Child E when first seen was a boy 8 years 4 months of age. He was born June 17, 1908, and the first psychological measurements were made November 4, 1916. The circumstances that led to acquaintance with him were as follows:
A child of exceptional intelligence was desired for demonstration before a class at Teachers College, Columbia University, engaged in the study of the psychology and treatment of exceptional children. [1] E was suggested because of his remarkable school record. The consent of the parents was secured and the psychological examination was made before a class of about thirty students.
This was not, of course, the ideal circumstance under which to perform a mental test for scientific record. The presumption would be that the audience would tend to reduce the child's performance, so that whatever error there might be from this source would be in the direction of making the child appear less exceptional than he really was. Of course no one knew beforehand that such a phenomenal record was about to be made; for had such an unusual result been expected this child would have been kept for examination under more favorable laboratory conditions. [2] For an account of this testing, see under "Mental measurements," [this chapter.]
Little or nothing is known of E's paternal relatives. His father was separated from them before age of recollection.
Of E's maternal ancestry fairly complete genealogical records are available. [3] Five persons bearing the surname of the mother settled in New England before 1650. These were probably all related to each other. The individual who was E's direct ancestor first appeared in New England in 1639 and settled at Cambridge, Massachusetts. This family attained great distinction in the six generations recorded in the New England genealogy. A son of the first ancestor in America was a royal councilor and the greatest merchant of his day in New England. A grandson was royal governor of Massachusetts, and later of New Jersey; he was also a patron of learning. A great-grandson was chief justice and lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia. A great-great-grandson was a royal councilor of Nova Scotia; some of his children settled again in England, of whom a son was a distinguished naval officer, attaining the rank of rear admiral in the British navy. These genealogical records, and other records of New England families which intermarried with this family, have not been brought up to date.
The maternal surname appears first about 1176 in the records of England, and was apparently Norman-French in origin. The remote male ancestor [4] from whom the mother of E derives the middle part of her maiden name was born in Providence, Rhode Island, March 11, 1753, a descendant of early colonial settlers in America. He was graduated from Rhode Island College (now Brown University) in 1773 and later took a medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1783 he was appointed Professor of Materia Medica and Botany at Brown. In 1819 he was elected a delegate from the Rhode Island Medical Society, of which he was vice president, to the convention which formulated the National Pharmacopoeia. He took an active part in the organization and proceedings of the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry. In 1824, with his son, William, he publishedThe Farmer's Guide, "a comprehensive work on husbandry and gardening." He participated in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and delivered many lectures on botany. He died at the age of 81 years, leaving among descendants a large proportion of persons in the learned professions.
Father. E's father, while still a college undergraduate, produced a Latin play which was performed in a Boston theater. Since graduation from college he has maintained a keen interest in educational matters. He organized a special library of insurance in Boston which is now used as a reference library all over the world. He is at present [[1939]] engaged in business; has written several books; is a university lecturer on insurance; has served on many important city commissions. Unusual mental endowment is clearly indicated by the fact that he rose entirely by his own direction and effort to a post of honor in an intricate field of knowledge. He was 45 years old when E was born.
Mother. E's mother was a qualified physician and a specialist in bacteriology. For some years she held a position as bacteriologist in one of the municipal departments of New York City. After the birth of her son she devoted a great deal of attention to his education and welfare, keeping records of his development, supervising his health, and acting as his teacher. She often accompanied him to school, sometimes registered for courses along with him, or herself took courses calculated to make her more useful in his training. She gave an exceptional amount of attention to his formal educational program and cultivated with him numerous extracurricular intellectual activities. During E's college career the two were often seen together on the campus.
E was his parents' fourth child, three girls having been born before him, all having died. Birth was difficult. He was bottle fed. His parents were both in middle life at the time of his birth. He cut his first tooth at 8 months—a lateral incisor. He walked at thirteen months.
Up to the age of 2 years E did not say a word. He then began to talk, and before he was 3 years old was able to read such books asPeter Rabbit. Conversation with him was carried on in German, French, Italian, and English equally. When he did begin to talk he could say in these four languages all the words he knew.
Health. E's health has been exceptionally good from infancy. He has had no disorders or diseases except measles, and an occasional attack of indigestion. He is exceptionally free from colds.
Physical measurements. The figures given below asaveragesare for a boy of 8 years 4 months who is the same height as E. The average height for a boy of this age is 49.7 inches. The measurements here given for E were transcribed from the gymnasium records of the school he was then attending.
Weight 89.3 pounds 70.5 poundsHeight 54.3 inches 54.3 poundsGirth of chest 31.8 inches 25.6 inchesGirth of chest,expanded 32.4 inches 26.8 inchesLung capacity 100 cubic inches 112.0 cubic inchesStrength, rightforearm 30.9 pounds 39.7 poundsStrength, leftforearm 22.0 pounds 37.5 pounds
It will thus be seen that E is considerably larger than the average boy of his age, though of less lung capacity and forearm strength.
Other characteristics. E has clear, well-molded features. He does not like physical exercise of any kind but has had special attention along this line, such as lessons in swimming, dancing, and horseback riding. He sleeps eleven hours and goes to sleep immediately upon going to bed.
E went to kindergarten from the age of 3 years to the age of 5 years. From 5 to 6 he was out of school on account of school organization (he could not be accepted in the first grade). From 6 to 7 years he attended an open-air, ungraded school and did the work of the second to the fourth grades. From 7 to 8 years he was in the fourth grade in regular school classes, and at the time of first observation by the writer, when he was 8 years old, he was in the sixth grade.
He was thus three full years accelerated in school grading, according to age-grade norms, but was still three years retarded in school according to his Mental Age. (Terman makes special note of the fact that superior children are almost invariably retarded in school grading according to Mental Age.) His mother stated that under private tutors E had at this time covered the work of the seventh and nearly all the work of the eighth grade. His school standing, on his last report preceding this initial account, was as follows (the highest attainable rating is 1, the lowest, 4):
Courtesy 1 Composition 2 Penmanship 3Promptness 1 Grammar or Industrial Arts 1 [7]System 1 Language 2 Fine Arts 4 [8]Spelling 2 Mathematics 3 [6] Music 2Reading or Geography 1 Physical Educa-Literature 1 History 1 tion 4Science 1
In addition to his regular school work E, by the time he was 8 years old, had covered the following special work in language and mathematics, either with a tutor or with his mother:
Mathematics: Algebra as far as equations; geometry.
