PREFACE ix 



duced the results which we have reached. Oftentimes 

 a second, a third, a fifth, or a sixth visit has been neces- 

 sary in order to develop an acquaintance and relation- 

 ship with these families which induced them gradually 

 to relate things which they otherwise had not recalled 

 or did not care to tell. Many an important item has 

 been gathered after several visits to these homes. Chap- 

 ter IV will throw still more light on the method used. 



If the reader is inclined to the view that we must 

 have called a great many people feeble r minded who 

 were not so, let him be assured that this is not the case. 

 On the contrary, we have preferred to err on the other 

 side, and we have not marked people feeble-minded 

 unless the case was such that we could substantiate it 

 beyond a reasonable doubt. If there was good reason 

 to call them normal, we have so marked them. If not, 

 and we are unable to decide in our own minds, we have 

 generally left them unmarked. In a few cases, we have 

 marked them normal or feeble-minded, with a question 

 mark. By this is meant that we have studied the case 

 and after deliberation are still in doubt, but the prob- 

 abilities are " N " or " F " as indicated. The mere 

 fact of the doubt shows, however, that they are at 

 least border-line cases. 



To the scientific reader we would say that the data 



