Intelligence Testing: Its Methods and Results
We may perhaps be sceptical regarding the flood of literature on this subject proceeding from across the Atlantic, but the fact that the author, now Professor of Education in the Teachers’ College, Columbia University, U.S.A., was formerly a distinguished student of one of our own Universities, may win for this book a somewhat readier welcome. It will certainly be deserved, for at the present state in the development of the work of mental testing we could not wish for a more suitable volume to put into the hands of those of the general public who wish to* be informed on tue subject. Students in colleges, as well as medical men and teachers who have no special training in this direction, would do well to begin their study by a careful reading of these pages.
Professor Pintner deals in a comprehensive way with the history and theory of mental testing and the general methods employed, concluding with a survey of the results of testing with reference to such special groups as superior and feeble-minded children, delin- quents, the deaf and the blind, and others. Of great value for reference are chapters v. and VI., where various individual and group scales are discussed and tables of age-noims given for these scales. Full bibliographies follow each chapter.
The publishers are to be congratulated on the beautiful letter-press of the book and this, combined with the author’s easy style, method- ical treatment of the subject and well-balanced judgment, makes the volume very pleasant reading as well as a thoroughly useful text- book. :abbreviation: ELSR.
The Borderland: Some Problems of Insanity. By Theo. B. Hyslop, M.D., F.R.S.E. London. Philip Allan and Co. 192-1. Pp. 304. 32s. 6d.
The Nervous Patient. By Millais Culpin, M.D., F.R.C.S.(Eng.). ‘ London. H. K, Lewis and Co, 1924. Pp. 305, 10s, 6d.
Aids to Psychiatry. Students’ Aids Series. By W. S. Dawson, M.A., M.D. (Oxon.), M.R.C.P. (Lond.), D.P.M. London. Balliere, Tindall and Cox. 1924. Pp. 309. 4s. 6d.
These three books all deal with the subject of mental life but from different aspects. The first, Dr Hyslop’s ” Borderlandis a work of far reaching scope as the title implies. The author, a man of great attainments in many spheres and of wide interests?to mention Medicine, Art and Music among many?has drawn upon his experience to give his con- sidered views on many problems of our complex social life. He deals with matters of Sociology, of Education, and of Degeneracy with his characteristic brisk and emphatic style, while chapters are devoted to such questions of public interest as ” Civilisation,” ” Health and Disease in Art,” and so on. In all these excursions his aim has been to deal with the developments of the mind in the way of beliefs, attitudes, and conduct, and to show how in all departments of life expression may be found for all those variations of personality which can be considered neither healthy nor diseased but belonging to the ” borderland.” With the wealth of material he provides it would be invidious to make any special references, indeed it would be misleading ; the book must be read as a whole for the aims of the author to be appreciated. It is in no sense a text book, he treats of no specific mental disease, but it is rather a volume for the library shelf to be read reflectively. Dr Hyslop has thought deeply and he wants his readers to think also, and in his present work there is much material for consideration for all, be they medical, legal or educational by disposi- tion or calling.
Dr Culpin’s book, The Nervous Patient is one of those psychological expositions of a type to which we have become accustomed in recent years. It is an attempt, quite indivi- dualistic in conception, to put in a simple way, the psycho-analytic explanation of those troubles to which we are all liable in some degree and which we ascribe to “nerves.”
It is a sincere contribution based upon the author’s own experience of handling his cases and he devotes a considerable part of the book to a description of his own career in so far as it explains how he was led to adopt the principles which he advocates. He writes very well and very plausibly but shows himself a trifle carried away on the tide of his own personal feelings, otherwise he would not in- clude his defence of psycho-analysis and his criticism of its antagonists which is caustic and intolerant to a degree. In common with its prototypes the book tells the story tho- roughly, but it does not relate the whole of the facts. Chapters on the major psychosis, by Dr Stanford Read, and on eye symptoms, by Mr. W. S. Inman, written from the same standpoint, add to the scope of the work. The book is intended for the use of medical prac- titioners, who, from their knowledge and experience must judge for themselves as to the actual value of the deductions put forward and of the methods of treatment suggested. ” Aids to Psychiatry,” by Dr Dawson, is a book of quite another type. Written to con- form to the series of ” aids ” in other depart- ments of medicine, it aims at presenting in a small compass the whole subject of mental disorder. Psychiatry is a branch of medicine which lends itself but poorly to this form of treatment and the author is to be congratulated upon his success in dealing with the subject matter. To the student who is not conversant practically with the handling of cases of mental disease, however, the book might be mislead- ing from its very conciseness, and consequently its use must be confined to those who for some reason or another require a more or less tabular form of presentation of the subject.
