PREFACE 



ON September 15, 1906, the Training School for 

 Backward and Feeble-minded Children at Vineland, 

 New Jersey, opened a laboratory and a Department 

 of Research for the study of feeble-mindedness. 



A beginning was made in studying the mental con- 

 dition of the children who lived in the Institution, with 

 a view to determining the mental and physical pecul- 

 iarities of the different grades and types, to getting an 

 accurate record of what deficiencies each child had 

 and what he was capable of doing, with the hope that 

 in time these records could be correlated with the con- 

 dition of the nervous system of the child, if he should 

 die while in the Institution and an autopsy should be 

 allowed. 



As soon as possible after the beginning of this work, 

 a definite start was made toward determining the cause 

 of feeble-mindedness. After some preliminary work, 

 it was concluded that the only way to get the informa- 

 tion needed was by sending trained workers to the 

 homes of the children, to learn by careful and wise 

 questioning the facts that could be obtained. It was 



