Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-11-05
MISCELLANEOUS.
From The Prisoners Friend.
Moral Hospitals.

If there be nothing visionary or absurd in
the idea of Goals and Penilentiaries being
II made places of moral cure and culture, il is
an idea which can be reduced TO practice.-
L Every improvement, moral, physiological
. political, ecclesiastical, charitable or mechan-
ical, was, at the time, an idea only. 1t exist
e ed in some ones mind, from which il became
at length projected into the world of realities.
And in almost, if not quite, every case, it was
secuted, when first proposed, as an impracti-
! cable folly. And had there not been found
persons willing 10 encounter the imputation
of folly, who would not rest until great ex-
periments had been tried, the world would
have been in a much less advanced state
even than it is now. 1t is within the memory
of this generation, when Steamboats, were
the vagarics of a dreaming protector; when
Railways were visionary imaginings of half
crazed spectators; and when the Electric
Telegraph was but the ctJtchet of an artist
who had better have stuck TO his palette and
his brush. And yet years have passed away
since all these things became part and par
eel of the daily machinery of life. We defy
the Atlantic storms 10 delay our course upon
the ocean; we outstrip the birds in our flight
over the land and we convey our thoughts
from one end of the continent to the other
upon the wings of lightning. The Spin
hingJenny, the Power-loom, and the Cotton
gin were all projects once, and their inventors
missionaries; for they had reached an idea,
they had obtained a viSion of something
which did not exist, but which was better,
IN Its way, than any thing then in existence.
And SO 1t has been with every successful
attempt TO improve human condition, to re-
duce the sum Of human misery, and to in
crease the amount of human happiness. We
are not 10 suppose that the name of Howard,
any more than that of Clarkson, was always
surrounded by the halo of glory that now en-
circles 1t. He was once only an odd soft of
a John Bull, who had the curious hobby of
thrusting himself into gaols and lazarettoes,
and other places where he was not wanted,
and could do no good. And yet we have seen
but the beginning of the blessed effects Of
The impulse he gave to thought and feeling
in the direction toward which he looked
He hardly dreamed himself, probably, whith-
er the path which he was opening, would
lead. But he gave himself entirely to the
guidance of the great Idea which he Disco
vered reckoning him on, and it led him into
a way that will find its termination only in
the realized application of Christianity, HUI
manity and Science to the treatment of the
most unhappy class of mankind.
we lind an analogy, again, between the
subject we are considering and that of the
institution of Hospitals for the Insane. Not
much more than half a century ago, the in
sane person was looked upon almost as a de-
moniac. Insanity was considered as a stain
upon the fair fame of a family, only inferior
to infamy. The whole treatment Of this I'M
fortunate class was grounded on a selfish and
coward Fear. Straw, and stripes, and chains,
and darkness were their portion. Madness
was thought something beyond the range of
the ordinary laws of Nature. Cure was
rather supernatural and providential, when it
happened, than the result of curative treat
ment. TO put the maniac out Of sight and
out OF the way of doing mischief, seemed to
be the only object 10 be considered in regard
to him. The horrible c~ruelties they suffered
would hardly be credited in these better days.
This system sprung from the same imperfect
: notions of public good, and the same ground
less fears of safety which have given rise
to the existing mode Of treating criminals
The analogy between the two classes of cures
is as complete as their different nature per-
mits.
And when the first plans were proposed for
a different treatment of the Insane, with a
view TO their recovery, or, at least, to their
comfort, they were as much visionary and
imaginary, as any now proposed to be applied
i ~ nv 'bh'hh hiiu III iii uIOiIuol W 7
cast upon them, in the same spirit, if not in
the sam degree. The old way had worked
very well, and why go to the trouble and en-
D pense of changing it? A country doctor, in
some remote town, for the wealthier maniac,
and a grated cellar in the almshouse, for the
f poorer one, had done well enough for their
fathers, and why not for them But there
g were other spirits abroad, and they rested moi
until a more intelligent spirit was aroused
and their wise and humane ideas became en-
bodied In an appropriate and practical shape.
And what have not been the benefcent fruits
of this change? Insanity no longer excites
fear, but pity. 1t is looked upon, like any
other disease, as a morbid affection of one OF
the bodily organs. The means of cure are
sought for, as for any other bodily disorder.
And it is discovered, too, to be the most ca.
silly cured of distempers, if it be but taken in
hand soon enough.
Have we not tried the old way long enough!
Have its results been so benefcent as to pre-
clude the possibility Of improvements Are
all Of those subjected 10 our present Prison
Discipline discharged cured! Is Society any
the better for their punishment, excepting
from their separation from it for a season
We speak not, of course, Of the miserable
profits Of a Penitentiary-which is the last
element that should enter into a plan OF
prison discipline. For these, even in the
best managed prisons as TO pecuniaTy returns,
repay but a small part of the outlay of Socie-
~ in its dealings with criminals. Does the
existing system have any appreciable effect
upon crime, without the walls Of the Peniten-