Children Above 180 IQ Stanford-Binet: Origin and Development
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Title: Children Above 180 IQ Stanford-Binet: Origin and Development
Author: Leta Stetter Hollingworth
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILDREN ABOVE 180 IQ STANFORD-BINET: ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT ***
Title: Children Above 180 IQ Stanford-Binet: Origin and Development
Author: Leta S. Hollingworth
Original publisher: World Book Company
Copyright 1942.
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CHILDREN ABOVE 180 IQ STANFORD-BINET: ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT
FOREWORD
Shortly after the year 1924 Leta S. Hollingworth prepared a
manuscript on "Children above 180 IQ (Stanford-Binet)" in which
she surveyed the material on the topic available up to that date
and added accounts of five cases which she had studied individually.
[1] As the years went by she held back the manuscript from
publication and one by one she found seven more cases to be
included in her list. At the time of her death in 1939 she had
begun to revise this manuscript, bringing the survey up to date
and adding the new cases. The present book gives as much of this
revision from her own hand as is available. The Preface and
Chapters 1, 2, and 3 are as she wrote them. The accounts of the
first five cases are given just as she originally wrote them
up, but to them "editorial supplements" have been added in which
an endeavor has been made to present for each case such data as
have been found in her files, with little in the way of discussion
or interpretation.
The seven new cases which the original author had intended to
include in the manuscript she had not yet written up. For these,
therefore, it has been necessary to study the data she had
accumulated for each child, to secure additional data when and
where possible, and to present such an account of each as she
might herself have written, patterned after her reports of the
earlier cases.
Much is lost that would have been contributed had the author lived
to complete her project. She knew these cases intimately and at
first hand. Some of them she had followed for as long as twenty
years, taking a personal interest in the individual children and
their problems, advising them, assisting them, continuously
observing them, and frequently testing and measuring them.
Particularly inadequate must be the accounts of the later
development of the individuals herein described, for many of the
details well known to the author she not committed to paper, since
she fully expected to complete the manuscript herself. It is to be
regretted that a follow-up study of these recent developments
could not have been undertaken, and a hope is expressed that this
may yet be done.
The chapters summarizing the group of twelve new cases are wholly
without Leta S. Hollingworth's touch. It seemed desirable, however,
to give such a summary as could be made under the circumstances.
Had the original author been able to complete her book, we know
that penetrating light would have been thrown on many of the more
personal difficulties of these children of rare intelligence. This
experience and insight can no longer be recovered. It must suffice
to put on record chiefly the factual data now available, leaving
it for future workers to follow up, if it should seem desirable,
the subsequent career and destiny of the individuals whose early
development and background are herein reported. Identification of
these children is not made in this book, but the necessary facts
for this purpose are on file and identification can be made at any
time in the interests of educational research.
The third section of this book as originally outlined by Leta S.
Hollingworth was to have dealt with general principles and with
the social and educational implications of the study of children
of very high intelligence. Up to the time of her death nothing
of this character had been written by her explicitly, but throughout
the years in which her projected book was developing she wrote a
number of papers and reports bearing on the subject, and these
were published from time to time in technical journals. It is well
known that the content of these papers was dictated by her study of
such cases as are herein reported, by her familiarity with the
reports of other students in this field, and by her own very
concrete and long experience in the organization and conduct
of two experimental projects in the schools of New York City.
It is, in fact, likely that the final chapters she had in mind
for this book would have been a reorganization of the conclusions
set forth in these articles.
Consequently, the last five chapters of this book, instead of being
an attempt to guess at what the author might have said in them, are
all from her own hand. They are either selections from or complete
reproductions of papers she had published on what she considered
to be the implications of her observations of children of rare
intelligence.
The publication of this book has been made possible by funds
granted by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. That Corporation
is not, however, the author, owner, publisher, or proprietor of
this publication, and it is not to be understood as approving by
virtue of its grants any of the statements or views expressed
herein.
Harry L. Hollingworth
Barnard College
Columbia University, New York
[1] Chapter 9 of _Gifted Children_, published in 1926, bears the
title "Children Who Test above 180 IQ (Stanford-Binet)." Some of
the cases described more fully in the monograph manuscript are
also sketched in that chapter.
CONTENTS
PREFACE
PART I: ORIENTATION
1. THE CONCEPT OF INTELLECTUAL GENIUS
Concepts of the Ancients, Dictionary Definitions, Concepts of
Genius, Miscellaneous Observations Tending to Define Characteristics
of Genius, Speculation and Comment Concerning Genius
2. EARLY SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF EMINENT ADULTS
Origin of Eminent Adults, Yoder's Study, Terman's Inferences
from Biography
3. PUBLISHED REPORTS ON TESTED CHILDREN
Modern Approach to the Study of Ability, Binet's Method, The Range
of Intellect above 180 IQ, Children Observed before the Era of
Binet, Children Who Test above 180 IQ by Binet-Simon Tests, Children
Who Test above 180 IQ by Stanford-Binet Tests, Generalizations
PART II: TWELVE CASES NEW TO LITERATURE CONCERNING TESTED CHILDREN
4. CHILD A
Family Background, Preschool History, School History, Judgments
of Teachers, Mental Measurements, Traits of Character, Physical
Measurements and Health, Miscellaneous Characteristics
5. CHILD B
Family Background, Preschool History, School History, Traits of
Character, Judgments of Teachers, Mental Measurements, Physical
Measurements, Miscellaneous Characteristics
6. CHILD C
Family Background, Preschool History, School History, Traits of
Character, Mental Measurements, Physical Measurements, Later
School History
7. CHILD D
Family Background, Preschool History, Traits of Character, Mental
Measurements, Physical Measurements and Health, Miscellaneous
Characteristics, School History
8. CHILD E
Family Background, Early History, School Achievement, Mental
Measurements, Social Habits, Tastes, etc., Later Mental Measurements,
Later Physical Measurements, Later Scholastic Records, Extracurricular
Activities, Teachers' Comments, Summary up to 1921, Eventual
Scholastic Records, Researches of E, Summary of Development
9. CHILD F
Family Background, Preschool History, Early School History, Early
Test Scores, Home Rating, Miscellaneous Characteristics, Later
Educational Career
10. CHILD G
Family Background, Educational History, Early Mental Tests,
Later Test Records, Traits of Character, Physical Measurements,
High School Record, G's Brother's Record
11. CHILD H
Family Background, Preschool History, Mental Measurements, Physical
Measurements, Intellectual Ability
12. CHILD I
Family Background, Preschool History, Early Educational History,
Mental Measurements, Physical Measurements and Health, Miscellaneous
Characteristics
13. CHILD J
Family Background, Childhood Characteristics, Later Mental Tests
14. CHILD K
Family Background, Early Development, Mental Measurements, Physical
Measurements, Later Educational Progress
15. CHILD L
Family Background, Early History, Achievement at Speyer School,
High School Record to Date of Writing, Later Tests and Inventories
16. SUMMARIES OF HEREDITIES AND EARLY BEHAVIOR
Family History and Background, Physical and Behavioral Development
17. SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT AND CREATIVE ACTIVITY
Scholastic Achievement and Educational Adjustment, Creative Work,
General Statement
PART III: GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND IMPLICATIONS.
18. ADULT STATUS AND PERSONALITY RATINGS.
Adult Status of Highly Intelligent Children, Critique of the
Concept of "Genius" as Applied in Terms of IQ, Application of
Bernreuter Inventory of Personality to Highly Intelligent Adolescents
19. THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY IN HIGHLY INTELLIGENT CHILDREN
General Considerations, The Part Played by Physique, Problem
of Leadership, Problems of Adjustment to Occupation, Learning
to "Suffer Fools Gladly", The Tendency to Become Isolated, The
Concept of "Optimum Intelligence", Conclusion
20. THE CHILD OF VERY SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE AS A SPECIAL PROBLEM
IN SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT
The Quality of Gifted Children, The Problem of Work, The Problem
of Adjustment to Classmates, The Problem of Play, Special Problems
of the Gifted Girl, Problems of Conformity, The Problems of Origin
and of Destiny, General Considerations
21. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLING OF VERY BRIGHT CHILDREN
Considerations in Planning the Curriculum, Enrichment Units at
Speyer School, Special Work, Emotional Education, Matters of
General Policy
22. PROBLEMS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY
SCHOOLS IN THE CASE OF HIGHLY INTELLIGENT PUPILS
The Elementary School, Transition from Elementary to Secondary
School, Consideration of the Questions Arising, What about Genius?
PREFACE
This study is founded upon the work of Francis Galton, on the one
hand, and of Albert Binet, on the other. It goes back to Galton's
_Hereditary Genius_, read as a prescribed reference in the courses
of Professor Edward L. Thorndike, in 1912; and to the publication
in 1916 of Professor Lewis M. Terman's _Stanford Revision of the
Binet-Simon Scale for Measuring Intelligence_. It comprises
observations, measurements, and conversations covering a period of
twenty-three years, during which acquaintanceships and friendships,
every one of them delightful, have been formed and maintained
with the twelve individuals who form the basis of the study.
It was in November, 1916, shortly after taking appointment as
instructor in educational psychology at Teachers College, Columbia
University, that I saw for the first time a child testing above
180 IQ (S-B). I was teaching a course in the psychology of mentally
deficient children, and it seemed to me that my class should if
possible observe under test conditions one bright child for the
sake of contrast. Accordingly, I asked whether any teacher present
could nominate a very intelligent pupil for demonstration.
Miss Charlotte G. Garrison and Miss Agnes Burke, teachers in the
Horace Mann School, Teachers College, New York City, thereupon
nominated the child who is called E in this monograph. E was
presented at the next meeting of the class. It required two
full classroom periods to test this child to the limits of the
Stanford-Binet Scale, which had just then been published. E
exhausted the scale without being fully measured by it, achieving
an IQ of _at least_ 187. He was on that date 8 years 4 months old.
This IQ of at least 187 placed E in Galton's Class X of able
persons; i.e., more than six "grades" removed from mediocrity.
Taking 1 PE#dis# as one "grade," it placed him _at least_ plus 11
PE from the norm; for 1 PE (Probable Error) equals 8 IQ, according
to Terman's original distribution of 905 school children. [1]
This appeared as sufficiently striking to warrant permanent
recording, since it would rate E as one in a million for statistical
frequency, assuming "zeal and power of working" to be also
abundantly present.
I did not at that time have any expert knowledge of highly
intelligent children. I had been working for some years in the
hospitals of New York City with persons presented for commitment
to reformatories, prisons, and institutions for mental defectives.
I had tested thousands of incompetent persons, a majority of them
children, with Goddard's Revision of the Binet-Simon Scale,
scarcely ever finding anyone with an IQ rating as high as 100. This
thoroughgoing experience of the negative aspects of intelligence
rendered the performance of E even more impressive to me than it
would otherwise have been. I perceived the clear and flawless
working of his mind against a contrasting background of thousands
of dull and foolish minds. It was an unforgettable observation.
I then began to look for children like E, to observe them with
reference to the principles of education. This search has been
conducted in a desultory manner, in "odd" moments, ever since 1916.
At times, as in 1922-1923 and in 1935-1936, when pupils were being
sought for special classes at Public School 165, Manhattan, or at
Public School 500, Manhattan, the search has been systematic.
Usually, however, the quest has been quite otherwise, for in the
course of long searching I have learned that it is nearly useless
to _look_ for these children, because so few of them exist. In
twenty-three years' seeking in New York City and the local
metropolitan area, the densest center of population in this country
and at the same time a great intellectual center attracting able
persons, I have found only twelve children who test at or above
180 IQ (S-B). This number represents the winnowing from thousands
of children tested, hundreds of them brought for the testing
because of their mental gifts. Of course there were and are
others who have not been found, since [this] search has never
been exhaustive.
The most interesting part of this research is yet to come, in the
form of a record of the mature performances of these gifted persons
observed in childhood. However, I propose to make a report now of
origin and development; to be followed, if I live so long, by
further reports of adult status. Such researches require more than
the life span of one investigator, since time is of the essence
of the task. Universities should make provision for institutional
prosecution of these long-time studies as distinguished from
individual prosecution. In any case, I shall try to leave the
records to some younger student who will comprehend them, and
who will amplify them if I prove unable to do so myself.
Galton, in his efforts to understand ability, was limited to
the study of the eminent adult, dead and gone. The only test
he could use was that of reputation, for at the time he was at
work on the problem, mental measurement had not yet been developed
as a technique. He wished for a more valid method of gauging
ability, and he fully realized that it would be of greater
advantage to study "the living individual." "Is reputation a fair
test of natural ability?" he asked. "It is the only one I can
employ . . . am I justified in using it? How much of a man's
success is due to his opportunities, and how much to his natural
power of intellect?"
Galton's work was finished before Binet's studies made it possible
to measure natural ability apart from reputation; and what is most
essential of all, to measure _natural ability in childhood_. It
was Binet's great and original service that he rendered it possible
to determine accurately the permanent intellectual caliber of an
undeveloped human being. It has always been possible to appraise
the ability of people forty or fifty years old, after they have
met "the tests of life," but for the pursuit of education and
social science it is not very practically useful to know what a
person is like only at the end of his life. It is essential,
rather, to know with a high degree of precision and certainty the
mental endowment of persons at the beginning of their lives if
anything is to be done in the matter of special training for
special children.
The facts derived from the study of the twelve exceptional persons
herein described, and from the study of others like them, and
the principles deduced from these facts, are of that order of
importance for social science which Galton ascribed to them.
Nevertheless, to hear of the tremendous differences between the
dullest and the most intelligent individual, between the average
man and the person who falls more than +10 PE away from him in
mental ability, is extremely tedious to the typical American
listener. This is only too well known to one who has long tried
to interest foundations and moneyed persons in the education of
gifted children. There is an apparent preference among donors for
studying the needs and supporting the welfare of the weak, the
vicious, and the incompetent, and a negative disregard of the
highly intelligent, leaving them to "shift for themselves."
Perhaps a wider dissemination of facts such as have been adduced
in the studies of Professor Lewis M. Terman and other educators,
and in this study, may eventually bring about a more constructive
point of view, one more conducive to a recognition of national
welfare involved in educational plans for the unusual student.
It is desirable in this introduction to make known some of the
etiquette and ethics involved in the scientific study of very
gifted children. This is a new area in the field of human
relationships and the investigator who works within it comes
rather frequently upon certain questions of good manners which
do not arise in any other field of psychological research.
For instance, persons who test above 180 IQ (S-B) are almost sure
to read and recognize in books and articles whatever has been
written about them, no matter how anonymously they may have been
described. This is true of them even as children. When the book
_Gifted Children_ was published, in 1926, Child A, who is described
therein as well as in these pages, was thirteen years old. He read
the book within two weeks of publication; for, as he said in
mentioning the matter to the author, "I go every week to the
Public Library and look first at the shelf of new books." The
problem always in the foreground is how to present the whole
truth about such matters as family history, social-economic
status, and character, without invading the privacy of those
described and without identifying them to the general public
or to curious persons.
Those who test above 180 IQ (S-B) are characterized by a strong
desire for personal privacy. They seldom volunteer information
about themselves. They do not like to have attention called to
their families and homes. They are reluctant to impart information
concerning their plans, hopes, convictions, and so forth. The
question arises, then, how to avoid presumption; for it is by no
means easy for a young person politely to evade an older person
who can lay claim to having known one "all one's life."
Thus, in this study, in order to preserve the privacy of those
concerned, some items have been omitted from the histories which
would have been of interest to students of child psychology.
Let it be understood at once, however, that the omissions include
nothing discreditable to any of the twelve individuals studied;
rather, many of these items are highly creditable. There have been
acts of moral courage, acts of skill, and acts of self-sustaining
heterodoxy that if told at all should be told only by those who
performed the actions. Perhaps autobiographies may some day be
written by these persons, telling whatever they may wish to tell.
In the matter of the attitude of people in general toward gifted
children, there are, of course, a majority who are kindly and
understanding and helpful, but it is a melancholy fact that there
are also malicious and jealous people who are likely to persecute
those who are formally identified as being unusual. It may prove
a handicap rather than a help to a gifted youngster to have been
identified in book or article or school as extraordinary. Some of
the children herein described have suffered considerably from the
malice of ill-mannered persons, even their instructors, who have
felt the impulse to "take them down a peg." Specific instances of
such persecution can be cited from public prints, and reference
will be made to them in the course of this monograph.
It would be of interest to present a photograph of each child
herein observed, to show how in personal appearance they are
diametrically opposite to the popular stereotype of the highly
intelligent child; but photographs would tend to identification.
These questions of what is right and what is wrong, what is
permissible and what is forbidden, in reporting the origin
and development of the gifted cannot be fully determined here.
The policies pursued in this study have been discussed from time
to time with gifted children and their parents, and I have been
guided by their advice. Everything has been presented that is
consistent both with scientific interest and with the preservation
of personal privacy. The work as it stands has taken hundreds
of hours of the time of these children and of their parents
and teachers, over a period of twenty years. They are all very
busy people, yet they have given time and energy for tests,
measurements, and interviews as requested. It is obvious that
without this coöperation no study could have been made.
Leta S. Hollingworth
Teachers College
Columbia University
New York City
[1] EDITORIAL NOTE. The larger and better sampling of subjects
tested for the 1937 Stanford Revision showed a wider variability
than the 1916 group and indicates that the true PE of the IQ
distribution of unselected children is in the neighborhood
of 11 IQ points, according to Terman.
[2] All such records have been deposited in the psychological
laboratory of Barnard College, Columbia University.
PART I
ORIENTATION
CHAPTER ONE
THE CONCEPT OF INTELLECTUAL GENIUS
It would be an ambitious project to find and discuss all the
definitions of genius that have ever been offered in writing.
To do this is beyond our present purpose, which is, rather, to
illustrate the various concepts that have been formulated and to
take guidance from them in the consideration of children of great
ability. It will perhaps be many years before it will be apparent
whether the children studied herein are geniuses or not. Perhaps
this can never be determined, as the word "genius" may eventually
be found to have no meaning that can be agreed upon. All we know
about the status of the subjects of the present study is that
they test above 180 IQ (S-B) and are thus more than +10 PE removed
from mediocrity in general intelligence. [1] It may be possible
to arrive at some comparison between their characteristics and
performances on the one hand, and the concepts of genius that have
been offered on the other.
CONCEPTS OF THE ANCIENTS
The concept of the genius is very ancient. Ovid (12), [2] referring
to Caesar and his preparations to complete the conquest of the
world, notes the manner in which a genius acts in advance of his
years:
Though he himself is but a boy, he wages a war unsuited
to his boyish years. Oh, ye of little faith, vex not your souls
about the age of the gods! Genius divine outpaces time, and
brooks not the tedium of tardy growth. Hercules was still
no more than a child when he crushed the serpent in his baby
hands. Even in the cradle, he proved himself a worthy son
of Jove.
The Greeks called that person's "daemon" which directed and
inspired his creative work. Dictionaries refer to the Roman
concept of genius as "a spirit presiding over the destiny of a
person or a place; a familiar spirit or a tutelary." The genie
was one of the powerful nature demons of Arabian and Mohammedan
lore, believed to interfere in human affairs and to be sometimes
subject to magic control.
Thinkers in any and every field, no matter how remote from that of
psychology, have confidently discussed the nature of genius.
Philosophers, poets, litterateurs, physicians, physiologists,
psychiatrists, anthropometrists, lexicographars, encyclopedists--
all have offered definitions, each according to his light. It has
been deemed a subject on which anyone might legitimately express
an opinion. The result is, as might be expected, an interesting
miscellany of contradictions.
DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS
By derivation the word "genius" means to beget or to bring forth,
coming from _genere_, _gignere_. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary--from
which Galton took his point of departure in choosing the word
"genius" for the title of his work on ability--defines a genius as
"A man endowed with superior faculties."
Funk and Wagnall's Dictionary offers the following definition:
"Very extraordinary gifts or native powers, especially as displayed
in original creation, discovery, expression, or achievement."
Webster's New International Dictionary defines "genius" as
"Extraordinary mental superiority; esp. unusual power of invention
or origination of any kind; as, a man of _genius_."
