THE FEEBLE-MINDED 275 



prevalent a century ago, and the belief is common at the 

 present day (though quite erroneous) that people " go mad " 

 in virtue of some immaterial and unaccountable influence, 

 and may therefore " go sane " again. The lunacy laws and 

 the laws relating to the care of the feeble-minded in this 

 country are admitted to be tainted with ignorance and 

 misconception, and both are in process of correction by 

 the Government of the day. 



The approved professional terms used in distinguishing 

 the varieties of " the mind diseased " are not accepted 

 with much favour by the public, and it is unnecessary to 

 introduce them here. The important fact is that persons 

 of diseased mind may be separated into two groups 

 (a) the idiots or softies, and (fr) the lunatics or cracked 

 people. The idiotic group are those with a defective 

 amount or quality of brain substance (whether the skull 

 itself is small or abnormally distended by " water on the 

 brain " ), and are more or less incapable of being educated. 

 They are often subject to epileptic fits, and are usually 

 weakly in build, though they sometimes have great 

 muscular strength. The " feeble-minded," of whom so 

 much has lately been written, owing to the recent report 

 of a Government Commission, belong to this group. 

 They are distinguished from the more marked section of 

 idiots in that they are not absolutely devoid of some 

 intelligence, and are capable, under proper supervision, 

 of some degree of self-control. Some of them even can 

 take part in industrial operations, though they require 

 constant direction when so employed, and are never, even 

 in the least serious cases, susceptible of mental develop- 

 ment beyond a strangely and abruptly limited degree. 

 Contrasted with the idiots are the lunatics ; they often 

 are gifted with the highest receptivity, and frequently are 

 men or women of the highest education and intellect, 

 normal in every feature of body and mind except that 



