Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-06
IANC|ENT INSANITY
PREJUD|cES MET
Mental Hygiene Congress
! Hears of New Methods of
y Curing Patients.
Continued From First Page.)

PopuidhiOil ally ObLIcL AL
the world.
The breweries. he said, reprint great
deal of the prohibition news from the
United States as terrible warning to
the Swiss people of the effects of rigid
regulation.
Prohibitionists, he declared. must be
OF more engaging personalities before
they will be very successful. pointing
out that the popular picture of the pro-
hibitionist is that of a very stern
pedantic person.
Development of hospitals for the mind
was described before Congress today.
Unlike inmates In the traditional In
situations for the insane, patients enter
these new hospitals voluntarily and
leave when they please.
DR.. Edouard Toulouse of Paris re-
ported that the French capital now has
the first hospital of this kind, estab-
lished over the opposition of judges
politicians, and even doctors. who could
not overcome the old-fashioned ideas of
the profession.
DR.. c. Macfie Campbell told of the
establishment in Boston of . hospital
almost as liberal as the Pa is lnstitu-
ton. but taking cases re fred to 1t
by the courts. Both men explained tnat
this system enabled p5ycniatristS to
treat patients in the early stages of
mental abnormality, whereas the insane
hospital gets them largely by force and
when the mind has deteriorated so far
that little can be done
There are not sufficient reasons to
Deprive an insane person OF his liberty"
said DR.. Toulouse, IF he has not COM
mitted or attempted a misdcmeanor
Early Contact Important.
The Importance of early contact with
the patient was stressed by DR.. Camp
bell. When case is caught early
enough, he said, there is hope of check
ing the progress of ominous symptoms
and the crystalization of morbid atti-
tudes.
Germany, said DR.. Hans Roemer.
medical counselor to the Baden minis
try of the interior, is revamping her
legal system to restore the insane and
the criminal.
In order to combat juvenile crime"
he said. which increased rapidly dur
ing and after the war, public care of
Juvenile psychopaths has been under
taken in all states of the realm. The
procedure in public institutions for de-
linquents, which used to be regarded
as prisons, has been altered to produce
re-education to health"
Describes City of Lunatic1.
Belgium has a city of lunatics.
DR.. F. Sano, mayor" of Gheel, today
tDlo COllSIcSS VI blllS COlOIy
near Brussels, where 5000 patients
form the great majority of the popu-
lation.
DR.. Sano is the medical director
The patients are boarded" with private
families. There is no sign of confine-
n1ent. Every bit of institutional atmos-
phere is eliminated and the mentally
diseased persons are made to feel that
they are members of the families and
nf account in the world About
200 are discharged as cured every year.
by far the greater part of the pop
ulation of Gheel tills the soil or en-
cages in small country occupations"
DR.. Sano said.
The families, DR.. Sano said, are edu-
before they are allowed to take any
patients. All are peasants. He believes
the system should be adopted elsewhere
Even very small doses of alcohol pro-
duce a mental condition which has all
the essential characteristics OF deliri-
um," the congress was told by DR.. X.
Herman Bouman of the University of
Amsterdam, describing series of deli
cate mental tests.
Dutch Liquor Help Described.
In Holland, he said, people take their
liquor straight. They haven't much of
a taste for wines and beers. Instead Of
pfasis is being placed on permanently
curing the soak" whose drinking in
terriers with his work and the comfort
OF his family. For this purpose. bureaus
have been established in most of the
larger towns, where man 10 treated by
psychiatrists
The tipsy fellow, at one time charac-
teristic, has disappeared from the
streets and even from popular merry
Markings" he said. THE admission fig
ures for alcoholism at the clinics have
shown slow but steady tendency to
fall and the mental hospitals do not
admit as many drinkers as they
used to-"
Laboratory experiments in which
all disturbing influences can be elimi-
mated" he continued, have taught us
that even very small doses of alcohol
injure perception, memorization, con-
ception and attention in such way
as to cause the appearance OF errors.
AS a result of the appearance OF super
fetal associations without inner con-
tact the thinking faculty itself becomes
incapable of serving as basis for any
higher mental life and degenerates.
Even in conditions of slight intoxica-
ton self-criticiSm becomes less active
and the person tested has the feeling
that he has done his work much better
than the experiment actually indicates.
Holland, he said, has succeeded in
limiting the number of liquor licenses
to one per 422 persons. The consump-
ton has decreased from 10 literS per
person in 1877 to about five.
Hereditary Insanity Explained.
Much insanity is hereditary and can
be lessened only by eugenic control, in
sisted Prof. E. Rubin of the Kaiser
Wilhelm Institute Of Berlin. HIS own
investio O tions i'm German families he
said have shown that where either par
ent is manic Oppressive one-third OF
the children will develop the same dis
ease and another third will not be quite
right mentally Half the children of
dementia precox parent, he said, Will
develop the disease and about the same
proportion holds for epileptics. He adj
vocated medical advice before mar
rage and in some cases sterilization.
The suicide rate in the United States
has quadrupled In 70 years and the d.
vorce rate nearly tripled in SO years,
the congress was told by DR.. Haven
Emerson of Columbia University. New
10 persons per 100000 kill themselves,
compared to nearly S in 1860, and 68
couples end in the divorce courts, COM
pared with 20 in l8S0s
Evidence obtained from various
studies" DR.. Emerson said, Indicates
that with a population of 120,000,00O
we may count on 4560,000 under B
years of age who will probably show
some behavior problems which, If not
treated, will lead to personal or family
dilemma or disturbance; 100000 be-
tween and is years of age who will
be suffering from major speech defects,
and 3,135,000 who will develop some
behavior problem that calls for profess
sional assistance; 10000 school chill
laEA A nf