Review of Rerie^rs, t0/i:13. 



Australia's Unhappy Insane. 



241 



that quickly. Common humanity demands so much. 

 It is, I think, hopeless to expect that our Parlia- 

 ments will take the initiative in ameliorating the 

 present pitiful lot of many of our insane. Inmates 

 of Asylums are incapable of exercising the fran- 

 chise, consequently they or their wrongs have little 

 interest for the ordinary M.F. Nor again can much 

 outcry for improvement be expected from the friends 

 or relatives of patients. To have a relative con- 

 fined in an Asylum is looked upon almost as a 

 crime by a large number of people, and such, it 

 unfortunate enough to have anyone connected with 

 them mentally afflicted, take extraordinary precau- 

 tions to prevent the knowledge becoming public, pre- 

 ferring to see the patient suffer in silence than to 



large num- 



risk publicity by demanding reforms. A 

 ber of well-known people, both in the social and com 

 mercial Morld have relatives in our different Asy- 

 lums. Some of these are very prominent in almost 

 all the charitable and philanthropic undertakings 

 inaugurated in our cities, but one looks in vain for 

 their protest against the wrongs of the insane among 

 whom are their own flesh and blood. 



Our hope for reform rests, then, I think, with 

 the press. It alone can educate and enlighten the 

 public, and thus compel those in authority to put 

 aside their lethargy on the subject and advance with 

 other nations of the world in the scientific care and 

 treatment of a class of persons who have been al- 

 lowed too long to suffer in silence untold hardships. 



ESPERANTO, 



Our supply of Esperanto Books will arrive by the " Oruba" 

 next week, and they will be despatched to purchasers by first 

 mail. 



.■\ttention is directed to a notice from the Melbourne 

 Esperanto Club on page ii. I hope that all who are interested 

 will communicate with the President or Secretary, at 25 

 Rathdown .Street, Carlton, Melbourne. 



The general meeting of the London Esperanto Club 

 was a great success, whether we judge by the size and 

 enthusiasm of the audience, or the attention given to 

 it by tlie daily press. The Times regards Esperanto 

 as "a most useful medium for commercial and gene- 

 ral international intercourse," and " fluent enough 

 lor singing purposes," but considers it " monotonous 

 foi- oratory." But then oratory, even in the musical 

 Italian tongue, would be monotonous to those not ac- 

 quainted with it. The Morning Post and the Leader 

 give a little tribute of general praise. The Chronicle 

 gave a most amusing account of the 300 visitors who 

 took tea and cakes and talked and sang Esperanto, 

 repeatecl some bits of Esperanto chit-chat overheard, 

 and praised highly Miss Schafer's song, " Se oi estus 



blinda," and Mrs. Reeve's "Lulu." The Daily News 

 not only gave a fine account-, but gave it place with 

 other themes in its leader. The Telegraph, however, 

 doubts whether Esperanto can be beneficial ; the " un- 

 educated person does not know the foreigner or car© 

 to know him : the man of business will learn Spanish, 

 and French instead ; with those two languages, a 

 business man needs no other." However, Esperan- 

 tists will balance the fact that the Telegraph devoted 

 three-quarters of a column to the subject, against its 

 somewhat odd ideas of the needs of a business man. 



A Language Learned in An Afternoon. 



Esperanto, the proposed universal language, is the 

 subject of a paper by Mr. A. Schinz in the Atlantic 

 Monthly. After outlining the new invention, he bears 

 the following testimony : — 



The writer is not an Esperantist; he does not speak the 

 new idiom; lie never tried to. But having heard of it, he 

 decided to write to M. de Beaufront. Soon he received a 

 little book, "Lanarue Int«riiational€ Esperanto," and one 

 Sunday afternoon (for play, not for work), at about three 

 o'clock, lie hegan to study. At four o'clock he could read 

 without too much trouble. In the evenine:, after his suprer, 

 he wrote M. de Beaufront a letter of thanks in Esperanto 

 He feels perfectly sure that anybody could do as well 

 Perhaps much better. 



See EDITORIAL on page II. 



Last month's "Review of Reviews" contained Special Articles on 



The Young Men's Alovement in New Zealand, 

 A Brown New Guinea, 

 Dr. George Macdonald, 

 The New British Cabinet, 



and a Review of the Leading Magazines of the World. 



