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he was above the central tendency for normals. This method, then, provides a measure by which we can tell not only how far the idiots are below school children in the various traits tested, but how much farther below they are in one mental trait than in another and whether they are equally deficient in physical and mental traits.

As a final mark, then, each child has a grade, in terms of the probable error above or below the median for normal children, showing the extent of his ability in each measurement. These figures

are given in Tables XXVIII. to XXXII. inclusive. In Table XXVIII. the record for No. 33 reads: age, 8 years, 2 months; height, 1.30 P. E. above that of children of that age in general; weight, .15 P. E. below normal; ability in the A test, 2.31 P. E. above that of ordinary children; ability in the a-t test, 3.42 P. E. below normal.

In tests 5, 11 and 12 the results do not appear in this form, and consequently they must be considered separately. The reason for this difference in treatment is different in each case. In test 5 the median for the ordinary child of eight years old was 10 or perfect, in which case there was no opportunity of showing improvement due to increase in age, and therefore the results gained by the use of the method mentioned above would not mean the same in this test as in the others, for the ability of children over eight should presumably be represented by a higher mark than 10. In this test, therefore, I simply computed the percentage of defectives for each age that fell below 10, or the perfect mark, and then did the same for school children in general. The result records the percentage of defectives that fall below a certain grade and the percentage of ordinary children of the same age that fall below that grade in the same test. Table XXIV. states the results of the class tests, and Table XXV. the results of the same test repeated with single individuals, the same standard being used for comparison in each case.

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This particular measurement is one of actual knowledge, for most children of eight have had training in picking out 'names of things and in 'naming objects,' and of course children of nine and ten have begun the study of grammar, so that their training has been very much more definite in this line than that of the idiots. We therefore should expect to find idiots below normal children in this measurement simply from the fact of the dissimilarity of training. In fact it should surprise us that the majority do as well as they do and that some of the 'idiots' reach the same grade as the ordinary child.

As test 11 was designed to test chiefly motor control, the number of touches made in doing any number of units is the important factor. The comparisons are in terms of the percentage of defectives making more touches in covering a certain number of units of amount than the median number made by ordinary children of the same age in covering the same amount. The medians used for this comparison are given in Table IX. As may be seen from the standard, those children who finished before time were not taken into account, for we do not know their maximum ability. The results are given in Table XXVI., the same standard being used in the two trials.

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These results seem to confirm Johnson's statement that the feeble minded are 'slightly inferior' to ordinary children in their motor control. One might feel that the figures show more than a slight

inferiority; however, we must bear in mind that two factors actually enter into the result, amount and errors, and that combination always complicates matters. The idiots did more on the average than the ordinary child and it may be that had children in general done as much, that is, had there been as many school children taking as high a rate of speed as that adopted by the defectives, the difference in control might not have been so marked.

Of course this lack of muscular control on the part of the defectives is partly accounted for by the diseased condition of some of them. Some were paralytic and had not full control of their hands, and others had very poor eyesight and so were hampered in their performance of the test in a way that ordinary children were not. However, the conclusion seems to stand that the idiots have less muscular control than other children of the same age. Just how much can not be stated with the exactitude possible in the tests where complete standards were at hand.

In the block test (number 12) I have records of nine-year-old children and adults only and so could not follow my usual method. Consequently I have compared the records of the idiots of various ages with the median for nine-year-olds, and stated my results in terms of the percentage of idiots who fall below the standard reached by 50 per cent. of ordinary nine-year-olds. The median time for the school children in the first trial with this test was 30 seconds; in the second trial it was 24 seconds. The results are given in Table XXVII.

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These figures show that in the ability or rather in the combination of abilities measured by this test the majority of the idiots are much worse than ordinary children. In only two instances do the defectives of any age equal or exceed the median for nine-year-oldsthe ten-year-old defectives 50 per cent. below, and those thirteen

years old, 45 per cent. below. a certain extent the ability of dealing quickly and well with a new situation-to measure, in a way at least, common sense. Some of the feeble-minded showed a lack of ability in dealing with the situation to an extent that was not even approached by the school children. Some of them picked up one block after another and tried it in the same hole, often picking up the same block time after time; others would hold on to one block and screw and push and try their best to force it into the hole. Three of them failed utterly in putting the blocks into their proper places. And yet this lack of ability was not true of all-in several instances the defectives excelled the ordinary children in both time and common sense.

This test seems to me to measure to

It may be that the case against the idiots is not so bad as it seem to be, for it is probable that the amount of improvement between the first and second trials is greater in their case than with childre at large. As yet no definite statement can be made, as the compara tive amount of improvement has not been worked out.

§ 11. Tables Showing the Results of the Comparison of Defectiv Children with Ordinary Children

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