Latin: Partial knowledge of the four declensions (he has beentaught by the direct, informal method, and reads easy Latin).
Greek: Worked out the alphabet for himself from an astronomicalchart, between the ages of 5 and 6 years.
French: Equal to about two years in the ordinary school.
German: Ordinary conversation.
Spanish: Attended class with his mother—reads and understands.
Italian: Reading knowledge and simple conversation.
Portugese: Asked his mother to take this course at the ColumbiaSummer School because he could not be registered himself.
Hebrew: A beginning.
Anglo-Saxon: A beginning.
Astronomy: He has worked out all the constellations fromMacCready, and displays a very great interest in this subject.
One evening this winter he noticed a new planet near theTwins. He said it was Saturn but his mother thought it wasMars. E went home, worked the position out from the chartand found it to be Saturn.
Miscellaneous: He has a great interest in nature, wherever found,and is already able to use Apgar intelligently.
His writing is not equal to his other accomplishments. He is very slow at it and for this reason dictates most of his "home work" to a stenographer.
History is his chief and absorbing interest among school subjects.
At the time E was first tested, at Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity, in November, 1916, the Stanford revision of theBinet-Simon measuring scale was used for the determination ofthe child's mental level.
General intelligence. The examiner [[L. S. H.]] began with the "ball-in-the-field" test. E responded at once with the superior solution, thus giving a preliminary cue to the quality of his mind, and the examiner proceeded immediately with the other tests at the 12-year level of intellect. E passed all the 12-year tests with facility and ease, giving responses of excellent quality. From the 12-year level the examiner then worked forward in all the higher levels through Superior Adult. This is, of course, a long examination, and in view of the actual age of the child it was deemed best to give the tests at two separate sittings, when it was seen that he would cover the whole upper range of the scale. The examination was therefore accomplished in two sittings of about fifty minutes each. The final record of E shows that he measures on the scale as follows:
Levels 1 yearto 7 years YEARS MONTHS
891012 1214 16Adult 15Superior Adult 12—- ——Total 15 7
Since his actual age is 8 years 4 months and his Mental Age is 15 years 7 months, his IQ is 187. On the curve of the distribution of intellect he stands eleven times the probable error (11 PE) removed from the norm, a position occupied by but one child in more than a million. He stands as far removed from the average in the direction of superiority as an idiot stands removed from the average in the direction of inferiority.
An analysis of his performance shows that E had extraordinary appreciation of the exact use of words and of the shades of difference between words. He gave correct meanings for 64 words out of the 100 in the vocabulary test. His vocabulary thus includes 11,520 words. The score of the Average Adult is 65 words. Thus he just missed scoring on this Average Adult test. Samples of his definitions are as follows:
scorch—is what happens to a thing when exposed to great heat.quake—is a kind of movement, unintended.ramble—is a walk taken for pleasure.nerve—is a thing you feel by—for instance, cold.majesty—is a word used to address a king—your majesty.Mars—is a planet.peculiarity—is something you do that nobody else does.mosaic—is a picture made by many small pieces of marble.bewail—is to be extremely sorrowful.tolerate—is to allow others to do what you don't like yourself.lotus—is a kind of flower.harpy—is a kind of half-bird, half-woman, referred to in Virgil.fen—is a kind of marsh.laity—isnotclergy.ambergris—it comes from a whale.straw—the stalk of a cereal plant.lecture—someone giving a very long talk about something to anaudience.
E also has a prodigious ability for comprehending and formulating abstract ideas, and for working with symbols. He gave the differences between the abstract concepts under Average Adult as follows:
a—laziness and idleness. Laziness is that you don'twantto work; idleness is that youcan't, for a while.
b—evolution and revolution. Evolution is making things fromthe beginning; revolution is changing them.
c—poverty and misery. Poverty is when you don't have anything;misery is how you feel when someone insults you.
d—character and reputation. Character is what hereallyis; reputation is what theythinkhe is.
E succeeded in reversing the clock hands three times without any error in less than a minute for each trial. He was able to reproduce the thought from the selection beginning "Many opinions have been given about the value of life" as well as a Superior Adult. He solved the three mental arithmetic problems under XIV, 5, in less than a minute each, absolutely without error. These performances serve to illustrate his precocious power over symbols and over abstractions.
His attention, concentration, and capacity for sustained effort are illustrated by the fact that he was able to repeat five digits backwards twice out of three trials absolutely without error, before a class of thirty adults. His memory span for digits repeated forward is at least 8. (He was not tried with more than 8 digits.)
During the examination he showed neither embarrassment nor any tendency to "show off." He was alert, interested, and gave his attention strictly to the business in hand. He always knew when he had failed on a test, and gave up with great reluctance. For example, he was unable to solve the problems under XVIII, 6, in the time allotted; but he carried these data away in his head, and held to them tenaciously till he had solved the problems. In several instances after he had given his reply he recast it in better form. In short, he exemplified in remarkable degree all the characteristics which Binet finally chose as symptomatic of intellectual power; i.e., (1) the ability to make and maintain a given direction; (2) the capacity to make adaptations for the purpose of obtaining a desired end; and (3) the power of auto-criticism.
Special tests. Following the procedure described by Seashore, and using the set of forks recommended by him, E was tested for pitch discrimination, being given seven trials with the whole series of forks. His record was as follows, ## meaning a correct answer and — meaning a false one.
VIBRATION DIFFERENCES30 23 17 12 8 5 3 2 1 .5Series1 ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ##2 ## ## — ## ## ## ## ## — —3 ## ## ## ## ## — ## — — ##4 ## ## ## ## ## — ## — ## —5 ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## — —6 ## ## ## ## ## — ## ## ## —7 ## ## ## ## ## — ## — ## ##
His threshold for pitch discrimination would thus seem to be not greater than five vibrations, and would probably be found to be as low as three if a more complete test were possible. This is a very good record, according to Seashore's standards.
