Where syphilis, drunkenness, and other marked sources of mental degeneration do not obtain, simple food, plenty of sleep, avoidance of extremes of heat and cold, plain dressing, baths, good digestion, out-of-door life, fresh air, careful attention to slight disorders or injuries of the brain and nervous system, guidance against too much study and too much excitement or dissipation, development of character and moral force, intellectual and physical training, avoidance of too much emotional, sentimental, or even artistic culture, careful watchfulness during the period of adolescence, occupation without overwork, healthful recreation, a {138} contented or philosophical mind, and suitable marriages, would produce the strong wills and healthy organisms needed to combat the tendencies of modern life. Such a course would undoubtedly make many a child with an hereditary predisposition to insanity become a healthy parent of children in whom the same treatment would soon eliminate the family taint. The character should be strengthened to learn to overcome difficulties rather than evade them. There are cases in which such a course can be adopted, and where the physician's advice may be of untold benefit to generations. There are many crises in life when the mind totters and seems ready to fall, which the physician is more likely to recognize than any other person. Sometimes the odds are too heavy to fight against, but often there is a transient mental disturbance in such critical cases, or an incipient insanity, according as the indications are met with wisdom and patience or with neglect, indifference, and lack of judgment. The treatment called for is of the person rather than of the mental state, and in all forms of mental disease success in treatment depends very materially upon the personality of the physician, who must adapt himself also to the personality of the patient.