  to 
be  led  by  hand  or  be  encouraged  by  another  person  going  with  him. 
This  gives  the  impression  of  a  psychopathic  condition  which  suggests 
an  early  examination  by  a  specialist.  There  seem  to  be  in  his  mind  some 
dominant  ideas  which  check  the  natural  flow  of  his  impulses.  When 
once  he  is  liberated  from  these  checks  he  will  undoubtedly  develop  con- 
siderable mental  power. 

Case  104. — B.  C,  boy,  11  years  old.  Reported  for  being  deficient  in 
all  school  subjects  except  geography.  Presents  a  nervous  lack  of  atten- 
tion and  a  tendency  to  talk  nonsense  incessantly.  From  his  history  it 
would  seem  that  there  is  some  defect  on  the  mother's  side;  she  cannot 
talk  correctly,  but  the  report  gives  no  reason  for  this  condition.  He  is 
suffering  from  a  chronic  inflammation  around  the  left  eye,  and  suffers 
from  chronic  catarrh. 

Clinical  Findings. — Vision  unimpaired.  The  tendency  to  talk  non- 
sense was  not  observed  during  the  examination.  Very  backward  in 
written  language  and  also  in  reading.  Yet  he  has  certainly  a  very  good 
command  of  oral  language  and  shows  logical  thought  in  many  ways. 
In  rational  application  he  is  distinctly  normal.  He  has  a  good  memory 
for  mental  images  and  for  simultaneous  directions.  This  would  indi- 
cate that  he  would  develop  good  attention  and  concentration  if  his  in- 
terest can  be  aroused.  His  train  of  ideas  is  natural  and  normal.  Has 
a  good  idea  of  number  and  a  fair  conception  of  construction. 

His  school  work  has  not  touched  him,  apparently;  but  he  has  cer- 
tainly possibilities  which  can  be  developed  by  proper  educational  methods 
even  without  "special"  class  work. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

OF  SOME  OF  THE  BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  AND  ARTICLES  CONSULTED 
IN  THE  PREPARATION  OF  THIS  BOOK,  OR^  SUGGESTED  FOR 
COLLATERAL  READING 

I.    CLASSIFICATION 

Bronner,  Augusta  F. — "What  Do  Psychiatrists  Mean?"     The 

Journal   of  Nervous   and  Mental  Diseases,  July,   1916, 

Boston. 
Groszmann,  Waldemar  Heinrich. — "The  Position  of  the  Atypical 

Child."     The  Journal  of  Nervous  and  Mental  Diseases, 

July,  1906. 
Holmes,  Arthur,  Ph.D. — "Classification  of  Clinic  Cases."     The 

Psychological  Clinic,  April  15,  1911. 
Kohs,   Samuel   C. — "The  Borderlines  of  Mental  Deficiency." 

Faribault,   Minn.,  Journal  of  Psycho- Asthenics,   March 

and  June,  1916. 

II.    SYSTEMS  OF  TESTS 

"Applying  the  Binet-Simon  Test  to  Blind  Children."  Vine- 
land,  N.  J.,  The  Training  School  Bulletin,  October,  1916. 

Binet,  Alfred,  and  Simon,  Th. — "A  Method  of  Measuring  the 
Development  of  the  Intelligence  of  Young  Children." 
Authorized  translation  by  Clara  Harrison  Town,  Ph.D. 
Chicago  Medical  Book  Co.,  1913. 

"Recommendations  on  the  Binet."    New  York,  Ungraded, 

June,  191 5. 

Bruckner,  Leo,  and  King,  Irving. — "A  Study  of  the  Femald 
Formboard."  The  Psychological  Clinic,  February  15, 
1916. 

Campbell,  Mary  R. — "Suggestions  and  Methods  for  Making  a 
Preliminary   Survey   of   Public   Schools."     Proceedings, 
National  Education  Association,  19 14. 
719 


720  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Chassell,  Laura  M. — "Tests  for  Originality."  The  Journal  of 
Educational  Psychology,  June,  1916. 

Clark,  Taliaferro,  M.D. — "Mental  Examinations  of  School 
Chiltiren."  Public  Health  Reports,  August  25,  1916, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Dearborn,  W.  F.,  Anderson,  J.  E.,  and  Christiansen,  A.  O. — "Form 
Board  and  Construction  Tests  of  Mental  Ability."  The 
Journal  of  .Educational  Psychology,  October,  1916. 

Doll,  E.  A. — "Form  Board  Speed  as  Diagnostic  Age  Tests." 
Journal  of  Psycho- Asthenics,  March  and  June,  1916. 

Ellis,  Frederick  W. — "'Mental  Age'  and  'Physiological  Age'  in 
Interpreting  the  Binet  and  Simon  Age  Scale."  New 
York,  Ungraded,  June,  1915. 

Report  of  the  New  York  Neurological  Institute,  1913. 

FerncUd,  Walter  E.,  M.D. — "The  Diagnosis  of  the  Higher  Grades 
of  Mental  Defect."  Baltimore,  American  Journal  of  In- 
sanity, January,  1914,  The  Johns  Hopkins  Press. 

Groszmann,  Maximilian  P.  E. — "The  Study  of  Individual 
Children."  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  National  Association 
for  the  Study  and  Education  of  Exceptional  Children, 
1912. 

Hamilton,  Allan  McLane. — "Mental  and  Physical  Tests  for 
Boys."    New  York  Times  Magazine,  March  19,  1916. 

Hinckley,  Alice  C. — "The  Binet  Tests  Applied  to  Individuals 
over  Twelve  Years  of  Age."  Baltimore,  The  Journal  of 
Educational  Psychology,  January,  191 5. 

Huey,  Edmund  Burke,  Ph.D. — "Backward  and  Feebleminded 
Children."     Baltimore,  Warwick  &  York,  191 2. 

Kelley,  Truman  Lee. — "A  Constructive  Ability  Test."  Balti- 
more, The  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  January, 
1916. 

Kelly,  F.  J. — "The  Kansas  Silent  Reading  Tests."  The  Journal 
of  Educational  Psychology,  February,  1916. 

King,  Irving,  and  Gold,  Hugo. — "A  Tentative  Standardization 
of  Certain  '  Opposite  Tests. ' "  The  Journal  of  Educational 
Psychology,  October,  1916. 

Knox,  Howard  A.,  M.D.— "Tests  for  Mental  Defects."  Wash- 
ington, The  Journal  of  Heredity,  March,  1914. 

Kohs,  Samuel  C. — "The  Binet  Scale  and  Borderline  Cases." 
The  Training  School  Bulletin,  October,  1916. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  721 

"Mentality  Tests."  A  symposium.  The  J ournal  oj Educational 
Psychology,  April,  1916,  f.,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Miles,  Walter  R.,  and  Butterworth,  Julian  E. — "A  Tentative 
Standardization  of  a  Completion  Test." 

Pritchard,  Margaret  S. — "Testing  from  a  Psychological  Point 
of  View."     Philadelphia,  The  Teacher,  April,  1915. 

Pyle,  William  Henry,  Ph.D.— "The  Examination  of  School  Chil- 
dren. A  Manual  of  Directions  and  Norms."  New  York, 
The  Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 

Schmitt,  Clara. — "Cooperation  of  Psychologist  and  Physician." 
The  Journal  of  Nervous  and  Mental  Diseases,  July, 
1916. 

Seashore,  Carl  E. — "Elementary  Tests  in  Psychology."  The 
Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  February,  19 16. 

Stern,  William,  Ph.D.— "The  Psychological  Methods  of  Testing 
Intelligence."  Translated  from  the  German  by  G.  M. 
Whipple.     Baltimore,  Warwick  &  York. 

Terman,  Lewis  M.,  Ph.D. — "Review  of  Meumann  Tests  on 
Endowment."  Faribault,  Minn.,  The  Journal  of  Psycho- 
Asthenics,  December,  1914;  March  and  June,  1915. 

and  Knollin,  H.  E. — "Some  Problems  Relating  to  the  De- 
tection of  Borderline  Cases  of  Mental  Deficiency."  The 
Journal  of  Psycho- A  sthenics,  XX,  1-2. 

"The  Stanford  Revision  of  the  Binet-Simon  Intelligence 

Scale."     Baltimore,  Warwick  &  York,  191 7. 

Trabue,  M.  R.,  Ph.D. — "Completion  Test  Language  Scales." 
New  York,  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University, 
1916. 

Wallin,  J.  E.  Wallace. — "Age  Norms  for  Psycho-Motor  Capac- 
ity" (Seguin  Formboard).  The  Journal  of  Educational 
Psychology,  January,  1916.  (Doctor  Wallin  has  also 
written  a  number  of  articles  on  the  Binet  Tests.) 

"Experimental  Studies  of  Mental  Defectives."     Baltimore, 

Warwick  &  York,  Inc. 

Whipple,  Guy  Montrose,  Ph.D. — "Manual  of  Mental  and 
Physical  Tests."     Baltimore,  Warwick  &  York,  1910. 

Yerkes,  Robert  M.,  Ph.D.,  and  Rossy,  Cecilio  S.,  M.A. — "A 
Point  Scale  for  the  Measurement  of  Intelligence  in  Ado- 
lescent and  Adult  Individuals."  The  Boston  Medical  and 
Surgical  Journal,  April  19,  19 17. 


722  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Yerkes,  Robert  M.,  Ph.D.,  Bridges,  James  W.,  and  Hardwick, 
Rose  S. — "A  Point  Scale  for  Measuring  Mental  Ability." 
Baltimore,  Warwick  &  York,  191 5. 

III.     BACKWARD   CHILDREN 

Ayres,  Leonard  P. — "Laggards  in  Our  Schools."  New  York, 
Charities  Publication  Co.,  1909. 

Commons,  Clara. — "A  Normal  Backward  Child  in  the  Public 
School."  Vineland,  N.  J.,  The  Training  School  Bulletin, 
November,  1916. 

Holmes,  Arthur. — "Backward  Children."  Indianapolis,  The 
Bobbs-Merrill  Co.,  1915. 

Morgan,  Barbara  Spofiford. — "The  Backward  Child.  A  Study 
of  the  Psychology  and  Treatment  of  Backwardness." 
New  York,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1914. 

Noll,  Heinrich. — "Formale  und  materiale  Intelligenzdefecte  als 
Hemmungen  im  ersten  Leseunterrichte  und  eine  die- 
sen  Defecten  angepasste  Leselehrmethode."  Langen- 
salza,  Zeitschrift  fUr  Kinder f or schung,  1915. 

Willich,  Ernst. — "Ueber  das  Interesse  eines  schwachbegabten 
Jungen."     Zeitschrift  fur  Kinderforschung,  igi^. 

IV.     PHYSICALLY  DEFECTIVE   CHILDREN 

Blind,  New  Jersey  Commission  for  the.  Report  for  the  year 
1913,  Trenton,  1914. 

Deaf:  Garrett,  Mary  S. — "Directions  to  Parents  of  Deaf  Chil- 
dren." 

"Helps  and   Hindrances  of  Deaf   Children  in  Acquiring 

Speech  and  Language  at  the  Natural  Age."  Philadelphia, 
published  by  the  author. 

Home  for  the  Training  in  Speech  of  Deaf  Children  Before  They 
Are  of  School  Age.  Twelfth  Report,  November,  1914, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Merritt,  Prof.  Fred  D.— "The  Crippled  Children's  Law." 
Eugene,  Ore.,  University  of  Oregon  Bulletin,  June,  1917. 

Otis,  Edward  O.,  M.D.— "The  Physically  Defective."  Pitts- 
burg, The  Journal  of  Sociological  Medicine,  June, 
1917. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  723 

Pintner,  Rudolf,  and  Pater  son,  Donald  G. — "The  Binet  Scale 
and  the  Deaf  Child."  The  Journal  of  Educational  Psy- 
chology, April,  191 5. 

Reik,  Henry  O.,  M.D. — "Safeguarding  the  Special  Senses." 
Philadelphia,  F.  A.  Davis  Co.,  191 2. 

Reports  of  Defective  Children  (Mental  Defectives;  the  Anemic; 
the  Tuberculous;  the  Blind;  the  Deaf  and  Dumb;  the 
Crippled).     Department  of  Education,  City  of  New  York, 

1914/- 
Wright,  John  Dutton.— "What   the  Mother  of  a  Deaf  Child 
Ought  to  Know."     New  York,  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Co. 

V.     PHYSIOLOGICAL   CONDITIONS 

Baldwin,  Professor  Bird  Thomas. — "Physical  Growth  and  School 
Progress."  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  10, 
1914. 

Bancroft,  Jessie  H.— "The  Posture  of  School  Children."  New 
York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 

Crampton,  C.  Ward,  M.D. — "Physiological  Age:  a  Fundamental 
Principle. ' '  A  merican  Physical  Education  Review,  March- 
June,  1908. 

"Anatomical    or    Physiological    vs.    Chronological    Age." 

Pedagogical  Seminary,  June,  1908. 

Donaldson,  Henry  Herbert. — "The  Growth  of  the  Brain."  New 
York,  Chas.  Scribner's  Sons,  1895. 

Rotch,  Thomas  Morgan,  M.D. — "The  Development  of  the  Bones 
in  Early  Life."  Transactions  of  the  Association  of  Ameri- 
can Physicians,  1909. 

"Roentgen  Ray  Methods  Applied  to  the  Grading  of  Early 

Life."     American  Physical  Education  Review,  June,  19 10. 

Stratz,  Dr.  C.  H.— "Der  Korper  des  Kindes."  Stuttgart, 
Ferdinand  Enke,  1903. 

VI.     CHILD   HYGIENE 

Baur,  Dr.med.  Alfred. — "Die  Hygiene  des  kranken  Schulkin- 
des."     Stuttgart,  Ferdinand  Enke,  1903. 

Burgerstein,  Leo,  Ph.D. — "School  Hygiene."  Translated  from 
the  German  by  Beatrice  L.  Stevenson  and  Anna  L.  von 
der  Osten.     New  York,  Fred.  A.  Stokes  Co.,  191 5. 


724  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Dressier,  Fletcher  B.,  Ph.D.— "School  Hygiene."     New  York, 

The  Macmillan  Co.,  19 14. 
Forsyth,    David,    M.D. — "Children   in   Health   and   Disease." 

Philadelphia,  P.  Blakiston's  Sons  &  Co.,  1909. 
Hutchinson,  Woods,  M.D.— "The  Child's  Day."     Health  Series, 

Book  I.     Boston,  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  1912. 
Montessori,  Dr.  Maria. — "Pedagogical  Anthropology."     Trans- 
lated from  the  Italian  by  Frederick  Taber  Cooper,  New 

York,  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Co.,  1913. 
Mueller,  J.  P.— "The  Fresh-Air  Book."     New  York,  Fred.  A. 

Stokes  Co.,  1910. 
Oppenheim,  Nathan,  M.D.— "The  Care  of  the  Child  in  Health." 

New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1904. 
O'Shea,  M.  V.,  and  Kellogg,  J.  H.— "Health  and  Cleanliness." 

New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  191 5. 

"Health  Habits."     Same. 

"Making  the  Most  of  Life."     Same. 

"The  Body  in  Health."     Same. 

Rapeer,  L.  W.,  Ph.D.— "Educational  Hygiene."     Chas.  Scrib- 

ner's  Sons,  New  York,  191 5. 
Rotch,  Thomas  Morgan,  M.D. — "Pediatrics.     The  Hygienic  and 

Medical  Treatment  of  Children."     Philadelphia,  J.  B. 

Lippincott  Co.,  1896. 

VII.     MEDICAL  ASPECTS 

Biedert,  Prof.  Dr.  Ph. — "Lehrbuch  der  Kinderkrankheiten." 
Stuttgart,  Ferdinand  Enke,  1902. 

Blue,  Rupert  (Surgeon-General). — "Report  of  Prevalence  Dur- 
ing 191 5  in  Cities  of  over  100,000,  of  Gonorrhea  and 
Syphilis."  U.  S.  Public  Health  Report,  Reprint  no.  347, 
June  30,  1916. 

Heck,  W.  H.— "The  Health  of  School  Children."  Contributions 
from  American  Medical  Journals.  I.  U.  S.  Bureau  of 
Education,   Bulletin   no.    4,  1915;    II.  Bulletin  no.  50, 

1915- 
Hoag,  Ernest  Bryant,  M.D.— "The  Health  Index  of  Children." 

San  Francisco,  Whitaker  &  Ray-Wiggin  Co.,  1910. 
Jacohi,  A.,  M.D. — "Therapeutics  of  Infancy  and  Childhood." 

Philadelphia,  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  1903. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  725 

Jacoby,  George  W.,  M.D. — "Child  Training  as  an  Exact 
Science."    New  York,  Funk  &  Wagnalls  Co.,  1914. 

Knopf,  S.  A.,  M.D. — "Tuberculosis  as  a  Disease  of  the  Masses." 
Prize  essay.     New  York,  M.  Firestack,  1905. 

"Tuberculosis  a  Preventable  and  Curable  Disease."     New 

York,  Moflfat,  Yard  &  Co.,  1909. 

"Is  There  Any  Relation  Between  Tuberculosis,   Mental 

Disease  and  Mental  Deficiency?"  Proc,  N.  J.  Con- 
ference of  Charities  and  Correction,  1916. 

Lippert,  Frieda  E.,  M.D.,  and  Holmes,  Arthur,  Ph.D. — "When 
to  Send  for  the  Doctor  and  What  to  Do  before  the  Doctor 
Comes."     Philadelphia,  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  1913. 

Marshall,  John  Sayre,  M.D. — "Mouth  Hygiene  and  Mouth 
Sepsis."     Philadelphia,  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  191 2. 

Metchnikoff,  Prof.  Elie. — "Immunity  in  Infective  Diseases." 
Translated  from  the  French  by  Francis  G.  Binnie. 
Cambridge,  University  Press  (G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons), 
1907. 

Still,  George  Frederick,  M.D. — "Common  Disorders  and  Dis- 
eases of  Childhood."    London,  Henry  Frowde,  191 2. 

