Cental Deficiency
- Type:
Book Reviews
- Author:
A.F. Tredgold, M.D., F.R.S., Edin
(Third Edition)
Bailliere, Tindall and Cox. Price 25/-. The most striking characteristic of this book is the sane, level-headed way in which the whole subject of mental deficiency is dismissed. Theories are not supported unless, in Dr Tredgold’s opinion, there is considerable Proof of their truth. This is as it should be *n a book which is generally recognised as the best English text book on the subject. As compared with the first edition the alterations are so many, and the amount of new matter is so important, that it is a new book.
Compared with second edition, the most important new feature is the extension and rewriting of the chapters on criminal defect’ves and moral imbecility, two of the most important in the book. They give a clear Picture of”these most important subjects and should be absorbed by all who have to certify defectives. One particularly notes Dr Tredgold’s insistence 011 the point that it is not intended that a feebleminded patient who is alsoi vicious should be certified as a moral imbecile but as the feebleminded patient he or she really is, and the equally important point, that the inclusion of moral imbeciles in the Mental Deficiency Act was intended to cover a class of defect which cannot be certified as feebleminded. It is not easy to offer any criticism 011 a book written by such an eminent authority, but I should have expected some reference to Dr Goddard’s book on Feeblemindedness. Some of Dr Goddard’s yiews as for instance that feeblemindedness is transmitted in accordance with the Mcndehan law of heredity and his doubt as to whether insanity causes much feeblemindedness are startling but they are supported by such and extensive and minute investigation of family histories that they demand consideration. In the chapter on Mental Tests, ^r. Tredgold is conservative. Perhaps he is right, but personally I consider a standardised series of tests and the working out of the proper mental age of every patient of the utmost importance. No mention is made of any recent work on this subject, not even the best of all, the Stanford revision of the Bine-t Simon Tests and the use of the Intelligence Quotient by Professor Terman. Many of the tests given by Dr Tredgold such as Bourdon’s cancellation are valuable to him because of his experience, but to> the ordinary man they are useless because there is no indication of the reaction of normal children of different ages to these tests.
I would also1 like to see pictures of high grade defectives, those with a mentality of nine to twelve years who look like normal people. This class forms such a large proportion of those seen in practice, whereas the photographs in the book are all low grade. These are minor matters.
Nothing however can alter the value of Dr. Tredgold’s thorough and scientific work or the fact that his book is indispensable not only to all medical men interested in mental deficiency but to the large number of laymen who are now taking such a great part in the work. F. Douglas Turner, M.B.
Mental Tests. P. B. Ballard, M.A., D. L>itt. Published by Hcdder and Stoughton. 6/-. It is now some fifteen years or more since Binet and his pupils began their experiments in testing the intelligence of children, in order to identify the sub-normal in the schools of Paris. Binet worked out a standard or norm of performance for a given age, testing only the simpler mental processes. He fixed his standard by the results of his investigation and proceeded to measure the capacity of the individual in relation to that standard, propounding the theory that those were defective who fell below that norm of performance, by two years under the age of nine, and ty three years after nine. Whatever criticism we level at the form of the test or its use in the particular problem, we have accepted the principle of age-performance and have extended the range of its application, in the class-room and outside. In America, new editions of the tests have been prepared and the system lias been adopted, not only for the discovery of the subnormal child but for the standardising of the normal in the school.
Tests have been used with success for the classification of adults in the army and they have been introduced as a measure of intelligence, supplementary to the ordinary examination for Matriculation in the University of
Columbia. At this stage in the experiment, the co-operation of teachers with, psychologists is important, for the classroom is the place where statistics may be easily collected and standards criticised. Dr Ballard’s book comes at an opportune moment and will serve as a valuable introduction to the system for those in search of a means of improving the examination test or of an aid to the diagnosis of defect. Dr Ballard has given us access to Binet’s tests, translated and modified, to meet the requirements of English children, by Mr. Cyril Burt, the psychologist to the London County Council, in collaboration with Dr Simon. No less helpful is it to find Mr. Cyril Burt’s graded reasoning tests for normal children of a latter stage of growth, and criticism of tests of efficiency in the primary subjects of the curriculum. The chapter on the interpretation and keeping of statistics was a happy addition to the work.
A bibliography: would be welcome in the next edition. F. L. Bowman.
Bibliography
- Reference type:
Journal Article
- Record-number:
17150
Year: 1920 Title: Reviews of Recent Books Journal: Studies in mental inefficiency Volume: 1 Issue: 4 Pages: 87-88 Date: 1920/10// Short-title: Reviews of Recent Books Alternate Journal: Stud Ment Ineffic
Accession-number: PMC5109067 Name-of-database: PubMed Central Language: eng Copyright:Attachment:
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