The Dictionary of Psychology defines "genius" in part in terms of
IQ, but at the same time denies the word any special meaning as
a recognized scientific term: "Genius--a very superior mental
ability, especially a superior power of invention or origination
of any kind, or of execution of some special form, such as music,
painting, or mathematics. . . . It has no special technical
meaning, but has occasionally been defined as equivalent to an
intelligence quotient (IQ) of 140 or above."
Generally speaking, then, dictionaries define genius as a superior
or superlative degree of intellectual capacity, and avoid claiming
it for any concept of an added, different, or abnormal element in
human faculty.
CONCEPTS OF GENIUS
_As a manifestation of abnormal psychology_. A number of thinkers
in fields allied to psychology have laid emphasis upon a supposed
connection between genius and nervous instability or insanity.
This idea is embodied in the statement by Pascal: "L'extrême
esprit est voisin de l'extrême folie." Lamartine refers to "la
maladie mentale qu'on appelle génie." Lombroso (10) is perhaps
the most widely quoted among those who have held or who hold
this point of view.
_As constituting a different species_. The idea has been expressed
by thinkers other than professed psychologists--and at times
by psychologists themselves--that men of genius are a separate
species, partaking of qualities not shared in any degree by
persons at large. This concept is at one with that which would
regard the idiot and the imbecile as distinct in kind, not in
degree only, from the mass of mankind. Genius would thus be not
merely more of the same but a different sort altogether. Thus
Hirsch (7) specifically declares:
The genius differs in _kind_ from the species, man. Genius
can be defined only in terms of its own unique mental and
temperamental processes, traits, qualities, and products. Genius
is another psychobiological species, differing as much from man,
in his mental and temperamental processes, as man differs from
the ape.
_As a hypertrophied and highly specialized aptitude for specific
performance_. The thought has been advanced that intellectual
genius is a matter of specialization; that the mind of a genius
will not, typically, work on all data with superior results,
but that it is adapted only or primarily to certain kinds of
intellectual performance. In other words, the genius is thought
to lack general ability. A recent statement by Carrel (2) seems
to express in part at least this theory:
There is also a class of men who, although disharmonious
as the criminal and the insane, are indispensable to modern
society. They are the men of genius. They are characterized
by a monstrous growth of some of their psychological
activities. A great artist, a great scientist, a great
philosopher, is rarely a great man. He is generally a man of
common type, with one side over-developed.
_As a combination of traits_. Galton (6) thought of genius as that
which qualifies a person for eminence, and he believed that
achieved eminence must be founded on a combination of no less than
three essentials. He wrote:
By natural ability I mean those qualities of intellect and
disposition which urge and qualify a man to perform acts that
lead to reputation. I do not mean capacity without zeal, nor
zeal without capacity, nor even a combination of both of them,
without an adequate power of doing a great deal of very
laborious work. But I mean a nature which, when left to
itself, will, urged by an inherent stimulus, climb the path that
leads to eminence, and has strength to reach the summit . . .
one which, if hindered or thwarted, will fret and strive until
the hindrance is overcome, and it is again free to follow its
labour-loving instinct. It is almost a contradiction in terms
to doubt that such men will generally become eminent.
Again, Galton says:
We have seen that a union of three separate qualities--intellect,
zeal, and power of work--are necessary to raise men from
the ranks.
Lehman (9) has recently expressed this same idea, as a result of a
statistical study of the most productive years of intellectual
workers:
Indeed, it is doubtful that genius is solely the fruit of any
single trait. It is the belief of the writer that the fruits of
genius are, on the contrary, a function of numerous integers,
including both the personal traits of the individual worker,
environmental conditions that are not too hostile, and the
fortunate combination of both personal traits and external
conditions.
_As quantitative_. Galton (6) was the first to place the study of
genius on the basis of quantitative statement, so that comparisons
might be made and vertifications be effected. Galton formulated
the theory that genius (great natural ability) is nothing more
nor less than a very extreme degree in the distribution of a
combination of traits--"intellect, zeal, and power of working"--
which is shared by all in various "grades" or degrees. Reasoning
thus, Galton applied for the first time in human thought the
mathematical concepts of probablity to the definition of genius.
Quetelet (13), drawing objects from congeries of known composition,
had elaborated the form which the probabilities take of drawing
a given combination. This form, with the law of deviation from
the average governing it, is now, of course, a commonplace in
psychological laboratories, so that it is hard to realize that
when Galton made the mental leap from this curve to the abilities
of men, no one had ever thought of human minds as "fitting" the
curve drawn by Quetelet. Such a "fit" had already been thought
of in connection with measurements of physique, and had been
demonstrated for measurements of the shrimp (16) and for physical
traits of persons. But that "natural ability" should be susceptible
to the probability curve and "the curious theoretical law of
deviation from an average" as length is among shrimps, or as
circumference of the chest is among Scottish soldiers (as shown
by Quetelet), was not conceived. With the modern methods of mental
measurement it is easy enough to perceive the truth of this. But
Galton was working in the dark, entirely without instruments
of precision; and his table of frequency "for the classification
of men according to their natural gifts" must be regarded as one
of the most prescient statements in the history of social science.
Working with the tables devised by Quetelet, Galton proposed the
tabular "classification of men according to their natural gifts"
shown [below].
CLASSIFICATION OF MEN ACCORDING TO THEIR NATURAL GIFTS
GRADES OF NATURAL NUMBERS OF MEN COMPRISED IN THE SEVERAL GRADES OF NATURAL ABILITY, WHETHER IN RESPECT
ABILITY, SEPARATED TO THEIR GENERAL POWERS OR TO SPECIAL APTITUDES
BY EQUAL INTERVALS
Below Above Proportionate; In Each Million In Total Male Population of the United Kingdom, Say
Average Average viz., One in of the Same Age 15 Millions, of the Undermentioned Ages
20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80
_a_ A 4 256,791 651,000 495,000 391,000 268,000 171,000 77,000
_b_ B 6 161,279 409,000 312,000 246,000 168,000 107,000 48,000
_c_ C 16 63,563 161,000 123,000 97,000 66,000 42,000 19,000
_d_ D 64 15,696 39,800 30,300 23,900 16,400 10,400 4,700
_e_ E 413 2,423 6,100 4,700 3,700 2,520 1,600 729
_f_ F 4,300 233 590 450 355 243 155 70
_g_ G 79,000 14 35 27 21 15 9 4
_x_
All grades All grades
below _g_ above G 1,000,000 1 3 2 2 2 0 0
Interpreting this theoretical tabulation, Galton (6) wrote:
It will be seen that more than half of each million is contained
in the two mediocre classes _a_ and A; the four mediocre
classes _a_, _b_, A, B, contain more than four fifths, and the six
mediocre classes more than nineteen twentieths of the entire
population. Thus, the rarity of commanding ability and the
vast abundance of mediocrity is no accident, but follows of
necessity from the very nature of these things.
On decscending the scale, we find by the time we have
reached _f_ that we are already among the idiots and imbeciles.
We have seen that there are 400 idiots and imbeciles to any
million of persons living in this country; but that 30 per cent
of their number appear to be light cases, to whom the name of
idiot is inappropriate. There will remain 280 true idiots and
imbeciles to every million of our population. This ratio coincides
very closely with the requirements of class _f_. No doubt
a certain proportion of them are idiots owing to some fortuitous
cause . . . but the proportion of accidental idiots cannot
be very large.
Hence we arrive at the undeniable but unexpected conclusion
that eminently gifted men are raised as much above
mediocrity as idiots are depressed below it; a fact that is calculated
to enlarge considerably our ideas of the enormous difference
of intellectual gifts between man and man.
MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS TENDING TO
DEFINE CHARACTERISTICS OF GENIUS
In addition to the formulation of the rather definite concepts
of genius which have been discussed, there are to be
found in the literature of this topic a large number of general
observations ascribing certain characteristics to persons of
genius. There are also many remarks as to the conditions
of living, of education, of genetics, and so forth, which are
alleged to foster or to hinder the development of genius.
Many of these observations and remarks emanate from others
than professed psychologists, some of the most interesting
coming from litterateurs and philosophers.
One of the most penetrating discussions of genius by a litterateur
is that of Shaw (15) in his Preface to _Saint Joan_. Shaw regards
Saint Joan as a young genius, and in introducing his readers
to this point of view he says:
Let us be clear about the meaning of the terms. A genius
is a person who, seeing farther and probing deeper than other
people, has a different set of ethical values from theirs, and has
energy enough to give effect to this extra vision and its valuations
in whatever manner best suits his or her specific talents.
Here is brought out the tendency to heterodoxy which
characterizes genius and is the source of much of its difficulty.
Shaw dwells upon these difficulties in saying:
But it is not so easy for mental giants who neither hate nor
intend to injure their fellows to realize that nevertheless their
fellows hate mental giants and would like to destroy them, not
only enviously because the juxtaposition of a superior wounds
their vanity, but quite honestly because it frightens them. Fear
will drive men to any extreme; and the fear inspired by a
superior being is a mystery which cannot be reasoned away.
Being immeasurable it is unbearable when there is no presumption
or guarantee of its benevolence and moral responsibility;
in other words, when it has official status.
This is the same trend of thought which Mill (11) follows in his
_Essay on Liberty_, noting the originality that characterizes
genius and the troubles that result from it, and insisting upon
freedom for genius in the interests of the general welfare.
It would not be denied by anybody that originality is a
valuable element in human affairs. There is always need of
persons not only to discover new truths, and point out when
what were once truths are true no longer, but also to commence
new practices, and set the example of more enlightened
conduct, and better taste and sense in human life. . . . It is
true that this benefit is not capable of being rendered by
everybody alike; there are but few persons in comparison with
the whole of mankind, whose experiments, if adopted by others,
would be likely to be any improvement on established practice.
But these few are the salt of the earth; without them, human
life would become a stagnant pool. . . . Persons of genius,
it is true, are and are always likely to be, a small minority;
but in order to have them, it is necessary to preserve the
soil in which they grow. Genius can only breathe freely in an
atmosphere of freedom. Persons of genius are, _ex vi termini_,
more individual than any other people . . . less capable,
consequently, of fitting themselves, without hurtful
compression, into any of the small number of moulds which
society provides in order to save its members the trouble of
forming their own character. If from timidity they consent to
be forced into one of these moulds, and to let that part of
themselves which cannot expand under the pressure remain
unexpanded, society will be little better for their genius. If
they are of strong character, and break their fetters, they
become a mark for the society which has not succeeded in
reducing them to common-place, to point with solemn warning as
"wild," "erratic," and the like; much as if one should complain
of the Niagara River for not flowing smoothly between its
banks like a Dutch canal.
Mill says further:
I insist thus emphatically on the importance of genius, and
the necessity of allowing it to unfold itself freely both in
thought and in practice, being well aware that no one will deny
the position in theory, but knowing also that almost everyone,
in reality, is totally indifferent to it.
Mill, indeed, had much to say about the conditions under which
the exceptional individual contributes to social change and
progress, which bears immediately upon the education of highly
exceptional children.
Bearing further upon the persecution to which genius is
often subject as a penalty for nonconformity, Havelock Ellis
(5) after studying a large number of British men of genius
says:
It is practically impossible to estimate the amount of
persecution to which this group of preëminent persons has been
subjected, for it has shown itself in innumerable forms, and
varies between a mere passive refusal to have anything to do
with them or their work and the active infliction of physical
torture and death. There is, however, at least one form of
persecution, very definite in character, which it is easy to
estimate, since the national biographers have probably in few
cases passed over it. I refer to imprisonment. I find that at
least 160, or over 16 per cent, of our 975 eminent men were
imprisoned, once or oftener, for periods of varying length,
while many others only escaped imprisonment by voluntary exile.
This is a conclusion reached by one investigating the condition
of genius among what are probably the most liberal
people in the world--the British, a nation of protestants.
Another condition of genius frequently alleged is that of
personal isolation. Shaw makes Saint Joan say, "I was always
alone." Schopenhauer (14) says: "It is often the case
that a great mind prefers soliloquy to the dialogue he may
have in the world." Hirsch (7) dwells at some length upon
isolation:
The genius is constantly forced to solitude, for he early
learns from experience that his kind can expect no reciprocation
of their generous feelings. . . . Solitude can best be
defined as the state in which friends are lacking or absent,
rather than as the opposite of sociability. . . . Solitude is
but a refuge of genius, not its goal. Time after time one
detects, from the lives or writings of genius, that solitude is
not its destiny but only a retreat; not the normal fruition of
its being, but an empty harbor sheltering it from the tortures,
griefs, and calumnies of the world. . . . It is a grievous error
to credit the genius with an innate inclination to shun men. But
in his youth he learns by experience that solitude is preferable
to suffocation, stupefaction, or surrender.
Alger (1) sees isolation as a necessary corollary of the
insistence upon perfection and accuracy which characterizes
genius:
A passion for perfection will make its subject solitary as
nothing else can. At every step he leaves a group behind.
And when, at last, he reaches the goal, alas, where are his
early comrades?
These references to the _early_ experience of the genius in
meeting the uncordial response of the world as constituted,
with its resultant tendency to isolation, connect themselves
with an account found in the Apocryphal New Testament, in
a portion called the Hebrew Gospels.
And Joseph, seeing that the child was vigorous in mind and
body, again resolved that he should not remain ignorant of the
letters, and took him away, and handed him over to another
teacher. And the teacher said to Joseph: I shall teach him the
Greek letters, and then Hebrew. He wrote out the alphabet
and began to teaching him in an imperious tone, saying: Say
Alpha. And he gave him his attention for a long time and
he made no answer, but was silent. And he said to him: If
thou art really a teacher, tell me the power of the Alpha and I
will tell thee the power of the Beta. And the teacher was
enraged at this, and struck him.
SPECULATION AND COMMENT CONCERNING GENIUS
The _ecology of genius_ has evoked speculation and comment.
Thus Churchill (3) says:
Mountain regions discourage the budding of genius because
they are areas of isolation, confinement, remote from the great
currents of men and ieas that move along river valleys. They
are regions of much labor and little leisure, of poverty today
and anxiety for the morrow, of toil-cramped hands and
toil-dulled brains. In the fertile alluvial plains are wealth,
leisure, contact with many minds, large urban centers where
commodities and ideas are exchanged.
The _origins of genius_ have also engaged the attention of
speculative thinkers. For instance, Dixon (4) and also
Hirsch (7) offer the hypothesis that racial mixture is an
antecedent of genius. Kretschmer (8) would by inference
subscribe to this theory, since he holds that genetically genius
results from the union of unlike elements, to which he refers
as "bastardization":
The investigation of the family history of highly talented
individuals demonstrates very clearly the effect of biological
"bastardization," and shows why it may lead to the production
of genius. . . . It results in a complicated psychological
structure, in which the components of two strongly opposing
germs remain in polar tension throughout life. . . . This
polar tension acts as an effective and dynamic factor and
produces in the genius the labile equlibrium, the effective
super-pressure, that continuous, restless impulsiveness, which
carries him far beyond placid, traditional practice and the
simple satisfaction of life. On the other hand, in regard to his
intellectual abilities, the polar tension creates in the genius
his wide mental horizon, the diverse and complicated wealth of
his talent, the all-embracing personality.
Kretschmer also allies himself with those who hold the
concept of genius as closely related to insanity, quoting
selected cases in proof:
"Bastardization" produces internal contrasts and conflicts,
affects tensions, highly strung and uncompensated passions,
and a spiritual lability. It consequently creates a
predisposition to genius . . . but also [[points]] to
psycho-pathological complications. Thus the research on
"bastardization" becomes closely interwoven with the old,
familiar questions, leading us back to the problem: "Genius
and Insanity."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. ALGER, WILLIAM. _The Genius of Solitude_, page 144.
2. CARREL, ALEXIS. _Man the Unknown_. See pages 140-141. Harper
& Brothers, New York; 1935.
3. CHURCHILL, ELLEN SEMPLE. _The Influence of Geographic Environment
on the Basis of Ratzel's System of Anthropogeography_. Houghton
Mifflin Company, Boston; 1909.
4. DIXON, ROLAND B. _The Racial History of Man_. Charles Scribner's
Sons, New York; 1923.
5. ELLIS, HAVELOCK. _A Study of British Genius_. Constable, London;
1927.
6. GALTON, FRANCIS. _Hereditary Genius_. The Macmillan Company,
London; 1914.
7. HIRSCH, N. D. M. _Genius and Creative Intelligence_. Sci-Art
Publisher, Cambridge, Massachusetts; 1931.
8. KRETSCHMER, E. _The Psychology of Men of Genius_. Translated
by R. B. Cattell. Harcourt, Brace & Co., Inc., New York; 1931.
9. LEHMAN, HARVEY C. "The Creative Years in Science and Literature."
_Scientific Monthly_ (August, 1936).
10. LOMBROSO, C. _The Man of Genius_. Scott, London; 1891.
11. MILL, JOHN STUART. _Essay on Liberty_. See page 76 ff. The
Macmillan Company, New York; 1926 Ed.
12. OVIDIUS NASO, PUBLIUS. _Ars Amatoria_ (_The Love Books of
Ovid_). Translated by J. Lewis May. Privately printed for the
Rarity Press, New York; 1930.
13. QUETELET, M. _Letters on Probability_. Translated by Downes.
Layton & Co., London; 1849.
14. SCHOPENHAUER, ARTHUR. "Essay on Genius," in _The Art of
Literature_, Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer. Willey Book Company,
New York.
15. SHAW, GEORGE BERNARD. _Saint Joan_. Dodd, Mead, & Co., Inc.,
New York; 1924, 1936.
16. WELDON, W. F. R. "Certain Correlated Variations in Crangdon
Vulgaris," _Proceedings_ of The Royal Society, Vol. 51, page 2
(1892).
[1] See endnote [1] in Preface.
[2] Numbers in parentheses refer to correspondingly numbered
references in the Bibliography at the end of each chapter.
CHAPTER TWO
EARLY SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF EMINENT ADULTS [1]
Because, strictly speaking, the present study is limited in its
interest and data to childhood, no attempt will be made to review
in detail the somewhat numerous studies of exceptional adults.
ORIGIN OF EMINENT ADULTS
Such studies as those undertaken by Galton (11, 12), De Candolle (9),
Ellis (10), Odin (17), and Cattell (4, 5) show that those who, as
adults, become eminent in intellectual work, are in disproportionately
great numbers the children of the "upper" (nobler or professional)
classes; and that they are usually born either in cities or
on large country estates (in France, in the chateaux). Very few
eminent adults have originated in the families of laborers, and
relatively few have been born in agricultural districts, in countries
long settled. Beyond these facts of origin, the investigators
of eminence in adults have not given much information about their
subjects of inquiry in respect to childhood.
YODER'S STUDY
We shall begin our detailed reference to previous observations
with Yoder's study, published in 1898. Yoder (25) made a systematic
attempt to gather data about the boyhood of very eminent men.
He thus tracked down certain facts about fifty great persons
concerning whom he could find data bearing on their childhood.
From these he was able to make the following generalizations:
1. The child who will become a great man may be born at any time,
over a very wide range of the productive period in the lives of
parents. The mothers of the fifty great persons studied ranged
in age from 18 to 44 years, when the great man was born, with
a median of 29.8 years. The fathers ranged in age from 23 to
60 years, with a median of 37.7 years.
2. The average number of siblings of these persons was 5+, not
including half brothers and sisters.
3. In families of more than one child, there was found to be a
strong tendency (chances of nearly 2 to 1) for the great man
to be in the elder half of the siblings.
4. Of those listed, 17 were only sons, either by order of birth
or by death of other sons born. (This is not to say that they
were only children.)
5. There was found no evidence that the great were sickly or
physically weak in childhood, to a more marked extent than average.
6. There appeared a tendency to great height among them than among
persons in general, "though the tendency is not very marked."
7. Play interests were keen among these children, though the play
was often of an unusual kind. "Solitary play" is repeatedly
described. Of Emerson, his biographer says: "I don't think he ever
engaged in boys' plays, not because of any physical disability,
but simply because from earliest years he dwelt in a higher
sphere." Others are said to have been "disinclined to general
intercourse." Instead of joining in the usual childish games,
Newton preferred to play with his machines, Darwin with his
collections, Shelley to read, Stevenson to make clay engines,
and Edison to mix his chemicals. Of Byron it was written: "The
love of solitude and of meditation is already traceable in the
child. He loves to wander at night among the dark and solitary
cloisters of the abbey." To quote Yoder: "Solitude seems to have
played a rather striking role in the lives of these great men.
