Mental Genetic Studies of Genius
- Type:
Book Reviews *32 Abstracts.
Vnl 1. . * ‘d Gifted and Physical Traits of a rhouS … 648 Children. By
Three Hundred Geniuses. By Catherine Morris Cox. xxm. + 8^ PP’ ?j et each Harrap & Co., Ltd. 1926. 2”. ne No attempt is made in these ^?^Sd’?t^guish the essential nature of genius, o volume between genius and talent. In the: hr? Professor Terman gives a dfrtedaccou ^ three hundred children in the .? ts were of America whose intelligence qu rnnlete for 140 or over. The researeh .s mcomplete ^ these thousand cases are to be discovering at least ten years, with a view to how far the future performance o ^e will agree with their present Pr? -n what purpose of this first report is to ,.ff from way a group of ” gifted ” children^ a group of normal non-selected c facts The book is a crowded storehouse of acts and statistics from which many infere”ce^ no drawn by the author, and still m?rc m doubt, be drawn by the reader None of them are startling : most of them confirm strated of previous investigators. Galton wjt^ that genius ran in families in accoi search the laws of heredity. The Pr^” children abundantly confirms this view. Br b m:i;es do not always belong to distinguis le but the probability of this doing; j n< enormously greater than for mediocre . Nearly a quarter of the members of the ? tan Hall of Fame are known to be relal ?ne or more of the thousand subjects ex :?te(j Another important inference is ia g ehildren are as a rule stronger, hea 1 > <T,jie better-behaved than normal children. notion that bright children are neurotic, healthy, and difficult to manage is proe have no foundation in fact.
A few of the most interesting finding > briefly be recorded. The average age o father of a gifted child is 34 ; of the motier’ The gifted child is very frequently the fir born of a family; his parents are long- > and very rarely is his heredity tainte physical or mental disease. He is a , heavier, better developed, and has a. breathing capacity, than the ordinary chi ? is a significant fact that only 8 per cent, o total number of bright children were bottle-fed during the entire period, while 48 per cent, were wholly breast-fed, and 44 per cent, were partly breast-fed?a proportion of breast- feeding which is much higher than for the general population.
The one salient exception to the clean medical record of the bright children is that more than half of them have undergone tonsillectomy, as compared with a quarter of the control group. This does not necessarily point to a greater frequency of enlarged tonsils : it may mean greater parental care and vigilance, and more thorough medical supervision.
Gifted children sleep more than their comrades.
The gifted child as a rule loves school, learns to read without formal instruction, does two hours’ homework a week, and is rarely as far advanced in his lessons as his intelligence would warrant. Terman attributes this to the general tendency of teachers to keep back precocious children. Finally, the bright child shows his superiority most in general information, and least in history and civics. It must be borne in mind that these conclusions are drawn from the group of cases studied, and must not be regarded as necessarily true of any one par- ticular child.
Gifted children exhibit as much variety in individual traits as do ordinary children. The reading records show that the average gifted child of seven reads more books in a given time than the ordinary child of fifteen, and his range of reading is much wider. Vol. II is of greater interest than Vol. I to the general reader, though not, perhaps, to the teacher and social worker. Dr Cox, acting under the guidance of Professor Terman (who, by the way, edits the series), selected 300 eminent men and women who lived between the vears 1450 and 1850 a.d. The field was restricted to those who were deservedly emin- ent, and again to those of whose childhood there were sufficient records to enable the author and her helpers to arrive at an estimate of their intelligence quotients. It was found convenient to make two estimates, one based on achievements up to the age of seventeen, and the other on achievements from between the ages of seventeen and twenty-six. The assessors applied to this material the norms and standards at which they had arrived by testing the intelligence and scholastic attain- ments of present-day American children. The author has collected and has presented in this book the largest store of information with re- gard to the childhood of men of genius that has ever been placed before the public. That in itself, quite apart from the attempt to apply modern standards to ancient performances, invests this book with an interest and a value which are unique.
