5

H.—7

of the remaining causes accounted for a sufficient number of deaths to make ils proportion per tent, of any value, but it should be mentioned that eight deaths were due to enteric -seven at Auckland and one at Porirua that one patient met with an accident involving fraoture of the skull, and three committed suicide. in England and Wales during l!) 12 the percentage of deaths due to tuberculosis was 143, and to general paralysis of the insane was 26\'! for males. Gauges of Insanity, For some years under this section Table Xlll has been analysed, and the percentage incidenrc of the principal assigned causes compared in tabular form. Having served the purpose of demonstrating that there were go startling differences from year to year, this is now omitted. To heredity as a principal factor was assigned 17 per cent, of the cases in 1913, and the same proportion to alcoholic excess in men. To senile changes, both sexes included, 14 per cent, of cases were assigned, and among males alone this was the highest single factor—lß per cent. The figures in Table XIII are given for what they are worth : in estimating to what particular stress a patient's condition may be due one has largely to rely upon the imperfect observation of relatives, who fall very readily into the post hoc fallacy. If there be a greater tendency to mental and nervous disease in the present day one must look for the operation of some general and unusual cause which makes the period its own. In the perspective of history this will be the Age of Science, and the world is undoubtedly in a state of unrest indicating that the present is transitional. The sum of human knowledge is added to daily, and while Science preaches the new beatitudes, which after all are the old. its true message is not heard by many, \f\- there is too much noise amidst the clatter of wheels and the hum of dynamos, the roar of competition which knows no repose. I'or the greater number work has lost individuality, is dehumanized by each doing an uninteresting fraction of something, it matters not what, to the accompaniment of pace-making machinery. This sort of existence creates -.t positive demand from those not utterly subdued to their calling for some reactionary stimulation. Itself fice from competition ami commercialism and ready at hand to help, Science, the innocent first cause of the situation, points out the pitfalls to which such restlessness leads; points out also that the competitive struggle is not only soul-destroying but is positively toxic —which fad makes the simple healthful care of tile fatigued body tin' more urgent. Education has done much and will do more to adapt man to preserve the integrity of his body and mind in the altering environment, and for the man who cannot stand anil look to the end something may recall the yesterday of implicit faith or take its place; but meantime much disease, misery, and crime will be found among those unfit for the struggle. Former reports have dealt with the general question of the causation of insanity, of the importance of heredity, of how best to combat its existence, and not wait with folded hands for fate, and of how to recognize the danger-signals of stress under different conditions, and to adjust the immediate environment, where, indeed, there is some chance of control to the varying necessities of the case. It is not necessary to go on repeating the same words to the same audience —there are in our midst associations and societies dialing with fundamental questions relating to the bodily and mental well-being of the race, ami gradually, therefore the more surely, making people think. Once a person thinks, tin' rest is easy. It will not perhaps lie considered invidious to name the Eugenics Education Society, which is studying and teaching the problems of heredity, and the Society for the Health of Women and Children, which draws attention to the paramount value of proper nutrition for the rapidly growing body and brain before and after birth. There are some who believe that legislation can do everything, hut it is futile to legislate in advance of public opinion. However, it is a hopeful sign when numbers of people interested in subjects of this nature band themselves together to learn and to enlighten others; and if they find ears to hear, legislation will become unnecessary. Weekly Reports. The receipt of wcclUv reports from each mental hospital, the same being a copy of the entries into the Week I \ Report Book, has been commented upon before as being very useful in permitting the institution of comparisons as well as in bringing out the total and proportional number of patients needing special oversight, care, or control for any reason, the number employed usefully, and thereby contributing to their well-being and comfort, the nature of the employment, and so forth. Hereunder the figures for the weeks during the year, collected from these reports, are represented under some of the chief headings in proportions per cent, of the total. The heading " Under constant observation " includes so very few beyond the suicidal that, though shown separately in the reports, tiny may be taken as coinciding for all practical purposes. Employment is one of the chief methods of treatment, and this and other methods, more or less genera] in application, are obviously excluded in the heading "Under special treatment," which embraces what the term implies, whether the disorder be mental or physical.

Proportion per Cent, of Patients olassed as Males. Females. Total. Under constant observation Epileptics General paralytics Dangerous Employed Under special treatment 2*0 7-54 1-81 3-33 70-36 2-16 4-17 8-28 0-33 11-47 5811 3-94 3-43 7-85 119 6-72 6526 2-90