The Press.
London, England, 1858-08-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS, AUGUST 7, 1858.

" the opinion of Lord Justice KNIGHT BRUCE
" with reference to the principle which ought to
" govern a court of appeal while reviewing the
" decision of the court of original jurisdiction—
" namely, that to'dmtbt, to entertain grave and solid
" doubt, is to affirm." No attempt of ours at
condensation will do justice to the arguments
of the essayist on this head. Suffice it to say,
that if due weight were given to the decisions of
the original court, we should less often be pained
by cases where the elaborate conclusions of the
highest legal minds are set aside by a bare
majority in the Peers ; sometimes, it is to be
feared, deciding perfunctorily. It is bad enough
that it is possible for a judgment of the present
Master of the Rolls, affirmed by Lords Justices
TURNER and KNIGHT BRUCE, to be reversed in
the Lords by the voices, let us say, of Lords
CRANWOftTII, BROUGHAM, and WENSLEYDALE,
though supported by Lord ST. LEONARDS and
another equally great name ; but the evil would
be at least reduced to a minimum were Sir J.
L. KNIGHT BRUCE'S opinions on appellate juris-
diction generally adopted.
Finally, the Lord Justice has a keen eye for
abuses, and an earnest desire for an improved
style of legislation. We cannot but hope for
good service to the cause of Law Reform from
the man who concluded his judgment in the
case of the so-called Royal British Bank* in the
following memorable words, with which we shall
close our article :

It is to be hoped, let me in conclusion say, that the
Legislature will take steps to prevent the recurrence of
conflicts and complications such as the proceedings before
us exhibit and portend—miserable conflicts, distressing
complications, which it has itself' created—conflicts and
complications characterized by the grave frivolity, the
costly uselessness, the sickening delays, in which chicane
rejoices—conflicts and complications which must embitter
the anxiety and add weight to the oppression of sufferers
under nefariously conducted schemes, such as the thing
ironically called the Royal British Bank—conflicts and
complicatior a which to a civilized people are nationally
discrediuttle, and in a governed country ought not to be
possible.

TWELFTH REPORT OF THE COMMIS-
SIONERS IN LUNACY.
kr has been often stated of late years, and we
believe with justice, that lunacy is steadily on the
increase amongst us. This consideration alone,
unconnected with the recent painful disclosures
at Acotnb, would afford us reason for sup-
posing that some remarks on the newly pub-
lished Report of the Lunacy Commissioners
would not be unwelcome to our readers. Exclue
sive of those insane persons for whom a separat-
establishment is maintained by their friends, there
are now in private asylums 4,738, in public in-
stitutions 17,572 lunatics—total, 22,310. Yet
how very few amongst us take any interest in
the insane, or are at all acquainted with the
treatment adapted to secure their recovery 1
How many fancy that a lunatic asylum must
necessarily be an habitation of wretchedness, in
which their fellow-creatures are chained to walls,
strapped to beds, and restrained by strait-
waistcoats; whereas, in a well-regulated estab-
lishment neither chains, straps, nor strait-waist-
coats are ever employed, for, as Dr. CONOLLY—
and no one can speak with more authority—
remarks, " No fallacy can be greater than that of
" imagining what is called a moderate use of
" mechanical restraint to be consistent with a
" treatment in all other respects complete,
" unobjectionable, and humane; the abolition of
" restraint must be absolute, or it cannot be
" efficient."

PIXEL in France about 1770, and TIKE in
England a few years later, first attempted to
ameliorate the condition of the unhappy lunatic—
to substitute sympathy for gross unkindness and
severity. Previous to this date, and for many
years after these benevolent men had com-
menced their labours, insane persons were
treated certainly no better, perhaps even worse,
than beasts : chained up in cells, dark, damp,
and filthy, with unglazed openings in the walls,
which apertures, guarded by iron bars, were only

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749

wide enough to admit a gleam of light ; never
permitted to leave these dismal habitations to
behold the sun or look on the face of nature ;
only visited by their keepers whip in hand—the
keepers, if in France, being attended by a furious
dog. What an existence must the lunatic's then
have been I How differently, at least in public
institutions, is the poor creature suffering from a
mental disorder treated now: comfortably clothed,
well housed, fed, and attended ; he is allowed
healthy exercise out of doors, with books,
dances, and music to amuse him within the walls
of the asylum ; and, moreover, should a
religious melancholy prey upon his mind,
there is a chaplain to visit him, and a chapel at
which he may attend. Alluding to the hireing,
by the Devonshire magistrates, of a house at
Exmouth for the temporary accommodation of
forty-two pauper lunatics, the Commissioners state
that when they visited Exmouth they found " the
"alarm which had originally existed in the minds
" of the inhabitants of Exmouth, when it was first
" proposed to place the patients there, appeared
"to have entirely subsided. Although the majo-
rity of the patients were daily taken out in
" parties for walks by the shore, and in the neigh-
bourhood, no inconvenience had in any case
" been felt ; no individual was annoyed in any
" way ; and, after a very short period, the
" patients themselves ceased to attract any unusual
" attention,being indeed soon considered as forming
" a part of the ordinary inhabitants of the town."
To what do we owe these improvements in the
organization of public asylums ? To that which
it is very possible we may shortly be indebted for
a great change in the management of private
asylums, and in the treatment of insane persons
of the middle and upper classes—to an asylum at
York. The death at the York Lunatic Asylum,
in 1780, of a Sister of the Society of Friends,
caused the Quakers to found the " York Retreat,"
at which establishment Dr. WiallAm Timm in-
augurated his system for the cure of maniacs.
The treatment of Mrs. TURNER at York, by Mr.
METCALFE, to which we alluded last week,
will, we believe, lead the Legislature to effect
a reform in the management of private
houses for the reception of the insane.
Referring to the intention of the Governors of
Guy's Hospital to close the lunatic ward of that
institution, the Commissioners remark :—" We
" have no doubt that, considering the great want
"of charitable funds for providing asylum
" accommodation for lunatic patients of the
" middle classes, the resolution is much to be re-
" gretted."

