JEWISH PSYCHOPATHOLOGY 269 



holic psychoses exactly equals that of the Jews admitted for dementia 

 prsecox. Now, dementia praecox is classed as one of the insanities 

 depending upon a constitutionally inferior mental make-up, as is like- 

 wise manic-depressive insanity. These two constitutional inferior 

 groups which are universally agreed to rest upon a bad heredity, alone 

 account for over 55 per cent, of the insanities among the Jews in the 

 above table. Statistics could be multiplied almost indefinitely to show 

 similar results. 



Among the frankly feeble-minded, the Jews stand next to the top 

 of the list of those immigrants who are deported on this account. The 

 report of the Commissioner General of Immigration for 1911 shows 

 that the French are the only ones who surpass them. In this connec- 

 tion it is well to note that over one half of the French immigrants for 

 the year 1911 was recruited from the ranks of the French Canadians, 

 who are a notoriously inbred and defective stock. 



If it be objected that the foregoing table represents one year alone 

 and can not be properly used to aid in drawing such wholesale con- 

 clusions, the answer is two-fold. In the first place this was a year in 

 which the general average of Hebrew defectives was proportionately 

 smaller than in other years. For instance, in 1907 nearly one third of 

 those certified at Ellis Island as mentally defective were of this race, 

 although they did not average over 14 per cent, of the total number of 

 arrivals. 



In the second place the number of feeble-minded children in the 

 public schools of New York City is disproportionately large among the 

 Jews. Thus of 317 mentally defective children selected at random 

 from ungraded classes, Miss Anna Moore in 1911 found that there 

 were 130 Hebrews, 40 Italians, 35 Germans, 20 Irish and 9 negroes. 12 



An attempt has been made to deny the ethnic or racial relation 

 with the greater prevalence of feeble-mindedness and insanity, which 

 the foregoing data would naturally seem to indicate. Thus it has been 

 said that the birth-rate among the Jews being lower than that of the 

 general population, there is consequently a larger proportion of adults 

 among this race as compared with others, and insanity being chiefly a 

 disease of adults, it follows that its greater prevalence among the Jews 

 is apparent rather than real. 



To explain the large number of feeble-minded the argument runs 

 in this wise : Although the birth-rate among the Jews is low, Jewish 

 parents take better care of their children than others, consequently 

 more survive those illnesses which result in mental deterioration. 



The chief fallacy in this argument lies in the fact that those who 

 use it neglect to state that feeble-mindedness is overwhelmingly a dis- 



12 Miss Anna Moore, Keport published by State Charities Aid Association, 

 1911. 



