Value of Social Service as an Agency in 
 the Prevention of Nervous and 
 Mental Disorders. 
 
 !y Its Importance as a Part of the Work of Hospitals for the 
 Insane and of a State Society for Mental Hygiene, 
 
 By CLIFFORD W. BEERS 
 
 Executive Secretary of The Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene. 
 
 Read at the 37th National Conference of Charities and Corrections, 
 St. Louis, Missouri, May 19-26, 1910 
 
 Had it been possible for Dr. Henry S. Noble, Chairman of 
 the Executive Committee of The Connecticut Society for Mental 
 Hygiene, to be present at this Conference, you would now be 
 listening to an address by a Superintendent of a State Hospital 
 for the Insane on the subject of Social Service in connection with 
 such institutions. As it is, however, the duty, and the privilege, 
 of presenting a paper on this important topic'Tills to my lot as 
 the Executive Secretary of the only State Society for Mental 
 Hygiene as yet organized.* 
 
 In discussing Social Service from the view-point of the lay¬ 
 man and, I may add, from the vantage-point of the ex-patient, 
 I shall hope so to present the subject as to emphasize certain 
 aspects of the problem which might fail of their proper emphasis 
 if discussed from a single point of view. r 
 
 I find myself today in an embarrassing position. I have come 
 here to tell you about the work of the Connecticut Society for 
 
 ♦During the past year a Society for Mental Hygiene has been founded in Illinois. It 
 has been organized in the form of a Committee, of which Miss Julia C. Dathrop of Hult 
 House, Chicago, is Chairman. It is planned that this Committee shall, as occasion may 
 demand, grow into a fully organized State Society for Mental Hygiene. 
 
 2 
 
 cT' 
 
 -The 
 
 if? 
 
I 
 
 
 Mental Hygiene, and I cannot very well do so without making 
 frequent and intimate references to myself. The Society which 
 I represent is so much a part of my work, and my work is so 
 much a part of myself and of my past experiences, that I must 
 ask the privilege of taking you into my confidence at once, as 
 friends of long standing, if I am to present my subject intelli¬ 
 gently within the limited amount of time allotted to me. Only 
 by granting my request can I be made to feel at ease in disregard¬ 
 ing that humane convention of society which decrees that one 
 speaking in public shall not speak overmuch of himself. 
 
 Believing, as I do, that, had such work as The Connecticut 
 Society has undertaken been inaugurated a generation earlier, 
 I should have escaped the ordeal of mental collapse and commit¬ 
 ment to hospitals for the insane, I naturally have a deep and 
 abiding interest in that phase of the mental hygiene work which 
 relates to prevention. Had I, for instance, at the age of eighteen, 
 when I began to worry myself into a state of depression, had 
 access to advice and information which our Society ha^ begun 
 to offer, and had I, as a result of an established and widespread 
 interest in mental hygiene, sought such advice as a matter of 
 course, as persons threatened with tuberculosis now seek the 
 help and advice they need, I am confident that I should not have 
 suffered the affliction of mental disorder. Though I sought med¬ 
 ical advice and took medicine for “nerves,” I did not find the 
 remedy I needed, which was a verbal corrective for thoughts and 
 fears which were to prove my temporary undoing. As related 
 in detail in my book, I became nervous and depressed because 
 of my fear that I should develop epilepsy as an older brother, 
 who has since died, had done, and this secret fear, which I failed 
 to recognize as of sufficient importance to discuss with the gen¬ 
 eral practitioners consulted, and which they failed to uncover, 
 continued insidiously to sap my strength of mind until what was, 
 in fad, an unfounded and combatable fear became an obsession,— 
 and I became insane. At this point, I feel it my duty to state, 
 as I can on the authority of eminent physicians who recognize 
 .and frankly admit the limitations of their profession, that thous¬ 
 ands of cases of insanity, as preventable as my own case orig¬ 
 inally was, will continue to develop until the public demands that 
 
