No More Learning

10. J. E. Belhomme: "Idiocy is easily distinguished from dementia . . . One begins with life, or
in an age which precedes the lull development of intelligence; the other appears alter puberty; the former belongs exclusively to childhood, the latter is mainly an illness of old
age" ? 550/ sur Vidiotie. Propositions sur ^education des idiots mise en rapport avec leur degre d'intel- ligence (Paris: Didot Jeune, 1824) pp. 32 33- On the history of idiocy, see, E. Seguin, Traitement moral, hygiene et education des idiots et des autres enfants arrieres ou retardes dans leur developpement(Paris: J. -B. Bailliere, 1846) pp. 23-32; D. M. Bourneville, Assistance, Traitement et Education des enfants idiots et degeneres, ch. 1: "Aperc,u historique de I'assistance
et du traitement des enlants idiots et degeneres," pp. 1 7; L. Kanner, A History of the Care and Study of the Mentally Retarded (Springfield, 111: C. C. Thomas, 1964); G. Netchine, "Idiots, debiles et savants au xixL siecle" in R. Zazzo, Les Debilites mentales, pp. 70 107; and, R. Myrvold, L'Arrieration menlalc, de Pinel a Binet-Simon, Medical Thesis, Paris, 1973, no. 67-
11. See J. E. D. Esquirol, "Delire," in Dictionnaire des sciences medkales (Paris: C. L. F. Panckoucke, 1814) vol. VIII, p. 255: "Apyretic delirium [i. e. , without fever; J. L. ] is the pathognomic sign of vesania"; EJ. Georget, De lafolie, p. 75: "The essential symptom of this illness ( . . . ) consists in intellectual disorders to which the name delirium has been given; there is no madness without delirium. " Michel Foucault notes that for eighteenth century medicine an "implicit delirium exists in all the alterations of the mind. " Histoire de la folie, p. 254; Madness and Civilization, p. 99.
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12. J. -B. Jacquelin Dubuisson, Des vesanies, p. 281.
13. P. Pinel classifies "idiotism" among the "species" of mental alienation: Traitemedico-
philosophique, section IV, pp. 166 176; A Treatise on Insanity, "Mental Derangement Distributed into Different Species. Fifth species ol mental derangement: Idiotism, or obliteration of the intellectual and affective faculties," pp. 165 173-
14. J. E. D. Esquirol, "Hallucinations" in Dictionnairc des sciences medicales, vol. XX (Paris: C. L. F. Panckoucke, 1817) pp. 64-71; "Idiotisme," ibid. vol. XXIII, 1818, pp. 507-524; and "De l'idiotie" (1820) in Des maladies tnenta/es, vol. II, pp. 286 397; Mental Maladies, "Idiocy," pp. 445 496.
15- This is the medical thesis defended by Jacques Elienne Belhomme on 1 July 1824: Essai sur l'idiotie. Propositions sur {'education des idiots mise en rapport avec leur degre d'intelligence, Medical Thesis, Paris, no. 125 (Paris: Didot Jeune, 1824), reprinted with some corrections: Paris: Germer Bailliere, 1843-
16. J. E. D. Esquirol, "De l'idiotie" in Des Maladies mentales, p. 284; Mental Maladies, "Idiocy," p. 446.
17. J. E. Belhomme, Essai sur l'idiotie, 1843 ed. , p. 51.
18. J. E. D. Esquirol, "De l'idiotie," p. 284: "Idiocy begins with life or in the age which precedes
the full development ol the intellectual and affective laculties . . . Dementia, like mania and monomania, only begins with puberty"; "Idiocy" p. 446. See also,J. E. Belhomme, (note 10 above).
19. J. E. D. Esquirol, "De l'idiotie,"pp. 284 285: "Idiots are what they must be throughout their life . . . We do not imagine the possibility ol changing this condition," whereas "dementia (. . . ) has a period of more or less rapid growth. Chronic, senile dementia gets worse from year to year ( . . . ) . We can cure dementia, we conceive ol the possibility of suspending its accidents"; "Idiocy,"pp. 446 447. It is precisely because alienists like Louis Florentin Calmeil, Achille | de] Foville, Elienne Georget, Louis Francois Lelut (1804 1877), and Francois Leurel consider idiots incurable that they recommend their isolation in asylums.
