A Psychologist’s Point of View
MENTAL WELFARE :Type: Book Reviews & Abstracts :Author: C. S. Myers. London. William Heinemann, Ltd. 1933. Pp. vii and 207. 7/6 net.
As the publishers announce, this book con- sists of ” twelve semi-popular addresses on various subjects.” Seven of them have been Published already, but most of these are not very accessible, and it is safe to say that none will welcome more warmly their re-appearance in a single book than those who read and studied them when they were first published.
Here is the admirable essay on Freudian Psy- chology which mingles generous appreciation with clear and incisive criticism. Here also is the paper, still very widely consulted by the student of psychology, on Instinct and Intelli- gence. Two fascinating papers belonging to social anthropology?The Taste-Names of ?Primitive Peoples and The Beginnings of Music?are reprinted. The remaining three collected pieces are probably less widely known?one is a discussion on Human Im- Provability and the others deal with industrial Problems and consider Industrial Psychology and Public Health and Hindrances to Output. -the new addresses all deal with relatively general topics?Principles of Development, Education and Vocation, Success, Prayer, and Individual Religious Differences.
-The subjects dealt with are various and the Publishers suggest that the only thread that n?lds them together is that they are the work ?t one psychologist. But there is more in this than meets the eye, for in fact there is no other uving psychologist who could write essays which, combine as these do brevity and lucidity, Wisdom and insight, breadth of knowledge and tolerance. A reader who has a mind tuned to respond to the music of scientific prose writing at its best will find genuine pleasure in each essay 0f this book. Further than that, however, 7e addresses are a unity because they con- ^stently express a certain broad outlook upon afferent psychological problems. Dr Myers Writes as a biologist who distrusts all sharp ^ assification and all attempts to find a simple faster key to every difficulty. Human develop- ent, for example, has been treated as accres- ent, or analytic, or integrative (p. 17); it is ?ne of them and it is all of them. It comes, lndamentally, as one complex stage is differ- entiated into a new and still complex stage. In such differentiation many different problems may be illustrated. So intelligence regarded from without is instinct and instinct regarded from within is intelligence. So success has many modes, all growing from earlier stages in which what comes to be achieved is there to be achieved. So prayer grows from a yearning for communion with the unknown and all its many forms have a unity of expression.
Too much of modern psychology is an attempt to fit all the relevant facts into a single scheme of explanation. Dr Myers’ approach is different from this. The point of view re- mains consistent throughout, but within that point of view there is room for many different specific modes of explanation. To my mind at least there is no doubt whatever that this is the right and fruitful way to an understanding of human nature.
F.C.B. The Nervous Child at School. By H. C. Cameron, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P. Oxford University Press, London: Humphrey Milford. Pp. 153. 7/6.
Dr Cameron’s other books, ” The Nervous Child,” and ” Diseases of Children,” are sufficiently well known to make the study of a further volume a matter for pleasurable an- ticipation. The reader will not be disappointed. The scope of the work may be judged from the Contents page. Schoolmasters, Parents and Doctors : Training in the Home as a Prelim- inary to School: Fatigue in School: Unhappi- ness in School Life : The Treatment of Fatigue and Unhappiness in School Life : Disorders of Health associated with Fatigue : Disorders of Conduct associated with Fatigue : Bedwetting and Disorders of Micturition : Special Abilities and Disabilities : Schools for Girls and Schools for Boys : Conclusions. Among so many sub- jects of so much interest points will be found which will arouse discussion. There is, for instance, the author’s marked appreciation of the difference between girls and boys: his habit, when referring to the child, of using a masculine pronoun: coupled with such a passage as “if girls are more sensitive than boys … and I do not know that they are To me the incidence of these things in the sexes seems very much the same.” It is as though his common sense and his honesty of observation were breaking up an attitude of convention. There is the absence from the index of such words as psychology and psycho- analysis, together with the sentence ” When similar disorders of conduct are repeated again and again … the handling of the matter be- comes one for the psychiatrist, within whose province the treatment of delinquency properly falls.” The latter phrase will be energetically contested by those teachers who view with distrust the over-readiness of some school- masters and mistresses to rely on the members of another profession to do work which properly belongs to their own?one of the many lamentable results of specialising in pre- paring children for examinations rather than in observing and treating them as unities. That children are treated by psychiatrists is due not so much to the psychiatrist’s special knowledge as to the teacher’s general ignor- ance. Another point worth arguing :
