total, 86,515, according to the census of 1900. More than
50,000 of them were deaf from childhood (under 20), 12,609 being deaf
from birth. At least 4.5% of the deaf were stated to be offspring of
cousin marriages, and 32.1% to have deaf relatives. The significance of
this can not be determined unless it is known how many normal persons
have deaf relatives (or blind relatives, in considering the preceding
paragraph), but it points to the existence of families that are
characterized by deafness (or blindness).

INSANE: the census of 1910 enumerated only the insane who were
in institutions; they numbered 187,791. The number outside of
institutions is doubtless considerable but can not be computed. The
institutional population is not a permanent, but mainly a transient one,
the number of persons discharged from institutions in 1910 being 29,304.
As the number and size of institutions does not increase very rapidly,
it would appear probable that 25,000 insane persons pass through and out
of institutions, and back into the general population, each year. From
this one can get some idea of the amount of neurotic weakness in the
population of the United States,--much of it congenital and heritable in
character.

FEEBLE-MINDED: the census (1910) lists only those in
institutions, who totaled about 40,000. The census experts believe that
200,000 would be a conservative estimate of the total number of
feeble-minded in the country, and many psychologists think that 300,000
would be more nearly accurate. The number of feeble-minded who are
receiving institutional care is almost certainly not more than 10% or
15% of the total, and many of these (about 15,000) are in almshouses,
not special institutions.

PAUPERS: There were 84,198 paupers enumerated in almshouses on
January 1, 1910, and 88,313 admitted during the year, which indicates
that the almshouse paupers are a rapidly shifting group. This
population, probably of several hundred thousand persons, who drift
into and out of almshouses, can hardly be characterized accurately, but
in large part it must be considered at least inefficient and probably of
mentally low grade.

CRIMINALS: The inmates of prisons, penitentiaries,
reformatories, and similar places of detention numbered 111,609 in 1910;
this does not include 25,000 juvenile delinquents. The jail population
is nearly all transient; one must be very cautious in inferring that
conviction for an offense against the law indi