The rational and humane treatment of early cases of mental disturbance has now been inaugurated on precisely those lines which have been so long urged, with such little success, by the more far-seeing members of the medical profession.[76] A good example of this reform is the splendid work now being carried out, at the Maghull Military Hospitals, near Liverpool, for officers and men, organised and superintended by Major R. G. Rows. The institutions are specially devoted to the treatment of soldiers suffering from “shock” and other psychoses. The success already achieved there is sufficient evidence of the great value of these special hospitals for the treatment of nervous and mental disorders in their early stages. But if the lessons of the war are to be truly beneficial, much more extensive application must be made of these methods, _not only for our soldiers now, but also for our civilian population for all time_. We have before us the practical experience of those countries which have undertaken this great experiment in preventive medicine, yet apart from the encouraging results of its treatment practised in our special military hospitals, its present position in this country is only too accurately described in the report to which we have referred. With few exceptions[77] “the subject (of mental disease) is left severely alone.”[78] Our arm-chair writers direct their attention to safer subjects, such as eugenics, for example, and here they can be happy in feeling they are on secure ground, because they are aware that their neighbour knows little more about it than they do. Or they inspire reports, and I quote a sentence from a recent report as a contrast to the encouraging sound of the word ‘recovering.’[79] In the _Standard_ newspaper a few days ago, (_i.e._, in 1914) there was a reference to a report issued by the London County Council in which one paragraph began with the statement, ‘Once a lunatic, always a lunatic.’ This is the message sent in this country to our sufferers, a message as brutal as it is unjustifiable. Again, in the _Standard_ of February 11th in the year of grace 1913, there appeared the statement that ‘the Camberwell Guardians have issued instructions that the use of “anklets” on violent lunatics in their institutions is to be discontinued.’