 2 
 
general practitioners shall cease to regard the subject of mental 
 disorders as one requiring no especial study. (The exerting of an 
 educative pressure by the. public, such a pressure, for instance, 
 as is exerted with reference to the prompt diagnosis and treat¬ 
 ment of tuberculosis, would make it necessary even for prac¬ 
 ticing physicians to study psychiatry,/and would hasten the day 
 when adequate courses in this important subject will be included 
 as a vital part of the curriculum of all medical schools. In this 
 respect, our country is far behind the countries of continental 
 Europe where no physician can secure his diploma until he has 
 passed an exacting examination in psychiatry. A thorough 
 knowledge of nervous and mental disorders, however, even on 
 the part of all physicians, will not of itself be sufficient. All 
 people must be taught to seek intelligent advice promptly, and 
 this they will not do until the whole public, for generations per¬ 
 haps, has enjoyed the benefits of education in mental hygiene. 
 Furthermore, institutions wherein the numerous “border-line” 
 cases can be treated, cases which are not admitted to sanitaria 
 for nervous people and which should not be committed to hos¬ 
 pitals for the insane, must be established either by the State or 
 by philanthropists. 
 
 I firmly believe that any well-organized system of Social 
 Service, having for its chief object the prevention of nervous 
 and mental disorders in the community, cannot fail in time to 
 prevent the occurrence of a majority of the preventable cases 
 which develop each year, but which, today, through ignorance or 
 neglect, are permitted to reach a stage where commitment is 
 necessary and cure so difficult or impossible. 
 
 What will such a campaign of education mean to the public? 
 Eventually it will mean that families in which cases of nervous 
 or mental disorder have developed, or seem likely to develop, 
 will, as a matter of course, take an inventory of their stock of 
 mental health, or permit a physician or trained social worker 
 to do so for them. In this way the weaker as well as the more 
 sensitive members of a family will be taught, or, if necessary, 
 perhaps (forced to live within the limit of their resistance to 
 these disorders, a limit which can oftentimes be determined by 
 a skilled observer. As we all know, families in which tubercu- 
 
 3 
 
losis has developed, if they are intelligent, observe the compara¬ 
 tively simple rules of right living with which they have been 
 made conversant by the tuberculosis propaganda. Though the 
 correction and control of faulty mental habits and endangering 
 modes of living, as related to mental disorders, is admittedly 
 difficult of attainment, because the points for attack are so in¬ 
 tangible, a campaign of education should at least bring threatened 
 cases of mental disorder under treatment promptly and make 
 their cure possible in a majority of instances. \Even today, 25% 
 of those who are committed to hospitals for tile insane recover 
 their previous health and capacity for self-support, and an added 
 20%, discharged as “improved,” are also able to return to their 
 homes. If these encouraging percentages of recovery can be 
 j secured when comparatively little work in prevention is being 
 done, they can certainly be raised through concerted and intelli¬ 
 gent effort, and the more surely because at least 40% of all cases 
 of mental disorder are due to specific and avoidable causes. 
 
 The phase of Social Service which relates more directly to 
 the improvement of conditions among patients in hospitals for 
 the insane is, of necessity, a hospital problem. The physicians 
 themselves are the ones to decide what form the social service 
 shall take within the hospital walls and in what way the assist¬ 
 ance of lay workers will be acceptable. I know of a hospital 
 where interested lay workers arrange for folk dances in which 
 the patients take part, where classes in calisthenics are formed and 
 instruction in handicraft (basketry, hammered brass work, etc.) 
 is given. These stimulating activities which exert a remedial 
 and re-educative effect upon the patients, inaugurated in this 
 instance by lay workers in collaboration with the medical staff 
 of the hospital, have since, in part at least, been taken over under 
 the direction o,f employees as a permanent feature of the insti¬ 
 tution’s work. , I, who have experienced the deadening monotony 
 of institutional life, and who have seen scores of patients sit 
 listlessly in the wards day after day, can testify how welcome 
 ^ would be the benefits of this intra-mural phase of social service. 
 Not only would such friendly assistance to the patients make 
 them happier but frequent contact with helpful lay workers 
 would in turn stimulate nurses and attendants, And, best of all. 
 