” massage, dancing and drill are valuable curative aids… . The whole Army believes that drill has a psychological as well as a physical benefit to confer. Under drill the soldier’s virtues develop… . Gymnastics are sometimes productive of strains or cramps … and may have to be omitted.” The author seems to be judging physical training by ex- army standards. No one could thus separate ” drill ” and ” gymnastics ” who had any real acquaintance with a proper physical education and?very fortunately?an increasing number of parents and teachers have realised that school is not a place for a special training in soldierly virtues, but is a place for the careful and individualised attention to the growing child which a well trained ” gymnastic ” teacher may be eminently qualified to give. On the other hand, there is more common sense and more human understanding in the chapters on Fatigue and Unhappiness, on their treat- ment, and on the Disorders whether of Health or of Conduct, which accompany them, than anyone has a right to expect in a single book. “We must not expect the moral strength of the young to grow to maturity more quickly than their physical strength.” “When fatigue is present with masturbation, the treatment which is most efficacious is to neglect the masturbation and to put a stop to the fatigue.” ” The unhappy child may … dream dreams … see himself successful, honoured … and wholly preoccupied by these phantasies … he may awake to find himself a proven liar, a detected thief, or an arrested vagabond. To ask him why he has done these things is usu- ally to come up against a blank wall. He can- not explain his conduct. He knows that he was unhappy before and that he is ten times as unhappy now.” Here is a priceless piece of common sense. Equally to the point are the explanations, more purely medical, of bilious attacks, high temperatures, uncon- sciousness and convulsions, and the disorders of sleep : the examination more psychological, of defects of reading and spelling, and of the inability to learn mathematics. These latter should be learnt by heart by those who cram for examinations and who have a touching belief in intelligence tests. The whole book is in the best sense irritating, stimulating. No staff library should be without a copy, and every magistrate should carry a precis of it on the Bench.
R.E.R. Child Psychology. By Buford J. Johnson, Professor of Psychology in the Johns Hop- kins University. Bailliere, Tindall & Cox. 1932. Pp. 439. 23/-.
This book, written by an acknowledged ex- pert, is an extraordinarily useful condensation of the views held with regard to the behaviour of the child, combined with constructive crit- icism of these views. It deals with such sub- jects as Periods of Growth, Infant Responses, Manipulation, Speech, Emotion, Social Be- haviour and Personality, and Individual Differences.
Even the structural growth of the child he shows has a marked effect on its mental out- look since ” size plays a part in the attainment of success in social activities,” causing the child deficient in recognised stature, height, fatness, etc., to withdraw into himself, and possibly producing ” the little man ” complex- Quoting Goddard that idiots and imbeciles are lower in stature than normal children, and relatively heavier for their height, the author states by way of contrast that apart from lov grade defectives, “there is no indication in the data that have been published that a causal re- lation exists between superiority of mind and superiority of bodily size.”
He also emphasises with other writers oW adolescence like Professor Bigelow tlia* Puberty and adolescencc arc not typified by turbulence of emotion and behaviour, although this occurs in exceptional cases of growth or retardation.
With the exception of the sex glands, growth changes arc less in puberty than at earlier ages, aud these changes produce no ” organic up- heavals,” such as is so often suggested, though the secondary sex characteristics, hair, voice, contour of body, have more noticeable social effects.
Nor is the onset of puberty as sudden as ls usually supposed. ” It appears that the on- set of masturbation in girls is preceded by cyclic periods of increased blood pressure and Pulse rate which may continue for a year or longer before actual menstruation occurs.” One of the best and most useful chapters in the book is that on Infant Responses.
The great difficulty in conducting experi- ments on children is illustrated by the author’s criticism of the findings of Watson that the three primary emotions in the infant are those ?f fear, rage and sex. He shows the in- accuracy of the control of both the stimuli and efmiteness of response.
He shows for instance, that the stimulus ljsed by Watson to produce noise also pro- duced vibrating and tactile stimulation and Possibly pain: also, further experts have Pioved that the stimulus, which according to Watson produced rage in the infant, namely, olding down the arms, sometimes has the ?Pposite effect of quietening the child, depend- ln8 probably on the force used.