E gave free associations to the first 50 words of the Kent-Rosanoff list of words, both stimulus and response words being oral. The stimulus words and responses follow:
STIMULUS RESPONSE STIMULUS RESPONSE STIMULUS RESPONSE table dinner smooth surface needle slim dark night command army red color music soft chair cushion sleep fast sickness fatal sweet sugar anger sick man tall whistle blew carpet bagger deep ocean woman lady girl pretty soft couch cold coal high mountain eating dinner slow train working people mountain snowcapped wish I sour lemon house brick river Hudson earth big black dog white color trouble great mutton beef beautiful dress soldier brave comfort your window glass cabbage green hand dirty rough surface hard surface short man citizen U. S. eagle swift fruit orange foot bare stomach ache butterfly moth spider black
At once after giving some of these responses E explained why he had given them. Thus he explained that "carpet bagger" had to do "with Civil War history." After giving "beef" in response to "mutton" he smiled and said, "That's a joke, isn't it?" When asked why he thought it a joke he replied that he thought very few people would give that answer. After the test he was told that 97 people in a thousand gave "beef" in response to "mutton," and he at once said, "Ten per cent, that's not so very many."
It was impossible, for lack of time, to give E the complete list of 100 words usually given in this test. Using the 50 as a basis for calculation, 78 per cent of the responses are "common responses" in the Kent-Rosanoff sense of the word, a number of common responses which children do not usually show until after the age of 10 years. His "median of community" (a measure not yet standardized for age levels) is 1.4 per cent.
E was given the Pintner form of the Knox Cube Test, and achieved 11 of the 12 lines arranged by Pintner. The average record for the 16-year-old is only 8 lines, and this is the highest level for which this test is yet standardized.
The usual "tapping" test was given, tapping continuously with the right hand, with the stylus, for one minute. The record was 239 taps only, which is lower than the average 8-year-old record.
Given three minutes in which to make up words out of the lettersA-E-I-R-L-P, E made the following: a, rip, pie, lie, ale.
He was given thirty minutes in which to put together the pieces in the Stenquist Construction Box II, and was not able to put any of the pieces together. He began at one end of the box, examined each set of materials in turn, tried to put them together in an indiscriminate way, put them back, and went on to the next set of materials. He remarked, "I don't seem to be able to put any of them together. It seems that all I can do is found out what each of the things is for." He recognized that various sets of pieces were "a mousetrap," "a lock," "a bell," etc., but made a zero score from the point of view of construction. At the end of twenty minutes he gave up and turned away from the materials.
It is interesting to compare the child's record in construction tests and his comments regarding these tests, with his school record in industrial arts and fine arts. E receives the best possible rating in industrial arts because he has keen insight into processes and can explain how to construct a mechanism or perform an operation clearly and minutely, though he is unable to carry out his own instructions. For instance, he can tell exactly how to make a boat, but he cannot make the boat himself. There is thus an interesting distinction here between "constructive ability" and "manual dexterity." Similarly, in fine arts E has many ideas for decorative schemes, but he is unable to execute these ideas with his hands.
E does not care to play, and would never do so unless forced. He is very impersonal and agreeable in his attitude toward other children. His chief diversion is reading and his favorite book at the age of 8 isIvanhoe. He has no hobbies at this age. In the spring of 1916, after careful and thoughtful preparation, he was confirmed in the Episcopal church. His desire is to be a clergyman and to become a missionary. When asked what he would consider the most fun in life, he replied "To have statistics of my imaginary country." This country is on Venus. It is inhabited by people and has a navy like ours. E does not volunteer much information about his interests. All these items had to be elicited by questioning.
In the spring of 1920 E took the Thorndike Mental Tests for Freshmen, for entrance to Columbia College. An official letter from the Director of Admissions at Columbia College states that, "In the Freshmen Tests he was number two, out of 483 entering Columbia College." He was at this time 12 years 0 months old; the median age of his competitors was about 18 years.
ON September 29, 1921, E was examined by means of the Army Alpha (Forms 5 and 6, Examiner L. S. H.) for the purpose of recording his mental development. On Alpha, Form 5, he made a score of 194 points, finishing several of the tests, without error, before the time limit. On Form 6, which was taken subsequently, on the same afternoon, his score was 201 points; and with these, too, some of the tests were finished in about two thirds of the time allowed, without error. As the method of scoring Alpha does not provide for a time bonus, this cannot be taken into account in the formal score.
In April, 1927, at the request of the writer [[L. S. H.]] E took the tests of the IER Intelligence Scale CAVD, Levels M-Q. This series of tests is described in a recent publication. [9] Briefly it may be said here that this instrument was chosen for the purpose in hand because it is the most thorough method available for approximating in quantitative terms the intelligence of the best among college graduates.
E's score on this test, at Levels M-Q, was 441 points. The score of the average adult is not yet known, but the median score of college graduates in professional schools of first-rate standards is 415 points, with an upper quartile at 421 points. The best scores yet made by college graduates hover about 440 points. [10]
Thus E rates plus 4 PE in relation to college graduates in first-rate professional schools, ranking with the best minds revealed in any group so far tested. These groups may each be expected to include some of the best intellects existing. The comparative groups are, of course, older than E. Some of them are composed of persons over 30 years of age on the average, while all are past 20 years. E was 18 years 9 months of age on the date when he took the test, in comparison with these groups. The number of years lived in an intellectual environment, other things being equal, probably affects results to some extent in favor of those who have lived longer.
A score of 441 points on the IER Scale corresponds to a score of about 116 points on the more widely known Thorndike Tests for College Freshmen. The top one per cent of college graduates make a score of 108 or better on the latter test. E, therefore, surely rates at least in the top one quarter of one per cent of college graduates. [[E, it will be noted, was at this time at the average age of college freshmen.]]
At the age of 8 years E rated plus 11 PE in general intelligence (by Stanford-Binet) as compared with the generality of 8-year-olds. It seems likely that in these later measurements he rated at about the same status, in relation to the generality of 18-year-olds, since his status is plus 4.3 PE in relation to highly selected groups of college graduates.
