The boarding-out of children is carried on under the direction of voluntary ladies' committees. There are only two unsalaried inspectors of the Local Government Board, and their duty is the inspection of the work of the committees. They do not assume any direct responsibility for the condition of the children.

The following are extracts from the sixteenth annual report of the senior inspector, Miss M. H. Mason:

"My desire is, and always has been, as expressed in my reports, to see the system of boarding-out beyond the union extended, though under safe conditions only. I should be glad therefore, to see it adopted by other unions besides those already employing it and to hear of the formation of new boarding-out committees on fresh ground.

"On account of the extravagance with which the boarding-out system has been advocated in some quarters of late years, I have felt it only right to draw special attention to its dangers. But the natural reaction has now set in, chiefly due, it would seem, to this extravagant advocacy, and Cottage Homes or Scattered Homes, have become largely the fashion. It is, of course, quite necessary to provide some other means of dealing with children who cannot be boarded-out, or who are unsuitable for the purpose; but, where boardingout beyond the union is well administered, no other system offers the same advantages, and I am always

sorry to see any other adopted in its place, and not merely as a supplement. For, however excellent or homelike the management of an institution-whether large or smallmay be so long as the child remains there, it provides no place to which it can return in after life, when on a holiday or out of employment. The boarding-out system does provide this, for the foster parents almost invariably receive the children back when grown up as to a home, sometimes gratuitously, sometimes not; but this latter point is of comparatively little importance, so long as the child knows where to find a respectable home to fall back upon, and has already made friends, or at least acquaintances, in the outside world.

"With regard to the selection of homes, it has been every year better and better; and, during the past year, I have scarcely found any that were unsuitable as to their circumstances in the first instance, still less any that were distinctly unsatisfactory. But, as I have so often before observed, no one can really tell how the best chosen home may turn out; careful supervision must follow in every case alike.

Boarding-out under the direction of voluntary committees would not be considered as at all a satisfactory system by any of the societies or public authorities carrying on the boarding-out of children in this country. Conditions here are doubtless. somewhat different but to those with a practical acquaintance with boarding-out methods under the direction of salaried inspectors from the central office, it can only be a matter of surprise that the English system yields as satisfactory results as it does.

IV-CONFERENCES, NATIONAL AND LOCAL.

American MedicoAssociation.

The American medicopsychological association Psychological was established October 16, 1844, by thirteen gentlemen who were superintendents of institutions for the insane, under the name of the association of medical superintendents of American institutions for the insane, and is the oldest national medical organization in the United States. The list of founders contained the names of many men who were eminent or who became eminent subsequently, some of them attaining not only a national, but an international, reputation. From the beginning the association did effective work, and was an active

factor in the development of a public sentiment to demand adequate state provision and better care for the insane. Early in its history, definite propositions relative to the construction and management of institutions for the insane were adopted which for many years established a high standard of building and of professional care for the whole country. Its members insisted upon the medical treatment of insanity as a disease, and were foremost in every state in pushing individuals and legislatures to provide buildings and proper treatment for the insane poor. In 1892, its name was changed to that of the American medico-psychological association, and provision was made iv. Conferences, national and local:

The American social science association.

The prison congress of 1870 at Cincinnati.

The national conference of charities and correction.

Revival of the national prison asso

for the admission to membership not only of officers of institutions for the insane, but of neurologists and men prominent in the treatment of mental disease. Since that time the association has entered upon a career of increased usefulness. It has a membership at present of nearly 400 persons, and represents institutions for the insane throughout the United States and Canada. There are also many eminent neurologists connected with private institutions for the insane or engaged in special practice. Its special organ is the American Journal of Insanity, which has just completed its fifty-seventh volume.

