Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-10-03
THE RUTLAND HERALD.
SATURDAY, SEPT. %, 'is75A
The Insane Asylum Questions.

y
the country under its wing for protec-
ton. Whatever their motives may be,
the results are certainly healthful. 1t is
certainly high time that their. case! was
brought before the public. Insane asy-
lums have been, of late years, exclusive
" considered as a humanitarian hobby
We have prided ourselves so much upon
the contrast presented by the massive
buildings and stately pleasure grounds
now devoted TO the insane, and the foul
cells to which our fathers consigned
their mad people, that we are apt to re-
sent angrily any hint Of fault-finding
in regard to these costly structures or
the systems which they represent. Phil
anthropy is safer cloak in which to
wrap abuses than even religion. Direct
ly following the expose, in the New
York Tri5uHe, of the Bloomingdale
Asylum horror, came the killing of two
patients by a brutal keeper in the New
York City Asylum, and behind that re-
ports of half a dozen others. Statements,
more or less authoritative, come in from
every part of the country, and actual
cases occur in our own State of sane
men imprisoned without the chance Of
escape or the redress by law granted to
the worst convict. Pennsylvania, few
years ago, investigated this subject so
thoroughly and pushed 50 faithfully in
spite Of the pride felt by the people of
Philadelphia in their boosted hospitals
for the insane, that the law regulating
admission to them was altered, and
delivery forced Of the sane men and wo-
men imprisoned in them Such investi-
cations the public have right to make
into the management of every institution
which assumes the position of a prison
IN the community, and in which the
control of the liberty, minds, bodies,
and, we may say, lives Of hundreds of
inmates is given up to one or two men,
absolutely unfettered by law, and with
out any safeguard but their own prob
able sense Of humanity. The wisest
policy of directors Of public institutions
is to court investigation instead of bluff
ing il, off, as they invariably have done
The pith Of the matter lies, after all,
not in the fact whether this or that sys-
tenn imprisons sane patients or not, or
whether a certain keepcr kicked half
dozen patients to death, but in the prop
riety of the whole asylum and in its sys-
TEN of treatment for the insane. In
England, where there is not the same
fear of offending the sO-Called humani-
tarians as in this country, in matters
which concern the real interests of hui
manity, the subject IS receiving strict at
tention, and it is the verdict of the most
advanced scientific and benevolent think
ers that the massing Of great bodies of
men together for cure or relief, either in
almshouses or asylums, is but a hurtful
or crude effort at aid, and which an adj
vanced civilization will abandon for in
dividual treatment Diseased bodies or
souls cannot be marshalled by platOOns
and drilled into either health or religion.
L llC INV hltlttJiC tIiNtl VI oNiSl III lIIillS
is to render the physician or manager a
mere machinist, who regards his patients
very much as an engineer does his valves
and pistons. Plans are now being car
ried into effect by which the inmates of
English hospitals, houses Of refuge and
even gigantic almshouses will be subject
ed to separate treatment. But if such
massing into diseased coOps conduccs to
contagion in bodily ailments, what must
be the effect when the sickness is con-
fined to the brain? Of all maladies,
that of q diseased mind requires the ten
derest, most assiduOus care and the
most complete isolation from all I'M
cheerful or morbid companionship. In
the present approved system of cure, the
poor victim of melancholy, Or mania, is
removed from his home and barred be-
hind prison gates, without any possible
ity of comfort from love or friendship,
and abandoned to the sole companion
ship of minds more distraught than his
own, and TO the government of the keep
ers whose position and grade is that Of
the servants in his own kitchen. Too
often the only medicine he receives is
from them. These are rough facts, but
they are facts; and we should not be de-
tered from examining into them out Of
consideration for any perhaps we'll
meaning men whose interests urges them
to uphold the asylums.
We suggest that in view Of the recent
cases which have been placed before our
courts and the investigations that are
taking place throughout the country,
whether it would not be well for the
Judges of the Supreme Court, who are
ep-offcto visitors, to examine the con-
dition of the Vermont Asylum for the
Insane, and report to the coming Legis-
lature of its condition. These gentle
men are charged with the duty of an
nually visiting this institution, but we
query whether it is done by them, Off
cially and in a body, and whether they
do not consider themselves ornamental
rather than real appendages to the insti-
tuition? Now, at least, an opportunity
has arrived for them to become real ac-
tors and do the work So long oruamen-
tally assigned them The people would
have full confidence in report from
such high source, and il would quiet
any rumors that may be afloat. This
suggestion is made in the interest of
sound public policy. 1t can do no harm,
but Will establish that institution in the
confidence and patronage both of tine
people and the State. In view Of the
recent interference of tie courts in two
cases, is il not just and polite that Il
special investigation be made by the Wis
itors Of this institaion: We know of
no charges of misdemeauor or ill-treat-
ment, but such an Investigation can but
have O beaIthfui infupDcp ur.Yn Dublic