New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-05-20
yPrayyEyT or THE INSANE.

No more delicate or difficult duty deyolves
upon a State than that of giving proper custody
and care TO tie insane. There Is no public
charity which should be left, with all nect ssary
RESTRICTIONS. more absolutely to the guidance OF
cxpcricnce than this. In this country we have
made great advances during the past few years
in our meth DDS Of caring for these unfortunate
people. and while much of this has been due to
the active interest in the subject which AZ
humane persons feel, the practical changes Tor
the better have been mainly obtained through
the observation aud discoveries OF experienced
workers. There have been, undoubtedly, many
abuses which have been corrected by publicity
and by the assertion of the states night ana
duty to supervise all its charities. Still legis-
ation has often been prompted 10y the unjust
SUSPICION that because some asylnns nave Dt en-
badly managed all superintendent are incOm-
petent and brutal. The wisest legislation has
resulted from the combined efforts OF the law
makers and the highest expert authorities to
secure such laws IA will mako abuses i'm
possible
The lot of the persons who devote their lives
TO the care of the insane Is not happy one
There is an almost unaccOuntable but widely
disseminated notion that the guardians of the
insane, unless carefully watched, will treat
their patients cruelty aud will even be so brutas
"a To retain forcbly in insane asyuTs persons
who are sane. Much of the legislation on the
conduct of Insane asylums has been prompted
by this suspicion, and has not infrcquently done
harm by putting in authority over the asylums
men who have never had any experience in the
care Of the insane and whose interference was
consequently meddlesome and injurious. Some
of the legislation, such as increasing the for
malities 10y which persons said to be insane are
placed in asylums, has been of great service.
Legislation Of this kind has been welcomed by
the keepers of the asylums as being as much in
their interest as that of the patients.
DrThOmas :. Kirkbride, Superintendent of the
PENNSYLVANIA Hospital for the Insane, has writ
ten with much earnestness and intelligence
He saws of supervision by State Boards "Tho
"value of these depends entirely on the char
"acter of the men appointed, and their practical
Familiarity with the great trusts cOnfded to
"them They may effect great good to institu-
atoms and strengthen the hands of their
ao(1jcers. but visits of an hour or two, at long
"mtervals, such as are often made, can hardly
:" he of any real service" Concerning the in
generation of sane persons DIR. Kirk bride
quotes the author of The Jurisprudence of
Insanity as saying that i'll more than $500
cases under his observation not one of the kind
was met, and regulating the idea of such being
of even very rare occurrence in the United
States. ain my own experience" Dr. Kirk
bride adds, tho result has been precisely the
same, not having met with one such well
authenticated case in more than 5000 pa
"tients, and have 10 reason to doubt that this
L" is as true of other parts of the United States
"as of PENNSYLVANIA"