The opportunity for expansion and usefulness is now upon us, and our prospects are bright. Our President has encouraged us by promising to give the Annual Address at the close of the Session in June, when it is hoped that further good progress will have been made. The success of our Institute, humanly speaking, is in the hands of all the members and associates; it is earnestly trusted that each will use every effort to further its interests, by telling their friends, by inviting them to join, by suggesting subjects, or by reading papers. The first resolution was proposed by J. NORMAN HOLMES, Esq., and seconded by CHARLES MARSTON, Esq. : That the Report and Statement of Accounts for the year 1918, herewith submitted, be adopted, and that the thanks of the Meeting be tendered to the Council and officers for the efficient manner in which they have carried out the affairs of the Institute during the past year. This was carried unanimously. The second resolution was proposed by PETER WOOD, Esq., seconded by J. A. GOSSET, Esq. :— That the President, Vice-Presidents, and honorary officers named in the Report, and the retiring Members of Council nominated by the Council for re-election, be elected, and that A. T. Schofield, Esq., M.D., be elected Vice-President, and A. H. Burton, Esq., M.D., and W. Hoste, Esq., B.A., Members of Council of the Victoria Institute. Carried unanimously. The CHAIRMAN said :—We owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Schofield for his services. Not only has he contributed good papers to our Institute in the past, but he has very kindly promised another for next Session, and he has devoted much time and skill to the preparation and editing of six tracts for the times, from former papers of the Victoria Institute, which are of permanent value. Mr. Hoste also deserves our thanks, as he has expressed his willingness to help in the honorary secretarial work, which is much needed. Dr. Burton is well known and valued. We warmly welcome these gentlemen to their respective posts of responsibility. It was then proposed by E. J. SEWELL, Esq., seconded by J. C. DICK, Esq. : That H. Lance Gray, Esq., and George Avenell, Esq., be appointed honorary auditors for the year 1919. Carried unanimously. The CHAIRMAN added:-The careful keeping of accounts is most important in all Societies, and we gratefully acknowledge the wise supervision given by our honorary auditors. Before we separate I should like to mention a fact which I am sure will give us all sincere pleasure. This morning at the meeting of the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, nine prominent men were recommended by them for the honour of being elected Vice-Presidents at the coming Annual Meeting. The first one selected, and whose nomination evoked the warmest applause, was that of Mr. E. J. Sewell, our honorary secretary. For many years he has been Chairman of the Editorial sub-committee of the Bible Society, in which responsible position he has rendered most valuable service. We congratulate him heartily upon the honour which he has received. (Applause.) A cordial vote of thanks to Col. Mackinlay was proposed by Col. Alves, and seconded by H. Lance Gray, Esq. This was carried unanimously. The Meeting closed at 4 o'clock. THE 603RD ORDINARY MEETING, HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM B, THE CENTRAL HALL, DR. FORTESCUE FOX IN THE CHAIR. THE SECRETARY read the Minutes of the previous Meeting, and the same were confirmed and signed. He also announced the election of Mr. B. R. Parkinson and Mr. T. A. Gillespie as Members, and the Rev. E. C. Unmack and the Rev. Professor Samuel A. B. Mercer, D.D., as Associates. CHRISTIAN SANITY. By ALFRED T. SCHOFIELD, M.D., etc., etc. THE treat THE subject of this paper has not, I believe, been discussed at this Institute, and to many Members may be quite new. It is full of interest, as well as of difficulties of a very practical kind which I trust both the paper and the discussion will do something to remove. We must, of course, first define our terms. Christianity needs no elaboration, but what is "Sanity"? We may at first think the question superfluous, for we surely all know the meaning of the word. But that is precisely what we do not know, for its exact definition has long been a standing puzzle to experts. Dictionaries do not help us much with their wisdom, for even Murray's monumental work can only define insanity as "unsound in mind." We surely might expect a little more from the combined wisdom of philological experts! Webster lengthily defines sanity as "possessing a rational mind having the mental faculties in such condition as to be able to anticipate and judge of the effects of one's actions in an ordinary manner." Surely this is a most cumbrous and untrue definition, requiring itself much explanation. It is untrue, because sanity may not deal with actions at all, and what constitutes "an ordinary manner certainly requires explanation. And this is the best America can give