 4 
 
those nurses and attendants who could not measure up to the 
 higher standard of treatment required would, perforce, be elim¬ 
 inated. Thus social service would indirectly serve as a partial 
 remedy for the physical abuse of patients which occurs on occa¬ 
 sion, as we all know, in a majority of hospitals for the insane.* 
 
 It may not be amiss for me at this point to refer briefly to 
 that phase of my experiences which might be termed the reforma¬ 
 tory period. I had originally intended that my book should 
 serve as a sort of battle axe in a campaign of investigation and 
 reform to improve conditions among the patients. Continued 
 study of the problem, however, under the guidance of hospital 
 physicians and interested lay workers of wide experience, has 
 caused me to abandon the rftle of militant reformer and to adopt 
 the more effective and helpful one which I am now privileged to 
 play as the Executive Secretary of a State Society for Mental 
 Hygiene. Even though I must eat my own words—whole para¬ 
 graphs, in fact, of my book^I take occasion to assert that he is 
 in error, be he physician or layman, who believes that drastic 
 legislative investigation is the most effective measure at hand 
 for use in permanently correcting such evils and deficiencies in 
 treatment as may exist in our hospitals for the* insane. Legisla¬ 
 tive investigations are at best mere makeshifts.) The good that 
 they may do is usually offset by the harm they must do, because 
 the disturbing publicity incident to such investigations under¬ 
 mines confidence in our hospitals and seriously hampers their 
 work. Inasmuch as the desired and more permanent results can 
 be obtained in another way, I now unhesitatingly condemn legis¬ 
 lative investigations, except perhaps in a few States where this 
 heroic remedy must be resorted to. before the gentler method of 
 ^cooperative betterment can be undertaken. 
 
 Having discussed those phases of social service which relate 
 to prevention and work among the patients in hospitals, I should 
 
 ♦The Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, offers an "Occupation Course for 
 attendants for the Insane,” Several of the more progressive hospital superintendents 
 have already sent nurses and attendants to Chicago to take this course, at the expense of 
 the hospitals to which they return in the capacity of instructors in handicraft, etc. The 
 1910 session of the class will be held from June 21st to J[uly 29th. Full information may be 
 secured by writing to the Secretary of the School of Civics and Philanthropy. 35 Dearborn 
 St., Chicago, Illinois. 
 
 The New York School of Philanthropy, 105 East 22nd St., New York City, also offers 
 a Course for Attendants, "designed to discuss the importance of handicraft, games and 
 educational play-activities in the discipline and improvement of inmates of institutions. " 
 
 5 
 

 like to speak of that phase which is commonly referred to under 
 the restricting name of “After-Care.” As the preceding discus¬ 
 sion proves,/After-Care is a relatively small part of a compre¬ 
 hensive planSor Social Service.^) Today, what is generally under¬ 
 stood by After-Care consists simply in providing for the material- 
 needs of the discharged patient, who, unfortunately, is not usually 
 brought into contact with an After-Care Committee until he is 
 _ about to leave the hospital. In the ideal plan of Social Service 
 the social worker becomes acquainted with the patient, and his 
 family, at the time of commitment. Whether the social worker 
 follows the patient through his hospital experience is a matter 
 for the hospital physicians to decide; but, during that period, 
 there are always the relatives to advise and encourage, and when 
 the patient recovers he returns to a place in the family which 
 in some degree has been kept open for him, and to relatives 
 who, having at least a comprehension of the situation, are able 
 to realize their obligation toward him. This social service after¬ 
 care is a combination of all phases of Social- Service. I, there¬ 
 fore, feel justified in urging that existing After J Care Committees 
 shall change their titles, as, I am informed, the State Charities 
 Aid Association of New York plans to do with reference to its 
 several After-Care Committees. Why may not such Committees 
 be known as Committees for Social Service or for Mental Hy¬ 
 giene—preferably the latter—so that they can grow, as occasion 
 may demand, into a fully orgaxiized State Society for Mental 
 Hygiene such as we have in Connecticut? 
 
