Y-A-C-E-M

Being worth $700,000 and better known to the ends of the earth than any initialed railroad, broadcasting station or New Deal agency, the Dionne Quintuplets last week assumed Y-A-C-E-M as their code name. Psychology Professor William Emet Blatz of the University of Toronto tagged them thus, cryptically indicating that intellectually Yvonne is superior to all her sisters, Marie inferior, with Annette, Cecile and Emilie ranging between.

Twice since their births the Quintuplets have been the subject of physiological reports by Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, the country doctor who delivered the five little girls. But not until last week's meeting of celebrated U. S. and Canadian child psychologists at Dr. Blatz's St. George's School for Child Study were the Dionne sisters' mentalities and behavior publicly assayed.

Dr. Blatz excused the fact that the Quintuplets are asocial by observing that their lack of contact with other children, except for occasional visits from their older brothers and sisters, is a mental and social handicap. Reported Dorothy A. Millichamp, Dr. Blatz's assistant, who has kept a detailed record of the children's conduct: "The Quints are practically ignorant of life lived by other people, except for rare visits to the hospital kitchen which is a great treat. . . . They were slow to learn bladder control because five commodes on the veranda made going to the toilet a social treat."

The vocabulary of the children is small and poorly pronounced--because, said Dr. Blatz, the children make adequate signs to one another and are too smart to make needless sounds in addition. According to his practiced eye, "Annette is the social climber, Yvonne the mother, Cecile the unknown quantity, Emilie the happy-go-lucky, and Marie (smallest) the sympathetic one."

The Toronto meeting broke up with a free-for-all argument on the floor regarding the relative effects of heredity and training on children. One virtuoso of the science of child study argued that Marie was smaller and less smart than the others because the "bag of water" which, like a soft shell, encloses a fetus, broke before she was born.

Dr. Blatz concluded the meeting with a cheerful joke at the expense of the 250 busy people who had come to his party. Said he: "The data we collected about these children can be used to prove that individuality is due to heredity. The data can also prove that individuality is due to environment. . . ." Whereupon, the child-students proceeded to Callander, where through glass and wire mesh, they could see Y-A-C-E-M in the flesh.

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