The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-10-09
What Is Being Done at the
Asylum.
A Splendid Building for a Noble
Charity.
PROGRESS OF THE WORK
Its History and Its Cost

and, to some extent at least, produced
by high state OF civilization, 80 the
care that is bestowed upon insane per-
sons and the efforts put forth for their
recovery constitute very fair criterion
of the civilization of a State. The
hurry and turmoil and mental excite
ment of modern life, the intense struggle
for wealth and distinction, or the effort
to comprehend what is beyond human
understanding, are often too severe for
human endurance, and too often we
I" See the most noble and sovereign reason,
Like sweet bells tangled, out OF tune ana
harsh"
The number OF insane persons is
believed to be greater now than in any
former age OF the world, and the .tesii-
mony of all who have devoted atten-
to the subject, is that insanity ia rapidly
increasing. There are unmistakable in
dications OF this increase, even in our
own State. During the month Of Sep
TENDER, just past, eight new cases were
reported to the officers OF the Asylum
at Weston, which, considering our linn
tied population aud their comparatively
Quiet pursuits, is certainly an alarm.
ingly large number for single month.
Having recently hal an opportunity
OF visiting the West Virginia Hospital
for the Insane and witnessing what Is
being done in our midst for the care
and cure of that unto rtunate class OF
persons, l nave tho ught that many
readers OF the REGISTER who may, like
myself, have had no just conception OF
the operation and extent OF this noble
charity, may be interested in knowing
what West Virginia is doing for her
insane; and some sketch OF the history
and different forms Of insanity may be
acceptable.
WHAT rs INSANITY?
II is difficult to fix definition Of in
sanity that will be completely applica-
bic. Insane persons often insist that
they are the only ones having complete
possession of their mental faculties,
and that all others are mad, and really
their madness sometimes manlfests IT
self in such forms and shows so
much of method and almost super
natural cunning as to awaken
the inquiry whether there may not be
some foundation for their claim. AS
they are in the minority, however, they
must submit to the classification i'm
posed upon them by the mass of man
kind. An old legal definition ofinsanity
and one that fits the subject as closely
as any other / have seen is that it is
"a condition Of mind in which false
conception or judgment, a defective
power of the will, or an uncomfortable
violence of emotions and instincts
have separately or onjointly been pro-
duced by disease" 1t will be observed
that this definition excludes idiots, who
are those who have never manifested
any signs OF the existence Of mind, and
who are legally considered as having
been born without any mental power
whatever. Accordingly, idiots are not
received in the Asylums for the Insane,
but must be cared for by other means
One of the most prevalent forms of in
sanity is classed as delusional. The
patient is subject to Authorizations; he
imagines himself another person, or
some inauimate object, and does his
best to play the part he has
assumed. Nearly eighty out OF every
hundred insane persons either are or
have been thus afflicted, for the patient
often passes from this delusional stage
of insanity to the form Of mania or COM
plete dementia. The poet Cowper was
subject to Authorizations, and he is by
no means the only one of men eminent
in learning or in literature who has
been thus affected. George the Third,
King OF England, imagined himself a
clock, and would swing his arm like a
pendulum and tick with great regular
| ity during several hours at time.
Another form ofinsanity is classed as
emotional, and embraces a great variety
of cases. The simplest and perhaps
the most frequent and mildest NANTES
tation OF this kind OF lunacy is ordinary
Inconsistencies" which is no more nor
less than mild form OF melancholia
pEMENrlA.
An advanced stage Of insanity is
called dementia, and is generally incur
able. 1t is attended with complete for
getfulness of the past, and total indif-
ference to the future. The patient re-
members nothing, recognizes no one
cares for nothing, and seems destitute
of even glimmering Of reason. He
talks incoherently and msnifests no
more intelligence than the lowest ami,
NAL in the scale of creation. And yet,
in all these forms Of insanity, the pa
tient may seem to enjoy good bodily
health. 1t is true that large majority
OF them manifest symptoms of physical
arrangement. They are peculiarly sub
ject to diseases of the bowels, liver,
heart, or lungs, and paralysis is fire.
quent They have also less ability to
recover from these diseases than sane
persons usually have, and, consequently,
tie rate of mortality among them, es-
pecially during the first two years of
insanity, is remarkably high. But there
are many instances Of demented persons
possessing all their physical powers in
good health during many years. Some
have been fifty years insane, and there
are several patients now in the Asylum
at Weston who have been inmates of a
hospital during more than twenty years.
PERCENTAGE OF CURES.
Experience and observation have
| shown that the treatment of the insane