The idea had been taking root in Rhode Island for some time that a course of instruction should be given to meet the needs of the workers in this state, to give them some insight into the psychiatric view-point. Miss E. Frances O’Neill of the Providence Society for Organizing Charities had seen the desirability of having her workers acquire this view-point and had been instrumental in spreading the theory among other groups of workers in and out of the city. But the problem of Providence is rather unique in a way, as I may suppose can be said of the problem of each community. Communities, I take it, are like individuals, different, and the problem of Providence is perhaps not the problem of any other American city and certainly not like that of any European city. However that may be, it was thought desirable to try the experiment of getting something of the psychiatric view-point and the experiment has been tried with the result that it now seems desirable to publish it with its results, both the desirable and the undesirable. Dr. Arthur H. Harrington, the Superintendent of the State Hospital for Mental Diseases, was especially interested in the projected experiment and he and Dr. G. Alder Blumer, the Superintendent, and Dr. Arthur H. Ruggles of the staff of Butler Hospital, opened their wards for the demonstration of illustrative cases, and aided the work both directly and indirectly in numerous other ways. The experiment was watched with lively interest by the State Penal and Charitable Commission and the Trustees of Butler Hospital, both composed of men of proved public spirit and humanitarian interests. The cooperation of Brown University was sought and every facility of the University was put at our disposal to insure the