The reader would probably be glad to learn the actual quotients assigned to some of the best-known of the 300 celebrities. Here they are (the intelligence quotient estimated from the achievements of childhood is placed first, and the quotient estimated from the achievements of late adolescence is placed second) :
John Bunyan, 105, 120; Cervantes, 105, 110; Sir Francis Drake, 105, 110; Michael Faraday, 105, 150; Oliver Cromwell, 110, 115; Raphael, 110, 150; Rembrandt, 110, 135; Oliver Gold- smith, 115, 115; Martin Luther, 115, 145; Ben Jonson, 120, 145; Van Dyck, 120, 135; Joseph Addison, 125, 140; John Bright, 125, 130; Abraham Lincoln, 125, 140; John Locke, 125, 135; Nelson, 125, 145; Sir Joshua Reynolds, 125, 125; Swift, 125, 130; Velasquez, 125, 140; Balzac, 130, 145; Robert Burns, 130, 130; Sir Isaac Newton, 130, 170; Rousseau, 130, 125; Sheridan, 130, 145; Beethoven, 135, 140; Edmund Burke, 135, 150; Darwin, 135, 140; Kant, 135, 145; Sir Thomas More, 135, 135; Bonaparte, 135, 140; Thackeray, 135, 140; Leonardo da Vinci, 135, 150; Wagner, 135, 150; John Wesley, 135, 140 ; Lord Lytton, 140, 145; Carlyle, 140, 155; Rubens, 140, 140; Francis Bacon, 145, 155; Charles Dickens, 145, 155; Disraeli, 145, 150; Emerson, 145, 145; Gibbon, 145, 155; Handel, 145, 155; John Milton, 145, 170; Byron, 150, 170; Descartes, 150, 160; Victor Hugo, 150, 170; Longfellow, 150, 160; Mozart, 150, 155; Scott, 150, 155; Wordsworth, 150, 155; Hume, 155, 160; Johnson, 155, 155; Tennyson, 155, 160; William Pitt, 160, 180; Pope, 160, 170; Wolsey, 165, 165; Voltaire, 170, 180; Cole- ridge, 175, 165 ; Bentham, 180, 170; Macaulay, 180, 165; Pascal, 180, 180; Goethe, 185, 210; Liebnitz, 185, 190; John Stuart Mill, 190, 170. P. B. Ballard.
Mind and Personality. By William Brown, M.D., D.Sc., Wilde Reader in Mental Philosophy in the University of Oxford. Pp. x., 344. (London. University of London Press. 1927, 12/6.)
This book is an attempt to deal with the problem of personality along special lines, to work out some sort of harmony by adjusting the points of view of psychology, psycho- pathology, philosophy, biology, logic, ethics, metaphysics and religious experience. Person- ality is left undefined, but the concept of mental unity is offered as a guiding line. In his introduction, Dr Brown ascribes great advances in recent years to Freud’s analytic method of approach, which teaches us how the experiences that have special bearing upon development are conative and emotional in their nature and related to the most fundamental instincts and impulses. The old problem ot mind and body of course has to be faced and the author dismisses in turn the purely mechanistic view, held by those who consider the only solid knowledge we have is that of the structure and functioning of the human body, and the theories of automatism, inter- actionism and parallelism. When regretting the division of physicians into those who ex- clude the mental and those who ignore the physical, Dr Brown could have made a plea for the student, who is generally given a bias towards the belief that mechanistic explana- tions cover the whole of medicine, with no hint of its philosophical difficulties and practical disadvantages. The nature of the mind 5s gradually changing from the cradle to the grave; this may be paralleled by a difference of anatomical structure, but we shall, he says> have to wait a long time before physiology can give us much helpful insight into the structure of personality.
The structure of the mind is described in accordance with McDougall’s theories ?* instincts, and a nice distinction is drawn be- tween complexes and sentiments in regard to the effect upon them of analysis. The com- plexes, dependent upon repression, can be got rid of by analysis; do sentiments, regarded by Dr Brown as normal and healthy, run any risk of being interfered with? Perhaps the question arises from a tendency of the author towards an arbitrary dichotomy between normal and abnormal, the normal being what is approved by him. Sentiments, if there ?s anything in psycho-analysis, are unconsciously motivated, although consciously recognised, and they may be as anti-social and as harmfu’ to the individual as a complex.
