The problem of the feeble-minded ; an abstract of the report of the Royal Commission on the care and control of the feeble-minded / and contributions by Sir Francis Galton [and others].

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-Minded.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The problem of the feeble-minded ; an abstract of the report of the Royal Commission on the care and control of the feeble-minded / and contributions by Sir Francis Galton [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    usually retained at home until after puberty at least; and the natural and physical evolution taking place at that time, but on a lower plane, in the absence of intellectual control, and accompanied by defective education, was apt to result in acts of theft, cruelty, incendiarism, homicide and various offences of a sexual or perverted sexual nature. Experience seemed to show that the degree of education possible in this class was an element that might, under proper care, be made use of as a factor worthy of con- sideration in providing for them on economical lines. But education on the usual lines, amongst other children and associated with them, was so entirely erroneous as to result in their spending their lives alternately in the prison, the workhouse, and the asylum—an outcast from each. Dr. Corner, Lecturer on Mental Diseases in the North-East London Post-graduate College, says, One of the most common and dangerous characteristics of the feeble-minded is that they tend to sink socially; they will associate with their inferiors for preference, and it is common for parents to say that their child seems to have a peculiar instinct for finding out and associating with the worst character in the village. This, coupled with the fact that they are easily influenced and readily receive suggestions, shows how highly dangerous it is to leave such cases without supervision, and how it is that so many weak-minded people get into prison or become the dupes of designing persons. These opinions are confirmed by observations on children in Remand Homes. Miss Turner, Medical Attendant to the Metropolitan Asylums Board, says: It appears to me that the charge of ' wandering' is often preferred to a graver one for placing on the charge-sheets, but as a rule it covers some petty offence, such as pilfering, begging, playing truant, etc., and it was consequently impossible for me to find out the number of cases of ' wandering' in its simplest sense of aimless straying or loitering. These are evidently few. A significant table is given showing the results of medically examining 100 boys and 28 girls taken at haphazard from Remand Homes: