The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-19 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST' 19, 1858.

APPETITE AND DIGESTION IMPROVED.
LEA and PERRINS' WORCESTERSHIRE
SAUCE imparts the most exquisite relish to Steaks, Chops,
and all Roast Meat, Gravies, Fish, Game, Soup, Curries, and Salad,
and by its tonic and invigorating properties enables the stomach to
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The daily use of this aromatic and delicious
_Sauce is the best safe-
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Sold by the proprietortd Lea-and Perrin, 19, Fenchurch-street,
London, and 68, Broad-street, Worcester; also by Messrs. Barclay
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N.B.—To guard against imitations, see that the names of " LEA
and PERRINS" are upon the label and patent cap of the bottle.

ON PHYSICAL DISQUALIFICATIONS, GENER.A.TIVE, INCA-
PACITY, AND IMPEDIMENTS TO MAIIRIAGE.
New and improved Edition, enlarged to 196 pages just illustrated by
100 Anatomical Coloured Engravings on Steel, published,

price, free by post, is.,
THE SILENT FRIEND : A Medical Work
on the physical exhaustion'and decay of the frame, from the
effects of solitary indulgence, infection, and the injurious conse-
quences from the use of Mercury: with observations on the obli-
gations of marriage, and directions for obviating certain disquali-
fications. By R. and L. PERRY and CO., Surgeons. Consultations
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The CORDIAL BALM of SYRIACUH is employed in both sexes
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The CONCENTRATED DETERSIVE ESSENCE, an anti-syphili-
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Its action is purely detersive, and its beneficial influence on the
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PERRY'S PURIFYING SPECIFIC PILLS constitute an effectual
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Sold by Daniel Church, 78, Gracechurch-street, City ; Bartley-
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medical vendors throughout the United Kingdom.

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BY SAMUEL LA'3IERT, M.D.,
37, BEDFORD SQUARE, LONDON,
Matriculated Member of the University of Edinburgh, Honorary
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The essential object of this treatise is to point out the fearful con-
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LUNATIC ASYLU MS and the LUNACY LAWS.

(BY A Pire-secenar.)
More than one recent event having directed public atten-
tion to the state of lunatic asylums and the laws which
regulate the care and treatment of the insane, arousing a
more than usual interest in these ques•iens, and Mr. Tire
having signified his intention of making them the special
object of a Parliainen;ary inquiry in the next session, a few
observations upon them at the present time may not be in-
opportnue, as the public at large are but very imperfectly
acquainted with these matters.
Lunatic asylums in this country may be classified under
four heads :-
1. The Public Asylums for the pauper patients of coun-
ties and boroughs, maintained out of the county and
borough rates, and governed by committees of visitors
selected from the magistracy of their respective districts.—
These are for the most part well conducted,admirable inqtitu-
tions,and,with few exceptions,if not all that might be desired,
are all that could be expected with due regard to the public
trainierisre.coSnosmtruecotifonthetooaldnerexotheenst amrea,teirioiawneyveor d
b,
iterufeecttiivvee in
o
their usefulness. In some an unwise parsimony is practised,
both as regards the numbers and the salaries of their officials;
in others extravagant outlay has been incurred by super-
fluous ornament and architectural embellishment, pleasing,
no doubt, in itself, and not without a beneficial influence
upon the inmates, but yet offering advantages in no way
edeimensurate with the cost, absorbing funds which might
be much more usefully employed. In a few the medical
officers are crippled in the discharge of their duties by being
associated with non-professional superintendents; in some
there are no assistant medical officers where they are im-
peratively required; and in many the energies of their
officials are overtaxed, or improperly cramped and interfered
with by the committee, and nearly all are deficient in land.
