The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News,Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1920. SANITY AND THE WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 206, 28 August 1920, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1920. SANITY AND THE WAR.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the gi,od tha we can '10.

In the report on Mental Hospitals of the -.minion, which has just been submitted to Parliament, the InspectorGeneral has introduced some interesting and instructive passages dealing with the social aspects of civilised life at the present day and their bearing upon the growth of nervous disorders and insanity. Dr. Hay describes in graphic and forcible language the pervading Bocial unrebt, the constant Beareh for new pleasures and new forms of excitement, and the conse-

quent spread of that nervous nnd mental instability which has long been recognised us a characteristic feature oi the present stage of human development. As many of the worst phases of this stage of our evolution are due chiefly to -extreme self-assertivencss and self-con-centration, it was natural that the war, with its startling appeal to the underlying instinct qf altruism and «elf-sacriflico that are part of the groundwork of human nature, should have exercised a steadying clTeet on the extravagances and eccentricities, the abhorrence of simplicity, and the love of license that have bo strongly marked the recent stages of the world's social progress. In many eases it substituted a tremendous and unselfish interest for petty and selfish cares nnd anxiety. And the effect of thi_ unexpected intrusion of vast and incalculable forces upon the ordinary course of civilised existence is now manifest in the temporary but general decline in the ratio of insanity; a result which Dr. Hay himself predicted, so far as this country was concerned. But now that the war is over, and its effects in this direction must speedily be exhausted, we have to face the recurrence of a period of "storm and stress," tho recrudescence of insidious and malign influences which humanity at its best has found it difficult to resist, und which may reassert themselves in too many cases with overwhelming force now that, as Dr. Hay puts it, the individual is attempting to readjust himself to social conditions that are apparently tottering ou their foundations.

To-day is the time of reaction. There arc tho same causes of mental stress that there were before the war, plus tha effect of the disappearance of war's altruistic stimulus and the disappointment at the world b»ing in a state materially and morally so far below what was anticipated. In impressive and vigorous terms, Dr. Hay describes tho far-reaching social unrest and tho halfeonscious tendency toward revolt against the established order of things exhibited in most civilised communities to-day; und he emphasises at length the condition "of mental perplexity, of moral fitfulness and emotional hunger" that the modern world knows so well, combined as it everywhere is witli an insistent desire for self-gratification and selfexpression at any risk, regardless of all possible consequences. It is in such "straining for expression in tho midst of revolt" that Dr. Hay finds an explanation for the emergence of somo of tho most extraordinary phenomena of contemporary social life; the cubist and tho futurist striving to replace tho recognised masterpieces of painting, or sculpture; Richard Strauss and his imitators substituting hideous discords for melody and harmony; cultured men and women drawing literary inspiration for thoir romances from pathological textbooks; our ballrooms witnessing the dcclino of the graceful and aesthetically beautiful dances of past generations, their placo filled to-day by a system of contortionism, violent, vulgar, and grotesque—socalled dances of which, ns Dr. Hay well says, "tho meaning and source could hardly be referred to in a smokingroom," dances in which the most innocent join recklessly nnd ignorantly. However, the Inspector-General of our Mental Hospitals does not regard himself simply as a "can-sor of morals," and his purpose in laying stress on these symptoms of nervous disorder is to draw attention to tho possibility of preventing or curing the disease. Dr. Hay closes his remarks on these topics with the emphatic assurance that the tendencies toward unstable mental and moral equilibrium thus Illustrated can be largely cheeked or counteracted by paying Jue attention to the nurture and physical development of children in the earliest and most impressionable stages of their growth; and we regard his appeal for the help of the State, in raising the level of physical fitness among the young, and therefore tho standard of nervous and mental strength and stability for the whole population, as one of the most valuable features of the interesting and important public document that he has compiled. For the rest the cure lies with the statesman, the Church, and the citizen himself. It is largely a question of values. False values often mean stress, true values means happiness; which is only another way "of saying that at bottom the problem ia largely moral. . Much as a political awakening is needed in this country, it is not more needed than a moral evansrel.

a movement that will counteract the I natural disposition to measure virtue by trade returns, success by bank balances,' and happiness by excitement. J