Sykes,  John  F.  J. — "Public  Health  Problems."  London,  Eng- 
land, The  Walter  Scott  Publishing  Co.,  Ltd.,  New  York, 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1910. 

Williams,  Dawson,  M.D.,  and  Churchill,  Frank  Spooner,  M.D. 
— "Medical  Diseases  of  Infancy  and  Childhood."  Phila- 
delphia, Lea  Brothers  and  Co.,  1900. 

Williams,  Leonard,  M.D. — "Adenoids,  Nocturnal  Enuresis  and 
the  Thyroid  Gland."  London,  John  Bale,  Sons  and 
Danielsson,  1909. 

Winterburn,  Florence  Hull.— "The  Children's  Health."  New 
York,  The  Baker  &  Taylor  Co.  (Doubleday,  Page  & 
Co.),  1901. 

VIII.    PSYCHOLOGICAL  ASPECTS 

Arnold,  Felix,  Ph.D. — "Attention  and  Interest.  A  Study  in 
Psychology  and  Education."  New  York,  The  Macmil- 
lan  Co.,  1910. 

Ayer,  Fred  C. — "The  Psychology  of  Drawing."  Baltimore, 
Warwick  &  York. 


726  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Browning,  William,  M.D. — "The  Etiology  of  Stammering,  and 

Methods  for  Its  Treatment."     Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Neuro- 

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Colvin,    Stephen    Sheldon,    Ph.D. — "The    Learning    Process." 

New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 
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First  Book  in  Psychology  for  Teachers."     New  York, 

The  Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 
Ebbinghaus,  Prof.  Hermann. — "Grundzuege  der  Psychologie," 

Leipzig,  Veit  &  Co.,  1897. 
Elders. — "Die   Heilung   des  Stottems  in  Einzelfaellen,   Lehr- 

gaengen    und    Schulklassen."    Langensalza,    Zeitschrift 

fiir  Kinder f or schung,  December,  1914. 
Groos,  Prof.   Karl. — "Die  Spiele  der  Thiere."    Jena,  Gustav 

Fischer,  1896. 
Halleck,  Reuben  Post,  M.  A. — "  Psychology  and  Psychic  Culture." 

New  York,  American  Book  Co.,  1895. 
Hollingworth,    H.   L. — "Experimental    Studies   in   Judgment." 

New  York,  The  Science  Press,  December,  1913. 
Home,  Herman  Harrell,  Ph.D. — "The  Psychological  Principles 

of  Education."     New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 
Kirkpatrick,  Edwin  A. — "Genetic  Psychology.     An  Introduc- 
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New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1909. 
Kohn,  Dr.phil.  Harry  E. — "Zur  Theorie  der  Aufmerksamkeit." 

Halle,  Max  Niemeyer,  1895. 
Ladd,  George  Trumbull. — "Outlines  of  Physiological  Psychol- 
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March,  John  Lewis,  A.M.,  Ph.D.— "A  Theory  of  Mind."     New 

York,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1908. 
Mateer,  Florence,  Ph.D. — "Child  Behavior."     Boston,  Richard 

G.  Badger,  1917. 
Oppenheim,   Nathan,   M.D. — "Mental   Growth  and  Control." 

New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 
Farmelee,  Maurice,  Ph.D. — "The  Science  of  Human  Behavior. 

Biological  and  Psychological  Foundations."     New  York, 

The  Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 
Scripture,  E.   W.,  Ph.D.   (Leipzig)— "The  New  Psychology.  ' 

London,   England,   The   Walter   Scott   Publishing   Co., 

Ltd.;  New  York,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1910. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  727 

Scripture,  E.  W.,  M.D.— "Stuttering  and  Lisping."  New  York, 
The  Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 

Scripture,  May  Kirk,  and  Glogau,  Otto. — "Speech  Conflict — a 
Natural  Consequence  in  Cosmopolitan  Cities — as  an 
Etiological  Factor  in  Stuttering."  New  York,  The  Jour- 
nal of  Nervous  and  Mental  Diseases,  January  and  Feb- 
ruary, 1916. 

Sinclair,  Samuel  Bower,  Ph.D.,  and  Tracy,  Frederick,  Ph.D. — 
"Introductory  Educational  Psychology."  Toronto,  The 
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Starbuck,  Edwin  DiUer,  Ph.D.— "The  Psychology  of  Relig- 
ion." London.  England,  The  Walter  Scott  Publishing 
Co.,  Ltd.;  New  York,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  New 
edition. 

Starch,  Daniel,  Ph.D. — "Experiments  in  Educational  Psychol- 
ogy."    New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 

Stratton,  George  Malcolm,  Ph.D. — "Experimental  Psychology 
and  Its  Bearings  upon  Culture."  New  York,  The  Mac- 
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Swift,  Edgar  James. — "Youth  and  the  Race.  A  Study  in  the 
Psychology  of  Adolescence."  New  York,  Chas.  Scribner's 
Sons,  191 2. 

"Mind    in    the    Making."     New   York,   Chas.   Scribner's 

Sons,  1908. 

Wittner,  Lightner,  Ph.D. — "On  the  Relation  of  Intelligence  to 
Efficiency."  Philadelphia,  The  Psychological  Clinic,  May 
15,  1915- 

IX.    NERVOUS  AND  PSYCHIC  DISORDERS 

"Abnormal  Psychology:    Interpretations  and  Investigations." 

Boston,  Richard  G.  Badger,  191 7. 
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the  Journal  of  Abnormal  Psychology.     Boston,  Richard 

G.  Badger,  1915. 
Adler,  Herman  M.,  M.D. — "Unemployment  and  Personality." 

Concord,  N.  H.,  Mental  Hygiene,  January,  1917. 
Balliet,  Gilbert,  M.D.— "Neurasthenia."    Translated  from  the 

French  by  Dr.  P.  Campbell  Smith.     New  York,  Wm. 

Wood  &  Co.,  1909. 


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Beling,  Christopher  C,  M.D. — "The  Insanity  of  Adolescence." 
New  York  Medical  Journal,  November  24,  1906. 

"The  Relation  of  Dentistry  to  Neurology."    Journal  of  the 

Medical  Society  of  New  Jersey,  1915. 

"The  Borderland  of  the  Psychoses."    Ihid.,  1916. 

"Psychopathic  Hospitals  and  Clinics."  Proc.  N.  J.  Con- 
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Burrow,  Trigant,  Ph.D.,  M.D.— "The  Philology  of  Hysteria." 
Chicago,  The  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association, 
March  11,  1916. 

Church,  Archibald,  M.D.,  and  Peterson,  Frederick,  M.D. — "Ner- 
vous and  Mental  Diseases."  Philadelphia,  W.  B.  Saun- 
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Clark,  L.  Pierce,  M.D. —"Psychopathic  Children."  New  York 
Medical  Journal,  19 14. 

Collins,  Joseph,  M.D. — "The  Genesis  and  Dissolution  of  the 
Faculty  of  Speech.  A  Clinical  and  Psychological  Study 
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Cramer,  Prof.  Dr.  A. — "Ueber  die  ausserhalb  der  Schule  liegen- 
den  Ursachen  der  Nervositat  der  Kinder."  Berlin, 
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Czerny,  Prof.  Ad. — "Die  Entstehung  und  Bedeutung  der  Angst 
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Dubois,  Dr.  Paul. — "The  Psychic  Treatment  of  Nervous  Disor- 
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Farnell,  Frederick  J.,  M.D.— "Psychopathology  of  the  Child." 
Quarterly  Bulletin  of  the  State  Board  of  Health  of  Rhode 
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Forel,  August,  M.D. — "Hygiene  of  Nerves  and  Mind  in  Health 
and  Disease."  Translated  from  the  German  by  Herbert 
A.  Aikins,  Ph.D.  New  York,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons, 
1907. 

Fox,  Charles  D.,  M.D. — "Psychopathology  of  Hysteria."  Bos- 
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Goodhart,  S.  Philip,  M.D. — "The  Recognition  of  Dementia  Pre- 
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Haberman,  J.  Victor,  M.D. — "A  Criticism  of  Psycho- Analysis." 
Boston,  The  Journal  of  Abnormal  Psychology,  October- 
November,  1914. 

Jacoby,  George  W.,  M.D. — "Suggestion  and  Psychotherapy." 
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Jelijffe,  Smith  Ely,  M.D.,  and  White,  Wm.  A.,  M.D.— "Prin- 
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Kahane,  Dr.  Heinrich. — "Der  defekte  Mensch.  Zwang  und 
Drang  in  der  psychischen  Mechanik."  Wien,  Georg 
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Knauer,  Dr.  A. — "  Psychopathische  Personlichkeiten."  Miin- 
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Lombroso,  Cesare. — "The  Man  of  Genius."  London,  England, 
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McClenahan,  H.  C,  M.D. — "Rational  Psychotherapy."  Cali- 
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McComb,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel. — "Alcoholism  as  a  Psychic  Dis- 
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Mercier,  Charles,  M.B. — "Sanity  and  Insanity."  London, 
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Meyer,  Adolf,  M.D.,  Jelife,  Smith  Ely,  M.D.,  and  Hoch,  August, 
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MUls,  Charles  K.,  M.D. — "Nursing  and  Care  of  the  Nervous 
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Moll,  Dr.  Albert.— "Hypnotism."  London,  England.  The  Wal- 
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M  onkenmoller ,  Oberarzt  Dr. — "Die  Psychopathologie  der 
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Nadoleczny,  Dr.  Max. — "Die  Sprach-  und  Stimmstorungen  im 
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"Nine  Family  Histories  of  Epileptics  in  One  Rural  County." 


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The  Popular  Science  Monthly,  August,  1915. 
"Psychotherapeutics."     A  Collection  of  Monographs.     Edited 

by  Morton  Prince,  M.D.,  Boston,  Richard  G.  Badger. 
Ribot,  Theo. — "The  Diseases  of  Personality."     Chicago,  The 

Open  Court  Publishing  Co.,  1891. 
Sachs,  B.,  M.D. — "A  Treatise  on  the  Nervous  Diseases  of  Chil- 
dren."    New  York,  Wm.  Wood  &  Co.,  1895. 
Salmon,  Thomas  W.,  M.D. — "Some  New  Fields  in  Neurology 

and  Psychiatry."     Lancaster,  Pa.,  The  Journal  of  Mental 

and  Nervous  Diseases,  August,  191 7. 
Schofield,  Alfred  T.,  M.D.— "Nerves  in  Disorder."    New  York, 

Funk  &  Wagnalls  Co.,  1903. 
Schwarz,  Osias  L. — "  General  Types  of  Superior  Men."     Boston, 

Richard  G.  Badger,  1916. 
Shaw,  John  C,  M.D. — "Essentials  of  Nervous  Diseases  and 

Insanity."     Revised  by  Smith  Ely  Jelifie.     Philadelphia, 

W.  B.  Saunders  Co.,  1910. 
Sidis,    Boris,    M.D. — "Philistine    and    Genius."     New    York, 

Moffat,  Yard  &  Co.,  1911. 
"The  Foundations  of  Normal  and  Abnormal  Psychology." 

Boston,  Richard  G.  Badger,  19 14. 
Spratling,  William  P.,  M.D. — "Epilepsy  and  Its  Treatment." 

Philadelphia,  W.  B.  Saunders  &  Co.,  1904. 
Stehner,    Dr.med.    Helenefriederike. — "Die    Psychopathischen 

Konstitutionen."     Berlin,  S.  Karger,  191 1. 
Striimpell,     Prof.-Ludwig.  —  "Die    Padagogische    Pathologie." 

Leipzig,  E.  Ungleich,  1892. 
"Subconscious  Phenomena."     A  collection  of  studies.     Edited 

by  Morton  Prince,  M.D.     Boston,  Richard  G.  Badger, 

1910. 
Swift,  Edgar  James. — "Reflex  Neuroses  in  Childen."     American 

Physical  Education  Review,  1899. 
Taft,  Jessie. — "Fortifying  the  Child  Against  Mental  Disease." 

Albany,  N.  Y.,  American  Education,  September,  191 7. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  731 

Talbot,  Eugene  S.,  M.D. — "  Developmental  Pathology.  A  Study 
in  Degenerative  Evolution."  Boston,  Richard  G.  Bad- 
ger, 1915- 

"The  Twenty-Third  Annual  Report  of  the  Managers  and  Offi- 
cers of  the  Craig  Colony  for  Epileptics."  Albany,  N.  Y., 
J.  B.  Lyon  Co.,  Printers,  1917. 

"Transactions  of  the  National  Association  for  the  Study 
of  Epilepsy  and  the  Care  and  Treatment  of  Epilep- 
tics." Several  volumes.  Edited  by  William  Spratling, 
M.D. 

Tucker,  Beverly  R.,  M.D.— "Nervous  Children."  Boston, 
Richard  G.  Badger,  191 7. 

Waldstein,  Louis,  M.D. — "The  Subconscious  Self  and  Its  Re- 
lation to  Education  and  Health."  New  York,  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons,  1909. 

Walton,  George  Lincoln,  M.D. — "Those  Nerves."  Philadelphia, 
J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  1909. 

"Why  Worry?"     Same  publisher,  1913. 

Warner,  Francis,  M.D. — "The  Nervous  System  of  the  Child." 
New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1916. 

Wells,  Frederic  Lyman,  Ph.D. — "Mental  Adaptation."  Con- 
cord, N.  H.,  Mental  Hygiene,  January,  191 7. 

Westermayr,  Arthur  J.— "The  Psychology  of  Fear."  The  Open 
Court,  Chicago,  April,  1915. 

Williams,  Tom  A.,  M.D.— "Psycho-Therapeutics."  Boston, 
Richard  G.  Badger,  1910. 

X.     FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 

Barr,  Martin  W.,  M.D. — "Mental  Defectives.     Their  History, 

Treatment,  and  Training."     Philadelphia,  P.  Blakiston's 

Son  &  Co.,  1904. 
Berkham,  Dr.   O. — "Ueber  den  angeborenen  und  friih  erwor- 

benen  Schwachsinn."     Braunschweig,  F.  Vieweg  &  Sohn, 

1904. 
Brandenburg,  Dr. — "Zur  Ftirsorge  fur  die  Schwachsinnigen." 

Bielefeld,  A.  Helmich,  1890. 
Crafts,  L.  W. — "Bibliography  of  Feeble-mindedness  in  Its  Social 

Aspects."     Faribault,  Minn.,  Journal  of  Psycho- A  sthenics, 

Monograph  Supplement,  March,  1917. 


732  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Doll,  Edgar  A.,  Ph.D.— "  Clinical  Studies  in  Feeble-minded- 
ness."     Boston,  Richrrd  G.  Badger,  1917. 

Fernald,  Walter  E.,  M.D.— "The  Growth  of  Provisions  for  the 
Feeble-minded  in  the  United  States.''  Concord,  N.  H., 
Mental  Hygiene,  January,  191 7. 

Goddard,  H.  H.,  Ph.D.— "The  Improvability  of  Feeble-minded 
Children."  Faribault,  Minn.,  The  Journal  of  Psycho- 
Asthenics,  June,  1913. 

"School  Training  of  Defective  Children."    Yonkers,  N.  Y., 

World  Book  Co.,  1915. 

"Review  of  Feeble-Mindedness,  Its  Causes  and  Con- 
sequences." Vineland,  N.  J.,  The  Training  School  Bul- 
letin, September,  1916. 

Groszmann,  Maximilian  P.  E.,  Pd.D. — "Some  Recent  Changes 
in  the  Attitude  towards  the  Problem  of  Mental  Defect." 
New  York,  Educational  Foundations,  September,  191 7. 

Jacobson,  Arthur  C,  M.D. — "Service  from  Imbeciles."  The 
Medical  Times,  August,  1916,  New  York. 

Kuhlmann,  F. — "What  Constitutes  Feeble-mindedness ? "  The 
Journal  of  Psycho- Asthenics,  June,  191 5. 

Ordahl,  Louise  Ellison,  Ph.D.,  and  Ordahl,  Geo.,  Ph.D.— "Quali- 
tative Differences  Between  Levels  of  Intelligence  in 
Feeble-Minded  Children."  The  Journal  of  Psycho- 
Asthenics,  Monograph  Supplement,  vol.  I,  no.  2,  June, 

1915- 
Porteus,  S.  D.  (Melbourne). — "Mental  Tests  for  Feebleminded: 
A  New  Series."     The  Journal  of  Psycho- Asthenics,  June, 

1915- 
Rabinerson-Levine,    Mme. — "Contribution    Clinique   et   Statis- 

tique  a  I'etude  des  enfants  anormaux  des  Ecoles  primaires 

de  Geneve."     Universite  de  Geneve,  Imprimerie  et  Litho- 

graphie  Sonor  S.A.,  1914. 
Seguin,   Edward,   M.D. — "Idiocy  and  Its  Treatment  by  the 

Physiological  Method."     New  York,   reprinted  by  the 

Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  1907. 
Sherlock,  E.  B.,  M.D.— "The  Feeble-minded."     London,  Mac- 

millan  &  Co.,  Limited,  191 1. 
Shuitleworth,  G.  E.,  M.D.,  and  Potts,  W.  A.,  M.D.— "Mentally 

Deficient  Children."     Philadelphia,  P.   Blakiston's  Son 

&  Co.,  1910. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  733 

XI.    DELINQUENCY  AND  CRIME 

"Annual  Report  of  the  County  Court  of  Alleghany  County  for 
the  Year  1916."     Pittsburg. 

Bowers,  Paul  E.,  M.D. — "The  Necessity  for  Medical  Examina- 
tion of  Prisoners  at  the  Time  of  Trial."  Pittsburg,  The 
Journal  of  Sociological  Medicine,  June,  1917. 

Bowler,  Alida  C. — "The  Trabue  Completion  Test  as  Applied 
to  Delinquent  Girls."  Princeton,  N.  J.,  The  Journal  of 
Experimental  Psychology,  December,  1916. 

BilUner,  Georg. — "Vom  Wandertrieb  bei  den  Kindern."  Lan- 
gensalza,  Zeitschrift  fUr  Kinderforschung,  AprU-Mai,  1915. 