Instead of from 30 to 100 acres of land, there should be
from 200 to 300 acres, or even more, according to the size of
the institution, some regard being had to the prevailing
occupations of the population from which the inmates are
derived, though farm and garden labour are most beneficial
to the health both of the body and mind, even,of those pre-
viously unaccustomed to it. Moreover a good farm is sure
to pay, and its profits materially diminish the cost of main•
tenance, while the benefit from but a few acres of ground is
scarcely felt. It would be better to take a farm at some
little distance, if sufficient land could not be procured imme-
diately adjoining the building, than that the asylum should
forego the advantages accruing from it. Some of these
establishments are much too large for efficient management,
and more of them are required. There will not be sufficient
until accommodation is provided in such asylums for every
pauper lunatic in the kingdom, and the law ought to pro-
hibit the farming out of pauper lunatics to any private par-
ties for profit; they should not be placed in any licensed
house, as a private asylum is termed. The treatment of lu-
nacy is, under any circumstances, expensive, and it is unfair
to the public that more should be expended upon the
pauper lunatic than his case requires, while on the other
hand justice to the patient demands that all that is requisite
should be done for him. A system, therefore, which leaves
a margin for the profit of a third party must either prey
upon the pockets of the ratepayers or defraud the pauper
patient of his rights. The main object of this paper being
to comment upon the condition of licensed houses and pri-
vate patients, I must not linger here, however inviting, but
pass on to the other classes of asylums. But, whatever the
character of the institution may be, it should ever be remem-
bered that lunatic asylums are not mere places of detention
of safe custody, but hospitals fur the cure and alleviation of
mental disease, and that however important an object it may
be to prevent patients from doing injury to themselves or
others, either as regards persons or property, the first con-
sideration is or ought to be tile cure or amelioration of the
malady, or at least a diminution of the suffering and an im-
provement in the condition of the patient, and these im-
portant ends, it is well known, can be best attained within
an establishment specially adapted for the purpose, and
under the care of persons who have made this class of dis-
eases their peculiar study; and still more should it not be
forgotten that the earlier insanity is brought under treatment
the more successful is that treatment likely to prove. Let,
otwaf
si nhfcoaarvr
have
ern,hhea
ottsi
ropeiat at r
fe wa t
speciallaem
then, the public cease to consider lunatic asylums as places
ie
nclathsse olfigdhistenasfesh.esPl
consumption and diseases of the
chest; hospitals for cancer; hospitals for club-foot; hos-
pitals for the diseases of women and children, and
lying-in hospitals ; so are, or ought, lunatic asylums
to be hospitals for diseases of the brain. Many pauper lu-
natics are still detained in Union workhouses, places totally
unfit fur them. The provision for pauper lunatics will not
be complete until every one of them can be accommodated
in a proper public asylum.
2. The Lunatic Hospitals.—These are public institutions
for patients not paupers, ranging from the humble artisan
to persons of wealth, rank, and station. Some are purely
charitable institutions, supported solely by endowments,
donations, and subscriptions; others are partly supported
by these means, and partly by payments for the patients,
either from their own estates, or by their friends; while a
few of them are almost entirely self-supporting, the scanty
subscriptions and endowments making but a small propor-
tion of their whole income, the bulk of it arisinir from the
payments made on behalf of the patients; the profits derived
from the more wealthy ones making up for the deficient es
of the more :seedy; some receive only recent and appa-
rently curable cases, and discharge them after 12 mouths'
treatment should they not recover within that time. These
establishments are under the management of boards of go-
vernors, composed of persons acting as trustees for certain
funds; various officials, such as mayors, aldermen, magis-
trates, clergy holding particular benefices, &e., with do-
nors and subscribers to a fixed amount. They are, gene-
rally speaking, well conducted Institutions, and it could be
wished that there were many more of them. There are some
of them, however, which would admit of great improve-
ment and others are labouring under the great disadvantage
of buildings ill-adapted to their purp.ses, and placed upon
most undesirable sites in the purlieus of crowded cities and
in the midst of a close and numerous population. A lunatic
asylum ought to be situated in an uncontaminated atmo-
sphere—to have an abundant supply of pure water, to com-
mand a cheerful prospect, and to have a sufficiency of land
attached to afiord gardening and agricultural employment
to a considerable number of its inmates, and pleasing well-
cared-for grounds for outdoor exercise and recreation, re-
moved from the busy hum of the great city and free frotn the
gaze of a curious public. lam pleased to find by tlier la-st
report that the Commissioners in Lunacy are advocating an
extension oflunatic hospitals; it is, indeed, desirable that
the suffering tradesman, the poor governess, the gentlewo-
man or gentleman in straitened circumstances, the members
of learned professions; and many others who by the loss of
their intellect have been deprived of their only means of
maintenance, could receive that treatment they require, as
well as protection and solace in their affliction, which can
now only be procured at a cost beyond their means, or by
crushing burdens upon their families and friends, the
by sink-
ing to the po-ition of a pauper dependent upon public
rates. Were public opinion ripe for such a change, these kind
of establishment, might, with advantage to the interests of the
lunatic and humanity, supersede the present private asylums
or Incensed houses, modified, of coure, to meet the require-
ments of their inmates, and, as advancing science and expe-
rience dictate, they could soon be made self-supporting,
though to start and build them would doubtless require
some extraneous aid, in shape, perhaps, of loans guaranteed
on the security of the public purse, the repayment of which
might be spread over such a period that out of the annual
income a sinking fund could be established available for the
purpose. The number of these buildings required could be
readily calculated, and to decide upon their respective po-
sitions would be no great difficulty to those acquainted with
the statistics of insanity. One great objection urged against
the abolition of private asylums is, that it would be an un-
warrantable interference with the liberty of the subject that
the friends of lunatics should not be allowed to select the
persons under whose care their afflicted relatives should be
placed, and the situation of their residence. This might be
in a measure obviated by allowing them to schoose which of
these establishments they would send them to, and the per-
mission of free access to the patient of such authorised
medical practitioners as his friends might desire. The ac-
commodation could be adapted and the payments adjusted
so as to meet the more modest requirements of the humble,
or the luxuries, elegancies, and refinements of the wealthy.
