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little by little it came together until it crushed him. And this is an illustra-
tion of the disease with which we have to deal. It is a very sad thing in hu-
man history that society has been so slow to recognize our obligation to
these most woeful and miserable of our neighbors, these little ones of the
Lord Jesus Christ who have a fight to consideration which has heretofore
been withheld from them. But there is arising a recognition in the public
conscience of the duty which we have toward these unfortunates. Here
and there there has been created an institution, either by the benevolence of
kind-hearted individuals or by physicians who have established such insti-
tutions for the benefit of those who pay for them, where there may be special
provision for this unfortunate class. It is within a comparatively few years
that the first great institution of this class was established in foreign coun-
tries. The Bielefeld colony is perhaps to-day the most successful and valua-
ble institution for the treatment of this class.

Now, then, the question arises, What needs to be done for the unfortunate
epileptic? What ought to be done for his benefit?

This disease is an exceedingly obscure one. The physicians have not yet decided definitely where it resides, how far it is to be regarded as a disease of the brain, or how far it is to be regarded as a disease of the spinal cord or the nervous tissues. It seems sometimes to be located in one place and sometimes in another, and the medical treatment of this disease is still very greatly in dispute. Those remedies which were highly valued a few years ago are recognized to-day as of very doubtful efficacy. It is one of the most difficult úiseases to deal with. And yet there have come to be recognized certain things that ought to be done for the unfortunate epileptic.

In the first place, he should live under such conditions that he will be surrounded by those who will exercise due consideration toward his unhappy condition. There must be found for him, if possible, that spirit which the mother has who devotes herself to that unhappy child day in and day out, week in and week out. There must be somebody there who, as a nurse, or as a physician, or as a parent, recognizes his condition. This is a matter of first importance both for his recovery, if possible, and for his comfort and happiness during that portion of his life which is left to him.

The statistics show that probably less than one-tenth of those who de velop a genuine case of epilepsy ever become entirely rid of the disease even under the most favorable conditions; although the work in some of the institutions which have been established begins to offer hope that a larger proportion of these unfortunates may be benefited.

In order to treat these patients wisely there must be, in the second place, a proper diet. I think it is recognized that this is one of the diseases that can be most effectively treated by a proper diet, and a report of the institutions show that the physicians, by a series of experiments, are beginning to learn what diets can be used with safety and what cannot. And it must be said, further, that even the parents who love these unfortu nate children cannot be depended upon to carry out such a proper course of diet faithfully. The epileptic has an unnatural appetite in a great many He craves the very thing that is not good for him. He is apt to eat inordinately. He cannot be relied upon to carry out the instructions of the physician. There must be some one to watch over him and see that this matter of proper diet is attended to. And there must be a wise varying of

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the diet in order that it may not become tiresome, and that needs the careful watching of a skilled physician.

Then there must be suitable employment. Now, if this individual is to lead a happy life, like all the rest of us, he must be genially and suitably employed. But that is a very difficult thing to provide outside of the institution. People are reluctant to have an epileptic employed about them. Most people, unaccustomed to the seizures, are greatly alarmed when they occur, and they do not like to have those subject to epileptic paroxysms about. A merchant cannot very well be expected to employ à clerk who is liable to fall and foam at the mouth, and then be absent from his work for a period of time; and a man cannot be safely employed in many forms of outdoor work or about machinery who is liable to these seizures; and so there is left a comparatively narrow range of employment open to such persons. But it is necessary to their welfare that they should have congenial employment, that there should be such employment as will utilize their energy and make it effective, because during a large portion of the life of an ordinary epileptic he is able to do a valuable amount of work if he can be put at the right sort of work. He cannot himself direct it, but some one must arrange his work. There must be those at hand who can care for him.

Then there is another thing. It is essential to the cure and to the happiness of the individual as well, that he shall receive a certain amount of education. In the great proportion of epileptic cases the disease comes early in life, before their school days are completed. You cannot send an epileptic to the regular schools, and the result is that, outside of the institution, he is debarred from school privileges for the rest of his life. And the kind of institution that he needs is not exactly that of the public schools. It needs to be especially adapted to his needs and his temperament and his condition. Now, the question is, How are these conditions to be realized? I think that anyone who examines into the question candidly will come to the conclusion that this is one of the cases,-and I am one of those who is a great advocate of placing unfortunate children in family homes,-this is one of the cases where the institution needs to step in in order to accomplish the best result for these unfortunate children; and I believe it is indispensable that they should be brought into the environment of a suitable and wisely directed institution.

