The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-07-04 00:00:00

BETHLEHEM HOSPITAL.

When we behold the once shapeless block "chiselled
almost into life" by the sculptor's skilful hand ; or
when we gaze on the canvas which the painter has
transformed into "a thing of beauty "—" a joy for
ever ;" or when we listen to the thrilling eloquence of
the statesman and orator, we involuntarily exclaim,
"How great is Man" What a mighty power he
wields, and what a mighty influence he exerts ! At
his will the trackless lightning is bridled to do him
service, and front main to main he sends his messages
of peace. "How wonderful is man !'' But, unhappily,
this mighty power is sometimes "all there, but turned
astray," and then how altered is the picture—how sad;
how melancholy—and sometimes how hopeless, too !
But, though bereft of reason, yet not bereft of friends !
Though rail yet not forsaken! Amongst the many
valuable institutions that adorn mighty London there
is one, interesting in its traditions, and beneficent in
design, which our contemporary, the I)ai(y Telegraph,
with 'intent to good," thus graphically describes :
There was a time when the grim Dantesque phrase, " All
hope abandon, ye who enter here • -might have been inscribed
over the portals of almost every mail-house . Years ago, the
very name of Bedlam" called up a vision of horrors, both
spiritual and bodily—of shrieking maniacs chained to the
walls, and lashed by whips Into silence—of utterly hopelese
misery on the one part, of btexorable stern severity on the
other. . . . .
Pndoundly painful at any time such a visit must necessarily
be but the eights are, at any rate, less nauseous, less repul-
sive, less ghastly than of yore Best of all, you do not walk
through those wards and galleries without hope. Of a large
number amongst the inmates the cure is confidently ex-
pected; and even where cure Is hopeless, at any rete the
suffering has been diminished. Nothing strikes a visitor so
forcibly as the comparative ease and quiet of the place. The
howls, the screams, the ravings all these are
spicumas by their absence " Enforced seclusion has
been comparatively rare. The regime of chain and cell
has died out ; and it is quite conceivable that a man with-
out training the habits of observation would notice very
little to call for remark in the half-dozen maniacs whom he
might see playing at pool or lounging about the reading-
rooms. The fantastic '• Tons n' Bedlam " type is not, indeed,
altogether extinguished, but it has grown rare. Let us not
be tempted, how-ever into exagserating either the quietness+
or the safeness of Bethlehem. The utmost that can be said
is that order is maintained without habitual measures of
severity. After all. when a man is mad yin dare not trust
hint beyond a certain limit, lie may seem perfectly satisfied
with his position, attached to his attendants, cheerful and
contented; but as a new mood takes him, as some sudden
spark enflames his old smouldering wrath, he will be upon
you with as leap and a spring, strong with the strength of time
sane men, and thirsty for blood as a tiger. Oftener—far
oftener—it Is his own life that lie struggles to take ; and
there are stories which would be laughable were they not so
inexpressibly horrible, concerning the cunning ways in
which he sometimes endeavours to compass self-destruction.
You comprehend a good deal of all this when you cont-
inence your examination of the Hospital by pas-ing through
the male wants on the ground floor. Perhaps the first thing,
however, that strikes you is the amount if space at the dis-
posal of the authorities. Even did humanity permit it,
there would be no longer any occasion to huddle the
patients up together. Bedlam, which, under the old Kleine,
might have been rondo to hold almost a thousand people,
does not contain more than two hundred and fifty, so that
there Is room enough, light enough, air enough for all. How
potently three conditions promote recovery—at the lowest,
how much they alleviate suffering—we need hardly 'standout.
It has often been urged that the Hospital should be moved
into the country; but, practically, t is almost out of town
already. Standing in its own grounds of twelve acres, and in
the midst of wide said open thoroughfares, it is not " cabined,
cribbed, confined," sass many other charitable imtitutions
are; it has a healthy atmosphere, and keeps well away from
the slums. However, our present purpose is not to discum
Bethlehem as It might be, but to sketch nome outlines of
Bethlehem as it is.
First of all, theta, we pass into the sleeping gallery of the
ground floor; for it is here. they tell its, that the worst of
the male cases are placed. Somewhat cold and prison-like,
it must be owned, seem the passage and the rooms, imme-
diately after you have left the aumitine and the open air.
The impression of glootn is natural under such circumstatices;
but it is not of long duration. Lao you think the cells bare?
Remember that, with a suicidal patient, every article of
furniture is simply a fresh instrument for self-destruction.
