New-York tribune., 1876-12-19

| there is always something OF ny sOeiJ' iiiS'
of all benevolent and sanitary institutions,
Iunotic asyIums need the confidence OF the
community How is that confidence TO DC
roIerably well secured and maintainedf
This is not the place for attempting any
thing like a complete solution OF the problem.
Attention, however, may be called to the TACT
that IL is against the attendants that the loud
est and heaviest complaints are usually made.
These are not. as q rule, above the grade Oh
ordinary servants. Some ,of them may have
been educated to their busness-mOst OF them
have not been 80 instructed. The confidence
which, even upon good grounds, is extended
to them may sometimes be misplaced. The
patients, according to present discipline, are
very much in their power. 1t is quite pos
sible for.them to be unreasonably severe with
out the knowledge of the experimenting
physcian or his assistant. They may require
oulte as much watching as the insane them
selves, but to secure this Is a difficulty not
easily overcome.
The method which most readily suggests
itself is TO raise the standard of character
among the attendants. But it is not easy in
the selection of these to exercise much more
than the ordinary care which is employed in
engaging ordinary servants. The place is not
one which many men or women would care 10
take. The wages are not high, and can hardly
be made SO the duties are constant and irk-
some, requiring constant self-control ard
conscientiousness which is not the attribute OF
the majority while the feeling of responsible
ity is lessened inevitably by the fact that the
word of an insane witness will not be received,
L., Coz afy,of hil
If in establishments like the Blooming
dale Asylum the patients have sometimes
been harshly treated, the real reason
of this will be found probably in the
want of q sufficient supervision of the servants,
and not in any negligence on the part OF the
higher officers, since it is useless to demand OF
them impossibilites. An attendant who can
not be trusted ont of the sight of the superin-
tendent or the house physician should be sum-
marily discharged without a character, at least
"a n keeper of the crazed. Nor do we see
why the standard of qualification among the
attendants may not he raised without incurring
any insurmountable expense. Upon each nOor
there should be one man or woman well htted
10 act in cases of emergency, well informed,
and Of an established reputation for humanity
and good sense Such officers might, it is
nrobable, be secured, If only little pains were
taken to find them. Until this is done, COM
plaints will be continued, and not without
cause. Undoubtedly the attendants In many
asylums of high reputation are ignorant, pas
sionate. and in all other ways undesirable.
Their incapacty, their unftness for their
places, is the great blot upon the modern and
merciful system of treating mental diseases
and the reform must begin with this branch
of the service. Nobody who knows Or.
Brown will for moment suppose that ne
could possibly be guilty of cruelty toward the
unfortunate ladies and gentlemen committed
to his charge. But he cannot be everywhere,
cannot see everything and must trust some
body. His attendants are probably no better
and no worse than the average OF such
servants. They have no special capacity for
their duties. They have their full share OF the
infirmities of human nature. They need
watching, and as matters are now arranged, 1t
il next To impossible 10 watch them. 'Iis the
old question, Who shall keep the keepers !
Until this il answered satisfactorily these
troubles will continue 10 embarrass the mana
gers of asylums and to annoy their physicians