 If I have abandoned the role of militant reformer, and I have 
 so far as legislative investigations are concerned, it is because I 
 am convinced that the solution of the more important phases of 
 the problem discussed lies within the limits of the Scope of the 
 Work which the Connecticut Society has recently adopted. Be¬ 
 fore discussing this plan for work, however, I desire briefly to 
 outline the history of the pioneer State Society and of the parent 
 organization, the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, the 
 list of objects and personnel of which is appended. 
 
 In “A Mind That Found Itself,” which was published in 
 March, 1908, * it was recommended that a permanent agency for 
 
 *I,ongmans, Green & Co., Publishers, 443 Fourth Avenue, New York City. 
 
 6 
 
education and betterment in the hitherto neglected field of nerv¬ 
 ous and mental disorders should be brought into existence in the 
 form of a National Committee, and that this agency should under¬ 
 take a work akin to that which had already been undertaken 
 so successfully with regard to tuberculosis. It had been my orig¬ 
 inal purpose to include in this recommendation the statement 
 that the projected National Committee had, even prior to the pub¬ 
 lication of my book, been partially organized, at least to the ex¬ 
 tent of my having secured acceptances of membership from more 
 than twenty persons of national reputation whose interest in the 
 work had been enlisted during the preceding year. This announce¬ 
 ment, however, regarding the National Committee, was not made 
 at that time as it was deemed advisable to work out the problem 
 in one State before attempting to inaugurate an active national 
 movement. Therefore, I concentrated my efforts on the work 
 in my native State, and the Connecticut Society for Mental Hy¬ 
 giene, which was formally founded on May 6, 1908, was soon 
 completely organized and actively engaged in work. 
 
 During the first year and a half, we, that is, members of the 
 State and National organizations, studied those aspects of the 
 problem directly related to the work of a State Society. As a 
 result of this study, a model and effective plan has not only been 
 evolved but actually put into operation in Connecticut. With 
 slight changes, to meet varying conditions in given States, this 
 Scope of the Work, the gist of which I shall now present, can, 
 it is believed, be adopted by any State Society that may be 
 founded. 
 
 The chief objects of The Connecticut Society for Mental Hy¬ 
 giene are: (a) to work for the protection of the mental health 
 of the public; (b) to help raise the standards of care for those 
 threatened with nervous or mental disorder or actually ill; (c) 
 to become a permanent agency for education and betterment in 
 this hitherto neglected field. 
 
 These objects the Society aims to accomplish in the follow¬ 
 ing manner: 
 
 ( T ) By publishing and distributing information which will 
 help overcome the prevailing ignorance regarding conditions and 
 modes of living which tend to produce nervous and mental dis¬ 
 orders. 
 
 7 
 
(2) By maintaining an office in at least one of the larger 
 cities where persons in need of assistance or advice regarding the 
 perplexing questions relating to nervous or mental disorders 
 may, for the asking, be brought into contact with those physicians 
 or laymen best qualified to give the information they desire. 
 
 (3) By co-operating with institutions, societies, State and 
 local Boards and individuals, engaged in the work of protecting 
 and improving the health of the public. 
 
 (4) By instituting and carrying on Social Service work under 
 the guidance of physicians in charge of the hospitals which co¬ 
 operate with the Society. 
 
 In a word, the Society restricts its work to Social Service 
 and education, a plan which all interested workers, even opposing 
 factions in any State, can accept. A unique feature of the Con¬ 
 necticut plan is that Social Service is being carried on as a part 
 of the work of Hospitals for the Insane and of a Society for 
 Mental Hygiene, under the guidance of those superintendents 
 who serve as members of its Executive Committee. Such a plan 
 enables the superintendents of State and private institutions to 
 take their logical and commanding part in the *mental hygiene 
 work. In Connecticut these officials are charged with responsibil¬ 
 ity for the work and, in a measure, with its success. As can 
 be readily seen, results will be more far-reaching when the bur¬ 
 den of success rests upon the hospital officials than when they are 
 simply called upon to co-operate with the Society in an unofficial 
 way. 
 