. -tn his study of infant responses, the author . Particularly interesting in the evidence he ^ rings forward of the possibilities of definite J^ponse to stimuli even months before birth. nese facts give some support to the views of th^ ^le raental life ?f infants and ? .e unportance of even the early days of life, of pre-natal life.
tG ^h regard to conditioned reflexes it is in- vesting to find that even as early as 1787 Wh ?bserved in an 18-day old boy, ” If sic]011- Was crying” hoy was uPon his soft !n Position of nursing, or if he felt a hand upon his face, he subsided and Th the brcast- “
clo S.h this chapter on Infant Responses tt^TVr some useful and timely hints on Yh , e^tal Hygiene of infancy, the book as a 0 e is almost entirely free from the ” up- lift ” (and also from the discursiveness) so often associated with books on children. Far more useful is it to give, as Professor Buford Johnson does in this book, the simple reactions and consequences of certain treatment in the child, without reference to whether this is right or wrong, for if we can determine the consequences of our actions we may choose for ourselves whether we wish the child to be the robust athlete, the studious scholar, or the pious saint, and arrange our stimuli accord- ingly. At present the parent may have any of these aims; but not having the scientific know- ledge he is as likely as not to produce an effect the opposite of that intended, the ” athlete ” hating games, the ” scholar ” despising books, and the ” saint ” turning out a delinquent because of the rigidity of his upbringing. In brief, the study of the psychology of the child should be conducted in the first place as a pure science, and this is what Professor Buford Johnson has done.
J.A.H. The Mind in Daily Life. By R. D. Gillespie. Methuen & Co., Ltd. 8/6.
In a comparatively short book of 250 odd pages Dr Gillespie has attempted an ambitious task in compressing, it may be said, the whole of modern psychology and mental hygiene, into a readable compass. The book is divided into two sections : psychology of the normal and errors in mental development. The first part starts with a somewhat too brief sketch of development, including as it does not only the awakening of the infant mind to the ex- ternal world and the appreciation of the Self, but also the multitudinous subject of love and sex and their aberrations?and all this in twelve pages ! Arriving at Intelligence, we adopt a more leisurely pace, and having glanced at Anatomy, find a very satisfactory account of modern views on the nature of intelligence and the means of testing it.
The next chapter, on ” Phantasy,” includes an excellent condensation of the theory of dream-interpretation, illustrated by examples. We come next to the Relation of mental events, which is in fact a description of mechanisms rather than relations: repressions, fixations, delusions; but the generalisations as to the con- flict between internal and external factors in producing mental disorder are cogent and sound,
In a brief discussion of the term ” uncon- scious ” we are struck with the keenly critical, and at times, philosophic attitude displayed towards contested terms and theories such as this; here he points out that it is the self or ego which should properly be called uncon- scious and not the impressions and ideas to which the epithet has been transferred. At this point, and especially when in the next chapter we are plunged into the com- plexities of neuro-physiology, we asked our- selves for whom this book was intended. It is in some respects a fairly elementary review of the subject, but seems to pre-suppose a good deal of acquaintance with ideas and terms by no means easy. What will the ” in- telligent reader ” make of it ? What the nurse or student, interested in the subject? The re- viewer, not having had time to put the book before such an audience, is unable to reply, but is merely seeking to give an impression of what the book is about and to recommend it for its worth.
For what makes the book stiffer to read than it might be, the printers are to blame, in that the lines appear to be too closely packed, and the paragraph-heading too faint; the import- ance of format for the psychology of the reader is highly important in books of this sort ?but this is a digression.
Dr Gillespie neatly circumvents the diffi- culties of the mind and brain controversy by taking a working hypothesis which considers the living process as a whole and ” mental ” events as but the highest ” level ” of that whole, of which the automatic or “vegetative” nervous processes are the lowest. (” High ” and ” low ” being of course in brackets.) In the chapter on Heredity this difficult sub- ject is reasonably and clearly dealt with (and we note, in passing, a misprint on page 148, where ” same ” should read ” sane “).
The discussion on temperament is a marvel of lucid condensation, but would tend to make the brain reel of one who knew little of schiz- oids and cyclothymes or anal-erotics; we note that Dr Gillespie lumps the golf-loving Scots, the poets, and the ” modern miserables ” all together as ” shut-in ” types. We now leave the more arid regions of theory for a respite among the various charming characteristics of ” nervous ” and ” naughty ” children. This subject is handled with great skill, en- tirely free from sentiment, yet full of affec- tionate comprehension of the child’s mind. While understanding the importance of con- stitution and physique in the case of the nervous child, Dr Gillespie does not make the mistake of reducing all symptoms to a physio- logical level, but is as true here as elsewhere to his principle of the living adaptive process which is mind and body.