Dr Brown rightly defends modern psycho- logy against the charge that it tends to weaken the sense of moral responsibility, its task being mental welfare?
the modest one of attempting to ra . cedent factors of wrongdoing” in the cr heredity, mental constitution and envir. .v t It certainly does not countenance the vi all criminals suffer from mental 1 ne , that mental illness is an invariab y su excuse for crime. # ,
The chapter on mental development in c 1 hood is rather commonplace, and the p advice of sex instruction prompts ?ne lt:ps what the fuss is about. Surely tie 1 . . of sex instruction arise from adult sen > involving secrecy and emotional e^P asl ‘ t: if we could only strip ourselves of these ments?or complexes?the child would exp ^ ence no more trouble in this su jec any other. Dr Brown discusses the ns ” shock ” in giving sex instruction, a not seem to think the existence of such calls for explanation. What is t er^ mind of the child that should make_th p ticular knowledge cause shock. cv,nrk possible answer is that the foundation ? has already been laid by adult mis-handling. The chapters on psycho-pathology begin with an account of physical factors, with tie ing, however, that these are in little danger being underestimated ; medical men are more danger of neglecting the psychologica ave ?f approach. Suggestion and hypnosis, ps) analysis, and mental dissociation are adequa y handled, but occasionally there crop up P? ?f view which seem based upon persona positions of the author. Thus Freud s e tion of conscience from the CEdipus comp ? > against which several arguments can. adduced, is met by the generalisation that tnese repressive tendencies belong to the pat 10 ogic and not to the normal, and so far as they are conscience are not true conscience. Psyc o ?t>y’ says Dr Brown, can explain excess or deficiency of conscientiousness but not, appar ently, a ” normal ” conscience, since that is a -matter of ethics. The distinction between normal and pathological is a graded one an not enough to justify thrusting the one ou^ side the domain of psychology. Dr Brown s exposition and criticism of psycho-ana y ica principles are straightforward and helpful; he stops short of complete agreement, but leaves no doubt as to his belief in the soundness an practical value of the methods. Since is approach to the subject has been cautious and guided always by personal experience, preceded by adequate knowledge of general psychology and philosophy, his opinions and criticisms carry weight. Psycho-analysis has suffered as much from the absence of effective criticism as it has from ignorant abuse.
Our author’s interests are plainly drawn most of all to the philosophical point of view. He asks what is the significance and importance of the emotions in the formulation of the moral ideal, and from this point departs more and more from psychology in the direction of philosophy and metaphysics. Aristotelian ethics are, as he says, based almost exclusively upon psychological data, and yet he claims Aristotle as a supporter of intuitionism result- ing from the purification, by experience, of a moral insight which had always been present as an essential potentiality of the human soul. In considering ethics and the study of values, Dr Brown regards certain philosophical and religious mental states as the normal; here he might bear in mind a principle laid down by Jung that people of any one psychological type inevitably regard their own attitude to the universe as the normal, and can rarely admit the equal validity of the attitude of people of other types. Neither Dr Brown nor his readers can escape from the working of this principle. The scope of Dr Brown’s task is so immense that one questions whether any specific science is in a position to have its teachings integrated with that of the others for his purpose. If we look at psychology alone, the knowledge gained during the last two decades through the work of Freud has not yet been assimilated to the general body of psychological knowledge, still less to remoter sciences. Wide reading and much thought are shown in this attempt to gather together a number of divergent lines; it is well done, but we are left with the feeling that the chasm separating us from a knowledge of personality is greater than we thought. Millais Culpin.
