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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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Part:         Session:         Page of 731

They testified that the present condition, which was undoubtedly very unfortunate, was in no way the result of the accident. There was no connection between the accident and his present condition. He was a constitutional mental inferior. I remember that phrase because that became a common phrase used so many times by the psychiatrists that testified for the insurance companies - a constitutional mental inferior.

I remember saying to the doctor, “I've never heard that term before. What is it?”

He said, “It's just that a man is born without a very good mind, without a very good brain. Nothing can be done about it. He's going to be that way forever.”

I said, “Did you ever see him the day before he came to you a month ago for examination?”

“Oh, no, no.”

“Would you mind telling me how you discovered that he was a constitutional mental inferior? How were you able to determine it?”

“Well,” he said, “I asked him some questions.”

“Such as?”

“I asked him the cause of the war (the First World War of course) and he answered that he did not know.”

I never have forgotten that conversation because at that time none of us knew what the cause of the First World





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