The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-11-01
BY Ex-Attache.

Dy ILA.ttlldCuc.
Lord Rosebery. In presiding as Lord
Lieutenant OF the county Of Linlithgow
at the opening or an asylum for the IN
SAM Mt Bangour, instituted at cousid-
cradle expense by the city of Edin-
,burgh, delivered an address that calls
fer more than pas.::;ly attention.
referring to the scheme OF segregat-
ing the unfortunate patients in cot
tages, In lieu of combining them in one
vast building, he began by expressing
the wish that the population of the
village of Bangour might not grow, but,
rather diminish, until it became an
even more deserted village than the
hamlet of Oliver Goldsmith's poem.
He then remarked that sum of no
less than 50,000,000 has been invest
ed in these public asylums for the in
sane In the United Kingdom, which he
describes as tombs for Intellectually
dead. He added that $15,00O,000 was
spent annually for their maintenance,
but pointed out that all this enormous
amount of money Is expended by the
nation, not for those for whom 1t can
have any hope in the future, but for
those who represent their waste and
decay-in short, that 1t was of all pub
lie investments the most unproduc-
tive.
Lord Rosebery did not condemn this
expenditure as extravagant, nor did he
intimate that the lot of the insane
should be rendered more cruel by the
diminishment Of their comforts But he
argued that some steps should be ia
ken to arrest the altogether phenom-
email increase of insanity. During the
last so years, while the population of
the United Kingdom has increased by
rs per cent, the number Of lunatics
had augmented by 230 per cent.
The Causes of Lunacy.
With regard to the causes of this
krowth of lunacy, which is by no
means confined to England, but which
extends to all civilized countries, he
was unable to speak with any degree
of assurance, and save for the fact that
% per cent of insanity is medically
described to heredity, he was compell-
ed to restrict himself to the expression
of opinions of his own, some Of which
will commend themselves to the read
ers of The Times. while others are
likely to be contested.
Thus Lord Rosebery is inclined to
attribute much of the spread of de.
mentia to the haste and restlessness
of our modern twentieth century life,
Z which show themselves in an entire
absence of repose and in the develop
ment of perfect mania for speed, not
only where motors are concerned, but
also in steamship and railroad travel.
To this many will be disposed to
take exception. In no country of the
world is hurry developed to such a de-
gree as in the United States. Yet sta
tistics go to show that .he ratio of in
sanity to the population is net in any
sense larger, but, on the contrary, ra-
Their smaller than that among many
European countries, where more leis-
ure ways and methods prevail.
If people are kept so busy here il.
America that they have but little time
for thought and quiet reflection, they
likewise have no time to brood upon
the subject of their real or imaginary
wrongs and miseries, and the result
is that we find here much less of that
morbid introspection which when al
lowed free rein, too frequently devel-
ops into monomania.
Strenuosity q Remedy.
4. Strenuosity of mind and body are to
such degree regarded by the leading
alienists as beneficial in cases of dis
eases Of the mind that we find them
endeavoring to cure Queen Sophia of
Sweden of her religious melancholia
by compelling her to perform the most
arduous kind of housework and gar
dening. while chess, the most intel
lectually absorbing of games, was pre-
scribed with some success for the ~,
sovereign, Prince of Lippe, who spent
the greater part of his reign under
Srestraint. Leisure exists to much
greater extent in the old world than
in America, where everybody is led
by necessity, by heredity and custom,
to labor for the sake of fame or
wealth. Where leisure is applied to
philanthropy, to study, etc., it ceases
to be leisure. But when not thus en-
ployed It becomes idleness, and the
latter is one of the chief promoters of
insanity.
The Rush In America.
e.. OF course it cannot be denied that in
America the absence Of repose is every
year becoming more pronounced, and
to those who can recall conditions here
twenty-five or thirty years ago the
change in this respect appears most
marked. People, especially in the big
cities, allow themselves SO little time
for quiet reflection from the moment
they arise until the hour when they
retire to bed. that they may be said
to do everything on the spur of the
moment and without due considera-
ton. That they should make so few
mistakes under the circumstances
speaks volumes for their intuition,
their mental alertness and their sound
ness of judgment.
4. There is an old adage in Europe to
the effect that second thoughts are al
ways the best. But here in America
it is the first thought that always OBJ
tains, and almost invariably with adj
vantage. That Americans experience
occasionally the need for quiet and
ayndisturbed reflection, however, is
shown in a very curious manner. In
those of the churches which are sit
..uated in the business districts of the
various great cities. and which remain
open throughout the day, there are
usua11v tn he found nrOminent huS.