The Binet tests were applied to 289 of the 300 women examined, and other psychological tests were applied in doubtful cases. The ages ranged from 12 up. Only 10 were under 15 and 32 were 36 years of age or over. The investigators classed no case as feeble-minded which did not test XI or under, but they did not class as feeble-minded 107 other cases which tested XI and under. The Commission's diagnosis is therefore conservative. It regarded 154 cases (51%) as feeble-minded, 46 in the detention house group and 54 in each of the others. If we ask how many tested below our standard we can not tell exactly, since the report does not state whether X.8 was classed as X or XI. It shows 81 tested IX or under (27%) and these were nearly all, therefore, within the limits of our group presumably deficient. Ninety-nine others tested X, a total of 60% testing below our borderline for presumable and doubtful deficients. Since only 2 cases were under 14 years of age, these figures could not be much disturbed by the younger girls. We can be reasonably sure, then, that at least 27% of these prostitutes should be placed under permanent custodial care, and probably 50% would be more nearly correct.
In a recent report of the Bureau of Analysis and Investigation of the New York State Board of Charities[[16]] Dr. Jesse L. Herrick reports testing 194 inmates of the state reformatory for women known as the Western House of Refuge. The Stanford Scale was used, 25% tested IX or under with that scale and 14% tested X. In the same bulletin the report is made of Binet ages for 607 inmates of the New York Training School for Girls. Four versions of the scale were used so that the estimates are somewhat affected. Moreover, 97 girls were under 15 years of age. The table of Binet ages indicates 20% testing IX or under and 28% testing X.
Hill and Goddard ([30]) report examining a group of 56 girls who had been in a reformatory and were under probation with a certain officer. In this entire group they found only four who were not feeble-minded, “as we usually define feeble-mindedness.” Presumably this means three or more years retarded, including those who tested XII, so that it cannot be regarded as a conservative estimate. No further data is provided for interpreting the borderline.
Taking up the younger and milder girl delinquents, Dr. Haines reports the examination of an unselected group of 329 at the State Girls Industrial Home near Delaware, Ohio ([26]). They were all under 21 years of age and represent less hardened delinquents than the older groups at the reformatories for women. The Ohio group was tested with the Binet 1911 scale as well as with the Yerkes-Bridges Point Scale. Counting a result of .8 of a year as placing the case under the next mental age above, as we have in fixing the limits, we find that his results are given with such excellent detail that we may fairly compare the percentages with our standard for the Binet Scale. On this basis 70 of these delinquent girls (21%) are clearly deficient and 55 more are in the uncertain group, a total of 38%.
As a check upon results, we may compare the report of Miss Renz for 100 consecutive admissions to the same institution in 1912, tested with the Binet scale ([47]). She found 29 tested IX or under, 49 tested X or under, slightly more than was shown by the Haines tests. Miss Renz' report, however, does not show how many of the girls were under 14 years of age and might thus be excluded from the deficient groups.
In the California School for Girls, Grace M. Fernald[[17]] examined 124 cases as they entered the school. Twenty-four tested under XI with both the Binet 1911 and Stanford revision. This is a further indication of the less frequency of feeble-mindedness in the state schools for girls than in the reformatories for women.
Dr. H. W. Crane reports the results of the Binet testing at Adrian, the Michigan Industrial School for Girls, which receives only minors and corresponds to the Ohio Industrial Home ([37]). The Binet 1911 scale was used, but this grouping in mental ages may mean that a few more cases are thus classed deficient than with our standardized borderlines which place the subject in the higher age group when he scores .8. It is to be remembered also that the borderlines for those whose life-ages are under 15 have not been as well standardized with the 1911 scale. The testing was done under the direction of a state commission appointed to investigate the extent of mental defectiveness ([37]). Dr. Crane was assisted by three other workers. The results at Adrian show, among the 386 inmates, 131 or 34% tested in our groups of presumably or uncertain intellectual deficients. Seventy-seven of these, in our uncertain group, should only class as deficient because also delinquent. The investigators give it as their opinion that 16.7% of the inmates were feeble-minded but not reached by the tests.
The entire population of the Illinois State Training School for Girls at Geneva was tested by Louise E. and George Ordahl.[[18]] The Kuhlmann revision of the Binet Scale, supplemented by the Stanford Scale, for the older ages, was used. Among the 432 tested 13 per cent. tested below our borderline for the presumably deficient and 22 per cent. more in the doubtful group.
Dr. Otis, resident psychologist at the New Jersey State Home for Girls at Trenton, examined 172 girls between 10 and 20 years of age inclusive ([43]). Since she said it was “a preliminary testing” and “not many of the smaller girls were included,” we conclude that it was a somewhat selected group. She regarded those who stand between eleven and twelve as practically normal and those who stand below ten as without doubt defective. She then publishes three groups: “Defectives,” 45% (77 cases) high grade; “Morons,” 30% (52 cases); and “Presumably Normal,” 25% (43 cases). Since she does not give the distribution of the cases it is not possible to tell how many of her group were less than four years retarded. Her statement of the ages, however, shows that not more than 7 of the defectives could have been less than four years retarded and not more than 12 of the combined group of defectives and morons tested X or over. We may be sure, therefore, that at least 68% of these girls are of questionable intellectual ability according to the conservative standard adopted in this discussion.
Dr. Bridgman has reported the examination of 118 girls, 10 to 21 years of age, successively admitted to the State Training School for Girls at Geneva, Ill. She states that 89% (105 cases) “showed a retardation of three years or more.” The distribution of cases is not given so that it is not possible to tell how many testing X, XI, and XII were classed as feeble-minded or how many tested only three years retarded. The published estimate is undoubtedly extreme, but I have no means of making a more conservative estimate on this group. It is interesting, however, to note that only 14 of the cases were not sexually immoral. These were all cases which were either dependent or sent because uncontrollable at home and all tested as passable intellectually. She states that “according to the Binet tests, 97% of the children ([5]) sent to this institution because of sexual immorality are feeble-minded as well.” This percentage also would be decidedly discounted on a conservative test standard. In another place Dr. Bridgman makes the important statement that of 400 girls admitted to Geneva 60% were suffering from venereal disease ([4]).