Epileptics are distributed through the community pretty nearly in the proportion to the rest of the population; that is to say, it is a disease that is not confined to the poor or the rich; it afflicts all conditions of humanity about equally. A very small proportion of the parents of epileptic children, then, are able to pay the expense of sending them to an institution and paying for their care at the ordinary rate, and the large proportion of these children must be debarred from these institutions unless they are provided at the expense of the public.

Now, in this state, the principle has been developed, and has, I think, come to be pretty well settled as a part of the policy of the state, that certain misfortunes shall be recognized as public misfortunes. You have developed this spirit to the extent that we have agreed that you will assume the responsibility for the feeble-minded, the deaf and the blind, and you have lately undertaken the care of deformed and crippled children, and I believe wisely. Now the question is whether this misfortune about which I have

been speaking is one which should be added to the category of those which are cared for at public expense. It would be possible perhaps to undertake this burden, as it has been done in some foreign countries, by private institutions. But I believe if the two thousand cases in this state, which are constantly increasing, are to be cared for, it must be done by the state; and the question is whether the state ought to undertake it, and that is a fair question. Your burdens of taxation are very large. The people already begin to complain of the expense of caring for the insane and the feeble-minded and the prisoners and the poor, but there are some considerations which would lead us to believe that the state ought to assume and to undertake this burden. In the first place, I believe that the state should assume this burden in order to perform its duty to these unfortunate children. If I have succeeded in any degree in picturing to you what is involved in this affliction, I think you will recognize that these unfortunate children have as strong a claim upon the consideration of the public as any class can have. And therefore, as a matter of Christian charity toward these unfortunate young people, it seems to be a duty which the state owes to make provision for them. We undertake to provide public education for all children, and when the child is afflicted, when he cannot avail himself of the public schools through deafness or through blindness or through feeble-mindedness, then the state undertakes to provide an institution which shall be adapted to his peculiar needs, and it seems to me this class comes under that category. But, further than this, I think we ought to provide a special public institution for this class as a matter of justice to those in other institutions who are now suffering injustice through our present arrangement. Whether you desire to make public provision for them or not, you are now caring for 250 of this class in the State of Minnesota, and you are not doing it right.

Now, why not provide a special institution for these 250, which can be done without any material increase in expense, and they can be cared for just as cheaply in an institution for epileptics as in an institution for the insane, where they to-day occupy beds which are demanded for their own patients. If you had a child of your own in the school for the feeble-minded, would you be willing that he should be placed in the same ward with a child that is affficted with epilepsy? Every epileptic is more or less dangerous. No one can tell when a seizure or paroxysm of the individual may break out and he cause injury to those who are about him. You may say, "Keep them entirely by themselves," but that is a very difficult thing to accomplish. The number is comparatively small-a hundred. These children require a special classification. They require classification in smaller groups than the feebleminded. The epileptic, from his temperament, from the character of his disease, is full of crotchets and prejudices. He forms a prejudice against another epileptic because he has fits. "I don't want to associate with that boy," he says, "because he has fits." That prejudice must be met and dealt with, and it cannot be handled properly in the institution of the feebleminded. And the insane patients feel it is an injustice and an unkindness to compel them to be associated in the same institution with the epileptics. And then a large proportion of these epileptics are neither insane nor feebleminded. Gradually some of them become insane and some of them more or less feeble-minded, but a large proportion of them are not, and therefore it seems to me desirable that there should be a special institution provided for them.

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But, still further, there should be special provision for the unfortunate epileptics as a matter of public precaution, and this is perhaps even more important than either of the considerations that I have mentioned. If you will examine the statistics of this state you will be appalled to learn how very rapid is the extension of this disease. I have with me a paper which was read in the Iowa State Conference of Charities last year; I thought I had it here, but I think I can give you the essential figures. An examination was made by an eminent Italian physician, I think of the cases of 62 males and 74 females who were themselves epileptics. They became the parents of some 540 children. Out of those 540 children only 105 were healthy children, and 75 per cent of the 540 children were afflicted with a nervous disease, and a large proportion of them, more than half-I think 60 per cent-were themselves epileptics. And this is only part of the evil, because when you go down to the third generation-Dr. Rogers tells me that there is even more probability of the grandchildren being afflicted than there was of the children themselves being afflicted with a similar disease.

