Human Efficiency andLevels ofIntelligence. By Henry Herbert Goddard. (Fifth Printing.)  Published by the Princeton University Press. Princeton, 1922. Pp.  128.

Perhaps the best way to give an idea of the contents of this very interesting and thought provocative little book is to quote in full the résumé of the author:

“In this course we have tried to express our conviction that every human being reaches at some time a level of intelligence beyond which he never goes; that these levels range from the lowest or idiotic, to the highest level of genius. We have indicated without going into great detail that the number of people of relatively low intelligence is vastly greater than is generally appreciated and that this mass of low level intelligence is an enormous menace to democracy unless it is recognized and properly treated. We have tried to show that the social efficiency of a group of human beings depends upon recognizing the mental limitations of each one and of so organizing society that each person has work to do that is within his mental capacity and at the same time calls for all the ability that he possesses.

“In our third lecture we have tried to show that the failure to appreciate this fact and control it, has resulted in a vast amount of delinquency, and that such delinquency impairs the efficiency of the total group to an extent little appreciated. We have pointed out that the intelligent group must do the planning and organizing for the mass, that our whole attitude towards lower grades of intelligence must be philanthropic; not the hit and miss philanthropy with which we are all too familiar but the philanthropy based upon an intelligent understanding of the mental capacity of each individual. And finally we have attempted to show that democracy is not impossible even in a group with a large mass of people of relatively low mentality, provided that there is a sufficiently large group of people of high intelligence to control the situation; and provided further, that that group has the right attitude toward those of less intelligence. That that attitude is best expressed by the one desire to make all people happ