New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-05-07
| CITY OF THE INSANE.
GHEEL. BELGIUM. AND IT'S PECULIAR
INDUSTRY.
ITS INHABITANTS PROFESSIONAL MADHousE
KEEPERs-EvERY FIFTH PERSON LUNATic
EFFECTIVENESS OF SIMPLE AND
NATURAL TREATmENT-THE sYS-
TEN ADOPTED FIVE HUN
DRIED YEARS AGO.
DRED YEARS AGO.

Correspondence Of The Boston Transcript.
Every fifth person in this lively market town
OF 49, 600 inhabitants Is lunatic, yet toieraDy
observing person may remain here week WIN
out even suspecting the great enterprise cdrrleu
on-the wholesale treatment OF the insane by
the simplest and most natural methods, guaran-
teed TO be effective by five centuries Oh goou
results .
AS Brooklyners take intuitively to boarding
houses and church, going, so are Gheel men ana
women born madhOuse keepers, and the young
sters take to the task of managing, employ
ing and amusing maniacs as naturally as 10
their native diet of potatoes, bacon and coHee'
In fact. to give up part Of ones house OF
bedroom accommodations to crazy strangers Is
much of industry here as agriculture
tanning and cloth and sabOt making. AND no
wonder for the town owes its origin to the
mother protectoress of the mentally diseased,
st. Dympna. who has had a shrine on the spot
where the city now stands since time immemo-
rial.
The burgomaster told your correspondent that
long before the present town as thought OF, In
the thirteenth century. a bishop Of Antwerp
recommended piigrimages to the saints tomb
then situated in a waste country-as a means OF
securing the holy Dympna's intercession for
insane relatives and friends at the throne OF the
Almighty. The mother protectoreSs seems TO
have worked miracles in those days but, as a
general thing. she took her time about them.
AS the pilgrims had to remain with their
charges in the neghborhOod until cure
effected, they waited often months and years. in
some their whole lifetime. Thus tempo
rary settlement grew up around the shrine. then
village The latter has developed into a town
whose community achieved fair success in vari-
Gus industries. yet withal stuck to the occupa-
ton of the earliest settlers.
THE PATRON SAINT OF LUNATICs.
adays. but the legend of her powers lives among
the people. and wherever in Belgium CT Holland
lunatc bobs up, his folks first thought turns
to Gheel. where insane man. woman child
can find board and lodging at the rate OF $40 to
800 per month. and be cured into the bargain IL
there is the slightest chance for recovery.
A patient brought to the old town loses that
depressing title of character the moment ne en-
ters his new surroundings. Whether the State
Medical Board controlling the classification Of
new arrivals sends him to one Of the upper dis
tricts where dangerous cases. according to
medical parlance. are kept. or whether he is at
once assigned TO ordinary lodgings, the Gheelers
call him innocent or friend" Such words as
lunatic insane or mailman are not in the towns
vocabulary; common consent banished them
from conversation and the superintendent of
schools told your correspondent that his teachers
never alude to expressions of the sort.
The doctors work with the act men,
toned. Knowing as they do each family's
pacity for handling certain forms Of insanity.
they dispose Of new cases by giving each NAL
man the keeper his peculiar condition demands.
and there, as a general thing the matter ends.
though for appearances sake sort of profess
sional supervision is occasionally exercised.
The Gheelers. then are the real medicine men
in this mental health resort to-day as their an
cestors were before them, but. their success
Notwithstanding. they remain simple minded
peasants as Of old COmmonsense is their
strong point. and medical science is so much out
Of their line that there are not more than two
native doctors in the place. On the other hand.
they pride themselves on two never failing
household remedies, simplicity and patience.
EACH FAMILY HAS A SPECIALITY
AS to each family's speciality. there are the
Steens for instance For the last two or three
centuries they have made speciality Of taking
care Of epilepticS. the experience gained IN the
treatment descending from a:her &c son. They
could give points 70 many college professor,
you may be sure. The Vronms are just as well
up in mania OF persecution rs the Stems are
in the other branch of suffering And X is
with tho Van Zakens. hereditary attendants of
delirum tremens; the Brealmons. The Der
geres the Boulangers. Bruits and Maasns who
have a reputation for managing victims of
melancholia. mOnomania OF fear. of suspicion
pride. and OF emotional madness respectively.
But while all Gheeers are professional mad
house keepers. more or less, none are allowed to
engage in this business exclusively. each family,
no matter how high its reputation in any special
branch may be. receiving only az many board
ers as their house can hold without being
turned into asylum. The authorities cal
culate thus: Henrik SteenS has five rooms be-
sides those he needs for his family and ser
wants. That entities him to two male and two
female boarlers. and epileptics. willing or able
to work in a tannery and the household re-
spcctively. apply for quarters Or Boulanger
the baker. who owns big house. can have over
a dozen meanCnOld lTienuS capable OF working
at bread and cake making. or on his farm. For
every crazy man. woman or child living in the
shadow of st. Dympna's shrine must work
with his or her hands. or go to school. That
il one Of the conditions Of their acceptance
az patients. 1t is. moreover an integral part
OF the successful Gheel cure Complete absence
OF coercive measures, plenty Of good nourishing
food, OF fresh air and OF sunshine and temper
ance the other remedies prescribed and
insisted upon. But these rules are enforced in
the gentlest manner Friends or innocents
b. iTTitatpQ inn
possible and the peasantdoctor loses caste with
his fellows As a further cOnseauence the au-