PSYCHOLOGY OF MENTAL DEFICIENCY 



83 



Fig. 1. A Corner of the Psychological Laboratory where Dr. Goddard 

 conducts his Experiments. There are shown an ergograph, a chronoscope, which 

 measures intervals of time to one thousandth of a second, a dark room for photo- 

 graphic work, an automotograph for recording involuntary movements of hand and 

 arm, a target for testing precision in motor control, etc. 



was from one of Itard's pupils, Seguin, who, in 1846, published his 

 valuable work on the physiological treatment of mental defectives. 

 About the middle of the last century, institutions for the care of de- 

 fectives began to be organized throughout the world, and in 1904 Ger- 

 many had 24, Sweden 33, England 12 and the United States 30 such 

 homes. At the present time twenty-six of our states have a sum total 

 of 25,000 children in institutions for feeble minded. The Vinelancl 

 institution, in New Jersey, is one of the most progressive, and the 

 psychological movement for which it stands is rapidly growing in im- 

 portance and has many followers throughout this country and in some 

 sections of Europe and Canada. 



The best studies of the mentally feeble and defective have been made 

 by Itard, Seguin, Howe, Powell, Ireland, Shuttleworth, Tredgold and 

 Barr; among the ps} r chologists who are formulating and trying out 

 individual tests and finding methods of making mental diagnoses are 

 Binet, Simon, De Sanctis, Meumann, Stern, Norsworthy, Thorndike, 

 Goddard, Witmer, Huey, Whipple, MacMillan, Wallin and others; 

 among physicians working in this field are Krenberger, Eernald, 

 Wylie and Healy. One of the places where this study is being most 

 successfully carried out is at Vineland, which has exceptional oppor- 

 tunities for research work because the institution is under private 

 management as well as under state patronage, and it was here a psycho- 

 logical laboratory was founded in 1906, which was the first to be 



