RURAL HEALTH MENTAL 213 



are not feeble-minded. A few of them are the slow ones in their 

 classes. 



This brief survey, then, indicates that before adolescence half 

 of the children from the Hill families show evidences of their 

 mental handicap. The detrimental influence which such chil- 

 dren may exert upon the rural schools which they attend is an 

 important matter for consideration. How many of the other 

 half, who have held their own with children of average par- 

 entage, up to adolescence, will be able to keep up to the same 

 standard from sixteen to twenty-five is an open question. Its 

 solution depends largely upon the comparative weight of heredi- 

 tary and environmental influences during that period. 



THE EXTENT OF FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS IN RURAL 

 AND URBAN COMMUNITIES IN NEW HAMPSHIRE l 



ONE of the most significant studies that can be made in the 

 survey of these counties is the geographic distribution of the 

 feeble-minded and the proportion of the entire state population 

 that falls within this defective class. Since there has been a 

 report from every town in the State, either by questionnaire or 

 personal canvass, this proportion may be considered fairly cor- 

 rect even though many cases have not been reported. 



One of the most significant revelations of this table is the 

 range of feeble-mindedness gradually ascending from the small- 

 est percentage, in the most populous county of the State, to the 

 largest percentages, in the two most remote and thinly populated 

 counties. It speaks volumes for the need of improving rural 

 conditions, of bringing the people in the remote farm and hill 

 districts into closer touch with the currents of healthy, active 

 life in the great centers. It shows that a campaign should begin 

 at once, this very month, for the improvement of rural living 

 conditions, and especially for the improvement of the rural 

 schools, so that the children now growing up may receive the 

 education that is their birthright. Let us have compulsory super- 

 vision of schools all over the State, as well as compulsory school 

 attendance. 



i Adapted from Report of the Children's Commission, Concord, N. H. 