Such a statement as ” like dreams and halluci- nations, delusions are the distorted fulfilment of an unconscious wish ” require much elabora- tion if it is to have any meaning whatever, and we feel that the author would have been wiser to confine himself to the pure descrip- tion of the clinical and pathological phenomena considering the limitations imposed by the purpose of the book. It is very easy to criticise and very difficult to satisfy, and on the whole the presentation of the material is most credit- able. The complete field of mental disorder is laid out neatly and made easy of assimila- tion for the student whose wider reading has prepared his mind for the task of ingestion. Modern developments of thought have been followed and throughout it is obvious that the author owes much of his inspiration to the school of psychiatry to which he belongs, that of the Maudsley Hospital and its directors.
Thomas Beaton.
Observations on Delinquent Mental Defectives. By W. Rees Thomas, M.D., MRCP Lond., D.P.M., Medical Superintendent, and Cecil H. G. Gostwyck, M.B., F.R.C.P.Edin., Assistant Medical Officer of the Rampton State Institution, near Retford. Journal of Mental Science, Jan., 1925. In this very interesting- paper, the Medical Officers of Rampton State Institution for ” dangerous and violent defectives,” discuss the problems presented by the patients in their charge, divided into three groups:
Simple mental defectives (21 males, 5 females).
Mental defectives with abnormal emotional instability (26 males, 37 females).
Mental defectives with psychoses or psychoneuroses (53 males, 58 females).
1. Simple mental defectives
This group includes cases in which there is no supervening mental disorder or pronounced emotional instability, but who have been led into anti- social conduct as the result of lack of intelligence and capacity and of impulses too strong for them to control. In the orderly routine of institution life they gradually become tractable and often industrious, the only difficulty being that by reason of their suggestibility it is neces- sary to keep them away from the higher-grade cases.
2. Mental Defectives with abnormal emotional instability
These patients are described as restless, mischievous, defiant and noisy, and often violent and destructive. They are liable to extreme emotional outbreaks on the slightest provocation, and create a disturbance which spreads rapidly if prompt segregation is not resorted to. Conduct during these outbreaks is quite deliberate and directed, and may be explained by the patient as having arisen be- cause she ” felt unsettled and could not help herself.” In between the attacks the patients may make every effort to submit to control and may earn privileges for good conduct and in- dustry. In tests carried out under laboratory conditions they may demonstrate a satisfac- tory amount of reason, judgment and wisdom and may show only a slight defect of intellig- ence. In certain cases the writers record that they have noted accompanying, though some- times only transitory, symptoms, which seem to indicate that the patient is in a transition stage from instability to dementia prsecox.
3. Mental Defectives with Psychoses.
In this group are included all those cases showing a persistent or recurring psychosis or psychoneurosis supervening on or causing a legal mental deficiency.”
All forms of mental disorder are found in these patients, as concomitants of anti-social conduct, though the most common is that which is manifested by transient ideas and delusions of persecution. Amongst the male patients this type of disorder is markedly found in those who have been committed for some crime of a homosexual nature or who are known to have homosexual desires, and it is frequently found to be the outcome of the morbid mental state which is produced by the suppression of abnormal cravings of this nature.
Discussing the question of certification in the case of the patients in this group the writers state that many are insane for short periods but that the symptoms subside so rapidly that certification under the Lunacy Act is difficult and often impossible. To the ordi- nary observer their psychosis is not always apparent and when they come before the courts charged with crimes possibly committed under its influence, the acute and outstanding sym- ptoms have disappeared, leaving apparent only the mental defect. They are, therefore, certified and rightly?under the Mental Deficiency Act and their true condition only becomes re- cognised after they have been kept under observation for a long period.
It is interesting to read that to this third group half the inmates of Rampton belong. Canework. By Charles Crampton. Pp. 03, Raffia Work. By Elsie Mochrie. Pp.61. 4/6. Simple Embroidery. By Elsie Mochrie. Pp. 1. 1/6.
Tablet Weaving. By H. Pralle. Trans, by M. & H. H. Peach. Pp. 19. 1/6. All published by the Dryad Handicrafts, St. Nicholas St., Leicester. These four little handbooks are written clearly and simply and contain numerous dia- grams and illustrations which are easily under- stood.
The skilled professional handicraft teacher is not likely to find in them anything- very new, but to workers in Institutions and to Occupation Centre Supervisors seeking to add to their knowledge of handwork, they should be of considerable value.
The Dryad Works are to be congratulated on their enterprise in making this attempt to popularise the simpler handicrafts by publishing this series of attractive booklets.
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