Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-09-05
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IA = : u y ~ - 49,
medical Science, incalculabe in
lis importance is foreshadowed
q s.sin che gift by Henry Phtpps oi
100000 to Johns Hppkins University
5fal; the study % insanity
Mr. Philips has figured in number
OF requests that had for aln the
alnclio,ation of physical suffering He
gave 81, 100000 TO found the Phipps n
stitute for Tuberculosis Rcsearch III
philadelphia
t,,tion is perhaps even more important
from the fact that It means the be
~ ginning of i treatment on q big sctilc
OF tbe woes OF the mentally uhSouna,
whose humanitarian effects should De
far reaching,
battled for 81 cure for consumption. 5bnt
81 ia only within the last few years
that Intelligent modes of treating the
mentally unbalanced have been work
ed out.
There ave. few more perpleXing pro-
positions with which medical science
has 10 do than disorders Of the brain.
Not many years ago the unfortunate
s5:lunattc was treated as Il beast cHahed
and Gagged with scant consideration.
When The time came that the presence
Z of an insane, or moderately insane per-
son, jill the community, became "
neri1 then incarceration was ordered,
n and IL not completely n lullatic when
The process began, the unfortunate
i, victim was reasonably sure 70 pc SO
: before it ended.
PROMPTED BY TEiAWs CASE.
1t is said that Mr., Phipps was at
tracted to the need Of developing more
enlightened more humane methods BY
=, 4.,f5 'I'EuIy The DnDpar-
4 ance OF that unfortunate young man
lin court stimulated Mr. I'hipps 10 the
need of finding means not only to treat
Insanity after it becomes clearly de-
fined. but also to find a way Of check
ing ii in The incipient stages.
The purpose OF the institution which
3 Mr.. I'hipps has founded win be to de-
vote special attention 10 the work of
f preVenticn, which necessarily includes
the ability to make correct diagnoses
of5those forms OF disease which upset
the delicate balances of the brain
aE The ineed for such an Investigation
e is evident, for. making due allowance
( forsall exaggerations, lt-is an undoubt-
ed fact that insanity In the United
"A States Is; 81, the increase. Ii Is going
#al,tad Of the growth of population.
Whatever can be done TO discover the
underlying causes OF this tendency VIII
constitute n service OF the highest or
der.
Professor William n. Walsh of Johns
Hopkins has Just made announcement
al that the money will be expended for
! the founding of a psychiatric clinic on
the linesEof a number of similar Or
galiizations In Europe.
5.#s The funds Will pay3fo the erection os
Z a four-story building on the grounds
4 Of the university, 10 accommodate six
ty$tpatients. together with rooms for
private patients, modern apparatus for
use In the treatment nf patients, and
laboratories for the investigation Of
mental abnormaltics by pathological,
chemical and psychological methods.
~ In addition the beuuest will permit
the engagement of experts of the first
order as doctors and nurses.
TO PREVENT VIOLENCE.
How completely helpless is the public
l#in8the face of the deeds of the mentally
undermined is shown time and time
sngain. The case of Harry Thaw, con-
fined now in an asylum for the ctln-
y inally Insane. Is mn excellent instance
Properly the condition Of this unfort-
innate young man should have been
known. long before he committed tho
terrible deed that wrecked his lifa
and that Of his unfortunate mother
and family.
An advanced understanding OF the
5Eincipient stages of insanity would have
7 nSfantly8 told MS family physician that
tho young millionaire was mot q safe
person to be at large, Then at a
youthful age. before the advanced
stage of insanity would have
been given opportunity to develop.
Harry could have been taken in hand
for treatment and turned out either q
restored, healthy and normal man. fit
ted for a place In the worlds activities.
nraff that We're not possible, then Kept
sin comfortable retirement where he
could do no harm.
= This is what the advanced knowledge
of mental disorders ought to be able
to bring about.
One OF the great recent discoveries as
Ito the cause OF mental difficulties deals
with the relieving of pressure on the
brain. Surgeons have found that in
many cases knocks sustained In youth
whiie1the bony framework of the skull
was only in the hardening process,
led to n permanent malforlnation Of
The skull, with the result that where
an indentation had been made there
q was u pressure on the brain
This led to q painful influence on
ii the circulation OF the blood through
She scat of the thinking and reason
ing powers and often caused insanity.
INSANITY DISEASE OF BLOOD
BY experiment. surgeons concluded
that it would he possible to cut the
skull, remove the indented piece of the
skull that caused the pressure, and