Either by nature or by opportunity, they have stayed a great
deal alone."
Nevertheless, many of the fifty persons studied by Yoder enjoyed
physical activity. Washington loved outdoor sports, Schiller was
a leader in athletics, Byron was an enthusiastic swimmer and rider,
and Lincoln was the champion wrestler and woodcutter of his
neighborhood.
8. The popular idea that great men owe their success to their
mothers' influence upon their education does not receive verification
from a study of these cases. The mother's place seems very often
to have been filled by some other person, frequently an aunt,
either because the mother had died, or because there were many
other children to care for. "The role of the aunt stands out
prominently."
9. These great persons were, in the decided majority of cases,
derived from well-to-do families. Most of them were privately
educated, by tutors or in private schools. Very few were "self
made."
TERMAN'S INFERENCES FROM BIOGRAPHY
Terman (20) has effected an interesting advance over Yoder's
method, in the interpretation of evidence from the biography of
adults. [2] By analyzing data in the biography of Francis Galton,
and by relating these data to modern knowledge of mental tests,
Terman derives that the IQ of Francis Galton in childhood must
have been not far from 200.
As Terman has elsewhere pointed out, these attempts to study genius
in childhood by inference from the biography of adults are very
unsatisfactory. In the first place, only those whose potentialities
have been realized are included in such study. Since factors other
than innate intellectual power act also as determinants of
eminence, we cannot be sure whether equal capacity for selective
thinking may have existed in persons who died before the age of
achievement, who were younger sons, who were girls, or who were the
children of the poor. Moreover, such evidence as can be gleaned
concerning those who have achieved eminence is comparatively
unsystematic and unreliable as regards childhood.
Most clearly related to our present study are the previously
reported observations of children made directly, during childhood,
by trained investigators. The modern development of mental tests
has now enabled psychologists to identify young children who
deviate from average in the direction of superiority as regards
selective thinking, and to follow their development for some
years. Eventually, therefore, it will be known how to recognize
those children who can become "great," and whether extreme
deviation in mental tests is a basis of prophecy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. BINET, A. _Psychologie des grandes calculateurs et joieurs
d'échecs. Hachette, Paris; 1894.
2. BRIMHALL, D. "Family Resemblances among American Men of
Science," _American Naturalist_, Vol. 56 (1922) and Vol. 57 (1923).
3. CASTLE, C. S. "Statistical Study of Eminent Women." _Archives
of Psychology_, Vol. IV, No. 27 (1913).
4. CATTELL, J. McK. "A Statistical Study of Eminent Men." _Popular
Science Monthly_ (1903).
5. ------ "Families of American Men of Science." _Popular Science
Monthly_, Vol. 86, pages 504-515 (1915).
6. CLARK, E. L. _American Men of Letters: Their Nature and
Nurture_. Columbia University Press, New York; 1916.
7. COX, C. M. _The Early Mental Traits of Three Hundred Geniuses_.
Genetic Studies of Genius: Vol. 2. Stanford University Press,
Stanford University, California; 1926.
8. DAVIES, G. R. "A Statistical Study of the Influence of the
Environment." _Quarterly Journal of the University of North
Dakota_ (1914).
9. DE CANDOLLE, A. _Histoire des Sciences et des Savants depuis
Deux Siècles_. Geneva, Switzerland; 1873.
10. ELLIS, HAVELOCK. _A Study of British Genius_. Hirst and
Blackett, London; 1904.
11. GALTON, FRANCIS. _English Men of Science_. The Macmillan
Company, London; 1874.
12. ------ _Hereditary Genius_. The Macmillan Company, New York,
1914. (Original edition, London; 1869.)
13. LEHMAN, HARVEY C. "The Creative Years in Science and Literature."
_Scientific Monthly_, Vol. XLIII, pages 151-162 (1936).
14. LOMBROSO, C. _The Man of Genius_. Scott, London; 1895.
15. MIDDLETON, W. C. "The Propensity of Genius to Solitude."
_Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology_, Vol. 30, pages
325-332 (1935).
16. MITCHELL, F. D. "Mathematical Prodigies." _American Journal of
Psychology_, Vol. 18, pages 61-143 (1907).
17. ODIN, A. _Genèse des Grands Hommes des Lettres Français
Modernes_. Paris et Lausanne; 1895.
18. RASKIN, E. "Comparison of Scientific and Literary Ability:
A Biographical Study of Eminent Scientists and Men of Letters
of the Nineteenth Century." _Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology_, Vol. 31, pages 20-35 (1935).
19. SCHUSTER, E. "The Promise of Youth and the Performance of
Manhood." _Eugenics Laboratory Memoirs_, Vol. 3, pages 16 ff.
London; 1907.
20. TERMAN, LEWIS M. "The IQ of Francis Galton in Childhood."
_American Journal of Psychology_, Vol. 28, pages 209-215 (1917).
21. VISHER, S. S. "A Study of the Type of Place of Birth and
of the Occupation of Father of Subjects of Sketches in _Who's Who
in America_." _American Journal of Sociology_, 1925.
22. ------ "The Comparative Rank of the American States." _American
Journal of Sociology_, Vol. 36, pages 735-757 (March, 1931).
23. WHITE, R. K. "Note on the Psycho-pathology of Genius." _Journal
of Social Psychology_, Vol. 1, pages 311-315 (1930).
24. ------ "The Versatility of Genius." _Journal of Social
Psychology_, Vol. 2, pages 460-489 (1931).
25. YODER, G. E. "A Study of the Boyhood of Great Men." _Pedagogical
Seminary_, Vol. 3, pages 134-156 (1894).
[1] EDITORIAL NOTE. No revision of this chapter has been found
among the author's papers. In the earlier manuscript reporting
but five cases, there was a brief section entitled "Inferences
from the Study of Adults," and in the incompletely revised
manuscript a list of references is given for this chapter which
had not yet been written. The earlier sections and the revised
bibliography are, therefore, all that is available for this
chapter. The bibliography will be sufficient to guide any reader
who may be further interested in the details of the scientific
study of adults.
[2] EDITORIAL NOTE. Had these pages been written at a later date,
or revised by the author, of course the more recent work of C. M.
Cox (7), inspired by Terman, would have been considered.
CHAPTER THREE
PUBLISHED REPORTS ON TESTED CHILDREN
Galton and those who built directly upon his pioneer thought about
ability were limited to the study of those who had passed the tests
of life itself, the study of the old and the dead, upon whom
developing theories and processes of education have no bearing.
Today one of the principal reasons for obtaining knowledge
concerning able persons is that they and others like them may be
properly educated for the social functions which they alone can
perform. Inferences from study of eminent adults are, therefore, of
negligible importance compared to the identification and education
of today's gifted children.
MODERN APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF ABILITY
In 1905 Binet and Simon (3), announcing their scale for the
measurement of intelligence in children, rendered it possible
to know at the beginning of a human being's existence where--within
narrow limits of error--he or she, in comparison with all others,
grades in caliber of general intelligence. This work, relating
itself to work done also by others--notably Spearman (21) and
Thorndike (28, 30)--created a new epoch in the study of ability
and inaugurated the so-called modern, or present-day, approach
to the subject.
BINET'S METHOD
No extended discussion of what "general intelligence" is will be
undertaken in these pages, as it would not be germane to the
purposes of this monograph. It will be sufficient to refer to the
concept which Binet had in mind in standardizing his scale (4): "It
seems to us that there is a fundamental faculty, the alteration or
the lack of which is of the utmost importance for practical life."
It is this "fundamental faculty" which Binet named "judgment" that
is the variable upon which rests the extreme position of the
children who are to be studied herein.
The quantitative methods which make possible the study of the
status of these children when they have reached adulthood are those
developed in recent years by Thorndike (30) and his students. As
the children identified years ago by Binet's method grew to
adulthood, there were developed in the various laboratories of
Columbia University methods of measuring the intelligence of
superior adults, based on the fundamental principles which are the
same for mental measurement at all periods of development. Methods
have thus been made available for making quantitative statements
of the status of these individuals both during development and
at maturity.
THE RANGE OF INTELLECT ABOVE 180 IQ
It is pertinent to inquire what are the limits of variation
in terms of standard use in respect to human intelligence. How
far superior to the average person are the most highly intelligent
individuals currently produced? Galton's (9) X grade of man was
defined in terms of incidence as "one in a million." But this X
man was not a product of one variable. Galton's X man resulted from
an intellect _in combination_ with "zeal and power of working." The
incidence of this _combination_ of traits would probably be less
than the incidence of intellect alone in degree sufficient for X.
Our purpose in this chapter will be to consider investigations,
made by direct methods, of the origin and development of children
of a type extremely rare in occurrence, incidence being based on
one variable only; i.e., intelligence measured in terms of IQ
(S-B). For this purpose the line might be drawn at any point
farther than +7 PE or +8 PE from the mean. A choice of 180 IQ
(S-B) as a minimum insures a degree of plus deviation very rarely
found even in
metropolitan cities and their suburbs, as is clear from the
reports of mental surveys conducted during the present century.
The choice of 180 IQ (S-B), instead of 179 or 181 or some other
amount of IQ in the extreme upper range, is obviously arbitrary
and is adopted merely for the purpose of defining a point at and
above which there are very few children who score.
_Frequency of occurrence_. Just how often does a child testing
above 180 IQ (S-B) appear in the juvenile population of the United
States? We cannot tell exactly until we know more about the spread
of the distribution of IQ (S-B). In terms of PE (1 PE = ±8 IQ),
according to Terman's original findings (24) we should come upon
a deviate of +10 PE only once in more than a million times,
provided the distribution of IQ corresponds exactly or even
rather closely to Quetelet's (17) curve of probability as respects
spread; for on this curve cases above or below ±5 PE approach
zero in frequency.
It is certain, however, even from existing data, that the
distribution of IQ extends for at least ±10 PE (even assuming that
wider data will define 1 PE as ±10 instead of ±8 as found by
Terman. It is probable that children who test above 180 IQ are
actually present in our juvenile population in greater frequency
than at the rate of one in a million. This does not mean that
intellect when finally measured _in true units_ may not conform
in variability to the mathematics of chance; it means only _in
terms of IQ_ (in terms of ratio and not of absolute units) the
conformity is probably not exact, as respects the law of deviation.
There may be one, or two, or three, or more children among every
million born in the United States under present conditions who
test at or above 180 IQ (S-B). In any case, however, they are
extremely rare, and the study of their origin and development is
of correspondingly great interest. In the course of discovering
about 1000 children testing at or above 140 IQ (S-B) in the state
of California, Terman (26) found 15 who tested at or above 180
IQ (S-B). Children who test at and above 140 IQ (S-B) are as 1 in
250 of children in large California cities and environs. Thus 140
IQ (S-B) defines a frequency of about 4 in 1000 of urban juvenile
population in California. About 1.5 per cent, therefore, of those
children who are as 4 in 1000 reach the status of which we are
here treating; i.e., 180 IQ (S-B). [1] Nor can we take the children
of California urban districts as a true sample of the population
of the United States at large, since there is reason to believe
that among urban children there is an uncommon proportion of
intelligent individuals (8). Also it should be conceded that
California has a total population that is above the average of
the United States in general as regards mental ability (37). In
any case, it may be guessed with some degree of approximation
to fact how very few there are among American children who test
at or above 180 IQ (S-B).
CHILDREN OBSERVED BEFORE THE ERA OF BINET
Scattered observations of children estimated by more or less
competent persons as very unusual are to be found dating from
quite early years. In this period the literature of child psychology
was still in the state of narrative. The earliest of these
narrations bears the date of 1726 (1) and concerns the child
Heineken.
_Christian Heinrich Heineken_. Born February 6, 1721, the "Little
Heineken," of Lübeck, was the son of an artist. When the child was
10 months old, his elders first noticed that he was looking with
sustained attention at the figures wrought in gold on a grotesque
that decorated the walls of his room and that were also on a white
stove that stood therein.
Den 3 Dezember 1721 bemerkte man zuerst, dass das kind diese
Figuren hin und her, eine Zeitlang ohne Unterlass ansah und seine
Äugelchen auf eine derselben gleichsam anklebte. Man sagte ihm
daher die Namen dieser Figuren, das sei eine Katze, das ein
Turm, ein Schäfchen, ein Berg. Den andern Tag, den 4 Dezember,
fragte man es wieder, wo die Katze, der Berg, das Schäfchen wäre
und siehe da, das Kind deutete mit seinen kleinen Fingerchen
hin und traf immer das rechte Bild, das man ihm genannt hatte.
Noch mehr, nun gab es sich Mühe, die ihm vorgesagten Wörter:
Katze, Berg, Turm selbst nachzusprechen: es sah daher mit
unverwandten Blicken dem Redendend nach dem Munde, gab auf
die Bewegung der Lippen und der Zunge desselben beständig acht,
lallte das Wort nach und wiederholte dies so oft, bis es
endlich eine Silbe nach der andern herauspresste. [a]
By the time this child was 14 months old he had learned all the
stories in the New Testament. At this age he was still not weaned
from the breast of his nurse, and had an antipathy to other foods.
In order to get him accustomed to other forms of food, the family
took him to sit with them at meals, but instead of eating "he did
nothing but learn." When he saw the various appurtenances he asked
persistently how the dishes were named, where they came from, what
else could be made from the things, and did not rest until he
had discussed every piece of information.
In this mode of life the child remained always happy and in good
humor. He was lovable. Only when at times he was refused answers
to his questions, because it was feared that he might be injured
by too many remembrances, the child was "sorely grieved." The
extent of his learning in the fourth year of life was as follows:
Es konnte gedruckte und geschriebene Sachen lateinisch und
deutsch lesen.
Schreiben konnte es noch nicht, seine Fingerchen waren zu
schwach dazu.
Das Einmaleins konnte es in und ausser der Ordnung hersagen.
Auch numerieren, subtrahieren, addieren und multiplizieren
vermochte es.
In Französischen kam es soweit, dass es ganze Historien in
dieser Sprache erzählen konnte.
In Latein lernte es über 1500 gute Sprüche aus lateinischen
Autoren.
Plattdeutsch hatte das Kind von seiner Amme, von der es nicht
lassen wollte, gelernt.
In der Geographie fuhr es fort, das Merkwürdigste eines jeden
auf der Landkarte steheneden Ortes zu fassen. [b]
On a journey across the sea to Copenhagen, undertaken for the boy's
health, a storm arose and the passengers were badly frightened,
all but the child, who said, smiling "Qui nescit orare, discate
navigare." When subsequently the ship came safely to anchor, he
remarked, "Anchora navis sistitur; deserit ille suos nunquam, qui
cuncta gubernat."
When the boy was brought before the Danish king, he said of the
diamond order that the king gave him to hold, "C'est l'Ordre
d'Elephant, garni de diamant." And gazing at the diamonds, he
added, "Les bijoux sont precieux, mais la vie du Roi est plus
precieuse."
The "little Heineken" died at the age of 4 years 4 months, in
accordance with the popular superstition that early death awaits
the highly intelligent child, "a wonder for all time."
_Karl Witte_. The father of Karl Witte (35) has furnished a
somewhat elaborate account of his son's development, from which
we learn that the young Karl could read fluently before his fourth
birthday. He learned to write soon thereafter. At the age of
7 years 10 months a public demonstration of his ability to read
was given, covering Italian, French, Greek, and Latin. He passed
tests of preparedness to matriculate at the University of Leipsic
[Leipzig] when he was 9 years old. In the field of mathematics
he pursued analytical geometry at 11 and calculus at 12 years
of age. At 14 he achieved the degree of Doctor of Philosophy,
and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws at 16. At 23 he
became full professor of jurisprudence at the University of
Breslau. He was then called to Halle, and continued there for
the remainder of his life, teaching and writing. At the age of 83,
still vigorously engaged in mental tasks, he died, thus outliving
the melancholy promise of early death which had often been
prophesied to his father.
Pastor Witte, who directed his son's education, did not claim for
him extraordinary intelligence. "Any man normally well endowed
can become a great man if properly educated," he wrote (35). His
special method of educating the boy seems to have been simply to
afford him companionship. He describes the child as strong,
healthy, and playful, without vanity or conceit. From the total
record one must conclude that Karl Witte's intelligence quotient
in childhood was in excess of 180, comparing his history with
those studied in this monograph. His performances in childhood
compare favorably with those of the children we have known with
IQ (S-B) in the range above 185.
_Otto Pöhler_. IN 1910 Berkhan (2) recorded the performance of Otto
Pöhler, "the early reading child of Braunschweig," the son of a
master butcher (erstes und einziges Kind der Sclachtermeisters),
born August 20, 1892. This child learned to walk and talk and his
teeth erupted "at the right time." At the age of 1 year 3 months,
when his grandmother led him forth on short neighborhood walks,
she would read to him from signs on the streets. And at this
period she wrote for him his name, "Otto." Soon he could recognize
the word "Otto," when he saw it in the newspaper. Then the
grandmother explained to him the alphabet, and read him single
words. When Otto was taken to Dr. Berkhan, he was 1 year 9 months
old, and he could read incidental matter, such as "April 27,"
written in Latin across the calendar in Dr. Berkhan's office.
Otto Pöhler, geborn den 20 August 1892 zu Braunschweig,
erstes und einziges Kind des Schlachtermeisters, bekam zu
rechter zeit Zähne und lernte zu rechter Zeit laufen und
sprechen. Als er 5/4 Jahre alt war, führte ihn die Grossmutter
vor die Tür und in die nächsten Strassen und nannte ihm dabei
die Namen, welche auf den Haus- und Strassenschildern standen,
auch hatten ihm Angehörigen mehrfach seinen Vornamen Otto
aufgeschrieben. Als das Kind nun eine Zeitung in die Hände
bekam, zeigte es den mehrfach in derselben gedruckten Namen
Otto. Von da ab erklärte ihm die Grossmutter die Buchstaben
und las ihm einzelne Worte vor; dabei ergab sich, dass das
Kind ein ungeheures Gedächtnis für Buchstaben, Worte, und
Zahlen hatte.
Als mir der kleine Otto zugeführt wurde, war er wie ich
vorhin anführte 1 3/4 Jahre alt. Er tat sehr vertraut, kletterte
sofort mehrfach auf meine Kniee, zeigte sich überhaupt sehr
beweglich und unruhig. Als er einen neben dem Schreibtisch
hängenden Wandkalender erblickte, las er unaufgefordert laut
die auf demselben lateinisch gross gedruckte Anzeige: April 27
= "April zwei sieben. . . ."
Im Oktober, 1894, stellte ich den jungen Otto im Alter von
2 Jahren und 2 Monaten dem ärztlichen Landesverein vor. Als
derselbe nach Beendigung meines über ihn gehaltenen Vortrags
in den Sitzungssaal geführt wurde, zog einer der Ärzte den
Börnerschen Medizinal-Kalender hervor mit der Aufforderung,
die lateinische Aufschrift zu lesen. Er las fliessend: "Re--ichs
Medizinal-Kalender. Begründet von Dĕr Pa--ul Börnēr. Eins acht
neun vier." [c]
When Otto was 4 years old, Stumpf reported concerning him in the
_Vossiche Zeitung_, of January 10, 1897, describing him as "not
strongly yet not poorly developed, physically." The back of the
skull was said to be conspicuous; the face, delicate; and the eyes,
"wise and alive, taking on a remarkably concentrated expression
in thinking." The general impression was that made by a merry,
unspoiled youngster, seeing the world. His great passion was still
for reading, and the most important things in the world to him were
history, biography, and geography.
Er ist körperlich nicht stark, aber auch nicht schlecht
entwickelt. Auf den ersten Blick fällt der lange Schädel und der
starke Hinterkopf auf. In dem zierlichen Gesicht fesseln kluge,
lebhafte Augen, die beim Nachsinnen einen merkwürdig ernsten
konzentrierten Ausdruck annehmen. . . . Im ganzen macht er
keineswegs den Eindruck eines ungesunden, abgematteten, sondern
eines noch ganz frisch und lustig in die Welt schauenden
Jungen. . . .