 Though the Connecticut Society is still in the formative stage 
 of development, a sufficient amount of work has been done to 
 prove that it will enjoy a successful and continued existence. 
 When its organization was completed on June 30, 1908, its mem¬ 
 bership numbered 112. Early in the following year the member¬ 
 ship was increased to 550 by means of a general appeal to the 
 public in the form of circular letters and copies of the Prospectus. 
 As an indication of a healthy interest in mental hygiene, it should 
 be noted that the percentage of enrollments in New Haven, 
 where the work had been made familiar to the public, was higher 
 than is usually secured by means of circularizing, and 95% of 
 the original 550 members paid their Annua] Dues of two dollars. 
 
 8 
 
During the past few months desultory circularizing has been car¬ 
 ried on, with the result that not only has the membership been 
 increased to 650 but the existence of the Society has been made 
 known to many people who have already sought its advice and 
 assistance. Had the organization possessed adequate capital for 
 the development of its work, it would without doubt today have 
 a membership of at least 1500, which would make the Society 
 self-supporting. That even a larger membership than this can 
 eventually be secured seems certain, for we have not yet availed 
 ourselves of the surer method of personal appeals which can be 
 made by interested workers before secular and church clubs and 
 other audiences. Then, too, few relatives and friends of the 4,000 
 patients in Hospitals for the Insane in Connecticut have as yet 
 taken an active part in the work of securing members, as many 
 surely will when they become familiar with the purposes of the 
 organization. 
 
 What the relatives of the patients may do to help the Society 
 has been made plain. What the Society can do for the relatives 
 may best be emphasized by quoting, with the writer’s permission, 
 part of a letter sent to me last autumn by a woman who had ap¬ 
 plied for advice several months earlier, when the question of 
 committing her husband to a hospital was being considered. 
 
 “I want to thank you again for setting me right in regard to 
 my husband’s position at the hospital. Since my interview with 
 you I have experienced the only peace of mind I have known 
 in months. Your explanations relieved my anxieties and dis¬ 
 pelled my prejudices to such an extent that a great burden has 
 been lifted from me. If only I had consulted you long ago I 
 should have avoided the many mistakes I have made and been 
 spared much unhappiness.” 
 
 In a later interview this woman remarked: “I believe I 
 should have suffered a nervous or mental collapse had not my 
 mind been relieved from worry when it was. I am now able to 
 secure restful sleep, something I hadn’t enjoyed for weeks prior 
 t(j my first interview.” 
 
 This case is especially interesting in that it demonstrates the 
 value of assistance which may be given to thousands of people 
 in this country whose relatives are classed among the incurable 
 
 9 
 
 A 
 
insane. The burden of worry which this woman was carrying 
 before her unfounded fears were dispelled, was one which thous¬ 
 ands similarly situated must continue to bear until a way has 
 been found to place before them the comparatively simple in¬ 
 structions and advice they so greatly need. Such a way has been 
 found in Connecticut. The Society and the hospitals are to serve 
 as agencies of enlightenment. 
 
 Many people have asked for information regarding the cost 
 of maintaining a State Society for Mental Hygiene. Experience 
 gained in ’Connecticut shows that an organization of this kind 
 can maintain an office and employ a stenographer, and a social 
 worker, who, in turn, may serve as assistant or active Secretary, 
 at a cost not to exceed $3,000 a year. And this amount of money 
 can, it would seem, be secured in any State in the form of con¬ 
 tributions and dues. Though it would cost more than $3,000 a 
 year to maintain a completely organized system of Social Service, 
 the expenses of a State Society should, relatively at least, de¬ 
 crease with the development of its work. Many burdens which 
 a Society must at first assume independently will eventually be 
 shared by the State, either through its hospitals or by means of 
 a direct appropriation to the Society for its work in prevention, 
 which, after all, is a State and economic problem. The State 
 of New York, within the past ten years, has expended more than 
 $50,000,000 in caring for developed cases of insanity. It is in¬ 
 conceivable that this State and many others will not soon adopt 
 the wiser policy of expending part of their appropriations for the 
 prevention of mental disorders. 
 
