The Saint Paul globe., 1903-05-06
ASKS MORE HUMANE
TREATMENT OF
INSANE
DR.. Tomlinson, Before the
Board of Control, Deplores
the Tendency of the Law
to Class the UnfOrtunates
as Criminals -Superintend-
ents in Quarterly Session.

SuperintendentS of all of the state
public institutions met yesterday at
the office of the board of control for
their quarterly conference with the
board, and the entire day was spent
in discussing matters pertaining to the
management of those institutions.
In the morning DR.. Tomlinson, Of
the st. Peter hospital for the insane,
presented a paper on "the' Significance
of Medical Work in a Hospital for the
Insane" which was freely discussed
by the superintendents of all of the
institutions for the care of the insane,
and the members of the board as well.
DR.. Tomlinson, in the presentation of
the subject assigned to him, contem-
plated the term medical work" or
medical treatment" in it's broad sense
as embracing dietary, selection of
clothing and the enforcement of rules
of living, as we'll as the administra-
ton of drugs; and those features, he
said, as much as anything else, pro-
duced the rapid Improvement of most
patients after being placed in an in
stitution.
DepIores the Tendency.
He deplored the fact that the gem
ing insanity as disease does not treat
the insane subject as a person suffer-
ing from a disease, but more as
criminal in the exercise of a dangerous
tendency toward wrong-doing. He
pointed out that even the proceedings
whereby a sufferer Of this class is sent
to an institution are of a quasi i-crim-
inal character and are exercised by the
criminal branch of the government,
and that even the terms used in con-
nection with these proceedings are the
same as those used in criminal cases.
For instance, person is charged
with being insane;" or a complaint al
leging insanity is filed against him
and he is given a trial in court and
'committed'' to the hospital. Then he
is taken in charge by the officers of
the criminal branch of the government
and is frequently taken to the hospital
in handouts. Placing insanity in the
light of a disease of the mind, most
frequently resulting from a disease of
of the body, DR.. Tomlinson strongly
advocated the effectiveness of medical
treatment and intelligent study of the
subjects. 1t must be recognized he
said that the mind is not an entity and
cannot be directly treated The brain
must be reached through the other
portions of the body and is the regula-
tor of the activities of the other por-
tions of the body.
The Afternoon Session.
In the afternoon there was a general
discussion as to the most practical
method of carrying into effect the Sc
uon of the board of control law which
provides for the collection and dis
semination of scientific data regarding
the treatment of insane patients, but
limits the total expenditure in the per-
formance of that work to $500 an
nually. The superintendents of the in
stitutions for the care Of the insane
agreed that with the amount allowed for
the purpose it would be impossible to
do much more than to make the rec
ords of the respective institutions more
complete and to carefully note on these
records all minor details of each case.
The desirabflity Of published bulle-
tin to be issued regularly was conced-
ed by all, but the impracticability Of
such thing with the amount Of money
available was recognized.
Henry Wolfer, Warder of the state
penitentiary; DR.. A. F. KiIbourne, su-
perlntendent of the Rochester hospital,
and w. j. Yanz, superintendent of the
Hastings asylum, were appointed a
committee to arrange programme for
the next conference.