Of course, the labourer is worthy of his hire, and profes-
sional skill, care, and attention ought to be adequately paid
for, as also work and labour dove ; but I do maintain that
justice does, and law should, forbid that it should be the pe-
cuniary interest of any one to deprive a fellow-creature of
his liberty, or make a commercial speculation of the direst
Hospitals,nd. or Asylums.—These
are of a mixed charkter, and combine the features of the
two preceding institutions, being both county asylums for
paupers and lunatic hospitals for private patients. There
are not many of them now, and they are gradually merging
into one or other of the before-mentioned forms by separat-
ing the lunatic hospital for private patients from the county
lunatic asylum; and it is to be hoped that shortly these
mixed establishments will have ceased to exist, fur it is not
desirable to associate under the same roof the pauper and
the private patient, even though they may not meet or see
each other. It is galling to the feelings and destructive of
the self-respect of the latter, while the former, from their
numbers, must take up so much of the time of the medical
officers as to render it impossible for them to pay that at-
tention to the private patients which they have a right to
require from them, anti which is expected at their hands,
without neglecting their other duties. May not this state
of things in a measure account for the occurrences at the
Northarnptom General Lunatic Hospital, animadverted on
by. the Commissioners in Lunacy in their recent report?
Criminal lunatics are at present placed in all classes of
asylums, but as they are shortly to be p:ovided for sepa-
rately in a State establishment, I do not fuel it necessary to
refer further to them than to express satisfaction at this step
having been at last taken. Better late than never.
4. The Private Lunatic Asylums, or Licensed Houses.—
It is in these establishments that the majority of the insane
of the middle and upper classes of society are paced for care
and treatment. They are, strictly speaking, commercial
speculations, uniting in character the lodging-house with
professional skill and attention, as in a private hospital or
sanitarium, the proprietors being licensed to conduct them
in the metropolitan district by the Commissioners in Lunacy
and in the provinces by the magistrates in quarter sessions.
The higher orders of these institutions are admirably con-
ducted, and many of the proprietors evince a liberality and
zeal in their management which are highly creditable to them
and most satisfactory in the results as regards the recovery,
ituprovemeut, and comfort of their patients. Others cannot
be 83 favourably spoken of, and some are deserving of severe
reprobation; but it must be obvious to all, if these private
eetablishinePts for the insane are to be permitted, it requires
no little discrimination and laborious investigation to ascer-
tain if a person applying for a licence of this kind is fitted
to be intrusted with so great a responsibility as the power
over the liberty and persons of these committed to his carp,
more especially when thtir requirements may clash with his
own interests and feelings, pecuniary or otherwise. Now,
it may be unhesitatingly asserted that many of the abuses of
private asylums arise from the proprietor s being persons un-
fitted to be trusted with such power and responsibility. It
Is easier to say what he ought not to be than to ascertain
that he is what he ehould be. He ought not to be a needy
person, and before he reeeiees e licence It should be *ere
tained beyond question that he has an ample capital, that
even if the epeculation fails in a commercial point of view,
the helpless beings consigned to his charge should not suff4
thereby. He should apt only, in the-flrst placp, prove to the
constituted authorities that be possesses sufficient means to
enter upon the undertaking, but he should be compelled to
lay before them from time to time proofs that he continues
in a state of ability to carry it en in an efficient manner, or
perhaps It would be well to require flow bim securi7 for

Nee due fulfilment of his duties. He ought to be a person
of high character, of scrupulous probity, and unimpeachable
morality, of the strictest sobriety, of equable temper, not
given to act upon impulse, and free from angry passions,
of quick perception, not too confiding, not too easy, active,
stot given to indolence, well educated, and of business
habits, nor should he be engaged in any other commercial
enterprises or occupations to detract his attention or absorb
his capital. lam not altogether prepared to maintain with
some tba, it is absolutely necessary he should be a medical
practi loner, but when he is not he should be compelled to
employ a medical superintendent, who should be, to a certain
extent, independent of him, and whose position and powers
should be clearly laid down and defined. His remuneration
should be fixed, nor should there be any power of dismissing
him without the concurrence of the Commissioners in
Lunacy or the Visiting Justices. The lunatic requires con-
stant medical supervision night and day ; whether he forms
the unit of a large or small community, it never can be pre-
viously known at what hour or moment he may require the
moat anxious care and skilful attention ; therefore it should
be made imperative that any person receiving a licence for
a lunatic asylum, if not a medical man, or, if so, not residing
on the premises, should employ a duly qualified medical
practitioner to reside therein and superintend the establish-
ment. The present system of visiting medical attendants
going a formal round twice a-week is utterly useless, and
ought to be abolished. If the pauper patient in the public
asylum is required to be seen by his medical officer twice a-
day, ought we to be satisfied that the private patient in a
small asylum should be professionally visited but once or
twice ft-week, merely because he is one of a few in number ?
