The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1880-03-12
OUR TREATMENT OF THE INSANE.

lively short period the lunatic was consigned,
and which, even at the present day, is in
some places scarcely lcssened. DIR. COnolly,
whose advanced ideas of scieace and hu-
mauiiy led to the uniform adoption in Eng
laud of the mon restraint system Of treat
mcnt, speaking only thirty years ago on this
subject, says Every few physicians of ed
ucation were to be found until recent pc
riod devoting themselves to mental diSor.
ders. Those occupied in asylums were chief
ly distinguished by an eccentricity aud a
roughness which, uniting them fer other
professional vocaions, made them willing to
undertake to treat mad people. By such
persons, ill-educated prejudiced, and with.
out any resources but methods of violence,
and who had never studied the forms and
treatment of mental disorders, all attempts
to ameiorate the condition Of the insane
were bitterly and unscrupulously opposed
with every effort and every co1trivance of
vulgar minds. Meantime, the outside walls
of an asylum were regarded with awe ; the
shrieks issuing from it made night hideous
the frantic creatures enclosed in their den,
furnished appalling subjects for the artist or
the novelist squalor and dirt, and famine
and ferocity were everywhere to be met
with" And now in the latter half of the
nineteenth century we find that the methods
which Connolly so vigorously denounced, and
to the abolition Of which he gave his life, are
in full use in almost every asylum in the
United States that the attempts to improve
the condition of the insane are opposed, as
in his day, by those who have the charge of
them that dens are still in existence, chains
still employed, blows still inflicted, systemat-
c hogging still practised, the strait jacket
still used as a means of restraint and that
these agencies of suhjection are supplement-
ed by the Utica crib,-on apparatus not on
ly inhuman, but one which no person pos
sessing competent knowledge of the phys
iology of the brain and the pathology of
Insanity would venture to introduce into the
wards of unatic asylum. .
Within about year four homicides occurr-
ed in the New York City lunatic asylum on
Wards Island In one of these a patient
was beaten to death by an attendant; in an
other, an attendant was killed by patient
in the third, patient was thrown off the
wharf and drowned by another patient and
in the fourth, one lunatic was ordered to give
hot bath to another, not only insane, but
paralyzed. After getting him into the bath
tub he turned on the hot water and walked
away leaving the poor wretch actually to be
boiled to death. In the asylum at St. Peter,
Minnesota, patient who refused to eat had
his mouth filled with food by a nurse, and the
mess pushed down into his stomach with the
handle of 4 knife, while another nurse hed
him down. On one occasion he ran away
yelling that they wanted to kill him. He
was caught and laid on bench one atteu
dant held his hands, and sat across his body
another attendant and a patient helped t,
hold him his mouth was plugged to pre-
vent his closing it. The food (soup) wa
poured in from a pitcher his breath wa
heard to 'gurgle' as the soup went into hi
windpipe, and in five minutes he was dead
Last winter, Iumors in regard to the ba
management Of the Longview Asylum, i
Ohio, became - prevalent that the logisa
ture appointed a committee to dve,tgal
them. From the report made on the >ubieC
make the following extract -
According to the testimony of several eye
witnesses, punishment frequently aid some
times gleeiuly resorted to by a,teuilnt, i
this asylum is one known a1 taking down.
q Taking down,' in the words of the ta,timo
, ny, consists in tripping or throwing the ?.
tent to the floor holding her down lflr 'tas
> ing down is a female punishment the IN,
being usually knocked down with the kne
on the chest while another employee gags IL
{ patient, and still another holds the paticut
hands. The patient is held down till she
u quite weak and exhausted, becomes purp
Il in the face, aud the breath almos gone.
Another punishment is to make 'spre,
eagle of patient, Thi. consist. in ,tripir
e a patient to nakedness, and making attc
dants whip him with wet towels, This is
y punishment inflicted for a refusal to wor
= 1t is Described as very painful, and Is pr.
~ tised because it leaves no marks
:, There is testimony as to ducking, kickr
u beating, bhcR eyes, aud other marks of cr
!, city. Iti Ia cyid nee that weak patient,
~ oyerworkci, ald all Inmates have not bc
S I, properly fed and cared for. Hard work |
'' been need'e,,ly compelled in a room in Vh
the mercury stood at one hundred AMI tw
a. ty degrees, The usa of "cib,' aud
" "srong room Is shown. Loa hsome ycru
in loathsoma number. have been allowed
~, accumulate upon the bedding, the appa
~ and the person Of patients. All Of th
things and o.her, told " iIh painful plo
VI, ness is the testimony that is made part
"' th, report
ay OF the BLACKWELL, l,'ani Asylum in y
nj York CITY, committee Of the same 81
we reported last ,umucr that
lpi This asy ,um continues TO be a source
;. the greatest anxiety to US We see
I'd, there is not proper pro7i,ion for the patti,
ami we know that their surroundings, mu.
ly; neccssitv increase aud proloug the dis,
under which they are suffering and yet
ow are quite rowerles, to effect any pcrmal
Of improvement. The Lodge and Reueat,w
violent cases are confined, are buildings q
i,h unfit for any human beings and yet
YOU hundred insane women are shut up in III
The cells in which the patients sleep ar,
fer both of the institutions, lighted only
ned transoms over the doors, At night, v
lie | the patients spend nearly twelve hours G.
the y shut up in these cells they must be |
ru' dark aud the air, which is not fresh
tied in the middle of the day, must be poisor
lber In the Retreat many of the cells (measu