Give him a chair, he will Mem off its legs ; sive him betiding
that he can tear, and he will make it into a halter. Knowing
DM you begin to understand the reason—nay, the absolute
necessity—for this apparent nakedness of the rooms. lie
cannot be even trusted to make up his own bed, lest he
might secrete things in it ; and hence the task is performed
for him by the attendants after a fashion of their own, which
he cannot imitate, and which would erasure the discovery of
anything secreted or purloined. It takes a good deal, no doubt,
to prevent a man from killing himself when he has really I
made up his mind to do so; but the maniac would find it
rather hard to effect his purpose in these rooms. Cannot he
dash out his brains against the walls, then? Not in the
least; he can run his head against squares of kamptulicon,
but that is pretty nearly all he can do. The watch kept upon
hint, again, is as close as may lie; and in the worst of all
cases there are strong padded rooms, which certainly seem
to reduce the possibility of suicide to an infinitesimal
point
We have seen the rooms reserved for the worst and most
dangerous patients; and now the master-key admits us to
the corridor where three poor folks are assembled. Of
course, it is scarcely possible to Judge them impartially.
When you know that a man is a king, you easily discover
something regal in his appearance when you know that a
man is a lunatic, you readily perceive the outward and I
visible signs of insanity. Making all due allowance, how-
ever, his prejudice and preconception, you could hardly he
In much doubt as to the state of these unhappy people: and
if the niece sight of them did not enlighten you, a minute's
conver-ation would settle the matter. What you would less
readily imagine is that these are really the most violent and
dangerous of the Inmates. Mental feebleness, no doubt,
you would easily discern: not so quickly would you descry
ferocity, the suicidal or the murderous instinct. Here sits
a middle-aged man, quietly enough. There Is a smile on
his face as he tells you of his immense property, in
Oxfordshire, in London, in a dozen districts —as he
assures you, with a calm certainty, that as he is to be re-
leased in two years, and nail is now 1058 he is looking for-
ward to liberty and wealth in 1860. The delusion, no doubt,
is painful but you would set him down as eminently calm
and harmless. Ask your guide. Answer "Oh. yts, harm.
less enough until he is excited, but then he has—" " Has
what?" " Ilas an awkward tries of hitting straight front
the shoulder, and then jumping on you." Knowing this, it is
not without a feeling of considerable satisfaction that as you
pass down the corridor, and as he conies lurching after you,
you find him stopped and rent back by a burly warder,
perhaps the biggest of the attendants, and, as bents a big
man, one of the gentlest, too. Without being particularly
pusillanimoun, one may surely confess that it is not abso-
lutely agreeable to be followed by a maniac so skilled in
combat. Other faces there are which would more readily
set you on your guard—faces on which the clouds have
settled more thickly .d permanently, alai eyes that, as they i
shift and waver, seem crafty and cruel as those of a caged
beast. Insanity does not want the sheet and blanket, the
crown of straw, all the old accessories so familiar to the
imagination, to make it a i orrible thing to toehold. These I
aomewhat shabbily-dressed figures are more impressive,
after all, than the theatrical types of lunacy. Sidling
up towards us, comes a be grey little old man,
sills a suety black hat and a faded white neck-
cloth, whose ease, they say, is hopeless. Sadder sound you
will not often hear than the old man's voice as, with eager ,
gesticulations, becomes up and trim to tell you his stray—
for the voice has grown strangely indistinct and amnia!, and
ills hard to remember that this is a poor suffering fellow.
creature, who gabbles so garrulously his blasphemy anti filth.
Ile has grown old in Bedlam—a foreigner, poor fellow, with
Rome half-forgotten, wholly unintelligible tale id grievance
and wrong, dating front niany years ago, and now grown dint
and hazy even to himself. Not much more cheerful, though
infinitely more hopeful, since in this case there is a strong
probability of cure, is the sight of a young lad, with a
vulgar, cunning, sensual look, who, to the kindly words
spoken, answers only, " Ah, hut you can't bring down my
'cheek.' tin all you know' You can't take my 'cheek' down,
all of you How much, in such cases, is due to personal
sin or misfortune how much to hereditary taint, it is often
hard to say—hut harder yet to say which is the more pitiful,
the sullen defiance of this wretched boy, or the horrible
incoherent gabbling of the grey old man.
