Not patriotic motives alone urge this reform, but common sense and common morality. For shell-shock has brought us no new symptoms. Its sole ground of difference from other disordered states of mind lies in its unusually intense and wide-spreading causes. The problems of shell-shock are the every-day problems of “nervous breakdown.” They existed before the war, and they will not disappear miraculously with the coming of peace. The war has forced upon this country a rational and humane method of caring for and treating mental disorder among its soldiers. Are these signs of progress merely temporary? Are such successful measures to be limited to the duration of the war, and to be restricted to the army? Germany has applied them for years to the alleviation of suffering among her civilian population, with a success which has made her famous—outside England. Can we be content to treat our sufferers with less sympathy, insight and common-sense than Germany? It is at this time, while our country is anxiously considering how best to learn the lessons of the war, that we wish to call attention to one of these lessons which is in danger of being overlooked. CHAPTER I. The Nature of Shell-Shock. A French doctor has said, “Il n’y a pas de maladies; il n’y a que des malades.”[1] Whatever may be the general validity of this statement, it is undoubtedly true of the nerve-stricken soldier. Every case is a case by itself, and as such it must be considered by anyone, be he layman or doctor, who is interested in its nature and treatment. For the troubles displayed in the many disorders classed under the official title shell-shock are extraordinarily numerous and different, and their removal necessitates a similarly varied repertoire of “opening moves” on the part of the physician.