New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-08-19
CARE OF TIE CITY INSANE.

The municipal authorities ought not to delay
further the purchase of q farm, to be used In
caring for the insane An appropriation Tor
that purpose was made last December. and
any doubt as to the power of the NUM-
cipality TO Use its funds in that way was
removed by special act of the Legislature.
rhe purchase of such farm has been urged
by DR.. Macdonald, Medical Superintendent OF
the City Insane Asylum, and by the State
Board of Charities. There are now under the
care of the Commissioners of Charities and
Correction over 800 insane persons for whom
inadequate provision has been made. The
rapid and sure increase in that number makes
the need Of more room pressing one, partlc-
ularly as the Overcrowding of an asylum is an
injury TO all the patients. while it is no econ
omy to The city.
Outdoor labor, which is so beneficial to the
health of the sane, has been found equally
eficacious in the case of the insane. Hence
there is no difference of opinion about the
ACCESSIBILITY of purchasing farm and erecting
thereon comparatively inexpensive structures,
TO which the harmless and physically strong
insane can be transferred. In that way
their happiness and chance of recovery
Will be improved The advantages of this
plan have been generally recognized III
the treatment of lunatics, but its application
has been limited in the city asylum by the
lack of ground to cultivate The small farm
on Wards Island has given employment to
12O patients and has proved of importance to
the asylum both as a source of pecuniary
income and as curative agent. The labor
list of the asylum last year, on the farm and
in the shops. averaged 400. DR.. Macdonald
reported that there were 500 patients able
| and willing to work. The necessity of prOyld-
| ing systematic employment for that number Is
| an additional reason why the farm should be
purchased at once, as occupation is necessary
| for the welfare of the patients mind and
| body.
DR.. Macdonald thinks that 1000 patients
are as many as should be placed in one insti-
| tuition. In excess of that number there are
now 353 in the Wards Island and 455 in the
| BlackwelPs Island asylums. This surplus could
probably best be provided for in buildings
erected on farm. The late DR.. Beard, who
made q study of this subject in Europe, said
| that the best asylums were not enormous or
| imposing buildings but series or collection
| of small or moderate sized. unimposing cottages
| or houses. He regarded this scattering of the
| insane over a wider area of great practical
advantage to all classes Of lunaics. The practice
| in this country has been to erect large build
| ings. There is no doubt that American asyums
| are sometimes too much given up to costly
arrangements for the convenience of admins
| traton at the expense of the patients welfare.
| The appearance of confinement is avoided in
asylums of recent construction in Europe. Two
storied buildings are provided with home-like
| arrangements, as far as such are admissible.
Grated windows and spring locks are used
only in refractory wards. The city authorities
should inquire carefully into this subject be-
fore erecting any more costly buildings.
The rapid increase in the number of insane
in the city makes this question of their care
one of growing importance. On December 81,
1871, there were 1885 insane confined in
asylums in this city. In eight years the num-
Der had doubled, and to-day it reaches about
5000. In seven months there has been an in
crease of 121 patients in the male asylum on
Wards Island, and of 10 patients IN the
female asylum on Blackwell's Island. There
is lunatic to every $50 inhabitants in the
city, while in the Nation the average is l to
779 of population. The increase of insanity
in the whole country has been go per cent in
ten years, the population having increased
20 per cent in the same time
The ratio of increase in tho city is much
greater than In the Nation, but there are
special reasons for it. Many lunatics in
neighboring towns and even States are shipped
to this city and abandoned In the streets and
as their former places Of abode cannot be traced
it falls to the lot of the municipality to pro-
vide for Them This is the more unjust from
the fact that the city cares for all of its own
insane, and at the same time is made to pay
nearly one-half the expense of maintaining
the State asylums, to the population of which
it contributes not single patient.
One reason for the increase in the number
of lunatics Is found in the fact that the range
OF mental diseases has been enlarged by medical
science. Time was when only furious frenzy
OF complete idiocy or imbecility was recognized