September 20, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



447 



tary of the Board of State Charities, some 

 years ago prepared two papers based upon 

 a part of this material. (Proc. Indiana 

 State Conf. of Char, and Cor., 1895, p. 60. 

 Proc. National Conf. of Char, and Cor., 

 1887, p. 219.) 



With the fuller amount of data from 

 these records at hand I have thought to 

 present some illustrations obtained from it 

 at this time. 



Perhaps I may say a word as to the 

 method of registration used in this work. 

 From all our institutions regular reports 

 are required. Some of these are made 

 monthly, others quarterly. They are ar- 

 ranged with headings for all the principal 

 facts in the individual and family history 

 of each inmate. It is desired to have them 

 filled as fully as the information obtained 

 will permit. In addition to the regular in- 

 stitution records, information is sought as 

 to the age, nativity, sex, color, mental and 

 physical condition, and whether illegiti- 

 mate. If parents are known we ask for 

 their names and specific information as to 

 whether either is affected with insanity, 

 feeble-mindedness, deafness, blindness, par- 

 alysis, or whether either was a pauper, 

 criminal or drunkard. This information, 

 when obtained, is transferred to a card 

 registration, where the cards are kept in 

 duplicate ; one series arranged alphabet- 

 ically, the other by institutions. To the 

 information at hand every fragment that 

 is learned is added. 



I have taken from these records some in- 

 formation concerning 511 families in which 

 there is known to be feeble-mindedness. If 

 there was any question regarding any 

 family it was omitted. No such collection 

 of these families has heretofore been re- 

 ported upon. The number of persons 

 known to be represented in them is 1,924. 

 This is an average of 3.76 persons in each 

 family. 1,343 of these persons are supported 

 in public institutions. It is known, how- 



ever, that these are not all the family repre- 

 sentatives. They are the family members 

 of whom we have accurate information. In 

 it are included not only direct descendants, 

 but those related by marriage. 



Of this number of persons, 889, 46.2 per 

 cent., were men ; 1,035, 53.7 per cent., were 

 women. 1,249 — 64. 9 per cent., 532 men and 

 717 women, were feeble-minded ; 54, 21 men 

 and 33 women, were insane ; 44, 25 men and 

 19 women, were otherwise defective. These 

 last include blind, deaf, paralytics and epi- 

 leptics. 577, 311 men and 268 women, were 

 normal or their defectiveness was unknown. 

 Every person known concerning whom posi- 

 tive information was not was included in 

 this latter group. In a number of cases there 

 are combinations of defectiveness. One 

 was insane and deaf, another feeble-minded, 

 deaf and epileptic. Consequently, if we 

 undertake to separate them we find there 

 are 79 epileptics, 31 men and 48 women ; 

 35 blind, 17 men and 18 women ; 21 deaf, 

 6 men and 15 women ; 19 paralytics, 8 men 

 and 11 women ; with combined mental and 

 physical defects 101, 34 men and 67 women. 

 Of these family members, 267, 13.8 per 

 cent., 141 men and 126 women, are known 

 to have been illegitimate. 



What about the parentage of these in- 

 dividuals? In a large number of cases 

 the characteristics are unknown. It is a 

 matter of record that in 1,042 cases (over 

 54 per cent, of the whole) either one or 

 both parents were defective. Of these in 

 the cases of 666—348 males and 318 fe- 

 males, the mother was defective. In the 

 case of 151, 83 males and 68 females, the 

 father was defective, the mother unknown 

 or normal. Both parents were defective 

 in 225 instances, 122 males and 103 fe- 

 males. It will be seen that the records 

 show the mother defective in 34.6 per cent, 

 of the total number of cases noted herein, 

 while only 7.8 per cent, of the fathers were 

 defective, and both parents were defective 



