i 4 THE KALLIKAK FAMILY 



neighbors, employers, teachers, physicians, ministers, 

 overseers of the poor, almshouse directors, etc. 

 These must be interviewed and all the information 

 thus obtained must be weighed and much of it verified 

 by repeated visits to the same locality before an 

 accurate chart of the particular child's heredity can be 

 made. 



In determining the mental condition of people in the 

 earlier generations (that is, as to whether they were 

 feeble-minded or not), one proceeds in the same way as 

 one does to determine the character of a Washington 

 or a Lincoln or any other man of the past. Recourse 

 is had to original documents whenever possible. In the 

 case of defectives, of course, there are not many original 

 documents. Oftentimes the absence of these, where 

 they are to be expected, is of itself significant. For 

 instance, the absence of a record of marriage is often 

 quite as significant as its presence. Some record or 

 memory is generally obtainable of how the person lived, 

 how he conducted himself, whether he was able to make 

 a living, how he brought up his children, what was his 

 reputation in the community ; these facts are frequently 

 sufficient to enable one to determine, with a high degree 

 of accuracy, whether the individual was normal or 

 otherwise. Sometimes the condition is marked by the 



