Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1883-05-05
The Weak and the Wicked.

idiotic, blind and deaf and dumb in the
United States. In every million of pop
ulatiOn there were 1854 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, it is almost impossible
tOget. In the first place, what is the di-
yiding 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 men,
tai disease. Whether Guiteau was q
responsible agent has hardly yet been
decided, though the brain of the assassin
has been dissected. And, sane or insane,
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 as
genuine and as dangerous a mania as
that which affects a large part of the
population of our insane asylums, and
the number of people who are subject to
insane impulses, or who are what is
called half-cracked, is multitudinous.
Besides, families are slow to acknowl-
edge insanity among their members, pro-
vided it is not of sort to compel seclu
sion in an asylum. But, to cover such
cases so far as possible, the Census
Bureau sent out blank forms of return
to 100000 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.
1t seems fair to conclude, however,
that there is no decline in the proportion
of insanity. The number OF the insane
manfestly grows at least with the in
crease of population. More than that
cannot be deduced from the census table
Out OF "a total of 81 1897 insane re-
turned in 1889, A, 403 were males and
1889 females; 65,65l were natives and
1851 We're foreign; 85,S were white
and 6, 1877 colorod. We see, therefore,
that insanity attacks women Oitener han
men. Of IDIOTS, however, the tos;ll OF
1886 was made up of $500 males and
1885 females. The negro population,
too, is much more liable 10 idiocy thar
insanity. the number of colorcd idiots
being 1919 to 6,157 lunatics. The for
eign population however, contributed
only 1907 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 num-
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 to
another, especially from the Atlantic to
the Pacific coast The immigrant is SUBJ
Jectsd to an unwonted strain, and the
law of the survival of the fittest works
with especial rapidity in his case. Life
in the old grooves he might sustain with
out mental damage, but in new paths he
loses his wits. 1t is the strong birds
which stand the migratory flight; the
weak ones drop by the way.
OF the blind there were more males
than females, the total number having
been 4S, 1928, made up of 26,748 males
22,180 females. The same was the case
with respect to the deaf and dumb. Out
of total of 33,878, there were 1857
and 1871 females.
The total number of pa,lpers enumer-
ated in almshouses was 81 ,067, besides
whom there was great body of outdoor
paupers, of whom the statistics are mani
testify so incomplete that they are of no
account whatever. The total, according
to the census, was 2l,598; but how
worthless these figures are is shown by
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 So, 1855,
against 40, 942 lunatics confined in asy-
lums. In the number of prisoners, how
ever, we're certain persons charged with
offenses and awaiting in county jails
their trial; and there were some insane.
Prisoners held for debt, however. were
not included, nor were witnesses locked
up to secure their testimony. OF inn