All private .asylutns ought, therefore, if not licensed
to a resident medical proprietor, to have a resident
medical superintendent. A correspondent in the
Times of July 30, 1858, states it as his opinion that
the medical officer of a private"asylum should have
previously practised in a public one. I have seen the
practice of both, and cannot see that the one is a desirable
preparation for the other. We might as well expect the
master of a union workhouse to make the best manager of a
first-class hotel. The roughness of one is totally different
from the elegance and comfora of the other. Nor, is the
practitioner in the large public asylum more experieisced or
better acquainted with mental diseases. Experience is
gained by close, intimate, and accurate observation—not by
the passing glance of moving through the crowd. How
much attention can be given to each ease by the superin-
tendent who has to see 300, 400, or 500, up to even a higher
figure of patients within the day, to say notbiug of the
other multifarious duties which require his atteutian ? To
get through these duties he is obliged to fall into a system of
mere routine. Not so with the medical officer of the private
asylum, who has from 50 to 100 daily to attend to—a number
sufficient to supply specimens of every class of insane per-
sons, without detracting attention from each individually by
numbers. Moreover, the patients, being persons of much
more cultivated minds before the affliction falls upon them,
they exhibit far more objects of interest and observation.
There is as much difference as there is between the
neglected garden which has been previously richly culti-
vated and the barren mountain or heath which has
never been subjected to the skill of the husbandman.
The' medical superintendent of the private lunatic asylum is
the intimate friend and companion of his patients, joining
them in their meals, their recreations, amusements, and em-
ployments, entering into familiar conversation with them,
and so constantly with them that he becomes acquainted
with their inmost thoughts and feelings, witnesses their al-
most every action, and makes himself so thoroughly master
of their characters and dispositions that, if a man of tact and
superior talent, lie soon acquires great moral influence over
them. There is as much knowledge, skill, tact, and pains-
taking attention required for the management of from 50 to
100 patients of the better class as for 500 paupers. The
larger number, however, of our private asylums are too
small to afford sufficient experience to their medical afficers,
or to allow of that association of the patients which is proved
to be so beneficial to them, or to admit of the full advan-
tages of combination in the procuring such additional com-
forts and luxuries which may not be within range of the
few, but are easily procured when the expenses are divided
among a number, as is well known to ail acquainted with
the c;ub system and the power of union.
Though I believe the proprietor's own character and in-
terests are the best guarantees for the discharge of his
duties, unfortunately all are not equally conscientious or
sufficiently enlightened to see that in the long run they will
best serve their own interests by doing justice to their
patients ; therefore frequent inspection by the constituted
authorities is necessary. This duty is at present performed
in the metropolitan district by the Commissioners in Lunacy,
who visit each asylum at least four times a-year, and in the
assistancerate s is aopfphoiisnpt er
profession
ws s hn
al
pmedicalrovince
ms aa
ne omamffi
knowledge, and a lawyer to act as their clerk and legal
adviser, who inspects each establishmeht four times a-year ;
and the Commissioners in Lunacy visit these provincial
houses twice a-year, bat their powers in the provinces are
otrtdeethofem magistrates
nwohtosaoreammpolreeascoinnstchieenirtioowusn, dacisttirvit.