E, at the age of 18, was probably mature—or nearly mature— intellectually. However, in view of recent findings in regard to the growth of intelligence among pupils in high schools, we cannot be sure that at this age he has quite reached the maximum of possible accretions of power from inner growth. [11]
On September 29, 1921, E's physical measurements were as follows:
Standing height 64.2 inchesSitting height 31.7 inchesWeight (summer clothing) 166 pounds
At this time his health continued to be excellent; in fact, he has never had a serious illness of any kind.
E was measured again in October, 1926. By this time he had probably achieved his maximum stature. His age was then 18 years 4 months. He was still in excellent health, the only illness in the intervening five years being a "light case" of scarlet fever. At this time the measurements were:
Standing height 6 feet 1 inchWeight (stripped) 194.75 pounds
In the spring of 1917 E finished the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth grade work at the Horace Mann School, New York City. He was then just 9 years old. Thereafter he attended the Friends Seminary, New York City, and was graduated from the high school there in the spring of 1920, with an excellent record and excess credits, at the age of 11 years 10 months.
By this time E had also passed the comprehensive examinations of the College Entrance Board for Harvard College. The official communication from Harvard authorities, making statement to this effect, has been seen by the writer. E's maternal ancestors had attended Harvard (one of them having graduated from there at the age of 18 years, according to records), but E expressed a desire to attend Columbia and received permission to take the mental tests with the applicants of 1920. He was admitted to Columbia College with the freshmen of 1920, with 14 points of advance credit toward a B.A. degree.
There is at hand an official statement of E's academic status on June 1, 1921, at the age of not quite 13 years. He had then 46 points of academic credit toward a B.A. degree in Columbia College. During his freshman year he made 32 points, maintaining consistently a grade of B, except in two subjects. In physical education his rating was C, and in contemporary civilization he made A the first semester. [12]
E attended the summer session of 1921 at Columbia, making five credit points, all A grade, and in September, 1921, was a sophomore with many points of credit in advance of minimum sophomore status. In addition to having passed the comprehensive examinations for college entrance, he had passed the examinations in trigonometry, solid geometry, chemistry, and physics, and was at this time 13 years 3 months of age.
E was of course a conspicuous freshman because of his extreme youth, and he was hazed by the sophomores for refusing to wear a prescribed necktie. One of the New York newspapers commented on his conduct under hazing as follows:
He has demonstrated that he is nevertheless a regular fellow. He did it first by bringing about a conflict in which he himself was the much buffeted prize of battle, and then by glorying in his bruises instead of making them the basis of a grievance. He is a good sport as well as a good scholar, and being both he ought to go far.
E also participated in the class play, given in 1921, humorously consenting to impersonate himself.
Manual work had no more charm for him at this date than it had when he was 8 years old. That hecanwork with his hands and with materials when motivated is suggested by an incident connected with the Liberty Bond drive. His teacher relates that E wanted to pay for his own bond; so he made jelly, working at it until very good jelly was made, and sold it for the purpose specified.
In recent years E has developed a keen interest in detective stories.
Comments from E's teachers during the last five years up to this date [[1921]] are indicative of their estimates:
The regular course of study has been so easy that he has, in several subjects, notably English and history, accomplished a great amount of voluntary work outside the course.
An excellent mixer with other students.
His weekly visits have been a pleasure and anticipation, and his ability to understand without English the spoken Latin and the authors as I have read them aloud to him has been extraordinary.
Has done very remarkable work in science, particularly in theory.
I predict for him a great scholastic record in college.
I consider it a privilege to have had something to do withteaching him.
Possesses apowerin Latin that few persons ten years hissenior can boast.
Has shown devotion to the best interests of the school.
In the five years which have elapsed since E was first tested mentally he has shown no tendency to become mediocre. His gifts have not grown less; he maintains his superior status in mental tests. As for achievement, he has passed during this interval from the sixth grade of the elementary school, half through the second year of college. Average children, the country over, born when this child was born, and measuring 100 IQ when he measured 187 IQ, are now in the seventh grade of the elementary schools.
E still wishes to be a clergyman and to go abroad as a missionary. To this end he interests himself especially in history, the languages, and anthropology.
It is an interesting theoretical question as to how far human intelligence may vary from the norm in the direction of superiority. The case of this child has been placed on record largely because it seems probable that such cases represent very nearly the extreme possible limit of variation in the human species as it now exists.
At 8 years of age his IQ stood at plus 11 PE (1 PE being, according to Terman, equal to 8 IQ [13] ). The probabilities are usually regarded as slight that cases beyond 5 PE will occur. Perhaps the range in human intellect is much greater than probabilities would lead us to guess.
Since the initial report of this child's qualities, readers have occasionally asked with what meaning the word "prodigious" was used in reference to him. It was used in the dictionary sense of "wonderful," "extraordinary."
In these reports there is no intention to approve or to disapprove the educational regimen pursued. Who knows what should be the educational treatment of a child standing at 11 PE in intellect? The sole intention is to record the identification and development of a deviation so extreme that the chances are theoretically almost nil that it would occur at all.
In June, 1923, E was graduated from Columbia College, with the degree of B.A. He took general honors, Phi Beta Kappa honors, and the English Seminary Prize, awarded by the Society for Promoting Religion and Learning "for the best essay in sermon form on an assigned topic." He was within eleven days of his fifteenth birthday when he was graduated. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at the age of 14 years, probably the youngest person ever elected to that organization.
E was graduated with excess credit (8 points) toward the M.A. degree. This degree was awarded him in June, 1924, when he was not quite 16 years of age, more than enough work for it having been accomplished. He was matriculated for the Ph.D. degree before he was 16 years old, and by the age of 18 years 9 months had practically finished all the requirements for that degree except completing the dissertation. The dissertation topic had been then approved, in the field of history, and E was at work on the material.
In October, 1926 (aged 18 years 4 months), E entered upon his professional studies for the ministry in the theological seminary of his choice. Since the age of 15 he had done special work at the seminary. He had read prayers in one of the city churches as a lay reader since the age of 16 and was at this time a candidate for ordination as deacon, but this ordination could not take place before the twenty-first birthday.