20. J. E. D. Esquirol, ibid. p. 284: "Everyone detects an imperfect organization or halted devel opment in them. On opening the cranium we almost always lind defects of conformation"; ibid. p. 446; J. E. Belhomme, 1824 edition, p. 33: "The idiot presents traces ol an incomplete organization . . . The autopsy of idiots reveal delects ol conformation, of organization"; EJ. Georget, De la folie, p. 105: "Idiots and imbeciles not only have a badly lormed intel lectual organ (see, the opening of bodies), but their whole system usually shares this unhealthy condition. In general, they are little developed ( . . . ) many are rachitic, scrolu lous, paralytics, or epileptics, and sometimes combine several of these illnesses (. . . ). The organization ol the brain in these case is no better than those ol all the other organs. "
21. On 1 November 1852, Henri Jean Baptiste Davenne, general director of Public Assistance, sending the Seine Prelect a report, the fourth chapter ol which concerned the education of idiot and imbecile children, stated: "The idiot is nothing other than a poor cripple to whom the doctor will never give what nature has denied him. " Rapport du Direcleur de I'adminstration de VAssistance Publique a M. Ic Prejel de la Seine sur le service des alienes du department de la Seine (Paris: Imprimerie de I'adminstration de PAssistance Publique, 1852).
22. For Etienne Georget, since idiots are characterized by "an original defect of development, they must be ranked among the monsters; this is truly the case in the intellectual respect"
De la folie, p. 102, n. 1. On the connotations of the term at this time, see C. Davaine, "Monstres," in Dictionnaire encyclopedique des sciences medicales, vol. LXI (Paris: Asselin, 1874) pp. 201 264.
23. J. E. D. Esquirol, "De l'idiotie," p. 285: "On opening the body we sometimes lind organic lesions, but these are accidental, for the thickening of the bones of the cranium, and the separation ol their tables, coinciding only with dementia, do not characterize any delects of conformation"; "Idiocy" p. 447.
24. Ibid.
25. In 1831, Edouard Seguin (1812-1880), assistant teacher to Jean Itard, doctor of the National Institution lor deal mutes, was entrusted by the latter, and by Esquirol, with the education of an idiot child. He reports this experience in Essai sur I'education d'un enfant
? (Pans: Porlhman, 1839). In 187JO, he put his method into practice in the Hospice des Incurables in the Saint Martin district, and published, Theone pratique dc /'education des enjants arrieres el idiots. Lecons aux jeunes idiots de VHospice des Incurables ( P a r i s : G e r m e r Bailliere, 187|2). In October 1842, the Conseil general des Hospices decided to transfer the children from Bicetre into Doctor Felix Voisin's department, which Segum leaves in 187|3 alter disagreements. Before emigrating to the United States in 1850, he drew up a balance sheet of his experiences in Trailcment moral, hygiene et education des idiots, in which he delines his principles of "physiological education. " No publication in France dealt with Segum between the thesis ot I. Saint Yves, Apercus historiques sur les travaux concernanl ^education medico-pedagogique: hard, Bourneville, Medical Thesis, Lyon, no. 103, 1913-191-1 (Paris: P. Lethielleux, I917i) and the article by H. Beauchesne, "Segum, instituteur d'idiots a Bicetre, ou la premiere equip medico pedagogique," Perspectives psychiatriques, vol. 30, 1970, pp. 11 V\. See, since then, Y. Pelicier and G. Thuillier, (i) "Pour une hisloire de l'education des enlants idiots en France, 1830 1 9 1 V Revue historique, vol. 261, no. 1, January 1979, pp. 99 130, and (ii) Edouard Seguin (1812-1880). Vinstiluleur des idiots (Paris: Ed. Economica, 1980); A. Brauner, ed. Acles du colloque international: Cent ans apres Edouard Seguin (Saint Mande: Groupement du recherches pratiques pour I'enfance, 1981);
J. G. G. Martin, "Une biographie franchise d'Onesime Edouard Seguin ( 2 0 January 1812-- 28 October 1880), premier therapeute des enfants arrieres, d'apres ses ecrits et les documents historiques," Medical Thesis, Paris Saint Anloine, 1981, no. 137l.
26. E.
Seguin, Traitemenl moral, hygiene et education des idiots, p. 72: "It has been said that I conlused idiot children with merely backward or retarded children; and it has been said precisely because I was the first to point out the extreme dillerence separating them. "
27. Ibid. : "The retarded child is not halted in himself, except he develops more slowly than children his age . . . "
28. Ibid. p. 26: "No, idiocy is not an illness. "
29. Ibid. p. 107.
30. At the beginning ol the nineteenth century asylums took in, and sometimes mixed
together, both adults and a child population ol "idiots," "imbeciles," and "epileptics," who were poorly distinguished medically until I87|0 and even alter. Thus in 1852, at Bicetre, the third section ol the quarters housing the insane included epileptic adults and children, and some idiots. See D. M. Bourneville, Assistance, Traitemenl et Education des enfants idiots et degeneres, p. 7j. For an inventory ol the places, see, H. J. B. Davenne, Rapport. . . sur le service des alienes du department de la Seine.
31. Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (1771 1838), was trained as a surgeon and was appointed on 31 December 1800 as resident doctor ol the National Institution lor the deal and dumb, directed by the abbot Sicard. There, with the help of the governess Madame Guerm, lor more than lour years he undertook the "moral treatment" ol a twelve year-old child, cap tured in 1799 in the forests ol Lacaume ( Aveyron). See,J. M. G. Itard, (i ) De ^education d'un homme sauvage, ou des premiers developpemenh physiques et moraux du jeunc sauvage de I'Aveyron (Paris: Goujon, 1801); (ii) Rapport fait a S. E. le Minis/re de Vlnterieur sur les nombreux developpemenls el Petal actuel du sauvage de /'Aveyron (Paris: Imprimene impenale, 1807); republished by D. M. Bourneville under the title: Rapports el memoires sur le sauvage de IAveyron, Vidiolie et la surdi-mulite, vol. II (Paris: Alcan, 1817|); reprinted in L. Malson, Les Enjants sauvage, mylhe el realite, followed by, J. Itard, Memoire et Rapport sur Victor d'Aveyron (Paris: Union generale d'edition, 1967i); English translation in Lucien Malson and Jean Itard, Wolf Children, trans. L. Malson, and The Wild Boy of Aveyron (London: NLB, 1972).
32. In 1822, with Jean Pierre Falret, Felix Voisin (1797I 1872), a student of Esquirol attracted by the problems ol treating idiot children, founded a clinic at Vanves (see, Etablissement pour le traitemenl des alienes des deux sexes,Jonde en juillet 1822 a Vanves |Pans: A. Belin, 1828J). In 1833, the Conseil generale des Hospices entrusted him with the organization of a ser vice for idiots and epileptics at the Hospice des Incurables on the rue de Sevres. In 1837I he created an "orlhophrenic establishment" at V\ avenue de Vaugirard at Issy les Moulineaux, lor idiot children. In 1836, the residents ol this establishment, along with those of the Hospice, were translerred to Bicetre, where Voisin arrived in 187|0. The only document on this establishment comes from Charles Chretien Marc (1771-1840), "Rapport a M. le Conseiller d'Etat, Prefet de police, sur 1'etablissement orthophrenique de M. Felix
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PSYCHIATRIC POWER
Voisin," Le Motu'teur, 24 October 1834, and reprinted as an appendix to F. Voisin, De l'idiotie checks enfants, et les aulres particularities d'intelligence ou de caractere qui necessitenl pour eux une instruction et une education speciales de leur responsabilite moral (Paris: J. B. Bailliere, 1843) pp. 87 91. See also, F. Voisin, Applications de la p/iysiologie du cerveau a I'etudc des enfants qui nccissilent une education speciale (Pans: Everat, 1830), and Apercu sur les regies de ^education et de I'instruction des idiots et des arrieres (Paris: Doin, 1882).
33. Jean Pierre Falret was appointed doctor lor the section lor idiots at Salpetriere on 30 March 1831 and brought together "eighty idiots and imbeciles in a common school" which he directed until his appointment in 1841 as director ol a section for insane adults.
It was in fact in 1828, two years after his appointment in 1826 as head doctor at Bicetre, that Guillaume Ferrus organized "a sort ol school" lor idiot children. See F. Voisin, "De l'idiotie," Report read to the Academy of medicine on 24 January 1843, rcpublished by D. M. Bourneville in Recueil de memoires, vol. I, p. 268. He begins his clinical teaching there in 1833: "De l'idiotie ou idiotisme (Cours sur les malades mentales)," Gazette des hopitaux civils ou militaires, vol. XII, 1838, pp. 327-397.
34.
35. 36.
37.
38. 39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
At the instigation of Ferrus, then Inspecteur general des Hospices, Edouard Seguin was asked in November 1842 to direct the center lor idiot and epileptic children in Felix Voisin's department, transferred Irom the Hospice des Incurables. See above note 25.
On 27 November 1873, the General Council ol the Seine decided to appropriate the farm ol the Vaucluse asylum to be used as a colony for young idiots. It opened on 5 August 1876. See, D. M. Bourneville, Recueil de memoires, ch. 4: "L'assistance des enfants idiots et epilep ticjucs a Paris et dans la Seine: 1. Colonie de Vaucluse" pp. 62 65.
Begun in 1882, the special section for idiot and epileptic children only opened in 1892. See, D. M. Bourneville, ibid. ch. 4: "Section des enfants idiots et epileptiques de Bicetre" pp. 69 78,andHistoiredelasectiondesenjantsdeBicetre,I&79-1&99(Paris:Lecrosnierand Babe, 1889).
