_Institutions._--Institutions are of great importance. A larger proportion of the children of the poor than of the children of the well-to-do are dealt with in institutions, for well-to-do parents live in commodious houses, in which their children can be properly cared for, they are able to summon the doctor whenever necessary, and so on. The most important institutions in this connection are hospitals for infants and young children. Children’s hospitals are not as yet very numerous; hospitals for infants are still fewer. The majority of these institutions are maintained, not by the State or by the local authority, but by the community at large. It is owing to the fact that children’s and infants’ hospitals are so few in number that medical practitioners are so inadequately trained in respect of the hygiene of childhood and pediatrics, and in especial in the hygiene and therapy of infant life. The need for such hospitals is not satisfied by the foundation of children’s clinics. A combination of hospitals for infants with lying-in hospitals or foundling hospitals is unquestionably along the proper course of development. If we wish to ascertain the value of institutions for children who are blind, deaf-mute, crippled, or feeble-minded--if we wish to learn whether it is socially worth while to take special pains for the care of such children, or whether they can be adequately cared for in general institutions, and what would be the cost of these respective methods--we must study statistics bearing on these questions. But, unfortunately, these statistics are defective and extremely untrustworthy. They are defective, because they fail to give us precise information concerning personal data and concerning the percentage of such children who are or may become fit to earn their own living. They do not classify properly according to age, and they do not state accurately how many of the children have inherited and how many have acquired the defect from which they suffer. (The youngest children will usually be found to suffer from an inherited defect, since they will hardly have had time to acquire it. Among those suffering from such defects, the young present a larger proportion of sufferers than we find among the general population, because the mortality of the children thus affected is higher than the mortality of healthy children.) The statistics are untrustworthy, because the existence of deaf-mutism is often overlooked until childhood is comparatively advanced, and feeble-mindedness may not be recognised at all. In the twentieth century, in the civilised countries of Europe, we find, per 100,000 of the population, from 50 to 130 blind persons, from 60 to 250 deaf persons, 70 to 450 feeble-minded and insane (minimal and maximal figures), and about 120 cripples. According to certain statistical data, one-fourth of the blind and two-thirds of the deaf-mutes are competent to earn their living, and 90 per cent.