Seine grösste Leidenschaft ist noch immer das Lesen, und
das Wichtigste in der Welt sind ihm historische, biographische
und geographische Daten. Er kennt die Geburts- und Todesjahre
vieler deutscher Kaiser, auch vieler Feldherren, Dichter,
Philosophen, zumeist sogar auch Geburtstag und Geburtsort;
ferner die Hauptstädte der meisten Staaten, die Flüsse, an
denen sie liegen u. dergl. Er weiss Bescheid vom Anfang und
Ende des dreissigjährigen und des siebenjährigen Krieges, von
den Hauptschlachten dieser und anderer Kriege. Das alles hat
er sich nach Aussage der Mutter ohne fremdes Zutun durch das
emsige Studium eines "patriotischen Kalenders" und ähnlicher im
Hause vorfindlicher Literatur, auch durch Entzifferung von
Denkmalsinschriften in den Städten (wofür er besondere
Leidenschaft hat) angeeignet. Als ihm auf zwei verschiedenen
Blättern nacheinander 2 zwölfstellige Zahlen gezeigt wurden,
die sich nur durch eine der mittleren Ziffern unterschieden,
las er sie sogleich als Milliarden und konnte dann, ohne die
Blätter wieder anzusehen, mit Sicherheit angeben, worin der
Unterschied lag. [d]
Stumpf further said:
. . . Dr. Placzek u.a. die den Knaben früher beobachteten,
den bestimmten Eindruck gewannen eines besonders geweckten,
rasch und scharf denkenden und zugleich eines gutartigen,
durchaus liebenswürdigen Kindes. An den Eltern und zumal
an der Mutter hängt er mit der grössten Zärtlichkeit. [e]
When Berkhan saw Pöhler in July, 1907, the boy was an _Obersekundaner_
in a gymnasium [f]. In April, 1909, aged 16 years 8 months, he
appeared as an intelligent, wonderfully retentive, cultured young
man, who oriented himself easily and who, although favored over
and above his contemporaries, had kept a modest and lovable nature.
Jetzt, fast 17 Jahre alt, ist er ein intelligenter, mit einem
bewunderungswerten Gedächtnis ausgestatteter, kenntnisreicher,
sich auffallend leicht orientierender junger Mann, der, obgleich
in seiner Weise vor der Mitwelt bevorzugt, sich ein bescheidenes,
liebenswürdiges Wesen bewahrt hat. [g]
Pöhler's plan, when seen on this final occasion, April, 1909,
was to go at Easter, 1910, to the university, to become a student
of German history.
_Other cases_. General discussions of mental gifts in children
which bear interestingly upon the subject here under discussion
but fail to present any specific instances of individuals who
exemplify extreme status, are those by Dolbear (7) and by Hartlaub
(12), and the lectures given in 1930 before the Hungarian Society
for Child Research and Practical Psychology (31). Among the cases
cited by Waddle (33) there are none that belong to our study. In
the research of Cox (6), the following eminent persons were rated
as having been in childhood at or above 180 IQ (S-B): John Stuart
Mill, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Blaise
Pascal, Thomas Babington Macauly, and Hugo de Groot (Grotius). We
would, however, venture to guess, from what we have observed over
a long period of the work of persons who in childhood tested from
135 to 200 IQ (S-B), that a large number of the persons included
in Cox's study would have tested in childhood at or above 180 IQ
(S-B); and that the reasons why they failed of such rating as
studied by Cox were two: (1) the data of childhood requisite for
the valid rating were lacking; (2) the raters were not sufficiently
familiar with what is required in terms of IQ to make possible the
evaluation of those studies, because only a few children testing
so high could have been seen by any rater, and nothing was as yet
known of the performance of tested children at any stage of maturity.
Many of the persons studied by the methods of Cox were rated at
140, 150, 155 IQ (S-B), whose performances in early maturity were
far in excess of what can be expected of persons who represent
nothing better than what the upper quarter of American college
students can do (6). It is only when children test at least as
high as 170 IQ (S-B) that they render performance in early maturity
that suggests anything like the achievements of the persons studied
by Cox.
CHILDREN WHO TEST ABOVE 180 IQ BY BINET-SIMON TESTS
After the publication of the Binet-Simon tests (3), a few cases
of children testing very high by means of them were reported
in the literature which resulted from the tests before they
were revised by Terman (24). At that time, which was previous
to the appearance of the Stanford-Binet tests, the IQ was not used
in expressing mental status, but we are able to calculate what
this was from the data of Mental Age. These early cases, definitely
measured, are as follows:
_Bush's daughter, B_. In 1914 Bush (5) reported upon the mental
examination of his daughter, B, who at the age of 3 years 6 months
tested at 6 years by the Binet tests of 1911. Her IQ would thus
be proved at about 185, calculated from her father's detailed
record of responses. This report was rendered primarily to show
that the Binet tests were too easy, as no child could possibly
be really so advanced mentally as was B. "B's state is in no wise
extra-normal, or beyond what it should be. She represents the norm."
Additional data concerning B are that she "is of a happy disposition
. . . strong and well of body," and that her parents are both
teachers. This record clearly reveals a child of surpassing
intelligence, contrary to the father's belief that "she represents
the norm."
_Elizabeth, recorded by Langenbeck_. In 1915 Langenbeck (15)
contributed observations of a 5-year-old girl, Elizabeth, who
tested at a mental level of about 11 years by the Binet-Simon
tests of 1911, administered in the Psychological Laboratory at
John Hopkins University. This would yield an IQ of about 220
(assuming the tests of 1911 to be approximately comparable with
Stanford-Binet in power to distribute intellect).
Elizabeth is described as an only child. At 16 months she had a
speaking vocabulary of 229 words, some English and some German,
as she had a German nurse. At 5 years of age she had a speaking
vocabulary of 6837 words, which are inscribed in the record. The
observer writes of her as follows:
Her quickness of thought and readiness with an instant and
convincing answer were typified one dusty, blustering day
when we were out walking. A cloud of dust enveloped us, to
her great indignation, and being a very vehement character she
exclaimed, "I should like to kill the dust!" In answer to
my reproof, "Do not be so foolish. How can anyone kill the
dust?" she replied, "Very easily--pour a little water on it."
This was at the age of 4 years. . . . She is highly imaginative,
and lives largely in a dream world of her own creation.
Her games are nearly all pretense that she is someone else,
and that she is surrounded by companions, sometimes purely
fictitious, though often characters out of books that have been
read to her. . . . When being read to, she asks the meaning
of every unfamiliar word, and rarely forgets it, using it
thereafter in its proper place. . . . Many of her forebears
have been distinguished men and women, and on both sides her
family have been people of more than average capacity and
cultivation. . . . From an early age she has shown unusual
muscular coördination, using her fingers daintily and with
precision. From her eighth month she used a paper and pencil,
drawing recognizable figures. At 4 years she could illustrate
a little story composed by herself. . . . The source of much
of her knowledge is a mystery to her parents, and can only be
explained by her keen observation and retentive memory, as
well as by a power of comprehension much beyond her years.
However absorbed she may appear to be in her play, talking
vigorously to herself and to imaginary companions all the time,
she nevertheless hears everything that is said in her presence,
though months will often pass before she alludes to it. . . .
She taught herself her letters from street signs and books,
and could print them all before she was three, and during
the next few months would write letters of several pages,
of her own composition, having the words, of course, spelled for
her. . . . She has an accurate ear and could sing a tune
correctly before her second birthday, and dances in excellent
time. . . . Every new thought or impression is at once associated
with some previous idea. Hence, doubtless, her marvelous memory.
For example, in a country walk she noticed a typical Virginia
snake fence, having never seen one before. After a single
moment's hesitation she said, "You see that M or W fence?" . . .
At the age of five years she had coined twenty-three words--
e.g., _laten_, to make late; _neaten_, to make neat; _plak_,
to pretend; _up-jar_, pitcher.
_Rusk's case, from Scotland_. In 1917 Rusk (19) published an
account of a Scottish boy whose IQ, calculated from Rusk's detailed
record, was 166 on first test and about 200 on second test given
two and a half years later, the Binet-Simon tests of 1911 being
used. This child was the son of a widow in Dundee, who lived and
supported her two sons by letting rooms to lodgers. The young
brother of this boy was not judged to be remarkably intelligent,
but no test was given to substantiate this impression. Details
of family history are not recorded.
The boy was brought to attention at the age of 5 years by his
teachers, who noted particularly his aptitude for mathematics.
The mother was unaware of her son's extraordinary intelligence,
but she had noticed that he spent a considerable amount of time
on the floor, counting. He would count such objects as cigarette
coupons begged from lodgers. Also the mother observed that he
"had learned before going to school, or being taught to read, to
recognize certain words."
CHILDREN WHO TEST ABOVE 180 IQ BY STANFORD-BINET TESTS
_Beatrice_. Terman and Fenton (25) first described Beatrice in 1921
under her own name. In 1930 Terman (27) again described this child,
under the name of Beatrice (evidently being then convinced that
pseudonyms are to be preferred in designating children studied),
adding data about development.
The child's four grandparents were respectively of Swedish,
German-French, English, and Scottish descent. "The mother is
a woman of more than average intelligence, and of considerable
musical ability. The father's line of ancestry includes several
notables, among them a Lord Mayor of London. The father is
a physician, and the author of the _Ford Stitch_, favorably
mentioned in standard texts on surgery. Betty [Beatrice] has
no sisters or brothers."
Beatrice was born in San Francisco, January 21, 1912, and was first
tested six weeks before her eighth birthday, by Stanford-Binet,
yielding then a mental age of 14 years 10 months and an IQ of 188.
Her speaking vocabulary was at that time 13,000 words. A variety
of mental tests gave nearly the same composite result as that
achieved by Stanford-Binet. At the time of testing, the child
had never attended school but had been given a little private
instruction at home. Her scores on standard tests of scholastic
knowledge ranged, nevertheless, from fifth-grade norms (in the
four fundamental processes in arithmetic) to second year of college
(in tests of poetic appreciation). Her median score in eight
scholastic tests was about eighth grade (where the median birthday
age of pupils is about 14 years, and where pupils have been in
school on an average of eight years).
Ratings for traits of character and for physique gave this child
a score much above average in both respects. She weighed 11
pounds and 15 ounces at birth, and at the age of 8 years 2 months
corresponded to the standard for 9 years 6 months in weight
and for 10 years 6 months in stature. Her hand grip at this time
was equal to that of the average 10-year-old. She began to walk
at 7 months of age, which is the earliest age of walking recorded
for any of the children so far studied, including those who are
the special subjects of this monograph. At 19 months she talked
clearly and knew the alphabet; and at the age of 4 years 6 months
she was discovered reading _Heidi_, a book of about fourth-grade
degree of difficulty. Her parents did not know that she could
read, and they have no idea when or how she learned. By her eighth
birthday Beatrice had read approximately seven hundred books, many
of them twice. At that age it was one of her favorite pastimes
to write stories or poems and to illustrate them with original
drawings. Her health was said by her parents to be excellent. The
measurements given show her to be large and strong for her age.
Beatrice was not entered at school until she was 11 years old, but
studied at home under her mother's guidance. There was little
formal instruction--as a rule there was arithmetic, from ten
to twenty minutes daily. At 11 years of age Beatrice entered
the ninth grade of a private school for girls, which she attended
for two years. She entered the university when she was 14 years
8 months old, and graduated at 17. In college Beatrice earned
A and B grades in English and languages and C's in science. She
fell barely short of Phi Beta Kappa Election. Throughout her life
she has had few playmates and few intimate friends. Her desire
is for a literary career.
_Root's case, VIII A_. In 1921 Root (18) described a boy who at
the age of 8 years 0 months scored at a Mental Age of 16 years
0 months, with an IQ (S-B) of 200. Other tests agreed in placing
this boy near an average adult level in processes of thought. The
stature of the child at this time was 4 feet, and the weight 59
pounds.
The ancestry in the case is predominantly English. Father and
mother both graduated from high school. The father was a railroad
engineer. Two maternal aunts held prominent places in the public
schools. The family had "all comforts but few luxuries." "The aunt
who has guided the [[boy's]] education seems a rare combination;
her educational ideas are a happy union of radical, common sense,
and practical factors." "Nervous temperament" is judged by Root
to be characteristic of the family on the mother's side.
This boy was an only child. His mother stated that he had never been
ill, but it is to be considered that she was a Christian Scientist.
He was educated at home until he was 7 years 6 months old, learning
reading and arithmetical processes through multiplication. He had
read the _Young Folks' Cyclopaedia of Common Things_ "over and
over." His chief interests were at this time games and reading and,
to a lesser degree, animals and flowers.
The following is a letter from his aunt, describing his home
education:
At the age of three he learned his letters untaught by anyone
apparently, and was spelling words. It was felt that this
would interfere with his learning to read later on, so he was
taught to read by the phonic method. This was done with no
more time and personal attention than any first-grade teacher,
with ordinary numbers of pupils, could give to each one,
provided she were generously supplied with different books, and
not limited to one or two sets--state series or otherwise. A
few months after his fourth birthday he was reading with
independence and an almost perfect power to recognize new
words. His only noticed failures were such foreign words as
"Chevrolet" seen on billboards, and unusual words like "aisle,"
used without context, which he pronounced "alicie." His ease
in reading was, of course, made possible, or at least greatly
facilitated, by the fact that an effort had always been made to
use an extended vocabulary in talking to him. Even at two,
he would surprise acquaintances and strangers with expressions
which meant no greater effort to him than a child's baby-talk;
such as, "Oh, the spider has _attached_ his web to the board."
This ability to read opened a new world, for he read car-signs,
billboards, newspapers, magazines, and books. His books and
magazines were carefully selected. His access to newspapers,
especially the funny sheets, had the most questionable results.
But _The Child's Garden of Verses_ and others proved a veritable
dream world--as real as the everyday one. He once asked his
mother, "Does Robert Louis Stevenson know when I'm naughty?"
At another time he wrote a letter to some of the characters
in another book. At the age of six he read _Swiss Family
Robinson_ and _Champlin's Cyclopedia of Common Things_--the two
books which have been and still are his favorites. Other books
which he read before entering school at seven years were:
_Overall Boys_, _Brownie Book_, Kipling's _Just-So Stories_
(read over and over for two or three years), Swift's _Gulliver's
Travels_, Kingsley's _Heroes_, Aesop's _Fables_, Tolstoy's
_Stories for Children_, Grimm's _Fairy Tales_, _Arabian Nights_,
Barrie's _Peter Pan_ and _Peter and Wendy_.
He entered school at seven and a half years and was put in the
B1 (beginner's) class. In the two days he was kept there, he
developed a distinct aversion to school since nobody discovered
he could do anything and the class confinement and need for
sitting still (coupled with the fact that he did not find the
toilet for over a week) made school most disagreeable to him.
On the third day a member of the family intervened and the
teacher very reluctantly allowed him to enter the second grade.
She insisted that he could not do the work, as he did not know
his sounds. Of course he did "know his sounds," but perhaps he
refused to do such baby-work, although he never expressed his
unwillingness at home, and seemed quite afraid of displeasing
his teacher. In the second grade he was forced to sit for
20 to 25 minutes, studying a reading book, which he could have
read through in that time. At home he was told to take some work
to school, but the teacher refused to let him read in school,
even the _Cyclopedia of Common Things_. At the end of a week
and a half he was in absolute rebellion and was taken out
of school.
The family then took this child to a teacher of fourth grade,
who was personally acquainted with him, and asked her to examine
him for proper placement. This resulted in a more appropriate
adjustment. By February of his first year in school he had reached
Grade 5A in school placement, and had had thirteen different
teachers, including those for special subjects such as music,
nature study, and the like. His initial aversion to school
lessened, but he found no positive joy in attending. Root describes
the temperament of the boy as "somewhat irascible." This case
illustrates in extreme degree the maladjustment to school which
is characteristic of children testing above 180 IQ (S-B).
_Twins A and B_. In 1922 Gesell (10) reported the case of twin
girls, both of IQ 183 (S-B). Gesell was interested but incidentally
in the IQ ratings of these girls, his main interest centering
in the condition of twinning. Measurements were taken with a view
to comparing twins, and therefore many details that would be
of interest for our present purpose--for instance, those of family
history--are omitted from the report.
A and B were born by Caesarean section, somewhat prematurely,
weighing 4.3 pounds and 5.3 pounds, respectively. Notwithstanding
their premature birth, in six months A was able to rise spontaneously
to a sitting posture in her mother's lap, and very soon thereafter
B did likewise. At 11 months both had begun to walk, and to talk
in sentences. At the age of 3 years they began the study of
French, and in less than a year from that time they were reading
elementary English, French, and Esperanto. At the age of 4 they
could distinguish parts of speech. They entered the third grade
in school at the age of 6 years, and at the time of report they
had achieved the seventh grade and were engaged in junior high
school work at the age of 9 years.
They are not prigs: they are attractive, animated, sociable
children, with a bubbling sense of humor. They are popular
with their playmates. They can take charge of a gymnasium
class in which most of the members are two to four years their
seniors, and preserve excellent attention and discipline. They
speak mature but not pedantic English, and they speak French
with the fluency of a native. They have read the _Book of
Knowledge_ in its entirety in French; and a year ago embarked
on Russian. They play duets on the piano, but not with rare
distinction. They swim; they ride horseback; they write jingles;
and they read by the hour. Their school work does not tax them;
they do not worry about it; and they are far from fastidious
in regard to the form of their written work.
A complete family chart of the twin sisters, A and B, would
show evidence of superior endowment in the immediate ancestry
on both the maternal sides. Scientific and linguistic ability
of high order and physical energy are some of the traits which
are found in the two immediate generations. The trait of
twinning likewise has a hereditary basis in this instance, for
the mother also bore two boys, twins who died in infancy.
Measurements of physique show A and B to be slightly smaller
than children of their age in good private schools, but very
well nourished. The children have no living brothers or sisters.
_Elizabeth, reported by Hirt_. Elizabeth was reported from the
public schools of Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1922, by Hirt (13). She
was born January 16, 1914, and was tested June 14, 1921, aged 7
years 5 months. Her Mental Age was found to be 14 years, 0 months,
yielding an IQ of 189 (S-B).
Elizabeth's mother was a member of a large family of children
brought from Germany to America by their parents. The father
(Elizabeth's maternal grandfather) died soon after their arrival
in America, and the mother (Elizabeth's maternal grandmother)
worked hard to keep her family together and to give them all an
elementary school education. Elizabeth's father is of Pennsylvania
German descent. He has a high school education, and attended a
business college. His occupation in 1922 was that of a postal
mail clerk.
This child weighed 10 pounds at birth, 22 pounds at 6 months,
28 1/2 pounds at 12 months, and at the age of 7 years 5 months
she weighed 61 pounds and was 51 inches tall. Superior size was
thus consistently maintained from birth to the time of first
report, in 1921. Two teeth erupted before she was 5 months old.
She was not quite a year old when she began to repeat words.
He first sentence was, "Open the door, Daddy," uttered at the age
of 17 months. The parents remembered this sentence as a sudden
transition from one-word communications into sentence structure.
The only illness Elizabeth had ever had until she was 7 years
4 months old was mumps, which came on at that age.
Hirt's report continues as follows:
Among Elizabeth's first toys was a set of cubical blocks with
letters and numbers on four sides. One of the baby's favorite
amusements was to hold up a block and point to one side after
the other for her entertainer to tell what was on the side of
the block indicated. Gradually the game changed, and the
baby held up the block and pointed to the picture called for by
the entertainer. At the age of 15 months she made no mistakes
in finding the animals called for, and very soon afterwards
she could find the letters in the same way.
One of her first books was _The Story of the Naughty Piggies_.
The child seemed never to tire of hearing the story read,
and by the time she was two and a half years old, when she
sat in the lap of the reader, she could turn the page at just
the right place in the story. About that time the two leaves
in the center of the book loosened and dropped out. The
German grandma made a mistake in sewing them in, putting
the second first. Elizabeth quickly discovered the mistake and
was very unhappy about it. She followed her grandmother
about, asking her to fix it. The grandmother could not understand
what the child meant, and finally appealed to the child's
mother, who discovered what was wrong. Elizabeth was not yet
three years old, and they could not believe that the child
detected the difference between these two pages of the book.
But after the grandmother ripped out the stitches and replaced
the leaves in their proper sequence, the little girl showed
unmistakable satisfaction and content.