In 1894, the population ol children hospitalized at Salpetriere numbered 135, ol which 35 were idiots and 71 epileptic idiots. See, D. M. Bournevill, Recueil, pp. 67 69.
In 1888, a wing of the division lor women in the Villejuil asylum was allocated for the hospitalization and treatment ol retarded, idiot or epileptic girls Irom Salpetriere and Saint Anne, under the direction of Doctor Briand. In 1894, 75 idiots and epileptics are hospitalized there.
The circular ol 14 August 1840 states: "the Minister ol the Interior, having decided that the law ol 1838 was applicable to idiots and imbeciles, children could no longer reside in any establishment other than an insane asylum. As a consequence ol this, the Conseil general des Hospices translerred to the Bicetre asylum those who were in other establishments" H. J. B. Davenne, Rapport. . . sur le service des alienes du departement de la Seine, p. 62.
This is the law of 28 June 1833 on elementary education. See, M. Gontard, L'Enseigncment primaire en France de la Revolution a la loi Gui\ot. Des petites ecoles de la monarchic d'Ancien Regime aux ecoles primaires de la monarchic hourgeoise, doctoral thesis, Lyon, 1955 (Lyon: Audin, 1959).
In the context of the creation ol special classes lor retarded children, in 1891 Bourneville asked the delegation to the canton from the 51'1 arrondissement of Paris to establish statis- tics lor retarded children. The first screening took place in 1894 in the public schools of the
5th and 6th arrondissements. See, D. M. Bourneville, "Note a la Commission de surveillance des asiles d'alienes de la Seine," 2 May 1896, and Creation de classes speciales pour les enfants arrieres (Paris: Alcan, 1898).
In 1892, Philippe Rey, chiel doctor of the Saint Pierre asylum of Marseille and Conseiller general ol the Vaucluse, with a view to the creation of an "interdepartmental asylum for taking in and treating retarded or abnormal children," undertook their census with the help ol a questionnaire sent to primary school teachers ol the Bouches-du Rhone and Vaucluse departements. See, D. M. Bourneville, Assistance, Traitement el Education, op. cit, p. 45 and pp. 197-198.
44. As was said by Jean Denys Marie Cochin (1789 1841), founder in 1828, with the mar- chioness of Pastoret, ol the "salles d'asile,K. "their effect is to procure, free or at little expense, considerable facilities lor the well-being ol the population, by reducing the burden of each household and increasing the resources of the heads of the family, both in
? connection with the Ireedom to work, and by allowing a reduction in the number of persons involved in the supervision ol the children" Manuel des fondateurs et des directeurs des
premieres koles de 1'eri/arice connues sous le nom de "suites d'asile" (1833), -I1'1 edition, with a notice by Austin Cochin (Paris: Hachette, 1853) p. 32. They were recognized by an edict
of 28 March 1831. Subsequent to the law of 28 June 1833 on primary instruction, an edict
of 22 December 1837 defined their status in its first article: "The salles d'asile, or schools of
the first age, are charitable establishments to which children of both sexes may be admit
ted, up to the age ol six full years, in order to receive the care and attention ol maternal supervision and primary education that I heir age calls for" ibid. p. 231. See, Laurent Cerise (1807 1869), Le Medecin de sal/e d'asile, ou Manuel d'hygiene et d'education physique de I'enfanc (Paris: Hachette, 1836); A. Cochin, Notice sur la vie de J. D. M. Cochin, et sur I'origine et les progres des salles d'asile (Pans: Duverger, 1852); and H. J. B. Davenne, De ^organisation et du regime des secours publics en France, vol. I, pp. 76-82.
l5. W. Fernald, The History of the Treatment of Feeble Mind (Boston, Mass. : 1893), quoted by D. M. Bourneviile in Assistance, Traitement et Education, p. V|3.
16. J. B. Parchappe de Vinay, Principes a suivre dans la fondation et la construction des asiles d'alienes, (Paris: Masson, 1853) p. 6.
7l7. E. Seguin, Traitement moral, hygiene et education des idiots, p. 665. See, I. Kraft, "Edward Seguin and 19 century moral treatment of idiots," Bulletin of the History of Medicine, vol. 35, no. 5, 1961, pp. 393 '1I8.
'|8. E. Seguin, Traitement moral, p. 665. 'i9. Ibid. p. 66-1.
50. Ibid. p. 666.
51. Ibid. p. 662.
52. Ibid. p. 656.
5 3. Ibid. p. 659. Vi. Ibid. p. 366.
55.