View report page

53
and 146 still under consideration. During the year 781 cases were examined with
the following results:—
Type. Male. Female. Total.
Idiot 11 15 26
Imbecile 112 106 218
Feeble-minded 225 245 470
Moral imbecile 4 2 6
Not defective 14 38 52
Insufficient evidence 2 7 9
Total 368 413 781
In addition to the foregoing, certain cases were examined while still of school
age, and are recorded on a later page.
The Occupation Centres opened in 1923 were continued throughout the year
and, as in the past year, the Council made provision for the employment of guides,
where necessary, in order to convoy the children to and from the centres.
Occupation
centres.
Dr. Fairfield has analysed the notes of the cases of those women dealt with
under the Mental Deficiency Act who have at some time given birth to one or more
illegitimate children. They are 32 in number.
23 women had given birth to one child.
4 „ „ „ „ „ two children.
4 „ „ „ ,, „ three children.
1 „ „ „ „ „ nine children.
Defectives
who have
given birth
to illegitimate
children.
The total number of children born was 47. Although most of the births are
very recent, 16 of the 47 children are already dead. Of the 32 women, two are
married, but both of the latter group have had illegitimate children. One of them
is the mother of nine children. She evaded recognition during school days, married,
had eight children, six of whom died, two being saved by the care of relatives.
After her husband’s death she gave birth to an illegitimate child, who died of
venereal disease. Her two surviving children are mentally defective as was the
only one of the seven deceased children who survived infancy. The history of
the 32 mothers shows that seven came from provincial schools (one being a Special
School), and 24 from London Schools. Of the latter, 13 were educated in ordinary
elementary schools and only 11 had been to Special schools for defective children.
Five of the 11 left school before the Mental Deficiency Act came into being, one
being at school when the disaster happened. In one case, a petition to put the
defective in an institution had been dismissed by the magistrate; in two cases, the
names had been notified by the Education Committee, the girls leaving school at
16. In two cases, the girls were under voluntary supervision.
Blind Persons Act.
The Council’s scheme for carrying out the provisions of the Blind Persons Act,
1920, set out in previous reports, was continued throughout the year, during
which 96 persons over school age were seen. In the Act, blindness is defined as
being “ too blind to perform work for which eyesight is essential.” This definition
appeared, however, to permit of too wide an interpretation, and in order to
standardise the work throughout the country, the Ministry of Health in March,
1926, issued Circular 681, in which they indicated that they did not deem persons
whose visual acuity, after correction of refractive errors, was greater than 6/60
(Snellen) to be blind unless the defect of eyesight included such special conditions
as a great contraction of the field of vision. In consequence of this interpretation
of the definition, the Special Committee on the Welfare of the Blind directed that
any cases which the Medical Officers considered as blind within the meaning of the
Act, whilst not complying with the limitation laid down by the Ministry of Health
Definition of
blindness.