Note 252 — Chapter I

Dr. Paul Sollier, Psychologie de l’Idiot et de l’Imbécile, p. 109 et seq.: ‘There exists among idiots another instinct which is met with, nevertheless, to a certain degree among normal children. This is destructiveness, which shows itself among all children as a first manifestation of their powers of movement, under the form of a desire to strike, break, and destroy.... This tendency is much more pronounced among idiots.... It is not the same with imbeciles. Their malicious and mischievous spirit drives them to destroy, not only for the purpose of expending their strength, but with the object of injuring. It is an unwholesome gratification which they seek.’