Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-07-25
WORK INSANE CAN DO.


Mild Madmen Make Kind Children's
Nurses, Says Mr.. johnson.
Wanted, an insane nurse for a
baby" That is the sort of advertise
ment that may be appearing presently,
|if patients agree with Alexander
Johnson, who spoke at the School of
Philanthropy yesterday on Care of
the insane" says the New York Trib-
une. Mr.. Johnson touched on the
practice of boarding out insane peo-
pie who are capable of working, a
practice which is followed quite ex-
tensively in Scotland and some other
European countries, but which only
one of the massachusetts
adopted so far. He said the insane
of this class were perfectly able to
earn their living, and, among other
things they could do, insane men
made the best nurses for children he
had ever een-affectionate, faithful
and kind
There are any number of people
with mental twist who are yet cap
[ able of filling useful place in the
world he said my friend who
cobbles my shoes is one | know Go
to modern institution for the insane
and you will probably find that the
letter carrier who goes in and out
through the gates and a mile away to
| the postoffice Is one of the patients.
The huge three-story or four-story
building in which the insane, both
durable and incurable, violent and
mid, were alike herded behind bolts
and bars, is horror of the past.
Nowadays an institution of the best
! type for the insane will have seventy
or eighty buildings, in which the
patients are living home life, and
thousands of the insane in institu-
tions lie down and rise up, month
after month, without a key being
turned on them. And not being
locked up, they are willing to stay
around. Try it on yourself some
night. If you were locked in your
bedroom you'd be insane to get out.
but, being free to go out, you don't
desire to"
Mr.. Johnson spoke earnestly of the
need of the best facilities for the
prompt treatment of the insane. The
possibility of cure diminishes one
half with every three months" he
said. There is twice the chance
OF curing man who has just become
insane that there is when he has
been insane three months, and twice
the chance then that there is when
the insanity has lasted six months.
Psychopathic wards for the oDserva-
ton of those supposed to be insane
are beginning to be a feature of our
hospitals, and I wish there were more
of them. You don't have to go through
any tiresome process of commitment
to enter one of these wards. You
can even drop in by yourself and say
that you think you are insane and
| would like to be under observation
for a while; that is what is called
voluntary commitment. That is be-
ing advised nowadays to teach people
that there is nothing to be ashamed
of in insanity. Insanity is not a
crime, as The feeling was once: it is
4 a sickness. no more to be ashamed of
than headache. OF course IL We
knew enough. we'd be ashamed of
headaches. and I've known men with
headaches in the morning they should
have been ashamed of: but as a gen.
eral thing, physical sickness isn't ac-
counted disgrace. and insanity is a
physical disease. All authorities do
not agree vita this, but most physi-
clans hold, and I believe rightly. that
there never was a mental disease
without physical disorder somewhere
And-this is curious thing. consider.
ing that innumerable delicate CON.
volutions the brain has-you NAV ex-
anime the brains OF thousands OF In.
sane without finding the slightest le-
sion
Mr.. Johnson paid his respects in
passing to the people who advocate
the lethal chamber for the incurably
insane. The argument of Why not
put them out OF their misery?'- he
observed severely. belongs to the
reign Of gross materialism. which
trust win not come in my day or
yours. Such as these must be kent
clean and comfortable and there are
many Of them who are capable of a