88 THE KALLIKAK FAMILY- 



individual actions, except such as he himself chooses to 

 reveal or can be made to reveal, are lost to the people 

 about him ; therefore there was little hope of obtaining 

 much side light on the problem here presented. During 

 the short interview the older woman showed unmistak- 

 able signs of wanting to appear respectable in the midst 

 of her depravity, something quite characteristic of the 

 high-grade moron type in the family. She was friendly 

 and distinctly more intelligent than her daughter, but 

 there was little more will power or ability to cope with 

 the problems of life. One of her daughters had disap- 

 peared off the face of the earth a few years before 

 there had been a baby that was all they knew. She 

 was working at Coney Island. One day she came home 

 and, when she left the next morning, it was the last they 

 ever saw of her. A brother of the girl had also disap- 

 peared in much the same way. 



The field worker left the tenement with the positive 

 assurance that environment without strict personal 

 supervision made little difference when it was a ques- 

 tion of the feeble-minded. 



Owing to the courtesy of the County Superintendent 

 and the intelligent cooperation of the teachers, it was 

 possible to apply the Binet tests to all the descendants 