ec"anTdhzeeraeloaures,foerwtooffiels
whomia
greater credit is due for the manner in which they perform
their arduous duties, than the Commissioners in Lunacy ;
indeed. the insane and the friends of the insane are deeply
indebted to them for the vast improvements they have
effected, and this is more especially visible in the con-
dition of asylums under their own exclusive juris-
diction as compared with those under the " double
government" in the provinces. But periodical inspection
to be efficient, should be both frequent and unexpected;
that if the magistracy above referred to rarely is
unexpected; either from their individual acquaintance and
friendship with the proprietors whose neighbours they
almost invariably are, or from the correspondence which
takes place before each visit, or from horses being hired to
convey the doctor and clerk, of which intimation is given
to the parties interested; by some means or other these visi-
tations are almost always made known to the proprietor or
superintendent ; nor are the provincial movements of the
commissioners kept so secret as in the metropolitan dis-
trict; apartments are sometimes bespoke at an hotel in the
neighbouring town where the proprietor of the asylum is
net unknown, or horses are engaged to meet certain gentle-
men at the railway station, who are coming down by such
and such a train, and wish to proceed on immediately to
--, which intention and desire is probably conveyed to
--
some hours before themselves, in plenty time to pass
round an order among the attendants, servants, and others,
" to bustle about and have everything in readiness for in-
spection ;" but, irrespective of foreknowledge, these visits
are too seldom. But we have no right to expect impossibili-
ties, or that Commissioners in Lunacy should possess greater
powers of übiquity and greater physical endurance than other
men. These establishments ought to be officially visited at
least once a-month, and it would be better were the inspec-
tions still more frequent, at uncertain times, and at all hours.
To effect this it would be necessary to have district in-
spectors, who should be duly qualified medical men, and
such as have lived in asylums should be preferred if other-
wise eligible for the appointments& • they should be nomi-
nated by, responsible to, and under the authority of the
Commissioners in Lunacy. There are other duties besides
mere inspection that might be beneficially assigned to them,
such as ascertaining any particular facts and making any
special inquiries which the commissioners might deem
desirable, and, as additional security is thought requisite to
prevent persons being consigned to asylums without due
necessity, it might be enacted that every patient should be
seen by one of these officials—if net before admission to an
asylum,within a few—say, seven—days afterwards—and the
continuance of a patient in an asylum should not be legal
unless the inspector countersigned the certificates and state-
ments upon which such patient was received or directed to
be received. At present it is necessary that there should be
an order for the reception of a patient, and a statement of
certain particulars, signed by some relative or friend, and
two certificates signed by two medical men unconnected
with each other, and without previous consultation or meet-
ing, stating that the patient is a proper person to be placed
under care and treatment; setting forth, at the same time,
communicatedt
ltdi
without
igestiahoftnaort
uott
tytssoetouiiohbipebsee observed
erperlyweaecsoehdi
tfidi
atcbchtl
ybeale
mtyn
ti
hot the aub ty opinionbf others,
som certifierseafis t
an grounded,itthneoosr
efe:
relvttiesfisedfai
indicative
toeimni
sg vtuhai sol
those
oristesewttbiongsifgourthtlitehceemrteifinteaalteasn. In d
bodilyad
condition of the patient after not less than two clear days
from the date of admission must be filled up and signed by
the medical officer of the asylutn. This delay is to give time
for observation of the case; but where there is no resident
medical officer this opportunity does not occur, and the
sta.ement is usually filled up after one very cursory observa-
tion. Notice must also be given by the proprietor or super-
intendent to the Commissioners in Lunacy and the clerk to
the visiting justices, of the admission of a patient within.
seven days, accompanied by copies of the above-mentioned
documents. Now, it is a fact known to every proprietor
and superintendent of a lunatic asylum that where a medi-
cal certificate for the admission of a patient is correctly filled
up is the exception rather than the rule, and that in the
majority of instances amendments or additions are required;
and, further, that the profession generally betray great
want of practical acquaintance with, if not a positive igno-
rance of, the subject of insanity, that the certifiers are apt
to be much influenced by what they hear rather than by
what they observe, and that these investigations are usually
too short and lax. I would recommend, then, that to make
these documents valid it should be requisite that they be
countersigned by the district inspector, and that they
should not be so countersigned until he had had a per-
sonal interview with the patient and satisfied himself as to
the unsoundness of mind and all original informalities in
the documents bad been rectified, and that in all doubtful
cases he should be empowered to make full investigation,
and summon to his aid such evidence as he might require.