In the initial report of E it will be found that he had decided before he was 5 years old to be clergyman. It now appeared that his professional course toward that end would be completed in 1929.
Professional course will be finished in 1929.
The subject of the thesis on which I am now working, is definitely approved and published (decided June, 1925); the other requirements are practically finished.
__Apollonius, [Diocetes?] of Egypt__ (3rd century B.C. Egyptian history, 1923)
Worked on order of Pliny's letters (1924-25)
At present reading Greek papyri.
Making my [illegible] in Modern European History, worked on Irish constitutional history (1924-1925)
When E was 10 years old he made an original contribution in connection with the Pentateuch, and was made a member of The Oriental Society of Research in Jerusalem.
At 13 years of age E was first admitted to the Bodleian Library, at Oxford, for purposes of research.
In 1923 E presented his M.A. essay—"Appolonius, Diocetes ofEgypt"—which pertains to Egyptian history of the third centuryB.C. and is on file in the Library of Columbia University.
E has also done research (1924-1925) on the order of Pliny's letters; on Irish constitutional history (1924-1925); and was in 1926 and 1927 reading Greek papyri.
The subject of his dissertation to be submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Ph.D. was reported as "Feudal Estates in Byzantine Egypt." [14]
A summary of E's development over the period from 1916 to 1927, given in the table [below], shows clearly that the superior magnitudes, both of mental caliber and of physical size, so markedly present at the age of 8 years, are maintained as growth terminates.
CHILD E NORMS FOR PRIVATESCHOOLS [15]Born June 17, 1908, asshown by birth certificateand hospital records.
November 4, 1916Height 54.3 inches 49.5 inchesWeight 89.3 pounds 54.2 poundsIntellect IQ 187 (S-B) IQ 100 (S-B)Scholastic status 6th grade, 3d grade,elementary elementary
September 29, 1921Height 64.2 inches 58.2 inchesWeight 166.0 pounds 89.5 poundsIntellect 194 points, Army 47 points,Alpha, Form 5 Alpha Army
Scholastic 4th semester, 8th grade,status college elementaryschool
October 26, 1926Height 73 inches 67 inchesWeight 194.7 pounds 150 pounds
April 1, 1927Intellect 441 points, IER Not yet knownTestsScholastic status B.A. 1923 Has leftM.A. 1924 school toPh.D. candidate go to workAlso finishingfirst year inTheologicalSeminary
Although no follow-up inquiry has been made since the year 1927, a few items gleaned from clippings found in the author's files are relevant. These are newspaper accounts, chiefly in connection with E's being ordained as deacon, and later elevated to the Protestant Episcopal priesthood. These articles recite that E—
Received his B.A. at the age of 15 years.
Received his M.A. degree the following year.
Was ordained deacon on December 21, 1929, at the age of 21.
Received his Ph.D. the following year at the age of 22.
Also received the degree Bachelor of Sacred Theology, in June, 1929.
Was elevated to the priesthood in the Protestant Episcopal Church at the age of 24 (June 19, 1932) at a special ordination service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City.
As a graduate student too young for the priesthood, he had held a fellowship in the General Theological Seminary, teaching Greek and history.
There is also an announcement of his marriage in September, 1939.
See also Editor's Note on publications, foot[note 14].
[1] See Preface, [paragraphs 2-5.]
[2] EDITOR'S NOTE. This child was observed by Leta S. Hollingworth over a period of nearly a quarter century. She published three accounts of his development, and the present chapter is in the main a composite of these three reports, to which are added such supplementary items as are available. The articles referred to are as follows:
Garrison, Burke, and Hollingworth. "The Psychology of a ProdigiousChild."Journal of Applied Psychology(June, 1917).
Hollingworth, Garrison, and Burke. "Subsequent History of E———Five Years after the Initial Report."Journal of AppliedPsychology(June, 1922).
Hollingworth, Leta S. "Subsequent History of E——— Ten Years after the Initial Report."Journal of Applied Psychology(October, 1927).
[3] Bartlett, J. G. "The Belcher Families in New England."New England History and General Register, Vol. 60, pages 125-136, 243-256, 358-364.
Belcher, Jonathan. "The Belcher Papers."Collection of theMassachusetts Historical Society, Vols. 6 and 7.
Appleton'sCyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. 1 (1887).(Jonathan Belcher.)
[4] Drowne, Henry R. "Family Record of Solomon Drowne."New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 5, No. 35, pages 171-172. New York; 1904.
Drowne, Henry T.Genealogy of the Family of Solomon Drowne, M. D., of Providence, Rhode Island, with Notice of His Ancestors; 1646-1879. Providence Press Company, Providence, Rhode Island; 1879.
[5] Developmental history and history of personal health were elicited from the mother, who, being a physician, is especially competent to speak on these points. The family history and the facts concerning his extra-school linguistic achievements were also given by the mother.
[6] Private tutors grade E as 1 in mathematics.
[7] In industrial arts credit is given forknowingindustrial processes, as well as for ability to carry out the processes.
[8] In fine arts credit is given for manual dexterity only.
[9] Thorndike, E. L.The Measurement of Intelligence. Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York; 1927.
[10] I am indebted to Dr. Ella Woodyard and to Professor Ralph B. Spence of Teachers College, Columbia University, for this information.
[11] Thorndike, E. L. "On the Improvement of Intelligence Scores from Fourteen to Eighteen."Journal of Educational Psychology(1923).
[12] It is worth saying that in contemporary civilization the final examination had been objectively standardized by Dr. B. D. Wood, expert in educational measurement, and did not depend on the estimate of instructors. "E's score on the objective examinations of both terms was in the highest tenth of the highest percentile" (B. D. W.). The instructor's estimate, as well as the result of the objective examination, enters into the term grade and, indicated above, in this course; so that the final grade in the second semester is but B.
[13] See note [1, preface].
[14] EDITOR'S NOTE. This dissertation was published in 1931 by the Columbia University Press under the titleLarge Estates of Byzantine Egypt.
