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.

cT'

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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

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-

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.

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. "

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.

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.

(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.

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

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.

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

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.

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,

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.

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,

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.