The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1903-04-17
MORE BECOMING INSANE.
Growth Of the Big Cities La FiiAins
Their Asylums with che Mem
tally Unsound.

Insanity in Chicago is on the in
crease, but only to the extent expected
by the increase III the city's population
and the changing of conditions there
re ports the Tribune.
DIR. ID. Il. Brewer, professor OF men
tai and nervous diseases in Rush ana
the Northwestern Women's Medical
college and the author of a textbook
on the subject of insanity. said: In
sanity thriyes in urban communities.
Great cities are the hotbeds of degen-
eracy. In New York the proportion
Of insane to the sane is one to $40. In
Chicago it is one to 400. The rate is
increasing in all great cities. Brlef1y'
the reason is that in this day and age
we are living too fast. Modern con IL
tions of life are enfeebling. We live IN
Eats in which all the attention Is palo
to heating, none at all to ventilatng.
We come downtown in the street cars
in which the air is worse than taat
of the Black Hole of Calcutta. we
bolt our meals, rush from one employ
ment to another, take little or no time
to sit down and pull ourselves togetner'
Naturally. in every great city. the
tendency is toward an increase OF IN
sanity. Such is the case in Chicago.
INSANITY increases in old and settled
communities" said DIR. IL. \. Meyer.
"Chicago is reaching that stage In Its
development where we will reap some
of the destructive effects ct modern
civilization. These effects are not seen
an new communities for several reasons.
First, it is not the sick, the lame, nor
the halt who emigrate. 1t is the young
and vigorous. Persons of sound MINDS
and sound bodies. not subject to insan-
ity. Then, as pioneers. they live an
outdoor life, and breathe plenty OF
fresh air. have few of the vices which
abound in great city, and altogether
are those least liable to mental disor-
ders. The state of Minnesota, for in
stance, is to-day representative COM
munity Of the pioneer class. and con-
sequently a smaller proportion of in
sanity is found there than in any other
state in the union. Chlago has passed
out of the pioneer class and has reached
the second or third generation descend
ed from that sturdy race, and conse-
quently we may now expect an in
crease in insanity. In every great city
that has fully passed the formative
period the ratio of insanity is about
enc to $40 of the population. Insan-
ity will continue in Chicago until we
have reached that ratio"
In Chicago the method of having
person declared insane and sent to an
an asylum is the same that it has
been for years. All the cases come be-
fore the county judge, Judge Carter.
There are two modes of inquiring into
a persons sanity. either by a trial
before a jury of six, or the judge can,
if he so elects, rule that the examina-
ton shall be in chambers before the
judge and two experts in insanity,
appointed by himself. The latter meth
cd has less publicity than the jury
trial, which, however. must be always
resorted to where there is a contest
in the case, and where there is some
ground for the belief that the per-
sons who bring the charge of insanity
might have some Interior motives in
sending the alleged insane person away
to an asylum