The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1876-10-04
MISCELLANY.
IN THE LUxATIc AsYLUMs.

Until very recent date, says an article on
the subject of insanity in Scri6ner's Monthly,
the insane in all countries, for upward of two
thousand years, have been treated barbarous-
ly. Harmless lunatics were permitted to
| wander about the country, the sport and butt
of men and boys. If they became at all
troublesome they were tied up and whipped
tout of their madness, y and were then thrown
into loathsome dungeons, secluded and neg
lected. Indeed, it has been said by a writer
who made the subject lifelong study Con
olly,) that there was not town or village in
all the fairest countries of Europe, in which
snch anornaities suera- unlxnown. The earlier
institutions prepared for the care of insane
were gloomy prisons of the worst description.
In France, we are told that attendants were
selected from the notorious criminals and
malefactors, and to the tender merces of these
unhung wretches were committed the sick
and infrm insane. These attendants, nearly
always armed with heavy whips, and some
times accompanied by savage dogs, had un-
| limited sway over the poor creatures commit
ted to their care. They were free to impose
whatever punishment they chose, and as a
consequence, chains, manaces, stripes, un-
cleanness starvation, and even the garrote,
were characteristic of these establishments in
Europe.
An elaborate report upon the condition of
the insane in France was published some years
ago, in which there is history of the condi-
ton of the insane prior to the time of Pinel.
1t would appear from this and other reports,
that some of the insane in the large hospitals
of Bicetrc and Saltpetriere, were confined in
cells attached to high terraces, or else below
the surrounding earth, both being damp and
unwholesome. These cells were six feet
square air and light were admitted only by
the door, and food was introduced through
small wicket. The only furniture was a
narrow plank fastened into the wall and some
times covered with straw. At the Saltpetri-
ere, many of the cells were below the drains,
and large rats made their way into them, and
often attacked and severely injured the in
sane, and sometimes were the occasion of their
death.
DIR. Pariset describes the condition of the
insane in the Bicetre as even worse. He found
the vicious, the criminal the wild and noisy,
all mingled together and treated alike. He
describes them as wretched beings, covered
with dirt, kept in cold, damp, narrow cells,
with scarcely ray of light to cheer them,
and with neither table, chair nor bench to sit
upon. The patients were loaded with chains,
and were defenceless against the brutality of
their keepers. The building resounded day
and night with cries and yells and the clank-
ing of chains and letters. No efforts were
made to entertain or amuse them--no author
ity overlooked this dreadful place. There were
no flowers, no trees, not even blade Of grass,
that could be seen the unfortunates were as
in tomb.
Such was the condition of the insane in
France, when Pinel, moved by the unhappy
state in which he found human beings began
reform which will render his name immort-
al Having first obtained consent of the gov
eminent, he entered upon his errand of mercy.
His first act is described as follows There
were about fifty whom he considered might
without danger be unclaimed, and he began
by releasing them, with the sole precaution Of
having previously prepared the same number
of waistcoats with long sleeves, that could be
tied behind If necessary. The first man on
whom the experiment was to be tried, was an
English captain, whose history no one knew
as he had been in chains forty years. He was
thought to be one Of the most furious among
them. His keepers approached him with eau
ton, as he had in a fit of frenzy killed one Of
them with blow of his manacles He was
chained more vigorously than any of the
others. Pinel entered his cell unattended,
and calmly said to him Captain, win order
your chains to be taken off and give you lib
erty to walk in the court if you will promise