The Wassermann test in the feebleminded

Summary and Conclusions

In a large institution for the feebleminded the incidence of positive Wassermann tests amounts to 5–6 per cent with about equal representation of strongly and weakly positive reactions.

The incidence of positive Wassermann tests among feebleminded children appears to be higher than among children in orphanages of higher average mentality.

The logical assumption is brought out that in those cases representing the degenerative phase of syphilis, a failure to show a positive Wassermann reaction should be expected in increasing frequence in lower grades of the feebleminded. This should tend to lower the incidence of positive Wassermann reactions in lower grades of the feebleminded. Such a relation between the incidence of positive Wassermann reactions and mental level is designated as theI. Q.-gradient. The distribution of positive Wassermann tests among the grades of the feebleminded (morons, imbeciles and idiots), especially at an early age of the subjects, demonstrates a certain justification for the above concept of the I. Q.-gradient.

On the whole, the data submitted above substantiate again the general opinion that statistics on the positive Wassermann reaction do not reflect adequately syphilogenic processes and, therefore, cannot be used by themselves for evaluation of syphilis as a factor in the etiology of feeblemindedness.