American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-04-01

| a Judgment OF heaven in consequence of the
commission Of crime; and therefore all efforts
TO effect its removal would be unavailing.-
Your committee will not wound your sensibili-
ties by expatiating on the employment of
chains and stripes, and various other crueltes
which were deemed the proper antdotes for
insanity; nor draw the picture of the poor ma
MAC manacled and bound in his filthy cell in
which humanity should not have allowed
wild beast to be confined, and where having
lost almost every feature which distinguishes
his nature, the feeble rays of returning reason
were inevitably extnguished in the impcnetra-
bic gloom Of an endless night. Humanity
draws the veil over this most Ptiable scene Of
! mortal wo; and records her vow that enlight-
ened and philanthropic efforts for tho future
shall atone for the ignorance Of the past.
1892, the elder Pinel, like an angel of mer-
cy who had come down from heaven on an er-
rand of love, having obtained permission from
the Commune Of Paris TO test his medical views
of insanity on the patients at the Bcetre, en-
tered the dreaIy cell of an English captain who
had been chained for forty years. and had kill
ed an attendant with his manaclcd hands; and
having first addressed TO him words of kind
ness, and obtained promise of submission,
! knocked Oft his letters. The man walked about
the house and grounds; and surveying the ex-
panded sky, exclaimed chow beautiful In
two years he was cured and discharged. The
case of Chevlgne was equally decided. In the
course Of few days the shackles were reno
we'd from ftiy-three lundlicS and the furious
mailman renounced his habits of violence
cleanliness and deccncy succeeded filth and
nakedness; and tumut and disorder were dis
pl ICED by tranquility and harmony. Thus
was consummated the glorious triumph of mo-
dern mental science over barbaric ignorance,
and the rays Of this risen sun are now penetrat-
ing 10 every dark corner of the civilzel world
In 10 we'll conducted asylum for the insane are
chains aud stripes and other cruel punishments
any longer inflicted. The inmates have various
employments and amusements, and are stately
assembled for religious worship. Europe and
| America have erected hundreds of large hospi-
tails for the cure of diseased minds Public
benefaction and private philanthropy have COM
bined to produce this benevolent result; and
now, at the close of half century since Pinel
entered the Blcetre, jubilee might Justly be
held to commemorate his deeds.
Having INDUCED i'll the expression Of their
views i'll relation to the humanity Of suitable
provision for the insane poor, your committee
will now consider the subject i'll its economical
relations. 1t has been demonstrated that, when
appropriate medical and moral treatment are
combined, insanity yields as readily, if not
more readily than ordinary acute Diseases
But it is necessary, for the production of this
result, that the patient should receive early
treatment, and under the most favorable cir
cumstances. Nine out of ten are restored
when patients are properly treated within
three months from the first attack; thirty-fvc
in one hundred in old cases; and elghty-one in
the hundred, taking the aggregate of all cases.
! Where the tiSeasa is oF mora than t,yo ,yaa re
continuance, the proportion of cures is only as
fourteen TO seventy-nine. 1t will thus be seen
that the prospects for cure diminish with the
continuance Of the disease; but cases of long
duration are not to be deemed hopeless unless
there be functional disorder, indicating the ex-
istence of organic change of the brain. Eco
nomy, apart from humanity, will lead us to
subject the pauper insane to early and etfectual
remedial treatment, by which their speedy and
permanent recovery would relieve the public
of their support rather than confne them in
the Aims house where they may PISS long and
dreary years in hopeless, romcdilcss imbeclity,
or raving insanity. Idiocy and insanity, con
nectcd with advanced years, afford little pro-
mise of cure by human power. In such cases
the disease Of the mind will probably continue
during its connexion with the body. 1t is only
when the mighty hand of death shall have
struck the blow which separates the material
from the immaterial, that the soul, starting
fresh as from a second birth, will rejoice in the
exercise of its noble, undecayed, and immortal
powers.
| 1t is with great reluctance that your COM
mttee feel constrained, by the limits to which
they are of necessity confined, TO bring this re-
port to close. The sub ect would expand in
to volume; and he is the true friend of humani-
ty who eXtends.the knowledge ofthese bene6cent
achievements OF modern medical science. 1t
is thus that the exercise of benefcence confers
double blessing; it blesses him who gives, as
well as him who receives. If we open our
hearts to the ptiable condition of the insane
pauper, we may humbly trust that when our
time of sorrow and affective dispensaton shall
arrive-and that hour may conceive will re-
celve the favor of Him who has said, "Blessed
is he that considereth the poorn That class
OF the afflicted poor, in whose behalf your
committee make this earnest appeal, present
themselves before you, and exclaim, in the
beautiful and pathetic lamentaton of Job,
''Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, o We
nv friends; for the hand of the Lord hath
touched me-" Unless we provide proper &C
sommodations, and means adapted to effect
their cure their derang ment will be confirm
ed and the only release they can ever obtain
will be found in the grave.
There are at present nine patients in the
Alms-house, laboring under the worst features
of insanity-three from the county and six
from the city--and the trustees for the county
having consented to remove the three from the
county to the Maryland Hospital, the report
recommends that the remaining six be trans
ferrcd to that institution by the city, the cost
for whom will be 500 each per annum. The
state has now 80 insane poor in the hospital,
at this cost, 10 of whom are from this city
In the Alns-house these patients are and have
been chained for years, on account of the Ii
mited accommodations, but in the hospital
they will be untettered, which, no doubt is Of
ten the means of ensuring speedy cure. The
report, to prove this, cites the case of an in