The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-26
DR.. FORBES WINSLOW TALKS,
A Chat With the Greatest Living Authority
on Brain Diseases.
Insanity Increasing Wipe the sorce from , Face
of Must Deal Drink and Inpror,r NJ rri


5auends on the future OF It's Drains Inere
"a, be no gainsaying that. SO the men
r1o are and have been studying that
branch Of science which deals especially
with the brain are important men. The
most important Of them are in England.
l;ermanya nd France although America
has contributed much toward the study
If the surgery of the BRAIN. and Of them
an DR.. Forbes Wenslow Of London is
,~obably the most Justly celebrated. What
h. thinks is worth knowing. This is what
he thinks
Insanity is increasing, not only in Eng,
land. but throughout the civilized world.
If one may believe statistics. and. based
on unquestionably accurate figures, many
famous doctors have made pessimistic ut
terances For instance. the last report of
fbe lunacy board of Great Britain showed
os067 lunatics during the year ending
Ian ]. 1894. This exceeded by 2,245 the num-
her which existed during the previous
wear. Truly that is an awful showing.
such an increase is not warranted by the
growth of population. and if it really ex,
listed could only mean that the whole ma
ton is going mad. But figures are some
times deceptive. 1 do not admit that these
are wholly truthful. 1 believe that the in
. crease is more apparent than real. There
q is not, l think. a greater proportion of in
sanity 10 the population than heretofore,
hut what insanity there is is better under
stood and more generally under treat
ment There are fewer cases of insanity
which utterly escape the observation OF
medical men and thus fail to be recorded
among the statistics of the malady. In
al the old days a large number of families
ASHAMED of the development of insanity
F. among their members, hid the unfortun-
ates not only from the public but from
4science. The dread of the old asylum also
II played its part in inducing concealment.
Then, too, the poor could not pay the
#prices which were charged them for treat
ment Of the insane. All that has changed
now. Of course people do not feel less
horror over the development of insanity
among their relatives, but they realize
that it is cruelty and not kindness to iso-
late them from proper treatment Asy-
lums are run on a different basis. From
the time when such experiences as those
described in Charles Reade's
great story, Hard Cash." were pos
#sibe-when abuse and all sorts of ILL
usage were common in the insane hos
pitals-to the present, is a step longer
Pm progress than IL is in years. A very
7much larger proportion of the insane are
how In confinement, or, at least, under
the care OF physicians. That alone has
brought about an apparent increase and
"a large one, without, IN reality, having
Changed the situation at all, unless in
#deed II has caused many curses which
otherwise would not have been made,
and thus actually decreased the number
OF insane people,"
Then, after having thus punctured one
Of the most pleasant and apparently one
oil the strongest of the statements of the
pesslmists, DR.. Winslow turned in his
chair to receive patient who was suf-
iering from melancholy mania. and who
& mad been under the celebrated physicians
care for some weeks. He was treating
her by hypnotic suggestion.
II is only fair to state that If there has
been an improvement in the care and
q treatment of the insane, the name of
Nnslow has been, perhaps. more closely
associated with it than any other. DR..
Nlnsiow's father before him was the
leader in the work until his son forged
his way into prominence and there have
oeen few reforms in the asylums of Great
britain, or few advances in the science
OF treatment in which either the father
e@tA AitNNN AAON Alciu NAtAA inhu6uCG. ne
father also, was the first to force GRIM
mai law to take the mental condition of
"a man accused of crime into considera-
tloh. II would, perhaps, be going too far
10 say that DR.. Winslow is the greatest
#hElng authority on diseases of the brain;
put certainly there is no one man whose
name is associated with more careful
tudy, with more wonderful cures, with
fnore important discoveries than that of
orbes Winslow
Inc home of this great scientist is at
S9 Devonshire, Portman square 1t is
lol an especially impressive house, but
Is an impressive man who meets you
lhe big drawing room and bustingly
ohaucts you to the office at the rear of
He mouse. DR.. Winslow is a man of me-
llum size but powerful frame. His dark
ialr and beard frame a face of strong
ouuhne and great force. His eyes look
put from under brows that are overhang-
'Hs ana heavy. Those eyes are the most
MAJ Aaole feature of the mans physical
-idheup. In the first place, not for one
--olIehl after you have seen them do
gu doubt the stories which you have
Ieard OF their hypnotic power. When you
am them, later, as they calm vio-
ent Iunatic with a long steady
goA II docs not surprise you. Second,
nave way of sending
flashing glances at YOU from under
He brush above them, as quick as light
Fs strokes and as disconcerting as a
~ lover smiles might be to bashfui
ra'leh. Those quick questioning glances
turned upon all of DR.. Winslow's Wis
oiS at short intervals. There is, at
- something uncanny about them. A
noH.gnt thought will show their origin.
- W ihSlow has for many years had to
WIN the most extraordinary and Of
ZINES violent maniacs He has been
VA VA iuhatlcs in all kinds OF circumstances
nv M all sorts of places If there is
rlhg true about lunatic, it is that
bo t'u1ot be depended upon. machine
broken and is still running is like
ma any moment to fly off at a tangent
freak something. A lunatic's brain
ttlacnlne that is broken and is still
ling 1t is a dangerous thing to be
~ unless one keeps constant watch
Nv. 1hose lightning glances of DR.
ro,r.n" are the way in which he keeps
co ,,,''1it watch upon it. They have be-
nv d matter of habit with him. They
raroo oLs OF the logical Developments of a
rbin. which has been devoted to one
1e ana to one thing only-they are
benoSS!! development of a career which has
Cd the whole race.
spite DR.. Winslow's confident state
tr,a OF belief in Improvement. ii s not
however, that he thinks science has