Currier,  Albert  H— "The  Present  Day  Problem  of  Crime." 
Boston,  Richard  G.  Badger,  191 2. 

Fernald,  Walter  E.,  M.D. — "The  Imbecile  with  Criminal  In- 
stincts."    American  Journal  of  Insanity,  April,  1909. 

Ferrero,  Gina  Lombroso. — "Criminal  Man  According  to  the 
Classification  of  Cesare  Lombroso."  New  York,  G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons,  191 1. 

Polks,  Homer. — "The  Care  of  Destitute,  Neglected,  and  Delin- 
quent Children."     New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1907. 

Goddard,  Henry  Herbert,  Ph.D.— "The  Criminal  Imbecile." 
New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1915. 

Hart,  Hastings  H.,  LL.D. — "The  Extinction  of  the  Defective 
DeHnquent."     New  York,  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  1913. 

Healy,  William,  M.D. — "The  Individual  Delinquent."  Boston, 
Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1915. 

Hiatt,  James  S. — "The  Truant  Problem  and  the  Parental 
School."  Washington,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Bul- 
letin, 1915,  No.  29. 

Howard,  William  Lee,  M.D. — "Why  So  Many  Boys  and  Girls 
Can't  Help  Running  Away."  New  York  American, 
September  19,  191 5. 

Irwin,  Elizabeth  A. — "Truancy."  Published  by  the  Public 
Education  Association  of  the  City  of  New  York,  June, 

1915- 
Johns,  W.  A. — "Agricultural  Education  for  Delinquent  Boys." 

Columbus,  The  Ohio  Teacher,  August,  191 5. 
Kelley,    Truman    Lee. — "Mental    Aspects    of    Delinquency." 

Austin,  Tex.,  University  of  Texas  Bulletin,  March  i,  191 7. 


734  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

London,  Jack. — "The  Star  Rover."    New  York,  The  Macmillan 

Co.,  1915. 
MacCurdy,  Dr.  John. — "Other  Factors  than  Feeble-mindedness 

in  Juvenile  Delinquency."     Proc.  N.  J.  Conference  of 

Charities  and  Correction,  1916. 
McConnell,    Ray   Madding,    Ph.D. — "Criminal    Responsibility 

and  Social  Constraint."     New  York,  Charles  Scribner's 

Sons,  1913. 
McDonald,  Arthur. — "Abnormal  Man."     Bureau  of  Education, 

Circular  of  Information  no.  4,  1893. 
"Principles    of     Criminal    Anthropology."     New    York, 

Educational  Foundations,  January,  1915. 
Parmelee,  Maurice,  M.A. — "The  Principles  of  Anthropology  and 

Sociology  in  Their  Relations  to   Criminal  Procedure." 

New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1908. 
Schoff,  Hannah  Kent.— "The  Wayward  Child.     A  Study  of  the 

Causes  of  Crime."     Indianapolis,  The  Bobbs-Merrill  Co., 

1915- 
Swift,  Edgar  James. — "Some  Criminal  Tendencies  of  Boyhood." 

The  Pedagogical  Seminary,  March,  1901. 
Weidensall,    Jean,    Ph.D. — "The   Mentality   of   the    Criminal 

Woman."     Baltimore,  Warwick  and  York. 
Wilker,  Karl. — "Die  jugendlichen  Kriminellen,  191 2."     Langen- 

salza,  Zeitschrift  fiir  Kinderforschung,  September,  1914. 

XII.     MORAL  AND   SEXUAL  PROBLEMS 

Bartz,  August. — "Kindliche  Pornographen."  Langensalza,  Zeit- 
schrift fiir  Kinderforschung,  April-Mai,  191 5. 

Bingham,  Gen.  Theodore  A. — "The  Girl  That  Disappears. 
The  Real  Facts  About  the  White  Slave  Traffic."  Boston, 
Richard  G.  Badger,  1911. 

Brown  II,  Sanger,  M.D. — "The  Sex  Worship  and  Symbolism 
of  Primitive  Races."     Boston,  Richard  G.  Badger,  1916. 

Ellis,  Havelock. — "Man  and  Woman."  London,  England,  The 
Walter  Scott  Publishing  Co.,  Ltd.;  New  York,  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons,  1916. 

Forel,  August,  M.D.,  Ph.D.— "The  Sexual  Question."  English 
adaptation  from  the  second  German  edition,  by  C.  F. 
Marshall,  M.D.,  New  York,  Medical  Art  Agency. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  735 

Hood,  Mary  G.,  M.D.— "For  Girls  and  the  Mothers  of  Girls." 

A  Book  for  the  Home  and  the  School  Concerning  the 

Beginnings   of   Life.     Indianapolis,    The   Bobbs-Merrill 

Co.,  1914. 
Howard,  Clifford. — "Sex  Worship.     An  Exposition  of  the  Phal- 

Uc  Origin  of  Religion."     Chicago  Medical  Book  Co.,  1909. 
Kraft-Ebing,  Dr.  R.  B. — "  Psychopathia  Sexualis."     Stuttgart, 

Ferdinand  Enke,  1894.    ■ 
Martin,  F.  G.— "  Moral  Training  of  the  School  Child."    Boston, 

Richard  G.  Badger,  1913. 
Michels,   Robert. — "Sexual   Ethics."    London,    England,    The 

Walter  Scott  Publishing  Co.,  Ltd.;   New  York,  Charles 

Scribner's  Sons,  191 5. 
Moll,  Dr.  Albert.— "The  Sexual  Life  of  the  Child."    Translated 

from  the  German  by  Dr.  Eden  Paul.     New  York,  The 

Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 
Rohie,  W.  F.,  A.B.,  M.D.— "Rational  Sex  Ethics."     Boston, 

Richard  G.  Badger,  1916. 
Scholtz,  Moses,  M.D. — "Sex  Problems  of  Man  in  Health  and 

Disease."     Cincinnati,  Stewart  &  Kidd  Co.,  1916. 
Schroeder,    Theodore. — "Our    Prudish    Censorship    Unveiled." 

San  Francisco,  Pacific  Medical  Journal,  June,  191 5. 
Willis,   W.    N.— "The    White    Slaves    of    London."    Boston, 

Richard  G.  Badger. 
Zenner,  Philip,  M.D. — "Education  in  Sexual  Physiology  and 

Hygiene."     Cincinnati,  The  Robert  Clarke  Co.,  19 10. 

XIII.     HEREDITY  AND   EUGENICS 

Cotton,  Henry  A.,  M.D. — "Some  Problems  in  the  Study  of 
Heredity  in  Mental  Diseases."  Cold  Spring  Harbor, 
L.  I.,  Eugenics  Record  Office,  Bulletin  no.  8. 

Danielson,  Florence  H.,  and  Davenport,  Charles  B. — "The  Hill 
Folk.  Report  on  a  Rural  Community  of  Hereditary  De- 
fectives." Cold  Spring  Harbor,  L.  I.,  Eugenics  Record 
Office,  Memoir  no.  i,  August,  1912. 

Goddard,  Dr.  Henry  Herbert.— "  The  Kallikak  Family.  A  Study 
in  the  Heredity  of  Feeble- Mindedness."  New  York,  The 
Macmillan  Co.,  191 2. 

Guyau,  J.  M. — "Education  and  Heredity."    London,  England, 


736  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  Walter  Scott   Publishing   Co.,  Ltd.;    New  York, 

Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1909. 
Knopf,  S.  Adolphus,  M.D.— "Birth  Control— Its  Medical,  So- 
cial, Economic  and  Moral  Aspects."    New  Ulm,  Minn., 

Mind  and  Body,  April,  191 7. 
Letourneau,    Ch. — "The    Evolution    of    Marriage."    London, 

England,  The  Walter  Scott  Publishing  Co.,  Ltd.;   New 

York,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1914. 
Meyer,  Adolf,   M.D.— "The  Right  to  Marry."     The  Survey, 

June,  1916. 
O'Gorman,  Dr.  M.  W. — "Infant  Mortality,  as  AfiEected  by  Men- 
tal Deficiency  in  the  Mother."    Proc.  N.  J.  Conference 

of  Charities  and  Correction,  1916. 
Orschansky,  Dr.  J. — "Die  Vererbung  im  gesunden  und  kranken 

Zustande."    Stuttgart,  Ferdinand  Enke,  1903. 
Stevens,    Margaret. — "Woman    and    Marriage."    New    York, 

Frederick  A.  Stokes  Co.,  19 10. 
Stokes,  W.  E.  D.  (Lexington,  Ky.)— "The  Right  to  be  Well 

Bom,  or  Horse  Breeding  in  Its  Relation  to  Eugenics." 

Printed  by  C.  J.  O'Brien,  New  York,  1917. 
Walter,  Herbert  Eugene. — "Genetics.    An  Introduction  to  the 

Study  of  Heredity."    New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co., 

1914. 
Watson,  J.  A.  S.,  B.Sc— "Heredity."    London,  Toronto,  New 

York,   Dodge  Publishing   Co.,   "The  People's   Books" 

Series. 
Weismann,  August. — "The  Germ-Plasm."    London,  England, 

The   Walter   Scott   Publishing   Co.,   Ltd.;    New  York, 

Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1915. 

XIV.    HOME  PROBLEMS 

Birney,  Mrs.  Theodore  W.— "Childhood."    New  York,  Fred. 

A.  Stokes  Co.,  1905. 
Bosanquet,  Helen. — "The  Family."    London,  Macmillan  &  Co., 

Limited,  1915. 
Chance,  Maria  B. — "Self-Training  for  Mothers."    Philadelphia, 

J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  1914. 
Eastman,  Elaine  Goodale.— " The  Waste  of  Life."    New  York, 

The  Popular  Science  Monthly,  August,  1915. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  737 

Egkian,  Setrak  G..  M.D.— "The  Mother's  Nursery  Guide." 
New  York,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1907. 

Harland,  Marion. — "Common  Sense  in  the  Nursery."  New 
York,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1885. 

Holden,  Horace. — "  Young  Boys  and  Boarding  School."  Boston, 
Richard  G.  Badger,  19 13. 

Holt,  L.  Emmett,  M.D.— "The  Care  and  Feeding  of  Chil- 
dren."    New  York  and  London,  D.  Appleton  &  Co., 

X9I3- 
Kerley,   Charles   Gilmore,   M.D.— "Short   Talks   with   Young 

Mothers."    New  York,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1909. 
King,  F.  Truby,  M.B.,  B.Sc— "Feeding  and  Care  of  Baby." 

London,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  191 3. 
Lehmann,  Rudolf. — "Erziehung  und  Erzieher."    Berlin,  Weid- 

mannsche  Buchhandlung.  1901. 
McKeever,  William  A.—"  Training  of  the  Boy."    The  Macmillan 

Co.,  1913. 

"Training  the  Girl."     Same  publisher,  1914. 

Oppel,  Dr.  Karl.— "Das  Buch  der  Eltern."    Frankfurt  a.  M., 

Moritz  Diesterweg,  1896. 
Read,  Mary  L.,  B.  S.— "The  Mothercraft  Manual."    Boston, 

Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1916. 
Richardson,  Anna  Steese. — "Better  Babies  and  Their  Care." 

New  York,  Fred.  A.  Stokes  Co.,  19 14. 
Stoner,  Winifred  Sackville. — "The  Manual  of  Natural  Educa- 
tion."   The  Bobbs-Merrill  Co.,  Indianapolis,  1916. 
Twedell,   Francis,   M.D. — "A   Mother's   Guide."    New  York, 

James  T.  Dougherty,  191 1. 

XV.    SOCIAL  AND  RACIAL  PROBLEMS 

AhhoU,  Grace. — "The  Immigrant  and  the  Community."  New 
York,  The  Century  Co.,  1917. 

Allen,  William  H.— "Civics  and  Health."  Boston,  Ginn  &  Co., 
1909. 

Baldwin,  James  Mark,  Ph.D. — "Social  and  Ethical  Interpreta- 
tions in  Mental  Development.  A  Study  in  Social  Psy- 
chology."    New  York.  The  Macmillan  Co.,  19x3, 

Blascoer,  Frances. — "Colored  School  Children  in  New  York." 
Public  Education  Association  in  New  York,  1915. 


738  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Byers,  Joseph  P. — "The  State  as  a  Delinquent  Parent."  Vine- 
land,  N,  J.,  The  Training  School  Bulletin,  February,  1916. 

Cooley,  Charles  Horton.— "Human  Nature  and  the  Social  Order." 
New  York,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1902. 

"Social    Organization."     New    York,    Charles    Scribner's 

Sons,  1916. 

Deniker,  J.,  Sc.D. — "The  Races  of  Man."  London,  England, 
The  Walter  Scott  Publishing  Co.,  Ltd.;  New  York, 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons.     New  edition. 

Eliot,  Charles  W. — "The  Conflict  Between  Individualism  and 
Collectivism  in  a  Democracy."  New  York,  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons,  191 2. 

Ellwood,  Chas.  A.,  Ph.D.— "The  Social  Problem.  A  Construc- 
tive Analysis."     New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1915. 

Engel,  Dr.  Sigmund. — "The  Elements  of  Child-Protection." 
Translated  from  the  German  by  Dr.  Eden  Paul.  New 
York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  191 2. 

"Haiti — the  Land  of  the  Black  Man's  Burden."  New  York, 
The  World  Magazine,  August  22,  191 5. 

Henderson,  Charles  Richmond. — "  Social  Elements."  New  York, 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1898. 

Keller,  Albert  Galloway. — "Societal  Evolution."  New  York, 
The  Macmillan  Co.,  1915. 

Laf argue,  Paul. — "The  Evolution  of  Property."  London,  Eng- 
land, Swan  Sonnenschein  &  Co.,  Ltd.;  New  York,  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons,  1905. 

Letourneau,  Ch. — "Property:  Its  Origin  and  Development." 
London,  England,  The  Walter  Scott  Publishing  Co.,  Ltd.; 
New  York,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1914. 

Mayo,  Marion  J. — "The  Mental  Capacity  of  the  American 
Negro."     New  York,  The  Science  Press,  November,  1913. 

Nearing,  Scott,  Ph.D. — "Poverty  and  Riches.  A  Study  of  the 
Industrial  Regime."  Philadelphia,  The  John  C.  Winston 
Co.,  1916. 

Odum,  Howard  W. — "Negro  Children  in  the  Public  Schools  of 
Philadelphia."  Philadelphia,  Annals  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  September,  1913. 

Rectus,  Elie.— "  Primitive  Folk."  London,  England,  The  Walter 
Scott  Publishing  Co.,  Ltd.;  New  York,  Charles  Scribner's 
Sons.    New  edition. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  739 

Riis,  Jacob  A.— "How  the  Other  Half  Lives."  New  York, 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1914. 

"The  Children  of  the  Poor."  New  York,  Charles  Scrib- 
ner's Sons,  1915. 

Sharp,  George. — "City  Life  and  Its  Amelioration."  Boston, 
Richard  G.  Badger,  191 5. 

Cf.  also  the  Philippine  Publications  of  the  World  Book 
Co.,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 

XVI.    LEGAL  ASPECTS 

Hood,  William  R.,  Weeks,  Stephen  B.,  and  Ford,  A.  Sidney. — 
"Digest  of  State  Laws  Relating  to  Public  Education/' 
in  Force  January  i,  1915.  Washington,  U.  S.  Bureau  of 
Education,  Bulletin,  1915,  no.  47. 

U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education. — "Compulsory  School  Attendance." 
Bulletin,  1914,  no.  2. 

XVII.     SCHOOL  PROBLEMS 

Bachman,  F.  P. — "Problems  in  Elementary  School  Administra- 
tion."    Yonkers,  World  Publishing  Co.,  191 5. 

Bagley,  William  Chandler. — "School  Discipline."  New  York, 
The  Macmillan  Co.,  1915. 

and   Cojffman,   Lotus  D. — "Differentiated   Curriculum  vs. 

Common  Elements."  National  Education  Association 
Proceedings,  February  24,  1916. 

Ballou,  F.  W.— "High  School  Organization."  World  Publishing 
Co.,  1915. 

Bunker,  Frank  Forest. — "Re-organization  of  the  Public  School 
Sj^tem."  Washington,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education, 
Bulletin,  1916,  no.  8. 

Campbell,  C.  Macfie,  Ph.D.— "The  Subnormal  Child— A  Study 
of  the  Children  in  a  Baltimore  School  District."  Con- 
cord, N.  H.,  Mental  Hygiene,  January,  1917. 

Cornell,  W.  Burgess,  M.D. — "Mental  Deficiency  in  the  Schools." 
Proc.  N.  J.  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction,  1916. 

Courtis,  S.  A. — "Standards  in  Arithmetic."  World  Publishing 
Co.,  1915. 

Cubberley,  E.  P.,  et  al.— "The  Portland  Survey."  World  Pub- 
lishing Co.,  191 5. 


740  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Davis,  G.  0.— "High  School  Courses  of  Study."  World  Pub- 
lishing Co.,  1915. 

Dayton,  Roy.— "Our  Futile  Public  Schools."  New  York,  Pear- 
son's Magazine,  October,  1914. 

EllioU,  E.  C. — "City  School  Administration:  A  Constructive 
Study."    World  Publishing  Co.,  1915. 

Gayley,  Prof.  Charles  Mills.—"  Idols  of  Education."  New  York, 
Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.,  1910. 

Groszmann,  Maximilian  P.  E,,  Pd.D, — "The  Common  School  and 
the  New  Education."    S3n:acuse,  N.  Y.,  C.  W.  Bardeen, 

1897. 
"The     Career    of    the     ChUd    from    the    Kindergarten 

to    the    High   School."    Boston,    Richard    G.    Badger, 

1911. 
"Some  Ftmdamental  Verities  in  Education."    Boston,  R. 

