no 



The Journal of Heredity 



cedure has been offered. Our experience 

 has led us to feel that, for guidance in 

 this enterprise of registration, the best 

 case is to be made out for the sociological 

 principle. The mind is nothing but an 

 instrument of adjustment of the organ- 

 ism to its environment ; and for practical 

 purposes it would seem necessary but 

 to take cognizance of instances of mal- 

 adjustment sufficiently marked to come 

 to the notice of public officials, charitable 

 organizations, and physicians. 



"More specifically, the register in 

 each state may include : 



"1. Cases admitted to hospitals for 

 the insane, public or private. 



"2. Cases admitted to institutions for 

 inebriates, epileptics and the feeble- 

 minded. 



"3. Cases convicted of any crime, 

 exclusive of violations of local laws and 

 ordinances. 



"4. Cases coming to light in suits for 

 separation or divorce. 



"5. Cases admitted to almshouses. 



"6. Cases apjjlying for outdoor relief 

 to overseers of the poor or private 

 charitable organizations. 



" 7 . Some provision for the registration 

 of data ])ointing to possible abnor- 

 mality in children in public elementary 

 schools, orphanages, etc. 



"8. Mental cases coming to the notice 

 of physicians in private practice. 



"Each individual thus registered 

 should receive an identification nvrmbcr; 

 and future instances of mal-adjustmcnt 

 reported in his case should be added to 

 his record and not registered as new 

 cases. 



"The first registration, it need hardly 

 be said, would by no means imply in all 

 cases a judgment of mental abnormality. 

 It is obvious, on the contrary, that a 

 register containing all such cases will 

 include many quite normal individuals. 

 The object of compiling a register in the 

 manner here ijrojjosed woukl be to make 

 sure of including all cases of marked 

 mal-adjustment and yet avoid a pre- 

 mature judgment as between normality 

 and abnormality. 



"Judging from the results of this 

 survey, it may be anticii)ated that after 

 several years develo])ment such a regis- 

 ter will show that the bulk of all crime. 



vice, dependency and other maladjust- 

 ments in a given commonwealth is 

 attributable to a comparatively small 

 fraction of the pojjulation. Naturally, 

 problems presented by such evils could 

 be attacked more successfully with the 

 aid of material that would be available 

 in such a register than without it. 



"The relationship between mental 

 disorders and dependency deser\'es 

 special consideration owing to its 

 bearing on the question of state provi- 

 sion such as is here advocated. It was 

 shown that of 1,592 mentally abnormal 

 cases 473 were characterized by de- 

 pendency either as a primary or second- 

 ary manifestation; but this number does 

 not include cases found in state hospitals, 

 correctional, penal and other institu- 

 tions. It is safe to say that at least two- 

 thirds of all the abnormal cases are 

 ])artly or completely dependent. 



GREATER APPROPRIATIONS NECESSARY 



"Legislatures throughout the country 

 seem to be loth to make appropriations 

 for the construction of more housing 

 facilities, being disinclined to assume 

 for the state the burden of caring for 

 such large numbers of mental defec- 

 tives. We have shown, howe\'er, that 

 mental defectives are, for the most 

 part, already dependent; in other words, 

 they neither starv^e nor go %\athout 

 raiment or shelter, but are maintained 

 at the expense of others, receiving sup- 

 l)ort from overseers of the poor, charit- 

 able organizations, neighbors, friends, 

 relatives, or from strangers by begging. 



"The cost of maintenance of such 

 cases in public institutions is annually 

 l)etween S150 and $200 per capita. 

 This is accomplished through econ- 

 omies rendered possible only by an 

 institutional organization. It is not 

 ]X)ssible for dependents living at large 

 to be maintained, by whatever means 

 may be availal)le, at such low cost. 

 What their maintenance actually costs 

 under such conditions no one knows; 

 but whatever it is, it is usually not 

 taken into consideration because it 

 docs not appear in legislative budgets 

 in large lump sums. Yet the fact is 

 that institutional jirovision for such 

 cases is not an added expense to 



