The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1878-12-11

Not in the part we see how glad are they;
But after find ev'n fairer than we prayed;
Their dreams and memories left within the
soul.
MAD-HOUSE HORRORS.
Incarceration of Sane Persons in
English Asylums.
From the Pail Mall Gazette. s---
Stories as to sane persons being confined
in mad houses are apt to be received with too
much credulity by foolish people, and to be
secuted in too off-hand manner by intelli-
gent ones. The truth no doubt, lies halfway;
persons treated as lunatics, 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 signed 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 world
over were infallible and unimpeachably hon
est. The best safeguard against abuse of the
lunacy laws is the publicity which nowadays
can SO easily be given to acts of oppression.
At the same time there mus4b circumstances
under which even this protection is worth
little. The French papers are now making
an Outcry over two instances of sequestration
which deserve noting, because the two victims
may be regarded as good types of the sort of
with as lunatics The one was a young man
of property,who after squandering good deal
of money, wanted tok crown his extravagances
by marrying woman of low character. His
relatives firding it impossible to make him
6 hear reason n 2PpS1sd the to the family
was not afflicted with the "perversion of the
moral faculties much representing the early
symptoms Of general paralysis" and the doctor
decided that it was So He signed certifi-
cate, it was countersigned, and the young
man was forthwith clapped into a maaisoas de
the vigorous exertions of his intended bride.
The second case was that of an old savant of
rather eccentric habits, who buised himself
about chemical experiments, and lived soil
| tary life in company with a housekeeper.
| Some nephews and nieces, hearing that the
old gentleman had amassed a g.od 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 will
| would be worded. The story is that the re-
plies being unsatisfactory, it was decided
| that the uncle would be all the better for
medical treatment; and here again the family
doctor was called in. The savant's house.
keeper, however, proved too much for the
nephews and neices, and after some battling
with asylum proprietors, who maintained that
the old gentleman was really mad, and would
be dangerous if released, the interference OF
some newspapers got the patient restored to
| freedom. Now, even if in these cases the doc
tor gave certificates too easily, that does not
prove that either of them acted with inten-
tional dishonesty. On the contrary, in the
great majority Of cases of unjust confinement
doctors have been shown to have signed GER
titicates with perfect good faith. A party
of respectable persons call upon a physician
and say: "Here is our uncle, who is in his do
tage, and making ducks and brakes o. his mon
| ey. He lives with designing woman, who
denies us access to him, and exercises such
complete authority over him that he cannot
even see that she is robbing him and hurry
lug him to an early grace, in the hopes of be-
coming his heiress. We think it would be
better for our uncle if he were put in some
nice quiet house where his health would be
properly cared for" A family doctor neei
not be foolish man or mercenary one tc
think that it would indeed be better for an ole
gentleman to be rescued from the clutches O.
a vulgar harpy; and he will be the more dis
posed to believe this if, upon paying a visit t.
the suspected lunatic, he is received with
splenetic Outburst. It is, anyhow, very diff
cult for physian to determine in one shor
visit whether man who talks nationally ha:
some mental twist which renders him incapa
BILE Of administering his own affairs. He il
generally obliged to take for granted most o
what the suspected lunatic's relatives say or
this subject; and he reflects that if any mis-
take is made the asylum physicians will easil!
remedy it by setting the alleged luhatic a
liberty, and that meanwhile the latter will b.
) none the worse for little treatment. Blu
both these modes OF reasoning are fallacious
, for, il the first place, a sane man always sui
fers.a good deal from unjust confinement
among madmen; and, in the next, it is by N
means easy for a man recognized as sane tt
get released from house where he is inca1
. cerated under a certificate.
Once man gets into an asylum he find
himself confronted by an absurd provis
) which has been inserted in the lunacy law
of almost all countries, and which require
that lunatic shall only be released at the re
quest of the friends or relativvs who confipe
him. The practical effect of this is to remov
all responsibility from the shoulders of asylum
proprietors. who may be terrorized by I'm
scrupulOus relatives into OBTAINING a ma
long after they have begun to suspect tina
there is nothing the matter with him. For
! these asylum people evince desire to dis
charge patient the relatives have only i
effect to say this: t.'Do as you please, but
l mischief comes Of your action we shall hol
2 you responsible. We now warn you agai
that our relative has been guilty Of innume1
, able mad acts, (here the antecedents of ps
: tient can be blackened to any extent), and W
" KNOW LuHG IL ut NC 6Cb 1lct Jul lives WILL
endangered by his desire for revenge. Jus
wait awhile, and you will see your patie1
have an outbreak which will convince 20
;, that your present favorable opinion of hill
: was too hasty." What is an asylum doctor
d say in answer to such serious speech? If b
n were to release a patient who soon afterwar
committed crime under the impulse of We
" tigo, his responsibility would be very heav
As it really takes a twelye.month to dete
It mine whether man is or is not subject
certain of the subtler forms of epilepsy, an
opposition to an alleged lunatic's release a
most invariably leads to his being detaine
for this time, which is ofte
quite enough to unhinge the intellect of
q man of irritable mood. 1t may be urged tn
& mad houses are periodically inspected; b
it this really does little toward assisting wrong
h alleged lunatics; for, if a doctor says to Il
: inspector that a patient who looks rational
/ only in a "lucid interval" and will have ''ol
L of his attacks" in few days, the inspect
d can not refuse to believe him. Besides, it
,e seldom that unjustly confined men can sta