G.  Badger,  1911. 
Hanus,  Prof.   Pavd  H. — "School  Efficiency:    A  Constructive 

Study."    World  Publishing  Co.,  1915. 
Hollisier,  Horace  A. — "The  Administration  of   Education  in 

a   Democracy."      Chas.    Scribner's    Sons,    New   York, 

T914. 
McMurry,  F.  M. — "Elementary  School  Standards:  Instruction, 

Course  of  Study,  Supervision."    World  Publishing  Co., 

1915- 
Moore,  E.  C. — "How  New  York  City  Administers  Its  Schools: 
A  Constructive  Study."    World  Publishing  Co.,  1915. 

XVIII.    VOCATIONAL  PROBLEMS 

Barnard,  John. — "  Every  Man  His  Own  Mechanic."    Ne^;  York, 

Frederick  A.  Stokes  Co.,  191 2. 
Bruce,  H.  Addington. — "A  Vocational  School  a  Himdred  Years 

Old."    New  York,  The  Outlook,  July  28,  1915. 
Eaton,  Jeanette,  and  Stevens,  Bertha  M. — "Commercial  Work 

and  Training  for  Girls."    New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co., 

1915- 

"Effects  of  Employment  on  Children."  Medical  Times,  De- 
cember, 1916. 

Horspool,  Florence. — "Mothercraft  for  School  Girls."  Lon- 
don, Macmillan  &  Co.,  1914. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  741 

Kerschensteimr,  Georg. — "The  Idea  of  the  Industrial  School." 

Translated  from  the  German  by  Rudolf  Pintner,  Ph.D., 

New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 
McKeever,  William.—"  Farm  Boys  and  Girls."    New  York,  The 

Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 
"The  Industrial  Training  of  the  Boy."    Same  publisher, 

1914. 
"The  Industrial  Training  of  the  Girl."     Same  publisher, 

1914. 
Schneider,  H. — "Education  for  Industrial  Workers."    Yonkers, 

N.  Y.,  World  Publishing  Co.,  1915. 
Taylor,  Joseph  S.,  Pd.D. — "A  Handbook  of  Vocational  Educa- 
tion."   New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 
Thompson,  F.  V. — "Commercial  Education  in  Public  Secondary 

Schools."     World  Publishing  Co.,  1915. 
Weeks,  Ruth  Mary.— "The  People's  School.    A  Study  in  Voca- 

tional  Training."    Boston,  The  Houghton  Mifl^  Co., 

1912. 

XIX.    PROBLEMS  OF  METHOD 

Bailey,    Carolyn    Sherwin. — "Girls'    Make-at-Home    Things." 

New  York,  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Co.,  191 2. 
and  Bailey,   Marian  Elizabeth. — "Boys'  Make-at-Home 

Things."     Same  publisher,  191 2. 
Bancroft,  Jessie  H. — "  Games  for  the  Playground,  Home,  School 

and  Gymnasium."    New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  191 5. 
Beard,  Patten.— "The  Jolly  Book  of  Boxcraft."    New  York, 

Frederick  A.  Stokes  Co, 
Brown,  Elmer  E. — "Notes  on  Children's  Drawings."    Univer- 
sity of  California  Studies,  1895. 
Canfield,  Dorothy.— " What  Shall  We  Do  Now?    A  Book  of 

Suggestions  for  Children's  Games  and  Employments." 

New  York,  Fred.  A.  Stokes  Co.,  1907. 
Cook,  W.  A.,  and  O'Shea,  M.  V.— "The  Child  and  His  SpelUng." 

Indianapolis,  The  Bobbs-Merrill  Co.,  1914. 
Curtis,  Henry  S.— "Education  Thru  Play."    New  York,  The 

Macmillan  Co.,  191 5. 
Dodd,  Catherine  I. — "Introduction  to  the  Herbartian  Principles 

of  Teaching."    New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1906. 


742  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Ebert,  Marie.— "The  Weaver's  Shuttle.  A  World  Out  of  Noth- 
ing." Newark,  N.  J.,  The  E.  E.  Morris  Printing  Co., 
1914. 

Ealleck,  Reuben  Post. — "The  Education  of  the  Central  Nervous 
System:  A  Study  of  Foundations,  Especially  of  Sensory 
and  Motor  Training."  New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co., 
1910. 

Hillyer,  V.  M.,  A.B. — "Kindergarten  at  Home:  A  Kindergarten 
Course  for  the  Individual  Child  at  Home."  New  York, 
Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.,  191 2. 

Jones,  OHve  M.,  Leary,  Eleanor  G.,  and  Quish,  Agnes  E. — 
"Teaching  Children  to  Study.  The  Group  System  Apr 
plied."     The  Macmillan  Co.,  1910. 

King,  Irving. — "The  High  School  Age."  Indianapolis,  The 
Bobbs-Merrill  Co.,  1914. 

Kinne,  Helen,  and  Cooky,  Anna  M. — "Foods  and  the  Household 
Management."     The  Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 

"Shelter  and  Clothing."     Same  pubhsher,  1914. 

Legge,  J.  G. — "The  Thinking  Hand;  or.  Practical  Education  in 
the  Elementary  School."    The  Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 

McLcllan,  James  A.,  and  Dewey,  John,  Ph.D. — "The  Psychology 
of  Number  and  Its  Applications  to  Methods  of  Teaching 
Arithmetic."     New  York,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1895. 

McMurry,  Charles  A.,  Ph.D. — "Course  of  Study  in  the  Eight 
Grades."    The  Macmillan  Co.,  1906. 

Montessori,  Maria. — "The  Montessori  Method."  Translated 
from  the  Italian  by  Anne  E.  George.  New  York,  Fred- 
erick A.  Stokes  Co.,  1912. 

"Dr.  Montessori's  Own  Handbook."     Same  publisher,  1914. 

Parsons,  Belle  Ragnar. — "Plays  and  Games  for  Indoors  and  Out. 
Rhythmic  Activities  Correlated  with  the  Studies  of  the 
School  Program."     New  York,  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co.,  1909. 

Smith,  Nora  Archibald. — "The  Kindergarten  in  a  Nutshell." 
New  York,  Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.,  1907. 

Stevens,  Ellen  Yale. — "A  Guide  to  the  Montessori  Method." 
New  York,  Fred.  A.  Stokes  Co.,  1913. 

Swift,  Prof.  Edgar  James. — "Learning  and  Doing."  Indianap- 
olis, The  Bobbs-Merrill  Co.,  1914. 

"The  Boston  Way:  Plans  for  the  Development  of  the  Indi- 
vidual Child."     Compiled  by  the  Special  Class  Teachers 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  743 

of  Boston.  Boston,  Mary  C.  Culhane,  Somerset  Street 
School,  191 7. 

Vandewalker,  Nina  C. — "The  Kindergarten  in  American  Edu- 
cation."    The  Macmillan  Co.,  1908. 

Ward,  Florence  Elizabeth. — "The  Montessori  Method  and  the 
American  School."    The  Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 

XX.    SPECIAL  SCHOOL  PROVISIONS 

Boston  Public  Schools. — "Syllabus  for  Special  Classes."  Sep- 
tember, 1914.     School  Document  no.  4. 

Farrell,  Elizabeth  E. — "A  Study  of  the  School  Inquiry  Report 
on  Ungraded  Classes."  Philadelphia,  The  Psychological 
Clinic,  vol.  VIII,  nos.  3  and  4. 

Fiiis,  Ada  M. — "How  to  Fill  the  Gap  Between  the  Special 
Classes  and  Institutions."  Journal  of  Psycho-Asthenics, 
March  and  June,  1916. 

Goddard,  Henry  H. — "School  Training  of  Defective  Children." 
School  Efficiency  Series.  World  Book  Co.,  Yonkers, 
N.  Y.,  1915. 

Hetherington,  Clark  W. — "The  Demonstration  Play  School  of 
1913."  Berkeley,  University  of  California  Publications. 
Education,  V,  2. 

Holmes,  William  H.,  Ph.D. — "School  Organization  and  the  Indi- 
vidual Child."     Worcester,  Mass.,  The  Davis  Press,  1912. 

MacMurchy,  Helen,  M.D. — "Organization  and  Management  of 
Auxiliary  Classes."  Toronto,  Ont.,  Educational  Pam- 
phlet no.  7,  Dept.  of  Education. 

Maennel,  Dr.  B. — "Auxiliary  Education:  the  Training  of  Back- 
ward Children."  Translated  from  the  German  by  Emma 
Sylvester,  Pd.M.  New  York,  Doubleday,  Page  &  Co., 
1909. 

Mitchell,  David. — "Schools  and  Classes  for  Exceptional  Chil- 
dren." Cleveland  Education  Survey,  The  Cleveland 
Foundation,  Cleveland,  O.,  1916. 

Naville,  Dr.  F. — "Quatre  Annees  d'Inspection  Medicale  des 
Classes  Sp6ciales  de  Geneve."  Geneva,  Switzerland, 
Imprimerie  Atar,  1914. 

"Reglement  et  Programme  des  Classes  Speciales  pour  Enfants 
Arri^res."     Geneva,  Imprimerie  du  Commerce,  191 1. 


744  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Roihe,  ^arl  Cornelius. — "  Sonder-Elementarklassen  fiir  sprach- 
kranke  Kinder."     Miinchen,  Fr.  Seyboldt,  19 14. 

Van  Sickle,  James  H.,  Wiimer,  Lightner,  and  Ayers,  Leonard 
P. — "Provisions  for  Exceptional  Children  in  Public 
Schools."  Washington,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education, 
Bulletin,  191 1,  No.  14. 

XXL    UNCLASSIFIED 

Baldwin,  James  Mark,  Ph.D. — "Mental  Development  in  the 
Child  and  the  Race."     New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co., 

1895. 

Beds,  George  Herbert,  Ph.D. — "Social  Principles  of  Education." 
New  York,  Chas.  Scribner's  Sons,  191 2. 

Blue,  Rupert  (Surgeon-General). — "Mental  Examinations  of 
School  Children.  The  School  as  a  Factor  in  the  Mental 
Hygiene  of  Rural  Communities."  U.  S.  Public  Health 
Report  no.  358,  August  25,  1916. 

Bolton,  Frederick  Elmer,  Ph.D. — "Principles  of  Education." 
New  York,  Chas.  Scribner's  Sons,  1910. 

Boone,  Richard  G. ,  Ph.D. — "  Science  of  Education."  New  York, 
Chas.  Scribner's  Sons,  1904. 

Colegrove,  Chauncey  P.,  A.M.,  Sc.D. — "The  Teacher  and  the 
School."     New  York,  Chas.  Scribner's  Sons,  1910. 

Dannemann,  Schober,  Schulze. — "  Enzyklopadisches  Handbuch 
der  Heilpadagogik."     Halle,  Carl  Marhold,  1911. 

Goodhart,  S.  Philip,  M.D.— "The  Exceptional  Child;  the  In- 
fluence of  Environment  and  Education  Upon  His  Devel- 
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Boston,  1910. 

Groszmann,  Maximilian,  P.  E.,  Pd.D. — "A  Working  System  of 
Child  Study  for  Schools."     Syracuse,   C.  W.  Bardeen, 

1897. 

Hall,  G.  Stanley,  Ph.D. — "Adolescence:  Its  Psychology  and  Its 
Relations  to  Physiology,  Anthropology,  Sociology,  Sex, 
Crime,  Religion,  and  Education."  New  York,  D.  Apple- 
ton  &  Co.,  1904. 

Herbart,  John  Friedrich. — "Outlines  of  Educational  Doctrine." 
Translated  from  the  German  by  Alexis  F.  Lange,  Ph.D., 
The  Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  745 

Holmes,   Arthur,   Ph.D. — "Principles   of   Character   Making." 

Philadelphia,  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  1913. 
Mangold,   George   B.,   Ph.D.— "Problems  of   Child   Welfare." 

The  Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 
McKeever,  Wm.  A.— "Outhnes  of  Child  Study:  A  Text  Book  for 

Parent-Teachers  Associations,  Mothers'  Clubs,  and  all 

Kindred  Organizations."    The  Macmillan  Co.,  1915. 
National  Association  for  the  Study  and  Education  of  Exceptional 

Children. — "Proceedings,    1910    and    1911."     Plainfield, 

N.J. 
Naiional  Conference  on  the  Education  of  Backward,  Truant,  and 

Delinquent    Children. — "Proceedings,    1906    and    1907." 

O.  E.  Darnell,  Sec'y,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Oppenheim,  Nathan,  M.D.— "The  Development  of  the  Child." 

The  Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 
O'Shea,  M.  V. — "Dynamic  Factors  in  Education."     The  Mac- 
millan Co.,  1909. 
Siguin,  Edward. — "Report  on  Education."     Milwaukee,  1880. 
Shearer,  WUliam  J.,  Pd.D. — "The  Management  and  Training  of 

Children."     New  York,  Richardson,  Smith  &  Co.,  1904. 
Shute,  Henry  A.— "The  Real  Diary  of  a  Real  Boy."     Boston, 

The  Everett  Press  Co.,  1909. 
Smith,  William  Hawley.— "All  the  Children  of  All  the  People." 

The  Macmillan  Co.,  1914. 
Stoner,  Winifred  Sackville. — "Natural  Education,"    Indianap- 
olis, The  Bobbs-Merrill  Co.,  1914. 
Talbot,    Eugene   S.,    M.D.,    D.D.S. — "Degeneracy."     London, 

England,  The  Walter  Scott  Publishing  Co.,  Ltd.;    New 

York,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 
Taylor,  J.  Madison,  M.D.— "Difficult  Boys."    New  York,  The 

Popular  Science  Monthly,  October,  1906. 
"The  Uplift  Book  of  Child  Culture."     Uplift  Publishing  Co., 

Philadelphia. 
Thorndike,    Edward    L. — "Education.     A    First   Book."     The 

Macmillan  Co.,  191 2. 
Warner,  Francis,  M.D.— "The  Study  of  Children  and  Their 

School  Training."    The  Macmillan  Co.,  1915. 
Weimer,  Dr.  Herman.— "The  Way  to  the  Heart  of  the  Pupil." 

Translated  from  the  German  by  J.  Remsen  Bishop.    The 

Macmillan  Co.,  1913. 


746  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Welton,  J.,  D.Litt.,  M.  A.— "What  Do  We  Mean  by  Education?" 
London,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  Ltd.;  1914. 

Winierburn,  Florence  Hull. — "From  the  Child's  Standpoint. 
Views  of  Child  Life  and  Nature."  New  York,  The  Baker 
&  Taylor  Co.  (Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.),  1899. 


INDEX 


A's,  loo,  p.  323. 

Abacus,  338. 

Aberrations,  430. 

Abnormal  children,  8,  13,  15,  63,  67, 

70,  72.  77,  142.  374.  430,  496/.,  577- 
Abnormalities  of  growth,  99,  579. 
Abortion,  410/. 
Absent-mindedness,  104. 
Abstract  thought,  15. 
Abstract  work,  149. 
Acceleration,  65,  107. 
Accidents,  62. 

Accuracy,  standards  of,  519. 
Add  test,  170. 
Acquired  conditions,  592. 
Acromegaly,  640. 
Action,  487,  490. 
Activities  (tests),  332. 
Adding  game,  339. 
Adenoids,  61,  482,  581,  586  S;  621, 

679,  688. 
Adjustment,  58,  509,  547. 
Adolescence,  137,  198,  200,  207,  217, 

429,  556,  649,  681,  685. 
Adrenals,  632  J".,  657. 
Adults,  40,  82,  180,  611. 
Advanced  period,  42. 
Adventuresomeness,  55. 
^Esthetic  attitude,  359  jf. 
Affection,  641. 
Age  (school),  389/. 
Agenetic  type,  572. 
Agraphia,  103,  126,  144,  149,  256. 
Agriculture,  21. 
Ainus,  171. 
Air,  652. 
Alaska,  360^. 
Alcohol   (alcoholism).    152,   204,   227, 

580,  63s,  641,  677. 
Alexia,  103,  126,  144,  149,  256. 
Alignment  (teeth),  585. 
Altruism,  693/. 
Ambleside,  417. 
Amblyopia,  618. 
Amentia,  140,  161,  163. 
America,  481. 

American  Academy  of  Medicine,  60. 
American  type,  2,  57,  171/.,  176. 
composite  stock,  30,  50. 
international  in  essence,  2. 
Amusement,  211. 


Anaemia,  loi,  103,  580,  581. 
Anaemic  children,  501. 
Anatomical  growth,  99. 

anatomical  age,  99.  285. 

anatomical  conditions,  144. 
Anatomical  tests,  235. 
Anatomy  of  f eeble-mindedness,  698  S- 
Anchor  puzzles,  354. 
Angelo,  Michael,  119,  127. 
Anomaly  of  character,  694. 
Anthropometric  data,  234. 
Anxiety,  580,  672. 
Aphasia,  144,  149. 
Appendicitis,  635. 
Apperceptive  basis,  324,  509,  536. 

apperceptive  abihty,  352,  536. 
Appetite,  100,  654. 
Aptitudes.  441,  460,  484. 
Arithmetic,  149,  340^.,  440,  451,  527, 

536. 
Arnold,  Dr.  E.  H.,  592,  704. 
Arrest  of  development,  8,  51,  62,  84, 

140,  162  J".,  201. 
Art  expression,  359  Jf. 

art  studies,  377. 

art  work.  516  j^. 
Articulation.  100,  512/.,  602. 
Articulo-respiratory  centre,  603. 
Artistic  type.  15,  58,  118,  127,  484. 
Asceticism,  673. 
Asiatic  mind,  193. 
Assimilation,  580. 
Association,  316,  646,  676. 
Associational  fibres,  577. 
Asthenic,  632. 
Asthma,  633. 
Astigmatism,  103. 
Atavistic  types,  48,  63. 
Ataxias,  639. 
Athletic  games,  554  /. 
Attendance,  irregular,  482. 
Attendance  officers,  212,  494. 
Attention.    132,    154,  318,   487,  490, 

581,657/- 
Attitudes,  460. 

Atypical  children,  8,  61,  71,  97,  151, 
48s,  490,  504 #•.  583.  596/.,  629/., 
684. 
Auditory  sense,  611. 

auditory  areas,  621. 
Auditory  tests,  304/. 


