Henry Baird Favill, AB, MD, LL.D., 1860-1916, a ... - University Library

344 HENRY BAIRD FA V ILL
basis of conduct or upon a punitive basis.
The less those
conceptions enter into the management of the defective, the
easier the path toward mental reconstruction.
In so far as defectiveness is mere deficiency- it may be
very simple and essentially of quantitative value,
but perversion
is qualitative and usually very complex. At a
glance it is not at all easy to draw this distinction.
Administrative functions are more and more being complicated
by the recognition of a need for this definition.
Lack of discrimination herein is so patent and grievous that
only the fact of underlying ignorance can save placing the
stigma of "scandalous" upon the situation. The sick, the
poor, the criminal, the insane, are all subject to the accidental
grouping instituted by traditional and prejudiced
administration of social corrections. That such definitions
in truth are not hard and fast, intelligent students are coming
to believe. The more reason, then, that the boundaries
be elastic, the mass mobile, in order that the individuals
may be adjusted to their needs, as they appear. Accuracy
of definition is not sharpness or rigidity. It lies in the
comprehension of the individual observance and its needs.
The important consideration in this question is, how to
escape from the hitherto almost universal error of superficial
classification. Is a person vicious because his act is
vicious? If so, is it intrinsic and permanent obliquity, or
is it amenable to treatment? If a vicious act does not
imply essential viciousness, what factors of extenuation are
there, and how are these to be interpreted for more just
classification ''
These are not academic questions. They are propositions
that arise as scientific study of degeneracy, defectiveness,
and delinquency proceeds. Interpretation of individuals
of a class will be a necessary step before final
definition of classes can be established.
Provisional disposition
of abnormal types is perhaps justified by social
and economic exigency, but it is not the less provisional