The Measurement of Intelligence | Page 6

8-year intelligence.
Of 56 delinquent girls 14?to?20?years of age tested by Hill and Goddard, almost half belonged either to the 9- or the 10-year level of intelligence.
Dr. G.?G. Fernald's tests of 100?prisoners at the Massachusetts State Reformatory showed that at least 25?per?cent were feeble-minded.
Of 1186?girls tested by Miss Dewson at the State Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 28?per?cent were found to have subnormal intelligence.
Dr. Katherine Bement Davis's report on 1000?cases entered in the Bedford Home for Women, New York, stated that there was no doubt but that at least 157 were feeble-minded. Recently there has been established at this institution one of the most important research laboratories of the kind in the United States, with a trained psychologist, Dr. Mabel Fernald, in charge.
Of 564?prostitutes investigated by Dr. Anna Dwyer in connection with the Municipal Court of Chicago, only 3?per?cent had gone beyond the fifth grade in school. Mental tests were not made, but from the data given it is reasonably certain that half or more were feeble-minded.
Tests, by Dr. George Ordahl and Dr. Louise Ellison Ordahl, of cases in the Geneva School for Girls, Geneva, Illinois, showed that, on a conservative basis of classification, at least 18?per?cent were feeble-minded. At the Joliet Prison, Illinois, the same authors found 50?per?cent of the female prisoners feeble-minded, and 26?per?cent of the male prisoners. At the St. Charles School for Boys 26?per?cent were feeble-minded.
Tests, by Dr.?J. Harold Williams, of 150?delinquents in the Whittier State School for Boys, Whittier, California, gave 28?per?cent feeble-minded and 25?per?cent at or near the border-line. About 300 other juvenile delinquents tested by Mr.?Williams gave approximately the same figures. As a result of these findings a research laboratory has been established at the Whittier School, with Dr.?Williams in charge. In the girls' division of the Whittier School, Dr. Grace Fernald collected a large amount of psychological data on more than 100 delinquent girls. The findings of this investigation agree closely with those of Dr.?Williams for the boys.
At the State Reformatory, Jeffersonville, Indiana, Dr. von Klein-Schmid, in an unusually thorough psychological study of 1000 young adult prisoners, finds the proportion of feeble-mindedness not far from 50?per?cent.
But it is needless to multiply statistics. Those given are but samples. Tests are at present being made in most of the progressive prisons, reform schools, and juvenile courts throughout the country, and while there are minor discrepancies in regard to the actual percentage who are feeble-minded, there is no investigator who denies the fearful r?le played by mental deficiency in the production of vice, crime, and delinquency.[1]
[1] See References at end of volume.
Heredity studies of "degenerate" families have confirmed, in a striking way, the testimony secured by intelligence tests. Among the best known of such families are the "Kallikaks," the "Jukes," the "Hill Folk," the "Nams," the "Zeros," and the "Ishmaelites."
The Kallikak family. Martin Kallikak was a youthful soldier in the Revolutionary War. At a tavern frequented by the militia he met a feeble-minded girl, by whom he became the father of a feeble-minded son. In 1912 there were 480 known direct descendants of this temporary union. It is known that 36 of these were illegitimates, that 33 were sexually immoral, that 24 were confirmed alcoholics, and that 8 kept houses of ill-fame. The explanation of so much immorality will be obvious when it is stated that of the 480?descendants, 143 were known to be feeble-minded, and that many of the others were of questionable mentality.
A few years after returning from the war this same Martin Kallikak married a respectable girl of good family. From this union 496?individuals have been traced in direct descent, and in this branch of the family there were no illegitimate children, no immoral women, and only one man who was sexually loose. There were no criminals, no keepers of houses of ill-fame, and only two confirmed alcoholics. Again the explanation is clear when it is stated that this branch of the family did not contain a single feeble-minded individual. It was made up of doctors, lawyers, judges, educators, traders, and landholders.[2]
[2] H.?H. Goddard: The Kallikak Family. (1914.) 141?pp.
The Hill Folk. The Hill Folk are a New England family of which 709?persons have been traced. Of the married women, 24?per?cent had given birth to illegitimate offspring, and 10?per?cent were prostitutes. Criminal tendencies were clearly shown in 24?members of the family, while alcoholism was still more common. The proportion of feeble-minded was 48?per?cent. It was estimated that the Hill Folk have in the last sixty years cost the State of Massachusetts, in charitable relief, care of feeble-minded, epileptic, and insane, conviction and punishment for crime, prostitution pauperism, etc., at least $500,000.[3]
[3] Danielson and Davenport: The Hill Folk. Eugenics Record Office, Memoir No.?1. 1912. 56?pp.
The Nam family and the Jukes give equally dark pictures as regards criminality, licentiousness, and alcoholism, and although feeble-mindedness