747 


748 


INDEX 


Aural  memory,  150,  306  ff. 

Ausgedinge,  201. 

Austria,  481. 

Automatism,  135. 

Auxiliary  classes,  166. 

Average  children,  16,  70,  72,  36g. 

average  character,  73. 

average  normality,  81. 
Awakening  in  alarm,  153. 

Bacchus,  222. 

Backwardness,  16,  48,  51,  56,  81,  137, 
386,  391,  481/.,  580,  639  j.,  722. 
backward  races,  54. 
backward  types,  56. 

Balance,  72,  87,  97,  154. 
sense  of  balance,  316. 

Balkan  states,  54. 

Ballou,  Dr.  Frank  W.,  273,  341  /. 

Balzac,  Honore,  92. 

Barbarism,  201. 

Bard,  Sarah,  677. 

Bardeen,  Dr.  C.  B.,  397. 

Barefoot  Boy,  206,  440,  487. 

Barry,  John  D.,  202. 

Barry,  Richard,  45. 

Basedow's  disease,  632,  640. 

Baths,  627,  629,  655/. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  92. 

Beethoven,  127. 

Beggars,  173. 

Bell.  Prof.  J.  C,  265. 

Benefit  of  the  doubt,  179. 

Berlin,  418. 

Betting,  192. 

Bibliography,  Ti()f. 

Big  Brother  and  Big  Sister  Move- 
ment, 553. 

Binet  (Simon)  Tests,  68,  73,  80/.,  150, 
162,  165/.,  170/.,  196,  232,  240, 
253/-,  320,  330,  347,  700/. 

Biological  laws  and  causes,  35,  40,  519. 

Birth,  571. 

conditions  of  birth,  280/. 
regulation  of  births,  410. 
birth,  instrumental,  640. 

Bisch,  Dr.  Louis  E.,  157. 

Black  Hand,  45,  193. 

Bleuler,  Dr.  E.,  649. 

Blindness,  8,  62,  66,  70,  97,  296,  382, 
386,  501/-,  597,  618/.,  640. 

Blood  conditions,  580,  636. 

Blood  tests,  701. 

Blue  Laws,  47. 

Body,  87,  99. 

body  measurements,  233  /. 

Bone  conditions,  636. 


Book  study,  440,  455. 

Boor,  49. 

Borderland  cases,  69. 

Bom  short,  58. 

Boston,  341  f.,  490,  580. 

Bottle-feeding,  584/. 

Bourneville,  Dr.,  701. 

Boy  Scouts,  549  f. 

Boys,    41,    82/.,    203,    220/.,  439, 

549/.,  682,  690/. 
Brain,  125/.,  135,  440,  S7i/-,  576/., 
582,  599,  618. 

unused  brain  cells,  20,  134. 

brain  centres,  54,  102,  103,  601 J^., 
618  Jf.,  701. 

retarded  brain  development,  62, 
104. 

brain  mechanism,  123. 

brain  defects,  639  Jf. 

brain  of  the  feeble-minded,  etc., 

699  Jf. 
Breast-feeding,  584  f. 
Breasts,  632. 
Breathing,  512  /.,   578,  586,   599  ff., 

609,  655. 
Bridgman,  Laura,  97,  703. 
Bright  children,  8,  15,  16,  106  ff.,  461. 
Bronner,  Augusta,  196. 
Browning,  Dr.  Wm.,  148. 
Buccaneers,  49. 
Budding  time,  132,  209,  373. 
Buffalo,  195. 
Building,  356. 

Burke,  Dr.  W.  F.  Blake-,  684,  704. 
Burlesque  shows,  558. 
Burns,  Robert,  92. 
Business  of  life,  4  /. 
By-products,  6,  388. 

Calcium  metabolism,  632. 

Calculating  immoral,  694  ff. 

Caldwell,  Armour,  5. 

Camorra,  45,  199. 

Campbell,  Alfred  W.,  701. 

Camps,  378. 

Cancer,  635. 

Captains  of  industry,  24,  30. 

Caries,  585. 

Carpal  bones,  235  /.,  636. 

Carrigan,  Rose  A.,  340. 

Carter,  R.  B.,  452. 

Carus,  Dr.  Paul,  124,  440. 

Castes,  22. 

Categorical  imperative,  547, 

Categories  (tests),  333. 

Catholic  University,  452. 

Caucasians,  171/. 


INDEX 


749 


Census,  494. 

Centres  of  industry,  etc.,  26. 

Cerebral  defects,  572,  640. 

Cerebral  palsy,  680. 

Cerebrospinal  meningitis,  640. 

Certificates  of  employment,  495. 

Certificates  of  scholarship,  450. 

Change  of  schools,  61,  90,  482. 

Character,  186,  658,  693. 

Charity,  6,  49,  50,  94,  378,  384  /., 

479/- 
Chest  measurements,  580. 
Chicago,  580. 
Chicago  stock  yards,  164. 
Child    History,    232,    233,    277   S-, 

504/- 
Child  hygiene,  427,  723^. 
Child  labor,  191,  389,  422,  493^. 
Child  study,  269. 
Child  welfare  dept.,  S5o. 
Childhood,  438,  572,  632. 

childhood,  diseases  of,  680. 
Children,  40,  82,  89,   165.   180,   200, 

201,  202,  207,  219,  225,  4IO#.,  416, 

422,  427  /.,  457  /.,  489,   535  /•. 

549/.,  568,  611,631/. 
Children's  Courts,  385,  549/.,  692. 
Children's  stipends,  392. 
China  (Chinese),  45,  54,  188,  193. 
Chlorosis,  635. 

Chorea,  101,  104,  137,  581,  639. 
Chrisman,  O.,  329. 
Chronological  age,  99,  285,  389  jf. 
Church,  556. 

Church  and  Peterson,  135. 
Cigarettes,  204,  688. 
Ciphers,  329  Jf. 
Circtilation,  154. 
Circumcision,  690. 
Circumspection,  87. 
Circumstances,  66. 
Circumstantial  evidence,  232. 
City,  549/. 
Civic  Service,  58. 
Civilization,    36,   47,    137,    172,    175, 

177  /.,  j86  /.,  222,  325,  359,  388, 

42s,  440,  513,  516,  545- 
Civilization  levels,  35  /.,  58,  69,  93, 

171.  173.  192,  222,  256,  325,  459. 
Classification,   60  /.,   232,   539,   562, 

592.  719- 
industrial  classification,  166. 
limitations,  63. 
tests,  332. . 
Clay  modelling,  516. 
Cleanliness,  47. 
Clinical  studies,  150,  162,  180,  268/. 


Clinics, 

dental  clinic,  479. 

educational  clinic,  113,  157,  212, 
268/..  277,  375,  475,  479. 

medical  clinic,  212,  272  /.,  475, 
479- 

orthopedic  clinic,  479. 

psychological  clinic,  212,  269  /., 
479- 

psychopathic    clinic,     157,    212, 
271/-.  479- 

speech  clinic,  609. 
Clothing,  580,  631,  655. 
Clubs  (boys'),  555/. 
Co-efl&cient  of  growth,  580. 

co-efficient  of  vital  capacity,  580. 
Cohn,  Prof.  Herrmann,  298. 
Collection  of  data,  401. 
Collier,  John,  550/. 
Colliver,  Dr.  J.  A.,  687,  704. 
Colonies  for  epileptics,  199. 
Color,  237,  257,  512. 

color  blind,  237,  257,  300. 

color  cubes,  354. 

color  tests,  300. 
Colored    school    children,    51,    171, 

380. 
Combination,  individual,  489. 
Comfort  stations,  219. 
Commercial  organizer,  15. 
Commercialized  recreation,  555  /. 
Commission  of  experts,  232. 
Common,  243,  222. 
Common  branches,  443. 
Common  sense,  82,  180,  183,  266/. 
Communication,  means  of,  22. 
Community,  186,  421. 

community  demands,  40. 

community- efficiency,  25,  67. 

community  problems,  5,  549/. 
Companions,  210. 
Competency,  19  /.,  34,  39,  42  /.,  82, 

87.  489- 
Completion  test,  327/. 
Composite  American  stock,  30,  50. 
Composition  (test),  335. 
Compulsory  education,  212,  380  ff., 

491.  493- 
Computation  of  results,  2SQjff. 
Computing,  132. 
Concentration,  61,  102,  154,  321  /., 

487.  577.  582,  663. 
Conception  (in  utero),  571. 
Concepts,  conception,  134. 
Concomitant    factors    of    backward- 
ness, 639. 
Conditioning,  676. 


750 


INDEX 


Conduct,  39,  40/.,  47,  209,  647. 

methodical,  69. 

primitive,  54. 
Confidence,  490. 
Conflicts,  165. 
Conformists,  80,  86,  460. 
Congenital  conditions,  58,  61  ff.,  69, 

140,  153,  163/.,  231/.,  571,  592. 
Congestion,  urban,  10. 
Conquered  tribes,  50. 
Consanguinity,  644. 
Conscientiousness,  673. 
Conscious   (consciousness),   133,   135, 

142,  201,  488,  646. 
Conservation,  17. 

Constipation,  sgoff.,  632,  655,  686. 
Constitutional  immoral,  693  ff. 
Constitutional  inferiority,  635. 
Constitutional  liars,  208. 
Construction  (test),  349  J^-.  3S6#. 
Constructive  type,  15. 
Contagious  diseases,  581. 
Contemporary  ancestors,  50. 
Contents  of  children's  minds,  324. 
Contractures,  593  !• 
Contrariness,  61. 
Conventional  standards,  228. 
Conventional  symbolism,  461. 
Convulsions,  100,  639/.,  680. 
Co-operation,  546. 
Co-ordination,  519^. 
Copying  (test),  335- 
Corpus  luteum,  632. 

corpus  callosum,  703. 
Correction,  6,  385. 
Cortex,  13s,  577. 
Cost  of  protection,  6. 

cost  of  education,  6. 

cost  of  maintenance,  etc.,  497  ff. 
Counting,  132,  149,  337/- 

counting  period,  337. 
Country  children,  568. 
Course  of  study,  376/.,  444,  484,  501, 

506/.,  Sioj.,  539.  575- 
Courtis,  S.  A.,  341. 

Courtis  tests,  340  J". 
Courts,  6. 
Courtships,  219. 
Crampton,  Dr.  C.  Ward,  99,  235  /., 

596,  704. 
'Cranks,  9,  67,  122. 
►Crawford,  Nina  L.,  378. 
'Creation,  217. 
'Creative  force,  87. 
'Creative  methods,  509. 
tCrstins,  63',  632,  639. 
tCrUe,  Dr.  Geo.  W.,  45- 


Crime  (criminals,  criminality),  9,  14, 
48,  56,  123,  142,  152,  160,  168,  173, 
185/..  193,  199,  217,  384,  391,  401, 
495 /-,  550/.,  687/.,  694/.,  733/. 

Crippled  children,  8,  62,  66,  381,  386, 
501.  597- 

Crises  in  development,  428. 

Crooks,  123,  404. 

Crowding  of  pupils,  1 1 . 

Cruelty,  188,  201/. 

Cube  puzzle,  353. 

Cultural  efficiency,  88. 

Cultural  scale,  58. 

Culture  epochs,  40  J".,  65,  83, 167,  249, 
359/-,  468,  489,  518. 

Cure,  576. 

Curriculum,  cf.  Course  of  study. 

Custodial  care,  14,  72,  177,  212,  377, 
398,  482,  498  #. 

Daily  life,  506. 

daily  routine,  628. 
Dance  halls,  558  jf. 
Danger-signals,  97,  99/.,  430. 
Danielson,  Dr.  Florence  H.,  399. 
Darenth  Industrial  Colony,  499. 
Darwin,  Charles,  92. 
Davenport,  Prof.  C.  B.,  159,  399. 
Davis,  Philip,  552. 

Deafness  (deaf  children),  8,  62,   70, 
97  /•.  257,  305,  381  /.,  SOI  /.,  597, 
608  J?".,  621,  640. 
Debiles,  70. 
Defecation,  591. 
Defectives,  381  f.,  386. 

mental  defectives,  13,  14,  36,  40, 

67,  98,  140,  207,  576. 
physical  defectives,  40. 
Defects,  physical,  567  J".,  582,  722/. 
functional,  100,  572  #. 
mental,    140,    161,   481,    567  ff., 
572/. 
Deffenbaugh,  W.  S.,  491  #. 
Deficiency  scale,  78. 
Definitions,  510. 
Deformity,  9,  61,  62,  386,  482,  572, 

592/. 
Degenerates  (degeneracy),  36  /.,  50, 

208,  372,  635,  697. 
Delinquency    (delinquents),    48,    119, 
171,     185^.,     236,    384/-,    479/-. 
491/.,  549/-.  687  Jf.,  733/- 
psychopathic  delinquency,  142. 
delinquency    and   feeble-minded- 
ness,  193. 
Delinquent  girls,  256. 
Dementia,  140,  161. 


INDEX 


751 


Dementia  praecox,  151,  639,  648  # 
Dementia  senilis,  226. 
Democracy,  176. 

democracy  in  education,  i. 

democracy  and  eflBcienor,  29,  31. 

democracy  and  civilization  levels, 
56/.,  176. 
Demoor  size-weight  illusion,  349. 
Dental  clinics,  479. 
Dental  defects,  568,  581,  632,  636. 
Dentition,  680. 
Dependent  children,  479,  493. 
Depressive  mania,  152. 
Derailment,  72,  209. 
Derelicts,  9,  186. 
Destructiveness,  104. 
Detention  home,  241,  479. 
Deterioration,  37. 
Developmental  disturbances,  142,  162 

/.,  482,  S7i/.,  635- 
Developmental  stages  (periods),  40  j., 

154,  167/.,  359/- 
Deviations  from  the  normal,  73,  372, 

474- 
Diabetes  insipidus,  loi. 
Diagnosis,  145,  162, 178,  403, 475, 611, 

619. 
Diagram  of  endowments,  369. 
Diagram  of  social  strata,  64,  72. 
Dictation  (test),  335. 
Didactic  material  (Montessori),  470. 
Diet,  237,  629,  653,  682. 

diet  for  epileptics,  678  /. 
Dietary,  579. 

Differentiation,  17,  31,  65,  377,  441. 
Difficult  children  8,  484,  491. 
Digestion,  loi,  679/. 
Digestive   disturbances,    56,    100  /., 

103,  154,  679/- 
Diphtheria,  640. 
Directions,  following,  321. 
Discipline,  97,  103,  142,  165,  484,  488, 

506,  673,  680. 
Discrimination  (test),  347. 
Diseases,  207,  237,  281,  429/.,  579/^ 

680. 
Disobedience,  152,  433,  489. 
Dissected  pictures,  353. 
Dissipation,  39,  138. 
Distinguished  dunces,  92. 
Divorce,  224,  407,  493. 
Dizziness,  loi,  154. 
Dolan,  Judge,  203. 
Doll  play,  417,  426  #. 
Domestic  work,  522. 
Domesticated  minds,  178. 
Donaldson,  H.  H.,  703. 


Dots,  100,  355 /. 

Doyle,  J.  H.,  346. 

Dramatic  instinct,  20S,  427,  468,  513. 

Dramatizations,  513,  516. 

Drawing,  359/-.  520. 

Dreams,  134,  153,  198,  207,  671. 

Drink,  incorrect,  653. 

Drug  habit,  688. 

Drugs,  56. 

Drunkenness  (c/.  alcoholism),  39,  204, 

222,  697. 
Ductless  glands,  70,  632  ff.,  639,  643, 

656/. 
Duels,  189,  212. 
Dullard,  452. 
Dulness,  13,  70,  163,  386,  430/.,  580, 

581,   597- 
Dumb,  62,  382/.,  609/. 
Dysgenetic  form,  572. 
Dystrophies,  infantile,  636,  639, 

Ear,  640. 

Early  marriages,  405  ff. 
Eastland  disaster,  185. 
Eccentricity,  72. 
Echolalia,  103. 

Economic  pressure,  58,  202,  227. 
Economic  problems,  14,  164. 
Economipally  submerged  children,  8. 
Eczema,  632. 
Edinburgh,  579. 
Edison,  Thomas,  92. 
Education,  i  f.,  10,  16,  47,  70,  197, 
210,  227,  376,  420,  425,  439,  534,/., 
573,  581,  611. 

education    and    national    ideals, 

3/- 
Educational  clinic,  113,  158,  268  Jf., 

277.  475- 
Educational  expert,  273. 
Educational  status,  370/. 
Educational  tests,  237,  291  jff. 
Efficiency,  18  Jf.,  44,  67,  74,  80,  82, 
87,    106,   156,   176,   183,   267,  325, 
391,  441.  548. 

standards  of  efficiency,    18,   38, 
248. 

efficiency  experts,  18,  28. 

efficiency  tests,  18. 

efficiency  and  skill,  18. 

efficiency  and  normality,  86. 

manual  efficiency,  loi. 

training  for  efficiency,  508. 
Efforts,  646. 
E-fork  test,  298. 
Egyptian  art,  360/. 
Elimination,  654. 


752 


INDEX 


Ellis,  Dr.  Frederick  W.,  167. 

Ellis  Island,  230. 

Embryonic  life,  635. 

