Intelligence testing : methods and results / by Rudolf Pintner.

  • Rudolf Pintner
Date:
[1931], ©1931
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Intelligence testing : methods and results / by Rudolf Pintner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    feebleminded, and the application of the first scales for measur- ing intelligence was largely restricted to them. It might be well, therefore, to trace briefly the attitude of society towards this group of individuals. Ancient Period.—We have little information as to the feebleminded in ancient Greece and Rome. Exposure of un- desirable children was practised and at certain periods and in certain places was common. In general the obviously physi- cally defective were exposed, and, to the extent that feeble- mindedness is accompanied by physical defect, the feeble- minded would thus be eliminated. The great mass of feeble- minded, sound in body, would escape. During the period of the Roman Empire exposure was not so common, and the cynic has suggested that, had the old Roman custom more commonly prevailed, the world might have been spared the excesses of a Nero or a Commodus. Medieval Period.—The emphasis of Christianity upon char- ity and mercy caused a decided change in the attitude of so- ciety towards the physically and mentally defective. All classes of the “despised and rejected” were cared for in asylums by the Church. This attitude was marked by sympathy and pity, but was absolutely lacking in understanding or in helpful service. The insane and feebleminded were tolerated and in many cases regarded with a sort of religious awe. They were supposed to be under the special protection of God, and the ravings of the “fool” were sometimes taken for divine revelations. This re- ligious reverence is well expressed in the French “enfants du bon Dieu,” and in the term “innocents” as used in Scotland and Ireland. Later on the “fool” graduated into the “jester,” and this position was often filled by men of high intellectual attain- ments. During this period the laws of England differentiate between the idiot {idiota a nativitate) and the lunatic (idiota a causa et infirmitate). In an old law book, “The New Natura Bre- vium,” by Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, published in 1534, we find the following suggestion of primitive intelligence tests: “And