 What policy a Society for Mental Hygiene should adopt is 
 a question which the interested workers in a given State will of 
 necessity have to decide for themselves. If, however, those who 
 help to found a Society are willing to limit the scope of its work 
 to Social Service and education as, I believe, should always be 
 done at first, then there need be no great difficulty in bringing an 
 organization into existence and placing its work on a practical 
 basis. Social Service and the education of the public are activities 
 which hospital officials can heartily support, but, which, owing 
 to the burden of their fixed duties, they can not very well initiate 
 and carry on without lay assistance. 
 
 10 
 
As the Mental Hygiene movement mugc and should spread 
 slowly, so that such State Societies as may be founded shall enjoy 
 a continuous and effective existence, it will probably be a long 
 time before this newer form of organization has been brought 
 into existence in a majority of our States. In consequence, in¬ 
 terested individuals in some parts of the country will not for 
 many years to come enjoy the privilege of working for the cause 
 through the agency of a State Society. Anybody, however, even 
 today, may take upon himself a share of the work which a State 
 Society for Mental Hygiene should strive to accomplish. He 
 can, if he will, serve as a center of enlightenment regarding the 
 principles of mental hygiene and their practical application; and 
 he can constitute himself a missionary in this cause by simply 
 combating the unfounded and unfortunately widespread prejudice 
 which exists regarding the insane and the institutions provided 
 for their treatment. It may be said that the combating of these 
 groundless fears and prejudices is the first logical point for at¬ 
 tack in the impending campaign of education. 
 
 Having discussed my own experiences so frankly today, I am 
 sure no one will suspect me of the ulterior motive of trying to 
 combat the prejudice and stigma associated with insanity so that 
 I myself may feel more at ease in the community. The fact that 
 I was once a patient in hospitals for the insane is to me as a 
 thing apart. I can and do view my past experiences as com¬ 
 placently as though I had suffered a commonplace physical dis¬ 
 order and been treated in general hospitals. If anyone considers 
 my point of view unusual, let him remember that it is not my 
 point of view which is unique, or strange, or surprising, but that 
 it is his own point of view which is not only strange but, as will 
 be discovered upon fair analysis, absurd and untenable. My 
 attitude is no doubt the logical result of an irresistible desire to 
 accomplish a work which, of necessity, must be based on my 
 experiences while insane. What, you may well ask, will serve to 
 make all ex-patients unconscious of the imagined stigma of in¬ 
 sanity? I doubt if the insanities during the present generation 
 will come to be regarded as are the so-called physical disorders. 
 Patients, today, carry with them into the hospitals the idea of 
 stigma and disgrace which most people hold, and they inevitably 
 
 ii 
 
7 
 
 return to the world with the idea more deeply implanted. But the 
 public can at least begin to endow posterity with immunity to 
 the imagined stigma. ■' When everybody learns to regard mental 
 disorders with equam’mity, patients who suffer mental affliction 
 will perforce cease to feel stigmatized by what today is an un¬ 
 fair and unjustifiable classification of diseases. 
 
 My concluding message is that each one shall constitute him¬ 
 self a center of enlightenment regarding the nature of mental 
 disorders, their prevention and cure. As missionaries in the 
 cause it will then become possible for everyone to help those 
 afflicted thousands who, unlike myself, may not be fortunate 
 enough to recover their mental health and liberty. 
 
