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showed an improvement in their personal habits, in the number of their ideas, and their capacity for useful employment, that would once have appeared quite incredible. It is not supposed that education can ever efface the distinction between them and ordinary men, but small as its results may be comparatively, they are enough to be of some medicolegal importance.

§ 55. In that form of idiocy called cretinism, which is endemic in the Alps and some other mountainous countries, opportunities of observing its phenomena are offered on a grand scale. The difference in the degrees of this affection has led to its division into three classes, namely, cretinism, semi-cretinism, and cretinism of the third degree. In the first, life seems to be almost entirely automatic; most of its subjects are unable to speak, their senses are dull, if not altogether wanting, and nothing but the most urgent calls of nature excite their attention. To good or to bad treatment they are equally insensible. The semi-cretins show some glimmering of a higher nature; they note what passes around; they remember simple events; and make use of language to express their wants. They are capable of little else, however, for they have no idea of numbers, and, though taught to repeat certain passages, they learn nothing of their meaning. The actions of those of the third kind indicate a still higher degree of intellect; they have a stronger memory of events, and they learn to read and write, though with scarcely any conception of the purposes of either. Particular talents are often displayed by them in a very respectable degree. Music, drawing, painting machinery, etc., have each had its followers in a humble way, among these cretins. In the construction of some parts of a watch, they are often employed in Geneva, and their work is characterized by neatness. Others have executed drawings of some merit, and some have even studied several languages, in which their acquisitions were by no means insignificant; while others have even attempted poetry, though succeeding in nothing but the rhyme. Though, in all degrees of idiocy, the intel

lectual powers are so deficient as hardly to be recognized, and therefore these distinctions can be of little practical importance, yet they may serve to teach us how independent of one another are the various moral and intellectual faculties, and lead us to be cautious how we infer the soundness or capacity of the whole mind, from the perfection manifested by one or two of its faculties.

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CHAPTER III.

IMBECILITY.

§ 56. By imbecility is meant an abnormal deficiency either in those faculties that acquaint us with the qualities and ordinary relations of things, or in those which furnish us with the moral motives that regulate our relations and conduct towards our fellow men; and frequently attended with excessive activity of one or more of the animal propensities. In imbecility the development of the moral and intellectual powers is arrested at an early period of existence. It differs from idiocy in the circumstance, that while in the latter there is an almost utter destitution of every thing like reason, the subjects of the former possess some intellectual capacity, though far less than is possessed by the great mass of mankind. Imbeciles can never attain that degree of knowledge which is common among people of their own rank and opportunities, though it is very certain that they are not entirely unsusceptible of the influences of education. They are capable of forming a few simple ideas and of expressing them in language; they have some memory and a sense of the conveniences and proprieties of life. Many of them learn to read, write, and count, and make some progress in music, though, for the most part, they are untaught and employed in the coarsest and rudest labors. Their moral and intellectual character presents the same infinite variety that is witnessed in the normal state of the mind. While some are changing their plans and resolutions with the fickleness of the winds, others have some favorite project which they are bent on accomplishing. While nothing can arrest the attention of

some for a moment, others pertinaciously retain some crotchet that occupies nearly all their thoughts. Some engage in certain occupations, and manage to take care of themselves and their property, though frequently obliged to resort to others for advice and assistance. They talk but little, and will answer questions correctly, provided they are not without the circle of their customary thoughts and habits, and are not required to follow a conversation. They are particularly deficient in forethought and in strong and durable affections, and they generally labor under a certain uneasiness and restlessness of disposition that unfit them for steady employment. They are thus easily induced by bad men to assist in the execution of their criminal enterprises. It is also worthy of notice that the same physical imperfections and a tendency to the same diseases which accompany idiocy, are generally observed, though in a less degree, in imbecility.

$57. Much as the moral and intellectual powers vary in the different cases, but little has been done towards distinguishing the various degrees of imbecility, by a system of classification, though it must be obvious at first sight, that something of this kind is absolutely necessary before its legal relations can be determined with much correctness or consistency. Hoff bauer1 alone has made an attempt to supply this want, and though perhaps not perfectly satisfactory, as might have been expected from the nature of the subject, yet it evinces such a correct appreciation of mental diversities, and so much ability in the analysis of deficient understandings, that it would be doing injustice to the subject, to neglect giving some account of his views in this place.

§ 58. Mental deficiency is manifested under two different forms which Hoffbauer designates by the terms imbecility (Blödsinn), and stupidity (Dummheit). The former consists in a defect of the intensity, the latter in a defect of the extensity, necessary to a sound and healthy mind. By intensity

1 Die Psychologie in ihren Hauptanwendungen auf die Rechtspflege, §§ 26

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is meant the power of the mind to examine the data presented to it by the senses, and therefrom to deduce correct judgments; by its extensity, the mind perceives and embraces these data, and suffers none to escape, — one, it be added, is the reflective; the other, the perceptive power. "In reference to the faculty of judgment, it may be observed, that the stupid person is more liable than the imbecile to form erroneous decisions; the latter experiences great difficulty in bringing himself to any conclusion. Secondly, the stupid person sometimes judges very correctly on subjects to which his attention has been strongly applied; occasionally he surpasses, in this respect, those of superior intelligence. When he judges wrongly, it is through neglect of some of the considerations which ought to have formed the groundwork of his judgment, and he will say, in order to excuse himself, that he never should have dreamed of this or that circumstance.' To the imbecile, on the contrary, the most simple act of judgment is difficult. A lady, for instance, who said she was twenty-five years of age, and had been married six years, could not, after many efforts, tell how old she was at the period of her wedding; at one time calling it twenty, at another, twenty-two. Thirdly, the stupid man may often be induced to correct his mistake; some simple reason, or particular circumstance being suggested to him which leads to its detection. The imbecile man can scarcely rectify his errors, being unable sufficiently to concentrate his attention on any particular subject. Fourthly, the stupid man, in recovering from his error, frequently falls into the opposite extreme, passing from the blindest confidence to the most jealous distrust, because he views every subject on one side only, and is embarrassed by every complex idea.

§ 59. "In relation also to memory, there is a decided difference between the stupid and the imbecile. The latter appear to be almost entirely deficient in this faculty, while the former recollect after a long interval of time, and with tolerable accuracy, some insulated circumstances.

$ 60. "Weakness of intellect is displayed in both these classes, when their defect is excessive, by a propensity to talk

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