Delaware State journal and statesman., 1869-05-18
A Town Full of LunatiCa.

Twenty six miles east of Antwerp is the
town Of Gheel, in Belgium-a town OF ten
thousand inhabitants, which, lor twelve
hundred years, has been q great asylum for
lunatics. During all this time It's people
have been wardens Of the insane until they
understand that disease as no one has done,
and have grown into relation to it that is
hardly cOmprehenslble. 1t ia place, says
a foreign writer, "where all are free and
many are mad; where the sane and insane
are undisiinguishable; where children are
bred up at the knees of madmen, and old
people do not fear monomRniacs; where the
strongest tradition is the lore of mental
medicine, and the livellest commerce, the
lodging of the insane; where mother has
been known to place her child IN the arms
of furious maniac, because her duty was
10 pacily him; where the inns are hospitals,
the farmhouses cells, the tradesmen warders,
the work.women nurses, the Government
mad doctor, the passers. by patients, the his
tory for twelve hundred years a vast register
OF mania.n 1t is place too, as unknown as
1t is strange, place where luDatics are as
welcome as inValids are at watering places,
and where ineanity is no more regarded
than gout is at the springs where the gout is
alleviated or cured. Gheel stands out pecu-
liar among the surrounding towns. In them
the ordinary fear and dislike OF lunacy Is
manifested. At Gheel alone 1t lie, and hus
been, for forty generations, the speciality OF
| the town.
The number OF lunaucs at Gheel is about
eight hundred. Only the most desperate
ones are cpntued; the rest wander about at
| will, pursue all irsdes, and even frequent the
| inns, though excess in drinking is prohibited
| by heavy penalties on the landlord. The
| huueeholders of Gheel are oil "nourrIcIers, u
and TO each one some lunatic is assigned
and lett as ires as he would be In any city
| where passport must be Yised before the
possessor OF 1t could leave. The lunatic If
Tree to do what he chooses, so that ne doel
no violence. One case is recorded of mar
whose mania WAS for breaking windows liz
commenced life in Gheel by breaking thirty
windows the fret day, and fourteen the sec
ond, and tnen, finding that nobody took th,
least notice oil HIM, gave up the practice for
ever. This example gives fair idea OF thu
whole Gheel system. Unless person i
absolutely dangerous 10 himself or others, Q
imbasd WIN dsslgsT sfiiS,,G 6Vsr hio a q
ehght Ms hardly to attract his nolice,
Under tins system there ars many cures
but the main result Ia thar wretched being
are kept ali the llms III state of compara
live nappiness. Firmness and kindpess d.
their work, and cure d disease which, unde
other cumslnnces,ls often incurable. A wri
ter observes that Ile whole theory and prae
tice at Gheel are founded on the principle o
not showing madmen that you believe tina
they are mudi bu., on the contrary, of try
ing to STIMULATE in them the pride oil con
queripg their morbid tendency TO give wa
10 foolish or whimsical notions. What |
certain IN this il, that an alternative Inethu
has at length been discovered, whereb
multiludes Ut those WHO are partially /
wholly berelt oil the power of self-conlro
may be placed In a condition Of content an
. almost of happiness, instead of being mac
the inmates Of human menagerie.
During all tue years that Glieel has had Il
care of lunatics, there is no report of mi
n chief, but only OF good.