The Washington herald., 1908-02-09

/ culosis Hospital at Buch. At Vienna J
visited the General Hospital lAllgemeines
/ Krankenhaus). and the ASYLUM. At
( Prague 1 visited the General Hospital
+ tAllgcmeines Krankenhausl and the
I psvci,atrc Clilic
In London I visited the Bethlehem
Hospital. the ClaybUTy County Asylum
and Guys Hospital in regard 10 all Of
/ these institutions / may say that the
problem OF insanity is very much the
same the world over, and has been solved
/ in general in the same way. The in
sttutions of the different countries differ
/ largely in matters Of detail which. Of
course, are more or less dependent upon
purely local conditions. In none of the
! Institutions however, did ! see evidences
/ Of the amount of liberty which IS SO con
splcuously feature of the American
hospitals. For instance. they were al
surrounded By walls, and seemed 10 ad-
/ here very strictly to distinct rules as Te-
CARDS hours Of visitation. &c. there being
apparently very little effort made 10 ac-
cOmmodate friends or relatives at other
times. Iu all of the institutions except
those IN France there is the single
/ headed manag cement
THE new institution near Munich,
/ EgeIdng, is perhaps the most beautiful
and the most complete in structural de-
/ tail Of any OF the Continental hospitals
I for the insane It was built TO accom-
modate 1.209 patients, and they have
/ almost that number there now.- and cost
betwesh G09.G59 and ac000 marks. or in
the neighborhood Of Sl,7oo or $3.50 per
/ bed. This is a beautifully situated hos
I Tital in the center Of an immense valley
/ OF excellent farming land. and consists
oI about sixty buildings entirely upon the
cottage plan. small cottages built 10 ac-
Commodate anywhere from twenty-five TO
forty patients They are all completely
equipped !n every detail and the archi-
lecture IS or an extremely pleasing type
Practically everything has been done 10
make This institution complete in every
detail. An the cottages are connected by
( a complete system Of tunnels, and the
most thorough sanitary provisions nave
been Installed throughout
At the asylum at Heidelberg ] was
particularly struck on entering 10 see a
class Of army surgeons assembling for d
1 lecture on psych.atry 1t is true that
since tho establishment in Washington OF
| the Army and Navy Medical Schools
/ the students have been sent 10 the Gov
/ ernment Hospital for the Insane to attend
/ the course of lectures on psychiatTy given
there each year.
It spent a most delightful afternoon at
Gheel. about half an hour from Antwerp
where the colony system has been in
vogue for SO many years. This Institution
extends its jurisdiction over many square
miles cf surrounding country. This coun-
Try is inhabited by "A simple peasant class.
whose sole occupation is tlling the fields.
The hospital receives only the quieter
class of patients. whom il is presumed are
suitable for colonizing, although it has
central hospital building where patients
can be taken care Of provided they be
come temporarily disturbed or are i'll.
arrangements are made by the hos
pital authorities with the peasant fami-
lies TO take one or two patients, for which
they are paid a nominal compensation,
receiving their main return in the work
which the patient is able to do. 1 visited
several houses where patients were cared
/ for in this way. In every instance the
houses were scrupulously clean and
severely simple
THE Eudegeest and Rhljngeest Hos
pitals are delightfully."- located in the
country district a few minutes ride from
Amsterdam. The former IS for the in
sane. Its construction and equipment are
very simple, but the physician who show
ed us through had a broad grasp Of
psychiatric subjects. had studied in Ger
many ard we found him strong i'm praise
of the continuous bath with which the
hospital was fully equipped. on the
grounds of the asylum is the house in
which DescaTtes used 10 live and write
and a hundred feet or so I'm front of it
q small monument erected TO his memory
"The manicomio 0nsane asylum At
Rome was the next one to be visited.
Our visit here was in many respects q
most remarkable experience. The main
entrance TO the hospital is in a dirty.
narrow little street, the front doorway
opening through high. forbidding look
ing wall that seems to reach an intermin-
able distance in every direction. on pass
ing this doorway one enters a small re-
ception hall from which a flight of marble
steps leads up to a large corridor. After
reaching this corridor one follows it for
several hundred feet as ii winds up a
steep hill. and finally opens on the re-
mains Of old gardens that were at one
time private property. In fact. the house
thar used to be occupied by the owner
of this magnificent site is now used as a
ward for some of the better class of pa
tients. Following the winding paths Of
the gardens still further 10 the top of
the hill / realized for the first time that
I had mounted 10 an eminence overlook
ing the city for there at cur feet was
the magnificent panorama of Rome. Di-
rectIy IN front of us was the Vatican,
the windows Of the Pope's chambers.
touchingIy referred 20 by the doctor as
the poor captive directly facing US.
"As to the hospital itself there is little
to be said in its praise. except that il
has a welI-eqnipped laboratory, which
showed evidences of being put to good
use. The first assistant, Dr. Bonfgll,
who very courteously conducted us
through the hospital. appeared himself to
be greatly interested in this side Of the
work and showed us a number Of most
interesting and instructive sections from
work that he was engaged in.
'"The care of the patients appeared to
be most deplorabie in every way. This
was especially noticeable in the disturbed
wards fox men. I have been living in
hospitals for the insane for some fifteen
f.reF.,l L .