treatment, Rosanoff says that an effort should be made to combat stereotypy in all its forms by suggestion and by diversion in occupation. Where occupational therapy has been tried much improvement has been noted in this type of case. Playing and Singing In the rush to get on in the world and make a living, to lay up for the rainy day, too many folk in recent years have neglected recreation, forgotten how to play and how to sing. Thanks to the newer educational methods, play is being emphasized, not only for its recreational, but also for its educational, value. Thanks to Thomas Surette, such bodies as the Kiwanians and other joy-producing organizations are introducing in many places on this continent community singing; and often at big gatherings in the open, we are treated to sing-songs, and they are much enjoyed-not only by spectators but also by the participants in the song. The supervised playground movement is spreading rapidly. Even in vacations children are now assembling on school grounds and indulging in many healthful and recreational games under the direction of enthusiastic teachers who have been specially trained for this sort of work. Most of these progressive efforts are, thus far, confined to the cities and towns. Before long, it is hoped, the movement will extend to all the countryside and even to the frontier settlements. The work is worth boosting. School Building Problems Eckles, in The Nation's Health, says, that in the matter of heating and ventilating of schools, the principal improvements have been in the general adoption of the indirect method merely for ventilation purposes, and the use of direct radiation under or near the windows for heating purposes. With radiators by the windows, heat losses are overcome, and an even temperature throughout the room secured. Both direct and indirect radiators should have automatic control. It is important to see that the air is sufficiently humidified; special devices can now be installed which work satisfactorily. Some of the more modern schools are provided with workshops, swimming pools, medical inspector's and dental room; rooms for teaching domestic science, sewing, laundry work, etc. Gymnasiums and swimming pools are lit from above, while shops have sidelight as well as top light. Class rooms are now made narrower than formerly, and are lit mainly from one side. and National Hygiene Incorporating The Dominion Medical Monthly A monthly journal devoted to Preventive Medicine, including Social Hygiene, Mental Hygiene, Child Hygiene, Foods and their purity, Serum Therapy, Milk Supply. Drug Addiction, Industrial and Institutional Health Problems, etc. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, $2.00 PER ANNUM. OFFICE OF PUBLICATION, SLEEPY HOLLOW BUILDING, TORONTO, CANADA GEORGE G. NASMITH, C.M.G., B.P.H., Vice-Pres., Ontario Red Cross Society, Toronto. Kindly address all communications to The Canada Lancet and National Hygiene Original Contribution MENTAL HYGIENE IN CANADA* C. K. CLARKE, M.D., LL.D., PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY, Canada, being a developing country, where population is sparse and territories enormous, it is almost inevitable that the cost of building and maintaining institutions for the mentally ill should be a heavy burden on a population lacking wealth, as so much had to be undertaken in a short time. The wonder is that anything was accomplished. Again, when it is remembered that the host of immigrants drifting from the old world always contain an undue proportion of defectives and mentally diseased it may be understood that our problem has been by no means a simple one. DANGERS OF INDISCRIMINATE IMMIGRATION. Resentment is sometimes shown in Great Britain because we take exception to certain types of immigrants, and deport many individuals who wish to become citizens. But the success of a nation depends almost entirely on the character of its population, and a reading of past history makes it abundantly plain that if we are to preserve the rugged qualities which have characterized our people in the past we shall scan the immigrant coming across the seas very closely. It is a normal defence reaction. Rudyard Kipling and others say that what Canada must do is to pump in the population. That is true, but at the same time it is necessary to put the suction pipe in waters not polluted by defect, physical degeneracy, and social failure. *An abstract of the fourth Maudsley Lecture given before the Medico-Psychological Society of Great Britain and Ireland on May 24th, 1923. It must be frankly admitted that our public men are greatly influenced by American ideals, and our politicians are following the footsteps of Uncle Sam closely in the endeavor to rob Europe of its needy millions, with little attempt to sort out the types drifting across the seas. Anthropology is not recognized as a science by these enthusiasts, and the history of the rise and fall of other nations is rarely suggested as a topic worthy of the study of the parliamentarian; but the intelligent study of emigration, not immigration, is the most essential thing in Canada to-day. The United States have long ago discovered that Canada as a whole has been occupied by sturdy Nordic types of efficient and capable people to whose descendants they have extended a warm welcome, with the result that we have suffered enormously by the loss of many of our best. If the immigration had been made up of hardy Nordic agriculturalists such as we had 100 years ago, all would have been well. Unfortunately, that is not what happened, and apparently is not likely to happen again. The United States have learned their lesson, but realize that it is too late to profit by it. Their best thinkers feel that the damage has been done, and whatever their idealists injected into their original constitution, they are now convinced that all men are not born equal, and that it is possible to scale down to a new depth rather than rise to greater efficiency. But Canada is now entering upon an era of movement in the other direction; our greatest hope is in the importation of good Nordic types from the United States, and this movement is becoming more and more extensive. THE PROBLEM OF CHILD IMMIGRATION. Possibly child immigration needs more careful supervision than any other, as it so frequently includes physical and mental weaklings. Child immigration would be invaluable if of the right kind under rigid psychiatric inspection, as the children grow up in touch with our ways and of course adapt themselves easily, but if they are of the wrong kind they add enormously to our burdens and troubles. To show that the danger is real, let us scan some accurate statistics regarding some 5,800 children referred for examination to a national mental hygiene psychiatrist. These were special cases; 1,386 were mentally subnormal to such a degree that they were incapable |