Septembek 20, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



445 



1884, in his report to the IS'ational Confer- 

 ence of Charities and Correction speaks of 

 moral imbecility, showing its blighting and 

 demoralizing effects. He shows how crime, 

 vice and depravity are spread by neglect- 

 ed feeble-minded or imbecile persons. He 

 says, " There is no field in political economy 

 which can be worked to better advantage 

 for the diminution of crime, pauperism and 

 insanity than that of idiocy." (Proc. Nat. 

 Conf. of Char, and Cor., 1884, pp. 257 and 

 258.) 



One perverted feeble-minded woman can 

 spread throughout a community an im- 

 moral pestilence which will affect the 

 homes of all classes, even the most intelli- 

 gent and refined. The sight of such con- 

 ditions or a knowledge of them must have 

 a deadening effect upon the finer sensibili- 

 ties of all. 



These defectives usually also become de- 

 pendents for a part of, if not all, the time. 

 They may depend upon private charities 

 or, when possible, upon the overseer of the 

 poor. They frequently live in the poorest 

 quarters of our towns and cities amid 

 squalor and dirt, or occupy miserable huts 

 in the least desirable localities of rural 

 communities. It is not unusual for two or 

 more families to live near each other or 

 associate together. Marital ties are often 

 lightly regarded. Frequently such bonds 

 have not been entered into. 



When these feeble-minded persons be- 

 come helpless or learn the habit of regular 

 public dependence, they find their way to 

 poor asylums, the children being placed in 

 such orphans' homes as will accept them. 

 To one who visits the poor asylums and 

 orphans' homes where they are received, 

 the idiotic and feeble-minded are striking 

 objects. In every one of the ninety-two 

 poor asylums in my own State, Indiana, 

 there are to be found inmates of this 

 class, the greatest number in any one in- 

 stitution being 25 ; the lowest, 2. In 



many, their presence is emphasized by 

 pitiable cases, individuals who are almost 

 uncontrollable, or by infants, the off- 

 spring — in most cases the illegitimate off- 

 spring — of parents, one or both of whom 

 are feeble-minded. The records at hand 

 show that there are 970 feeble-minded per- 

 sons in the Indiana poor asylums. (Rept. 

 Board of State Char, of Indiana, 1900, p. 

 73.) Almost all these are adults. Many 

 are in some degree helpless and all require 

 more or less care. They have grown up 

 without discipline ; they lack such training 

 as is possible with their dwarfed minds or 

 strong hands ; they are not only incapable 

 of earning their own support, but, in a large 

 number of instances, are the objects of con- 

 tinual anxiety to those in charge. This is 

 particularly the case with feeble-minded 

 women. Four hundred and eighty un- 

 fortunates of this sex are to be found in our 

 county asylums, comprising 49.5 of their 

 total feeble-minded population. Under our 

 system of care it is only by the utmost 

 watchfulness that the sexes are kept apart. 

 Where proper facilities for sex separation 

 are wanting, or the overwatch is not strict, 

 there is to be found a continual increase of 

 feeble-mindedness. This brings an increas- 

 ing burden of expense upon the tax-payers 

 in such counties. 



I am compelled to speak specifically of 

 Indiana, because we know more of the facts 

 concerning conditions that exist there than 

 we do of those elsewhere. 



From information received, however, it 

 is believed that they are not materially dif- 

 ferent from those existing in other States 

 similarly situated. Perhaps in a general 

 way the conditions there may be said to be 

 the average of what is true of all our States. 



To quite a large number of our poor asy- 

 lums the inmates often come and go at will. 

 The absence of the feeble-minded is espe- 

 cially noted during the summer season. 

 They then go to visit friends or wander 