This complaint we have heard not once or twice,
but a hundred times before. For the small
farmer, the tradesman, and even for the ever-to-
be-pitied governess, whose refined education and
manners render her ill-suited to associate con-
tinually with labourers wives, there is no retreat
when afflicted with a disordered brain but a
pauper asylum or an expensive private establish-
ment. Cannot this defect be remedied? We
think it might. Why should not Government
form an establishment, with salaried officers,
near London, for the cure of insane persons of
the middle classes, the friends of each patient
paying an equivalent for his maintenance ?
There can be no doubt but that an institution of
this description would be a great boon to the
public ; and being, as it undoubtedly would be, self-
supporting, would be no expense to the country.
Such a scheme as this, if attempted, would, we
have little doubt, meet with the uncompromising
opposition of those medical practitioners who are
in any way connected with private asylums.
Once let such an establishment as we have de-
scribed be formed, and the death-blow is given to
private " Retreats ;" for the public would soon
find the advantage of placing the insane under
the care of persons who derived no pecuniary
benefit from the continuance of the mental dis-
order of their patients. We confess we believe
the assertion of Dr. CONOLLY, that "of all
"passions avarice is the most cruel."
After stating that two hundred and ninety
acres of land have been purchased at Bagshot, as
a site for a new State Criminal Asylum, the
Report proceeds :
" The question of adequately providing for the
care and treatment of insane soldiers remains
still in abeyance. Our opinion on the many
evils arising from the defective character of the
existing arrangements for the accommodation of

750

soldiers labouring under this malady has been
expressed in many former reports, and we have
contrasted those arrangements with the excellent
provisions made for insane sailors at Haslar Hos-
pital. We are quite at a loss to understand why
there should be so marked a difference between
the two services, in the presence of the same
calamity ; and it will not be held beyond the
limits of our duty, while we regret the necessity
we have been under of so frequently and so
strongly animadverting on the continuance of
this painful contrast, to add the expression of a
hope that, amid the general sympathy and atten-
tion awakened lately to the condition of the
soldier, the absence of all proper humane provi-
sion for his treatment under a disease to which
accidents of service and changes of climate too
frequently expose him will not much longer be
overlooked."

The treatment of single patients—i.e., patients
for whom separate establishments are main-
tained—the Report thus describes :
" On the whole the condition of the patients so
visited cannot be described as satisfactory. As a
general rule the accommodation provided is quite
Incommensurate with the payments, which, in
many instances, are very large. The necessity
for our continued and regular supervision has
been clearly established, and, in some instances,
we have found cases of marked neglect. In two
or three we have discovered that, besides the
patient who has been regularly certified and
returned to this office, the proprietors of houses
have also had under their charge other persons of
unsound mind, relative to whom no return what-
ever had been made. In these cases, although
from the presence of circumstances of an ex-
tenuating character we have not deemed it proper
to institute prosecutions for the legal penalties
incurred, we have insisted, by way of warning to
others against commission of the same or any
similar offence, that the offenders should insert
apologies in the daily and medical papers."
Notwithstanding the following opinion of the
Commissioners in Lunacy—" Our experience
" has satisfied us that in no case should the land
" belonging to an asylum be less than in
" the proportion of one acre to four patients"—
we find that the city of Bristol (because the
Corporation cannot procure a larger quantity of
land at " a reasonable price " within a convenient
distance of the city) is building an asylum for 200
patients on a plot of ground measuring only
twenty-two acres; that the counties of Carmar-
then, Cardigan, and Pembroke are about to give
at the rate of only one acre to each six patients,
and the borough of Maidstone at the rate of one
to five. Surely, the health and recovery of the
pauper should be considered before the pockets
of the ratepayers ; but, looking at the question
with even a mercenary eye, we are convinced
that these bodies are making a mistake.
In Appendix A we find the following entry :
Superintendent Private.
County. Houses. or Proprietor.

M. F. Total.
Essex .. High Beech .. Allen, Mrs. .. 6 10 16
The Commissioners, in their Report for the
year 1854, tell us that on their first visit to Mrs.
ALLEN'S establishment, which took place on the
18th December, 1852, they found—

"One male patient (at Leopard's-hill] was se-
cluded in a room without a fire, and without a
seat. He was sitting on the stretcher of his bed,
imperfectly clothed. The room smelt very
much of urine. We think that if this patient
cannot be more comfortably accommodated, he
should be removed to another asylum. Three of
the mattresses, on which three female patients
sleep in a room called the Long-room, are
stained, old, and in a filthy condition. They
are not fit for use, and should be immediately
removed, and their place supplied by clean mat-
tresses."

On the 7th March, 1853, having again visited
this den, the Commissioners describe it in
similar terms; and on a third visit, on the 10th
November, 1853, they find the patients restrained
in the most brutal manner—concluding their Re-
port with this observation :

" The condition of this house, receiving
private patients only, for the due maintenance
and accommodation of whom considerable sums

are generally paid, has repeatedly attracted the
special attention of the Visiting Commissioners;