An Introduction to Forensic Psychiatry in the Criminal Courts. By W. Norwood East, M.D. (J. & A. Churchill. 1927. 16/-)
Dr Norwood East has produced a volume of remarkable interest and value, not only to the medical practitioner, but to everyone concerned with the care of defectives and the administration of the criminal law. His early chapters on ” Ascertainment ” and ” Criminal Responsibility ” could not be bettered in respect of expert knowledge and practical advice on methods of examination, on the proper functions of a medical witness and on the considerations which should enter into the advice he gives the Court. He emphasises a point which would reassure the public greatly if it were better known, i.e., that a prison doctor, although a state official, regards the prisoner primarily as a patient, and is absolutely impartial in his examina- tion, which is, moreover, conducted with every safeguard against entrapping a pri- soner into making a statement to his detriment.
In a lucid series of chapters, Dr East describes the main forms of psychosis and the common varieties of crime to which they may give rise. Like the late Dr Sullivan of Broadmoor, he lays great stress on the dangerous potentialities of dementia praecox and the comparative unimportance of epilepsy. His exposition of the complex subject of epileptic ” forgetting ” is par- ticularly clear and helpful, and he is equally illuminating on the difficult problem of dis- tinguishing the malinger and the hysteric from the truly insane.
On the subject of defectives, Dr East is a sure guide on disputed points. He confirms other recent findings on the small number of defectives found within prison walls. His own figures from Brixton show 1.3 per cent, certifiable under the Mental Deficiency Act, 1.3 per cent, subnormal but not certifiable, and 1.5 per cent, insane. The Boys’ Prison at Wandsworth, naturally, gives a rather higher proportion, but even here only 10 per cent, belong to these three groups. He insists that it is essential in dealing with crime to distinguish between mental deficiency and inefficiency. ” The Mental Deficiency and Lunacy Acts provide for the rational treatment of the defective and the insane criminal, but a large group of mental inefficients consisting of subnormals, cases of undeveloped psychosis and psycho- neuroses remain outside the scope of the Acts. It is important to bear them con- stantly in mind and not attempt to stretch the definition of mental deficiency to include any of them; otherwise the true defective may suffer from the consequent administra- tive and judicial difficulties and complexities that will arise.”
The author gives some interesting- case histories of ” moral imbeciles,” and he up- holds the view that the moral imbecile need not be defective in intelligence and could not always be defined as “feeble-minded.” “In short, they appear to be uncontrolled by wis- dom, by moral perception and moral senti- ment, whether the instinctive factors are at fault or not.” The psychological basis of moral imbecility remains obscure, and Dr. East suggests that we may be dealing with ” a symptom-complex founded on different psychological bases.” A warning is added as to the great need for care in diagnosis of this group. Persistent disturbances of con- duct due to bad environment and training, immaturity or compulsion neuroses should be carefully excluded. It is reassuring that Dr East approves the attitude of the Central Association for Mental Welfare in regard to sterilization, and by inference in many other important points bearing on the welfare of defectives.
L. Fairfield. The Child’s Path to Freedom. By Norman MacMunn, with a foreword by T. Percy Nunn, M.A., D.Sc. (J. Curwen & Sons, Ltd. 1926. 5/-.)
This is a book with an ideal. Mr? MacMunn had a vision, a vision for which the educational world at the time was totally unprepared, and for which as a general rule it is almost equally unready to-day. If in 1927 his basic ideals are regarded by some with enthusiasm, by more with toleration, but by the great majority with scepticism if not antagonism, in 1914 they were treated as a violation of a grimly-rooted and com- pletely satisfactory system, and entirely revolutionary.
