Table of the physical and mental condition of idiots in Massachusetts, 1847.

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Massachusetts. Commissioners on Idiocy. Table of the physical and mental condition of idiots in Massachusetts, 1847.

Table of the physical and mental condition of idiots in Massachusetts, 1847.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/180702110

Per Resolves 1846, c 117, the governor of Massachusetts appointed three commissioners to inquire into the condition of idiots (contemporary term for the mentally retarded) in the Commonwealth and what could be done for them. The commission's report, written by Samuel G. Howe of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, led to an experimental school being funded for three years by the state (Resolves 1848, c 65). This report, based on a survey completed by municipal clerks (Returns of the survey of idiots in Massachusetts, 1846 ((M-Ar)1516X)), consisted of a written narrative (Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State. Passed resolves ((M-Ar)228, Resolves 1848, c 65), and a tabular data set compiled by Howe as a followup to the survey and based on his field notes (Field notes on the survey of idiots in Massachusetts, 1847 ((M-Ar)1827X)), consisting of this series. Information for each person includes: name, town, age, weight, height, other physical measurements, type of retardation, personal habits, condition of parents and other relatives, intemperancy of parents, educability, self-support, comparisons with normal persons of temperament, skills, cranial development, and various mental faculties, remarks. Temperament categories are defined in an appendix.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Archives