| Age. | Defectives. | Unstable. | ||||||
| 7 years 8 years 9 years 10 years 11 years 12 years | 2 5 5 3 6 10 |
| Total, 31 | 1 9 7 10 11 5 |
| Total, 43 | ||
| 13 years 14 years 15 years 16 years | 9 2 3 1 |
| Total, 15 | 4 0 0 0 |
| Total, 4 | ||
The defectives remain in the schools till the end of the prescribed terms, whilst the ill-balanced hasten to leave before the time. Thus the defective, like an inert mass, become a dead weight which encumbers the school. They adapt themselves as well as they can to their environment. Their parents are apt to leave them at school as long as possible, because they do not know what to do with them, and probably the teachers do not complain very much, but are ready to put up with these defectives who do not interfere with discipline. The ill-balanced, on the other hand, find the school environment irksome, the discipline hostile. They do not wish to stay at school; their parents do not keep them there, owing to the constant complaints of the teachers; and the teachers do not want to have anything more to do with them. Conclusion: The ill-balanced leaves school early, and takes his place in society, where, owing to his character, he may very easily become a danger. To sum up, the simply defective remain at school, while the ill-balanced leave early.
Another observation may be made. Since the ill-balanced are so numerous at ten years of age, and even at eight, we conclude that in many cases the mental instability is not the result of the perturbation which precedes puberty. This physiological explanation is not of such general application as is sometimes supposed.
The Frequency of the Mixed Type, at once Defective and Ill-Balanced.—The third category of defective children which we have suggested includes those of a mixed type, who are at once mentally defective and ill-balanced. We shall not be surprised to find that these subjects have characters which are the mean of those of the defective and the ill-balanced, since they unite in themselves the two different forms of abnormality. Thus, as regards their intelligence, one finds that none of them are in the senior division; the majority are in the junior division (71 per cent.), and the remainder (29 per cent.) in the intermediate division, which proves that they are on the average less intelligent than the simply ill-balanced, and more intelligent than the simply defective. But we need not dwell on such details, which are easy to understand and even to foresee. The most important question is the number of the mixed cases. The groups of the two simple types are almost equal in number.[2] On the other hand, we find only twenty-one mixed cases in a population where the ill-balanced which have been notified to us amount to forty-four, and the defective to fifty-seven, so that the mixed cases represent only a fifth of the whole, whereas the simple cases form four-fifths. These very different proportions indicate that as a general rule mental instability and mental deficiency are quite distinct. They are not aspects of a single pathological condition, but are two quite independent pathological conditions which may coexist in the same subject, just as happens, for example, in the case of alcoholism and epilepsy, but which are none the less distinct, since as a rule they do not coexist.
Psychological Description of the Mentally Defective.—Now let us take a closer look at the children who are going to be pupils in our schools for defectives. In looking over the replies to our questionnaire, we are struck by the recurrence of certain phrases, by which the teacher attempts to sum up the defective child. Here are some examples of such phrases. They represent only general impressions, but the frequency of similar impressions arrests one's attention.
Charles does the best he can.
Augustine is very attentive.
Emile is very obedient and gentle.
Paul is always making himself useful in little ways.