Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/513

* IDIOCY. 447 IDIOCY. the idea, assimilated by the intelligence, unfortu- nately is not retained, but lost. Sollier reminds us that memory is hereditary, organic, or acquired. (See ilEMOKY.) Hereditary memory exists often in idiots. Organic memory, or unconscious mem- ory (as of walking and other associated move- ments), though sometimes completely absent in idiots, owing to defective nerve-centres and lack of attention, is nevertheless better developed than either hereditary or acquired memor-. Atten- tion being an absolute requisite for acquired memory, idiots are rarely possessed of this power. Memory fixed by repetition of sensation, without emotional basis, is found in educable idiots; as, e.g. memory of the location of the dining-room, of the bed, etc. The phenomenon of specialized memories, such as those for musical airs, or dates, for e.xaiiiple, is inexplicable. Association of ideas, occurring, as it does, by resemblance, contrast, and contiguity, hardly exists in idiots. They experience an association of sensations. .Judg- ment and reason also are very faulty. Volitions do not exist in the lowest order of idiots. Volun- tary control of the sphincters occurs in idiots who walk only after they have learned to do so. In higher idiots the will is manifested by more com- plex movements than actions accomplished for the satisfaction of natural needs and appetites; but even these com])lex movements may become secondarily automatic. Self-respect, to which one may appeal in an imbecile, is little developed in the idiot. As to the psychological development of an idiot points are reached in every case at which educa- tion ceases, and further mental progress is im- possible. Peterson places the limits as follows: in the inferior t3rpe3 Intellectual progress ceases at the age of six or seven, and sentiments and senses continue their development to eighteen or twenty; while in the superior grades the improve- ment of senses, sentiments, and intellect may all cease about puberty. Retrogression may occur, following the same law as dementia, to wit, en- foehlcment of will, intelligence, sentiments, and sensations in this order. The causes of idiocy are various. Its elements are in many instances he- reditary, that is to say. a course of conduct in a I)arcnt which tends to degeneration, such as exces- sive alcoholic indulgence of any kind, will tend to induce arrested normal healthy development in ofTspring. Other causes are injuries received dur- ing childbirth, acute disease of the brain or its coverings in early infancy, or even while intra- uterine. Injury to the brain may result in idiocy. Chronic disease of the brain-coverings, tuberculosis, tumors within the brain, hydro- cephalus, are other causes. A peculiar tvpe of idiocy is due to mal-development of the thyroid gland. This is called cretinism or myxedematous idiocy. The attempt to educate idiots com- nienood in the seventeenth oentur*- with an ex- periment of Saint Vincent de Paul at the Priory of Saint Lazarus. His efforts to teach idiots, though continued for many years, were not suc- cessful. In 1799 the celebrated Itard took a wild boy fotmd in the forests of Aveyrnn and at- tempted to teach him: and although the success in this particular ease was slight, he believed that he had discovered methods and facts which would be of use in other cases. These he com- municated to his pupil. Dr. Edouard Seguin. who. in IS.^S, opened a schnnl for idiots in the Hospital for Incurables in Paris. He met with success enough to have the idiots at the Bicetre sent to the hospital to be instructed, and in the course of three years he received the approval of the French Academy. Dr. Seguin adopted a system involving the theory that idiocy was prolonged infancy. His practice, founded upon this, was to excite and continue the process of develop- ment. Of course a variable success attended the experiment. The art of elfecting such develop- ment requires much knowledge, tact, and patience. Different kinds of idiots need diflerent stimulants, physical and mental. Pure air, good nutritiou.s food, exercise; in short, any treatment which is calculated to increase the bodily and mental func- tions will improve the idiot. Wherever his in- terest can be awakened there will be a mental stimulus, and as the tendency of development is toward a normal standard, more or less im- provement must follow. Dr. Seguin removed to Xew York City, where he established a school for idiots and feeble-minded children, which was very successful. Other similar institutions exist in various parts of the country. Statistics are unreliable, as confusion is apt to be caused by the inclusion of epileptics and insane people with the feeble-minded and imbecile. In 1890 it was stated that there were 9.5.500 'feeble-minded or idiotic' persons in the United States. Consult: Sollier, Fsi/cholof/ie de Vidiot et de rimbecile (Paris, 1891) ; Prever, The Mind of the Child, trans, by H. V. Brown (Xew York, 1893) ; Ribot, The Psychology of Attention (Chicago. 1894) : Bourneville. Assistance, Iraitement et education des enfants idiots et degcnrres (Paris. 1895) ; Peterson, "The Psychology of the Idiot," in American Journal of Insanity (Utica, New Y'ork, 1896). IDIOCY ( in law ). A total lack of reasoning powers, or of those intellectual faculties by which man is peculiarly distinguished. Its legal conse- quences, so far as contract and tort obligation* as well as criminal responsibility are concerned,, are the same as those of insanity (q.v. ). The term is ordinarily limited to those who have had no understanding from birth, although some courts have declared that it is properly applica- ble to those who have become totally imbecile from sickness or other causes, as well as to con- genital fools. In case of one who has never posses.sed a glimmer of reason, the law presumes that he will never attain any. Hence the cus- tody of his person and of his lands formerlv vested in the lord of the fee or of the manor. Because of the abuse of this power. Parliament transferred the wardship of idiots to the King, by statute of 17 Ed. II.. c. 9. In this country the care of their persons and property is pro- vided for by statute or safeguarded by consti- tutional provisions. For example, the" present Constitution of Xew York vests the care of idiots in the State Board of Charities, and not in the Commission of Lunacy. It was laid down by an- cient English writers upon law that a man' who is born Idind. deaf, and dumb can have no un- derstanding, and hence cannot make a valid con- tract, gift, or grant. This doctrine had its origin in a misconception of certain texts of the civil law. which declared that one who was deaf or dtimb could not be a party to a stipulatio. that is. a contract which was entered into by an oral question and answer, in certain formal words. It is quite clear that a dumb person could not