inmates at Mansfield, 300 males and 300 females, each sex occupying a group of buildings by itself consisting of dormitories, kitchen and dining room, but each group served by the same power house and laundry. The property of the State at Lakeville has been sold for $25,000., and the inmates and furniture moved to Mansfield. The consolidation has been effected and had the war continued it would have been possible for the State to continue to care for the epileptics and feebleminded already in its charge at the institution at Mansfield as it now stands.

This, however, by no means disposes of Connecticut's problem and duty with relation to the epileptic and feebleminded. The use of the term feeble-minded has its drawbacks as well as its advantages. It is broad enough to cover idiots and imbeciles and sounds better. In fact people are not partial to having their children branded as being feebleminded and for this reason the institutions for the epileptic and feeble-minded, when they united, dropped both epithets and adopted a title more non-committal. Nevertheless the term feeble-minded, though broad, is not necessarily vague. It is trite to say that other people's children are feeble-minded; many people do it, and perhaps it was some all-embracing and indefinite meaning of the word that was in the mind of our Supreme Court some years ago when it hesitated to pronounce valid that part of the Connecticut Statute forbidding the marriage of feeble-minded persons. Since then medical science has given a precise meaning to the term and has devised means for accurately determining the degree of mental defect. As well might a person of intelligence today profess skepticism as to the diagnosis, prevalence and transmissability of tuberculosis as of feeble-mindedness. It is not mere dullness, stupidity, or laziness, to be overcome by training, but a mental defect, scientifically recognizable, always incurable, and exceedingly liable to be handed down from generation to generation

An authority on feeble-mindedness recently quoted in a legal magazine of repute says:

"Every feeble-minded person is a potential criminal. This is necessarily true since the feeble-minded lacks one or the other of the factors essential to a moral life-an appreciation of right and wrong, and the power of self-control. If he does not know right and wrong, then of course he is as likely ot do the wrong thing as the right. Even if he has the sufficient intelligence and has had the necessary training so that he does know, since he lacks the power of self-control he is unable to resist his natural impulses. Whether the feeble-minded person becomes a criminal thus depends on his temperament and his environment. If he is of a quiet phlegmatic temperament he may never be impelled to do anything seriously wrong. In this case, when he cannot earn a living he will starve to death unless philanthropic people provide for him. On the other hand, if he is a nervous, excitable, impulsive person he is almost sure to turn in the direction of criminality. But whatever his temperament, in a bad environment, he may still become a criminal, the phlegmatic temperament becoming simply the dupe for more intelligent criminals, while the excitable, nervous, impulsive feeble-minded person may escape criminality if his necessities are provided for and his impulses and energies turned in a wholesome direction." His estimate is that 50% of all criminals are feeble-minded.

In Connecticut we have at Mansfield 400 or more whose average age mentally will never be above that of children 6 to 8 years old. We have a waiting list of more than 200 known to be feeble-minded, aside from 200 cases now in almshouses and about 250 in institutions for the insane definitely known to be feeble-minded. Experts place the whole number in Connecticut at between 2000 and 3000.

The same may be said of the epileptic. It does not require a field glass and a book of logarithms to locate it, or even the refinements of an expert in insanity. The laws of most states forbid the marriage of epileptics because of the transmissability of the disease. These laws are honored more by their infraction than by their enforcement. No reliable estimate of the epileptics at large in Connecticut can be made. Like feeble-mindedness it is practically incurable. A very

large percentage of the feeble-minded are likewise epileptic. All epileptics deteriorate mentally to a greater or less degree. Many of them become insane.

It is not our aim to attempt to provide for any such population at present-the task is too immense. It is not possible to effect cures, we do not expect it. We do expect to keep them from becoming criminals and from transmitting their defects to children more numerous than they, in either case multiplying the drain on the resources of the State.. Furthermore we do expect to turn their energies and activities into wholesome directions and, without enslaving or overtasking them, to give them enough to do to enable them to keep happy and possibly contribute something to their own support.

At Mansfield we have more than 600 acres of land, some tillable, some pasturage, some woodland. We have nearly a hundred head of cattle, 300 or 400 chickens, 40 or 50 pigs. We raise all our own corn, potatoes, vegetables, some of our fruit, eggs, milk and butter. The labor of both males and females goes into this. In addition, the boys do grading, mattress, brush and rug making, shoe repairing, etc., and the girls help in the laundry, mend clothes and make baskets, embroidery, etc.

We need

(1). A more adequate water supply;

(2). A congregate dining hall for males;

(3). A combination, assembly hall, gymnasium and school, with some rooms for employees;

(4). One or more dormitories;

(5). Roads and walks connecting the buildings and usable at all seasons of the year;

(6). Additions and repairs to the sewer beds and existing buildings.

Immediately after we moved from Lakeville and before we were half settled in our new quarters, the institution was visited by the prevalent epidemic of influenza. Out of nearly 200 cases of this and analagous diseases we lost less than 30. At one time there was no physician available other than our Superintendent and in one building there was but, one nurse.