Mentally defective children / by Alfred Binet and TH. Simon ; authorized translation by W. B. Drummond ; with an appendix containing the Binet-Simon tests of intelligence by Margaret Drummond and an introduction by Alexander Darroch.

  • Binet, Alfred, 1857-1911.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Mentally defective children / by Alfred Binet and TH. Simon ; authorized translation by W. B. Drummond ; with an appendix containing the Binet-Simon tests of intelligence by Margaret Drummond and an introduction by Alexander Darroch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    After the Salpetriere, Bicetre. Bic^lre—The reader would be wrong to imagine that in these visits to the hospitals we are forgetting the school cases of mental deficiency; we are at the heart of the question. Whether we are deahng with hospital cases or school cases, there are details of organisation which are the same for all, and there are similar mistakes which we must try to avoid. The asylum-school of Bicetre, which owes its origin, in 1892, to the General Council of the Seine, and its organisa- tion to Dr. Bourneville, has a world-wide reputation. Dr. Bourneville has set himself to demonstrate, by every possible means, that idiots can be improved if they are treated methodically and progressively. It is thanks to his initiative that the medico-pedagogical treatment of idiocy, a treatment which has been much vaunted by the doctors, is now known everywhere. His clinique has constantly been cited as a model. This model has been imitated in France and more especially abroad. The asylums of Saint-Yon, of La Roche-sur-Yon, of Clermont, of Sainte- Gemme, and of Auxerre, have been inspired by the examjjle of Bicetre, and have followed its methods. The State supports 440 boys in the asylum-school of Bicetre, and 230 girls at the Fondation Vallee. We have no intention of describing here at length the organisation of these establishments. All who are interested may join in the Saturday morning visits, when Dr. Bourne- ville goes round the whole of his clinique. We shall content ourselves by saying that the children in the asylum-school of Bicetre are divided into three groups: 1. The group of invalids—children who are idiotic, dirty, epileptic, demented. In this group are those who are regarded as incurable, and some who, although completely idiotic, are capable of some slight improvement. By means of a swing or see-saw their limbs are strengthened, by means of a go-cart they are taught to walk, and by means