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    THE IDIOT;

    _HIS PLACE IN CREATION_,
      AND
    _HIS CLAIMS ON SOCIETY_.





    [Illustration: THE EASTERN COUNTIES' ASYLUM FOR IDIOTS AND
    IMBECILES.]




    THE IDIOT;

    _HIS PLACE IN CREATION_,
      AND
    _HIS CLAIMS ON SOCIETY_.

    BY

    SIR FREDERIC BATEMAN, M.D., LL.D.,

    _Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians_;
    _Consulting Physician to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, and to
      the Eastern Counties' Asylum for Idiots_;
    _Associé et Lauréat de l'Académie de Médecine de Paris_;
    _Citation de l'Institut de France_;
    _Corresponding Member of the Psychiatrical Society of St. Petersburg_;
    _Hon. Member of the New York Neurological Society_;
    _Foreign Associate of the Medico-Psychological Society of Paris_.

    _Author of "Aphasia, or Loss of Speech";
    "Darwinism tested by Language," &c._

    SECOND EDITION.

    LONDON:
    JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, WARWICK LANE.
    1897.






PREFACE

TO

THE SECOND EDITION.


As stated in the preface to the first edition, the arguments contained
in this essay formed the nucleus of an address advocating the claims
of the Idiot upon the philanthropists of East Anglia, at a public
meeting held in Norwich, in support of the Eastern Counties' Asylum
for Idiots, under the presidency of His Grace the Duke of Norfolk,
K.G., Earl Marshal of England.

In acceding to the request of the Board of Directors to publish a
second edition, I have thought it right to retain the form of a public
oration, as requiring less modification in the phraseology of the
appeal for help, than would otherwise have been necessary.

Much additional matter has been added, especially in reference to
Consanguine Marriages, Parental Intemperance, Overpressure in
Education, and other factors in the causation of Idiocy.

I have tried to show how the study of the Idiot is calculated to throw
light upon the abstruse question of the connection between Matter and
Mind, and that it is a subject fraught with interest not only to the
Philanthropist, but to the Theologian, and to the Political Economist.

Although I have endeavoured to explain my views in popular language, I
trust it has not been at the sacrifice of strict scientific accuracy.

                                                   FREDERIC BATEMAN.

    _Norwich,
    January, 1897._




THE IDIOT;

HIS PLACE IN CREATION,

AND

HIS CLAIMS ON SOCIETY.


As Consulting Physician to the Eastern Counties' Asylum for Idiots, it
is my privilege to advocate the claims of one of the most important
charities connected with the Eastern District of England, and which,
as such, is calculated to excite an especial interest amongst the
philanthropists of East Anglia.

The Eastern Counties' Asylum for Idiots is an institution founded
specially for the reception of patients from Norfolk and the three
other Eastern Counties, just in the same way as the Royal Albert
Asylum, at Lancaster, is intended for patients from the seven northern
counties. It is, therefore, essentially an East Anglian Charity, and I
dwell especially on this point, because, being situated at Colchester,
I think there is an impression in certain quarters, that this