Emotion,  138,  165,  359,  490,  513,  537, 

66s/.,  697- 

lack  of  emotion,  201. 
Emotional  states,  142,  149,  151. 
Endowments,  12,  19,  58,  368/. 

combination  of  endowments,  26, 
42. 
England,  481,  499. 
Enrichment  of  course,  377. 
Enuresis,  632,  636,  682. 
Environment,  18,  44,  62,  66,  118,  136, 

140,  164,  173/.,  210/.,  373,  40s  jf., 

418/.,  571/.,  634/.,  687,  698. 
Epilepsy    (epileptics),    62,    104,    152, 

231.    271,    382,    502  /.,    636,    639, 

677/. 
epilepsy  and  crime,  199,  697. 
Epiphyses,  636. 
Equilibriiun,  69,  72,  122/.,  138,  153, 

681. 
Eroticism,  132. 
Eskimos.  171,  200. 
Essentials,  442. 
Ethical  (element),  142,  373. 
Ethical  Culture  School,  450,  564. 
Ethnic,  136,  137. 
Ethnological  research,  272. 
Etiological  data,  233. 
Eugenics,  38,  230,  373,  393  /.,  576, 

644,  735  /• 
Europe,  219. 
Everson,  Geo.,  553. 
Evolution  (individual),  40,  42. 
Examination  for  high  school,  448  /. 
Examinations,  92. 
Example,  210,  420,  463,  687,  698. 
Exceptional  children,  8,  15/.,  52,  372, 

559,  680,  681. 

exceptionally  bright  children,  8, 

16,  106/.,  392. 
teachers  for  exceptional  children, 
543- 
Exceptional    development,     230    f., 

571 /• 
Excitability,  102,  104 
Excluded  children,  382. 
Exercise,  590  /.,  627,  629,  654,  662  /. 
Experience,  367,  420,  489/.,  509/. 
Experiment,  440. 
Expression,  359/-,  44°.  5 13. 
Eyes,  9,  97,  103,  580. 

Factory  methods,  27/.,  175/. 
Facts  vs.  imagination,  468. 


Facts  vs.  interpretation,  96. 
Fasces,  loi. 

Failures,  2,  6,  7,  9,  10,  14. 
"Fall"  of  girls,  221/. 
Fall  River,  559. 
Family,  165,  213/. 
family  data,  23 1  /. 
family  government,  433. 
family  histories,  402  f. 
family  traits,  65,  213/. 
Family  physician,  427. 
Farm  schools,  212,  378. 
Farnell,  Dr.  Frederic  J.,  154/.,  645. 

704. 
Farrell,  Elizabeth  E.,  159. 
Fatherhood,  405  /.,  413,  437, 
Fathers,  405/.,  427. 
Fatigue,  102,  133,  152,  367. 

fatigue  period,  117,  428. 
Faucett,     blind     postmaster-general, 

622. 
Fears,  61,  153,  207,  669/. 
Feeble-minded  deaf,  617. 
Feeble-mindedness,  8,  13  /.,  36,  38,  50, 

63,  69,  81  /.,   123  /.,   143,   159  S; 

193  .if-,  204,  213,  230/.,  262,  271, 

381  /.,  386,  399  /.,  401,  496  /., 

698/.,  731/. 
Feeling,  487. 
Femininity,  84. 
Fernald,  Dr.  Walter  E.,  194,  197,  263, 

499,  699/ 
Fetichism,  427. 
Feuds,  212. 

Field  officer,  385,  495/. 
Field  of  search,  355. 
Field  work,  232,  402/. 
Filipinos,  54,  171/ 
Finger-spelling,  614, 
Fixed  ideas,  152. 
Flabbiness,  cidt  of,  547. 
Flatfoot,  580. 
Flegeljahre,  84. 
Flexner,  Dr.  Abraham,  227. 
Flexner,  Mary,  491. 
Food,  627,  653. 
Forcing  process,  578. 
Ford,  Henry,  378. 
Forest  schools,  212,  378. 
Forethought,  87. 
Form,  512,  527/. 
Form  boards,  171,  350/. 
Form  tests,  354. 
Formal  training,  370,  377. 
Formalism,  455. 

Eraser,  Prof.  D.  Kennedy,  347  /. 
Free  will,  692. 


INDEX 


753 


Freedom,  455,  465. 

Fretfulness,  103. 

Freud,  Prof.  Sigmund,  igS. 

Prick,  Kathrjne,  503. 

Fright,  62,  153,  640. 

Frbbel,     Friedrich,     92,     417,     425, 

4S6/. 
Frontal  region,  135. 
Fulgate,  Mary  R.,  203. 
Fundamental  verities,  430. 
Furbush,  Edith  M.,  231. 

G..  P.  E.,  115 1.  707  Jf. 

Galton,  Prof.  F.,  127. 

Gambling,  48,  192. 

Games,  514,  SA9f;  663. 

Gangs,  206,  209. 

Garrett,  Mary  S.,  502. 

Gastropathy,  661. 

Gauss,  Karl  Friedrich,  128. 

Gayley,  Prof  Chas.  Mills,  439. 

Genitals,  236,  681/. 

Genito-urinary  system,  689. 

Genius,  15,  43,  61,  67,  75,  118,  122  Jff., 

127/.,  133.  136.  138,  573- 
Geographical  conditions,  50,  52. 
Geography,  526. 
Geometric  design,  354. 
Germ  plasm,  571  Jf.,  675. 
German  pedagogy,  466. 
Germany,  88,  481,  673. 
Gerry  Society,  553. 
Gifts  (kindergarten),  357. 
Girls,  82/.,  213/..  221,  256,  417,  682. 
Glogau,  Dr.  Otto,  148,  599,  704. 
Gnawing  fox,  667. 
God,  436. 
Goddard,  Dr.  H.  H.,  159/.,  162,  168, 

170,  175.  251.  350- 
Goethe,  127,  281. 
Goodhart,  Dr.  P.  S.,  128/. 
Goodnow,  Judge,  222. 
Government,  175. 
Grades,  441. 
Graft,  203. 
Grant,  Ulysses,  121. 
Graves,  Floyd,  290. 
Greeks,  200. 
Grief,  580. 
Grimaces,  103. 
Grip,  101. 

Group  backwardness,  49,  58. 
Groups,  441. 
Growing  pains,  loi. 
Growth,   136  /.,   164,  167,  238,  427, 

440,  460. 

retarded  growth,  62,  105,  580. 


capacity  for  growth,  87,  89. 
principles  of  gtowth,  99. 
growth  periods,  99,  117. 
accelerated  growth  rate,  107  JT. 
Gutzmann,  Dr.,  608. 

Haberman,  Dr.  J.  Victor,  142. 

Habit,  23,  153,  211,  419/.,  487/-,  597, 
648.  673.  688,  692. 
habit  formation,  69,  487  /. 
habit  tics,  103.  153,  639.  (C/.  tic.) 
habit  training,  153. 

Habits  of  living,  626  J^. 

Habitual  constipation,  590. 

Hackel,  Prof.  Friedrich,  164. 

Haines,  Prof.  Thomas  H.,  197,  495. 

Hair  irregularities,  636. 

Hall,  G.  Stanley,  137. 

Halleck,  Reuben  Post,  30. 

Hallucinations,  153. 

Hammerberg,  701. 

Handicaps,  98.  572. 

Hardening,  psychic,  674- 

Harikari,  193. 

Harris,  Dr.  Wm.  A..  463, 

Haskell,  Ellen  M.,  432. 

Hastings'  Manual  of  Physical  Mea- 
surements, 2&5_ff. 

Haydn,  Josef,  127. 

Head  injuries,  680. 

Headache,  97,  loi,  103. 

Headlong  marriages,  407. 

Health,  427.  571. 

Health  aspect.  375. 

Health  inspection  of  schools,  494. 

Healy,  Dr.  Wm.,  19s,  332,  35°  /•. 
353.  496,  647,  700. 

Hearing,  97,  602  _ff. 

defective  hearing,  9,  61,  96,  103, 
144,  148,  482,  600  ff.,  610  jf., 
689. 
hearing  tests,  304/..  5i3- 

Hearst,  Wm.  Randolph,  185. 

Heart,  100,  681. 

Height  of  children,  284^.,  431,  580. 

Heine,  Heinrich,  394. 

"Herbart  Hall,"  121,  130/.,  243,  276, 
463/,  590. 

Herbart,  Joh.  Fried.,  40. 

Hereditary  weakness,  626^. 

Heredity,  19,  42,  58,  62,  118,  136,  140, 
174.  213/.,  393  Jf-.  399 /•.  418/., 
427.  571/-.  635,  692,  735 /. 

Hetherington,  C.  W.,  445/.,  486. 

Hiatt,  James  S.,  205. 

High  school,  442. 

Hines,  Albert  B  ,  549^. 


754 


INDEX 


Histological  studies,  701  /. 
Historical  influences,  58. 
History,  527.  ' 

history  teaching  superficial,  3. 
Hoag,  Dr.  Ernest  Bryant,  242. 
Hoch,  Dr.  August,  640  /. 
Hollander,  Dr.  Bernard,  142. 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  575. 
Home,  165,  210,  227,  373,  398. 

home  activities,  credits  for,  450. 

home  education,  409^.,  611  jf. 

home  life,  409  j^. 

home-making,  520. 

home  problems,  736  /. 

home  schools,  212,  377/. 

home  visitors,  583. 
"Honest  Tom,"  422. 
Hormone-therapy,  638. 
Hoyt,  Justice  Franklin  C,  S5i- 
Huey,  Dr.  E.  B.,  162, 163,  253  f.,  330, 

332. 
Human  raw  material,  5  f.,  496. 
Human  society,  72,  74. 
Human  species,  65. 
Hydrocephalics,  63,  639. 
Hygiene,  427/.,  430,  580,  723/. 
Hypermetropic,  618. 
Hyperthymism,  148. 
Hypoplasia,  635/. 

Hysteria,  61,  104,  152,  198,  639,  659, 
668. 

Ideals,  646. 

Ideas,  666. 

Ideas,  train  of,  316. 

Idiots  (idiocy),  63,  70,  160  ff.,  619, 

639- 
Idiots-savants,  123,  124. 
Idleness,  203. 
Idols,  427. 

Idols  of  education,  439. 
Ignorance,  215. 
Igorot,  171. 
Illegitimacy,  227. 
Illegitimate  children,  395. 
Illegitimate  matings,  395  /. 
Illiteracy,  181,  325. 
Illness,  482. 
Illusions,  153,  349. 
Images,  132/. 

Imagination,  61,  104,  207,  468,  659. 
Imbeciles,  63,  70,  ibof.,  193  jf.,  694. 
Imitation,  317,  420,  462. 
Immigration    (immigrants),    11,    22, 

57,  164,  181,  483,  493. 
Immorality,  692. 
Immunity  (racial),  573. 


Impulses,  36,  45,  54/.,  132,  198,  209, 

219,  222,  227,  488,  646,  697. 
Impulsive  immoral,  694  ff. 
Inarticulate  sounds,  601  Jf. 
Inattention,  104. 
Inaudi,  123. 
Incendiaries,  198. 
Incorrigible,  212,  384  jf.,  491. 
Increment,  i9#.,  36. 
Indians,  171,  360/. 
Indigent  parents,  494. 
Indigestion,  103,  689. 
Individual  child,  12,  373. 

individual  adjustment,  58. 

individual  attitude,  65. 

individual    differences,    13,    376, 
460,  536  /. 

individual  efficiency,  33,  489. 

individual  evolution,  40,  42,  425. 

individual  experience,  367. 

individual  problems,  699  jff. 
Individualism,  211  /.,  424,  457. 
Individuality,  211,  423. 
Individualization,  644,  699^. 
Industrial  problems, 

saving  of  waste,  5. 

by-products,  6. 

machinery,  21. 

centres  of  industry,  26. 

localization  of  industries,  26. 
Industrial  schools,  384. 
Inebriety,    39,    204,    222,   697.    {Cf. 

alcoholism). 
Ineffectiveness,  14. 
IneflSciency,  434. 
Infancy  period,  41,  428,  571  jf. 
Infant  mortality,  427. 
Infantile  roots,  645. 

infantile  conditions,  684/. 
Infantilism,  632,  635,  640. 
Infection,  loi,  571,  635,  641,  689. 
Infectious    diseases,    429,    581,    640^ 

677. 
Inflammation,  loi. 
Inherent  immoral,  693  jff. 
Inhibition,  55,  61,  67,  154,  198,  688. 
Initiative,  87. 
Injuries,  680. 

Insanity  (insane),  8,  14,  63,  69,  123, 
142,  162,  173,  197,  677,  680,  694, 
697. 
Insanity  scale,  78. 
Insomnia,  102,  665. 
Instincts,  36,  39,  41,  46  ff.,  58,  70, 
125,  132,  151,  154,  191.  198,  200/., 
207  jff.,    217,    222,    229,   416,   426, 
433.  487  /•.  520,  646,  697. 


INDEX 


'55 


Institutions  for  exceptional  children, 

377.  481/.,  48s.  504/. 
Instruction,  506,  508  J^. 
Instrumental  birth,  640. 
Intelligence,  81,  162,  2^2,  264/. 

intelligence  tests,  150,  263  #. 
Intemperance,  223,  665. 
Intensity,  154. 
Intercourse,  221,  681. 
Interest,  132,  441,  489/. 
Intermediate  period,  42. 
International  problem,  138. 
International  Sunshine  Society,  501. 
Intestinal  intoxication,  loi. 

intestinal  parasites,  loi,  689. 
Intoxication.  56,  222. 
Intrauterine  life,  571  J". 
Intriguing,  152. 
Inversion,  152,  220,  685. 
Irritability,  61,  103,  688,  697. 
Italy,  219. 
Itard,  700. 

Jacobi,  Dr.  Abraham,  562,  704. 

Jail,  203. 

James,  Prof.  Wm.,  132. 

Janet,  C,  673. 

Japan  (Japanese),  138,  193,  66j. 

Jaw-bones,  585/. 

Johnson,  Alexander,  262. 

Johnson,  Chas.  H.,  171  jf- 

Johnstone,  E.  R.,  401. 

Joy,  490. 

Judgment,   103,   126,   181,  262,  296, 

318,  667. 

problem  in  judgment,  34s  /. 
Judgment  of  the  examiner,  263. 
Justice,  186. 
Juvenile  courts,   19s  /.,   I99,   203  /., 

210,  212,  242,  385,  549  ff.,  692. 
Juvenile  delinquency,  185  jff.,  491  £•, 

549 1.,  687. 

Kallikak  family,  402. 
Kant,  Immanuei,  547. 
Keller,  Helen,  97  /.,  503. 
Kepler,  Joh.,  25. 
Kidneys,  10 1. 

Kindergarten,  137,  357,  4SS/- 
Knauer,  Dr.  A.,  150. 
Knox,  Dr.  Howard  A.,  181,  318  ff., 
3SS.  648,  704. 

Knox  Cube  Test,  318/. 
Kotelmann,  Prof.  L.,  290. 
Kraflt-Ebing,  R.  von,  697. 
Krans,  Dr.  Edw.  S.,  629,  704. 
Kr^pelin,  Dr.  E.,  194,  197,  649. 


Kuhlmann,  Dr.  F.,  165. 
Kussmaul,  Prof.  Ad.,  602. 

Labor,  care  in,  414. 

labor,  delayed,  440. 
Laboratories,  377. 
Laboratory  work,  519. 

laboratory  tests,  235. 
Laisser  aller,  388. 
Lamb,  Chas.,  157. 
Lameness,  61,  482. 
Language,  144,  611  #. 

language,    unacquaintance  with, 

93-  .     ^    ^. 

language-making    period    (m- 
stinct),  132. 

language  tests,  325  ff.,  255  ff. 

language  teaching,  529. 

language  centres,  603. 
Lassitude,  580. 
Law,  395,  552  J". 

law  vs.  crime,  185  ff. 
Laziness,  103. 

Leaders  (leadership),  87,  198,  460/. 
Left-handedness,  loi. 
Legal  status  of  child,  374. 

legal  aspects,  739. 

legal  provisions,  230  ff. 
Leukemia,  loi. 
Levels,  266. 

Lewis,  Dr.  F.  Park,  618,  705. 
Lichtenheim  speech  schema,  146/. 
Lindsay,  329. 
Lines,  347. 

Linguistic  type,  118,  258/. 
Lip-reading,  305,  buff. 
Literature,  531/. 

Localization  of  brain  functions,  701. 
Location,  sense  of,  315,  512. 
Loeb,  Dr.  Jacques,  600/. 
Logical  fallacies,  169. 
London,  579. 
London,  Jack,  41,  189. 
Longfellow,  119. 
Los  Angeles,  692. 
Love,  228/.,  394 Jf-,  4^^  ff- 
Lying  (lies),  104,  152,  207,  432,  646. 

McCallie's  Vision  Tests,  298  /. 
McCord,  Dr.  Clinton  P.,  173- 
McCready,  Dr.  E.  Bosworth,  633,  705. 
McDonald,  Arthur,  187,  190. 
McNamara  brothers,  48. 
Machinery,  21,  28,  34,  176,  178/. 
MacMurchy,  Dr.  Helen,  166,  498  Jf. 
Macrocephalics,  63,  639. 
Mafia,  45. 


756 


INDEX 


Magic  square,  346. 

Main,  Dr.  D.  C,  677,  705. 

Majority,  391. 

Make-up,  645. 

Makuen,  Dr.  C.  Hudson,  575,  705. 

Malaria,  loi. 

Malays,  172. 

Malnutrition,  93,  100,  103,  164,  428, 

579/-.  689. 
Malocclusion,  584^. 
Malpractice,  225. 
Man,  82  J'.,  415. 
Mangan,  119. 
Manias,  152  /.,  639,  672  J^.,  676,  687. 

popular  manias,  37. 
Manual  training,  450,  518. 

manual  efSciency,  loi. 

manual  type,  484. 
Marital  relations,  216. 

marital  choice,  218. 
Marriage,  137,  218,  230,  393  ff-,  493  #• 
Mass.    Institution    for    the    Feeble- 
minded, 498. 
Mastication,  100,  584  jf. 
Masturbation,  152,  198,  220/.,  681  jff., 

686. 
Maternity,  see  motherhood. 

maternity  hospitals,  414. 

maternity  nurses,  414. 
Mathematical  type,  118,  128. 

mathematical  prodigy,  128. 
Matings,  393  ff. 
Maturity  (maturing),  54,  65,  82,  84, 

100,  138,  282,  389  jf.,  481. 
Mayo,  Marion  J.,  52. 
Measles,  100. 

