3 oo MENTAL DEFECTIVES 



by the Secretary of State as being circumstances which make it desirable that they should 

 be subject to be dealt with under this Act. 



The following were to be deemed " defectives " within the meaning of the Act (as 

 originally introduced) : 



(a) Idiots; i.e. persons so deeply defective in mind from birth or from an early age as to 

 be unable to guard themselves against common physical dangers; 



(b) Imbeciles; i.e. persons who are capable of guarding themselves against common 

 physical dangers, but who are incapable of earning their own Jiving by reason of mental defect 

 existing from birth or from an early age; 



(c) Feebleminded persons; i.e. persons who may be capable of earning their own living 

 under favourable circumstances, but are incapable, through mental defect existing from 

 birth or from an early age 



(i) of competing on equal terms with their normal fellows, or 



(ii).of managing themselves and their affairs with ordinary prudence; 



(d) Moral imbeciles; i.e. persons who from an early age display some mental defect 

 coupled with vicious or criminal propensities on which punishment has little' of no deterrent 

 effect ; 



(e) Mentally infirm persons; i.e. persons who, through mental infirmity arising from age 

 or the decay of their faculties, are incapable of managing themselves or their affairs. 



In Committee however some of these definitions were altered after discussion, and 

 the following were the revised definitions under the headings b and c: 



Imbeciles. Persons in whose case there exists from birth or from an early age mental 

 defectiyeness not amounting to idiocy, yet so pronounced that they are incapable of manag- 

 ing themselves or their affairs, or, in the case of children, of being taught to do so. 



Feeble-minded. Persons in whose case there exists from birth or from an early age mental 

 defectiveness not amounting to imbecility, yet so pronounced that they require care, super- 

 vision, and control for their protection or for the protection of others, or, in the case of 

 children, of receiving proper benefit from the instruction in ordinary schools. 



In the case of (d), " moral imbeciles," the word " permanent " was introduced before 

 " mental defect." It was agreed to omit class (e), i.e. " mentally infirm " altogether, 

 the case of senile decay appearing to be one which was not ejusdem generis. 



The only opposition to the bill of any moment came from a section of Liberals, led 

 by Mr. Wedgwood, who denounced it as an invasion of individual liberty, and as giving 

 a dangerous power to so-called medical specialists or cranks on " eugenics " to shut up 

 people whom they arbitrarily considered to be " wanting." It was objected also that 

 it would be to the interest of all connected with the new institutions, which would be run 

 for profit, to keep them full. But it appears unlikely that the safeguards provided under 

 a system of government inspection would not be ample to prevent misuse of the new 

 powers provided for benefiting both the defectives and the community; and the an- 

 nouncement that the bill was to be dropped, even temporarily, created widespread 

 disappointment. (HUGH CHISHOLM.) 



THE BLIND 1 



The last census figures for the blind* in several important countries, including the 

 United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, Spain, Canada and 

 the United States (where the census was found to be inaccurate), were not available up 

 to the end of 1912: and the following statistics are the latest then procurable. 



1 See E. B. iv, 59 et seq. 



