The sun., 1892-01-14
Insanity in New York-The Truth About
II from Governor Flower.

The timid people who are alarmed by the
notion that there is an epidemic Of insanity
in these times ought to be rcassured by
careful perusal of that portion Of Governor
Flowers inaugural message which deals
with the insane asylums OF the State. After
giving the statistics OF insanity In the
State for the past year. and classifying
the patients in the State hospitals.
the New York and Brooklyn asy-
lums. the county poorhouscs. and the
private institutions. Governor FLOWER
points out the interesting fact that. In the
year 1891, there was decrease in the num-
Der OF insane. in the ratio to population. as
compared with the number in the previous
year. There was smaller proportion
Of the people Of New York in custody as
lunatics last year than there had been In
the year 1890. And this statement is not
in the nature OF an estimate; 1t Is founded
upon the official figures which Governor
FLOWER has embodied in his message.
1t Is OF Importance that the facts given
by the Governor should be known to every
body, in order that the public mind may he
relieved from groundless apprehension. and
In order that we may have an authentic
lists whenever q crank breaks loose. DR..
CHARLES E. ATWOOD Of the Utica Insane
Asylum gave encouragement to the alarm
lists a short time ago when he read
a paper upon insane heredity be-
fore the American Social Science Asso-
citation. in which, after much specula-
ton, he drew from few figures this
disturbing deduction: Insanity is con-
stantly increasing" Let DR.. ATWOOD and
all other persons OF his way OF thinking ex-
amino the statistics given by Governor
FLOWER. There can be no such thing as a
denial Of the authenticity OF those statistics.
or OF the accuracy Of the Governors remark
that, in the ratio to population. the number
Of lunatics in this State last year was
smaller than it had been previously.
A month before the delivery or publica-
ton OF Governor Flowers message. DR.. A.
f. MACDONALD. the General Superintend-
ent Of the Insane in this city. took occa-
sion to contradict the false allegations that
must now be buried under Governor Flow
ER's numerals. He said that tho notion
Of the existence OF an epidemic Of
insanity was not supported by the
returns Of the city's insane asylums.
that the increase in the number Of the in
sane had bcen in remarkably even ratio
to population during the twenty years
Of his service and experience as General
Superintendent. and that the net increase of
lunatics in his custody during 1891 had been
less than the average increase for several
previous years. DR.. MACDoNALD's state
ments on the subject. instead Of sustaining
the loose generalizatlons in which DR.. At
WOOD of the Uti.a Asylum had indulged.
were directly contradictory thereto. and
had the advantage Of being founded upon
facts within his own knowledge. upon statis-
tics collated under his own supervision.
Let us. then. have an end Of the CANNON
and falsehood about the alarming increase OF
insanity in the city or the State Of New York.
1t is not worth while to go about exclaim-
ing that "it is mad world. my masters. u
because q madman or fool Is taken up
once in while.