The Washington herald., 1921-04-03
By William Atherton Du Puy

II
STF YOUR typewriter or your automobile
l Or your sewing machine gets something
the Natter with It, you know right where
to 20 10 get it fixed up.
'sf you get the toothache, or corns, or
poison ivy, you have but 10 60 around the
corner, peel few layers of your roll, and
relief is yours.
But II that master mechanism Of the
universe, the human mind, gets out Of order.
there Is no repair shop. It must limp along
with fat wheel, or cylinder that does not
IRE, until 1t becomes such an obstruction to
rafhe that Il is hurried to the scrap heap.
"Civihzation has fallen into another OF
- pitfalls Of the obvious. 1t Is leaving that
thmg which il nearest IL, of most impor-
tanos to 1.-THE engine that drives it-out
In The wet exposed to the elements. The
human mind which has built and preserved
the complicated structure that is peculiar to
nan has given no practical thought to itself.
1T Is high time that we set up in every
cfty Q repair shop for minds that are out
Of order. II Is high time that every munic-
fpal hospital had psychopathic wards,
mental hygiene clinics, which would put the
chains on minds that are skidding and bring
them back to steady going
Such 10 the declaration Of DR.. William A.
White, chief mental expert of the federal
government, superintendent of that great
soldiers and sailors hospital just outside
Of Washington which specializes on cases of
sick minds. DR.. White is one of the lead
ers In the national committee for mental
hygiene which sets the pace in the study
Of this subject, and his institution trains
more specialists along this line-psychiatrists
they are eslled-than any other. He Is the
man in the nation about whom advanced
thought ON problems of the mind revolves.
This institution Of the federal govern
ment is called St. Elizabeth's Hospital, and
to reach 1t one winds his way down through
that part of Washington, beyond the Capt.
tol, which was intended by the fathers to
house the city's best, but which fell into
decay when the town stampeded in the other
direction. He passes the big navy yard by
the eastern branch and sees focks of eagle
boats, fedged by Henry Ford, but never
used. at anchor and falling into decay. He
bisects Anacostia, that suburb that is the
butt of the comedians jokes, and finds this
government institution Of 5000 people, with
buildings scattered over a mile square area
on the brow of high hill. 1t is a govern
ment city lost to the uninitiated. Here this
student Of the human mind rules.
"It Is a peculiar thing" he said, that
the medical profession has so neglected the
study of the treatment of the human mind.
As it is difficult to find human body that
Is not without its defects, so are there quirks
In most mentalities that interfere with their
usefulness. Doctors recommend that each
at stated intervals that any developing COM
plaint may be forestalled. But the mind
that Is sick gets no attention. It goes from
bad to worse until its owner becomes a
menace to the community. Then he Is locked
up In an asylum, not that he may secure
treatment, but that the community may be
protected against him, --. -...
sTITHAT want Is an agency that can
w look into the conditions Of the minds
of the people and forestall collapse. want
to redirect them when they have just started
on the road to mental disability.
There are people all about us who need
mental treatment. You, gentle reader, might
double your capacity and your chance Of
happiness If you but had a tangle or two
straightened out in your mind. The trouble
may not be such that it will ever be appre-
ciated that repairs are needed, but proper
attention might serve a very beneficial pur-
pose.
Take a man with q habitual crouch for