American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-09-28
1}edlalll.

Bloomingdale has always been cOnsid-
cred a place for gentcel lunatics. and how
ever much poor fellow might suffer
from bad treatment at the asylum for pau
pers on the Island, the friends of the
BloOmingdale inmates might rest in peace.
Here was an aristOcratic insane asylum,
with pleasant grounds, bowling alleys,
and other means of making a patients
time pass agreeably. Here were books
and papers, skilled physicians. and kind
nurses, the very paradise of bedlams. But
when once suspicion was aroused, and
when once the press, which, is the modern
Argus, had got one of its eyes upon the
interior of BloominSdale, our paradise OF
bedlams was a paradise no more, but IA
bedlam. The learned doctors were there
to go their rounds, feel the pulses, and
slight their patients; the kind nurses
were Indifferent and harsh; the grounds
were tantaliZing sight to a lunatic be-
hind grated doors the bowling alleys
were for doctors and nurses may be, certain
ly forbidden to a portion of the patients :;
the food was neither very good nor very
clean; the baths were filthy. This is
what a well-tO do patient gets for twenty
dollars week.
1t seems that All insane person is so
helpless, and his testimony so little re-
lied on, that there is a perpetual tendency
to take advantage of him. At Blooming
dale, they even intercept some of the let
tiers of the inmates, and render it difficult
for friends to see them. Now, it is in hui
man nature to be lazy. and it is in lazy
human nature to take just as little pains
as possible to serve those who, being
wholly in the power of their servants, are
unable to enforce their just demands.
Our conviction is that more than half
the insane patients in the United States
fare worse than those at BlOOmingdale.
Why do not our Journals turn their atten-
ton to the pauper insane hospital on the
island? We have private information
which leads us to believe that it is in Il tar
worse condition than BlOOmingdale. Is it
true that until quite recently refractory
patients we're subdued by playing upon
them with the water-hOSe, and that Il pa
tent was thus knocked down by jet of
water, and again knocked down as often
as he essayed to rise? We suppose this
treatment would cool the lunatic off, and
tend to restore his mind to healthy
action.
Attendants are not usually people of
ideas, and only people with ideas can un-
derstand the responsibility of lunatic.
The impulse of an attendant when struck
by lunatic is to strike back, ''tO teach
him better.' But this whole mode of
treatment, which regards a crazy mans
wiims as the actions OF Il moral agent and
punish them accordingly, is a mode that
naturally leads to blank imbecility.
1t is curious to note another difficulty in
the case. Physicians who make a business
of treating the insane are not usually phil
anthropists; they are simply men earning a
living or a fortune, as the case may be, in
the practice of their profession. Now.
the tendency with such men is to grow
hard and insensible to the sufferings of
the insane. With keepers, the tendency
is to grow into a set antagonism toward
their patients-we had almost said their
prisoners.
1t will be seen that the evils of insane
asylums, and especially of popular hos
pitfalls, will not be reached by any surface
remedies. Lunacy Commission of COM
petent and philanthropic men, before
whom all complaints might be laid, who
should have authority to admit any per-
son on examination to take care of the in.
sane, and to revoke their certificates on
the first evidence of Entertainment of a pa
tient, who should investigate all institu-
tons and poor-houses where lunatics are
kept, and inquire into the private keeping
of the insane, might accomplish great
deal. The proposed trial by jury works
badly where it is in force, and is not to be
thought of as a means of ameliorating the
condition of lunatics.-HearH and Home.
ACCORDING to Our Home Journal,
the best IMMINENT for cuts, gals, SPAWN,
poll-cvil, fistuia, or any other OF the cN-
ternal diseases that animals are liable TO,
is made by dSsolvin@ one ounce of finely
Dulyeri/ed corrosive sublmatc and one