 12 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 The members of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, 
 as of the date May 1, 1910, are : 
 
 Mrs. Milo M. Acker, Hornell, N. Y., Trustee of the Willard 
 State Hospital; Miss Jane Addams, Hull House, Chicago; Presi¬ 
 dent Edwin A. Alderman, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 
 Va.; ex-President James B. Angell, University of Michigan, 
 Ann Arbor; Professor J. Mark Baldwin, Johns Hopkins Uni¬ 
 versity; Dr. Charles P. Bancroft, Superintendent, New Hamp¬ 
 shire State Hospital, Concord, N. H.; Mr. Otto T. Bannard, New 
 York City; Dr. Lewellys F. Barker, Johns Hopkins University; 
 Dr. Frank Billings, Chicago; Dr. G. Alder Blumer, Superintendent, 
 Butler Hospital, Providence, R. I.; Dr. George Blumer, Yale 
 Medical School, New Haven; Professor Russell H. Chittenden, 
 Director, Sheffield Scientific School; Dr. William B. Coley, New 
 York City; Dr. Owen Copp, Executive Officer, Massachusetts 
 State Board of Insanity, Boston; Dr. Charles P. Emerson, Super¬ 
 intendent, Clifton Springs Sanitarium; President W. H. P. 
 Faunce, Brown University; Dr. Henry B. Favill, Chicago; Miss 
 Katherine S. Felton, San Francisco; Professor Irving Fisher, 
 Yale University; Mr. Matthew C. Fleming, New York City; Mr. 
 Horace Fletcher, New York City; Mr. Homer Folks, New York 
 City; James, Cardinal Gibbons, Baltimore; President Arthur T. 
 Hadley, Yale University; Major Henry L. Higginson, Boston; 
 Dr. August Hoch, Director, Psychiatric Institute, Ward’s Island, 
 New York City; Professor William James, Cambridge, Massa¬ 
 chusetts; President David Starr Jordan, Leland Stanford, Jr., 
 University, Palo Alto, California; President Harry Pratt Judson, 
 University of Chicago: Miss Julia C. Lathrop, Hull House, Chi¬ 
 cago; Professor Morris Loch, New York University; Mr. Marcus 
 M. Marks, New York City; Mr. Lee Meriwether, St. Louis; Dr. 
 Adolf Meyer, Director, Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, Johns Hop¬ 
 kins University; Mrs. Philip N. Moore, St. Louis; Dr. J. Mont¬ 
 gomery Mosher, Albany, N. Y.; ex-President Cyrus Northrop, 
 
 13 
 
University of Minnesota; Dr. Stewart Paton, Princeton, N. J.; 
 Professor Francis G. Peabody, Harvard University; Mr. George 
 Wharton Pepper, Philadelphia; Dr. Frederick Peterson, Columbia 
 University; Mr. Henry Phipps, New York City; President Jacob 
 Gould Schurman, Cornell University; Dr. M. Allen Starr, Co¬ 
 lumbia University; Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes, Jr., Secretary, 
 Yale University; Mr. Melville E. Stone, New York City; Judge 
 Robert W. Tayler, United States District Court, Cleveland, Ohio; 
 Mr. Sherman D. Thacher, Nordhoff, California; Rev. Henry 
 van Dyke, D.D., Princeton University; Dr. Henry P. Walcott, 
 Cambridge, Massachusetts; Dr. William H. Welch, Johns Hop¬ 
 kins University; Surgeon-general Walter Wyman, Public Health 
 and Marine Hospital Service, Washington, D. C.; President Ben¬ 
 jamin Ide W T heeler, University of California, Berkeley, Cali¬ 
 fornia; Mr. Robert A. Woods, South End House, Boston, Massa¬ 
 chusetts. 
 
 Secretary, Pro. Tern., Clifford W. Beers, 39 Church St., New 
 Haven, Connecticut. 
 
 The chief objects of the National Committee are: To work 
 for the protection of the mental health of the public; to help 
 raise the standards of care for those threatened with mental dis¬ 
 order or actually ill; to promote the study of mental disorders 
 in all their forms and relations and to disseminate knowledge 
 concerning their causes, treatment and prevention; to obtain from 
 every source reliable data regarding conditions and methods of 
 dealing with mental disorders; to enlist the aid of the Federal 
 Government so far as may seem desirable; to co-ordinate exist¬ 
 ing agencies and help organize in each State in the Union an 
 allied, but independent Society for Mental Hygiene, similar to 
 the existing Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene. 
 