It has been desired by some that no patient should be
consigned to a lunatic asylum without having been pre-
viously taken before magistrates in petty sessions, a county
court judge, or some other public method of investigating
such patient's state of mind. Any proceedings of this
nature would be distressingly painful to the feelings
of friends of a patient, if not of himself. The publicity in-
curred would cause many to shrink from the exposure, the
consequence of which would be that dangerous lunatics
would be suffered to be at large, and curable cases become
chronic and hopeless for the want of proper treatment, Nor
would any such method ee so really well calculated to deter-
mine the sanity or insanity of the parties as the one I have
suggested. Sane persons are, however, according to my ex-
perience, rarely taken to asylums; there is mucb more fear
of patients being detained too long after recovery—An evil
which would be touch checked by wore frequent ihspection.
The district inspector would in tha course of some little
time become weli acquainted almost with each inmate
of the asylums under leis charge, and would not be
obliged to trust so touch to the reports of others or
to the faithfulness of the records iu the case books, as those
whose visits are few and far between. In addition to these
means of supervision, it would be desirable that every
building before It is licensed for the reception of lunatics,
and again previous to the renewal (lila licence, should be
thoroughly examined by II competent surveyor; who should
see that it has been completed in all its requirements and
kept in substantial repair. At present these buildings are
made to look well to the eye—made, in short, for show—
' while they are very deficient is substance and completeness
of what is requisite for healthand comfort. Thp inspection
should not be merely Ms°, fiesta], but alhelow the surface," and
should minutely extend into workmanship and material. The
places selected or private asylums are often old mansions, or
large houses in the country, with extensive met- offices, such
as stables, haylofts, cowhenses, cartsheds, 4c. ; these are con-
verted into apartments fpr the inferict• plass of patients; and
frequently in a yery flimsy way, and with rough material,
though made to 10Pic
is
thou Plans of the whole are prettily
drawn up, and everything ght to be right ; but a sur-
veyor looking minutely into matters would find much to
amend. I could relate same curious facts would it not oc-
cupy too much space to do so ; but, if the inmates of lunatic
wino require dill ourervieiont #e >i the pulitin ctf

what are called " single patients," calls much mare loudly
for legislative interference. Any person can take charge of a
single patient without a licence, and though legally to pat
any restraint upon them or their actions the same nerd&
catei and orders are required as in the case of the admission
of a patient into a private asylum, and the same notice must
be sent to the authorities, yet these requirements of the law
are constantly evaded, and even if complied with they are
not under such supervision as will protect them from ill-
'usage. Numerous persons daily advertise for these single
patient 4, calling themselves experienced in the treatment
of insanity, whose ,experience is t.to often but that of the
difficulty of meeting the demands of quarter-day, while
others are grossly ignorant and totally unfit for such charge;
not a few are discharged 8r superannuated attendants of
asylums, brought up and prejudiced in favour of the worst
forms of mechanical restraint and all the horrors of the old

system of treating the insane; aa a practice prevails of
farming out one patient to this private lodging and another
to that to avoid the necessity of a licence and the inconve-
nience of proper inspection. Such tampering with the
liberty of the subject ought to be prohibited, or, at all
events, a licence should be required for one patient, as well
as for a number, if for no other purpose than making in-
quiry into the character and fitness of the persons seeking to
take charge ofsingle•patients as well as the accommodation
they may have to offer them ; at present numbers are im-
mured in obscure and cheerless lodgings, where they
undergo all kinds of privations and sufferings, if not
absolute cruelty, and debarred, perhaps, from all society
but that of some coarse-minded menial. But it is not only
from those who take the charge of them that the insane re-
quire protection; their property is, as the law at present
stands, but very indifferently cared for, and is but too fre-
quently taken possession of by relatives for their own bene-
fit or hoarded up for heirs-at-law, and but a miserable frac-
tion expended upon their comforts and necessities. Clothing
is also often much neglected by their friends. None but
those engaged in the care and treatment of private lunatic
patients can have any conception of the difficulties experi-
enced in procuring from relatives and friends proper sup-
plies and descriptions of clothing. To be well dressed is a
powerful provocative of self-respect—one very great desider-
atum in the moral treatment of the insane. _ _ _

Unwilling to occupy too much of your valuable space
upon the deeply interesting subject of this wide-spread and
extending calamity, I will briefly sum up what I con-
sider the most desirable change in the present laws.