At three and a half years of age, Elizabeth was spelling
everything she saw printed and asking what the letters spelled,
and she could recognize many words. At four years, she read
the advertisements in the streetcars, as well as everything in
all the books she possessed. During all this time there was no
attempt on the part of the parents to make their daughter
precocious. They were pleased with her readiness to learn,
but they did not look upon her as an unusual child.
In September, 1920, Elizabeth was enrolled in the first grade,
in the public schools of Erie, Pennsylvania. She was then
6 years, 8 months old. On her second day in school her teacher
discovered that should could read anything that was placed
before her. The principal put her in the second grade until
she had time to investigate her case. She spent forty-two days
in the second grade, during which time the principal observed
her closely, and decided to place her in the fourth grade.
Elizabeth had no trouble in completing that grade in the
remainder of the school year, the principal giving her some special
help in spelling and arithmetic. . . . Elizabeth is not a skillful
writer, as far as penmanship goes, but she seldom makes a mistake
in either spelling or punctuation, and the content of her
letters and compositions is superior, even for the advanced grade
in which she is now working. . . . Intellectually speaking,
this child takes everything to which she is exposed, and she is
not satisfied unless she understands the subject fully.
Unfamiliar words or terms bring from her the question, "Just
what does that mean?" She has a cheery disposition, and laughs
often and heartily. She is contented in any environment,
because her imagination makes it as she wishes it. . . .
When she is reading or studying, she becomes so engrossed that
it is hard to attract her attention to anything outside her
book. . . . She is slow in her written work, and she is slow and
rather awkward in some of her motor coördinations.
After less than a month in the fifth grade, in September, 1921
(age 7 years 8 months), Elizabeth was promoted to the sixth
grade, where she is doing superior work. In the examinations
at the end of the last semester she ranked about the middle
of the class, due to the fact that she is still slow in her
written work. But in comprehension she easily leads the class.
Thus far nothing has been done for this exceptional child
except to move her along from grade to grade five times as
rapidly as the average child can go. When we see her at times
very evidently bored while a teacher is trying to make a subject
clear to pupils of average ability, we wonder what would have
happened if Elizabeth were now in the second or third grade
where most eight-year-old children are found.
In 1925 Hirt again reported upon the child, Elizabeth, as follows:
By February, 1923, she had completed the work of the six
elementary grades, and she was promoted to the junior high
school. Now, at the end of her fifth year in school, she is
ready for the second semester's work in the ninth grade. . . .
After her promotion to the junior high school, some of her
teachers complained that she was lazy; others said that she was
very inattentive; and all declared that she was "very silly."
The school psychologist had a conference with these teachers,
and it was decided that Elizabeth should be given a heavier
schedule, and Latin was added to her program. She has been
enthusiastic over this subject from the very first. . . . During
the past year there has been a steady improvement in Elizabeth's
attitude toward her school work as well as in her behavior
in general. Though some of her teachers still consider her
"silly," they all recognize her unusual mental ability. While
they give her B and C grades in most of her subjects, they
realize that she could easily do A work in every subject if she
cared to. They say that she wastes much time, though her mind
seems always to be busy. Her mother says that when she is at
home "she writes, and writes, and writes, covering reams
of paper." Elizabeth has told her mother that she is writing
a book and a play.
In the spring of 1925, when a friend asked Elizabeth where
she was going to spend her summer vacation, the child replied,
"Why, I expect to take a trip around the world." Then seeing
the surprise in her friend's face, she explained, "Of course,
it is not probable that I shall go far from our porch swing, but
I find the swing a very satisfactory conveyance; it is perfectly
safe, and it always takes me exactly where I want to go."
When Elizabeth entered the tenth grade, in senior high school,
in 1926, she was 12 years 8 months old. Her social behavior was
at about the level for this age, and her teachers were coldly
critical, unable or unwilling to reconcile her conduct with
her physical size and intellectual maturity. She made very few
friends. She was graduated from high school in June, 1929, with
the reputation of being lazy. She excelled in the languages, but
her work in other subjects was mediocre.
After she was graduated from high school, funds were not available
for Elizabeth to attend college away from home or to pay tuition.
Consequently, because she must live at home she enrolled in a State
Teachers College, though she had no desire to become a teacher.
She was 15 years 8 months old at this time, and her work was very
uneven in excellence. When the time arrived for practice teaching,
she was assigned to teach high school pupils of about her own
age, and failed in this branch of the work, so that she was not
graduated. She received, however, an honorable discharge from the
college. During these years, 1929-1933, her situation was further
complicated by the passing of a state law prohibiting students
below 17 years of age from attending the State Teachers College.
As Elizabeth was then still below the age specified in the new
law, she was forced to withdraw and wait for time to pass, resuming
her studies as soon as she fell within the law.
When Elizabeth was discharged from the Teachers College, interested
friends made attempts to secure for her a subsistence and tuition
scholarship at some good liberal arts college, but no such
opportunities were found. One college otherwise interested in
granting a tuition scholarship now found her "too old," she being
then aged 19 years.
The scholastic history of Elizabeth is too long to be told here
in greater detail. It affords an instructive and tragic example
of the blindness of current educational practice in dealing with
children who test in the highest ranges of intellect. At 22 years
of age Elizabeth lives at home, without suitable occupation,
writing poetry and helping with the tasks of the household. Her
education as conducted has not provided her with any recognized
equipment for enter for entering into the intellectual life of
her world, although she possesses one of the best intellects
of her generation.
_The case of J. M._ The history of J. M., a 10-year-old girl
of IQ 190 (S-B), was presented by Washburne (34) in 1924. This
girl was a pupil in the public schools of Winnetka, Illinois,
where the plan of individualized instruction is followed, with
individual subject promotions.
At the age of 10 years 6 months, J. M. was 54.5 inches tall and
weighed 88.5 pounds. This is decidedly in excess of the standards
for average children, as regards size. She was doing work of good
quality in the eighth grade, and could have been in high school
had not the school authorities checked her progress in the seventh
grade by giving her a large amount of extra work to do. Her school
record shows that she entered the public schools of Chicago in the
first grade, in September, 1919. The teacher of first grade
immediately discovered that she knew too much for that grade and
brought about her placement in the second grade. There she remained
until the following April, when her family moved to Winnetka.
In Winnetka, J. M. entered the second grade and was promoted
in June. Her reading, tested by the Monroe and Gray tests, was
up to fifth-grade standard when she reached third grade, and had
reached the sixth-grade standard by December, 1920. Her progress
in other school subjects was such that in September, 1921, she
entered the fifth grade. Her rapid progress was halted somewhat,
as she "was carrying a double language course, finishing the fourth
grade and beginning fifth-grade work simultaneously." When in
May, 1922, she began the sixth-grade work, she completed it
in two weeks. "June, 1922, found her, therefore, doing advanced
sixth-grade reading, through with sixth grade spelling, almost
through with sixth-grade arithmetic, and promoted to the seventh
grade in language. She was then nine years old." In the course
of this progress, the grade standard in penmanship was last to be
achieved. The perplexities which now arose in connection with this
child's education are set forth as follows, by Washburne:
In spite of the fact that she was so clearly ready for
seventh-grade work in the fall of 1922, we hesitated about
having her come from the lower grade school to our junior
high school. She was smaller and younger than any of the
children in the junior high, and we felt that she was already so
far advanced that still more progress was perhaps undesirable.
But she had formed a warm attachment for two girls a year or
so older than herself, both possessed of high IQ's, and she
felt that there would be nothing for her to do in the sixth
grade if we held her back. This was so obviously true that
we admitted her to the junior high school with an agreement
that she would remain there until she was twelve years old.
We felt that while she doubtless could do the work of the
junior high school within a year, or at the most in a year and
a half, since our junior high contains only the seventh and
eighth grades, she ought not to go to the senior high school too
young. We agreed to give her a widely enriched curriculum
of electives and special courses, to keep her active and happy
for three years. But it didn't work!
When she found that no effort on her part would get her through
any sooner, she stopped making effort. The end of the first year
(June, 1923) found her with seventh-grade cooking, seventh-grade
art, and seventh-grade pottery, all incomplete. She had taken up
general science toward the end of the year, and of course had
not finished it either. She had, on the other hand, completed
all of the seventh-grade English and arithmetic, including some
advanced work; had done exceptionally well in French. In
dramatics she first had a know-it-all attitude, owing to her
mother's success in amateur theatricals, but later did very good
work. In social studies she had been inclined to superficiality,
trusting to her quick grasp on a single reading of the material
(Rugg's _Social Science Pamphlets_) and doing little real
thinking. But she was interested, and finished the course
within the year.
The general feeling of the teachers, and of J. M. herself
. . . was that she had "loafed on the job" a good deal, had
been over-confident, and had "let down" generally when the
stimulus of rapid advancement was taken away. This gives
us some inkling as to what would have happened to her in a
regular school system, where the class lockstep is the rule.
This year J. M. is taking a straight eighth-grade course with
one elective, and is tying up the loose ends left undone at the
end of last year.
. . . The child's strong desire to move forward with the
children who are now her friends, and the undesirable effect
on her of our last year's experiment in holding her back
regardless of her effort or ability to go forward, have resulted
in our decision to let her graduate this coming June.
Her parents, however, have requested that we keep her in
our junior high school for a postgraduate year, because they
feel that the influence of this school is needed by J. M. We
shall, therefore, try to provide a special course for her next
fall. If we found out that it does not work out successfully, we
will enter her in the senior high school in February, 1925. If,
on the other hand, we find that we can give her the sort of
education that will be helpful to her in our junior high school
and that she responds rightly, we shall hold her here until
June, letting her enter the senior high school at the age of
twelve and one half years.
Interpreting and summarizing our experience with J. M.: Our
system of individual instruction has permitted her to make
full use of her intellectual ability. When we tried to depart
from it to prevent her progress from becoming too rapid, she
showed a lack of interest and in some parts of her school work
she did not work up to capacity, and even became to a slight
extent a discipline problem. Given, however, an incentive to
first-class work and the training in social behavior which we
are trying to give in our junior high school, J. M. developed
successfully and well. On the whole, our system has enabled
us to deal with her flexibly and as an individual. It has
prevented us from prolonging our mistakes. Probably no system,
or uniform plan, can be made to fit children of such exceptional
mental endowments. The most we can hope for is a flexibility
which will enable us to deal with such children as individuals,
feeling our way as we go along.
As for family background, J. M. originates from ancestors of very
superior intelligence. Her parents were both tested by means of
Army Alpha and both scored far above the generality of adults.
Her father was educated as an electrical engineer but subsequently
went into investment banking. J. M.'s paternal grandfather
was an architect, trained in Manchester School of Science.
He also attended the University of Edinburgh. The paternal
great-grandfather was an architect and shipbuilder, expert in
laying out factories, and he was descended from a line of builders.
The paternal grandmother was an English woman, educated by her
aunt, "who had advanced ideas on what a girl should study."
The father of this grandmother was a dealer in building materials.
On the maternal side, J. M.'s grandfather was first a teacher,
then a merchant, who became very wealthy, and a mayor of a Southern
town for eighteen years. The line of his descent was through
Southern planters. The maternal grandmother was the daughter
of a college professor, who in turn was the son of a physician
and surgeon, coming from a long line of physicians. The mother
of the maternal grandmother was descended from wealthy farmers.
It is of some interest that for three generations at least,
J. M. and her immediate progenitors were born when the parents
were thirty years or older, in some cases being more than sixty
years old.
_The case of E. B._ This child was described in 1924, by Stedman
(22), as having "the highest IQ yet reported." Exception was
taken some years ago by the present writer to this description,
on the ground that the test by which E. B. registered an IQ of 214
was not first given to the child. She had been tested previously
by Stanford-Binet, at the age of 5 years 9 months, earning an IQ
of 175. When tested in the Psychological Department of the Los
Angeles city schools at the age of 8 years 11 months, E. B. made
the record of a superior adult, earning an IQ of 214 (S-B). The
record is thus ambiguous, and will be included here only because
we cannot say how much allowance should be made for "test wisdom"
on second test. However, subsequent history points to 175 IQ as
the more probably correct status for this child, since when she was
tested at the age of 21 years 1 month, by Lorge and Hollingworth
(16), using CAVD, Levels M, N, O, P, and Q, and other tests of
cultural and specifically scientific knowledge, the result placed
her among individuals who in childhood had tested between 170 and
180 IQ (S-B).
E. B. was born on September 21, 1913. When 4 years 6 months old
she was placed in a convent school on account of her mother's
departure for France. She was not enrolled as a pupil but was
allowed to sit with the high first grade when she wished, because
her chum sat there. In four months, at the close of the school
year, it was discovered that she could read any page in the reader
which had been used as a text, and any page in the public school
first reader, which she had never seen before. Accordingly, though
not yet 5 years old, she was "promoted" to the second grade.
At the close of the next school year she was promoted to the
fourth grade, aged 5 years 9 months. Before E.B. was 6 years
old she had read practically every book listed by the public
library at Des Moines for children of the first six grades. At
the age of 9 years 4 months she was doing eighth-grade and
post-eighth grade work. Her favorite books at the age of 9
years include Barrie's _The Little Minister_, _Sentimental
Tommy_ and _Tommy and Grizel_; Hugo's _Les Misérables_;
Dickens's _Oliver Twist_, _Our Mutual Friend_, and _David
Copperfield_; Eliot's _Silas Marner_ and _Mill on the Floss_;
Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_; Hutchinson's _If Winter Comes_
and _This Freedom_. . . . Until she entered the opportunity
room, E. B. never had a child companion, and was unpopular with
children. She was friendly but shy, and was unable to comply
with the play standards of other children. In the opportunity
room she made better social adjustments. She is cheerful,
affectionate, and considerate to the point of self-denial.
She obeys implicitly, but is forgetful in the commission of
small duties, perhaps because engrossed with more interesting
matters. She thinks along economic and political lines, and
can hold her own even with many adults in conversing on these
subjects. . . . Health is excellent. She has had the usual
children's diseases, but has recuperated very quickly. . . .
E. B. is of French, English, and Scotch descent. The father
finished high school at 13, and was an A and B student at
the University, taking gold medals for original composition.
He is a writer and an editor. . . . The paternal grandfather
is a lawyer, teacher, and author. The paternal grandmother
has mathematical ability. E. B.'s mother entered school at
8 years, and completed high school at 15. She then entered
business college, and completed the course in less than three
months. She then entered college, working her way through with
consistently A records. She was editor of a national magazine
at 25, and at the time of investigation was an editorial writer
on _Screenland_. . . . The maternal grandfather's history is
unknown. It is thought that he was average; but the maternal
great-grandfather was probably superior. At 21 he could neither
read nor write, but just at this time a public school was
established near his home. He entered, and finished the
course for the entire eight grades in sixteen months. . . .
E. B.'s mother states that E. B. first spoke words with meaning
at 7 or 8 months of age, and that she walked at 10 months.
When she was 3 years old her parents discovered that she
knew the alphabet, which she seems to have learned by asking
questions about printed signs. She has had very little formal
instruction at home, for her mother has been active in newspaper
work most of the time, usually working at night.
E. B. entered college in a large city at 12 years 0 months of age.
The girls in this college are very highly selected for intellect,
and E. B. did not do outstanding work among them. She encountered
many difficulties, but graduated at the age of 16 years 9 months
with a creditable rating. At the age of 20 years she married,
holding also at that age a very responsible post in charge of cash
for the metropolitan branch of one of the largest manufacturing
and distributing companies in the United States. It is her aim
to become a writer.
_Verda_. In 1925 Terman (26) reported two children not elsewhere
described, with IQ's above 180 (S-B), Verda and Madeline [below],
both discovered during the census of the gifted taken in California.
The occupational level among Verda's male ancestors has been
largely in the professions and in business. Her father is a
successful life insurance salesman, and shows musical, mechanical,
and literary ability. He is of Scotch-Irish extraction. Her mother
is of French and English ancestry, a descendant in direct line
from Governor Bradford, of colonial New England, and is related
to many notables. Verda has no brothers or sisters.
The child's first words were articulated at 7 months, and she
talked in sentences at 15 months. She hummed a tune at 17 months'
could name all the primary colors at 22 months; could count to 13
at 25 months. Her first poem (said in rhyme and meter) was composed
at the age of 2 years 9 months. This was recorded by her mother.
She did not herself put on paper her literary compositions until
the age of 5 years, when she learned to print. After this the
stories she composed were no longer recorded by her mother. Soon
after she was 4 years old she brought a book to her parents and
read to them. Up to that time she had had no formal instruction
in reading but she had been read to.
Verda did not enter school until she was 8 years 7 months old,
beginning in the high fourth grade.
Her IQ was first determined at the age of 11 years 1 month by
an incomplete test, made as a demonstration before by an incomplete
test, made as a demonstration before a group of teachers in
the limited time of fifty minutes, and was calculated at 175.
When at age 11 years 7 months she was fully tested in a standard
situation, she passed every test provided on Stanford-Binet,
proving at an IQ ("corrected" [2]) of 186. Through four years
of high school she received an "A" grade in every academic subject,
with the exception of one semester of French and one of biology,
in which the grade was "B." She was graduated from high school
at age of 16 years 9 months.
According to her own testimony, Verda's usual amount of study
during her senior year was only six hours a week outside of school
hours. "She is fond of parties and dances, and is very active
in student life, particulary through her literary contributions.
She rates herself as rather disliking study. She would rather read,
play the piano, compose music, stories, or plays, or spend time
with her friends." (In 1926 she won a gold medal in a piano-playing
contest.) She has shown a wide margin of energy and ability
over and above what is necessary for a "straight A" record in
high school.
There is much more in the description of this child that is
interesting, but the case cannot here be quoted in full.
_Madeline_. At the age of 6 years 7 months Madeline yielded an IQ
of 192 (S-B). She was then in the third grade, but her scores on
Stanford Achievement Tests corresponded to fifth- and sixth-grade
norms. At 7 years of age, her parents' chief concern in regard
to her was to prevent her from reading too much.
At 7 months of age Madeline was able to distinguish all the
pictures on the walls of her home when they were named to her. She
could identify the pictures of six American poets when she was a
little over a year old. She knew the common flowers by name before
the age of 3. Her mother reported that "reading seemed to be born
in her." She could count to 100 at 3 years, played parchesi at
4 years, and "carried the powers of 2 mentally to the 20th,
as a Sunday afternoon pastime before the age of 6." At 7 years
of age she was writing poetry with religious thought expressed.
Entering school in the first grade at the age of 4 years 11 months,
Madeline was held in the ordinary course on account of her age
and in order to improve in handwork, in which she seemed deficient.
She was listless and bored at school, and developed habits of
procrastination and time-wasting. In high school, however, she
began to take an interest in the work offered, and at the time
of report she was finishing the ninth grade with "A" ratings in all
except an occasional course which she regarded as uninteresting
or meaningless.
Often when she is sent out to the back yard at night to dispose
of kitchen refuse, she fails to return until her mother goes
in search of her. Her mother always finds her studying the
heavens. Madeline has recently developed a strong interest in
astronomy, has devoured several books on the subject, and is
planning to become an astronomer.
The health of this child has always been good. She has had the
usual children's diseases, and contracts colds, but has never been
seriously ill.
Madeline's ancestry is very superior. On the paternal side, the
grandfather was of English-Irish descent; the grandmother, of
Scottish-French descent. Teaching and preaching have been the
usual occupations. On the maternal side, the grandfather was of
German-Dutch descent; the grandmother, of English descent. The
child's parents are both university graduates, and they have done
graduate work. She has two younger sisters, of 167 and 162 IQ
(S-B), respectively. The family is in very moderate financial
circumstances, having taken responsibility in the care of relatives.
_Rosemarie_. In 1928, Schorn (20) reported upon a girl aged 4 years
6 months, who tested at 8 years Mental Age in the Psychologisches
Institut at Würzberg. This report gives her an IQ of 184. She
was brought to attention because she could read fluently at the age
of 3 years 6 months, without having been schooled.
The case of this child illustrates some of the points of
misunderstanding of such children by those who have not seen
several like them. Because she could not perform motor tasks
in advance of her years, it was concluded that she "was not
generally bright."
_The case of K_. In 1934 Goldberg (11) described the case of K,
a boy who achieved an IQ of 196 (S-B) when tested at the age
of 6 years 7 months.
K was born June 25, 1927, in New York City, of Jewish parents,
and is an only child. The parents state from memory that K started
to walk at 14 months of age, and could talk rather fluently at
the age of 1 year 6 months. Dentition began at 8 months of age.