 14 
 

 APPENDIX II 
 
 The officers of The Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene, 
 as of the date May 1, 1910, are: 
 
 President, Dr. George Blumer, New Haven; Vice Presidents, 
 Hon. Costello Lippitt, President of the Board of Trustees of the 
 Norwich State Hospital; Hon. Frank B. Weeks, President of the 
 Board of Trustees of the Connecticut State Hospital; Treasurer, 
 W. Perry Curtiss, Vice President of the New Haven Trust Com¬ 
 pany; Executive Committee, Dr. Henry S. Noble, Superintendent, 
 Connecticut State Hospital, Middletown; Mr. Lewis H. English, 
 New Haven; Dr. George H. Knight, Superintendent of the Con¬ 
 necticut School for Feeble Minded, Lakeville; Judge L. P. Waldo 
 Marvin, Probate Court, Hartford; Dr. Henry M. Pollock, Super¬ 
 intendent, Norwich State Hospital; Mr. Charles G. Sanford, 
 Bridgeport; Dr. Whitefield N. Thompson, Superintendent, Hart¬ 
 ford Retreat, Hartford; Executive Secretary, Clifford W. Beers, 
 39 Church St., New Haven. 
 
 The members of the Board of Directors of The Connecticut 
 Society for Mental Hygiene, as of the date May 1, 1910, are: 
 
 Mr. Max Adler, New Haven; Professor William B. Bailey, 
 Yale University; Mrs. Thomas G. Bennett, New Haven; Mr. 
 Tames Kingsley Blake, New Haven; Dr. George Blumer, Yale 
 Medical School; Hon. Charles F. Brooker, Ansonia; Dr. John 
 L. Buel, Superintendent, Spring Hill Sanitarium. Litchfield; Mr. 
 Henry S. Chase, Waterbury; Dr. Benjamin IT. Cheney, New 
 Haven; Major Louis R. Cheney, Hartford; Professor Russell 
 H. Chittenden, Director, Sheffield Scientific School; Mr. W. 
 Perry Curtiss, New Haven; Dr. A. Ross Diefendorf, Lecturer 
 on Psychiatry, Yale Medical School; Dr. Charles A. Dinsmore, 
 D.D., Waterbury; Mr. John I. H. Downes, New Haven; ex- 
 President Timothy Dwight, Yale University; Dr. Gustavus Eliot, 
 New Haven; Mr. Lewis H. English, New Haven; Professor 
 Irving Fisher, Yale University; Mr. J. Edward Heaton, New 
 Haven; Mr. Everett G. Hill, New Haven ; Mr. William T. Hincks, 
 
 15 
 
Bridgeport; Mr. William J. Hoggson, Greenwich; Mr. Thomas 
 Hooker, New Haven; Dr. George H. Knight, Lakeville; Hon. 
 Costello Lippitt, Norwich; Professor Thomas R. Lounsbury, Yale 
 University; Judge L. P. Waldo Marvin, Hartford; Hon. George 
 P. McLean, Simsbury; Mr. James T. Moran, New Haven; Dr. 
 Henry S. Noble, Middletown; Dr. S. B. Overlock, Pomfret; Dr. 
 Henry M. Pollock, Norwich; Mr. Alfred Atmore Pope, Farm¬ 
 ington; Dr. Henry W. Ring, New Haven; Mr. Charles G. San¬ 
 ford, Bridgeport; Mr. Arthur H. Shipman, Hartford; Dr. Fred¬ 
 erick T. Simpson, Hartford; Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes, Jr., Yale 
 University; Mr. Horace D. Taft, Watertown; Dr. Whitefield N. 
 Thompson, Hartford; Col. Rutherford Trowbridge, New Haven; 
 Mr. Howard B. Tuttle, Naugatuck; Mr. Victor Morris Tyler. 
 New Haven; Col. Isaac M. Ullman, New Haven; Mr. George 
 C. Waldo, Bridgeport; Hon. Thomas M. Waller, New London; 
 Hon. Frank B. Weeks, Middletown; Mr. John H. Whittemore, 
 Naugatuck.