Broadly speaking, however, we have much to learn from Mr. MacMunn, his attitude to the child, and his experience as to results. It is, however, scarcely necessary to add that his method as it stands is not practi- cable in the average elementary school of to-day; at the same time, we must allow, and even urge, that there is much suggested within the pages of ” The Child’s Path to Freedom ” that should find place in every class-room. The spirit of Mr. MacMunn does indeed exist in the present day educa- lonal system under the forms of industrial with beginners, Dalton plans with older c ildren, and many excellent modifications ? where they are effectually, sanely j. systematically carried out. All this is ?lng’ much to enlarge the outlook of e11 dren and to ensure that each is put in the vay of being able to develop his own per- sonality, so that specialisation during later ?C ??1 life is possible, and ensuring that all re no^ now turned out, as it were, ” to Pa tern.” Much, however, yet remains to uone, and we agree that in very truth oes the outlook of the existing educational owers^ need itself an education. At the tin*1’6 tlme’ &rowth in these matters is con- to^ ‘ .as we see experimentalists tolerated ? ay? if not with enthusiasm at least with us and greater things are yet before we but continue in the spirit of what reG ,are taught here. It is a book well worth si a’n8” we may not agree, but at least we bea i learn? we may not adopt, but we shall lop- f to aPPiy J Mr. MacMunn’s psycho- g} may not convince us in dealing with bett ?W? ^ 0-m or ?etty’ but we shall ke the stanr^ ^-tS study and our children will rj ht to &ain. The child is not necessarily Oy every time, but he is right sometimes.
exPerience counts for a good deal, but bo0j^re infallible, and if the study of this as tL-Wl^ help us towards realisation such of v ‘f’ an5* the reconstruction of our sense Vajn a ues it will not have been written in S. J. Hardcastle.
Foundations of Social Hygiene. (J^11 Social Hygiene Council, Inc.
” Now that we see that progressive e _ tion has occurred in the past, and may^ tinued into the future, by that very vlS1 j are. become responsible for its continuan proper guidance in our own race. iiat sentence, Professor Julian Huxley soun s . is the keynote of the whole volume. e as a biologist, on the biological approac social hygiene : Dr Cyril Burt on the co” r tion of psychology : Dr Malinowski on that anthropology : while Professor Winifred Cum* discusses the influence of the home, and r fessor Percy Nunn that of education and trao- tion. Sir Arthur Newsholme writes or Community and Social Hygiene ” : and Pro- fessor Arthur Thomson opens the series with some general considerations on health and its attainment of which ” the generalised moral is this, that social organisation is not necessarily a good thing in itself. It requires to be scru- tinised not only in terms of wealth and health … but in terms of higher values?the good, the beautiful and the true, with their out- come in the evolution of man’s personality.” ” We must look to it that we do not shut our- selves off from the ultra-violet rays of the spirit.”
Thus from different points of view all the writers who contribute to this volume see the possibilities of a society which is not merely allowed to grow, Topsy-wise, but is built with a conscious sense of responsibility for the ob- servance of truths which science makes clearer every year.
Professor Huxley says that ” eugenics is the stepchild of politics. It deals only in long views and fares badly in consequence, just as afforestation has fared badly for the same reason. So far as social hygiene is concerned, politics deal only with improvement in the con- ditions of living, with housing, wages, educa- tion, sanitation, hours of labour, and the like. It deals only with each generation as it comes along. Any serious attempt to understand the reaction of one generation to the next is still beyond it.” And yet it is shown ” that venereal diseases could be stamped out in a generation if only a right public opinion in the matter could be developed.”
It is hoped that this collection of papers will be widely read. It should certainly help to form public opinion rightly, for on a number of questions on which public opinion wobbles lamentably there is a striking measure of agree- ment between these writers. Not the least striking is the summary of evidence prepared by Physiologists and Psychologists and the statement of the British Social Hygiene Coun- cil which is based upon it.
Lionel Ellis.
Mental Hygiene with special reference to the migration of people. (U.S.A. Public Health Bulletin, No. 148.)
We have received this publication from the Treasury Department, Public Health Service at Washington, and find in it a forcible re- minder of the complicated questions confronting a nation with so vast an immigration problem. The first part of the report reviews the facilities in the States for the care of the feeble-minded and insane, and discusses the principles under- lying- the methods of treatment and training-. The chapters dealing- with “Ten decades of immigration” are of much interest, and the practical carrying out of the law of 1917 which requires mental and physical examination of aliens before admission is described with much sympathy for the special difficulties of the examining medical officer. Altogether, the report is an interesting summary of the attempt to preserve the U.S.A. from race- deterioration.