He describes symptoms such as shyness, timidity, lying, etc., under separate para- graphs and somehow avoids the dangers of a symptomatic approach, giving due stress to the factors in behaviour as a whole. His remark on what is included under “nervous” is worth noting, as it is a word which is much used by parents and has therefore willy-nilly to be used by psychologists; he says : ” ‘ Nervous ‘ is a misleading term, but it is so generally used that most people know what is meant by a ‘ nervous ‘ child. It is either a timid, or a shy, or a solitary child, or an unusually restless one; or simply one who suffers from muscular twitchings.”
It is characteristic of the search for deeper explanations of behaviour in Child Guidance to-day that the author is not content with the explanation of one form of timidity as the reac- tion of a child to an over-anxious parent, but goes on to discuss the various possible causes of the parents’ over-anxiety as well.
The explanation of shyness as ” a reaction against the normal egocentricity,” is not very clear, as further on this is held to depend on a continuance of egocentricity at an abnormally high level, and it is not explained why this should produce shyness as such; it may be that the ” all-too-famous feeling of inferiority,” a5 the author describes it, has more to do with it than anything else. But, as we read further on : ” it is one of the difficulties of human psychology that the same effect may be pr?” duced by apparently opposite causes.” Coming next to the naughty or delinquent child, al’ though one may disagree philosophically with the author’s ideas on morality and disprove his definition of ” original sin ” (by now 3 hackneyed phrase, always misunderstood), one can approve thoroughly of his injunction as t? the training in morality, which lies so mud1 more in example and life as lived daily than & explicit teaching. His remarks on what con- stitutes a good or bad home in the psych0’ logical sense are also worth noting.
The same keen and understanding spirit guides us through the difficulties and possibil- ities of adolescence and adult life, and we are finally given a brief conclusion envisaging an ideal for the individual in society in a brave new psychological world.
There are two appendices: one the ” auto- biography of one who ultimately developed a mental disorder,” and the other on the ” art ?f study.”
We finish with regret the reading of a very interesting, original and significant book; one which can appeal, at least in parts, to every Psychologically minded reader, and is indis- pensable to all who are concerned in the art and practice of Mental Hygiene.
C.L.C.B. Psycho-Analysis and its Derivatives. By H. Crichton Miller. Home University Library of Modern Knowledge. Thornton Butterworth, Ltd. 1933. Pp. 256. 2/6.
This little volume fulfils its purpose admir- ably. This purpose is to present to the lay Public in an unprejudiced and non-technical ^’ay the present position of analytic psycho- therapy. No doubt the exponents of the vari- es schools will have faults to find for they Seeni to consider that only those within the fold are capable of exposition and criticism. Dr. j uller pays a well deserved tribute to Freud *0r his pioneer work which raised psychology l?ni an arid no-man’s land between neurology and philosophy to a living study of man’s be- aviour. The exposition of the teachings of reud, Jung and Adler are clear and along ?s?und critical lines.
-tn a chapter on some criticisms of Psycho- analysis the suggestion that the findings of Psycho-analytic school owe more to the ^ethod of investigation than to the facts in- vestigated, is studied at some length. The orough-going materialism of the Freudian ^ octrine and the denial of all creative function to are also criticised, as is the failure find any contact with the physiology of ^ Central nervous system on the one hand or 1 h endocrinology on the other. In a short fora^ter the work of Prinzhorn is brought be- j-i re English readers, many of whom will find c ? 0rig’inal work, even when translated, diffi- th ‘t0 master- Prinzhorn lays great stress on e influence of individuality of the physician ill the cure of the neurotic patient whose spirit- ual isolation is sympathetically considered. For him the ideal psycho-therapist should be compounded of ” one wise priest from each of the great religious communities, one lawyer, one teacher, one psychologist, one wise phil- osopher and three physicians possessing a very firm biological basis.” In a final note of com- parison, Dr Miller assesses the system of Freud as the most intricate, that of Jung the most profound, that of Adler the most prac- tical, and that of Prinzhorn the broadest. Each system will appeal to a certain type of stu- dent. That of Adler will obtain the widest appeal since it is the most superficial and there- fore perhaps the safest, and is at the same time essentially didactic. Freud is severely dog- matic and therefore may be ” learnt ” by even mediocre exponents and so may have an ap- peal to would-be practitioners. Jung is so profound as to lose touch with the practical reality of life, so will have but a very limited appeal, while Prinzhorn’s system leaves most to the psycho-therapist, but demands from him characteristics to which few can possibly aspire.
