Impressions of Mental Deficiency Work in England

It was my good fortune to be the guest of Dr. F. Douglas lurner and t e Royal Medico-Psychological Association on the occasion of the 1933 anni^a meeting of that Association at Clacton-on-Sea. This afforded an opportunity for meeting the leaders in the field of mental deficiency in England with w ose work I had heretofore been familiar only at a distance. It also mac*e , e brief visits to a few of the institutions for the mentally deficient, and fulfil e a long-standing desire to see something of England itself. Unfortunate y, my visit was far too brief to permit any real appreciation of what is being done, or to evaluate the difficulties which confront such work and the opportunities for its further development. To record my impressions is hazardous for on a first visit one is natura y at a disadvantage by the total lack of acquaintance with conditions, men an events. There is also the temptation to compare the ideal in one's own country with the actuality in another, so that one tends to over-emphasise the advantages at home in contrast with apparent limitations abroad. If such impressions are unavoidably comparative, the comparisons themselves may be of additiona interest to readers of this Journal who may not be familiar with conditions in the United States.