LET TRUTH PREVAIL.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17064, 8 February 1921, Page 7

LET TRUTH PREVAIL.

10 the mitcr or "thx mass." Sir,—Your leader of 4th inst., doM not approve of tho recent Government restriction on tho picture Sims, in which "thieving, robbery, murder, or suicide is made a feature." You ignore however, the effect which such pictures may have' on a considerable class of tho community, older than 16 years - 1t is n fact that thousands of tho popsIcition are in the same category as children, so far as their power to resist suggestion is concerned; and it is known that suggestion » the principal motive of action. The normal naiad weighs the reasons for and a suggestion, and we know thai in extreme cases like epiUpsy and impulsive forms of insanity, a suggestion is often acted upon without any prerk«us consideration of its results; in fact, the essential feature of insanity lies in the loss of the controlling and inhiKiiiac faculty of reason and ] ndgment. "When a fonts of disease is introduced into an organic '>ody, as, e.g., a coeflin moth into the core of an apple, tisa decay extends in wider and wider circles towards the outside, which long remains healthy. So, when mental decay like insanity penetrates to the heart of a community, the decsyr extends in circles, continually wider and more extensive, but progressively less' marked, till the distinction betweenth# normal and the abnormal individuals disappears. The iirst stages of this decay are termed feeblemindedness, and the circle of it is much wider and more extensive than the cenlral cot« of insanity. The law of England defines as '.VoWominded "'Persons is whose case there exists from birtk mental defect, not amounting to imbecility. yet so pronounrod that tfaev require and control," It » only in i ecent years that exact method* have been discovered for testing nseatal faculties for the diagnosis of feeblemindedness, a class defined as those* who are both mentally deficient and morally unable to conform to their social environment. The most serious nonH of mental deficiency is'that the individual lacks the power to judge sajjgestions and control his condor* accordingly. Hence he is at ti*e> nwy of all agitators and platform oraJors, or of any sensational picture erf tfce easy acquisition of propertx. Dans; the war the American GovenaeesT caused approved mental testa to applied by expert examiners to Sj million soldiers. Hie result is gnai » the "Journal of Delinquency" of Jaaaary, 1920. The intelligence of 10 jser cent, was only eounl to that of a_e£Qd of 9i years or less. Thai of 15 pw cent, was only equal to that of a dnfcS from 9J to 11 years old. That of W per cent, was normaL That of S-5 per cent, waa above normal, and that «f 4-.o per cent, was brilliant. Tkos. S3 per cent, were mentally de&caecv. Ike report doea not state what [«up«Uw of this 25 per cent, were also morally deficient, and, therefore, feebJe-Bsindud, but it states that "In a larga pmotage of those so dcased (as fcoNfeminded) the cauee of the deteriontioa seems to ho wrohilis." I may mention here that feewe-mindednesi is Mt tfc» result of primary syphilis in tho fin* generation, but of hereditary f.'fUa m the second or subsequent ge**»tions. It follows from tins that it i* not so much the real children iko ought to be protected bun tho I"^i **"' tions of crime and criminal methods, as the "moral children" above 16. A careful investigation of tin peeralence pf mental uefect ia the StaXo school children of london is given ia a book published by tho London Comriy Council, under the title "Distribnuaa and Relations of Educational Ahffitwk" by Cyril Burt, psychologic to the L.O.C. He reports that 1.45 per cent, of all the children are mentally defective, and are segregated in the schools," and that more of thuo "special schools" are requited for utany more defective children* If wo suppose that the proportion of mfeotal defectives in the population of Xew Zealand is only 1 per cent., it would mean about 11,000. The proportion of ■» fcal defectives is slightly greater n ft® rural districts of than m tho large towns, though insanity is rather more prevalent ill the latter. IVw is a closo relation bet vocn "tihw pnyuction of mental defect and that of in-* sanity. In 1806, tho rata of insasitr was 36.6 per 10,000 m Engjand, and 34.96 in New Zealand. Tho rate rose to 40.46 in New Zealand in 1818, oat the rate for England is not ®railrtteTho rate of mental defect in Jwr aqland is probably less, than m Bngliw, btjfc it is evidently high enough to CM for serious consideration. I ronmit that it follows from this, thaii a3mtgr testions of crimo and its hwAow igjbly injurious to the commnnrty. — Yours, eto., gYHES, MJX February sth.