The Kallikak family : a study in the heredity of feeble-mindedness / by Henry Herbert Goddard.

  • Goddard, Henry Herbert, 1866-1957.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Kallikak family : a study in the heredity of feeble-mindedness / by Henry Herbert Goddard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    two children, the pair went to live on the farm of an unmarried man possessing some property, but little intelligence. The husband was an imbecile who had never provided for his wife. She was still pretty, al- most girlish — the farmer was good-looking, and soon the two were openly living together and the husband had left. As the facts became known, there was con- siderable protest in the neighborhood, but no active steps were taken until two or three children had been born. Finally, a number of leading citizens, headed by the good woman before alluded to, took the matter up in earnest. They found the husband and persuaded him to allow them to get him a divorce. Then they compelled the farmer to marry the woman. He agreed, on condition that the children which were not his should be sent away. It was at this juncture that Deborah was brought to the Training School. In visiting the mother in her present home and in talking with her over different phases of her past life, several things are evident; there has been no malice in her life nor voluntary reaction against social order, but simply a blind following of impulse which never rose to objective consciousness. Her life has utterly lacked coordination — there has been no reasoning from cause to effect, no learning of any lesson. She