Mental Defect. The Point of View of an Individualist

Why are we apt to take credit for our brains ? No man by taking thought can add to his inborn capacity, and a good intellectual endowment is supreme among the gifts that come through no virtue of our own. Supreme, in that it is the power of abstract thought which raises man above the brutes, and makes possible joys which we sometimes take for granted. Intellect truly " unveils the hidden beauty of the universe." By it the temporary messages of the senses, the sight and sound and feel of things, are given relevance and form and meaning. If a man is deprived of one of his senses, if he is blind or deaf, plenty of pity and service is ready for him among his fellow men. What pity and service then should be accorded those who can receive the messages of the senses, yet cannot relate them in the ideal world of the imagination? Life to the mentally deficient is a frustrated thing, for they are trying to receive its messages with an imperfect instrument, and they often have to bear with contempt and aversion as well. The sins of the community?disease and drink and malnutrition, lack of pre-natal care, inbreeding and bad mating?are at least in part responsible for their misfortunes, and it is time the communtiy had a new vision of these its disinherited members. Those of us who have escaped this fate should surely put our brains at their service. To prevent the spread of this racial poison deserves the best effort of the sociologist, who can pursue the wide problems of research. But the ordinary citizen who is not a specialist or a scientist can do much to help the individual mentally deficient. Many of them have gentle and affectionate characters and to the end of their lives remain like little children. They need to be treated with the utmost patience and sympathy. Some can be taught, and though their brains are dull and their thought processes slow, it is possible with long patience to give them the satisfaction of achievement along certain lines.