A Study of Masturbation and its Reputed Sequels. By John F. W. Meagher, M.D. (Bailliere, Tindall & Cox, 1924. 6/-). The time is ripe for a clear and sane pro- nouncement upon the true significance of masturbation, and so this little book will be welcomed both by members of the medical pro- fession and by lay people. After a discussion of the habit in children and in adults, the author proceeds to review its symptoms and sequelae, prevalence and treatment, and in chapter V, gives a helpful comparison between masturba- tion and coitus.
We are glad to find points of special import- ance being clearly emphasized, among these being the necessity for regarding the habit as physiological in childhood, as being indeed a stage of sex-development; the importance and value of dealing with the accompanying remorse; the grouping together of masturba- tory reveries and masturbation as one and the same thing; the futility, if not the immorality of suggesting illicit intercourse or marriage as a cure for masturbation.
Such criticism as we venture to offer is directed towards contradictory phraseology, and does not imply any divergence of views. For instance, although in one part of the book the term sex-sublimation is used, and advice is given along these lines, yet, on page 54, under the heading of ” religion as an aid,” the author recommends that everyone should strive to do his or her best to suppress or repress the sex impulses. Again, although in Chapter I it is stated of masturbation that ” It is an infantile way of seeking sex-gratification,” later on, under “effects on character,” p. 35, the effects pf the habit are discussed, instead of associating* the traits mentioned with an infari* tile type of personality who masturbates because his outlook on life is infantile. would also, in our opinion, have been helpful if less had been said about the negative course of struggling against and conquering the habit, and the attention had been more pointedly concentrated upon the positive course of slow, steady growth away from the infantile and towards the full stature of manhood and womanhood, since the latter course yields more stable results. The book is, nevertheless, warmly recommended to all who wish to gain an insight into the subject and to glean advice upon the treatment of individual cases. A. M. Hutchison.
Report of the Departmental Committee on the Treatment of Young Offenders. (H.M. Stationery Office, 1927. 2/6.) This report has been eagerly awaited since the appointment of the Committee in January* 1925. The Committee have reviewed the whole question of the treatment of offenders under the age of 21, and they divide these into two groups, those under 17, whether neglected or delinquent, and those between 17 and 21, who are offenders. We have no doubt that the re- port will be studied closely by all who are dealing with young offenders, and we only pro- pose to refer to one or two of the most important points.
The Juvenile Court system is upheld by the Committee as the best method in this country for dealing with juvenile cases, and the Com- mittee advise that the present system be rapidly extended and immediate appointments on all benches be made of magistrates especi- ally suited for the work ; that some means be devised of sharing experiences among magis- trates, so that there may be a certain uniformity of treatment, and that the general procedure be simplified.
Perhaps the recommendation of major im* portance in regard to Juvenile Courts is that their jurisdiction should extend to the age of lj* The Committee evidently had some difficulty *n deciding up to what age the Juvenile Courts should have jurisdiction, and we think they were on the whole wise to reject the suggestion of 21. They lecommend, on the other hand, that 18 should be the age below which sentence of death cannot be passed. Other recommenda- tions for the extension of Probation, the Borstal System, After-Care, and ^ y0ung the guardianship of a neglected c ?olloW 0n person to an Education Authority, the lines of advanced opinion. mterest- For readers of this paper, the most ntere ing part of the report deals with the faam for the examination and observa 1 offenders. The Report says a the views ex-
” We have been much impresse y rP~ter facilities pressed to us as to the need of much g < of[en_ for the examination and observation important ders. To the Court is entrusted applied function of deciding the right treatm js ad- to each particular case. Once t ie _p ^ much mitted that the duty of the Court is lhe offender to punish for the offence as to rea j ^gnosis of to the community, the need for acc <? . auenced the the circumstances and motives _ w i nQt p0S. offence becomes apparent. ^or ins an , reease on sible for the Court to determine w treatment is probation or some form of instituti?’’’