158 



The Juurnal of Heredity 



population. In ])rcscntinjj; this result 

 the invest ij^ators wish to call attention 

 to the fact that many indixiduals are 

 classed here as feeble-minded who arc 

 not recognized by the j^jeneral ijul)lic 

 as defectives. Some of these are called 

 "dull" or "stu]jid" or "i)eculiar" or 

 "crazy" or "eccentric." Mental defec- 

 tiveness is the cause of the atypical 

 behavior of those of this j:;rou]) who are 

 tabulated. In other cases the deficiency 

 is only too apjjarent. The southern 

 part of .4 county, hilly. ru5^jj;ed and 

 unproductive, has sheltered for many 

 years a class of people listless and lazy 

 and indifferent. The people have inter- 

 married because of the ^.geographical 

 features of the county about them, and 

 have intermingled little with the more 

 intelligent and mentally active ijcojjle 

 of the rich lands at the north of the 

 county. There is liulc enforcement 

 of the law respecting marriage. The 

 schools do their best, but the trained 

 and highly capable school teacher will 

 not remain in "these hills" when he 

 or she can secure better wages and living 

 conditions in the villages and cities 

 nearb\', and so the x'oung, untrained 

 teacher occui)ies the position where one 

 older in ex]jerience should be ])laced 

 to bring out the most and best there 

 is in each scholar. Children grow vi]) in 

 homes away from the refining influences 

 of the church and society and have no 

 deviating examjjle set before them. As 

 a result, the more efficient and capal^le 

 of the iX)])ulation leave this im])r()(liu'- 

 tive and unattractive region for the 

 rich lands and cities of industry, and 

 those weaker menially remain to ])er- 

 petuate their kind in a ])lace wliere 

 competititjn and strife are at a minimum. 

 This ]jart of .4 county has ]jr(j(luced a 

 large part of the defectives in that 

 county. The northern part of the 

 county has its mental (K fcdives. too, 

 but they are not as numerous per unit 

 ()i i)0])ulation as in the southern i)art. 

 Many of these feeble-minded are in 

 good homts well cared for and the 

 l)arents, or those in charge, realize that 

 Ijermanent care and training of these 

 defectives is necessary, and are giving 

 it. There are also many defectives 

 who arc old and in gi'ntral harmless, 



and many feeble-minded womtn above 

 the child-bearing age. The rest of the 

 feeble-minded, the women of child- 

 bearing age, the defective children who 

 need care and training, and the men of 

 all ages who are a menace to the com- 

 munity from sexual or other reasons, 

 are classed as "needing institutional 

 care at once." 



MANY xi:i;i) t Aki-: 



In ,4 count \- 169 feeble-minded are 

 in need of custodial care at once to care 

 l)roiK'rly for the social welfare of the 

 defectiv^es in .4 county and to stop, in 

 a measure, the increase of feeble- 

 mindedness. 



In B county 252 feeble-minded per- 

 sons were found, or 7.6 jjer 1,000 of 

 the i)o])ulation. B county, as men- 

 tioned, is, in general, flat and has very 

 fertile land throughout . This uniformly 

 good land, rather level excej^t for the 

 valleys made by the three rivers which 

 cross the county, has determined to a 

 great extent the character of the people 

 who live in the region. The commonly 

 inefficient, lazy, degenerate families 

 cannot gather in any large groups, as 

 in the southern jjart of A county, 

 because of the competition of the more 

 energetic, normal citizens for the control 

 of the land. The more inefficient are 

 soon jmslied oft' the fertile land by 

 competition of the industrious ones 

 and, as there are no comparatively non- 

 arable acres, the more shiftless and 

 inefficient ones cannot exist so easily 

 in the community. It is interesting to 

 note that outside of the villages and 

 cities, practically all the degenerate 

 families in B county live along the 

 bluffs or banks of the rivers. A few 

 families, all of whose members are 

 feeble-minded, live on farms which they 

 inherited from their ancestors; but it is 

 interesting to see that as time goes on, 

 these farms are becoming smaller and 

 smaller as the neighbors push in on 

 them and the feel)le-min(Ud folk are 

 obliged to sell off parts of the farm for 

 self-i)reservalion. The rest of the defec- 

 tives in B county were found in the 

 villages and cities where the competition 

 was not so keen. Few extended family 

 histories of the feeble-minded could 



