A lecture, JEWS AND THE MIND, to be given by a neuroscientist, Professor Gerald Curzon, will consider causal factors in both Jewish mental illness and mental achievement.

High Jewish vulnerability to mental illness has often been described. Recent epidemiological studies have led to interesting findings. Thus, contrary to expectation, severe depression was no more frequent in Jewish then in non-Jewish women. More surprisingly , it was more frequent in Jewish then in non-Jewish men. This may be due to Jewish abstemiousness, suggesting Jews with the blues might benefit from booze.

As for Jewish mental achievements, these were striking in the 19th century, largely due to the effects of the intense but narrow Yashiva system followed by the Enlightenment which shattered its "mind forg'd manacles". Solomon Maimon (1753-1800) was a representative figure here. However, the persistence of exceptional Jewish mental achievement through the 20th century cannot be readily explained in this way but was more probably due to the existence of number of "Jews without God " who as outsiders from both Judaism and Christianity had particular independence of mind.