372 THE TREND OF THE RACE 



prove, there is a diminution of their death rate, and hence a 

 greater proportion of the insane are found living at any given 

 time. Varying standards as to the degree of mental alienation 

 which may be held to warrant commitment introduce further 

 complications. It is probable that more of the milder forms of 

 insanity are now placed under custodial care than formerly and 

 that more are certified as insane in statistical enumerations. 

 Then it must be borne in mind that the changes in the age com- 

 position of the population which have taken place in the last half 

 century, leading to an increasing proportion of adults in which 

 insanity is more likely to develop would of itself produce an 

 increase in the number of insane per 100,000 of the population 

 quite irrespective of any increased proclivity to insanity at any 

 particular period of life. While it is not improbable that, as 

 many alienists believe, insanity has actually been on the increase 

 in recent times, the conclusion cannot be established by the data 

 on the subject which are at present available. 



Statistics on feeble-mindedness show that there has been a 

 steady increase in the number of feeble-minded in institutions 

 in proportion to the general population. But one obvious reason 

 for this is the fact that we have more adequate provision than 

 formerly for the institutional care of these unfortunates. As 

 a rule only the lowest grades of the feeble-minded, and by no 

 means all of these, are segregated in institutions. The proportion 

 of feeble-minded in general who are in institutions compared with 

 the number at large in the community is not high. There are 

 indications, as is pointed out elsewhere, that this class is in- 

 creasing on account of its relatively high birth rate. If our data 

 concerning the relative birth and death rates of the feeble-minded 

 and normal elements of our population were to show that the 

 latter were being outbred by the former, the difference would be 

 sufficiently alarming, even though statistical proof of how fast 

 the feeble-minded are increasing, were lacking. 



Some writers have attributed the alleged increase in crime 

 in recent years to the increase in the kind of inheritance that 

 predisposes people to criminal conduct. From what we know 



