Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1836-12-09

that the Institution isnow ready Tor the re-
ccption of patients The pleasant location
Of the establishment, the convenient arrange
ment Of the building, and the means which
are provided for the comfort and restoration
Of its inmates, seem TO warrant the assurance
that, with the favor of God, il will be the
means Of dispensing the blessing Of health
and reason TO those who may require its aid.
OF all the.afilicions to- which our nature
is liable, that of insanity claims sad pre-
eminence in the catalogue OF human suffer
ings. No age, or sex, or grade OF intellect
is exempt from its attack. Minds the most
exalted and refined, and allied to the warm
est and hottest affections, are most exposed
TO its destructive influence. The man Of
genius experiences some disappointment or
modification, or the fond and confding heart
suffers some great domestic affection, and
the citadel of reason is attacked, and a brill
liant and cultivated mind is laid in ruins. -
BY this affection, man is deprived Of that
faculty which indicates our diSine origin
and frequently has little left but the human
form to distinguish him from the brutes that
perish Under its influence, the very foun-
daion Of intellect is undermined and sub
yerted, and the moral qualities and noble aE
feciions are perverted or destroyed, Every
generous passion and every noble sentiment
are liable to be obnerated or supplanted by
the basest propensiiios of our nature. lie
frequently disregards the claims of kindred
and friendship violates the most sacred obi.
cations, and not unfrcquenily cherishes the
strongest aversion towards those he most
loved Formerly the delight, the ornament.
nd no cEc ba h,e h.,
come estranged from lis delights and dis,nrbs
its order and peace. Frequently he is the
victim Of the widest and most exiravagani
illusions, hncyng himself an inorganlzed
mass, vegetable, brute, a man or a deity ;
and sometimes which is more dangerous
he delights in the destruction of lives and
property. OF him it may now be literal y said
that destruction and misery are in his path"
Ii is now generally conceded, that it is
impossible to manage the insane with much
successin private families. Neither children
and domesiics. nor friends and neishbors. can
exert that influence and control over heads
OF families which obtains among strangers
aud in an asylum for the insane 1.-THE pa
lient be head OF family and is restrained
in his own house, his mind will be constant
" rritated, and his disease aggravated by
the recollection OF his former prerogaiives
and he will brook with an il grace any au-
ihority from those he has been accustomed
10 command II the patient be child, every
opposition 10 his wild desires he considers
as open hostility 10 his wishes. and can re-
ceive 10 benefit from those he considers as
has prosecuting enemies. In private iami
lies also. not to mention the interrupted peace
the multiplied cares and even wretc hedness
OF those among whom is a victim Of INSANITY
the patient will need that medical skill which
is rarely possessed by those who are occu.
pied IN the cute of other Diseases aud will
suffer for want Of that moral management
which can be pursued only with experienced,
intelligent humane and faithful nurses and
attendants, Who are qualified for their task
and whose services are almost indispensable
IN the curative treatment Of insanity La pri-
vate families the mauiac often becomes so un.
manageable, that he is confined in some cell
and doomed TO wear those chains which
should be- worn only by the guilty, and then
he generally sinks into state of desponden.
cyand confined insanity. Ii his case is not
entirely hopeless, he will retain mind enough
to perceive, at intervals, that he is an outcast
from society, and being conscious OF his in
nocence, he will consider his treatment as
cruel aud unjust. Often his personal liberty
IS taken from him by his neares, relative or
deares. friend He now thinks that all man.
KIND have conspired against him; and fan.
cylng himself the object of wanton persecu.
uon and cruel treachery, he abandons him.
sell to all the wildness and extravaganza of
maniacal fury, or sinks deporaby miserable
into the lowest depths Of despondency. This
state OF things is sooner OF later succeeded
by state OF idiolism, and the most abiec,
degradation. Little but the human form is
now left him, and " like the ruins OF once
magnificent edilice ii only serves to remind
us of its former dignity and grandeur"
We will suppose that the poor maniac is
neither violent nor miSchieyous, but merely
chershing the phantoms of his own dstem.
pered Imagination. lie now goes from
house to house, and wandcrs from place TO
place, frequently without food and without
decent apparel, exposing hitnselfto the SCOTS
and sneers of the thoughtess and unfeeling
and alternately the object of merriment and
dread, and retaining his former sensibility
which is perhaps rendered more acute by his
disease and the insults and indignities which
he receives, he will either break out into
manneal fury, or withdraw from society and
brood in sullen obstinacy over his lancied
prosecutions, or perhaps terminate his life by
suicide
The number of the insane, the misery ex,
nnH both H., a.