File:Idiot Savant H.jpg
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[edit]DescriptionIdiot Savant H.jpg |
English: Case H. — J. O. Memory and mimicry. Boy ; low-grade moral
imbecile. Hydrocephalic ; epileptic ; 16 years old when photograph was taken. A dwarf ; height 4 feet. Admitted to Training School in fourteenth year. Hands extremely small, speech perfect and large vocabulary. Vulgar and profane beyond description. Could distin- guish between right and wrong, but chose always the wrong. Ego- tistic, would do almost anything to attract attention. Had a fair voice in singing; apparently learned to read and write, although a great deal of it was simply memorizing and imitating. His was a most unusvial example of abnormal development of memory over other mental powers — a " memory prodigy " so to speak. Mental limit reached in his sixteenth year ; but old in iniquity, impudent, defi- ant, quarrelsome, obstinate, and disobedient, a breeder of mischief and a disturbing element in the schools, he was transferred to a cus- todial building, where under closer care and supervision he did very well for the remaining 4 years of his life. His previous history would have furnished material for the pen of a Zola. Condition congenital ; the unusual size of his head was noticeable in his earliest infancy ; in his fourth year it began to increase rapidly, and at 6 years of age he wore a 7^ hat. At this period, having attained the height of 4 feet, he ceased to grow, but developed wonderful power of memory, re- peating songs, poems and long passages by rote, with an aptitude truly extraordinary. With quick perception was united a strong love of metaphor, making him peculiarly susceptible to the charm of rhythm in music and poetry. He learned to recite, without efifort, whole pages of Milton and Shakespere, and to sing hymns and senti- mental songs. Frequenting the theatres, he would on returning render with marked precision attractive scenes in the plays, taking the various roles of the actors and actresses that had most impressed him. Lacking the care and guardianship so necessary to an irrespon- sible, this unfortunate child— tiny and deformed, a travesty of humanity — roamed the streets at will, a veritable montebank. Naturally he soon fell into evil courses, and became the victim of the vicious. Profanity and slang, easy for him to acquire, vulgar al- lusions, a double entendre — cleverly picked up here and there — made him an unfailing source of amusement to a class of men who, applaud- ing him vociferously, gave him whiskey and tobacco as a reward for his performances, and encouraged in every way his development in the school of vice. With astonishing alacrity he learned to smoke, chew, swear, and drink, and his companions were corner-loungers and the scum of society. Day after day he would be seen staggering, intoxicated, from saloon to saloon. A woman could not pass him without being insulted. The newspapers wrote up his career in the most sensational manner. Finally after 8 years, self-willed and incorrigible, this " enfant prodigue " became a veritable " enfant terrible " and, a nuisance to society the safety of his community de- manded his permanent sequestration. He died in his tv/entieth year of softening of the brain. Father a carpenter, 34, and mother, 21 years old at time of his birth. Ordinary labor, but deficient animation ; nourished bymother. Parents extremely poor. |
Date | |
Source | Mental Defectives: Their History, Treatment, and Training (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t47p9j653&view=thumb&seq=1&skin=2021) |
Author | Martin W. Barr |
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This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.
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current | 23:40, 7 February 2022 | ![]() | 1,299 × 1,156 (830 KB) | Ted Shackelford (talk | contribs) | Uploaded a work by Martin W. Barr from Mental Defectives: Their History, Treatment, and Training (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t47p9j653&view=thumb&seq=1&skin=2021) with UploadWizard |
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