Among later publications, of which there is record in the files, are:
"National Elements in the Career of St. Athanasius,"ChurchHistory, pages 3-11 (December, 1933).
"Dura—An Ancient City of the East,"Natural History(TheJournal of the American Museum of Natural History), Vol. XXXIV,No. 8, pages 685-701 (December, 1934).
Militant in Earth. Pages 255. Oxford University Press, New York; 1940. A book which "shows how Christianity has presented a spiritual and social front against opposing phases of civilization, whatever they may have been during 2000 years."
[15] Norms for height, weight, and scholastic status are taken from B. T. Baldwin, as established at Horace Mann School, Francis Parker School, and the elementary and high schools of the University of Chicago.
Child F was a boy whose ability was identified as the result of a mental survey made with group tests in P.S. 14, Manhattan. [1] His score in these tests was unbelievable, and he was summoned for testing with the idea that he must have been coached. An individual Stanford-Binet test, however, showed a phenomenal record similar to all other tests given him, including an Army Alpha. He was referred to a Special Opportunity Class at that time being organized in P.S. 165, Manhattan.
Although detailed study of F's ancestry is available, a brief summary of the facts appears to be all that is here needed, for the ancestry throws little light on the boy's extraordinary mental ability.
F's paternal grandfather was of Scottish parentage, born in Canada. He was a reasonably successful worker in the printing trade, appears to have been well balanced and socially adjusted, and showed no exceptional traits. He had little education and no special interests. He died of apoplexy at 51 years of age.
F's paternal grandmother, born in Albany, New York, had a public school education (probably). She is still living [[1924]], clerking in a store after her husband's death. She appears to have no special interests outside her home life; is said to be quick and nervous, easily excited, and prone to worry.
F's maternal grandfather was born in New York State, of German parentage. He is still alive [[1924]], at the age of 70, and is very active. His education was limited, but he is an excellent reader and is well informed. He is fond of music, is an active churchman and a choir leader. He is said to be quick-tempered, impulsive, and affectionate. He mixes well with people, and has some leadership qualities. He has always worked as a paper hanger and painter, his business being on a small scale.
F's maternal grandmother was born in New York State; the nationality of her parents is not recorded. She had a public school education. Her interests are limited to home and Red Cross activities. She is friendly and sociable, impulsive, affectionate in disposition, and has a keen sense of humor.
F has several uncles and aunts, none of whom presents any qualities of striking interest. All appear to be normally effective and well adjusted, competent on a small-town scale, enjoying their homes, and taking part in local activities and organizations.
F has one brother, younger than himself, born April 2, 1920. He was given a Stanford-Binet examination, May 13, 1924, by Leta S. Hollingworth, being then 4 years 1 month of age. His Mental Age was 6-0, yielding an IQ of 147. This brother has strong musical inclinations, was a choir boy, and subsequently took instruction in singing.
Father. The father of Child F was born in Albany, New York. He had a high school education and business college training. He has always done clerical and office work, especially bookkeeping. He is fond of athletics, reads only newspapers and magazines, is quick, alert, and active, has an even temperament, is seldom worried. He has no interest in clubs or organized activities. Seems to take an interest in his children. (In later years the father lost the balance and evenness of temperament here reported and became unemployed much of the time. He died in March, 1935, at the age of 41, "apparently accidentally drowned.")
Mother. The mother of F went to high school for two years and earned a teacher's certificate. She taught two years in rural schools but disliked this work and had no patience with children. She liked music, however, and studied piano and voice for a short time, but now pays little attention to it. She has always regretted going to high school, believing that if she had devoted that time to music, she might have had some success in it. Her interests are limited to home affairs. She says she has few friends and does not mix well with people. She appears calm and does not worry, is sensible in her dealings with her children, takes no part in organized activities, but always sends the children to Sunday School. She is a very good home manager, and runs things effectively on small resources.
F was born in upper New York State, November 14, 1914. The period of gestation was of normal length; at birth he weighed according to the father 9 pounds, according to the mother 11.5 pounds. No records of early infancy were kept, so that many such details are given from memory, either by the father or by the mother. The child was the mother's first-born. She reports that much of the infant's weight at birth was due to his enormous head, which necessitated instrument birth. Birth was difficult, the mother was severely injured, and the child's head "was so distorted from the instruments that it was weeks before it could be molded into normal shape."
F was bottle fed from birth to one year. His first teeth appeared at about 10 months. He talked (short sentences) at about 12 months, learned to walk alone (several steps) at 14 months, learned to read at between 4 and 5 years of age. His childhood illnesses were measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, and scarlet fever, all between 6 and 8 years of age. Cried little as a baby. His mother says "he was a lovely baby to take care of." No sensory defects or signs of physical weakness. Adenoids were present, to be removed shortly after the initial interview in 1924 (age 10 years). He sleeps soundly.
F started school at the age of 5 years 10 months, in a two-room rural school in upstate New York in the town where he was born. He could already read well at that time; it was first noticed that he could read when he was "around 5 years of age." Riding in streetcars, he would take words apart and put them together again. He had learned the letters before his third year.
At school he was received in the first grade. It was soon found that he was memorizing his reader and the teacher gave him a more advanced book. This school was a practically ungraded one; the first four grades were together in one room, and grades five to eight were in the other room. The teacher did not know what to do with F; so he was allowed to go into the second room and listen, in an orderly manner, to the fifth to eighth grades.
When he entered New York City schools at the age of 7 years 10 months, the rural teacher gave F a transfer for the fifth grade. The mother presented the letter of transfer to the Manhattan principal, who pooh-poohed the idea that the boy could belong in the fifth grade at that age. He refused to accept the recommendation from the ungraded school and placed F in the third or fourth grade. After the first week the boy's teacher reported that he did not belong in that grade. When the principal insisted that F could not go into the fifth grade, the boy himself spoke up and said if they would give him an examination they would see that he could do it. The principal ordered him to keep still and not to talk so much. He was, however, eventually placed in the fifth grade in the year in which his eighth birthday occurred. At the end of that year he was promoted to Grade 6A, then into 6B, and he was shortly after received into the Special Opportunity Class at P.S. 165.
