Mental Deficiency The value of the Report of the Mental
Deficiency CoMmittee, published last Saturday, resides especially- in its emphasis on man-in-society. After five years' diligent examination the Committee do not hesitate to interpret the term " Mental Defective " as applying to one " in- capable of independent social adaptation." By this test there are a quarter of a million persons (adults and children) unfit for our social life. Man is, after all, a creature compact of reason and emotion, and the purely intellectual criterion is inadequate. The principle is maintained that every citizen has a right to the type of education best suited to him, without the necessity of a certificate from the local educational authorities affixing the label " mentally defective." The elementary schools, the Report says, should make arrangements for the mental development of the " retarded," in other words, the abnormally dull and backward child. Those whose disability is .....nither emotional than intellectual must receive appropriate care, training and education in special institutions. The awakened social conscience of to-day should ensure that cases of mental deficiency are promptly notified. We congratulate the Committee on a truly admirable Report, not forgetting the spade-work of Dr. E. 0. Lewis, which, they acknowledge, was the basis of their conclusions.
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