Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1855-07-18
Hes, Jana, r,,en.

nus notices It. II Was then announced br i
President. Hon. Wn Smith, that the Hon. !
James Harlan, United States Senator elect
would address the assembly, who came /
Forward and for near two hours entertain !
ed the assembly, with one Of the most beau
iifni, chaste and logical orstions that has
ever been our good fortune 10 listen TO-
case and grace we're in hiseve-
~ word and gesture, rivcting most ixedly
the attention Of the multitude. Time and
space will not permit even an outline of his
subject-and indeed we're we to attempt
il, injustice would be done; for such senti-
n1ents he spoke and manner in which they
we're spoken, must be heard and seen to be
appreciated. Iowa may well be proud of
the thought that within the Senate chamber
stands SO able, earnest and devoted an ad-
yocate.
Location Of the Lunatic Asylam-Trcasmen
and cure Of Lunacy.
MkssRs. EDrroRs: thought the location Of
the iuHatic asylum was left in the hands OF
committee to fix, but having met with Mr..
Grimes few days ago, he informed me it
was f1ed by the Legislature in the vicinity of
Mt. Pleasant.
This is certainly very bad location. 1t
should have been selected with the greatest
Of care. There are three things that recon.
mend the site for a'una,ic ASYLUM. Themost
elegant and romantic scenery, an abun dant
supply Of good water, and healthy neigh
borhood. If the two former are not obtained
the latter had better be reversed, for without
the two former there would be little hope Of
efecting cure, and with the latter reversed
the misery would be sooner over. Suppose
the case of person being affected with mel
ancholy, which is one of the most common
grades of insanity, to be confined in the midst
of one of our large prafries surrounded as it
we're by an ocean of monotony, with no
change but light and darkness, who is there
that has for moment contemplated the struc-
ture Of the human mind, that would have
the slightest hoT of q patient recovering uu-
der such circumstances? Or suppose man
from the White Mountains of New Hamp-
shire, the Green Mountains of Vermont, or
the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania, or any
of those delightful vallies, SO numerous in
the eastern and middle states. Let man,
say, come from any Of those romantic places,
where nc has been accustomed to running
streams, and crnggy rocks, with MI the in
describablc minusia, that is required to pro-
duce beautiful variety of scenery, and let
him be cntangi ID by a designing man who
wants his property, or wishes to destroy his
reputation, by declaring him Insane, which is
a very easy thing to do withalmost any man,
and as soon us he is declared insane, he is
ushercd into the State Lunatic ASYLUM, he
soon discovers the monotony of the location
and becomes uneasy, and wishes to get away
but finds himself surrounded viii, strong
walls, and iron gates, and closely watched
The keeper and attendants are fully satisfied
he is insane or he would not be put in thci,
charge, and the more uneasy he becomes tn,
stronger the opinion is against him, and here
he will be surrounded by numbers who ar,
really insane, and in majority of cases rea
son would soon be dethToned. A lunatic a $.
YUM should be located in the most roman
tic spot in the State, on some river where tn,
supply of water would be unlimited, ant
where the scenery would be if possible, Sc
that every light in every window should ex
hibit different landscape. 1t is surprising
tina. the legislature of great State, stretch
ing hundreds of miles on the most ma esti,
river in the world, should locate phylan
thropic institution of this kind, in tn.
midst of vast prairie, so far from waite,
and timber, that musqueto, though be has
the courage, can never reach it, because ma
ture has not provided him with haversack
That those fertile prairies will produce un.
bounded supplies for envigorating the ami
nal systum, We must all admit; but rs thu
mouth receives the principal SUP port for the
animal system SO do the eyes receive that Of
the mental.
This hasty speech is not mere fancy
These conclusions are the result of expert.
enoe. have been confined four months il
one of the best lunatic asylums in the Uni.
ted States, with between one and two hun
dred patients and better or might cay wors,
than two months in filthy County prison OF
decree of insanity, with an Idiot, Lu
matte and Criminal for my companions ane
messmates, and it has not yet been satisfac
torily proven that ever have been insane
Circumstances that occurred under my motto,
during those con6nements, in my memory, ar,
| as vivid as at any other time in my life.
have seen insanity cured in few days, b,
proper treatment, and. have seen it produced il
few daysby close confinement. A Stat,
Luna,ic ASYLUM is very much needed, ant
no time should be lost in bringing such al
institution into successful operation NJ
person can imagine the amount of suffering
in the prisons and poor houses only by ex.
perience. And without proper institution
there is little hope effec,ing cure. The
idea of treating insanity as a cureable dis.
ease is of modern origin. 1t is not a great
many years since Pinell Zone Of the greatest
modern benefaotors) went through the prison.
and hospitals in Europe md looscd the chain.
of hundreds who had been confined for years
and many had forgotten the use of their limbs
He was the first to institute the treatment Of
lunacy q durable disease Under the ole
system, l might now be chained IN som,
wretched recepticle, a.perfcct Idiot, as that il
the result of long confinement. A man il
always forgetting, and if he has no chanc.
Of learning, he soon forgets all he ever knew
But under the modern system, though cas-
should prove incurable, the patient may en-
Joy degree of satisfaction in life, and per.
haps be Of some use. There arc many whit
have spent almost their whole lifetime il
different hospitals, and appear to enjoy life
rs well as many VINO have more sense thar
they know what to do with.
ALEXANDER KNIFE
SouTn Augusta, Lee County, Iowa. July IL
SENT TO ,JAIL-A p,nr rayiner maniac