ents can be such that the old prejudices need not reach far into the
second century of the life of the Hospital. With a man of the vision and
practical experience of Dr. Russell, there is no need for an outsider to
conjure up a picture of special practical achievements as I have done
of the more general principles to-day.

An institution is more than a human life. Many ambitions combine and
become part of a group spirit permeating the organization and reaching
their fulfilment in the succession of leaders. The life and growth and
happy self-realization of an institution is not the bricks and
mortar--it is a living and elastic entity--never too stable, never too
finished, a growing and plastic plant--to use a metaphor that has
slipped in perhaps without arousing all the implications the term plant
might carry and does carry.

Some years ago my wife celebrated her birthday and told her colored cook
jocosely: "Geneva, I am a hundred years old to-day." The cook's jaw
dropped and then she suddenly remarked: "Lord! you don't look dat ole."
That is the way I feel about Bloomingdale Hospital as we see it to-day
pulsating with ever-fresh life and ever-fresh problems! How different
from a simple human being, after all! The heart and wisdom of many a man
and woman has gone into the perpetuation of what a few thoughtful men
started in 1821 and the result is that it is ever renewing its youth.

Many a dream has been realized and many a dream has given way to
another. Here and there the past may make itself felt too much. But the
spirit and its growth show in recruiting ever-new lives to meet the
present day and the days to come, and this all the more so if we can
show the younger generation that every effort is likely to have its
reasonable direct support. We all want a man like Dr. William L. Russell
to have the fullest opportunity to bring to its best expression the rich
and well-tried wisdom of over twenty-five years of devoted work in the
field. This is no doubt a time of stress when many personal and general
sacrifices may be needed to bring about the fruition and culmination of
the labors of the present generation. Yet is it not a clear opportunity
and duty, so that those who are growing up in the ranks to-day may
really be encouraged to get a solid training, always animated by the
conviction that one can be sure of the practical reward for toiling
through the many years of preparation in a psychiatric career, whether
it be