750 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



estimated. It is reckoned, however, in a general way that for every 

 idiot sequestrated the energies of two if not four normal persons are 

 returned to society. 



Imbecility, mental or moral, congenital or accidental, is either an 

 inherent defect or an irrecoverable loss, an incurable disease for which 

 hospitals can do nothing, nor can reformatories form again that which 

 never has been formed. Could language be made clear enough to 

 enable the public mind to grasp this fact, the work of training schools, 

 the only hope of the imbecile, would then be simplified, and people 

 might be willing to accept what they can give, in the only way in 

 which it can be given, to be of any permanent value. As it is, the 

 few charlatans who profess to train and in a few years send out an 

 imbecile ready to take a high-school or college course not only deceive 

 those from whom they may gather a few thousands, but their repre- 

 sentations, coupled with that of a sensational press, effectually im- 

 pede the progress of a work which must eventually find its true place 

 in the system of public education. 



Influenced by these misrepresentations, parents come with pro- 

 found idiots and high hopes of a course of training (here is one of the 

 misfortunes of an idiot asylum within a training school), and simply 

 refuse to accept a negative to their expectations. Again — to waifs and 

 strays, high-grade imbeciles, developing after years of labored train- 

 ing proficiency in music, drawing, or some one of the industrial arts, 

 friends will suddenly crop up and, dazzled by what seems phenomenal 

 genius, seek to withdraw them just as they become useful to the com- 

 munity. Little do they know of the weak will, indolent nature, 

 and utter lack of " go," that forbid competition with normal labor 

 and must forever be subject to the will of another; still less of the weak 

 physical build that is kept intact only by watchful care, and which 

 would succumb to any undue hardship. So much for the difficulties 

 that beset the work. Now as to the work itself. 



As this must vary according to the status of the individual, a 

 careful study and a correct diagnosis are of primary importance in 

 order that the work may be fitted to the child, not the child to the 

 work. The plan pursued is as follows: A thorough examination — - 

 physical, mental, and moral — is first made by the chief physician in 

 connection with papers properly filled out giving personal and fam- 

 ily history. He is then sent to the hospital for a fortnight to insure 

 immunity from disease. There, while perfectly free and unrestrained 

 among his fellows, he is under constant observation of the nurses; 

 these observations, carefully noted, are returned to the chief physi- 

 cian, who turns both over to the principal of schools, designating the 

 grade in which he is to enter for probation. Here under different 

 environment he is again tested for some weeks and finally placed. 



