Governors of the Society
spoke of the new conception of moral treatment of the mentally afflicted
which had been established in several European hospitals and which was
supplanting the harsh and cruel usage of former days, as "one of the
noblest triumphs of pure and enlightened benevolence." In that same
spirit those founders dedicated themselves to the conduct of this
institution. Their devotion to the work was impressive. Looking back on
those early days we see a constant personal attention to the details of
institutional life that commands admiration. The standards then set have
become a tradition that has been preserved unbroken for a hundred years.
Humane methods of care, the progressively best that medical science can
devise, the utilization of a growingly productive pursuit of research,
have consistently marked the administration of this great trust. The
Governors of to-day are as determined as any of their predecessors to
maintain that ideal of "pure and enlightened benevolence." New paths are
opening and larger resources are becoming available. Under the guidance
of our distinguished Medical Superintendent, with his able and devoted
staff of physicians, a broader and more intensive development is
already under way. Animated by that resolve and cheered by that
prospect, we may thus confidently hope, as we begin the second century
of Bloomingdale's career, for results not less fruitful and gratifying
than those which we celebrate to-day.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Address of the Governors of the New York Hospital, to the
Public, relative to the Asylum for the Insane at Bloomingdale, New York,
May 10th, 1821. Reprinted by Bloomingdale Hospital Press, White Plains,
May 26, 1921. See Appendix V, p. 212.]

ADDRESS BY
DR. ADOLF MEYER

_The Chairman_: In celebrating our centenary we are naturally dealing
also with the larger subject of general psychiatry. Our success in this
discussion should be materially promoted by the presence with us of Dr.
Adolf Meyer, Professor of Psychiatry in the Medical School of Johns
Hopkins University, and Director of the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, of
Baltimore. Before taking up this important work in that famous medical
centre, Dr. Meyer was actively engaged for several years in psychopathic
work in New York. He will speak to us on "THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF
PSYCHIATRY TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE PROBLEMS."

DR. MEYER

When Dr. Russell honored me with the invitation to speak