Before passing to other galleries, it may be as well to in-
dicate the ganeral class of the inmates. Ana rule, of cosine,
rich patients are in private asylums and the absolutely
pauper lunatics are provided for elsewhere. It is mainly to
the middle ranks of society that the patients in Bethlehem
originally belonged. Of eighty-three curable male patients,
for instance, admitted during 180, not less than sixteen had
been clerks, two were clergymen, one times elogical student,
one a City minsionary, one a surgeon, one a dentist, one a
tutor, one an architect, four solicitors, five farmers, one an
officer, one a merchant, one untoward, ones wanier, two
cort ectors of the press, three policemen, ones pawnbroker,
two grocers, four tailors, three mechanics, two commercial
travellers, two preachers, two waiters, three draper., two
bakers, two carmen, one a civil engineer, and as forth. Of
a hundred and twenty-one females, also considered curable
and admitted during the same peril, seven were the wives,
widows, or daughters of professional men, torty-one of clerks
Rad tradesmen, twelve of servants. mechanics, or labourers,
two of farmers, whilst eleven were governesses—a rather
ghastly proportion, is it nitt?—four 'were housekeepers,
eighteen domestic servants, eleven in illiners—also a somewhat
suggestive item iii the account, perelmnce?—t shopwomen,
one profesaional singer, and twelve who had no stated
occupation. It will thus be seen that the inmates were
chiefly of the middle classes. From one very important and
When there lust, much miernanagement obeervablein noticeable section of its former occupants Bethlehem has
been relieved, by the removal of the criminal lunatic's—a
o,oedil aharitable foundations, it is pleartant to note a removal which may. perhaps. diminish the " interest "td a
visit with persona of morbid tastes, but which in vastly to
complet.: contrast in some of our private and volun-
the benefit of the Hospital.
tarily support,- •.,-1 charitable Mstitutions. Stich an one A change is soon perceptible as we mount the stairs, and
is the EarLswocaT ;,4.4tylum for idiots, at the annual enter the gellerY on the Ilea floor. Instead of the bare room
festival id which I was pri,".ent at the close of last week. in which it is necessary to keep the 'nose violent Mutates, we
. now find I,lin but comfortable chambers, the errangement
The labour that the philantlirogiatg here undertake is ot which is left, In as great measure, to the patients themselves
enormone, but it ha,-, been proved not to be hopeless. For the quietest of these the daily routine is simple. They
They have to deal with the lowest type of the human ;Let e x.triczteet
ot,un altair.unt Viss:e,n‘neditttrelgthotie tot,rnart
race', with beings who, for some mysterious reason creation in the gardens, where there is a racquet court for
the and a croquet mound more eeolal for the
that the hi-hest type cannot wholly comprehend, have
ximenmen ; at one they dine ; they bike tap ly
ea at eve hava e
Lawn sent into this world deprived of reason. But a little supper about eight, and are in bed before ten. The
visit to the Earlswood Asylum will at least teach us dietary, though plain, is not in any way stinted. Bethlehem
is rich, and hae no reason to he niggardly Beef and mutton,
hrtmmlity and gratitude, and the first is one of the of course, are the staples. , with hread..pMetraes, and heer ;
hardret lemons we have to learn. The annual report hut this is sometimes varied at the proper seasons, by pork
of this institution is a deeply interesting pamphlet. •tf bacon, veal, and fish. P.k entre eniployed the grounds,
workshops, or laundry have an extra allowance of bread
Here is a startling fact. Out of 154 boys, no lass than anal sheen° and beer for luncheon, an.l 'mother half-pint of
beer in the afternoon ; while the cherry of the sick is left
90 have no notion whatever of time. They cannot
entirely to the discretion of the resident physician, who does
tell a clock, and have no idea of the difference even not hesitate to make it generous and liberal. Obviously, the
between SH hour and a year And out of the same nouriahmmit in a place where there are so many depressing
in. !blew be abund. It is a hard fight to
154 tht•r mar.' rt• 33 who ha nve o notion whatever of m canoney, utintain evenscareelytoo ant
order In an asyluin ; harder yet to create
eofffectthe: Amtie:yl;itt,heito:lhe-:
They know the ilifference of the value of a penny and and preserve anything like a cheerful, healthy tone. To
us ha zialltulkr.,,xtenwt.hatowweLert,ht
sovereign no more than an infant just born. It is
sail to think how utterly hopeless are all the efforts of sith HS bale and cages, its whips anal chains e Ail
doctors an.l teacher+ to bring the itliots out of the ression thaw seventies simply intensified melancholy into
, incurable madness. To-day every effort is mad tt
(4 mental tlarknesa except to a certain degree. Ben- life of the inmates cheerful. As you walk Ilown the
en this you hear the cooing of pigeons and the quick jubilant notes
preservation is the brat law of nature ; but even
elementery principle is almost wholly wanting on the of singing birds, flitting to and fro in large anti well.tended
viaries. Presently you come to an aquarium ; anon t
first arrival of the inmates, and it is rather by inducing stand of flowers: whilst there are statuettes and env
than educing this principle that the education of the on the walla. Everywhere, light; everywhere, elbow-roorn
and l.reathing-space. Hence, as you are lett tat from tage
idiots commences. I know nut a much sadder eight to stage, you gradually get into a state of mind In whi.ch it