North Carolina, one in South Carolina, one in Florida, two in Alabama, two in Mississippi, three in Texas, three in Tennessee, three in Kentucky, three in Missouri and two in Louisiana.

The needs of the idiot and the imbecile have not received that recognition nor that share of consideration at the hands of the state or of private benevolence which their deplorable plight so clearly demands. True, in some of the states, the idiot is not debarred from the hospitals for the insane; in others, however, he vainly knocks at the doors. No Southern state, save Missouri, has yet established a public institution for the special care and training of the feebleminded, where they can be taught, to the extent of their capacity, to be useful and happy. There are a few small well-conducted private institutions in Maryland and Virginia for the feebleminded as well as epileptics; but they do not begin to meet the demands even of the non-indigent. About the only abode of a public character that has yet been provided for those born without reason is the almshouse, which is too often an indication of indifference to the needs of the unfortunate and a source of mortification to friends and relatives.

It is pleasing, though, to note that in some of the states public-spirited and humanely disposed people, who are alive to the interest of the idiot, the feebleminded, and the epileptic, are uniting in a movement to educate public sentiment and to influence legislatures to a recognition of the duty the state owes these unfortunate and innocent beings.

As to the epileptics who are scattered in this section in the proportion of 1 to 500 of the population, it would be vain to attempt to depict their unenviable condition. Efforts to ameliorate their sufferings should awaken a quick response in the people of the

STATE HOSPITAL FOR COLORED INSANE, GOLDSBORO, N. C.

South. These people have been left too long without special care and treatment, many permitted to drift along through an unhappy and profitless existence. Public opinion, however, is being constantly directed to them, and their relief in a measure seems now assured. Texas and Missouri are the only states below the Mason and Dixon line that have actually built institutions for epileptics, though some of the other commonwealths have shown appreciation of their needs. In some instances inadequate appropriations have blocked the way to structural progress. Virginia, in which state, fifteen years ago, a move was inaugurated for the colonizing of epileptics in a separate institution, has made progress. The legislature has twice enacted favorably, but actual construction has not yet begun, owing to difficulty in procuring a suitable site. Recently, though, a most desirable farm, containing one thousand acres, located near Lynchburg, in the Piedmont section, has been purchased, and the colony will soon open its doors, there being several buildings ready for occupancy. For a while, at least, the colony will be conducted as a branch of the Western State Hospital, and will care for only insane and demented epileptics. A separate state colony exclusively for epileptics-the sane and the insane will also soon be realized in Virginia.

From a small beginning, in 1812, every Southern state has established and developed, to a stage of commendable efficiency, institutions for the blind, the deaf and the dumb. These, like some other defectives, have received a share of the state's bounty, yet adequate provision for the care and teaching of both races has not been made anywhere. In some of the states the colored defectives of this have have schools schools set set apart especially for

class

them. Virginia has most recently advanced along this line, the legislature of 1908 having directed the establishment of an institution for the deaf-mute and blind children of that race.

The paralytic and the deformed, as a class by themselves, have received scant attention at the hands of the Southern states. They are, however, not altogether neglected, local institutions and private charitable organizations showing concern for them.

The South has long recognized the beneficent results of state care and supervision of the defective classes. In nearly all the Southern states, though, there is lacking a state board of charities with visitoral and advisory functions, to coöperate with the various boards of control of the state and local institutions. In North Carolina, Missouri, Louisiana and Virginia such boards are in existence and are doing splendid work. In Virginia, Maryland and Alabama state conferences of charities and corrections are of value in educating public sentiment.

The War between the States retarded progress in philanthropic work for the defectives in the South. The effort to provide for them adequate accommodations, and to attain that standard of care which we approve has often been a pathetic story of trial and struggle. Sometimes the drawbacks have been so onerous that it required stout hearts and determined minds to endure them. Considering the means at command it is believed that the world will accord the South due credit for the measure and standard of care and protection she has given the defectives in her midst.

WILLIAM FRANCIS DREWRY, Superintendent Central State Hospital, Petersburg, Va.