This book may be confidently recommended not only to the intelligent layman, but also as a handy little reference, to the practising psycho-therapist.
R.G.G. Northot Group Intelligence Test. G. Perrie Williams, M.A., D.Litt. George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd.
These tests, intended for children from 11 to 12 years of age, are non-verbal and will there- fore help to meet the growing demand for intelligence tests in which the child who suffers from any kind of linguistic handicap, may do himself justice. The tests can be ad- ministered in half-an-hour and very easily corrected by means of an admirable ” key.” C.S.
Tests for Accident Proneness. By E. Farmer, E. G. Chambers and F. J. Kirk. Industrial Health Research Board. Report No. 68. H.M. Stationery Office. 1933. Price 9d.
Earlier work by Farmer and Chambers (I.H.R.B. Reports Nos. 38 and 55), has shown that there is a ” slight but significant associa- tion between success in certain psychological tests and a low accident rate.” In the in- vestigation now reported the experiments ex- tended over a longer period and certain defects in experimental procedure, inevitable in the earlier work, were avoided. Sensori-motor tests were applied to apprentices (shipwrights, electric fitters, engine fitters and naval artificers) at H.M. Dockyard at Portsmouth. The results obtained were subjected to three different methods of statistical analysis, each of which showed a significant relation between the sensori-motor tests and accidents in those groups of workers who were living under ordinary industrial conditions, e.g., the ship- wrights, electric fitters and engine fitters. The use of sensori-motor tests as an aid to the selection of apprentices would have resulted in the lessening of the accident rate. It is of importance both to psychology and to industry that one factor in accident proneness has been isolated and its importance measured.
C.S. Report of the Commissioners of Prisons and the Directors of Convict Prisons for the Year 1931. (H.M. Stationery Office. Cmd. 4295. 1933. 1/6.) This Report begins with a warning against mistaken inferences from Prison Statistics, which need the most careful analysis if a correct view of the state of crime is to be formed. Such facts must be taken into account as that out of every 100 receptions of men, only 15 were guilty of crimes entailing sen- tences of over 3 months, and only 9 out of every 100 receptions of women.
Details relating to recidivism, payment of prisoners, prison industries, Borstal Institu- tions, voluntary workers, are all of interest, but for readers of ” Mental Welfare,” the most valuable part of the Report is that drawn up by Dr East, Medical Commissioner. Apart from prisoners proved to be insane, 1,747 men and 649 women were remanded for observation as to their mental condition; 182 mental defec- tives were reported to the Courts, and dealt with under Section 8 of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913. Dr East says that personal experi- ence leads him to believe that the prison popu- lation to-day is not only superior in educational attainments but is also of a higher standard of intelligence than the prison population at the beginning of the century. He points out that the Mental Deficiency Acts are ” continually cutting off the supply of defective delin- quents,” and refers to the segregation in a sep- arate section of a prison of those who are not certifiable but show mental abnormalities. He considers that if the recommendations of the Persistent Offenders Committee in regard to the prolonged sentence in certain cases were adopted, there would probably be a sufficient number of sub-normal non-certifiable cases to enable a special Detention Establishment to be set up for their care, and for vocational em- ployment without the repressive features of prison life.
