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The first of a series of lectures dedicated to the memory of Clarence Meredith Hincks was delivered at the University of Ottawa in 1967 and dealt with the primary prevention of mental disorders. An edited compilation of these lectures honor the man, who over half a century ago, espoused and acted upon principles currently being systematized in the discipline of community psychiatry. Clarence Hincks, who was among the founders of the Canadian Mental Health Association and the International Committee for Mental Hygiene, consistently advocated the necessity of what is now called primary prevention. The author's use of the term "primary" prevention is based on the classification of Leavell of Harvard and refers to the use of both promotion of general health and specific protection to reduce the incidence of mental disorders in a given population. The first half of the book contains C.