He had always been fond of school up to this time, although he later developed a distaste for it and became a chronic truant. He spent much of his time helping the teachers, carrying books, and running errands, in order to keep occupied. When his mother requested his transfer to the Special Opportunity Class, the principal of the school he was attending, at first refused, saying that he liked to have bright pupils in his classes too. After futilely arguing for half an hour, the mother finally threatened to move to another part of town, thus forcing a transfer, whereupon the principal relented and gave the transfer. F said he liked the new school because he was allowed there to say what he thought.
In his early school years he once won a prize, which was to be a book. Several books, supposedly of interest to boys, were offered him from which to choose. He looked them over and then said if it made no difference to the teacher, he would rather have a dictionary instead. This volume was given him, and it was used constantly thereafter.
In March, 1924, at the age of 9 years 4 months, F was given a mental test, using Army Alpha, by L. M. Potter. He was then in Grade 6B, P.S. 14, Manhattan. His score was recorded as 124 points. But there is also a copy of an Army Alpha Test, Form 7, given F in the fall of 1924 upon his entrance to P.S. 165, on which the score is 163 points.
On April 14, 1924, at the age of 9 years 5 months, F was given a Stanford-Binet test by M. V. Cobb, in P.S. 165, Manhattan. His Mental Age shown at that time was 15-2, and an IQ of 162 was reported. Strength of grip measures were also recorded as of May 15, 1924. These were made by Leta S. Hollingworth, three trials for each hand. The records were (median of three), right, 10.5; left, 9.
On April 22, 1925, at the age of 10 years 5 months, F was given a Stanford-Binet examination by Leta S. Hollingworth as a demonstration before a class of 60 adults. His Mental Age was 19-0, and the IQ is recorded as "over 182, unmeasured by the scale."
On May 8, 1926, at the age of 11 years 6 months, F was again tested with the Stanford-Binet [[by L. S. H.]]. He passed at this time all the Superior Adult tests and was thus unmeasured. He was at this time in his first year of senior high school.
January 7, 1933, at the age of 18-2, while a college freshman, his score on Army Alpha, Form 8, was 198 points.
Music tests. F showed no active musical interests but became very fond of listening to good music, being particularly fond of string quartets. As was the case in every field to which his interests turned, he quickly acquired a fund of information about it which he took pleasure in exhibiting.
F was given the Seashore Music Tests four times [[by L. S. H.]] over a period of 11 years. Perhaps the record of these successive examinations will have some intrinsic interest, and such a tabulation is here provided.
SEASHORE TESTS OF MUSICAL TALENT SCORE(Per Cent Correct)
MAY 7, DECEMBER JUNE JUNE1924 23, 1924; 18, 1925; 14, 1935;9 YEARS 10 YEARS, 10 YEARS 20 YEARS6 MONTHS 1 MONTH 7 MONTHS 7 MONTHS
Pitch 79 82 78 81Intensity 76 — 94 94Time 71 62 — 70Tonal memory 80 — 88 98Consonance 64 — 74 76Rhythm 72 — 88 86
Character rating. After six months' acquaintance, on September 14, 1924, when F was about 10 years old, he was rated by Leta S. Hollingworth for various estimated traits on a 7-point rating scale as follows:
Extraordinarily good (Grade 1) Prudence and foresight, will power and perseverance, appreciation of beauty, sense of humor, sensitiveness to approval or disapproval, desire to excel, freedom from vanity and egotism, conscientiousness, desire to know, originality, common sense, general intelligence.
Decidedly superior (Grade 2)Self-confidence, musical appreciation, leadership, popularitywith other children, sympathy and tenderness, truthfulness.
Rather superior (Grade 3)Cheerfulness and optimism, permanency of moods, generosityand unselfishness, mechanical ingenuity.
Average (Grade 4)Health, amount of physical energy.
Rather weak (Grade 5)Fondness for large groups.
Although there is no formal record of the fact, it is known that fifteen years later this rater would have made different judgments on most of these traits not relating to strictly cognitive characteristics. Other judges acquainted with F rather unanimously disagreed with the high ratings here accorded such traits as prudence and forethought, will power and perseverance, sensitiveness to approval or disapproval, freedom from vanity or egotism, common sense, leadership, popularity, sympathy and tenderness, truthfulness, generosity and unselfishness, and these ratings are as a matter of fact inconsistent with F's subsequent history.
On May 6, 1924, the home of F was visited by a social worker trained in the use of the Whittier Scale for Home Rating. The rating was reported as 21, with a possible score of 25. Neighborhood was average, in a fair section of New York City. Details were as follows:
Necessities. Father bookkeeper with steady, small salary, adequate only for necessities. Food and clothing of good quality, conditions neat and clean but plain. Heat, light, sleeping facilities fair. Grade 4.
Neatness. Sanitary conditions good; rooms well kept and clean; apartment rear, second floor, little view. Considering the equipment, household run in an efficient manner. Grade 4.
Size. Four small rooms and bath for two adults and two children. Conditions crowded. Grade 4.
Parental condition. Parents socially adaptable; there appears to be harmony in home; parents have too few outside interests. Mother practically always at home; father at home evenings. Grade 5.
Parental supervision. Parents keenly interested in development of children. Their own education is limited, which is a handicap in directing and educating the children. Little need of discipline in home, though mother is lax about carrying out threats. Parental example good. Grade 4.
Play interests. F preferred playmates of his own age and sex. He would spend hours at a time "using marbles for soldiers and working out military formations." Being with older children in school, he was somewhat backward in joining in their outdoor games.
Reading interests. From 6 to 10 years of age F read a great variety of books, "particularly geography and history" and "averaging probably 20 hours weekly." He was especially interested in dictionaries and encyclopedias; would always look up new words in detail. Most of his leisure time was preferably spent in reading.
As already recorded, F was transferred in 1924, at the age of 10 years, to the Special Opportunity Class in P.S. 165, Manhattan, then being organized for experimental purposes connected with the education of children of rare intelligence. He graduated from this class into senior high school. He and another boy (Child C, Chapter 6) led this highly selected group of children in achievement tests. As he was at this time, Leta S. Hollingworth wrote of him:
I have never met with a more interesting child than he was, and the same creativeness and inexorable logic which characterized him then have always continued.
