The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-23
ROCHESTER HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.

then the graduates number about It's,
more Or less, and there is a great de-
mand by other outside institutions for
nurses from this training school, Many
OF them are now filing responsible posi-
lions as general nurses, and as heads of
otner institutions, and the hospital au-
thorltes are constantly importuned to
SEND nurses outside for general nursing.
1hls, OF course, can only be done when
they can be spared from the work here.
Inc present superintendent, Dr. A. F.
Kllbourne, has been here for tho past
thirteen years. and it is due to his adj
Vanced ideas of the proper functions of
state asylum that so vigorous a search
Tor work adapted to the needs of the pa
tlents has been made. Every energy
should be devoted, in his opinion, to cure
the patient while still in the acute
stages of his malady. And employment
of the right nature for each patient is
in his opinion, a most valuable therapeu-
tic measure. Even If 1t cost the state
something sometimes to secure the
means for such labor he considers it
cheaper in the long run to find some
thing that interests the patient. In the
first place, he points out, anything that
will tend to his cure and make him once
more able to take his place in the world
and to support himself and his family Is
not only more humane, but, regarded
from a strictly commercial basis of dol
lars and cents, more economical, for
while employed eongenially in the asylum
he helps to work out his own discharge
the sooner, and thereby not only does
the state receive the benefit of his la
bor but he is restored to his family and
the state relieved of the burden the more
quickly.
But aside from all these other consid-,
erations, the primary object of hos
pital for the insane u.s. In the doctors
opinion, to cure and alleviate the SUI
ferings of the patients.
FavOrs Outdoor Work.
Dr. Kilbourne beside preaching the
doctrine of labor, particularly favors out
door work for the patient, something
that If possible will keep them occupied
and interested while out in the open air,
and every foot of land possible should
be worked by these wards of the state
he believes. Indoor shop work might, he
thinks, take the place of outside work
in the winter When the severity of the
winter compels it. These theories will
no doubt strike many as very different
methods from those employed a few
years ego in the treatment of the in
sane It is yet within the memory OF
the living that those not so long past
days when the mentally deranged man or
woman was an object of scorn and de-
rision and often was scarcely treated
as a human being, and certainly not as
sick and in need Of medical attention. 1t
is. not more than a generation ago since
lunatics, as they were harshly described,
were chained to the walls in cells upon
the floors of which straw was considered
a good and sufficient covering.
How strange and barbarous all this
was, and how sharp the contrast
with present day ideas can best be
understood after a visit to such an in
stitution as that at Rochester. The
large, light wards, the broad corridors
and the handsome and attractive dav
rooms excel in comfort and beauty the
living rooms in many of the houses of
the ordinary Well to do family Here
the insane man and woman are treated
as they should be, as a desperately sick
patient one requiring the most skiifful
medical attention and nursing, to H.
watched and cared for ell the time and
every effort made not orly to make their
lives as little a burden to themselves
and others, but if possible to cure them
and to encourage the down hearted and
discouraged man who sees no future ha-
fore him but misery unrelieved except
by death.
DR.. Kilbourne's idea of the necessity
Of proper employment, and his definition
of the ideal institution are, however. as
far in advance of the common theories
on such subjects as the present methods
are over those of thirty or forty wears
ago. His theory, too, that the know,-
edge that insanity is hereditary to the
offspring OF the insane and is almost as
great curse as the actual fact of its
being hereditary, is most interesting am
the idea naturally arises as to wbe+ber
or not some Of these CO ses reported &c
resulting from heredity NAV NOT h
largely due 20 the fact that there cSa :
such fatal knowledge and a CONSEQUENT
brooding over what seen ed an fnevitabla
fate, and that these may have heen
largely responsible for just that condi-
ton.
Someone has made. the suggestion thar
in order to provide plenty of land for
some of these insane n en- to work that
portions of the state lands in the north
ern part Of the state might be held OFT
for their benefit, and that nun59ers of
male patients might be sent out under
proper supervision to clear these lands,
the state thus obtaining the benefits of
their labor and the insane patients re-
ceiving the benefit to be derived from
such a life and such work.
TO keep the patients outdoors and to
keep them employed is In DR.. Kilbourne's
opinion the best and quickest cure that
has been so far discovered for diseases
At Rochester the interior arrange
ment is somewhat similar to that at
st. Peter.d The wards are numbered and
lettered for example A /, A 2. B /, B .,
etc, and this plan is the same in both
annexes. The treatment of the Incoming
patient is the same at all these hospi-
tails; that is to say, the new arrival is
given bath and put to bed to rest,
and the next day "a thorough physical
ord ,oe,,t.4l examination made of tha
case. There is not sufficient room here;
that is to say, the buildings are too over
crowded and there is scarcely a suffi-
Gent number of certain classes of pa