State care of the feeble-minded / by Martin W. Barr.

  • Martin W. Barr
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: State care of the feeble-minded / by Martin W. Barr. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Long Appren- ticeship and Colony Life Under Protection. IMBECILE. Mentally deficient. iLow Grade—Trainable in industrial and the simplest manual occupations. Middle Grade—Trainable in manual arts and the simplest mental acquirements. High Grade—Trainable m manual and intel- lectual arts. Trained for a Place in the World. I BACKWARD OR MENTALLY FEEBLE. \ Mental processes normal, but slow and re- ( quiring special training and environment to j prevent deterioration; defect imminent un- I der the slightest provocation, such as ex- \ citement, overstimulation, or illness. Now all this demands a great variety in the teaching staflf—in reality a number of schools, and also good physique and originality in the teachers, variety of school material, room and ample space; in a word, a plant, and that is, of course, expen- sive. Now let us see if results justify expenditure. A typical training school started with proper ap- pliances, unencumbered by dead wood — adults, idiots, or even epileptics—and consisting of, let us say, 500 trainable imbeciles with a fair average of grades, ought, in from eight to ten years, to have its own force of laborers and artisans—working under supervision, of course—and thereby reduc- ing expenses. This once attained, it could then supply asylums with aids or draft of members for independent colonies, if this arrangement could be made permanent by law; for just here comes the loose screw which makes the whole work truly “imbecillis”—tottering. We are working, first, to withdraw from society a pernicious element and to prevent its increase; secondly, to awaken dead- ened senses, to transfuse new desires into brutish instincts, and to give an aim to aimless lives. To accomplish this requires an atmosphere, first, of
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