In 1876 there was formed at Philadelphia, chiefly through the interest of Dr. Kerlin, superintendent of the Philadelphia institution for the feeble-minded, the association of medical officers of American institutions for feeble-minded and idiotic persons. Several physicians, prominent in the care of the feeble-minded, came from different states. The organization met for a number of years independently of the national conference, but the majority of its members being interested in the work of the conference, its meetings have frequently been held at the same time and place with the conference. All or nearly all of the state institutions for the feeble-minded in this country are represented in it. Great benefit has come to its members from comparison of ideas and methods, and its influence has been felt in the increasing interest of the various communities where it has met on behalf of the feeble-in-mind and of boards of directors in their institutions.

In 1895 was formed the association of assistant physicians of hospitals for the insane, which holds an

nual meetings at different insane hospitals, with reading of papers, discussions, and inspection of the local institutions. A national association for the study of epilepsy and the care and treatment of epileptics, just formed, held its first annual meeting in connection with the national conference of 1901, under the lead of Mr. William P. Letchworth. It starts with an active membership of 235, representing forty-two states, besides several honorary members in foreign countries. Several meetings were held, on two days; reports were made by delegates from a number of states in which the public care of epileptics is receiving attention; and many valuable papers were received from abroad, largely through the aid of the secretary of state of the United States, who secured the co-operation of ambassadors and ministers in Washington.

Jewish

Several representatives of Conferences. Jewish charities in the larger cities met in conference at Cincinnati in 1899. Some years before an attempt at some form of co-operation was made unsuccessfully, but now was amply demonstrated in the discussions on practical matters, especially on regulation of transportation of transients, the need of a national organization. Accordingly, there met in Chicago, the next year, the first session of the national conference of Hebrew charities. The number of constituent associations was forty, of which twenty-six were represented by forty-five delegates. The objects of the conference are "to discuss the problems of charities and to promote reforms in their administration; to provide uniformity of action and cooperation in all matters pertaining

to the relief and betterment of the Jewish poor of the United States, without, however, interfering in any manner with the local work of any constituent society." Meetings were held on three days; the topics included causes of poverty and the remedial effects of organized charity, tuberculosis as affecting Jewish charities, friendly visiting. Dr. Henderson of the university of Chicago made an address on co-operation between public and private charities. The proceedings make a pamphlet of 200 pages. Also, in several of the larger cities, practical lessons in the value of co-operation have been given by the affiliation of Hebrew charities, sometimes with offices in the same buildings.

At the session of the cathsummer school of

Catholic olic

Conferences.

America, held at Plattsburg, New York, in 1897 and 1898, there were papers and discussions on catholic charities and charity work. The second year, some twenty institutions in New York state were represented, and a report of over a hundred pages was published. There has been an increasing interest taken by Roman catholic charity workers in the national conference and charity organization societies. This has been reflected in many articles published of late in the St. Vincent de Paul Quarterly, the organ of the superior council of the St. Vincent de Paul society of New York.1

the condition of the insane poor; and three years later two meetings were held for the specific purpose of securing legislation for a more just and equal distribution of the duty levied upon immigrants arriving at the port of New York. In 1871, another meeting of superintendents, at Rochester, resulted in the formation of an association of superintendents to meet yearly, to promote an interchange of views on the relief of the poor, especially as to the best methods of dealing with transients. The conventions held accordingly were composed mostly of superintendents, but poor masters of the cities and heads of charitable institutions were often invited, the scope of the organization was gradually broadened, and wellknown specialists were asked to take part by papers or in discussion. A meeting held in Albany in 1873 did much to secure the valuable legislation of that year on state paupers. At the meeting next year, for instance, there were sixty-eight official delegates, representing thirty-four counties, besides three members of the state board of charities and the secretary of the state prison association. The attendance of late years. has reached a hundred. The reports of proceedings make pamphlets of one hundred to one hundred and fifty pages. Mr. Hoyt, long the secretary of the state board. has said of the conventions of superintendents, they come together as well organized for their work as does the national conference; they are efficient and useful. They have been an influence for good, adds the present secretary, Mr. Hebberd, notably in improvement in alms