Now, we are coming to recognize that we have a duty in the prevention of the transmission of disease from parent to child. We have already adopted a policy in this state of shutting up the feeble-minded girls during the childbearing age, believing it is not right they should hand down to posterity the evils with which they are afflicted. We have already in Illinois a hospital for the confinement of consumptives, and rapid strides are being made in the direction of having all consumptives put in special institutions in order to avoid the transmission of their disease to their posterity.

Now, it seems to me that there is no question that the time has come for us to put a stop to the propagation of the victims of this most terrible disease called epilepsy, and the only practical way, it seems to me, to do that is to provide institutions where they may be cared for. In feeble-mindedness the probability of the propagation of the species is confined almost entirely to the young women, but in epilepsy it is not confined to one sex; it is quite as likely to happen in the one case as in the other. The public owes itself a duty.

And, further than this, if you will examine the records of your institution for the feeble-minded, you will find a large proportion of the inmates are of parentage who were afflicted with epilepsy. The very interesting paper which was read to-night carried with it some very significant thought. A very large proportion of these accidental criminals, these petty criminals, are either themselves epileptics or come of epileptic ancestry.

Now, then, we take account of the expense and the burdens which the public is assuming, but we must realize that we have to take care of these people anyhow. Every individual who lives in the community in idleness lives on somebody else. Somebody carries that burden; and in the end the public carries the burden, either in public institutions or through the loss of the activity and services of those who have to devote their time to the care of these people. We carry the burden; we carry it one way or the other. And so I believe we shall find if we examine this subject carefully that as it is economical to carry on such an institution as that magnificent training school at Red Wing for the children of the delinquent class, so it will be economical for us to make public provision for these unfortunates in whose behalf I am speaking to-night.

Something has already been done in this direction. Dr. Rogers will give you an account of the beautiful institution which has been established at Sonyea, N. Y., of which Dr. Spratling, who was to have been here to-night, is the superintendent. Ohio is a pioneer in this matter. She has been conducting most valuable experiments along this line, which cost us nothing, and of which we can avail ourselves. The States of Ohio, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York have already made provision for this class, and the State of Illinois at the last session of its legislature made provision for the public care of epileptics. In other states temporary provision has been made for their care. In Iowa, Minnesota and California they receive some accommodation in the institutions for the feeble-minded. I have already shown how inadequate this provision is. The time has come when we must face this question. I believe it is our duty to study what is being done in these other states. Let us send representatives to visit these institutions at Sonyea and Gallipolis and investigate the work that is being done in order that we may act wisely in the matter. Minnesota has much better institutions than the eastern states. Why? Because it has always availed itself of the experience of these older states and has taken the benefit of their experiments. Let the State Board of Corrections and Charities begin to study this subject. Let the members of this conference begin to study it. Let those of you who can, visit these institutions and see what is being done, and let us consider what our duty is towards our unfortunate brothers.

DISCUSSION.

PRESIDENT ROGERS: We very much regret the fact that Dr. Spratling, who had intended to be here this evening, found himself unable to come at nearly the last moment. He has been very sick, and consequently his work accumulated, and he found it absolutely impossible to leave home. However, he very kindly forwarded a set of slides, illustrating some of the features of the Craig colony for epileptics at Sonyea, N. Y., and I will have the pleasure of showing them and reading the descriptions which he has transmitted with the slides.

Stereopticon views of the institution over which Dr. Spratling presides were then shown and descriptions read by Dr. Rogers.

BISHOP GILBERT: Why would it not be a good idea for the Conference of Charities and Correction, which is so deeply interested in all these matters, to appoint a committee to draw a proper bill and present it for consideration and passage at the next meeting of our legislature? It would seem as though there could be no question as to the desirability of establishing such an institution as has been advocated here this evening.

CAPTAIN C. E. FAULKNER: I believe it would be wise to have accurate statistics in this matter placed in the hands of the committee who are to do the missionary work. Legislative committees must deal with facts; and if there is any method of gathering this information, the committee should be furnished with figures showing the number of epileptics there are in the state.

BISHOP GILBERT: I would suggest, Mr. President, that there is abundant time to secure all these facts, because the legislature of Minnesota will not meet again until a year from the coming winter.

MR. HART: I may say that your president informed me it was his intention to secure this information by corresponding with the county superintendents.