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Show K SPECIAL CARE FOR , ' FEEBLEMINDEDNESS ff Te Allow Defectives to Go Through BIL Life Unaided is Crnel and Un- Mm fair Says Dr. Gowans V Feeblemindedness lias been defined H . jui "A stato of mental defect from Bjf" birth or from nn enrly ngc, duo to In- Bff complete cerebral (brain) development H?t in consequence of which tho person Hft. affected is unable to perform his du- j H V tics n3 a member of society in tho po- j l xition of life which ho is born." This Hr. definition has been interpreted to B mean those who nro incnpablo of Hr "competing on equnl terms in tho H&$ struggle for existence," or aro inenp- H able of managing their own nfTnirs Hj, with ordinary prudence." Tho popu- Hf lar idea is that thoso who don't suc- H"? cccd might do so if thoy would, but H(4 it is highly probablo that they nro Hrc actually incapable. B' The number of thoso who aro men- H', tally deficient has been variously cs- H' timated. The 1800 census brought out H- tho fact, in nnswer to the question: H "Arc there nny idiots or imbeciles in H.:r your family?" that ono in each 600 Hi of population was in this marked dc- I grce defective. This question, of H course, would bring out information Hujk' ,, concerning those only in most cases ff who wcro so defective that the fact Hk could not be conccnlcd. It is gencr- B ally held and conceded by students of H the Bubjcct that at least ono in three H hundred of the population will be H4 , found to bo feebleminded. There aro H careful investigators who place tho HIi number much higher, but if wo accept HM' this ratio wc have here in Utah, with Hlv a total population of 450,000, tho ns- Hwi tonishing high number of 1G00 people HI who are incapable of properly caring HJp , for themselves as indicated in our HS definition. 4 j Teachers and parents alike nro con- B" I corned with the welfare of tho feeblc- K minded and should know thnt wo have H n fairly accurate method of detecting K this mental defect. Of course, idiots Hr nnd low grndo imbeciles anounco by K their very appearance thnt they arc '' defective but the higher grades ro- H quiro tho application of some kind of H;' measuring scale of intelligence be Hkr cause tho only other way, the ono wc K' havo used in tho pnst, that is, pcr- RjL mitting thoso defectives to try them- Bt selves out in nctual life, is not only BJ wasteful but is cruel and unfair. Any- H I ono may get the Porteus tests by 1 1 sending 25 cents to the Training U School, Vinelnnd, New Jersey. Thcso ' tests nro well worked out and con- -l ititutc 11 scale for measuring tho in- H j tolligcnco that is better probably than B a the Simon-Bcnct Scale which bus been H ( so extensively used for this purpose. K-,1 L Every teacher should have this valu-BT valu-BT ' able booklet and there is no reason Hf why parents should not inform them K iclvcs on such important subjects. Bu E. G. Gowans, Stato Health Director. . a |