The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-05-20
HE CONFERENCE OPENS.
Concluded from Third Page.


tine present evil of neglect in proper treatment
of the insane was to educate alienists just
the best physicians and surgeons were edu-
Gated. In closing DIR. Fletcher recommended
the building of smaller hospitals. a trial of the
village system and the adoption Of uniform
laws for the commitment Of the insane.
Mr. F. B. Sanborn did not like the New
York system of big hospitals, and did not
think that halt Of the insane in the state
were cared for. The system carries the
poor insane farther away from homes and
friends.
Mr.. Giles gave some information as to
the manner in which the Wisconsin
insane were cared for.
Mr.. @. H. Reeve of Plymouth favored
this system because it put the in
sane in natural surroundings. Gen.
Brinkerhaff didn't think the plan would
do for Ohio, and A. f. Gilmore in
turn defended the state system. DR..
Rogers of New York did not agree with
DR.. Dewey in his advocacy of voluntary
commitment. Rabbi Leucht OF New
Orleans gave pictures of cruelty to the
insane in his state and asked for informa-
tion.
Mr.. Oscar Craig Of Rochester n. Y. read a.
paper on Estate Care of the Chronic Insane"
He reeapitulated the history of the care of in
sane in New York from the earlier part of the
century to the present. Prior to the founding
of the state asylum in Utica in 1S43, the indi-
gent insane we're left in the poor houses, and
major portion of them Jared but little better
until the Willard asylum for the chronic insane
was founded in 1865. There were four times as
many patients as the asylum could aceOmmO-
date, and the result was a severe miscarriage OF
relief, Subsequent legislation Obviated this.
The speaker reviewed the work in
Wisconsin and deducted the conclusion that
state care of the insane should be
exclusive, because the facilities for graduations
and variations, and SUGGESTIONS of scenes for
different patients or phases OF the same pa
tent tending to excite more healthy CORE
spondence in their nervous organisms, and
playing often the chief part in recovery, is
sufficient to justify the claim.
While the county is. for practical purposes,
the political unit, 1t is, as such. only small
and subordinate part of the whole. which is
the state paramount and sovereign. The GRIM
inal law recognizes this principle in determin-
ing not only the nature and penalty OF felonies
and other Ofenses. but their place well as
mode of punishment. Lunacy legislation even
more legitimately proceeds upon the same
basis for its subjects, the insane tn by statute
and common law, and in respect of persons as
well as property. are the wards OF the state.
The following is brief abstract of MIR.
II. II. Giles address on the "Care of the
County Insane" as practiced in his state
Wisconsin:
A class of specialists organized as "The As
ISOLATION of Medical Superintendents of Ameri-
can Institutions for the Insane" assumed to
possess superior wisdom in all matters pertain
ing to insanity, guided legislation into the
erection OF palace prisons" in which from
800 to 1.5O0 and even 1900 diseased human
beings are herded. To gain and retain its hold
on the public two pleas were urged. First.
state care for all the insane was perquisite to
humane care, and second. ali clssses of the in
sane should be cared for in the same institu-
ton. Both pleas were false and the latter
positively Dernicious. One who has watched
the work OF the association for forty years can
well understand how New York has been led
into a scheme of state care, which involves the
imposition of many millions in taxes on her
people which might have been saved, and her
insane dependents more humanely cared for
nearer their homes and friends.