Noble, Christlike sentiment of human charity! Let it be cherished and fostered still, toward the least of the children of affliction and misfortune, as man in his immortal aspirations moves nearer and nearer to the loving, charitable heart of God, imaging in his work the example of the divinely incarnate Master! But let us always couple this exalted sentimentality with the stern logic of fact, and never misdirect or misapply it in any of our charitable work. Imperfect knowledge perverts the noblest sentiments; widened and perfected knowledge strengthens their power. A truly philanthropic sentiment is most potent for good in the power of knowledge, and may be made most powerful for evil through misconception of or inadequate comprehension of facts. As we grow in aspirations after the highest welfare of the insane, let us _widen our knowledge of the real nature of insanity and the necessities for its amelioration, prevention, and cure_. It is a long time since Grotius wrote, "The study of the human mind is the noblest branch of medicine;" and we realize to-day that it is the noblest study of man, regardless of vocation. Aye! it is the imperative study of our generation and of those who are to follow us, if we would continue, as we wish to be, the conservators of the good and great, and promoters of advancing capability for great and good deeds in our humanity. One known and acknowledged insane person to every five hundred sane persons, and among those are unreckoned numbers of unstably endowed and too mildly mannered lunatics to require public restraint, but none the less dangerous to the perpetuation of the mental stability of the race, is an appalling picture of fact for philanthropic conservators of the race to contemplate. The insane temperament and its pathological twin brother, the neuropathic diathesis, roams at large unrestrained from without or that self-restraint which, bred of adequate self-knowledge, might come from within, and contaminates with neurotic and mental instability the innocent unborn, furnishing histogenic factors which the future will formulate in minds dethroned to become helpless wards of the state or family. The insane temperament is more enduringly fatal to the welfare of humanity than the deadly _comma bacillus_ which is supposed to convey the scourge of Asia to our shores. The latter comes at stated periods, and disappears after a season or two of devastation, in which the least fit to survive of our population, by reason of feeble organic resisting power, are destroyed; while resisting tolerance is established in the remainder. But _this_ scourge is with us always, transmitting weakness unto coming generations.