It seemed clear that this bright girl had experienced so many contradictions in life that she was much mixed about it all. We might venture to suggest that the delinquency involved in lying could seem very little compared to the actual deeds with which she had come in contact. No idea that falsification was wrong was expressed by her. She had used double sets of standards in behavior all through her life. What she was urged to be and to do seemed impossible in the light of her past and its connections. Even her apparent decency belied the reality underlying her career, she thought. With all this and her vivid imagery it is little wonder that her magnificent powers of imagination had full sway and that she said and half believed all sorts of things which were not true. Then, probably, habit-formation of indulging in day-dreams accentuated the falsifying tendency. It is too early to report on further progress of this case. For some months she has been in a school for girls where discipline and education are both emphasized. --------------------------------------------------------------- Mental traits: special powers of imagery Case 9. and imagination. Girl, age 14 years. Early immoral experiences: much later conflict about them. Home conditions: unstable for many years. Heredity (?): mother immoral, maternal grandmother alcoholic and insane. Delinquencies: Mentality: Excessive lying. Good general ability, Sex. special capacities. --------------------------------------------------------------- CASE 10 Summary: A boy of 14, supernormal in ability, coming from family circumstances which form a remarkable antithesis to his intellectual interests, is found to be a wonderful fabricator. His continuous lying proves to be directly inimical to his own interests and, indeed, his own satisfactions are thwarted by the curious unreliability of his word. The case unfortunately was not followed far, but study of it clearly shows beginnings in the early obtaining of advantages by lying, and brings out the wonderful dramatic and imaginative traits of the boy and his formation of a habit of falsification.