^_ ^ ^ the called for without the fullest enqu ? der> These antecedents and surroundings ot t e there is a enquiries can often best be pursu s the remand in custody. But more impo including need for estimating the Pers,onau. ‘ There is always especially mental and physical healt . discovery of t^ possibility of mental deficiency, the discovery ^ which would lead to special treatment. enceph- m.. fecent years of that distressing P careful ahtis lethargica has emphasised th _ who are examination. It is well known that P^ are i;able suffering from the sequelae of this dis appear to lose their mental or moral balance before the Courts as offenders. ? ? * , .* ?i j{now- ” There is also the help which psyc mental ledge and training can give in estim:Lrged with equipment of young people who. are c0’mparatively offences. Though psychology is stil heinfi given new science a great deal of attention apply its to _ it and many medical men cons a > ^ known Principles in their private practice. rtood posi- that boys and girls whose parents are 1 < * Qr ca- tion and who become delinquent a j other where are frequently taken to neurolog Those specialists, and proper treatment is aPP’ er;ng from who appear before the Court are oft mental the same causes, and it is not right ? their aspect should be ignored in the treatment haS case. The real value of _Psych?lo?lc^ by sharp been somewhat obscured in recently fortu- controversies about particular theories. know- nately not our function?even if we have ^ ledge?to take any part in such controversy. the wish to make it clear that in our opini . to resources of approved medical science in under the functions of the mind should be availab’ >? any system of observation such as we (P. 43.)
And the Committee go on to recommend * at in order to provide places where co”dl??” could exist for scientific observation, the should establish three observation Centres, 1 London, in the Midlands and in the North. _ Report states :?
” We have studied the methods adopted in other countries in meeting this problem, especially in Bel- gium. We have received a good deal of information about the Observation Centre for lads at Moll and the similar Centre for girls at Namur, and several members of the Committee paid a special visit to Belgium to study the methods on the spot. The Central Observation School at Moll, which was opened in 1915, owed its origin to the passing of an Act a few years earlier which gave the Juvenile Courts power to commit children to the care of the State. To enable the State to fulfil its obligations a systematic method of observation was felt to be essen- tial. To this school young people are sent from the Courts as a preliminary step and their subsequent treatment depends on the results of the observation there. The school is organised on the basis of separate Houses according to age, and there the lads live for several months under a carefully organised system of work and recreation, though there is con- siderable freedom of choice left to the individual. An ingenious system of ‘tests is applied to ascertain as far as possible the particular boy’s tastes, abilities, and proclivities. As a result of the treatment some of the lads are returned to their homes after a stay of a few months (about 10 per cent.), some are boarded out (about 10 per cent.), some are sent to voluntary Homes (about 4 per cent.), some are sent to a State school (about 52 per cent.), and some to a special institution (about 21 per cent.). Moll is under a Director of exceptional qualifications and enthusiasm for the work, and it is apparent that in this as in other instances the success of an institu- tion largely depends on the personality of its head.
” The Moll system would not fit in with English methods in every respect, but its main principle seems to us to supply an example of the sort of examina- tion which is required in this country. In order to justify the employment of the best possible staff we think it would be right to adopt a scheme which would provide for the examination and observation, when necessary, of all persons under 21 and be avail- able for the Juvenile Courts as well as the Adult Courts. There would be no objection in principle, and administratively it would be a great advantage if Observation Centres could provide for all offenders under 21, because it would be possible to employ the same expert staff.” (p 44.)
It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the value of such Observation Centres and we believe that though this recommendation of the Com- mittee involves immediate and considerable expense, it is of such importance and likely to lead to results of such consequence that even in the present economic stringency, it should at once be carried out, at least in London. Report of the Commissioners of Prisons and the Directors of Convict Prisons for the Year 1925-26. (H.M. Stationery Office, 1927. 1/6.)
The harmful effect of the short sentence, the prevalence of recidivism and the unsuitability 62 MENTAL WELFARE. of prison conditions for persons of low or abnormal mentality are subjects which recur in almost every one of the Governors’ and Medical Officers’ reports which are contained in this volume.
” During the year under review the general prison population continued, as before, to show a tendency to a slow decline.
