Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/346

 328 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Besides its usefulness as a generic term, the phrase " feeble- minded " is more acceptable to the relatives and friends of those so called than the terms idiot and imbecile. It meets the incessant public demand for euphemisms which shall seem to soften the harsh facts of existence. The term has been accepted by the legislatures of many states, and their institutions for the care of idiots and imbeciles are frequently designated "schools for feeble-minded youth."'

An elaborate definition of the difference between idiocy and insanity would occupy too much space for this essay. Briefly, idiocy is a condition of arrested psychical development. It may occur at any mental stage of infancy, childhood, or youth. It is often caused, or accompanied, by coarse brain-disease, but more frequently presents no discoverable, pathological evidence of its existence. It is, however, impossible to doubt that it is always the product of abnormal conditions of the brain or other nerve tissue, although we may not be able to recognize them under the microscope.

To the average citizen the word idiocy denotes a condition by itself, unconnected with other abnormalities. Only within recent years have students begun to notice that the idiot is one of the many varieties of neuropathies. Recent studies have disclosed how intimate are the relations between these varieties and how extensive is the connection.

Differing in externals and agreeing chiefly in that all are alike degenerates, we find in the neuropathic family' the insane, the epileptic, the hysterical, the paralytic, the imbecile and idiotic of various grades, the moral imbecile, the sexual per- vert, the kleptomaniac ; many, if not most, of the chronic inebri- ates ; many of the prostitutes, tramps, and minor criminals ; many habitual paupers, especially the ignorant and irresponsible

'It is worth noting, as soon as these "schools" are mentioned, that, although most of them began as schools proper, and discharged their pupils when of age, they are now becoming permanent asylums for the great majority of their inmates, and only hope to discharge to a life of free, self-directing activity a small minority of those they teach. Those most recently created — as, for instance, that of Wisconsin — have begun as asylums for permanent care, as well as training schools for the improv- ables, from the outset.

» See LafamilU neuropathique, by Dr. Charles Yt%t.