His health has been very good, and he has had no serious illnesses.
When K was 20 months old, he knew his alphabet and within a
short while after that he was able to recite it backwards.
At about the same time he had a set of blocks, which offered
him additional opportunity for developing a well-nigh astounding
feat. He could by looking at one of the figures on a given
block call off from memory the other five objects on the
remaining sides. This he was able to do for almost the entire
set. At about 2 years of age K knew his own name and address
and what is more significant the addresses and telephone numbers
of the entire family, numbering about a dozen.
By studying a calendar he learned to tell on what particular
day a certain date would fall. For example, if he were asked
on what day of the week July 16 would fall he would indicate
Thursday. . . .
K began to read at about 4 years of age. He was given no
formal training in the beginning mechanics of reading. The
only assistance he received was a suggestion that he "pronounce
words by syllables." At this time he was already reading simple
words easily.
K is of Jewish origin. Mr. K at the time of K's birth was
32 years of age, and Mrs. K was 35. Neither K's mother
nor his father has had the benefit of college training. They
are for the most part self-educated. Mr. K is a proprietor of
a small retail business.
At the age of 6 years 7 months K's height with shoes was 47.3
inches, and his weight was 52 pounds. He is well nourished, and
his physical condition was found negative for all unfavorable
indications. When asked for the year, in the test at year IX (S-B),
K said, "It is 1934, but if you believe in the Jewish calendar,
it is 5694."
_The case of B_. Witty and Jenkins (36) have reported the case
of B, a gifted Negro girl, who was tested at the age of 9 years
4 months, earning an IQ of 200 (S-B), "corrected" score, and of
187, "uncorrected" score. [3] At the time of testing, B was in
the low fifth grade at school, her mental age being 17 years
5 months at least ("uncorrected" score). She had received but one
double promotion though others were offered by the school, because
B's mother is afraid that the child will get too far from her
age group.
B was discovered by asking a teacher to nominate the "most
intelligent" and "best student" among children in her class.
B was nominated as "best student," while a girl four years older,
whose IQ turned out to be below 100, was nominated as "most
intelligent." This circumstance is illustrative of the lack of
insight which necessarily exists in relation to such children where
teachers have no special instruction in regard to them. The report
continues:
The following items were secured from B's baby book, and
from the mother's reports. B, an only child, was born November
18, 1924. The mother was then 27 years of age, and the father
31. B weighed 6 3/4 pounds at birth, 14 pounds at 3 months, and
17 1/2 pounds at 9 months. At 9 years and 5 months, B weighed
60 pounds and was 50 inches in height; this is normal for a
child of her height and age (Baldwin-Wood norms).
B walked a few steps at 8 months (under the excitement of
running after a dog), but walked no more till she was 12
months old. She employed short sentences when she was about 16
months of age. Her mother reports that B expressed her thought
in sentences, rather than in isolated words, almost from the
beginning of language development; she excited considerable
comment among friends by displaying an extensive vocabulary
and by using nursery rhymes at age 2.
B was taught to read by her mother at age 4, by the "picture-story"
method. (She knew the alphabet long before.) A few lessons only
were given her and thereafter B read and has continued to read
independently.
B has had no serious illnesses or accidents; her health history
appears normal and her physical condition at the present time
is excellent. Furthermore, she seems unusually well balanced
from the standpoint of mental hygiene. B exhibits regularity
in habits, sleeps soundly, seldom reports dreams, displays no
unusual fears, and adapts herself quickly and successfully to
the demands of her child-group.
B's parents appear distinctly above the average both in
intelligence and in academic training. The mother finished a
two-year normal course and taught for a number of years in
a metropolitan school system. The father is an electrical
engineer, a graduate of Case College of Applied Science; he has
pursued graduate studies at Cornell University, and has done
some college teaching. At present he is a practicing electrical
engineer. . . . Her maternal great-grandfather (who is still
active and robust at age 82) was private secretary to each of
four executives of a large railroad system. . . . Her paternal
grandfather was an inventor and manufacturer of polishes and
waxes. . . .
The mother reports B to be of pure Negro stock. There is
no record of any white ancestors on either the maternal or
paternal side.
B has not much ability or interest in music. Her favorite subject
is science, and chemistry attracts her to the extent that she
wishes to become a chemist.
_Child R_. In 1936, Zorbaugh and Boardman (38) described a boy,
R, of IQ 204 (S-B). They mention also three other children of IQ
above 180, tested at New York University's Clinic for the Social
Adjustment of the Gifted, but R is the only one described.
R was brought to the Clinic when he was 8 years old, and
at that time he had on the Stanford-Binet an IQ of 204. His
father, an engineer, is a well-known writer in the scientific
field. His mother holds a doctor's degree in physical chemistry
from a foreign university. Neither the father nor the mother
has been tested, but they are both persons of very unusual
mental ability. R's two younger brothers are also of very
superior mentality. The family is of Jewish origin and both
the father and the mother were born in a foreign country.
R, their first child, was born when the mother was thirty
and the father was thirty-five. His early development was
exceedingly precocious. His first tooth erupted at five months
of age; he began to walk at nine months and was running at
eleven months; he was talking in sentences at eleven months;
he learned to read at four years of age, and was reading
omnivorously before he entered school. When he entered school
he had an unusual vocabulary, using such words as "casuistry"
and "disproportionate." At the age of 2 he was modeling in
clay, and at the age of 3 he began to design and make machines.
He applied through his father to the United States Patent Office
for two patents before he was 8 years old. At 8 years of age
he had a large library in his home composed mostly of books
of science, history, and biography, which he had catalogued
himself, on the Dewey decimal system. At this age he was writing
a book on electricity. Also at the age of 8 he had a small
machine shop in which he was working on his machines. At the age
of 6 he enjoyed discussing philosophy. At the age of 7 he would
debate on the significance of religion in world development.
The day he first came to the Clinic, Claudel's experiments
on developing power by raising the colder water from the lower
levels of the sea had just been reported in the scientific
section of the _New York Times_. R explained the theory involved
much more clearly than had the scientific writer of the _Times_.
R is well developed physically, above average in height, and
considerably above average in weight, likes the outdoors,
especially hiking and riding horseback. At the age of 9 he showed
the first symptoms of the approach of puberty. R is well adjusted
to his school and his playmates, plays on their soccer and
baseball teams, is well liked, and is a leader in many of their
activities.
_Other cases_. In addition to these children who have been somewhat
fully described, a few others testing above 180 IQ (S-B) have
been mentioned in the literature of gifted children or their
records have appeared in tabulations. In 1923 Dvorak told of a boy
of IQ 183 (S-B) who was examined at the University of Minnesota.
This boy was conspicuously maladjusted at school. He "hated
school," and did poor work there. He was 8 years 7 months old
at the time of examination, and passed the tests at a mental
level of 15 years 9 months. The educational authorities were
unsympathetic and resistant to advice, but finally placed the
child in the fifth grade, where both work and conduct improved
greatly. This observer also mentions a boy of 189 IQ (S-B) who was
tested at the same University.
Cyril Burt, writing of mental tests in the schools of London,
cites an English boy of 190 IQ, but does not give a description
of him. The value of these mere mentions is slight because there
is no elaboration and no subsequent history of the cases which
would be useful for purposes of generalizations.
GENERALIZATIONS
The preceding [cases] describe in some detail 19 cases rating
180 IQ or better, if those be included (3 cases) that were reported
before the Stanford Revision came into use. Although the reports
are lacking in uniformity and vary in emphasis, it is possible
to glean from them a few generalizations concerning origin and
development among the gifted.
Origin is extremely varied as regards racial stock. In describing
the 14 American children, German descent is mentioned 3 times,
French 3, Scottish 5, English 5, Swedish 1, Scotch-Irish 1,
Dutch 1, Jewish 1, Negro 1. There is one German child.
The occupational status of the fathers all fall in Class 1 or
Class 2 of Taussig's rating--professional, clerical, or business
proprietors. Social-economic status wherever mentioned is said
to be moderate. None is stated to be very wealthy or very poor.
Age of parents at birth of the exceptional child covers a wide range.
Development is decidedly ahead of schedule for the group in all
respects. Reported age of walking (7 cases stated) ranges from
7 months to 14 months. Talking in sentences, in the 10 cases in
which it is given, ranges from 8 months to 19 months. In 13 cases
the age of reading is assigned, this being always 3.5 or 4 years.
General health is, whenever mentioned, always reported as good,
and except for the twins, born prematurely, physique is superior.
In the array of 19 cases there are 12 girls and 7 boys, whereas
of the 12 cases to be [later] reported [in] this study only 4 are
girls. In the grand total there are 16 girls and 15 boys.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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_Zeitschrift für Kinderforschung_, Vol. 15, pages 225-229 (1910).
2. ------ "Otto Pöhler, Das Frühlesende Braunschweiger Kind."
_Zeitschrift für Kinderforschung_, Vol. 15, pages 166-171 (1910).
3. BINET, A., et SIMON, TH. "New Methods for the Diagnosis of the
Intellectual Level of Subnormals." _L'Année Psychologique, 1905_,
pages 191-244.
4. ------ "The Development of Intelligence in the Child."_L'Année
Psychologique, 1908_, pages 1-90.
5. BUSH, A. D. "Binet-Simon Tests of a Thirty-nine-Months-Old
Child." _Psychological Clinic_, 1914.
6. COX, C. M. _The Early Mental Traits of Three Hundred Geniuses_.
Genetic Studies of Genius: Vol. 2. Stanford University Press,
Stanford University, California; 1926.
7. DOLBEAR, K. E. "Precocious Children." _Pedagogical Seminary_,
Vol. 19, pages 461-491 (1912).
8. DUFF, F., and THOMSON, GODFREY H. "The Social and Geographical
Distribution of Intelligence in Northumberland." _British Journal
of Psychology_ (1923).
9. GALTON, FRANCIS. _Hereditary Genius_. The Macmillan Company,
London; 1892. (First Ed., 1869.)
10. GESELL, ARNOLD. "Mental and Physical Correspondence in Twins."
_Scientific Monthly_ (1922).
11. GOLDBERG, SAMUEL. "A Clinical Study of K, 196 IQ." _Journal
of Applied Psychology_, Vol. 18, pages 550-560 (1934).
12. HARTLAUB, G. F. _Der Genius im Kinde_. Hirt, Breslau; 1930.
13. HIRT, ZOE I. "A Gifted Child." _Training School Bulletin_,
Vol. 19, pages 49-54 (1922).
14. I. E. R. Intelligence Scale CAVD, Levels A to Q. Printed in 5
parts. Teachers College, Columbia University, New York; 1925.
15. LANGENBECK, M. "A study of a Five-Year-Old Child." _Pedagogical
Seminary_ (1915).
16. LORGE, I., and HOLLINGWORTH, L. S. "The Adult Status of Highly
Intelligent Children." _Journal of Genetic Psychology_, Vol. 49,
pages 215-226 (1936).
17. QUETELET, M. _Letters on Probability_. Translated by Downes.
Layton & Co., London; 1849.
18. ROOT, W. T. _A Socio-Psychological Study of Fifty-three
Supernormal Children_. Psychological Monographs, 1921, 29, No. 133,
pages 134 ff.
19. RUSK, R. R. "A Case of Precocity." _Child Study_, 1917.
20. SCHORN, M. "Zur Psychologie des Frühbegabten Kindes."
_Zeitschrift für Psychologie_, pages 105, 302-316 (1928).
21. SPEARMAN, G. "General Intelligence Objectively Determined
and Measured." _American Journal of Psychology_, Vol. 15, pages
201-293 (1904).
22. STEDMAN, L. M. _Education of Gifted Children_. World Book
Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York; 1924.
23. TERMAN, LEWIS M. "A New Approach to the Study of Genius."
_Psychological Review_, Vol. 29, pages 310-318 (1922).
24. ------ _The Measurement of Intelligence_. Houghton Mifflin
Company, Boston; 1916.
25. TERMAN, LEWIS M., and FENTON, J. C. "Preliminary Report on a
Gifted Juvenile Author." _Journal of Applied Psychology_, Vol. 5,
pages 163-178 (1921).
26. ------ et al. _Mental and Physical Traits of a Thousand
Gifted Children_. Genetic studies of Genius: Vol. 1. Stanford
University Press, Stanford University, California; 1925.
27. ------ et al. _Ibid_., Genetic Studies of Genius: Vol. 3.
Stanford University Press, Stanford University, California; 1930.
28. THORNDIKE, E. L. _An Introduction to the Theory of Mental and
Social Measurements_. Science Press, New York; 1904.
29. ------ "Animal Intelligence." _Psychological Review Monograph
Supplements_, Vol. 2, No. 8 (1898).
30. ------ _The Measurement of Intelligence_. Bureau of Publications,
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York; 1926.
31. _Tehetsegproblemak_ (Problems of Talent). Thirteen lectures
by various authors, delivered before the Hungarian Society for
Child Research and Practical Psychology, Budapest; 1930.
32. VON SCHÖNEICH, CHRISTIAN. _Taten, Reisen und Tod eines sehr
klugen und sehr artigen 4-jährigen Kindes, Christian Heinrich
Heineken aus Lübeck_. Zweite veränderte Auflage. Göttingen, 1779
(Erste Auflage, 1726).
33. WADDLE, C. W. "Case Studies of Gifted Children," Part I.
Twenty-third _Yearbook_, pages 185-207, National Society for the
Study of Education. Public School Publishing Company, Bloomington,
Illinois; 1924.
34. WASHBURNE, C. W. "Case History of J. M.," Part 1. Twenty-third
_Yearbook_, National Society for the Study of Education. Public
School Publishing Company, Bloomington, Illinois; 1924.
35. WITTE, K. _The Education of Karl Witte_. (Translated by L.
Wiener.) Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; 1914.
36. WITTY, P. A., and JENKINS, M. D. "The Case of 'B'--a Gifted
Negro Girl." _Journal of Social Psychology_, Vol. 6, pages 117-124
(1935).
37. YERKES, R. M. (Editor). "Psychological Examining in the
United States Army." _Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences_,
Vol. 15 (1921).
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100-108 (1926).
[1] It is not absolutely clear from Terman's text whether the 15
children above 180 IQ (S-B) are to be thought of as representing
the 643 children statistically treated in _Genetic Studies of
Genius:_ Vol. I, or whether they rest upon the "nearly one thousand"
as a base, who were located. [[In a personal communication Professor
Terman writes that it was 15 out of 643.]]
[2] Correction is attempted according to a formula for records
exceeding the top of S-B, but this formula has never been actually
validated.
[3] See previous footnote.
[a] "On December 3rd, 1721, someone first noticed that the child
watched these figures here and there for a long time without
stopping, and his little eyes at the same time stuck [upon them].
Someone said to him the names of these figures: that would be
a cat, that a tower, a little sheep, a mountain. The following
[lit. "other"] day, the 4th of December, someone asked him again,
where the cat, the mountain, the little sheep were and [to] look
there; the child indicated with his little tiny fingers there,
and always hit upon the right picture, that they had named to him.
Even more, now he gave effort himself to repeat the previously
said words: cat, mountain, tower: hence, he saw with unrelated
glances [likely, unrelated to the figures he was previously
transfixed on] the speaking from the mouth [likely, of whoever
named the objects], got the movement of the lips and the tongue
[with] the same steady attending, slurred the word afterward and
repeated this so often, until he finally pressed out one syllable
after another.
[b] He [pronoun is literally "it," derived from neut. case noun
"das Kind" i.e., "the child"] could read printed things in Latin
and German.
He could not also write them; his little fingers were too weak
to do so.
He could recite times tables both in and out of order. He could
also count, subtract, add, and multiply.
In French, he got so far, that he could recount entire histories
in this language.
In Latin, he learned over 1,500 good sayings from Latin-language
authors.
He learned Low German from his nurse, of whom he didn't want to
let go.
In geography, he continued to grasp the most curious things on each
of the maps of existing places.
[c] Otto Pöhler, born the 20th of August, 1892 to Braunschweig,
first and only child of a master butcher, got teeth at the correct
time and learned to walk and speak at the right time. When he
was five fourths of a year old, his grandmother led him outside
the door and into the next streets and in the course of this
named to him the names which were on the house and street signs,
and also relatives wrote down him first name, Otto, multiple times.
When the child then got a newspaper in his hands, he showed
the same printed name, Otto. From then on, the grandmother
explained to him the letters and read aloud to him single words;
in the process, it resulted that the child had a prodigious
memory for letters, words, and numbers.
When the little Otto was brought to me, he was, as I previously
cited, 1_3/4 years old. He was very conversant, climbed immediately
multiple times onto my knees, showed himself, overall, very mobile
and restless. When he caught sight of one of the hanging wall
calendars next to the writing table, he read loudly, unprompted,
the large-print, Latin display on the same (April 27): "April
two-seven..."
In October, 1894, I brought the young Otto, at the age of 2 years
and 2 months, before the physician's country club. When the end of
my delivered lecture about him came, which was led in the boardroom,
one of the doctors showed the Börner's Medicinal-Calendar, with
the request to read the Latin inscription. He read fluently:
"Imperial Medicinal-Calender. Founded by Pa-ul Börner. One, eight,
nine, four."
[d] He is not physically strong, but also not badly developed. At
first glance the long skull and the strong back of the head stand
out. In the delicate face clever, expressive eyes are captivating,
which, with pondering, take on at first a curiously serious,
concentrated expression. In the whole, he does not at all make an
impression of an unhealthy, jaded child, but rather of a boy with
a completely fresh and merry view of the world.
His biggest passion is still always reading, and the most important
thing in the world to him are historic, biographic, and geographic
dates. He knows the birth and death years of many German Kaisers,
also many generals, poets, philosophers, mostly also birthdays and
places of birth; furthermore the capitals of most states, rivers
on which they lie and the like. He knows decisions of the beginning
and end of the Thirty Year's and Seven Year's Wars, of the main
battles of these and other wars. From statements of the mother,
everything he picked up on without outside help, through the
diligent study of a "patriotic calendar" and similarly discoverable
literature in the house, also through the deciphering of monument
inscriptions in the cities (for which he especially has passion).
When two different pages with two 12-digit numbers were shown to
him in succession, [the numbers of] which differed by one of the
middle digits, he read them as far as the billons and could then,
without looking at the pages again, with certainty, specify
wherein the difference lay.
[e] Dr. Placzek et al. who earlier observed the boy, the definitive
impression prevailed of a specially aroused, rapid, and sharp-thinking
and, at the same time, a benign, quite loveable child. With the
parents and particularly with the mother he's involved with the
greatest affection.
[f] An _Obersekundaner_ is a pupil in seventh year of a German
secondary school. "Gymnasium" here means secondary school.
[g] "Now, almost 17 years old, he is an intelligent, young man,
equipped with an admirable memory, full of knowledge; a young man
easily getting noticed, orienting, who, although in his way
preferred before his contemporaries, has proven [to have] a humble,
lovable nature."
PART II
TWELVE CASES NEW TO LITERATURE CONCERNING TESTED CHILDREN
CHAPTER FOUR
CHILD A
Child A is a boy, born June 18, 1914. He was brought by his parents
to Teachers College, Columbia University, in the latter weeks
of 1920, for mental tests. This was on the advice of the principal
of the school A attended, for the boy was a school problem.
He did not adjust himself readily to the work of the classroom
in the second grade where he was at that time placed, at the age
of 6 years 6 months. The school had found A ready for work beyond
the second grade in reading and arithmetic, but because of his age
and size it had decided to place him in second grade. The record
made at that time and subsequently reads as follows:
FAMILY BACKGROUND
A is descended from German Jews on both sides of his family. His
parents are not related by blood so far as can be known. He is of
the third generation to be born in the United States.
The paternal grandfather is living [[1920]] and well, a tailor
by trade. He is "very handy" in making helpful devices to use
in his shop. The paternal grandmother is living [[1920]] and well,
a competent housewife, who has evinced no noticeable intellectual
interests.
No dependent or incompetent relatives of the father are known.
It is usual for the progenitors in the paternal branch to die
between the ages of 80 and 100 years. The paternal great-grandfathers
of A died aged 86 and 89 years, respectively. The paternal
great-grandmothers both died at 40 years. The paternal
great-great-grandmothers died at 101 and 102 years, respectively.