He entered, after a brief experience in a progressive private school, a public high school in New York City, in 1925. His high school career was a checkered one, typical in some respects of his later educational history. For one thing, he was a constant truant, and he refused to do the required work in physical education. He had always been averse to physical activity and loathed manual work to the end of his career. He said that the gymnasium work always left him feeling "worse," gave him colds, and was of no use to him. Perhaps his subsequent medical history throws some light on the reasons for these observations.
His truant hours were spent partly in the public library, where he read continuously in technical volumes in a great variety of fields and accumulated an amazing fund of general information and esoteric lore. Law, theology, history, science, and literature were some of his favorite fields.
When not in the library, he would usually be at a chess club to which he had been granted access and where he had learned the game. He rapidly developed into an expert chess and bridge player, and in Eastern chess tournaments is said to have achieved the ranking of seventh in the national list. He always managed to appear at high school to take the necessary examinations, and passed all his subjects with good standing and even with phenomenal records. But his inexplicable truancy and his refusal to do the required work in physical education baffled the educational authorities. They finally refused to graduate him with his class— although his record was among the best—until he had redeemed himself by doing the gymnasium work in a fifth year. In 1930 he did this, and also carried some additional courses and thus was allowed to finish high school, requiring longer than the conventional period for this because of his refusal to accommodate his own interests and ideas to the regular routine.
In spite of irregular attendance, F took some part in high school activities. His main activities, of the extracurricular sort, were chess club, chess team, poetry club, debating society, mathematics club, board of publications, program committee. He was executive member of the debating society and of the law society, vice president of the poster club, and two or three times section president. His record, of course, shows no athletic history and no physical activities engaged in.
For the four years following 1930 F continued to frequent the public library, the chess club, and the bridge games. At one time a patron friend made it financially possible for him to enter college at the College of the City of New York. He quit before the end of the first term, again because he hated the required gymnasium work and said he always got a cold and felt bad after such exercise. Although he was again and again urged by people who knew his ability not to waste it at chess and bridge, he showed no apparent interest in going on with college. He replied that he could always make a living some way or other. Uncongenial home circumstances and the general unemployment situation prevailing at the time perhaps heightened this indisposition and lack of ambition. While other boys who had been in the same grade school and high school classes with him were finding part-time employment and working their way through college, F was contented with his chess games, with an occasional bit of money won at cards, and with his hours in the public library.
In 1934 he was asked to take the CAVD tests by the Institute of Educational Research at Teachers College, Columbia University, to help determine the highest scores to be expected on this scale. He and another boy, both selected because of their known phenomenal range of information and intellectual alertness, "went through the ceiling" on this scale, thus again confirming the earlier records of his mental level so far as intelligence was concerned. On the same occasion he was given the Coöperative General Culture Test, by Dr. Lorge. In this his score exceeded that of superior college graduates.
In September, 1934, F was again persuaded, through financial assistance practically forced upon him, and after much urging and long discussion, to try college. He enrolled in Columbia College, once more a freshman. He carried a heavy program, tried to do certain outside jobs as assistant provided for him, and probably overworked. He had declined one patron's offer to give him a stipulated sum of money for the year if he would abstain from chess for that period. In fact, only vigorous prodding led him to go to college at all at this time, even with the way opened for him.
The outcome appeared to be another fiasco. In January, as the examination period drew near, he became ill, developed pneumonia, and for the second time withdrew from college before completing a term of work. In this instance his illness appeared to justify the act.
In the autumn of 1935, having been nursed back to reasonable health through patrons interested in his case, he was urged by them to make a fresh start and to try the University of Chicago plan, under which students could progress as rapidly as they were able to satisfy the requirements through comprehensive examinations. He entered the University of Chicago that fall, for the third time a college freshman, agreeing to do this without any great enthusiasm of his own but as part of what was called an "educational experiment."
Of his record on entrance the following comment was made by the chief examiner:
The examiners have called my attention to a freak case in our records for the incoming students. . . . His performance seems almost unbelievable. On the freshman classification tests his performance was as follows: first in the vocabulary test; first in the reading test; second in the Intelligence Test of the American Council; third in the English placement test; third in the physical science placement test . . . in the freshman class of about 750 students.
In addition, he also took four Comprehensives with the following grades: Biological Science, A; Humanities, B; Social Sciences, A; Physical Sciences, D.
The year at Chicago was not without episode. F was held up by two gunmen, engineered the capture of one of these, and was advised to disappear for a time during the excitement. Impetuously, and without resources except the provisions made by his sponsor for his own subsistence, he married a young Jewish girl. But the "Chicago Plan" kept its word, and by the end of the year F had passed all the Comprehensives required to give him his B.A. degree. In doing this he acquired a good deal of newspaper and popular magazine notoriety, and his photograph, and that of his young wife, were often reproduced in the public prints.
Although he fancied he would like to be a lawyer, F finally decided to go in for graduate work. Some uncertainties prevailed in connection with his acceptance by some of the graduate schools because, although he had been three times a college freshman (a point never brought out in the newspaper accounts of his educational progress), he had completed but one year of college residence.
Eventually he was awarded a graduate fellowship in Teachers College, Columbia University, for study toward the Ph.D. degree in education, and he completed a year of work there, accomplishing, in addition to the class work, a minor experimental study, a report of which was subsequently published. For the following year he was appointed Assistant in Psychology at Barnard College. At the last moment, just before the beginning of the new term, he decided to shift to law, which was one of his boyish ambitions. He was enabled to return to Chicago for this purpose.
Chess, bridge, and racing continued to intrude themselves into his activities, although he was pledged to abstain from them. His marital affairs did not run smoothly; contrary to his promises he incurred additional indebtedness; but he continued to carry on his law studies with passable records. Then he suddenly became seriously ill and was discovered to have an inoperable abdominal cancer. Again his educational career was interrupted and he returned to New York for care and treatment. Before another year was over, in December, 1938, he died of this affliction, at the age of 24 years.