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reported to the local authority under the Mental Deficiency Act, the sources being
as follows:—
London Authority for Mental Welfare, 38; Poor Law authorities, 8; Miscellaneous
sources, 38; Through school medical service, 41.
Miscellaneous sources include parents and friends of alleged defectives, private
medical practitioners, hospitals, charitable organisations, infant welfare centres and the
like. The importance of the latter as sources of information is gradually increasing.
Forty-one cases came to notice in the course of school medical work, but the
children being under the age of seven years, their names could not be sent forward
by the Education Committee as in need of institutional treatment or guardianship,
and the children were therefore dealt with as if notified from any ordinary source,
which meant in practice that it had to be shown in some way or another that they
were so far neglected as to render them subject to the Act. As a consequence of this
it will be realised that a number of cases come to notice in which the children are
undoubtedly mentally defective, but owing to the relatively satisfactory nature of
their home conditions they are not subject to be dealt with, at any rate under the age
of seven years.
The provisions of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1927, enabling local authorities to
deal with the cases of children with respect to whom a notification has been made
by the parent or guardian that the child is in need of care or training which cannot
be provided in his home, may enable a somewhat larger number to be provided for
in future years, though it is more probable that parents would desire to retain young
children below the school age in their homes unless their presence was obviously
detrimental to the other members of the family, or there were some special circumstances
such as employment of both parents.
During the two years the certifying and enquiry officers of the public health
department investigated the cases of 317 children, 107 of which had been brought
to notice from miscellaneous sources, the London Authority for Mental Welfare and
the Poor Law, and 210 which were discovered through the schools or the school
attendance department. Of those the following were the gradings:—
Mentally defective in the sense of the Education Act and possibly feeble-minded,
144 ; Imbecile, 162 ; Idiot, 11.
Of the first group, 66 were invalided with a view to re-examination on attaining
the age of seven years, and 38, all of whom were six years of age or over, were
recommended for immediate admission to mentally defective special schools. Of
the 106 imbeciles who came to light from the school organisation, only 41 were
deemed subject to action under the Mental Deficiency Act, and action was taken in
due course. In 65, circumstances were such as to preclude action, so that they were
invalided from school attendance until the age of seven years, when a re-examination
will take place with a view to notification. The ages at which these cases came to
notice were as follows:—
Ages —1 1+ 2+ 3+ 4+ 5+ 6 +
Numbers 0 5 15 18 37 117 126
The proportion of idiots and imbeciles was greater in the earlier years. It is
clear that these figures, particularly those relating to ages below the school
attendance period would not represent the total number of defectives for the community
but, from the returns of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, it appears that a
considerable number of cases are admitted to their institutions, particularly to the
* Fountain Mental Hospital, during the age period in question from other sources than
* Note.—It is understood that in December, 1927, there were in the Fountain Mental
Hospital 183 cases placed under the Mental Deficiency Act, and 341 cases placed there under
other provisions, Children while in Poor Law institutions, do not without special exception
come within the purview of the authority for mental deficiency whether on the general or the
educational side