Hansford: Mental Defectives in County Indiana 83 
learned to walk on all fours instead of upright. The father 
died and she grew up in the care of “crazy Sawbuck’' as Nellie 
is called about town. When 12 years old the attention of the 
truant officer was attracted to her as the child had never at- 
tended school. She was given over to the Board of Children’s 
Guardians, who placed her with a paternal aunt. Her physical 
condition was improved and in a few years she had reached 
the fifth grade in school. It was then necessary for her to 
leave school as she was unable to climb stairs to the upper 
classrooms. For about 2 years later, she was a trusted nurse- 
maid. Then for no apparent reason, she suddenly failed in 
Present Home of Luke McHaley. 
health. For 2 years she has lain in bed or on a couch with 
apparently no desire to resume a normal life. She says that 
she is weak and dizzy, but the doctor can find no reason. When 
she so desires, she is strong enough to lift a fat two-year-old 
baby above her as she lies on the bed. Alta is feeble-minded 
but is quite a different type from her maternal relatives. She 
has a mental age of about 10 years. Lack of judgment and 
short memory-span stand out in her test. Three years before 
this test, she was given the Goddard and measured 12 years. 
This may mean quite a bit of deterioration as the Goddard 
Binet in the upper reaches of the scale is much more difficult 
than the corresponding part of the Stanford Revision. 