us! The Century Dictionary defines sane as "mentally sound,' which we knew before, and is irritating rather than illuminating. I think we may fairly conclude that to the most highly trained minds the word is indefinable. It seems, however, to the comparatively untrained mind of the writer that some better results might be obtained by considering the subject from the point of view of “balance.' balance." A balanced mind is a familiar term for a sane mind, an unbalanced for an insane. "He has lost his balance or (in common speech) "has a screw loose," graphically describes loss of reason. The very simile, however, popular as it is, suggests instability, and gives no absolutely fixed point of solid sanity, but a trembling round a perfect poise-at first sight a precarious position for all of us. The matter, however, is not really so bad as this. We may picture the mind as a pair of scales with two opposed weights, consisting, I suppose, in the main of reason and emotion. As one of the two preponderates by will force or other agencies, the scale sinks on that side, and the perfect balance is lost. The mind continually oscillates thus between opposite forces; but this no more shows it is unsound than the swinging of a compass needle shows it unreliable. The point is, where are both when at 1est? If the needle points then to the pole and if the scales are even, however violently the needle may swing, or the scale may be depressed at times, the compass is true and the mind is sane. If, on the other hand, this be not the case, and the compass steadily points in any other direction than the magnetic north, it is to that extent in error, and if either side of the mental balance be depressed when quite at rest, the mind is to that extent unbalanced; and if the condition be fixed and well marked is insane. I do not know whether scientifically this view may not be destructively criticized, but at any rate it enables us to visualize what is meant by sanity, which would thus be defined as "a balanced mind," and this gives us something a little more helpful and lucid than the dictionary definitions. Before leaving our suggested illustration, we may add that if the loss of equilibrium in the balance is not great, the mental aberration may be slight and harmless (at any rate to others). Such cases abound, and are classed as eccentrics, faddists, extremists, or perhaps as obsessed, ill-balanced or even "not all there." Official recognition has long been sought for this large army of sufferers as "borderland cases" between sanity and insanity, but so far in vain. Personally I have nothing officially to do with insanity, but am constantly struck with the difficulty of defining such doubtful cases. It would almost seem that a really perfect mental equipoise is confined to but few, and that sanity in its last analysis is really a question of the degree rather than the mere fact of deflection from the normal. What is perhaps still more remarkable is that the perfectly balanced mind is by no means always the one of the greatest value to its owner or to his country; but that, on the contrary, some slight mental bias or obsession often leads to brilliancy and victory, and indeed may constitute a driving force to successful effort. Faddists often do more than arm-chair philosophers. This is well illustrated on the bowling green, where the bias of the ball is the secret of victory. But if slight inequality of the scales does not amount to insanity, still less does violent oscillation, however alarming, provided the position of rest is equilibrium. One often hears the statement "He is perfectly mad" made of the most sane individuals. It merely means the man is so sure of his equipoise, like an aviator or tight-rope performer, that he can indulge in the most alarming "loops "or oscillations with perfect impunity. It is for this reason that the opposite condition of the idée fixe is such a well-known sign of mental disease. So far from consisting of movements or oscillations, it is that persistent quiet depression of one side of the balance that is really the expression of actual loss of sanity. It is to be further noticed that while the violent movements I have described are all conscious and voluntary, this idée fixe or loss of equilibrium is generally unconscious and always involuntary. It may be remarked here that humour is very closely connected with sanity. No insane person really possesses it, and few who do, become insane. I may also observe that although a person may be insane in thought, legal insanity must be shown by mad actions. Returning to our immediate subject, we find that it is still further complicated in that it is not "Sanity" but "Christian Sanity." We have therefore to study the effects of an influx of a great spiritual force on the mind of man that tends to disturb the pre-existing balance. The fresh power and energy, the changed standpoint of view, and the entire recasting of values, to say nothing of the new and powerful contact with great |