A graphic method of presenting the functional efficiency or evaluation of a mental hospital has been developed in the form of a Profile.A few tables of statistics have been developed to point up the picture of facilities, personnel, and operation of a hospital.Such abbreviated, condensed, pictorial summaries are needed when one tries to comprehend such a complex phenomenon as a public mental hospital in a unitary view.The Profile is not presented as anything definitive but as a tentative method of presenting a diversity of elements in brief compass. It not only helps the evaluation of a given hospital, but will enable any board or group to compare hospitals and thus make rating fairer and more comparable.Such a Profile should help a staff, superintendent, and Board of Trustees to carry a clear picture of the functional adequacy of their hospital in mind and turn their thinking to rectifying the not acceptable or absent elements in the Profile.The Profile should, because of its abbreviated, condensed, and graphic nature, afford an effective tool for public education with regard to the mental hospitals in the United States and Canada.Abstract Teaser