that is civilized. If we had waited for jailers to reform the jails, or for prisoners themselves to organize a prisoners' association, or for our infants to have led the way in the formation of the society for the prevention of cruelty to children, or for domestic animals to have inaugurated institutions to keep them from being treated cruelly, we should not have been more unwise than to wait for asylums, their officers, their managers or their inmates, to lead and control the advance which is now being made in the study and treatment of insanity. In this rising flood of nervous diseases, asylums are themselves submerged and helpless, like unfortunate villages surprised by mountain torrents, and all who have strength should come to the rescue.

The subject of insanity is greater than asylums; it is greater than all institutions, public or private, that have been organized to meet and overcome this great evil. Asylums are, to the general subject of insanity, what hospitals in war are to the great battles going on in the front; they but receive those who have fallen in the ranks, and are to keep in the rear, while the lines of battle are far in advance and outside of them. The subject of insanity is greater than insanity itself, since all the diseases of the brain and the nerve system, by whatsoever names known, are related to each other, run into each other, and take each other's place. The man who only knows insanity, does not know even that; all the diseases of the nervous system are members, one of another, and are to be studied as parts of a great whole and in relation to each other. More and more I am persuaded, in the study of my cases of neurasthenia, or nervous exhaustion and allied states, that insanity, in the parent or grandparent, may appear in the offspring, near or remote, not as insanity, but in some milder form of neurosis, of which neurasthenia is a type and centre. I have thought that, in this way, one of the problems of insanity is solving itself; that there is a tendency to self-cure running through the generations, perhaps with increasing mildness of nerve trouble in the place of increasing severity, and that possibly, in some families, there would be in the next generation less nervousness than now.

A sixth mission of this society will be to obtain from every source, and diffuse through all ranks of intelligent society, a knowledge of all the branches of the subject. That insanity, for example, is a disease of the nervous system, and a physical disease, as much as small-pox or a broken leg, is a truism among neuralo

gists, but it is not a truism among the people. Like witchcraft, like astrology, like alchemy, the delusion that disease of the mind is something separate from the body, lingers all along our hillsides and in the valleys, and even on the mountain tops of our civilization; men run from an insane person as from one possessed of an evil spirit. This society will have justified its existence if it shall succeed in doing nothing but this — in obtaining universal recognition of the fact that it is no disgrace to be crazy. Through all the avenues of information we are to seek for light on this problem, – how to prevent insanity, how to reduce to a minimum the friction of modern life. The London critic, to whom I have referred, reminds us that, when the steam engine was introduced, it was supposed it would do all the work of the world and allow us to be idle; whereas, it has increased the world's work, and helped to increase nervous disease. This society will have justified its existence if it shall succeed in making it no longer discreditable to be manfully idle. A century ago, the problem was how to make everybody work; today, the problem is how to keep people from overworking; the children of the last generation were goaded and spurred into study; the children of this generation must be checked and restrained kept back — held in from study. The details of the reform which is now beginning in the methods of education, belong in part to this society. We must give up either our sanity or our schools, as many of them are now managed. The whole English speaking race is facing the problems that are offered to this society; in England, even more than this country, at this very hour all these questions are raised and asked, and pressed with more force and persistence than here.

I close with three or four suggestions of a general character, that will apply not only to this organization, but to all organizations that have for their object the well-being of mankind.

First of all, we should beware of unintelligent philanthropy, that is, doing good at short range, relieving present evils by increasing those that are to come. No form of human energy so often fails in its purpose as philanthropy. Among the wisest words ever uttered are these: "Charity creates much of the misery that it relieves, but it does not relieve all the misery that it creates." Philanthropy in excess becomes cruelty, and, with a force and success that no tyrant can rival, heightens and deepens the miseries of mankind; doing good is easily turned to doing evil, and present distresses,

when relieved, but enrich the soil out of which other and more terrible distresses are to arise. Talking on this subject the other day with one of our best known philanthropists, who for years has given largely and freely, I asked if her experience confirmed my scientific deductions that philanthropy was too often a mistake. She said, "Yes, it has taken me all my life to learn this. I can but feel that I have, on the whole, done more evil than good in what I have given away. I have denied myself to give to others; to find, in return, not only ingratitude, but failure. I see no way of helping the poor but to make the poor help themselves." Philanthropy is not wise in attempting to walk alone; she needs the support, on the one hand, of science, on the other, of philosophy.

A second suggestion is, that we do not depend too much on law. Even in a monarchy, laws cannot be very far ahead of the people, and in a republic they are but the expressions of the wishes or fancies of the majority. The enacting of laws, therefore, even those most necessary and imminent, as those that relate to the central governmental supervision of the insane, may be among the last, stages in this advance on the subject of insanity. We are in the habit of running to the law and burying our heads in it, and crying like children, whenever we are in trouble, forgetting that legislators are themselves but children, whom we, the people, are to educate and command. The principle of central supervision of the insane by government is to prevail on this continent from the Atlantic to the Gulf, but not until thousands of messages have gone forth among the people, as so many school-masters, to train them to desire and ask for, and appreciate, such legislation.

Finally, we are not to look for the completion of our labors as soon as they are begun. All nature is but a process of preparation; results are but means to higher results; nothing is final and complete; what we call preparation may be far more useful than the end for which we prepare.

In all organisms, each layer of growth is the pathway for a higher growth; our very reformations need themselves to be reformed, and the consummate issue may flash out suddenly after long and hopeless delay. We bury the seed, the plant breaks through the surface, a huge trunk is developed that sends its branches farther and higher, and clothes itself with richer and richer foliage, year by year, and the buds appear; but, as yet, no fruit or flower; we go away for a night, and on our return our barren tree is alive and eloquent with blossoms.

In these United States of America, it requires on the average from five to fifteen years for a new and unpopular truth, if it have practical relations, and be wisely engineered, to become old and popular. Those whose faith will allow them to wait for a decade, will see this movement, begun in doubt and gloom, pass into and through the early twilight into the clearness and glory of the morning.

The President then called on Miss Chevaillier, in the absence of Dr. Allen, to read his paper, as follows:

SUPERVISION OF LUNATIC HOSPITALS.

BY NATHAN ALLEN, M. D.

One of the most important questions in respect to public institutions, is the proper supervision of lunatic hospitals. Boards of State Charities are especially interested in this subject. The members of these boards, appointed from the different professions, and from all classes of business, business-men have the best means of knowing what is the present management of these hospitals, and whether there is need of better supervision. The greater the knowledge possessed on the subject, and the more thoroughly the matter is investigated, the stronger will be the conviction, we believe, that there is need of change or improvement in this direction.

It is proposed to inquire briefly: First, what is the present management of such hospitals; and, secondly, what constitutes a proper supervision of them. As nearly all these institutions are built by appropriations from State treasuries, there is great similarity in their appointments and government. There are a few hospitals or asylums for the insane established by municipal authorities and private corporations; these are managed by officers or trustees appointed by very different bodies from those called State institutions. There is still another class of asylums or establishments for the insane, which are generally small, and, in one sense, strictly private, as they are owned and managed by individuals.

It is the large hospitals owned by the State, and for the management of which the public are for this reason responsible, that come especially under our present inquiry. What, then, is the management of these institutions? The primary power is lodged with the Governor and Council. They appoint five or more trustees to each hospital, who choose a superintendent. The assistants and attendants are generally appointed by the superintendent, or nominated by him, subject to the approval of the trustees. All rules and regulations for the management of the officers and inmates of the institution are prepared by the superintendent and trustees, though in some instances they must be approved by the Governor and Council. Thus, the whole respon