” Probation, allowance of time in which to pay fines, and the operation of the Mental Deficiency Act, were, as for some years past, the chief factors in this decline ; while the increased efficiency of the agencies for .the assistance of all classes of prisoners on their discharge, combined with the training given to as many as possible during their imprisonment, also contributed in a per- ceptible degree.” (p. 6.) And later in the report (p. 33) the Medical Commissioner states :
“As I reported last year, the intelligent application of the Mental Deficiency Act ,(1913) by Prison Medical Officers has resulted in the permanent diminution of the prison population by a large but unknown number? possibly 200 daily.
” A logical extension of a similar measure to those persons who are to some degree feeble-minded, though not so much so as to be certifiable under the Lunacy or Mental Deficiency Acts, either by some form of in- determinate sentence or permanent segregation in some form of special institution or farm colony would un- doubtedly, in my opinion, lead to the elimination from the unsuitable environment of a prison of a further large contingent of weak-minded habitual petty offenders.
” With the practical elimination of such, a prison would then be what it ought to be, a place for hard work, discipline and education, with a view to rehabili- tation on completion of the sentence.”
It is interesting to read the protest made against the practice of some Justices of con- victing prisoners about whose mentality they have doubts, instead of remanding them and asking- for a medical report before dealing” with them. The Report states (p. 32) :?
” This practice of conviction first and mental ex- amination afterwards is not very common, and would probably disappear altogether if the Justices had the matter brought to their notice.”
The point is, we think, of real importance, and we hope that steps will be taken to press for a more constant recourse to mental ex- amination in doubtful cases. The Medical Officer of Birmingham Prison has some in- teresting remarks to make on the intelligence of prisoners. He says (p. 37) :
” Much attention has been given during recent years to the estimation of the intelligence of offenders. It has beep shown that the estimates formerly given as to the percentage of offenders who are of defective intelligence were far too high ; on the use, that is to say, of any reasonable standard of measurement, for a scheme could be devised which would bring the majority of persons, whether offenders or otherwise, within the category of intelligence defectives. This most necessary work must, of course, continue; for the elimination of possible defect of intelligence must be one of the first steps taken when dealing with any case ; but defect of intelligence is not the only nor the most frequent nor the most important mental abnor- mality acting as a causative factor in the production of delinquency. It is becoming clear that defect of intelligence is not to be compared in importance to emotional abnormality. It is to the estimation of these emotional abnormalities that our work must now be directed. All persons suffer, to some extent, from emotional abnormality. Our task is to determine the nature of, and, if possible, to correct the mental abnor- malities of our offenders ; we have to consider the con- nection of the emotional abnormality with the offence committed. The task is far more difficult than that of the measurement of intelligence; but it should not be insuperable.
” The facts necessary for the solution of the problem are becoming clearer, but the problem can only be solved by the careful and intensive investigation of individual cases, and this implies the provision of the necessary investigators.”
Brixton Prison Medical Officer also pleads for special institutions for the borderline case : ” Both in his own and in the public interest, the borderline case of persistent delinquent tendencies should be secluded until there is a reasonable prospect that he will not resume his anti-social habits. I am quite confident that, if .the necessary change in the law were effected, most Courts would welcome the opportunity to send such cases to a suitable institution. I believe alsoi that public opinion is ready for the change. After all, the proposal involves no new principle. At present the lunatic and the mental deficient receive indeterminate sentences by quite summary procedures. It is felt that this is best for the patients, as it is obviously best for society. Why should the all-but insane and the all-but deficient be treated so very differently? ” (p. 39.)
The same need is voiced by the Holloway Prison Medical Officer (p. 42) :
” During the year there has been a fall again in the prison population, but I regret to say that there has not been a corresponding fall in the numbers of abnormal mental cases. As I have pointed out in previous reports, the need for fresh legislation in reference to subnormal mental cases is long overdue, and if other provision was made for those cases we now term ‘ uncertifiable cases of mental defect,’ a very large part of Holloway might be closed.’’
This Report is further of value in that it contains the Resolutions of the International Penitentiary Congress (Prison Congress, August, 1925) with comments on .the British practice and point of view.
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