Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-12-04
DREAD FOOL TOWER
SOON To BE
DESTROYED
VIENNA's FAMOUS CASTLE OF
TORTURE TO BE RAZED TO
THE cRoUND-HERoIc
LUNAcY CURES.
Philadelphia North American.
VIENNA. November


RACED. That means the removal of one or
! the last remaining monuments to tho
cruel and ignorant treatment or the IN
sane that obtained I'm Europe even as late
as the beginning of the las century
rnere are many Viennese living today
who can remember hearing the terrible
shricEs end yells issuing from this Fool
Tower. There are physicians living who
! remember the time when, in that great
building, men and women lay chained
hand and foot, with none to go near
| them These physicians of today remem-
her discussions as to the utility of various
instruments of torture. such as the Eng
lish coffin and the Fools wheel
Yet the Vienna Fool Tower was built
| by an enlightened and exceptionally KIND
ly monarch Joseph H., whose love OF
|. mankind guided all his life. It's construc-
ton and the treatment given to its in
n ates. barbaric as they seem now, were
triumphs of philanthropy at the time
When II was built, in 1888, the insane
were treated as worse than criminals.
They were kept in cells in prisons ana
avoided by all as If they had loathsome'
conta gious diseases.
Emperor Joseph went as far as medi-
| cal science enabled him to go at the time.
There was no thought in the mind of any
one I'm authority that insanity could be
cured or ameliorated. Thus, with all his
/ humanity, the emperor could not and did
not make of his building anything differ
Snt from prison for the insane.
The immense tower that rises maJest-
cally from the crown of hill command"
| inc the medical quarter of Vienna con-
/ tains five stories, each with twenty-eight
| tiny cells These cells are lighted sparsely
/ with small windows scarcely greater than
loCp holes. barred heavily.
Sometimes TWO lunatics, or fools, as
they were called then, were imprisoned in
/ one cell. Walls and floors are still stud
| ded with rings and bolts to which these
unfortunate creatures were chained with
! enormous iron letters.
Very quiet lunaiics were taken for oc-
/ casional walks through the corridors, and
/ sometimes even in the garden paths. The
! emperor often visited the tower to as
/ sure himself that his regulations were be-
| ing observed faithfully. He had written
them out in his own hand, and the most
/ minute and trivial details had been pro-
vided for by him.
But his efforts were without scientific
] aids, and as a result the inmates were
| treated as dangerous and disgusting Great
! ures. The cells containing the violent ones
were not opened oftener than twice a
month. when powerful men would enter,
seize the prisoners and drag them out TO
wash them. At this time the cells were
cleaneo-Tne only time WHEN ludl was
done The feeding was done by means of
a tin utensil triangular in shape, the
pointed end of which was inserted In a
crevice in the door OF the cell. AS the
food was entirely liquid, the prisoner was
expected to take the nourishment direct.
Lunatics who were exceptionally noisy
and violent were thrown into cells that
were entirely dark, and If that did not
ouell them they were put under cold
shower baths and douches until they were
exhausted.
Chains and cold douches and dark cells
were used until near the middle of the
last century. and it was as late as 1868
before the violent insane were removed
regularly to asylums that were really
adapted for the purpose according to mod
ern ideas.
The Vienna Fool Tower, even in its
worst days, was haven of rest compared
with many of the other prisons for luna
tics that still existed then in Europe; and
the Vienna treatment of the lunatic was
enlightened compared with the ideas Of
such eminent and well-disposed men as
Profs. Ideler and Horn, of Berlin, who
wrote learned treatises in which they ar
gued for the useful and benefcent physio-
logical and physiological effects of in
struments of duress.
They had such faith in the mechanical
trea tment that their favorite implement
was a terrible thing known by the ap-
propriate and frightful name of the Eng
fish coffin" This coffin was one, in fact
1t was a long, narrow chest into which
the maniac was forced. Then the lid was
fastened down. The only opening in 1t
was one just large enough to expose the
face of the patient.
Another utensil was the fools wheel"
which was to all intents and In design
nothing except magnified squirrel cage
with the familiar wheel The raving
lunatic was imprisoned I'm this wheel and
left there until 1t stopped revolving. which
fact was accepted as an indication that
the mania had worked itself out.
Still more brutal were the iron masks
| that were used as late as 1867. Some of
these were unearthed recently from the
cellar of the insane asylum in Andernach,
! Germany, and preserved by the present
director of the institution. Two of them
look exactly like the wire fencers' masks
worn when using the foils. The third is
far more massive and made entirely of
| extremely heavy sheet tin. The latter
mask has two holes pierced for the eyes
| and one tiny aperture for the mouth. To
give the wearer air there are few very
small holes in the top of the helmet.
APPLIANCES OF TORMENT.
These appliances were used for patients
that had the habit of biting or splitting
/ ly. The wire masks were taken off only
at meal times. and then clapped right on
again. The still more violent patients who
| had to wear the tin helmet often were not
I relieved of IL, even to eat, but were fed
| through the hole that served for a mouth
| piece. The front of this gruesome head
covering was so arranged that ii could
/ be opened like a visor.
The old times of frank. unreasoning
| brutality, when lunatics were treated as
| despicable and hateful things, had passed
/ away long before IL struck any one that
| the use of these helmets and similar in
struments was vicious and harmful. 1t
was a regular part of the treatment of
the insane until 1867, when a royal decree
| forbade II.
| DR.. Johannes Bresler, in a recent review
of the primitive and cruel methods used
we'll into the nineteenth century, remarks
that his study of the appliances used in in
sane asylums in the last generation has
convinced him that they ali date back d.
| rectly to the fortunes used in the prisons
| Of the period when the insane person was
| confined as a matter of course with GRIM
| inals and punished for being demented
| Just as the criminals were punished for
being wicked The implements of punish
ment were adopted apparently as mat
ter of course when the lunatics were
transferred to asylums.