1810 THELWALL, John (1764 – 1834)
A letter to Henry Cline, Esq. on imperfect developements (sic) of the faculties mental and moral, as well as constitutional and organic; and on on the treatment of impediments of speech.
The first book on mental deficiency. Thelwall recognized that sensory deprivation could be a cause of apparent mental defect through his work with handicapped children. He established criteria for distinguishing betwe…
GMN 4969.2 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6384
1846 SÉGUIN, Édouard (1812 – 1880)
Traitement moral, hygiène et education des idiots…
Séguin was the first to outline a complete plan for the training of mental defectives. A pupil of Itard and Esquirol, he subsequently worked in America, where he published Idiocy: and its treatment by the physiologica…
GMN 4937 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6188
1912 GODDARD, Henry Herbert (1866 – 1957)
The Kallikak family: A study in the heredity of feeble-mindedness.
When this book was published Goddard was Director of the Research Laboratory of the Training School at Vineland, New Jersey, for Feeble-minded Girls and Boys. Though this work drew wide attention to the problems of pe…
GMN 11535 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13734
1934 FØLLING, Ivar Asbjørn (1888 – 1973)
Utskillelse av fenylpyrodruesyre i urinen som stoffskifteanomali i forbindelse med imbecilletet.
Phenylketonuria (PKU) first described. This was the first hereditary metabolic disorder shown to be responsible for mental retardation. German translation in Hoppe-Seyl. Z. physiol. Chem., 1934, 227, 169-76. English t…
GMN 3924 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5067
1949 BECK, Claude Schaeffer (1894 – 1971); ET AL
Revascularization of the brain through establishment of a cervical arteriovenous fistula. Effects in children with mental retardation and convulsive disorders.
With C. F. McKhann and W. D. Belnap.
GMN 4914 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6009
1994 TRENT, James W. Jr.
Inventing the feeble mind: A history of mental retardation in the United States.
GMN 10500 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12693
