River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1878-12-12
MAD-H0USE HORRORS.
Incarceration of Sane Persons in
English AsylumS.
From the Pail Ma Gazette.

From the Pail Ma Gazette.
Stories as to sane persons being confined
in mad-houses are apt to be received with too
much credulity by foolish people, aud to be
secuted in too off-hand a manner by intclll-
gent ones. The truth no doubt, lies halfway;
and if it be not absolutely easy 10 get sane
persons treated as Inmates, neither is such a
thing impossible. The laws Of almost every
country empower asylum prOprietors to re-
ceive and detain persons brought to them
BY virtue of a certificate signc1 by two doc
tors: although it is provided that the medi-
cal men shall examine the patient separately
within twenty -four hours before he or she IS
shut up, such safeguard would obviously be
insufficient even if every doctor all the word
! over were infallb!e and unimpcachably hon
est. The best safeguard against abuse OF the
lunaey laws is the publicity which nowadays
can so easily be given to acts of oppression.
/ At the same time there mustibe circumstances
under which even this protection Is worth
/ little. ] he French papers are now making
| an cutlery over two Instances OF scquestrdtlon
| which deserve noting because tue two victims
NAV be regarded as good types of the sort OF
| sane persons who are most liable 10 be dealt
with as lunatiCS. The one was young man
| of property who, after squdnderiug good deal
| of money! wanted to crown his extraYagancCs
| by Elarrying woman of low character his
relatives finding it impossible to make him
| hear reason, appealed to the family
/ doctor as to whether the young man
was net afflicted with the "perversion of the
moral faculties much representing the early
| symptoms of general paralysis" and the doctor
! decided that il was so. He signed certIh-
| cate it was eountersigned, and the young
man was forthwith clapped into nediSon d
/ sqnfe whence he was soon released, owing to
| the vigorous exertions of his intended bride.
i The second case was that of an old savaDt o
i rather eccentric habits, who buised himself
about chemical experiments, and lived 3 soil
In a
! Some nephews and nfeces, hearing that the
old gentleman had amassed 8 god deal OF
money, became anxious as to the use he was
making OF it, and paid him visit with the
presumed object of ascertaining how his viii
weuld be worded. The story is that the re
plies being unsatisfactory, it was decided
| that the uncle would be all the better fol
medical treatment; and here again the family
4 doctor was called in. The savants house
keeper. however, proved too much for the
4 nephews and neices, and after some battling
with asylum proprictoTs, who maintained thai
the old gentleman was really mad, and woulC
ne dangerous II released, the Interference O
some newspapers got the patient restored L
freedom Now, even If in these eases the doc
tor gave certificates too easily, that does no
prove that either OF them acted with inten
tional dishonesty. On the contrary, in thi
great majority OF cases of unjust confinement
doctors have been shown to have signed Ger
tificates with perfect good faith. A part!
and say: Here is our uncle, who is in his do
fage, and making ducks and brakes oehis mon
ey He lives with designing woman, VII,
denies us access TO him, and exercises sucl
complete authority over him that he eanno
even see that she is rohbing hun and hurry
lug him to an early grace, in the hopes Of be
coming his heress. We think II would b
better for our uncle If he were put in som'
nice quiet house where his health would b
| properly cared for" 4 family doctor nee'
! not be foolish man or mercenary one &
think that il would indeed be better fer an oil
! gentleman to be rescued from the clutches 0
4 vulgar harpy: and he will be the more dis
, aosed TO believe this if, upon paying visit &
Z the suspected luuatic. he IS received Wit
splenetic outhurst Il is, anyhow, very difh
! cult for physiau 10 deteg mine in one shor
visit whether man who talks nationally ha
some mental twist which renders him incapa
] hle Of administering his own affairs He j
} generally obliged to take for granted most o
| what the suspected luuatic's relatives say o.
r this subject; and he reflects that il any mis-
/ take is made the asylum physicians viii easii
remedy il BY setting the alleged laustic a
) liberty and that meanwhile the latter will b
! none the worse for little treatmeat. Bu
both these modes Of reasoning are ialiaeioas
Cor, ia the first place, sane man always sui
fprs q good deal from unjust coBnuenen
. among maimen; and, in the next It Is BY n
means easy for Il man recognized as s2aC {
: get released from house where he lnca'
I esrated under q certificate.