Measurements,  100,  230/.,  283,  580. 
Mechanical  construction,  358/. 
Mechanical  treatment,  595. 
Mechanism,  667,  675. 
Medical  problems,  9,  14,  199. 

medical  aspects,  724/. 

medical      examination,     233  _ff., 
283/.,  381,  475  Jf. 

medical  inspection,  158,  212,  269 
/..  2gi,  375,  475  /.,  494,  579. 

medical  tests,  233  ff. 

medical  treatment,  629^. 
Medicoeducational  methods,  575  f. 
Mediocrity,  80,  369. 
Medulla  oblongata,  602. 
Mendelian  principles,  400. 
Menstruation,  632. 

Memory,  103,  106/.,  123,  126/.,  135, 
149,  258,  300  Jf.,  322,  487,  582,  646. 

memory,  aural,  149/.,  306  Jf. 

memory  defects,  102,  150. 


memory,  logical,  150,  301. 

memory,  motor,  135,315,318,488. 

memory,  visual,  149  /.,  300/.,  487. 
Mental  development,  577. 

mental  ag^,  80  j".,  162,  165,  248, 
251,  262,  389#- 

mental  attitudes  and  aptitudes, 
460. 

mental    attitude    in    defecation, 
591  /• 

mental    condition    of   epileptics, 
680. 

mental  constitutions,  38. 

mental  control,  loi. 

mental   defect,    14,    67  ff.,    161, 
430,  481,  498,  636,  640,  688,  697. 

mental  disorders,  102,  140,  430, 
568. 

mental  habits,  648. 

mental  retardation,  105,  164,  685. 

mental  status,  232,  282. 

mental  tests,  233,  238,  248,  700. 
Mentally  defective  deaf,  617. 
Merriam,  Prof.  J.  L.,  442  _ff. 
Merrill,  Rev.  Geo.  R..  418. 
Merrill,  Dr.  Lillian,  204,  232. 
Merzbach,  Dr.  Joseph,  591. 
Metabolic  processes,  681. 
Methodical  devices,  470. 
Methods,  132/.,  147,  451,  487,  508^., 

540,  575/-,  624/.,  741/. 
Meumann,  E.,  70/.,  159. 
Mexico,  45. 

Meyer,  Dr.  Adolf,  151,  635,  649/. 
Microcephalics,  63,  639. 
Middle  Ages,  222. 
Midwives,  414. 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  92,  658. 
Millennium,  545. 
Milton,  John,  127,  394,  412. 
Mind,  266,  576. 
Mineral  salts,  653. 
Minimum  requirements,  364. 
Miscarriages,  233,  280,  410/. 
Misconceptions,  209. 
Misfits,  38. 

Mismanaged  children,  61,  95. 
Mistakes,  learning  from,  87. 
Misunderstanding  a  child,  432. 
Mitchell,  C.  A.,  203. 
Mixed  types,  63. 
Mobs,  55. 
Modelling,  364. 
Modem    life    conditions,    complexity 

of,  21. 
Moll,  Dr.  Albert,  225  /. 
Mongolia,  188. 


INDEX 


757 


Mongolian  idiocy,  639. 

Montessori,  Dr.  Maria,  73, 458 Jf.,  700. 

Moods,  154. 

Moore,  Dr.  Ross,  692,  705. 

Moral  imbeciles,  63,  166, 168, 194,697. 

moral  defects,  430. 

moral  insanity,  197. 

moral  perverts,  63. 

moral  problems,  734/. 

moral  sense,  694. 

moral  standards,  200. 

moral  status,  281. 
Morbid  sexuality,  219. 
Morell,  Edward,  6,  189. 
Morons,  70,  160,  162,  165/. 
Morris,  Judge,  397. 
Morse,  Dr.  Josiah,  171. 
Mortgaged  inheritance,  136. 
Motbercraft  schools,  95,  418. 
Motherhood,  214,  405,  416^. 
Mothers'  clubs,  95. 
Mothers'  pensions,  392. 
Motion,  135,  490,  620. 
Motives,  66,  490. 
Motor  defects,  572,  697. 

motor    centres,    135,    147,    149, 
315,  488. 

motor  co-ordination,  314/.,  318. 

motor  disturbances,  61. 

motor  ideas,  125,  134. 

motor  problems,  599. 

motor  training,  488,  518. 

motor  type,  118,  484. 
Mouth,  583  /■ 

mouth  breathing,  586. 

mouth  hygiene,  627. 
Moving  pictures,  211,  377,  555. 
Mozart,  Wolfgang  Amadaeus,  127. 
MUller,  Arno,  i44#. 
Multiplication,  451. 
Munk,  Prof.  H.,  125,  136. 
Muscular  sense,  97,  315,  602. 

muscular  control,  loi. 
Musculature,  236. 
Music,  512/. 
Musical  prodigy,  123,  127. 

musical  type,  86. 
Mutter-  und  Koselieder,  465. 
Myers,  Dr.  C.  S.,  73. 
Myopia,  619. 
Mythology,  217. 
Myxoedematous,  632,  639. 

Nalvet^"',  201,  219. 
Naming  p>eriod,  132. 

naming  instinct,  132. 

naming  of  objects,  324. 


Napoleon,  186,  199. 
Nasal  obstructions,  9,  636. 

nasal  infections,  640. 
Nascent  periods,  132. 
Natal  influences,  571  ^. 
National  Ass'n  for  the  study  and  ed- 
ucation of  exceptional  children,  113, 
121,  128,  233. 
Nat'l  Consumers'  League,  412. 
Nat'l  Education  Association,  388. 
Nat'l  League  of  Compulsory  Educa- 
tion Officials,  493. 
National  type,  2. 

national  consciousness,  2. 

national  ideals,  3,  29. 

national  growth,  5. 

national  competency,  29. 

national  endowments,  29. 

national  efficiency,  29,  88. 

national  organizations,  30. 

national  tendencies  and  the  pub- 
lic school,  31. 
Nation-forming  period,  42,  65. 
"Natural  education,"  112. 
Natural  selection,  387. 
Nature  study,  525. 
Naughtiness,  61,  95,  154,  201,  426. 
Nausea,  154. 
Needlework,  519. 
Negativism,  61,  103,  152. 
Neglected  children,  61,  93,  483. 
Negritos,  171. 

Negro,  American,  52^.,  171. 
Nervous  children,  8,  61,  66,  69,  100, 
103,  597,  64s  jf. 

nervous  disease,  103. 

nervous  disorders,  9,  66,  102  /., 
727/. 

nervous  strain,  103,  151. 

nervous  system,  99,  122. 
Neurasthenia,  103,  122,  151  /.,  198, 

673.  676. 
Neurology,  122. 

Neuromuscular  education,  596^. 
Neurons,  bi2>f. 
Neuropathic,  122,  136. 
•  Neuropsychosis,  122. 
Neuroses,  573,  635,  639. 
Neurotic,  122,  200,  388,  645^. 
Neustadter,  Dr.  M.,  639,  705. 
Newark,  498. 
New  Jersey,  497  f. 
N.  J.    Commission    for    the    Blind, 

502. 
Newton,  128. 

New  York,  498,  501,  549^.,  580. 
Nietzsche,  Friedrich,  75. 


758 


INDEX 


Night  terror,  66g,  676,  680. 
Nitrogenous,  653. 
Nomadic  instinct,  207. 
Non-conforming,  3Q1. 
Non-pathological  brightness,  117,  126, 

128. 
Normal  children,   8,   60,  65,   70,   72, 

nl;  89,  559- 
Normality,  53,  64,  66,  69,  77^.,  161, 

373  /•.  390,  577  /•.  639. 
Normality  scales,  78. 
Norway,  481. 

Nosworthy,  Prof.  Naomi,  324. 
Number  concept,  148,  336  Jf. 
psychology  of  number,  149. 
number  work,  527. 
Nursery,  425,  430. 
Nurses,  385,  478. 
Nutrition,  427,  581  J". 

Obedience,  103,  432/.,  458,  488  J'. 

Obesity,  632. 

Objective  methods,  466  /.,  488,  509, 

598. 
Obscene,  217  X 
Observation,  458,  505. 

early  observation,  100. 

observation    classes,     180,     241, 
277,  478/.  483- 
Observational  attitude,  96. 
Obsessions,  61,  152,  153,  672. 
Obstetrics,  414,  574. 
Occlusion,  584^. 
Occupational  precautions,  627  /. 

occupational  efficiency,  87. 

occupational  schools,  212. 

occupational  training,  518. 

occupational  typ)es,  85,  441. 
Occupations  for  the  deaf,  615. 
Odum,  Howard  W.,  52. 
Old  World,  200. 
Olson,  Chief  Justice,  203. 
One-sided  development,  118. 
Ontari",  498/. 
Ontogeny,  164. 
Onuf,  Dr.  B.,  590,  705. 
Open-air  schools,  479,  501,  582,  629^., 

653- 

open-air  work,  377. 
Opotherapy,  633. 
Oppenheimer's  formula,  580. 
Opportunity,  12,  42,  391,  405/-,  483#, 

545- 
opportunity  classes,  484. 
Opposites,  332. 
Oral  hygiene,  583  ff. 
Oral  language,  325/. 


Organization,  problem  of,  372. 
Organotherapy,  637. 
Orientals,  193,  200,  218. 
Orthopedic  work,  479. 
Osborn,  Thomas  Mott,  6,  378. 
Osier,  Sir  Wm.,  568. 
Otis,  Dr.  Margaret,  256. 
Otitis,  621. 

Outdoor  (open-air)  schools,  629^. 
Ovarian,  632. 
Over-age  pupils,  79. 
Overexertion,  103. 
Overintensity,  664. 
Overstimulation,  580. 
Oxygenation,  586. 

Pain,  666. 

Painting,  364,  517. 

Palate,  high-arched,  636. 

Panics,  55. 

Paradise  of  childhood,  487. 

Paragenetic  variations,  572. 

Parallelism    (culture    epHjchs),    40^., 

359  I;  425.   457- 
Paralytic  children,  62,  639. 
Parasites,  loi. 
Parental  schools,  212,  243,  277,  378, 

384,  482,  494. 

parental  efficiency,  87. 
parental  relations,  216^. 
Parenthood,  411,  416. 

training  for  parenthood,  95. 
Parents,  100,  137,  165,  208,  215  f., 

221,  376,  382  /.,  387.  391.  405  #•. 

419,  422/.,  493  /.,  611/.,  646  J". 
Partridge,  Dr.  G.  E.,  222. 
Passion,  394/. 
Passive  influences,  420. 
Paterson,  Donald  G.,  257. 
Pathological  cases,   62,   122,    127  /., 

135.  687. 
pathological  complications,  136. 
pathological  laboratories,  479. 
Pathology  of  feeble-mindedness,  698^. 
Pathos,  665. 

Patrick,  Prof.  G.  T.  W.,  190. 
Pavor     nocturnus     (night     terrors), 

676. 
Pearson,  Dr.  Karl,  399,  563. 
Peasants,  47,  51,  200. 
Pedantry,  455. 
Peg-board,  321. 
Penal  institutions,  212. 
Perception,  596. 
Perfection,  545. 
Performance  level,  20  ff.,  26,  33,  39, 

67,  74,  87,  249/. 


INDEX 


759 


Periods  of  development,  40  ff.,  99, 
117,   154,   164  /.,   209,   238,   249, 
367/-.  375,  425- 
Persians,  54,  188. 
Personal  equation,  250/.,  263. 
Personal  liberty,  47. 
Personality,  197,  209,  211,  S40.  645. 
Perversion,  213/.,  687,  697  (c/.  sexual 

perversion). 
Perverts,  8,  61,  63,  152,  199. 
Pestalozzi,  25,  466. 
Peterson,  Church  and,  135  /. 
Petit  mal,  104. 
Philadelphia,   481. 
Philippines,  171/. 
Phimosis,  636,  682. 
Phobias,  668/.,  676. 
Phylogeny,  164. 
Physical  training,  514  #• 

physical  causes.  652. 

physical  examination,  283  f. 

physical  handicaps,  9,  37,  61  /., 
93,  164,  482,  567,  579,  580,  621, 
629/.,  722  /. 

physical  tests,  180. 
Physically  defective  children,  62,  722/. 
Physicians,  232,  etc.,  575,  577/- 
Physiological  tests.  237. 

physiological  age,  99,  167,  285. 

physiological  conditions,  723. 

physiological  function,  102,  180. 
Physiopsychological  tests,  233,  237. 
Pictographs,  462. 
Pictorial  completion  test,  351  #. 
Picture-arrangement  test,  347  /. 
Picture  cubes,  353. 
Pictures,  251,  326,  347. 
Pictures,  dissected,  353. 
Pineal  gland,  633  f. 
Pinel,  700. 

Pintner,  Rudolf,  257. 
Pioneers,  25. 
Pittsfield,  Mass.,  559. 
Pituitary  gland,  632,  633  Jf.,  656/. 
Planning,  87. 
Plastic  infancy.  431. 
Plasticity,  87. 
Play,  426/.,  487,  SSof. 

play  school,  445,  486. 
Playgrounds,  206,  210, 
Pleasure,  666. 
Pneumonia,  640. 
P6hler,  Otto,  125/.,  128. 
Point  scale,  251. 
Poise,  61,  72,  198. 
Police,  6,  49,  212. 
Policeman,  552/. 


Poliomyelitis,  640. 
PoUtical,  421. 

poHtical  equality,  12. 
political  influences,  58. 
poUtical  oppression,  51. 
Pool-rooms,  558. 
Pope,  394. 

Population,  shifting  of,  10. 
Positive  assets,  82. 
Postnatal,  571,  635,  640. 
Posture.  518,  636. 
Potential  normality,  14,  17,  66.  74,  82, 

90/.,  104,  386. 
potential  competency,  42. 
potential  failure,  9,  50. 
Potentials.  20,  66,  72,  97,  489. 
Poverty.  49,  202,  383,  493. 
Practice  with  children,  542  Jff. 
Precautions,  627/. 
Precocity.  61,  100,  103,  136  /.,  430/., 

48s,  573.  695. 
Predementia  praecox,  132,  151,  648. 
Predispostion  vs.  heredity,  626. 
Pregnancy,  412,  574. 
Prejudice,  229. 
Prenatal  influences,  153,  163  /.,  174, 

571/-.  63s,  640. 
Prepubescence,  199. 
Prevention,  372,  374,  391,  563,  576, 

582,  595- 
Primary   (primitive)   period,  42,   65, 

170. 
Primitive  forms  of  behavior,  S4.  190. 

485. 
Primitive  impulses  and  instincts,  45, 

188,  190/.,  201,  222. 
Primitives  (types  and  races),  8,  36/., 

39,  40,  42,  46,  48,  63,   170,   189, 

200/.,  485. 
Principles,  211. 
Prisons.  6,  188. 

Pritchard,  Margaret  S..  257,  259. 
Privacy,  47,  219. 
Private  schools,  i,  493. 
Prize-flghts,  558. 
Probation,  212,  385,  553/. 
Procedure.  563. 

Procreation,  217,  229,  396,  405. 
Prodigies.  123/. 
Production.  440. 
Profession  of  teaching,  539. 
Professional  training,  95. 
Progress.  424. 

Promiscuous  sex  relations,  219/. 
Promotion,  241,  282,  481/. 
Property,  46. 
Prophylactic  measures,  644,  649. 


760 


INDEX 


Prospective  mothers,  412,  574. 
Prostitution,  48,  152,  173,  igg,  213  J"., 

236,  401. 
Protein,  653,  675. 
Protoplasm,  665,  675. 
Providence,  R.  I.,  481. 
Provisions   for   exceptional   children, 

383  474.  481/.,  569/. 
Prudishness.  215,  229. 
Pseudo- (par-)  atypical  children,  8,  61, 

71,  goff.,  482/.,  629. 
Psychasthenia,  122,  672/. 
Psychiatry,  122. 
Psychic  epidemics,  37. 

psychic  defect,  123. 

psychic  disorders,  727^. 

psychic  disturbance,  606. 

psychic  factor,  592. 

psychic  mechanism,  604. 
Psychogenetic,  667,  673,  676. 
Psychologiail  conditions,  573. 

psydiological  age,  99,  285. 

psychological  aspects,  725^. 

psychological  causes,  652,  657. 

psychological  clinic,  269^.,  479. 

psychological  disorders,  102. 

psychological  employment,  692. 

psychological  tests,  269^.,  291  f. 
Psychology,  genetic,  269  jff.,  455  /., 

541  #. 
Psychomotor,  676. 
Psychoneuroses,  669,  676. 
Psychopathic  clinic,  157,  271  f.,  479. 
psychopathic   constitutions,    141 

Jf.,  640. 
psychopathic    personalities,    197 

Jf.,  648. 
psychopathic  problems,    14,   37, 
SS>  58,  61,  69,  102,  122,  140 #., 
197  Jf.,  207  /.,  48s,  573,  64s  /. 
Psychopathology.  651,  657,  675. 
Psychophysical  education,  577. 
Psychoses,  61,  69,  102,  122,  635,  639, 

676. 
Psychotherapy,  122. 
Pubertal  development,  581. 
Puberty,  65,  117,  152,  198,  636. 
Pubescence,  137,  199. 
Pubescent  period,  42,  65,  429. 
Pubic  hair,  235^. 
Public  Education  Association,  68. 
Public  schools,  i  f.,  14. 

critics  of  public  schools,  i  f.,  10. 
community  problems,  5. 
administrative  problems,  10. 
national  tendencies,  31. 
variation  of  standards,  90/. 


Punishments,  97,  188,  646. 

Purin,  653,  675. 

Puritanism,  214. 

Puzzles,  329/.,  346,  353,  529^. 

Pygmies,  171. 

IVle,  Prof.  Wm.  Hy.,  290,  367. 

Pyromaniacs,  198. 

Qualities  (tests),  332. 
Quality,  intellectual,  20,  264. 
Quantitative  analysis,  72. 

quantitative  measurements,  248. 
Quick  children,  484. 

Race  development,  425. 
Race  period,  42,  65. 
Races,  backward,  43,  54. 

races,  mixed,  4. 
Racial  causes,  164,  171  jf.,  272,  483, 
488,  573. 

racial  elements,  192,  572  f. 

racial  problems,  737  f. 

racial    standards    of    normafity, 
85.  459- 

racial  types,  73,  93,  193,  223  /., 
4S8. 
Rape,  199. 

