(2 of 2)
Dionne Quintuplets. "If a highly favorable environment could do what some psychologists claim," says Dr. Newman, "these five children should be far ahead of most children of their age in mental development [but] the quints are all somewhat retarded mentally ... a disappointing mediocrity, to say the least."
Dr. Newman makes some excuses for the quints: 1) they were born prematurely; 2) "They have but little use for spoken language. All their wants are anticipated and all their activities are scheduled"; 3) they have no playmates, have nothing to say to each other; 4) their parents, according to Dr. Newman, "exhibit nothing exceptional in the way of mentality." In spite of these handicaps the quints are "good, normal human beings of almost average mental ability."
"As a setup for determining the relative shares of hereditary and environmental factors the whole arrangement as it now stands is about as poor as it could possibly be made." The quints, says Dr. Newman, should be given different environments, since they are identical, have exactly the same heredity patterns.