throughout that love of display and notoriety, that longing to be the center of observation and talk, which is so characteristic of imbeciles. He asked the alienists who were examining him if his picture would be in the paper and what the people were saying about him. According to the testimony of the experts who examined him in jail, every occasion on which he was examined was regarded by Jean with pleasure, and his only thought apparently was that he was the center of observation. Instead of showing some realization of his crime and that he was exerting himself to make an appearance that would be favorable to his case, all the evidence was of the opposite character. None of the witnesses for the prosecution were able to hide the fact that he was light-hearted and frivolous, and, in a word, “showing off,” throughout these various examinations.

Throughout the whole time of the writer’s examination of him Jean never for one moment evidenced by word or action any thought as to how his conduct or his answers to questions would affect his case. As was pointed out by the defense, quite in keeping with his mentality was his statement to the experts employed by the prosecution, that he had been told not to talk, in spite of which he talked incessantly and told everything that they wanted. The fact of the matter was that his desire to show off so far overcame any thought of self-preservation that he talked and acted freely in spite of his lawyer’s caution that he should not answer questions. His conduct in the court room throughout the trial was that of an imbecile, of a child, who had no realization of the predicament that he was in and no purpose to make a good appearance. He was in the limelight and he enjoyed it. Even when the most gruesome details of his deed were being recited, he evidenced no feeling of horror or sorrow or fear; on the contrary he was indifferent, and frequently even laughed at the incidents that were related. He showed no excitement after he got home that evening; he slept well. His only comment on his prison cell, which to a normal person would have been loathsome in the extreme, was that it was better than St. Vincent’s, where he had been at school. Even when the experts introduced by his own counsel were examining him, and when, had he been intelligent, he should have known that it was to his advantage to make the best possible appearance, to give them every possible help, yet when his dinner was brought into his cell, he could think of nothing but eating and ignored the people who had been sent to help him. As one of the experts testified, “As between soup and safety, Jean prefers soup.”

These facts and circumstances alone are enough to satisfy any person who is familiar with the character of the inmates of our institutions for the feeble-minded that Jean was an imbecile and really belonged in an institution. But besides these circumstances several witnesses were introduced who testified to the curious and childish actions of Jean in his past history. Quite recently, he had tried to catch pigeons by putting salt on their tails. The prosecuting attorney called attention to the fact that almost every man remembers going through the same experience, but it may be safely asserted that this is not done by any normal boy after the age of twelve. It is a childish act, and indicates a mentality of less than eleven.

Peter Black, the village blacksmith, testified that some one sent Jean to him one day for “strap oil”; that he carried out the joke by slapping Jean with a strap, but was unable to make him see that the whole thing was a joke. He teased and bullied the other children in a way that is characteristic of the high-grade imbecile. Mrs. Anna Newman testified that he was a restless boy, and that sometimes he would answer her questions and sometimes not. Every superintendent of an institution for the feeble-minded would instantly recognize these characteristics as common among his inmates. The reader will find more of these incidents in the Appendix, pp. 113-119.

One of the unique features, so far as court procedure is concerned, was the introduction into the case, of examinations by means of the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale of Intelligence. The writer’s examination of Jean consisted largely of the use of these tests, and as a result he estimated his mentality at approximately ten years of age. It was somewhat difficult to estimate his mentality with the usual exactness since others had already used the tests, and it was impossible to say how much Jean had learned from his previous examinations. As a matter of fact, in some cases at least, he had not profited by the experiences which should have helped him greatly had he been a normal boy. For example, one of the tests is to draw from memory a diagram which he has been allowed to study for ten seconds. It is clear that if one were given this test two or three times, at the last trial he should have a pretty good idea of it and be able to draw it correctly. Although the writer’s use of this test was in the last of the series of those who tested him, yet he did not succeed in drawing it. This is usually drawn by a child of ten years. When asked to repeat a certain sentence, he replied, “Oh, I have been asked that a hundred times.” But in spite of the fact that he had heard it several times he failed to remember it, and yet this sentence is generally remembered by a child of twelve.

This is not the place nor is it necessary to discuss the Binet tests themselves. A word, however, may be said as to why the experts for the prosecution did not get the same results with the tests that those of the defense obtained. Also it seems necessary to make a brief explanation, since the prosecuting attorney failed so markedly to understand the tests in spite of the fact that he had had the instruction of one of his own experts who used them. One of the prosecution’s experts told the writer that he did not ask Jean any questions except those in the twelve-year list, and he “seemed to do those satisfactorily.” There are two sources of error in this. In the first place, Jean’s failures were not only in the twelve-year, but in the eleven and ten. Secondly, if Jean seemed to do the twelve-year tests correctly, it could only have been because they were wrongly used. The Binet Scale is not, as the prosecutor insisted on stating, an “arbitrary system.” It is not a set of questions to which there are definite and fixed answers that are correct, and from which any deviation is marked a failure. Nor is it a set of questions the answers to which can be judged as to their correctness by the so-called “common sense” of the investigator. To illustrate: Jean was asked to give the definition of the word “charity”; he said, “Charity is giving.” The prosecuting attorney insisted that this was a correct answer, because, as he said, “Charity is giving.” This is mere sophistry. It is not a question as to whether “charity is giving” is a theoretically correct answer to the question; the important point is, that such an answer is not the kind of answer that is given by twelve-year-old children. This has been proved by asking hundreds of twelve-year-old children to define “charity.” Practically 75 per cent of such children include not only the idea of giving, but the other necessary idea of giving to some one who is in need. The answer, “Charity is giving,” is characteristic not of twelve-year mentality, but of something under that,—ten or less. So throughout the system the scale must not be judged by what seem correct or incorrect answers to the inexperienced adult. The value of an answer can only be known by knowing the character of