1. All licences for private asylums should be granted
sdsheloscielirable that
by the Commissioners in Lunacy, and not by the magi-
strates in quarter sessions. The whole kingdom should
be as much under their authority as the metropolitan dis-
trict now is. I would not, however, altogether abolish
visitation by magistrates, as they are often known to
patients and their friends, and there is a feeling of friendly
engendered
to
detect thereby.and
aTheir t offices shouldshort
shortcom-
ings especiallye
siwne cig2tush. riP ntnye
neglects, and to suggest Improvements...
tdrswoons who have been interested in any private asylum
years are excluded from. being appointed Com-
missioners in Lunacy. This prohibits tne appointment of
some of our ablest men. I could name wally ; let, however,
suffice. It would be quite sufficient for all practical pur-
poses mention of Conolly, Winslow,. Monroe, and Sutdahnecreolatliasneede;
allp o
rathers
be
es
ot
beneficial
lecaninaa
ice txet
interesthl
uadt exclude
rtoihnme
mt
anyhiet
suchtwi eu
would
df
institutionsa
ecemp toi
rneg
one at least of the commissioners should be a person who
has been engaged in the management of a private asylum,
at least as lorg as private asylums are permitted by law. No
one is so able to judge as one who has been behind the scenes,
and to it on the lowest ground, as the old saying has it,
"An old poacher makes the best gamekeeper ;" they also,
from experience and intimate know ledge of private patients,
are best acquaihted with their feelings, wants, and require-
ments.
3. No one should be allowed to receive even one lunatic
patient without a licence, and on application by any one for
a licence the strictest investigation should be made as to the
character, moral fitness, and ability of the person so apply-
ing, whether he is fit morally, personally, and pecuniarily to
undertake such responsibility. The building, too, in the
case of an asylum, should be required to be thoroughly ex-
amined throughout in all its departments by a competent
surveyor, sad these examinations should be repeated before
each renewal of the licence, the surveyor making a report
of every such examination to the Commissioners in Lunacy.
4. Every lunatic patient, whether single or in as asylum,
should be required to be medically visited once a day, and
all asylums for 20 patients or upwards should have either a
resident medical proprietor or superintendent.
5. No pauper lunatic should after a fixed date be retained
in any licensed house, union workhouse, or gaol. This
would, of course, require adequate accommodation for all
pauper patients in the public asylums.
0. A number of district inspectors should be appointed to
assist the Commissioners in Lunacy In the inspection of
lunatic asylums, especially licensed houses, who shall be ap-
pointed by, responsible, and under the authority of the com-
missioners. Their duties should be to inspect every private
asylum or licensed house, and see every patient confined
therein not less than once a month; to visit all single patients
within their districts, and see to their accommodation, treat-
ment, and state of mind; to visit all private patients placed
under care and treatment within seven days of their so
bong placed; aid to examine all orders, statements, and
medical certificates respecting them ; to see that all infor-
malities in them are corrected, and to countersign them
when fully satisfied in their own minds that such persons
are properly placed under restraint; and they should
have power to make such inquiries and summon such evi-
dence as they may consider necessary for their purposes;
beit'unless so counter•igoed, no order, statement, or certifi-
cate should be valid; they should also make such inquiries
sad transact such other business as the commissioners might
from time to time require of them.
7. Notices of all deaths in asylums, whether public or pri-
vate, as also of all single patients, should be sent to the coroner
of the district; at present such notices are sent only from
lunatic hospitals and private asylums—the authorities of
which are interested in preserving the lives of their patients,
from whom profit is derived, which must cease on their
death ; while in the public asylum, if there is any interest in
the matter at all, it is in getting rid of the trouble of bur-
dens, and yet no notice is required—ill-treatment, neglect,
and other causes of premature death may be there smothered
up and unnoticed.
8. The powers of the commissioners in granting and re-
scinding or refusing licenses, also in enforcing rules, pro-
hibitions, and recommendations should be extended; but to
guard against any unjust or improper exercise of arbitrary
power there should be some court of appeal, but all frivolous
and vexatious appeals should be dismissed with costs against
the parties making them. Such are a few of the alterations
which appear to me to be required in the lunacy laws. That
the time for the further amendment of them is come no one
can dispute, and it is to be hoped that the committee of in-
quiry, of which the hon. member for Bath has given notice for
next session, will be able, on the evidence that will be laid be-
fore them,to report in favour of many desirable changes. The
improvements of past years—and they have been very great—
have served to throw light upon remaining imperfections. Let
us earnestly set to work to remove them. As a decided
abolition
hot hel etic
ooei
annxrgcsi
ese
rpt
mot ifeoortnrehml ofeys
a os
questioniomi te, ma no
ds
ot ft
commissioners
eoe xx
pdtpreeoantwoes rere
advocate of the abolition of all mechanical restraint, and
r
ry ca
cases,
wchi
dn believing
a
I should be inclined to advocate some legislative restrictions
oanbsotlhueteslyubtjoecfot—rbsida
mine what mild forms should alone be permitted. I have
already far outstepped the boundaries within which these
observations ought to have been confined, but I could add
much more on the subject. The prevention of lunacy, espe-
cially, is a topic upon which I feel much inclined to offer a
few observations, but must for the present forbear; should,
however, these remarks be favourably received, I may at
some future time trouble the readers of The Times with my
views on that interesting and important question.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.-Aug.lB.