Rapid  development,  61,  93,  484. 
Reaction,  55,  153. 
Reading,  125,  144,  148,  256,  325,  334, 

440,  531  /..  612. 
Reason,  395. 
Reasoning,  65,  356. 
Reber,  Dr.  Wendell,  297. 
Recitations,  107,  364, 
Recklessness,  49. 
Records,  232,  504,  712  jf. 
Recreation,  554. 
Redemption  of  childhood,  572. 
Re-education,  486. 
Refinement,  47. 
Reflex  action,  36,  54,  135,  601. 
Reform  schools  (reformatories),  197, 

199,  212,  243,  384,  495/. 
Refractive  errors,  618  jff. 
Regimen,  486. 
Reincarnation,  217. 
Relationship,  572. 
Relief  of  conditions,  70,  374. 
Religion.  217,  222,  373,  437,  556,  673. 
Religious  development,  427,  556. 
Repeaters,  11/.,  105. 
Repetition,  149. 
Repressions,  646. 
Research,  272. 
Reserve  mental  energy,  132. 
Resistances,  64S. 


INDEX 


761 


Resources,  87. 

Reqxration,  100,  512.  600,  655. 

Response,  367. 

Restriction  of  marriages,  304. 

Retardation,  8,  38,  52,  61  /.,  81, 104/., 

162,   164,  482,  495,  SS3,  582,  585, 

636  /.,  639. 
Reverberations,  46,  48. 
Reversion,  45,  49,  58. 
Revolution.  45,  175. 
Rheumatism,  loi. 
Rhythm,  149,  164,  513,  598. 
Rice,  Prof.  David  Edgar,  133. 
Richter's  anchor  stone  building-blocks, 

3S4.  358. 
Rickets,  594,  632,  680. 
Right-handedness,  10 1. 
Rigidity  of  types,  70. 
Rolandic  area,  135,  315. 
Romberg  position,  316. 
Romer,  Dr.,  147. 
Rotch.  Dr.  Thomas  M.,  235  /. 
Routine,  daily,  628,  673. 
Riickert.  Friedrich,  119. 
Rudimentary  development,  63. 

Sacrament  of  matrimony,  411. 
Sakaki.  Yasusaburo,  138,  485. 
Sanatorium    schools.    212,    377,    485, 

504/- 
Sanctity  of  human  life,  47. 
San  Francisco  resolutions,  389. 
Savagery,  187. 
Savages,  36.  425. 
Scale  of  intelligence,. 80. 
Scarecrow  eugenics,  393  /. 
Scarlet  fever,  100. 
Schedule  of  examination,  564^. 
Schiller,  Friedrich,  395. 
Schmitt,  Dr.  A.  Emil,  563,  705. 
School  buildings,  11,  556. 

school  census,  494. 

school  cou  rses  to  be  broken  up,  44 1 . 

school  defects,  94,  205,  376. 

school  grades,  79  /.,  90  /.,  282, 
481/. 

school  lunches,  582. 

school  nurses,  478,  583. 

school  organization,  376. 

school  problems,  14,  212,  481  Jf., 
739/. 

school  pro'/isions,  481  Jf.,  743  /. 

school  standards,  165,  259,  441. 

school  success  not  a  safe  standard, 
80,  106. 

school  training  367,  621. 

school  visitor,  478,  491,  583. 


Scientific  type,  118. 

Scott,  Walter,  92. 

Scout  movement,  549. 

Scripture,  May  Kirk,  148. 

Scruples,  672. 

Scrupulosity,  malady  of,  673. 

Seattle,  196,  204. 

Second  breath  (second  wind),  132  /., 

137. 
Secret  languages,  329  Jf. 
Sedentary  habits,  686. 
S^gtiin,  Dr.  Edouard,  350,  700^. 
Self,  134. 

self-centredness,    104,    123,    151, 
157- 

self-consdousness,  490. 

self -control,  154. 

self-expression,  463. 

self -repression,  151. 
Selfishness,  48,  104,  141,  190. 
Sella  turcica,  636. 
Sensation,  135,  620,  666. 
Sense  training,  466/.,  511/. 

sense  perception,  295  jf.,  425. 

sense  reactions,  97,  153. 
Sensory  defects,  96,  572,  639. 
Sensory  diet,  61,  153. 
Sensory  nuclei.  619. 
Sensory  type,  118. 
Settlements,  555  Jf. 
Sewing,  519. 
Sex  differences  in  attitude,  84. 

sex  glands,  632. 

sex  instinct,  151  /.,  198,  217  Jf., 
219,  681,  68s. 

sex-organs,  236  /.,  681  Jf. 

sex,  shame  of,  674. 

sex-worship,  222/. 
Sexual  neurasthenia,  151,  220,  674. 

sexual    abnormalities,     215    S't 
683  Jf.,  697. 

sexual  development,  215  Jf.,  SS7, 
685. 

sexual  differentiation,  65. 

sexual  education,  216,  396,  683. 

sexual  hygiene,  216,  396,  681  Jf. 

sexual  morbidity,  132,  152. 

sexual   perversion,   213  Jf.,   685, 
688. 

sexual  precocity,  152. 

sexual  problems,  61,  70,  100,  199, 
200,  734/.  684. 

sexual  relations,  47. 
Shakespeare,  411. 
Shame,  672,  685. 

shame  of  sex,  674. 
Shiels,  Prof.  R.  Thomas,  453. 


762 


INDEX 


Shop-work,  518. 
Shuttleworth  &  Potts,  470. 
Shyness,  674. 
Siberia,  i8g. 
Sickness,   202  /. 

Sidis,  WilUam  James;  128/.,  658. 
Sight,  defective,  618  Jf.,  689  (c/.  vi- 
sion) . 
Sign-language,  614. 
Signe  du  sourcil,  636. 
Simple  life  conditions,  487. 
Simpler  mental  constitutions,  38. 
Singhalese,  171. 
Singing,  364,  513. 
Sitting  up,  100. 

Situation,  understanding  of,  87,  296. 
Skeleton,  235. 
Skill,  18/.,  44,  70,  80,  107,  176. 

skill  vs.  efficiency,  18,  23/.,  183. 
Slander,  152. 
Sleep,  103,  153,  626,  629. 
Sleeping-porch,  626. 
Slocum  disaster,  185. 
Slow   children,   16,  61,  91,  391,  482, 

484. 
Slums,  164,  174,  219. 
Smaller  classes,  483. 
Smedley,  F.,  290. 
Smell,  97,  312/. 
Smile,  IOC. 

Snellen  test-cards,  299. 
Social  centres,  555 /. 

social  conscience,  211,  457. 

social  efficiency,  88,  177/. 

social  oppression,  51,  58. 

social  problems,  14,  173  #.,  210/., 
272,  549/-.  580,  644,  737/. 

social  timorousness,  674/. 

social  visitors,  478. 
Society,  36,  211,  422,  559. 
Sociological  investigation,  480. 
Sociologist,  495. 
Somnambulism,  153. 
Sound  tests,  306. 
South  Sea  Islanders,  54. 
Southard,  Dr.  E.  E.,  698,  705. 
Souvenir  craze,  192. 
Space,  134,  149,  527. 
Space  conception,  337  jff. 
Spain,  219. 
Special  education,  573,  743  /. 

special  bent,  441. 

special  children,  481  ff. 

special  classes,  382,  481  ff.,  490, 
582. 

sjjecial  defects,  572. 

special  schools  for  the  blind,  623. 

special  schools  for  truants,  494. 


Specialization  of  labor,  21. 

specialization  in  teaching,  538. 
Specialties.  120. 
Speech,  100,  578,  sggff.,  610  J". 

speech  centres,  103,  144,  603. 

speech  clinic,  609. 

speech  conflict,  148. 

speech    defects,    102,    144,    148, 
574,  609. 
Speed  as  an  element  of  weakness,  92. 
Spelling  (test),  335,  532. 
Spencer,  Herbert,  92. 
Spinal  cord,  135. 
Spirit  of  the  home,  436. 
Spiritual  growth,  217. 

spiritual  life,  436. 

spiritual  truth,  217. 
Spoiled  children,  61,  95. 
Sport,  211. 

Springfield  examination  papers,  444. 
Squint,  580,  618. 
Stabihty,  122. 
Stamina,  122. 
Stammering,  148. 
Standardization,  248  jf. 
Standards,  372,  456. 
Stand  up,  lOo. 
Static  apparatus,  316. 
Statistical  purposes,  72. 
Stecher,  W.  A.,  138. 
Steffens,  Lincoln,  422. 
Stelzner,  Dr.  Helen efriederike,  141. 
Stereognostic  sense,  620. 
Stereotyped    forms   in   kindergarten, 

455  /• 
SteriUzation,  394  J-.  398^. 
Stern,  Prof.  Wm.,  257. 
Stevenson,  Robert  Louis,  49,  394. 
Stigmatizing,  482. 
Stiles,  C.  W.,  290. 
Still-births,  233,  280,  410/. 
Stimulants,  627. 
Stimulation,  137. 
Stock  (human),  136. 
Stock-farm  eugenics,  393  /. 
Stoll,  Otto,  225. 
Stoner,  Winifred  Sackville,  Jr.,  108  ff., 

125,  658. 
Story-telling,  326. 
Strain,  151. 

Strata  of  civilization,  49,  58,  74,  173/- 
Street,  210,  219,  438,  55°  #• 

street-land,  551. 
Struggle  for  existence,  23,  45. 
Stupidity,  artificial  production  of,  452. 
Stuttering,  148,  513,  606/. 
Subconscious,  134. 
Subjects  of  instruction,  536. 


INDEX 


763 


Submerged  group,  58,  63. 
Subnormal  children,  8,  62,  66^.,  70, 

98/.,  374.  485- 
Substitution,  676. 
Success,  186. 

Suggestion,  133,  157,  659. 
Suicide,  56,  673. 
Summary,  366,  Ti2f. 
Superstitions,  47,  673. 
Suprarenal,  633. 
Surgical  treatment,  596. 
Survivals,  58. 

survival  of  the  fittest,  388. 
Swann,  Judge  Edward,  495. 
Switzerland,  481. 
Syllabus  for  special  classes,  491. 
Symbolic  period,  469. 
Symbolism  in  the  kindergarten,  455 

/.,  461  /. 
Symbols  of  reality,  441. 
Sympathy,  deficiency  of,  696. 
Symptoms,  96. 
Syphilitic    infection,    70,    100,    635, 

640/.,  701. 
Syracuse,  498. 

Table  manners,  47. 

Tactile  tests,  311/. 

Tainted  heredity,  405. 

Talking,  100. 

Tantrums,  153. 

Tanzi,  693^. 

Taste,  97,  314. 

Teachers,  94,  455,  458  /.,  466,  509, 

533 /• 
training    of    teachers,    94,    376, 
483.  533  f- 
Teeth,  defective  (c/.  dental),  9,  100, 

568,  580,  584,  653.  688. 
teeth,  Hutchinson's,  100. 
Temper,  102,  104,  153. 
Temperament,  164. 

changes  of  temperament,  102. 
Temperamental  types,  85,  93. 
Temperature  sense,  97. 

ideas  of  temperature,  512. 
Temptations,  40. 
Tenements,  164,  191,  218. 
Tension,  100,  117,  122,  128,  136,  165, 

190,  198,  285. 
Terman,  Prof.  Lewis  M.,  159,  240. 
Terminology,  dof.,  71. 
Terrors,  153. 
Tests,  81,  100,  150,  167,  180/.,  230 Jf., 

274.  276  Jf.,  373.  404.  504  /••  639, 

700/.,  719/- 
Tic,  61,  103,  153,  667,  675. 
Tune,  134,  149. 


Timidity,  152,  490.  " 

Titanic  disaster,  185.  ' 

Theft,  152. 

Thomdike,  Prof.  E.  L.,  327. 

Thought,  36,  55,  6s,  325,  487/.,  666. 

Three  R's,  442,  469. 

Throat  infection,  640. 

Thumb-sucking,  100. 

Thymus  gland,  148,  632,  633  f.,  657. 

Thyroid,  632  f.,  657. 

Tobacco,  152. 

Toepel,  Dr.  Theodore,  626,  705. 

Tokyo,  485. 

Tone  tests,  306  /. 

Tonsils,  586/.,  621,  688. 

Tools,  440,  518. 

Toronto,  550. 

Torture,  188. 

Touch,  97,  311  /.,  512,  602,  619. 

Touch  at  distance,  618. 

Trabue,  M.  R.,  327. 

Trade  schools,  493. 

Tradition,  420. 

Tragedy  of  woman's  life,  214. 

Train  of  ideas,  316. 

Training,  ao,  70,  119,  153,  621^, 

injudicious,  142. 
Traits,  43. 

Transportation,  means  of,  23. 
Traumatism,  571,  640. 
Treasure  Island,  49. 
Tredgold,  Dr.  A.  F.,  124,  161,  163, 

167,  180,  266. 
Trophic  disturbances,  61,  103,  154. 
Troublesome  children,  61,  95. 
Truants,  52,  68,  204  Jf.,  386,  491  Jf., 

549  Jf- 

truant  oflScers,  493. 
truant  schools,  241,  384/.,  494. 
Truth,  216/. 
Truthfulness,  432/. 
Tuberculosis,    9,    581,    594,    626  f., 

63s,  640  Jf.,  681. 
Tutors,  486. 
Twitchings,  580. 
Types,  12,  IS,  20,  35,  61,  70,  74,  85, 

118,  193,  200,  258,  376,  441,  460, 

693- 
Typical  children,  61,  71  Jf. 
typical  experience,  489. 

Uebermensch,  75. 
Unclassified  books,  etc.,  744^. 
Unconscious  elements,  133,  487,  646. 
Unemployment,  204. 
Ungraded  classes,  382,  481  ,ff. 
Uniform  standards  in  kindergarten, 
4S6. 


764 


INDEX 


United  States,  481,  673. 

U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education,  383, 386/., 
491. 

University  Elementary  School  (Mis- 
souri), 442^. 

University  of  California,  447. 

Unskilled  labor,  173,  175,  178. 

Unsocial  instincts,  2 10  /. 

Unwelcome  children,  410/. 

Unwritten  law,  212. 

Upheavals,  49. 

Urination,  loi. 

Urine,  686. 

Uterus,  632. 

Vagrants,  173. 

Valuation,  373. 

Van  Denburg,  Dr.  M.  W.,  92. 

Variability,  53,  73. 

Variations,  15/.,  41,  61,  74,  372,  474, 

572. 
Vasomotor  disturbances,  61,  103,  154, 

697. 
Vendettas,  212. 
Veneer  of  civilization,  187. 
Venereal  diseases,  396,  407. 
Ventilation,  103. 
Verbal  type,  259. 
Vicarious  experience,  98. 
"  Village  of  a  Thousand  Souls,"  404. 
Vineland,  350,  401,  498/. 
Virginity,  222. 
Virility,  136. 
Viscera,  ptoses  of,  636. 
Vision,  97,  29s,  602. 
Visiting  teacher,  491. 

visiting  nurses,  385. 
Visual  defects,  9,   61,   96,    103,  482, 
580,  s8i,  618/.,  636. 

visual  memory,  126,  1-50,  300/., 
487. 

visual  perception,  126,  144. 

visual  tests,  295. 
Visualization,     126,     149,    296,    487, 

528. 
Vital  capacity,  290,  580. 

vital  index,  290. 

vital  statistics,  232,  403. 

vital  studies,  440. 
Vitalization,  537. 
Vocational  training,  31  S->  S20. 

vocational   guidance,    376,    479, 
558. 

vocational  problems,  740/. 

vocational  types,  441. 
Voltaire,  128. 
Voting  cattle,  177. 
Vulgar,  213,  222. 


Wage-earners,  27. 
Wail  of  the  well,  77  /, 
Walking,  100,  589. 
Wanderlust,  207. 
War,  37,  45,  55.  187  /• 
Warren,  Mortimer  A.,  436. 
Washington,  George,  186. 
Waste,  14/. 

irreducible  waste,  14. 
Waverley,  498. 
Weeks,  Dr.,  399. 

Weight  of  children,  284  #.,  431,  580. 
Weight  tests,  258,  512. 
Wessels,  Dr.  Lewis  C,  9. 
Westermayr,  Arthur  J.,  153. 
Weysse,  Dr.  Arthur  W.,  681,  705. 
Whipple,  Prof.  Guy  Montrose,  367. 
Whispering,  103. 
White  man's  burden,  54,  173. 
White  race,  171  #. 
White  slavery,  229. 
Whittier,  John  Greenleaf,   206,  440, 

487. 
Whooping-cough,  100,  633. 
Wiener,  Robert,  108,  658. 
Wilbur,  Judge  Curtis  D.,  692. 
Wild  West,  191. 
Wile,  Dr.  Ira  S.,  571,  579,  705. 
Will,  103,  198,  210,  490,  692. 
William  of  Orange,  394. 
Williams,  Dr.  Tom  A.,  157,  651,  706. 
Winterburn,  Florence  Hall,  406. 
Witmer,  Dr.  Lightner,  78,  81. 
Woman,  82^.,  214,  415. 
Wood,  Dr.  Thomas  D.,  567,  580,  706. 
Word-bUndness,  143. 
Word-deafness,  143. 
Word  pictures,  307  Jf. 
Work,  662. 
Working  boys,  558/. 

working  papers,  495,  558. 
Workshops,  377. 
Worms,  689. 
Worry,  580. 

Wright,  John  Dutton,  610,  706. 
Writing,  126,  148,  256,  325  /.,  334, 

440. 
Wunderkinder,  124. 

X-Ray  pictures,  235,  636. 

Yerkes,  Dr.  Robert  M.,  251,  701. 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  549/- 

Zapata,  45. 

Zentler,  Dr.  Arthur,  583,  706. 

Ziehen,  141,  151. 

Ziller,  40. 


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