HEREDITARY TRAITS. 231 



not generally, comes on or shows itself late in life, whereas 

 idiotcy is not often developed in the adult Insanity is the 

 diseased or weakened condition of a mind possessing all 

 the ordinary thinking faculties ; idiotcy implies that some of 

 these faculties are altogether wanting. It has been asserted, 

 by the way, that idiotcy is a product of civilisation. The 

 civilised ' present, as peoples/ says Dr. Duncan, 'indications 

 of defective vital force, which are not witnessed among those 

 human beings that live in a state of nature. There must be 

 something rotten in some parts of our boasted civilisation : 

 and not only a something which has to do with our psychology, 

 but a great deal more with our power of physical persistence. 

 It is a fact that the type of the perfect minded, just above 

 the highest idiots, or the simpletons, is more distinguish- 

 able amongst the most civilised of the civilised than among 

 those who are the so-called children of nature. Dolts, 

 boobies, stupids, et hoc genus omne, abound in young 

 Saxondom ; but their representatives are rare amongst the 

 tribes that are slowly disappearing before the white man.' 

 But it seems barely possible that the difference may be due 

 to the care with which civilised communities interfere to pre- 

 vent the elimination of idiot infants by the summary process 

 of destroying them. The writer from whom I have just 

 quoted refers to the fact that, even under the Roman 

 Empire, as during the Republic, idiots were looked upon as 

 * useless entities by the practical Roman.' They had no 

 sanctity in his eyes, and hence their probable rarity ; doubt- 

 less the unfortunate children were neglected, and there is 

 much reason for believing that they were ' exposed/ * A 

 congenital idiot soon begins to give trouble,' proceeds Dr. 

 Duncan, 'and to excite unusual attention-; and, moreover, 

 unless extra care is given to it, death is sure to ensue in 

 early childhood.' May not idiot children in savage com- 

 munities have an even worse chance of survival than under 

 the Roman Empire? and may not dolts, boobies, and 

 stupids, et hoc genus omne, among savages, have such inferior 

 chances in the infantine and later in the adult struggle for 



