Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-20

millions there Hefe in 1880 little over
quarter Of 8 million of people insane.
idiotic, blind and deaf and dfimblin the
United States. In every million of pop-
ulation there were 1884 victims of in.
sanity, 1888 idiots, 976 blind and 675
deaf and dumb.
Apparently there was large increase
In the proportion or these defective peo-
pie as compared with 1870, 1860 and
1850, But the proportional increase
seems to have been due chiefly or Alto
gether to more thoroughness in gather
ing the statistics concerning them. An
exact and trustworthy census, of the in
sane especially, 1t is almost impossible
to get. In the first place, what is the di-
viding line between sanity and insanity :
We have seen how, in recent case, q
jury decided that man was sane who
was pretty generally pronounced lu.
matte by the professional experts in mem
tai disease. Whether sGuitean was a
responsible agent has hardly yet been
decided, though the brain of the assassin
has been dissected. And, sane orinsahe,
he went abroad among men during life,
and doubtless was about as well balanced
mentally as thousands of men, and.Wom-
en- who are on the streets to-day. Very
many drunkards are the victims of az
genuine and as dangerous a. mania as
thst which affects large part of the
population of our insane asylums, and
the number OF people who are subjectstc
insane impulses, or who. are what i
called half-cracked, is multitudinous.
Besides, families are slow to acknowi-
edge insanity among their members, pro-
vided it is not of sort to compel seclu.
SIGN in an asylum But, to cover such
cases so far as possible, the, Census
Bureau sent out blank forms, of return
to 100, 900 physicians in the Union, four
fifths OF whom responded with the de-
! sired information, and by the lists they
sent the regular returns of the ,enumera-
tors were corrected Under such Cir
cumstanceS, of course the total number
obtained was pretty sure to be much
larger, proportionately, than it was in
previous censuses, when equally thorough
methods of obtaining returns were not
adopted. But even then we cannot take
the figures with entire confidence. The
result is an approximation only. at
least, we do not get from the census for
1880 sufficient data to enable us to answer
the question whether insanity is on the
increase-that is, whether the ratio of
new cases to the total population is grow.
ing larger. tet' I}i .gI 8lii ~
1t seems fair to conclude, however,
that there is no decline in the proportion
of insanity. The number of the insane
manifestly grows at least with the in.
crease of population. More than that
cannot be deduoed from the census table.
Out of a total of 81 1897 insane re-
turned in 1880, A, 40S were males and
1889 females; 1851 were natives and
: 26, $40 were foreign. So, $40 were white
and 6,l57 cOlored,. We see, therefore,
that insanity attacks women oftener than
men. OF idiots, however, the total of
1896 was made up of As, 500 males and
81, $50 females. The negro population,
too, is much more liable to idiocy than
insanity. the number of colored idiots
being 9,579 to 6,157 lunatics. The for
eign population, however, contributed
! only 4,007 to the idiots, while its insane
numbered 26,346. The tendency to in.
sanity among the foreigners is very
striking, they. furnishing considerably
more than One-quarter of the whole mum.
| Der of insane, while there were only
about one-seventh as many of them in
the Union as natives. 1t is suggestive
to observe also that there is the same in
creased tendency to insanity, but in a
less marked degree, in natives who re-
move from one part of the Union t.
| another, especially from the Atlantic t,
the Pacific coast. The immigrant is sub.
| jected to an unwonted strain, and the
law of the survival of the fttest works
with especial rapidity in his case. Life
in the old grooves he might sustain with
out mental damage, but in new paths ht
loses his wits. It is the strong bird.
which stand the migratory flight; the
weak ones drop by the way. ~ 5s3s
OF the blind there were more males
than females, the total number having
4 been 1929, made up of 26,749 males
22,1S0 females. The same was the case
with respect to the deaf and dumb. Out
of a total of 33,S78, there were 1866
and Is, 81 females. .-...
The total number of paupers enumer
ated in almshouses was 81, 1857, beside:
whom there was great body of outdoo
paupers, of whom the statistics are mani
testify so incomplete that they are of nc
account whatever. The total, according
to the census, was 21,59S; but how
worthless these figures are is shown b.
the return from Boston of only thirteen
outdoor paupers for the whole city.
The number of prisoners in confine
ment in the United States was 1926
against 40, 942 lunatics confined in asy
Iums. In the number of prisoners, how
! ever, were certain persons charged will
/ IN ~ so.l
their trial; and there were some insane
1 Prisoners held for debt, however. were
not included, nor were witnesses locked
up to secure their testimony. OF i'm.
4 prisoned debtors the total was forty,
| eight, and of imprisoned witnesses 10Y
\ It is creditable to our civilization that
these figures are SO small; but that there
are any such prisoners is blot on our
legal system. $500 f...l;e-..,., ,f..f,sr.-
j. The tota number of felons at hare
labor in prisons and penitentiaries wa.
80, 623, and 1883 convicts were at worl
outside of prison walls, under lessees OF
under county officials. About 43, 600 OF
the prisoners did some work, and 16, QUO
were maintained in idleness: "a, 1856 were
males and 5,069 females, 46, 1873 native
and 1897 foreign 40, 294 white and
1851 colored. Among the colored were
included 5S1 Cinnamon, one Japanese
and 161 Indians,-N 7. Sun.
Y The curious Stebbins, who had
Marching Through Georgia. and
"Good-by, My Lover. Good by, !" sung
byrequest at his grave, was once ap
pointed Consul to the Philippine Islands.
He was informed, however, that it was