MENTAL DEFICIENCY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10679, 27 July 1912, Page 4

MENTAL DEFICIENCY.

Both the eriaifliiirologist and the student of 'eugenics will have jmudl to ponder over in the dictum,, now mostly accepted, that "mental deficiency; ■stands high among the causes of tdestitiution and crime," says .the Melbourne Age. The half-witted man or womaiii has always 'been a recognised factor in ,society. The Simple Simon of the nursery ballad was ait exact .type. In Ireland .they have a loving and 'lbvely way o'i speaking faf the telow-witted. Snoh people are "innocents." But innocent or not, they are ft, <t oriole factor in preventing the evolution of the race. They help very mat'enialSy to fill the gaols, reformatories, asylums and hospitals. "They •are a drag and a tax on progress," ic-ontiiinues tire Age, and a heavy expense on the taxpayers, though in lEmgland 'they arc only 0.7 per cent of tne people. It i.s no doubt a wholesome rule forbids halif-witteci ■men! aind women to .marry and tran#smit their mental defects to posrterity. Bu» the great trouble will 'be found in drawing the lane. Clearly a register will have (to be kept, ,;fad the feebleminded will be entered upon it."