=Idiocy.=--In _idiocy_, however, there is much more than the mere arrest of the intellect at any period. The idiot of eight years old does not correspond in his mental development to the child at six, or four, or two; his mind is not only dwarfed but deformed; while feebleness of will is often as remarkable as mere deficiency of power of apprehension. Even in earliest infancy there is usually a something in the child idiotic from birth which marks him as different from babies of his own age. He is unable to support his head, which rolls about from side to side, almost without an effort on his part to prevent it. Next it is perceived that the child, though he can see, does not notice; that his eye does not meet his mother's with the fond look of recognition, accompanied with the dimpling smile, with which the infant, even of three months old, greets his mother. Then it is found to have no notion of grasping anything, though that is usually almost the first accomplishment of babyhood; if tossed in its nurse's arms there seems to be no spring in its limbs; and though a strange vacant smile sometimes passes over its face, yet the merry ringing laugh of infancy or joyous chuckle of irrepressible glee is not heard. As time passes on, the child shows no pleasure at being put down 'to feel its feet,' as nurses term it; if laid on the floor it probably cries, but does not attempt to turn round, nor try to crawl about as other babies do. It does not learn to stand or walk till late, and then stands awkwardly, walks with difficulty, crossing its legs immediately on assuming the erect posture, an infirmity which it often takes years to overcome. Just, too, as the idiot is slow to notice, slow in learning to grasp anything, or to stand or walk, so he is late in learning to talk, he often acquires but few words, for his ideas are few. He learns even these few with difficulty, and employs the same to express many different things; he generally articulates them indistinctly, often indeed so imperfectly as to be almost unintelligible.