There have been no constitutional diseases in the ancestry.
A's father has but one sibling, A's paternal uncle, who is
a successful dentist. He married a teacher, and has two young
daughters, A's cousins. One of these, about 6 months older than
A, has twice been tested by Stanford-Binet, her IQ's being 170
and, a year later, 161. At the age of 8 years, this girl had
reached the fifth grade in public school. She now [[1920]] attends
a special class organized for children of her age who test over
150 IQ. The other of these cousins was tested by Stanford-Binet
on November 9, 1923, yielding an IQ of 129. These two girls are
the only first cousins A has.
A's maternal grandfather is living [[1920]] and well. He is a cloth
salesman, but he has always seemed dissatisfied with this vocation.
He had to go to work at an early age. The maternal grandmother is
living [[1920]] and well, a competent housewife, not especially
interested in intellectual pursuits.
No dependent or mentally incompetent relatives of the mother
are known. All are self-sustaining. There are no constitutional
diseases in the maternal ancestry. It is usual for the progenitors
on the maternal side to die between the ages of 60 and 70 years,
but one of A's maternal great-grandmothers lived to the age
of 90 years. A's mother has but one sibling, A's maternal uncle,
a salesman, who is unmarried.
_Father_. A's father is a large, strong man, now following
the profession of organization engineer. He is a high school
graduate and a graduate of Webb Academy, holding a diploma from
the latter as marine engineer and marine architect. He has invented
and patented a complete combustion furnace, and has designed a set
of torpedoes which were used in the Japanese-Russian war. During
the war of 1914-1918, he participated in the development of a fleet
destroyer, and designed a boat superior to previous models for
transporting nitrocellulose. He made the original layout for one
of the largest steel plants in the United States. His rating on
Army Alpha is 180 points. His grip is 70 kg. in the right hand
and 64 kg. in the left hand (Smedley's dynamometer). He was
29 years old when A was born.
_Mother_. A's mother was graduated from high school at the age
of 18 years. Before marriage she was in business, as an executive
in charge of advertising for one of the largest drug concerns
in this country. She has handled business affairs involving large
sums for a tobacco company. She also did some newspaper work.
Formerly she had excellent health, but she has not been entirely
well since the birth of her children. She was 27 years old when
A was born.
_Noteworthy relatives_. In the paternal branch these include
cousins who founded the Banking House of Tuch, in London. The
father's maternal grandfather (A's great-grandfather), a tailor,
devised and patented a union suit, said to have been the first
union suit. He also invented an improved buckle for adjusting
men's vests in the back. It was said of him, "He was always
trying to invent things."
Noteworthy relatives of the mother include the founder of the
Lemaire Optical Goods firm. This firm has an international
reputation for fine lenses. A cousin of the mother is a judge.
Another relative was a leader of Jewish reform movements.
_Immediate family_. A is the first-born child. He has one brother,
three years younger than himself. This brother is large, strong,
and handsome. His IQ on repeated tests, at intervals of a year,
has stood at 145, 152, 145, 161. He too displays the special
interest in mathematics which characterizes A. For instance, at
the age of 5 years he set himself the project of counting all
his footsteps until he had counted a million consecutive steps.
This project he carried out, his parents submitting to the numerous
inconveniences incident to it. The growth of this brother affords
an interesting comparison with that of A, since we have here two
children, both of extremely superior intelligence, of the same
ancestry, and living under the same school and home conditions,
one of whom is nevertheless as superior to the other--in terms
of IQ--as that other is superior to the average child.
PRESCHOOL HISTORY
The preschool history of A has been elicited from the parents and
from the "baby book" kept by them. A was born at full term, and
the birth was normal in all respects. He weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces,
and was breast fed for the first several months of life. He began
to articulate words at 10 months, and at 14 months could pick out
letters on the typewriter at command. At 12 months he could say the
alphabet forward, and at 16 months he could say it backward
as well. His parents had no idea that he could reverse the alphabet
until one day he announced that he was "tired of saying the letters
forward" and guessed he would "say them backward." The concepts
of "forward" and "backward" had thus been developed by the age of
16 months. At 12 months he began spontaneously to classify his
blocks according to the shape of the letters on them, putting
V A M W N together, Q P O G D together, and so forth. This love
of classifying has remained one of his outstanding characteristics.
As an infant, he would for hours thus amuse himself with his
alphabet blocks.
When 18 months old he was able to carry out simple errands
involving not more than three or four items. By the time A was
30 months old he could copy all the colored designs possible with
his kindergarten blocks. Before the age of 3 years he enjoyed
rhymes, and would amuse himself rhyming words together. From
the time he was old enough to be taken out to walk, he would
point out letters on billboards and signs with keen interest
and delight, crying, "Oh, see D! There's J, Mother! There's
K and O!" Also before the age of 3 years A objected to stories
containing gross absurdities. For instance, he rejected the story
of the gingham dog and the calico cat who "ate each other up." A
pointed out that this could not be, "because one of their mouths
would have to get eaten up before the other mouth, and no mouth
would be left to eat _that_ mouth up." He was irritated by this
obvious lapse from logic and requested that the story be read
to him no more.
A learned to read for himself during the third year of life, and
read fluently before he entered school.
The photograph in Figure 1 [not included] shows one of A's amusements
at the age of 10 months--balancing and rolling simultaneously
a large ball between his hands and another between his feet as
he lay on his back in his crib. This activity illustrates his
power of motor coördination in infancy, and it is especially
interesting in connection with the errors of judgment made by
A's teachers to the effect that "A is below average in control
of his body."
FIG. 1. CHILD A AT THE AGE OF 10 MONTHS.
SCHOOL HISTORY
_First year_. A has always attended private schools. He started
school at the age of 5 years, in Philadelphia. Here he was placed
in the kindergarten, though the question was raised by teachers
as to the greater advisability of placement in the first grade.
After a few months in this school the family moved to New York,
where A entered an excellent private school at the age of not
quite 6 years. By this time he had developed many numerical
processes by himself. On one occasion the mother went to speak
to the teacher regarding the advisability of teaching such advanced
processes to so young a child at school, and the teacher replied
in great surprise that she had been on the point of asking the
parents not to teach so young a child these matters.
_Second year_. In the autumn of 1920, A entered a private school
which he attended for several years. It was here that he was
considered to be a school problem. It was recognized that he was
ready scholastically for a grade much beyond his age and size.
As a compromise he was placed in the second grade. Soon the teacher
of the second grade advised that he be considered for the third
grade, as he did not "fit" into second-grade work. Thereupon
he was brought to Teachers College for educational guidance. The
report stated that A stood far ahead of the other second-grade
children in reading and arithmetic but that he was "poor in carrying
out projects," and did not seem interested in the activities
of the second grade.
After mental examination of A, revealing an intelligence level of
12 years 2 months, it was explained that there had never been
worked out an established appropriate procedure for variants of
such rare occurrence. The advice given was to place A in the third
grade; for although his Mental Age was then more than 12 years
(his physical age at this time was 6 years 6 months), many of the
8-year-olds in this school would approximate A's mental capacity,
since the median IQ of the pupils there was about 120. A was
accordingly placed in the third grade, where he had the good
fortune to meet a teacher of extraordinary knowledge and ability.
At the end of that year he was promoted to the fourth grade.
_Third year_. In the autumn of 1921 A was in the fourth grade,
with the same teacher he had had in the third grade. Outside of
school hours he took special work in sports and games with a group
of young boys. At the end of that year he was promoted to the fifth
grade, and placed in a special fifth-grade group which had been
formed of the brightest children of this status in the school.
During this time a special effort was made to develop A in social
activities and to interest him in group projects, with the result
that "he became much more a member of the group." Nevertheless,
he still liked to "lie down on his back and look up at the
ceiling," instead of joining common projects. "His mind often
seems to be miles away."
_Fourth year_. In the autumn of 1922 A was in the fifth grade,
composed of the special group referred to above, with classmates
about two years older than himself, whose IQ's ranged above 140.
At the end of that year he was promoted to the sixth grade, at age
9 years. He seemed happy and contented during his fourth year in
school but displayed many characteristics which might well try
the patience of any but a very wise teacher. The tendency to
become absorbed in his own line of thought continued, giving an
impression at times of indifference, absent-mindedness, and
non-coöperation. Also, he was "slow to take advice." He decided,
for instance, not to learn French, as he was "not interested in
it." He persisted in this attitude until it was clearly explained
to him that people who go to college must know French, whereupon
he applied himself and learned the language. The relative difficulty
in handwriting, shopwork, and other manual tasks which such a child
experiences in comparison with older classmates is also a problem
for the teacher.
_Fifth Year_. In the autumn of 1923 A entered the sixth grade.
He was at this time 9 years old.
JUDGMENTS OF TEACHERS
Teachers' judgments of A show the usual disagreements and errors.
His superior intelligence has been recognized to some extent
by nearly all. One teacher, however, has felt his superiority
to be merely for reading and arithmetic. Several teachers have
judged A to be inferior in respect to manual dexterity and motor
coördination, forgetting that their comparison was based always
on older children, A's classmates. Only one teacher bore this
fallacy of judgment in mind in reporting her estimates. For
instance, one of the supervisors who had observed A, reported
that he was below the average child of his age in penmanship.
A was then 6 years old. This supervisor seemed not to recall
that the average child of that age has no penmanship whatever.
Direct quotation from teachers' estimates will best show how
A has been appraised.
He was quite a desirable pupil, and we should have been glad
to keep him. _From the headmaster of the school A first entered_.
Though ahead of the class in arithmetic and reading, he reasons
like a child of 6. He has undeveloped judgment. _From a teacher,
in 1920_.
He seems to like the third grade, and the children like him.
Intellectually he is able to carry the work of the grade, and
while he is not yet very responsive in manual work, I think he
can gain the muscular control he needs here as well as in a
lower grade. He has made a splendid effort in the matter of
penmanship. He is still very imperfectly adjusted to the school
situation, but in time will find himself able to meet the
requirements, I am sure. _From a report of a classroom teacher,
for February 1 to March 18, 1921_.
Although A still has lapses of inattention during class lessons,
in general he complies with class requirements and he has
learned to use his free time without direction. His gain in
penmanship has been marked. _From report of a classroom teacher,
for March 21 to May 27, 1921_.
He is doing well, but needs handwork. _From report of a special
teacher, 1921_.
He is slow to take advice but has shown big improvement over
last term. He seemed to go ahead suddenly. _From report of a
special teacher, 1921_.
He has got little from the playground. Doesn't "get into
the game," and is a trial to his mates. _From report of a
teacher in charge of playground, 1921_.
Manifests considerable musical ability. Lovely voice, and
true to pitch. _From report of a music teacher, 1921_.
A is making excellent progress both socially and in his work.
Mr. W reports that his shopwork is good, considering his age,
and that it is improving. Miss C says there is continued
improvement in art. I find that his writing of figures is
improving more than written English. He does not like to
write, and is apt to neglect written homework. _From report
of a classroom teacher, for November 17, 1921, to January
31, 1922_.
A is the youngest child in his group (he is 7 and in the fourth
grade, in which the average age is about 9). It is difficult
to classify him in general terms as the first in scholastic
standing, as he is with a group which numbers nine or ten
superior children with IQ's running from 140 to 175; but in
scholastic standing, with the exception of written work, he is
among the best. If one compares his age with that of the
others, his ability is of course most marked. Even in this group
he is conspicuous for his accuracy and lucidity of statement and
for the clear thinking this indicates.
One noticeable indication of his intelligence is his ability to
criticize his own concepts; unless he understands every detail
of a subject, he does not consider that he understands it.
His ability in academic work seems well distributed, though
strongest in mathematics. For this grade he is markedly low
in art and industrial work; but he would be average in second
grade, where his age would under ordinary circumstances place
him. His artistic feeling is all for music and literature. He is
moderately interested in drawing, but doesn't like modeling
and does not want to draw unless it is for some special purpose,
or because everybody else is doing so and it is the social thing
to do. For example, he has made posters and designs for holiday
cards, which, while very crude, had an idea to express and
were suitable for their purpose. He enjoys shopwork and here
does better technically than in other types of handwork. I
think he is rather clumsy with his hands, even for his age,
though not much below the average child. With his mental
ability he can learn to do anything in which his interest is
aroused.
This ability to attack any sort of problem is shown in his
physical work. He makes an excellent effort and comprehends
what is to be done, but in bodily coördination, in muscular
strength, and in rhythmic response he would rank in the lower
half of a second grade. _From a specially requested report
of a classroom teacher, June 20, 1922_.
In short, I am fully convinced that A requires most of all
training which will develop a proper harmony and rhythm between
mind and body. _From the report of the instructor in the special
boys' group, to which A belonged, outside of school, April
19, 1922_.
A's teachers seem to hold the universal opinion that he is not
doing well in his work unless prodded or specially urged. It
was to be expected that the handwork, such as art and shopwork,
would be hard for him, but he seems to do poor work and at the
same time to be entirely satisfied with it, his teachers say.
Miss B finds he is not an observer of nature, but rather
inclined to tell what he has read in books.
However, on the academic side, in French and the regular
classroom studies, he seems to require the same prodding. His
sleepiness and inattention are quite marked at times. When
aroused, I find him capable of good thinking, and excellent
memory work. I have been afraid to overstimulate him, but
in order to accomplish the work of the fifth grade creditably
we must develop in him more of a feeling of responsibility on
his own account. His immaturity shows rather clearly in some
of these respects. Of course his work is more than passing,
because of the fine coöperation at home and his own vigorous
response when sufficiently urged. _From a report of a classroom
teacher, for September 18, 1922, to January 31, 1923_.
It is still a problem to get A to make contributions to the
work of the class. His mind works along lines of special
interest at the time. Although urged by the parents to push A
a little harder, I have hesitated to do much urging. One
fears to stimulate unduly. And yet I find that A is learning
in many ways all the time. There are still, of course, some
definite needs.
Mr. P reports no marked improvement on the physical side.
However, on the side of participation in the sports of the
group, I find a great improvement in A. He appears to be
enjoying himself during a ball game, and even catches a ball
occasionally.
Miss B says she hopes that A will have some real country and
nature during the summer. He needs a chance to roam and think
and observe for himself rather than to learn facts from books
or other people.
In the French class his interest and attitude have improved.
_From report of a classroom teacher, for February 1 to June
15, 1923, on the occasion of A's promotion to the sixth grade_.
These remarks from teachers bring clearly to notice some of the
difficulties in adjustment to school procedure when a child has
a 12-year-old capacity for thinking and the body of a 7- or
8-year-old, combined with the life of a 6-year-old. Motor control
is, of course, far behind abstract thinking; writing is slow and
feeble, while reading is rapid and fluent; shopwork is poor but
arithmetic is excellent; he can surpass 8- and 9-year-olds--even
those of superior intelligence--in the classroom, but in playing
with them he cannot catch a ball and is always the last to be
selected when sides "choose up," because he is a handicap in any
playground competitions.
From these remarks and estimates it is also easy to see how such
a child may provoke adverse comments from teachers, may be found
unsuited to school organization, and eventually even be reputed
stupid or "foolish." Fortunately for A, most of his teachers have
had unusual training and have been rigidly selected, besides,
for insight and personality. If you have read Edison's biography,
you will recall that under teachers less highly selected young
Thomas "did not get on in school," was regarded as "foolish," and
eventually was removed from school by his mother, who educated
him at home, she herself being a teacher.
These difficulties of discrepancy between mental development
and physical development are seen to be greatest in the earliest
years of childhood. The judgments show that as A grew from his
sixth birthday to his ninth birthday, he became less and less
conspicuous in his poor penmanship and in his inaptitude at games.
MENTAL MEASUREMENTS
General intelligence tests of A have been made as follows:
DATE BIRTHDAY STANFORD-BINET ARMY ALPHA
AGE OF A MA IQ POINTS
A Norm A Norm A Norm
Dec. 30, 1920 6-6 12-2 6-6 187 100 (Not given)
Jan. 2, 1922 7-6 14-4 7-6 191 100 76 0 (Form 5)
Apr. 22, 1922 [1] 7-10 14-8 7-10 187 100 (Not given)
Feb. 22, 1923 8-8 (Not given) 95 0 (Form 7) [2]
_Mechanical skill_. On January, 2, 1922 (aged 7 years 6 months),
A was given the _Stenquist Assembling Tests of General Mechanical
Ability_ and he made a score of 7 points only. He could tell what
mechanisms were to be constructed from the materials in five
out of the ten instances, but he was not "handy" enough to put
them together. (The test depends very much upon size and strength
of hands and upon the degree to which motor coördination is
developed. Young children, therefore, of whatever degree of
intelligence, are unable to succeed in it).
_Musical sensitivity_. On February 22, 1923, Seashore's _Tests
of Musical Sensitivity_ yielded results as follows, using the
figures for eighth-grade children for comparison, because of A's
Mental Age:
TEST PERCENTILE (EIGHTH GRADE) PERCENTILE (ADULTS)
A A'S FATHER
Consonance Below 27th 36th
Pitch 91st 81st
Intensity 41st 26th
Time Below 17th 78th
Tonal memory 70th 9th
_Design_. On January 2, 1922, the examiner made the following note
in reference to A's performance with Milton Bradley color cubes
(with which he always asks to play when he comes to the laboratory):
The child can construct the most complicated designs with
Milton Bradley's color cubes in less than three minutes each,
from memory--the design being exposed to vision and studied
for one minute. Three colors are involved--red, blue, yellow,
and white.
TRAITS OF CHARACTER
A has not been rated by any scale for traits of character as,
for instance, were the children reported by Terman. There are at
hand only statements by persons who know A. The parents both say
that A has no troublesome traits of character except "a tendency
to fail to take his own part in a fight." If a child strikes him,
he often does not strike back but simply does nothing. His parents
feel that this indicates a lack of "give and take" that is
essential to getting along in the world. The parents describe
him as "especially honest, truthful, reliable, affectionate,
kind, generous, and modest, with strong control of his emotions."
Traits of A which are faulty from the point of view of teachers
are absentmindedness, lack of interest in group activities,
untidiness, and obstinacy. One teacher estimated him as "a little
bit selfish." The desirable traits most often mentioned by teachers
are kindliness, amiability, affection, good humor, reticence, and
precision in treating the data of thought. The following are
quotations from teachers:
I am so sorry about A's coat. I laid it on his desk, as he
was cooking when it came. . . . Evidently he didn't notice it
on his desk when he came in later. Knowing A's absent-minded
habits, I ought to have called his attention to the coat.
A is not neat nor orderly.
A still has lapses of inattention during class lessons.
He is slow to take advice.
He is affectionate and kindly, while not over-demonstrative.
The class in which he has been for a year and three months
was slow in accepting him, but now they appreciate his intellect
and his good humor, and treat him with the kindly tolerance
of older brothers and sisters. A responds to this attitude well
and loves to fool and frolic with the others, somewhat kitten
fashion. In the goal ball games he wants to play though he is
simply a figurehead, and he knows enough to obey the rules
and not get in anyone's way.
In working with a group, A is inclined either to be dictatorial
or to insist upon doing everything himself. This may be because
of youth or because he sees so clearly what is to be done, but I
think he is a little selfish and obstinate. A is a very lovable
child with a tender heart and a good deal of emotional capacity,
generally kept hidden, so he is not difficult to manage. It is
difficult, however, to make him assume responsibilities about
material or work which is irksome, such as writing, and he is
very untidy.
It has been a pleasure to have A in my class. He has been
friendly and pleasant in his relations with his teachers as well
as with his classmates.
The physician who attended A when his ankle was twisted in an
accident (mentioned later in this account) rated him very high
for courage.
The character traits which have stood out repeatedly and most
noticeably in the course of visits to the laboratory for mental
tests appear to the present writer to be amiability, reticence,
emotional control in the face of mishaps (such as falling off
a chair in a strange place and bumping his head severely), and
obstinacy in pursuit of his plans and activities. He does not seek
advice, and does not take it readily. He is easily bored by
unnecessary repetitions of matter once presented. For instance,
in certain mental tests, where the standard procedure demands
that the same question be asked several times (Stanford-Binet
fables, "What lesson does that teach us?"), A grew more and more
restive at each repetition, and finally said, "We don't need that
every time, do we?"
The nickname is an important datum in estimating a child. A's
nickname among the children at school is "Sleeping Beauty."
