THE INDIANA SURVEY 



Examination of Two Counties Shows Presence of Fifteen Mental Defectives Per 

 1,000 Population No Provision Made for Most of Them Many of 

 Them Not Even Recognized ' 



A. H. EsTABRooK, Eugenics Record Office 



ALTHOUGH the fact of mental 

 / \ defectiveness in the population 

 1 \. has attracted much attention, 

 during' the last decade, there are 

 yet few data available to show the 

 proportion of defectives in an unselected 

 po])ulation — an ordinary, intellij^ent, 

 prosperous, ])rojj;ressive community. In 

 August, 1915, the jijovcrnor of Indiana 

 ai)])ointcd a committee to stud> the 

 problem of mental defectiveness in 

 Indiana, and this committee planned a 

 survey of two entire counties, for the 

 ]Jurpose of determining what percentage 

 of the population was anti-social by 

 reason of mental defectiveness. The 

 survey was entrusted to the writer 

 and two field-workers from the Euj^'cnics 

 Record Office, Miss Edith S. Atwood 

 and Miss Clara P. Pond. It was 

 determined to limit the survey to the 

 feeble-minded, insane and epileptic. 



The two counties, shortly to be 

 described, are designated in the report 

 as "A" county and "B" county. They 

 were studied by inquiries, consultations 

 and visits to i:)hysicians, school author- 

 ities, township trustees, boards of child- 

 ren's guardians, institution heads and 

 social betterment agencies. Practically 

 every i^erson who has been studied in 

 this enumeration of mental defectives, 

 has been visited either in his own home, 

 at school or at business. In many cases 

 the investigators have talked with 

 parents and have advised as to the 

 future care and training of some of the 

 defective children. The three investi- 

 gators spent aljout three and one-half 

 months each in the field study. The 

 data gathered are accurate and it is 

 felt that the field has been fully covered, 



although a few cases of mental defect 

 may not have come to the attention of 

 the investigators. About 30 to 40^0 

 of the individuals reported to the 

 investigators as defective have been 

 classed by them as either doubtful, 

 borderline cases or normal, and. there- 

 fore, have not been included in the 

 totals i)resented. 



.4 COUXTV 



The northern half of .4 county is 

 composed of fertile land, the southern 

 part is hilly, rather rough and unpro- 

 ductive and less accessible. A narrow 

 strip along the western bordtr is 

 composed of fertile land. There is 

 one city of some size situated about the 

 center of the county at the southern 

 edge of the more fertile northern part 

 already mentioned. The county was 

 settled early in the history of Indiana 

 mainh' by iminigration from Kentucky. 



B COUNTY 



B county is situated in a very fertile 

 section of the vState. One city of some 

 size is the county seat and here there 

 is much manufacturing taking place. 

 This county was settled by immigration 

 from Ohio and the eastern States. 

 There are, at jjresent, few foreign born 

 ljeo])le in B county. Statistical tables 

 showing the results of ihe investigation 

 in .4 and // counties follows: 



.1 CO. B <o. 



Kiiilcplics in institutions 6 1.? 



Epileptics outside of instil ii- 



tic^ns M S2 



37 6.S 



' Read l)efore the thirteenlli annual meeting of tlie Aneriian (">enelic Ai-sociatiun, N'e\v«York 

 City, December 27, 1916. The report of this survey, and some related material, was published 

 by the Board of State Charities in pamjjhlet form in November, 1916. 



156 



