The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-31
DISCREDITS
 TESTIMONY Dr. Wyman as Expert
 Witness. NO FAITH IN LUNATICS Re Gives Timely Advice to the
 Commission. Hospital Is Praised And pr. searcy is Lauded.-- Commission Ad- journs to Meet in Tusca-
BY WILL T. SIBERIAN,

Birmingham, August 30--(Special Correspondence)-Dep can not be placed upon the testimony or in the statement of an insane person, he may or he may not tell t~e truth on sub 5ect outside of his field or delusion.
 Such was the opinion of pr. B. l.. Wyman. Dean of the Birmingham Medical College. before the State Com against the Bryce Hospital for the in- sane. Dr. Wyman had been summoned by Judge Chiffon, to give his opinion on the management of the Hospital at Tuscaloosa. he having been connected with several asylums of the country and being recognized as an authority on insanity.
 But the Commission was not so much interested in Dr. Wymans testimony upon the condition and the manage ment of the asylum as 1t was, in an authoritative statement on the value of an insane persons statement. In the mind of the Commission there was he thought: Here Is man who has made study of mental diseases. He is the man to help us settle the question Of lunatic's responsibility, for by far the larger part of the testimony given to the Commission has been given by lunatics" So a hypothetical question was framed and put to Dr. Wyman In these words:
 Suppose man was sane with the exception of one delusfon, that he was a paranoiac, but had recovered.
 "Paranoiacs never recover" said Dr. Wynan. interrupting.
 Suppose then there was a man who had been pronounced cured of insani- ty in which he had only one delusfon. would he be qualified as a witness?
 Could he truthfully describe eondi- tions and happenings, outside of the field covered by his delusion? was then asked Dr. Wyman.
 He could not" was the reply. He might accurately describe conditions which he had seen and there might be truth in his description. but there would in all probability be some un- truth as we'll. In other words. he might tell part of the truth. He might even tell all the truth. But 1t is very likely that no xonid tell more than draw the line of demarkatlon between truth and untruth. He could not be depended upon."
 One De1usion Patienfs.
 s'But the man who has only one de- fusion could not he have intelligent ideas on other subjects and could not he tell the truth on other subjectsT' was asked pr. Wyman.
 'sWhen man has one great central delusion, he invariably has subsidiary delusion clustering around 1t which may not be marked or apparent but in QlS fnlnQ they COlOT the whole plcIufe.
 These questions and answers went to the root of the issue Of the entire investigation. One insane patient after another had appeared before the Com mission. Some had apparently been persons of unusual intelligence. On every subject except one they had been quick and sane. Could the Commits sion believe what they gaid they saw and heard in the Hospital. when 1t was not apparently interwoven with their deIusions? Light on this question needed light, was thrown by the answers of Dr. NNyman.
 Dr. Wyman was connected with the Hospital over fifteen years ago as an assistant, while Dr. Peter Bryce was in charge as Superintendent He had also gone to New York where he was upon the staff of physicians of the Blackwell's Island Hospital He had other connections with the treatment of the insane. Throughout his profes- sional life he had made special study of the subject of insanity.
 He had visited the leading hospitals of the country and he went each year to the Tuscaloosa Hospital He made this visit regularly with the senior class of the Birmingham Medicals Coll lege, where lecture on insanity was given and where a public clinic was given at which the various types Of insanity we exhibited.
 The comments of Dr. Wyman on the Alabama Hospital were especially complimentary.
 q consider 1t one of the very best managed institutions In our Southern country. I think that 1t takes rank with the best in the United States. In some institutions it is possible that the patients are better fed. but those institutions are in States which make larger appropriations for the care of the insane than does Alabama"
 system is Endorsed.
 He heartily endorsed the system of the Alabama Hospital with its non restraint and open-air work features. He recalled that the Alabama Hospi- tai was one of the first in the country to adopt the "non-restraint" system of dealing with the insane. It's system of giving the patients occupation for their hands and minds had been copied by the principal institutions of the country.
 Dr. Wyman mentioned instances of patients who had been brought there while he was at the Hospital They were put under the regular system, given work in the field or garden, given a clean. healthy place in which to sleep and given nourishing food. He had seen scores of such patients recover without taking a single dose of medicine and return home restored to mental and physical health.
 Of Dr. Searcy. he said:
 He is a most competent man. He fills the place of Superintendent better than any man in the State could fill It. The State of Alabama would find it impossible to get better man"
 He also spoke highly of Miss Buck the Supervision of the Women's De partment She was, in his opinion. 'efiicient and strictly business. She was at the hospital while Dr. Wyman was serving there. He did not know Supervisor McDuff of the mems de- partments.
 The Commission touched upon an- other question which has been giving the members considerable thought. How could the supervision be improved so that patients would be absolutely protected against the anger or resent ment of nurses? Could any system be devised whereby the doctors could preYent absolutely the hl-treatment of