2141.
in a small place like Cambridge than in larger towns.
Do you think there is any possibility of arriving at this "effective definition" before the Act - as we will hope passed next session - takes effect? And when it is arrived at will it not be years before it is acted on - taking the present state of ignorance into account Here in Cambridge? I doubt if there is a single doctor (except Sir Clifford Allbutt) who has had any special training in dealing with mental defectives, nor a single school-master or mistress either. One mistress in a poor district here says she does not believe in the existence of mentally defective children! But please let us help you if we can, in clearing up the point you write about. Have you any forms we could fill in? The cases Miss Mackenzie spoke of to you were to be sent to [underscore]Sir Wm. Byrne[end underscore] at the Home Office, not to Mr. Loch. They were some of them typical of the impossibility of [crossed out text] effective treatment under existing conditions of the law & others were to show how philanthropy & the state might work together. We might after fresh investigations be able to make use of some of them for your purpose, if you cared to have them.
Yours sincerely
Ida Darwin
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