Sixteen of the 647 were tubercular and were transferred to institutions for tuberculosis. No examination of the sputum was made except in cases of suspects. Seven others were epileptic and there was one case of chorea (St. Vitus Dance).
Mentality:—Of peculiar value, in view of the public interest in the question of mental defect as a cause of delinquency, is a study of the mentality of our 647 women. Twenty have been pronounced insane by commissions in lunacy and have been transferred to asylums for the insane. Three others will probably have to be transferred; 107 were unhesitatingly pronounced distinctly feeble-minded. Not all of our 647 cases have been examined by our psychologist. One hundred and sixteen, however, have had laboratory tests of various sorts. Among these tests, all have been given the Binet test. The result has been as follows:
MENTALITY BY BINET TEST
| Showing mentality of | 5 | year old child | 2 | |
| """ | 6 | """ | 1 | |
| """ | 7 | """ | 6 | |
| """ | 8 | """ | 6 | |
| """ | 9 | """ | 29 | |
| """ | 10 | """ | 44 | |
| """ | 11 | """ | 26 | |
| """ | 12 | """ | 2 | |
| 116 | ||||
The 44 who have the mentality of a ten year old child and under were unhesitatingly pronounced mentally defective. The 72 showing mentality from ten to twelve years may possibly not be so-called. The 67 others included among the 107 are those so mentally defective that there can be no question as a matter of observation. Fifty-two others are distinctly border line cases. This is the group which gives the most trouble in all reformatory institutions. It is safe to say that 90 percent of all disciplinary difficulties come from cases of this sort. They can be easily divided into at least two groups. Thus divided, 26 are girls who can be taught very little in school, whose general intelligence is low, but who may perhaps be able to learn a certain amount of manual labor; these cannot “stay good” any length of time. The other 26 are those who do well in school, are capable of mastering even such subjects as algebra and bookkeeping, but who have no moral sense or continuity of purpose. Eleven others are also properly in this class but differ from the two preceding groups in the character of their instability. If they were boys they would be tramps. They are all girls who have run away from home, sometimes a number of times, as well as from any place where they are put to service.
The foregoing figures mean that 193 individuals, or 29.8 percent, of the number studied are decidedly mentally defective. This is an extremely conservative estimate.
With the facilities which we are to have in the Laboratory of Social Hygiene under the auspices of the Bureau of Social Hygiene, we expect to get much more definite results not only as to the mentality but also as to the physical condition and the social relations of the young women under our care.
Venereal Disease:—The records of the Bedford Reformatory for girls show that 20.56 percent of the 647 inmates have clinical manifestations of venereal disease. The facts are summarized in the following table:
| Total number of inmates | 647 | ||
| Number free from clinical manifestations of disease | 514 | ||
| Number showing clinical manifestations of disease | 133 | ||
| Of the last named: | |||
| Number with syphilis | 61 | ||
| "" gonorrhœa | 54 | ||
| "" syphilis and gonorrhœa | 9 | ||
| "" disease unnamed | 8 | ||
| "" chancre | 1 | ||
| Total | 133 | (20.56%) |
A series of complement fixation tests on blood specimens from 466 of the inmates show, however, that a very much larger number are infected with either syphilis or gonorrhœa or both of these diseases.[307] With the Wassermann test 176, or 37.7 percent gave positive reactions; 273, or 58.6 percent gave negative reactions, and 17, or 3.6 percent gave doubtful reactions. With a modification of the Wassermann technique where the tests were allowed to stand for four hours at ice box temperature to fix complement, instead of the usual one hour at 37°C. in the incubator, 224, or 48 percent gave positive reactions, 212, or 45.4 percent gave negative reactions and 30, or 6.4 percent gave doubtful reactions, showing an increase of 10.3 percent of positive reactions for syphilis over the method of fixing complement at 37°C. The same sera were tested by the complement fixation test for gonorrheal infection with the result that 134 or 29 percent gave positive reactions; 234, or 50 percent gave negative reactions and 98, or 21 percent gave doubtful reactions, fixing complement at 37°C. for one hour. When the ice box method of fixation was used, 306 or 65.6 percent gave positive reactions; 101, or 21.7 percent gave negative reactions and 59, or 12.6 percent gave doubtful reactions, showing an increase of 36.9 percent of positive results over the method of fixing complement at 37°C. in the incubator.