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Work of the Pathological Laboratory of the Central 

 Indiana Hospital for Insane, Indianapolis. 



By Dr. Geo. F. Edenharter, Superintendent. 



The time allotted to review the work of our Pathological Department 

 barely permits even a brief presentation of its policies, methods and re- 

 sults. 



It should not be inferred from the name that the work therein is 

 purely of a pathological character, because in addition thereto all methods 

 of clinical investigation — psychical, physiological, chemical, bacteriolog- 

 ical, etc. — are employed. 



This department had its inception in a desire to establish the work 

 of this hospital upon a scientific basis — to provide our medical staff with 

 facilities for the accurate determination of the character of the diseases 

 met with in institutional life. 



It was also our ambition to create a scientific department — a medical 

 center — for the use of the physicians and medical students of the State, 

 wherein the diseases of the mind and nervous system could be clinically 

 studied and, if possible, to determine their cause and formulate methods 

 for their prevention and cure. 



We recognized that ultimate success in preventing and controlling 

 these diseases could only be achieved by providing every community with 

 practitioners who had been thoroughly taught the most approved methods 

 of care and treatment of the incipient stages in these cases, and this in 

 connection with a close clinical study of the various forms of insanity. 



We knew that the greatest opportunity for successful results pre- 

 sented itself in the early stages of these maladies and therefore determined 

 to exert our energies in an endeavor to provide facilities for the educa- 

 tion of the individual who expected at some future time to assume the role 

 of a family physician. 



Students who interest themselves in this specialty are urged to visit 

 this department, where every effort will be made to assist them in obtain- 

 ing a knowledge of the laboratory and clinical methods in vogue. 



When requested, our pathologist properly directs their efforts in re- 

 search in any desired direction. 



