The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-05-23

human organism. as also the mysteries of
the healing art, that branch OF science
which RELATES TO the prevention, cure or
allevistion of the diseases Of the human
body" rises grandly above averages. He
brosdens out to colossal proportions. II his
heart is in sympathy with his brains there
will be found in his character harmonious
blending of physician, philosopher and phi
lanthropist He will be familiar with human
knowledge bearing upon the relationship
between mind and matter. If he finds
reason dethroned. the intellect a wreck be-
cause of disease OF the brain, he will track
that disease through all the labyrinthisn
pathways it has travelled, and ap
ply the remedy, if remedy there be;
and il he can not reinstate the mind. he
will find means to modify the Indebtedness
which insanity inhicts. Hence, when we
talk about the protection of the insane the
question of medical skill at once comes into
commanding prominence. To build mag
nificent Asylums whose architectural beau
ty ELECTS admiration is not enough; indeed,
such exhibitions of the philanthropic spirit
of the people lose their charm IL the miser-
able unfortunates who inhabit them are
given into the hands of medical quacks
The State, when it employs physicians to
cure mad men, ought to demand the best
skill, the largest experience and the pro-
foundest learning. Anything less than that
is something worse than mistake
or folly. To ask men to treat cases of in
.o-:.r - ho--o haJ l;ktIa m M avDar;ao %
In such matters is a wrong so fragrant as to
exhaust patience and defy placid criticism.
| Such a course is productive at once of the
most demoralizlng confusion Of ideas. The
most difficult and deplorable of all mortal
maladies is placed in the hands of men in
capable of responding to the wants of the
unfortunates or the expectations of the pub
lie AS a consequence, the insane are not
protected; on the contrary, all too often
misfortune is aggravated rather than re-
lieved. To assume that physician can earn
pl ice of such vast responsibility by parti-
sanism is high libel upon benevolence
and a stigma upon the profession of medi-
cine. 1t allies charity with chicanery. 1t
introduces the asperities, defeats and sue
cesses of political partisans into Asylums
where silencs reigns among mutes, dark
ness among the blind and pandemonium
among the insane. 1t is not necessary to in
quire as to what political party shall shape
the policy of benevolent institutions. 1t is
enough to know that the party in power will
assume such control. We are discussing
simply the medical protection of the insane,
and no physician should ask or obtain the
custodianship of the lives and health of
such unfortunates simply upon the ground
that he has been good partisan worker.
There many ways to reward partisan
workers which are accredited as eminently
legitimate; and for aught we know or care,
the appointment of physicians to Insane
Asylums may be among the number. The
point we make is that such appointments
should not be made solely, or to any extent
whatever, because of such partisan work,
but rather because, independent of such
work and without regard to it, the physician
is known to be- by skill, ability, experience
and learning, eminently and pre-eminently
qualified for the position. When such men
become physicians in Insane Asylums the
public has a right to believe that the
Asylum will realize the largest expectations,
and the taxpayers will cheerfully furnish
the funds required for their maintenance.