Dr East treats the question of psychotherapy with a cautious reserve. ” Statements are sometimes made by those who are interested in this matter which suggest that psycho- therapy can be relied upon to cure many recidi- vists and most first offenders. It is, I think, fair to say that the medical witnesses who gave evidence before the above-mentioned Com- mittee presented their views with studied caution.” . ” The bald statement is some- times made that a full psychological investiga- tion is required in the case of every offender, and that without this, penal measures must be futile. This is so contrary to practical experi- ence that it is likely to defeat its purpose.” Interesting examples are given of people who are relieved of the abnormal condition without any special treatment, of others who respond to a general or a deeper psychological investigation. Dr East concludes :?” It is a travesty to suggest that crime is a disease. But it is clearly the result sometimes of a neurotic disorder.” He would welcome a scientific in- vestigation carried out at a penal institution, on the lines suggested by the Persistent Offenders Committee, recording failures and successes in treatment of the ” pathologic^ condition associated with the crime.” He adds, ” But there are many practical difficulties to surmount, and the truth can be ascertained only by taking the greatest care to avoid the influences of preconceived ideas and prejudices- And in this matter, truth is more helpful tha optimism,”
In Search of the Beginning. By M. A. Payne. H. R. Allenson & Co., Ltd. 5/-. Those who were touched by the story of Oliver Untwisted,” and encouraged by the author’s enthusiasm?and surely there are niany such?will welcome this new book. In it they will find an exposition of the author’s philosophy of life, and once more they will come in contact with her enthusiasm; but they will probably close the book thinking that Miss Payne is at her best when she is recounting the actual difficulties and triumphs of individual children, and that ” In Search of the Begin- ning ” must stand second to ” Oliver Un- twisted.” Indeed, to anyone who had not read Oliver Untwisted,” and knew nothing of Miss Payne’s work, the book would perhaps lack appeal. It is told in the form of a story, the three characters being Susan, a nurse in a private family, ” Tommy,” a nursery gov- erness, and Diana, who worked at a Clinic for People suffering from ” nervous ” disorders. In the frequent talks of these three who are daily dealing with problems of children 01* adults, we have unfolded the ideas which the author holds on education, religion, and the Problems of life. The titles of the chapters, such as “The Vision of the New World,” “The Creation of the Mask,” ” God as made by Man,” indicate the scope of these discussions.
is doubtful whether the thin device of the story was worth while, but it enables the author to be less formal in the presentation of her eas than she would otherwise need to be. London County Council. Annual Report, 1931. Mental Hospitals and Mental Defic- lcncy. Vol. VI. P. S. King & Son, Ltd. 1 /- net. 1933.
. 1 he London County Council is faced with an .^crease in the number of patients for which tV?1S resPonsiklc under the Lunacy Acts even a ?Ugli the figures of the 1931 census ” sug- ^,Cst fairly conclusively that the population of ^ e administrative county is decreasing,” but must not be taken to imply an increase in cIie lncidence of mental disorder. It is partly 0 et? the migration, of the younger members of ti C01nmunity, to the increasing longevity de i l)0PL1^ati?n generally, to the lessened e 7h rate in mental hospitals. But the nec- ttial ^ ^01 *ncreased accommodation exists, and Kes all the more imperative the transfer of all Mental Hospital patients suitable to be dealt with under the Mental Deficiency Act, and the continued and increasing use of ab- sence on trial and boarding out. It is noted that the number of cases under treatment in London County Council Mental Hospitals under the Mental Treatment Act was 173 in 1931, exclusive of those treated at the Maudsley.
Reference is made in the Report to the work of the psychiatric out-patient clinics at three of the London County Council Hospitals under the Central Public Health Committee, which are under the direct charge of a medical officer of the Maudsley, under the general direction of the Medical Superintendent of the Hospital; a trained social worker has been appointed at each clinic. Similar openings for the extension of social work have been found, through the Child Guidance Council by the loan of two trained social workers for work at Banstead and Ewell Mental Hospitals. The progress of this work is being keenly watched and it is to be hoped that an increase in the use of social workers for work in connection with cases of mental disorder will be a feature in all new developments.
Figures on the Mental Deficiency side of this Report are always of exceptional interest, in view of the carefully organised work which the Council has carried out for so many years, so that it can claim ” that in London all that the law provides for in the way of ascertain- ment and notification of defectives has been done as far as possible.” There is still going on the ” count-out ” of cases in institutions transferred to the London County Council under the Local Government Act, 1929, and there is now a systematic notification of prima jacic cases of defect which come to the notice of the Public Assistance Authority. The in- crease in the rate of ascertainment over 1929 is thought to be due to this tightening up of the service. The total number of defectives on 31st December, 1931, subject to be dealt with or who might become subject to be dealt with, was 14,085 (excluding special school children and those still not ” combed out ” in Public Assistance Institutions) and this figure, per thousand of the population, gives a ratio of 3.23 as against the figure of 8 per 1,000 as the incidence of defect estimated in the Wood Report (which, however, included special school children)
It is interesting to note that of the 1,879 cases notified during the year no less than 1,461 can be described as ” tractable “?there are 2 moral defectives, and only 2 post-encephalitis lethargica cases (the figures for the previous 4 years being 9, 8, 7, 12). The Council were asked to investigate 93 cases of alleged mental defect at courts of summary jurisdiction, and of these only 55 were dealt with by detention orders under Section 8. Figures such as these are encouraging.
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