Report of the Royal Commission on the care and control of the feeble-minded, Volume VIII.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-minded.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of the Royal Commission on the care and control of the feeble-minded, Volume VIII. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Vol. pp. 99, 101. Vol. A^I., pp. 32, 8(). pp. 103, p. 113, 120, 131. AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS FOR THE FEEBLE MINDED.' Chapter XLI. lastitutions for the Feeble-Minded in America. land is used as an orcliard, and the girls pick the fruit and assist in canning, Large estates and the garden beds are alloted to a child or a class of children for caretaking, attached to “ On the farm most of the work is done by the patients. There is only one te*^feebTe°^ paid farmer, one florist, and four paid assistants. Some of the boys are minded contd jiractically self-supporting. Five are cajiable of delivering coal from the rail- road without supervision.” The Craig Colony for Epileptics has the beautiful estate of Sonyea, consisting of over 1,900 acres. The State institution for the feeble-minded of Western Pennsylvania at Polk has an estate of over 800 acres. The New Jersey State village for epileptics at Skillman, New Jersey, has a farm of 890 acres. The institution for the feeble-minded at Columbia, Ohio, has a farm colony of 1,800 acres ; and the Illinois asylum for feeble-minded children has a farm of 880 acres. At the Indiana school for feeble-minded youth, it is proposed to purchase 500 acres more farm land, on which none but workers will live. At the Illinois institution, the farm “contributed substantiallv to the economical maintenance „ , • • * • VOi V xX r) 12^ of the inmates, and this Avas corroborated by the fact that the legislature had recently completed the leasing of another 480 acres of land to reduce still further the expenditure by supplying as much as possible for the institution. The proliable reduction in the maintenance cost was estimated to be from 11s. to less than 8s. a week.” Eveiywhere, it may be inferred, on the ground of training, employment, and economy, a considerable estate available as farm voi. vii., p. 135, land appears to be thought desirable. 859. But the utilisation of an estate for the training of the feeble-minded aj)i)eared to our members to be illustrated best by the two joint institutions of WaA^erley and Templeton, in Massachusetts. 860. The WaA’erley or Waltham School, established in 1851, has deA^eloped from the “ School ” into the Training Custodial Home, as oi)inion has changed on cimsetts. **^^^^* tlie question of training and control of the feeble-minded. The school has VoL^vil, p. 6I. 180 acres of land. “To get the highest development of these people,” Dr. Feriiald says, “ it is not well to specialise their work highly during the educational ])eriod. It is best to give them great Auiriety. Reading and writing are only for a few of our patients. The character of the feeble-minded boy should be practical and should aim at fitting him for Avork.” “ In no case is the actual industrial Avork mixed Avith the experimental Avork. The ’ girls go through a special educational school for cooking, laundry work, etc.; after going through these they are sent to do the actual Avork. The same applies to boys Avith regard to carpentry.” Both are kept in school for some ])art of the day up to the age of eighteen. To do so longer “ would ruin them for practical j)urposes.” There are A’ery few cases of the highest grade. As to the loAver grade : Ninety per cent, of the idiots are expected to come out of their “ school ” or “ cottage.” “ TheA^ niostlA do physical work, but there is hardly a child Avho does not receiA'e some instruction. Each attendant has a class in teaching children to Avash their faces, to dress themselves, etc A very large proportion can ‘ go up,’ if the training is done in early childhood. If they are properly deA^eloped they are cajAable of doing physical manual AA’ork.” So on this scheme of training, out of doors in a field, were A oungboys carrying stones, and older l)oys using pickaxes and breaking the earth, under one supervisor. “ A party of girls, Ioav grade cases, Avere carrying stones from one circular enclosure to another, for exercise and health and muscular instruction.” “ i\[any children AA'ere playing games and practising balance and exercises, under an expert teacher on the hiAvn ” ; and “ about a dozen children Avere playing outside Avith a teacher, holding on to a ro])e. The teacher AA'as beating a small drum. The'children ran after l)alls, and the AA^eak and paralytic Avere helped and encouraged to stand, and Avalk, and run.” n. 5S. p. 59. 861. Connected, administratively, Avith WaA^erley, is the Templeton Colony. The Templeton It represents, to some extent, the results of the system in its application to life in a “colony” after the age of training. It consists of “ four groups of Avell-designed but A'ery economicid wooden cottages, standing some distance apart, each group affording room for fiftv workers and the attendants.” 103—VIII. 299 2 s 2