Although much has been written on the problem of racial differences in the mental diseases, as revealed by statistics, very little of it will stand careful scientific statistical techniques or examinations. Until this becomes possible, no sweeping generalizations are possible concerning the susceptibilities of races to the mental diseases. Statisticians seem to feel that the average question can be definitely solved by figures, and they are apt to ignore certain facts tending to show that such figures taken by themselves are of rather superficial importance. Sociological and economic questions have to be taken into consideration in trying to solve the problem of the comparative prevalence of insanity among races. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)