This name was given, the teacher thinks, because of A's abstraction
and because he was never ready in games.
PHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS AND HEALTH
_Physique measurements_. The following measurements were made by
the present writer, using the standard scales and stadiometer
of the Teachers College Laboratory. The measurement of cranial
circumference was made with a reinforced fabric tape.
[PART 1 OF 2]
DATE WT. HT. (STAND.,
(LBS.) IN.)
A Norm A Norm
Jan. 1, 1921 56.0 44.8 48.0 46.6
Sep. 17, 1921 [3] 58.0 128 cm
Jan. 2, 1922 66.5 51.7 50.3 48.3
Feb. 22, 1923 68.7 55.9 52.7 50.1
[PART 2 OF 2]
HT. (STAND., HT. HT.-WT. CRANIAL
IN.) (SIT., IN.) COEFF. CIR. (IN.)
A Norm A A Norm A
48.0 46.6 25.5 1.01 .96
128 cm
50.3 48.3 26.5 1.26 1.07
52.7 50.1 28.1 1.24 1.12 21.3
In the case of the measurements made in clothing, subtracting
.5 inch, the height of heels, from standing height, and 4 pounds
for clothing from weight, we see that in all measurements of
physique taken, A decidedly exceeds Baldwin's norms for the
selected children in good private schools.
_Grip measurements_. Grip in the hand has been repeatedly measured
with Smedley's dynamometer, with the following results:
GRIP (KG.)
DATE Right Hand Left Hand
A Norm A Norm
January 1, 1921 13.0 10.0 10.0 9.0
February 22, 1923 16.0 13.0 14.0 12.0
The superior size of A is, therefore, accompanied by superior
strength of hand.
_Growth curves of A and his brother compared_. In the case of A and
his young brother, we have two boys of the same ancestry, living
in the same school and home environment, both falling into the
highest one per cent of the population as respects intelligence,
yet very widely separated in terms of IQ. The repeated measurements
show that the children do not become either more alike or more
different as time passes, but that each remains a constant,
maintaining a static relationship to the other in mind and body.
The pressure of the similar environment does not bring them closer
together in ability.
_Nervous stability_. The supervisor who judged A's penmanship to be
inferior to that of the average child of 6 years, also interpreted
this difficulty in writing to be a symptom of nervousness,
especially when considered in connection with his abstraction and
general maladjustment to work of the second grade. For this reason
the parents obtained statements from two physicians who knew
A well, as to the child's nervous stability. The physician who
removed A's tonsils wrote as follows:
I am glad to state that he is as free from any nervous stigmata
as is possible for any child of his age. Because of his
brightness, he was treated as an older child before his tonsil
operation, and what was about to be done was explained to
him, and he underwent the anesthesia in a perfectly natural
manner. His convalescence was unusually rapid, and at no
time did he show the slightest indication of any neurosis.
From careful observation I can truthfully say that A would
pass the severest tests, and show no abnormality.
The other physician wrote:
At the time I examined A in 1917 I found no neuropathic stigmata.
In fact, he impressed me as a boy who was rather well developed
physically. By physically I mean inclusive of his nervous system.
A's parents rate him as "well balanced." The present writer would
rate him as far above the average child of his years in nervous
stability.
_Organic condition_. Physical examinations reveal no defect
except a serious degree of "progressive myopia." To correct
this, glasses are worn and the use of eyes is limited.
_Medical history_. A has always been healthy. He has never been
subject to a chronic disorder. He sleeps well and has a keep
appetite for food. As an infant there was never any trouble in
feeding him. He cried very little, and was easy "to care for."
When he was 3 years 6 months old he was almost run over by an
automobile, but escaped with a twisted ankle. After that, for
about a year, he had a series of boils. At the age of 5 years
A was threatened with a mastoid infection and the drum of his
right ear was pierced, liberating a large quantity of pus. Hearing
was not, however, impaired. Adenoids and tonsils were removed at
the age of 6 years. These had never been especially troublesome,
but the parents decided on the operation because A breathed
through the mouth. He has not had "children's diseases," and
except for the incidents narrated, his medical history is negative.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARACTERISTICS
_Diversions_. At the age of 5 to 6 years A had much difficulty
in playing with children of his own age because he could not be
satisfied with play involving merely sensory stimulation and
diffuse motor activity. He always tried to diver the play to
some planned end, to _organize_ it, in ways not appreciated
by others of his age. When he was 6 years old, boys of 12 to
14 years of age were preferred by A as playmates, and he would
join them whenever they would accept his company. However, he
had and continued to have chums of approximately his own age.
At the age of 6 years 6 months A's favorite diversions were
reading, playing games of intellectual skill (like geographical
Lotto), and playing in sand (building). At the age of 8 years
8 months his favorite diversions were reading, chess, and pinochle.
_Imaginary land_. At the age of 3 to 6 years A had an imaginary
land which he called "Center Land." This fantasy appears to have
started when his brother was born. When this event occurred
A asked just how it happened. His mother thereupon gave him
the real physiological facts. To these he made no immediate
comment. Several days later he said he had no doubt his brother
did come into the world in just that way, but that he, A, did
not. He, A, originated in Center Land, where he chose his father
and mother. Thereafter, the imaginary land developed rapidly.
In this land children stayed up all night. They could play with
fire whenever they wished. He lived there in a hundred story
house, with an elevator he could run by himself. Two playmates,
"Katharine" and another child, lived there also. By the age
of 6, this imaginary country had almost ceased to engage him,
and at the age of 9 he no longer thinks of it.
_Religious experiences_. Between the ages of 6 and 8 years (Mental
Ages 12 to 15 years) A became very religious. Prayer was regarded
as extremely sacred, and God was much reverenced. Now, at the age
of 9 years (Mental Age beyond the limits of ordinary maturity),
he is no longer seen to devote himself to these observations.
_Career ideas_. At the age of 6 years 6 months A wanted to become
"an eye doctor." "I like to tend to mother's eye. I like to tend
to people's eyes." At the age of 8 years 8 months, in answer to
the question, "What will you be when you grow up?" A replied, "I
will do something with arithmetic in it; whatever has the most
mathematics in it."
_Reading interests_. To the question, "What do you like to read?"
A gave the following responses:
(Age 6 years 6 months) "True books, like _The Fall of Jerusalem_--
that's the best one, and Burgess _Animal Books_, Burgess _Bird
Books_, _Our First Flag_, _The Arabian Nights_."
(Age 8 years 8 months) "Books about people who _really_ lived."
A has always preferred books of fact to books of fancy--"true
books," as he called them; but now he enjoys fairy tales more
than he did when he was younger. This may be because the fact
behind the fancy now makes a stronger appeal. The following list
represents six months' reading, from the age of 7 years 0 months
to 7 years 6 months, some of the books being read to A, to reduce
eyestrain. [4]
_On Plymouth Rock_ S. A. Drake
_Four Great Americans_ J. Baldwin
_Stories of New York_ A. T. Lovering
_The Children's City_ E. Singleton
_The Burgess Bird Book_ Thornton Burgess
_The Burgess Animal Book_
_The Empire State_ J. W. Redway
_Around the World with the Children_ F. G. Carpenter
_East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon_ G. W. Dasent
_Miles Standish_ H. W. Longfellow
_The Wreck of the Hesperus_ H. W. Longfellow
_Fables_ Bulfinch
_Aesop's Fables_
_Tales and Teachings from the
Pentateuch_ M. M. Joseph
_The Little Gray Grandmother_ Carolyn S. Bailey
_Stories of the Bible_ Louise M. Pleasanton
_The Pied Piper of Hamelin_ R. Browning
_Tanglewood Tales_ N. Hawthorne
_First Jungle Book_ R. Kipling
_Second Jungle Book_ R. Kipling
_Poems_ J. W. Riley
_Poems_ Eugene Field
_Poems_ R. L. Stevenson
_The Wonder Book of Knowledge_
_The Blue Bird_ M. Maeterlinck
_Historic Boyhoods_ R. S. Holland
_The Friendly Stars_ M. E. Martin
This list gives an idea of the reading preferences of A, at
the age of 7 years. Within the year following, the preference
for biography and autobiography developed.
_Interest in astronomy_. Because other very young children of more
than 180 IQ known to the present writer had been especially
interested in astronomy--particularly Child E--it was desired to
observe what would be the reaction of A if knowledge of astronomy
were made accessible to him. Books which had interested Child E at
the age of 6 to 7 years were therefore made accessible to A. He at
once became interested in the heavenly bodies and their movements.
_Tendency to classify and diagram_. A's love of classifying--
first noted at the age of about 12 months--is a conspicuous
characteristic. He classifies events, objects, names, numbers,
and other data of experience. He can think in terms of diagrams
and sometimes draws a diagram to clarify or condense his meaning.
_Lightning calculation_. A's keenest intellectual interest is
probably in numbers, and he has responded very readily to his
father's instruction in short-cut methods of calculation. By March,
1922, he could very quickly square any number up to 100; multiply
any two numbers of a sum not to exceed 200; square any number up
to 1000 ending in 5 such as 865, 935, etc.); square any number up
to 10,000, ending in 55 or in 555; solve problems in proportion,
such as 9 : 21 :: 21 : _x_, 8 ÷ 42 :: _x_ ÷ 21, 8 : 9 :: 10 : _x_,
subtract the square of one number ending in 5 from the square
of another number ending in 5, where the difference between
the two numbers is 10, or 20, or 30 (e.g., 2255² or 2245² or
3345² or 3325²). Also at that age he could calculate series of
operations, thus: "Take 2, square it, square that, divide by 4,
cube it, add 17, take the square root, add 7, square it, square it,
give the result," his calculations taking about five seconds each.
EDITOR'S SUPPLEMENT
The author's original write-up of Child A ends with the above,
written early in 1923. From records in the author's files the
following further data concerning later development may be added:
_December 26, 1923_
AGE: 9 years 6 months
SCHOOL GRADE: Sixth
TEST RECORD: Given Stanford-Binet by L. S. H. with Mental Age of
16-11. This would give IQ 178, but the comment is made, "Can no
longer be measured by Stanford-Binet." On this day also given
Army Alpha, with a score of 128 points, this being the score
assigned to chronological age 17 years 8 months.
PHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS:
Standing height 54.2 inches
Sitting height 27.9 inches
Weight 74.3 pounds
Head circumference 21.5 inches
Right grip 14, 17, 18
Left grip 14, 12, 14
TEACHERS' REPORTS. (Private school, September 22-December 19,
1924) "A's reports show that he has attained high credit in
mathematics and history; low credit in French, shopwork, art,
music, and physical training; average credit in other subjects.
His written work shows improvement.
"He presents the usual problem of the unadjusted. There is now
more alertness in his manner, but still a lack of the will to do
work because it is a group demand. Something more of maturity
has come to him with his greater freedom. He has started the
manual-training problem with some sense of self-discipline.
"If he will now attack his work with the mental grip of which
he must be capable, and give to the group the benefit of his
ability, it will be a joy to have him among us."
_December 22, 1924_
AGE: 10 years 6 months
SCHOOL GRADE: Seventh
TEST RECORD: On Stanford-Binet, passed 4 of the 6 Superior
Adult Tests, failing on Tests 1 and 4. Alpha score, 166 points.
PHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS:
Standing height 56.2 inches
Sitting height 29.4 inches
Weight 80.5 pounds
Head circumference 21.5 inches
Right grip 18, 18, 16
Left grip 19, 17, 15
_December 22, 1925_
AGE: 11 years 6 months
SCHOOL GRADE: Eighth
TEST RECORD: Passed all tests on Superior Adult level,
Stanford-Binet. Took two forms of Army Alpha. Form 7, 162
points, and on Form 5, 168 points.
PHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS: _Norm_
Standing height 58.1 inches 56.7 inches
Sitting height 29.4 inches
Weight 88.8 pounds 75.5 pounds
Head circumference 21.7 inches
_November 18, 1926_
AGE: 12 years 5 months
TEST RECORD: Score on Army Alpha, 175 points
PHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS: _Norm_
Standing height 60.0 inches 57.8 inches
(in shoes)
Sitting height 30.0 inches
Weight (without coat) 93.0 pounds 84.6 pounds
_January 12, 1929_
AGE: 14 years 7 months
SCHOOL GRADE: Third Year High School
TEST RECORD: Score on Army Alpha, 194 points
PHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS: _Norm_
Standing height 64.2 inches 62.2 inches
Sitting height 32.5 inches
Weight (clothed) 118 pounds 98.9 pounds
(stripped) 114 pounds
_October, 1929, to February, 1930_
SCHOOL GRADES:
English Literature C+
English Composition C
German B-
Geometry B+
Trigonometry B+
Science B+
_January and June, 1931_
AGE: 16 years 6 months to 17 years
SCHOOL GRADE: Now a freshman in college
TEST RECORD: Was given CAVD test, Levels M, N, O, P, Q, at
two different sittings--one in January, the other in June.
Score 422 points. (According to available information 400
points is twelfth-grade college entrance score in high-type
colleges, while 421 points is the upper quartile score of
candidates for advanced degrees in Teachers College, Columbia
University, the median being 415.)
_January 20, 1932_
At the age of 17 years 7 months, in the third year of college,
he scored 204 points on Army Alpha, Form 8, a score made
only by the top one per cent of college juniors, seniors, and
graduate students.
_November 23, 1939_
Notice was received of A's marriage.
[1] Demonstration test before a class of teachers.
[2] The score of 95 points on Army Alpha, Form 7, on February 22,
1923, corresponds to a mental level of 16 years, 0 months by
Stanford-Binet. This (if translatable into IQ) would result
in an IQ of 184.
[3] Measurements were made without clothing, by Dr. Herman Schwartz.
[4] The Burgess books had been read often before.
CHAPTER FIVE
CHILD B
Child B is a girl, born November 25, 1912. She was discovered
in a private school in the course of a systematic survey made
by Dr. E. H. Malherbe, who was at the time a graduate student
at Teachers College, Columbia University. To Dr. Malherbe the
present writer is indebted for introduction to this child, and
also for data on first tests as well as for other information.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Child B is descended from colonial settlers in this country.
Her ancestors came chiefly from the British Isles, as set forth
in her family history. Her parents are not related by blood
so far as can be known.
The paternal grandfather was of English descent; the paternal
grandmother of Irish descent. No dependent or incompetent relatives
of the father are known. All are self-sustaining.
The maternal grandfather was of Irish-Spanish blood. The maternal
grandmother was of Irish descent. No incompetent or dependent
relatives are known.
_Father_. Child B's father was born in Vermont and was 42 years
old when B was born. He is a high school graduate and a graduate
of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He passed
the entrance examinations for the latter institution at the age
of 16 years and was at that time the youngest student ever admitted
to the Academy. He has held posts of extraordinary trust in the
pursuit of his profession, and is at the time of this writing an
officer of high rank in the United States Army.
_Mother_. Child B's mother is a graduate of a Catholic parochial
high school and of the College of Mount St. Vincent. She was
married at an early age and her career has been that of housewife
and mother, no profession having been followed previous to marriage.
Although she is the mother of seven children and mistress of a
large household, B's mother found time to attend courses in law
and economics at Columbia University while the family lived in
New York. She was 39 years old when B was born.
_Noteworthy relatives_. Relatives of note in the paternal branch
include B's great-grandfather, who was a physician, founder of the
Vermont Academy of Medicine in the early years of the nineteenth
century, and a professor of surgery there. There are also among
relatives an admiral of the United States Navy, [1] a physician
of wide reputation, a commander of the United States Navy, [2]
and a practical tin- and coppersmith who was an inventor. This
family branch as a whole finds its average level of achievement
in the professions.
The maternal branch includes a woman of extraordinary business
ability, a priest who was a scholar and organizer of marked
ability, and a mining engineer of unusual achievement. The
performance level of the family lies, on the average, in business
and the professions.
_Immediate family_. B is the sixth born of seven siblings. Of these
children, two--the brother born two years before B and the brother
born five years after B--have had mental tests. The older brother
was measured in the course of the mental survey made by Dr.
Malherbe. His IQ (S-B) at the age of 10 years 6 months was 167.
This is not a full measure of his brother, as he passed many tests
at the highest levels of performance provided by the scale.
A still older brother passed the entrance examinations for the
Columbia College, from which may be inferred intelligence above
the average. The younger brother's IQ (S-B) at the age of 6 years
10 months was 138.
PRESCHOOL HISTORY
The preschool history of B has been elicited from the parents.
She cut her first tooth at 7 months. She began to talk at 9 months
of age and to walk at 15 months. As soon as she was able to walk
out with her nurse or her mother, at about the age of 24 months,
B began to notice the letters on billboards and to spell out
words. By the time she was in the third year of life she could
read fluently in simple books. (The brother whose IQ is referred
to above as 167 did not read until he was about 4 years 6 months
of age.)
SCHOOL HISTORY
B has always attended private schools. She began her school life
in kindergarten, at the age of 3 years, and attended the same
school until the age of nearly 9 years. At the age of 8 years
4 months she had reached only the fourth grade, whereas in the
battery of educational tests given as a part of the school survey
she passed at that age the seventh-grade standards for public
schools.
In appraising the great discrepancy between school progress and
ability in this case, it is necessary to bear in mind that children
in some private schools are highly selected as regards intellect.
The median IQ in this particular school was shown by the survey
to be much above 100; so that B was not so hopelessly misplaced
in the fourth grade there as would have been the case had she
attended public school. The fact of competition with selected
children reduces the discrepancy, although it is still very great.
At the age of 8 years 9 months, B entered a private school
in Washington, D. C. Here she was placed in the sixth grade,
"skipping" the fifth grade. Her school reports have always been
very excellent, "almost always E in every subject."
In the autumn of 1922 B entered the seventh grade, aged 9 years
9 months. She was the youngest pupil in a class of about 20
children, and held first rank. "She leads in every regular subject
except catechism, geography, and history." B "likes all subjects
except catechism, giving first place, at the age of 9 years,
to arithmetic. Her school marks for 1922-1923 are as follows,
the marks indicating as is usual: 100, perfect; 90, very good;
80, good; 70, fair; 60, deficient."
B'S MARKS, GRADE VII. AGE 9 YEARS 10 MONTHS.
SUBJECT 1922 1922 1923 1923
Oct. 31 Dec. 15 Jan. 31 Mar. 27
Catechism 95 90 80 94
Grammar 92 94 85 90
Composition 87 88 85
Spelling 93 95 100 98
Letter writing 85 85 80
American history 85 80 88 90
Geography 94 87 90 94
Arithmetic 90 90 100 90
Oral French 95 95 96 95
Penmanship D C 75
Reading 90 91 85
Choral singing 80 80 95
Drawing 90 90 90
Plain sewing 80 85 85
Rules of observance 90 100 97 94
Bible history 94 90 86 93
At the age of 11 years B entered high school and is doing good
work there, but without much stimulus of competition, as there
are but a few pupils in her grade.
Unlike several of the children who have an IQ of more than 180,
B has never been a school problem. She has always been a "good
mixer" with children of her school grade, and has taken part in
their activities. Being a very large, strong child, she has not
been so much "out of it" in motor skill as to be conspicuous
among older schoolmates. As evidences of unusual manual dexterity
the following may be mentioned: at the age of 5 years B knitted
on steel needles a pair of socks which were worn by her little
brother; at 6 years she made edible rice puddings; at 7 years
of age she made cookies.
TRAITS OF CHARACTER
No one among parents and teachers has mentioned any character
trait considered faulty. The virtues most frequently mentioned
and emphasized are modesty, reliability, self-direction, poise,
good humor, amiability, and "being a good sport."
JUDGMENT OF TEACHERS
It is remarkable that no adverse comments have been offered by any
of B's teachers. All teachers have rated B high in character and
intellect. The chief error in judgment lies in not ranking her as
high as she really stands. This error arises partly from the fact
that teachers in the private schools B attended deal with selected
children whom they may come to think of as representing the average
of child ability. The judgments of B's teachers may be quoted as
follows:
Remembered in our kindergarten chiefly for her vivid imagination.
_From the head mistress of the school_.
One of the most popular children in the school. _From a teacher_.
It is some time since I had B as a pupil, but I am glad to
tell you my impressions of the child as I remember her.
She was a very quiet, unassuming member of the class. She
had remarkable powers of concentratio
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