FEE TAIL, an estate limited to a certain line of descent, to certain heirs or to a certain class of heirs; sometimes known as a condi tional fee.
The. Definitions.— No strictly scientific definition of feeble-mind edness is possible in the present stage of, our knowledge. The condition is fairly well indi cated, however, by Tredgold Defi ciency') in the following language: °A state of mental defect from birth, or from an early age due to inConiplete cerebral development, in consequence of which the person affected is unable to perform his duty as a member of society in the position of life to which he is born.* The feeble-minded are classified according to mental age, that is, the age of a normal child of the same mentality. For example, a feeble-minded person of mental age 6 has a mind approximately like that of a normal child of 6. The feeble-minded are also divided into three groups, idiots, imbeciles and morons. Idiots are those of mental age 1 and 2. Imbeciles comprise those of mental age 3 to 7 inclusive. Morons include those of mem tal age 8 to, perhaps, 12—the upper limit is somewhat uncertain. It is also customary to speak of the I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) of a feeble-minded person. This is found by divid, ing his mental age by his actual age, e.g., 'a child who is 12 years old and of mentality 9 would have an I.Q. of 9/12 or 75. In using the I.Q. no higher actual age than 16 is used because it is supposed that the mental age of the average man does not go beyond 16. So that if a feeble-minded person is, say, 30 years old, we divide by 16 and not by 30. (For fur ther discussion of I.Q., consult Terman, L. M., (The Measurement of Intelligence').
The different groups are rather significantly, though somewhat inaccurately, indicated by the expressions that the idiot cannot speak, the imbecile cannot read, the moron cannot cipher, There are certain exceptions to this since some who are classed as idiots do talk a little and rarely a person who is classed as an imbecile learns to read, while the moron may learn to add, subtract and multiply, less often to tise long division and practically never to solve arithmetical problems.
The idiot is the helpless creature that is more or less familiar, almost entirely lacking in intelligence, frequently unable to feed him self, generally unable to control his secretions, and almost entirely incapable of being trained.
The imbecile is the silly, foolish child, com monly recognized as such. He is incapable of learning the ordinary school work, but is more or less trainable for simple tasks, such as sin gle errands and certain kinds of crude and coarse heavy work.
The moron, on the other hand, is usually unrecognized by the layman, at least until he is almost an adult and even then is thought of as being merely peculiar or is characterized by some such expression as "not quite all there, "ignorant?' The moron is not profitably trainable in the ordinary school sub jects, reading, writing and number work, even though a certain small percentage of them can learn something of these subjects as the result of great effort on the part of the teacher. They are, however, quite trainable in indus trial and occupational work, anything of rou tine character not requiring judgment. They are almost never self-directing but require more or less constant oversight.
Disregarding the mentality or mental level, as it is called, the feeble-minded are sometimes classified on the basis of the causes of the con dition or of certain accompaniments or pecul iarities either physical or mental. (Consult Ireland, W. W.,
The microcephalic is the small headed feeble-minded person. The brain has ceased to. grow in bulk and the skull has closed over it, giving a very small head of characteristic shape.