OLD COURT.

James Horinek, al, was charged with stealing a post
letter, containing a sovereign, a sixpence, and six postage
stamps, the property of the Postmaster-General.
Mr. Bodkin and Mr. Poland couducted the prosecution ;
the prisoner was defended by Mr. Cooper.
Mr. Bodkin, in opening the case to the jury, stated that
in consequence of repeated complaints of the loss of letters
in the district where the prisoner was employed as a post
letter carrier, the authorities of the Post-office took the
usual proceeding in such cases of addressing what was called
a "test letter," to be delivered within the district. He said
that as some observations had been made with regard to this
course of proceeding, he felt it right to observe that rob-
beries to an enormous amount were committed by letter-
carriers, and the authorities of the Post-office had no other
means of detecting the guilty parties but by resorting to the
proceeding of despatching a test letter, and with respect to
the argument that had been made use of that such a
proceeding was a temptation to the commission of
crime, be said it was obvious that it was no extra-
ordinary temptation, the test letter being placed with the
genuine letters, and thus was not likely to have any effect
except upon dishonest persons. In point of fact, the pro-
ceeding was nothing more than was adopted by tradesmen
every day, when they suspected persons in their employ-
ment of robbing themoof marking money in their till with
a view to discover who was the guilty party.
The witnesses for the prosecution were then examined,
and it appeared that, on the 28:11 of July, Mr. Clair,
one of the inspectors of the Post-office, enclosed a
sovereign, a sixpence, and six postage stamps in a
letter addressed to a person in Nottingham-place,
New-road, which, it appeared, was within the district
assigned to the Sussex-place receiving house, ;where
the prisoner and some ether letter-carriers were em-
ployed. The usual steps were then taken to trace the
letter, and it appears that it was in the first instance placed
in the bundle of a letter-carrier named Stouter, who would
have had to deliver the letters that were addressed to Not-
ttihneghhuanmd-lpeleafcleeitearnsd,
atnhde parftiseornhearn‘dr:ains
go observed look
tion look
toivoeur,
to remove it from Shiver's bundle. He subsequently, it
appeared, seemed to have some suspielon that he was
watched, and he was seen to run across from
the post-office to a public-house opposite, where
be asked to go into the water-closet ; and upon this place
beingai° h e
discovered,d
disappeared. No one but the prisoner appeared to have had
access to the water-closet on the morning in question, and
uatf afterwards rodns e
y the
and
de
tnhvee envelope
postagef s
ttha e
stamps s letterhad
consequently no one but he could have placed the envelope
where it was found.
Mr. Cooper addressed the jury for the defence, and in the
efththiseidrespeorwipetriento detect the
coarse of his speeeh be complained of the course that was
adopted by the Post-office in sending these "test letters,"
and he said tbat in his opinion it was calculated to entrap
Mr. Justice Williams, in his summing up, said it appeared
to him that there was nothing at all improper in the use of
hpoarnteisetspbeyrsons into the commission of crime.
a test letter, and be said that tin Pest-office authorities were
were com-
naitteii, and this appeared to be the most effectual means
that could be taken for that purpose.
rroybbelreiaenss
bound to uwsetioetuve
The jury, after a very short deliberation, returned a ver-
dict of guilty,
-

jemes Richmond, 20, was eharged with a similar offence.
The same counsel conducted the prosecution. The pri-
soner was defended by Mr. Sleigh.
The father of the prisoner, it appeared, had been in the
service of the Post-office for 30 years, and he was still em-
ployed there. The prisoner was also employed in the office,
and the evidence against him was of a similar nature to
that which was adduced in the last case.
The jury found the prisoner guilty, but recommended
him to mercy on count of his youth.
JONA Cltarlo ,Afarottia iraina quint, i i d .Edward