Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-02
Laws Need Amendment.

LIE laws SHOul0 De so amenued tndt
access to hospital for the insane could
he easy. In fact, entrance to such an in
stitution should be easier than that to
other hospitals, for the reason that in
many cases of incipient insanity the pa
TENTS know there is something the matter
with them. and are willing and anxious
for treatment. II such cases are placed
Immediately under the care Of expert
alienists their mahdy is cured and they
are sent home In perfect mental condition
again. AS it is at present the big insane
hospitals obtain cases, many of them be-
yond material aid. after a narrowing
court commitment and in truly pitiable
condition.
There are in the insane hospitals Of
this country about 10000 patients. or
about one-haR of the known mentally
weak persons of the nation. These $50,
GOO unfortunateS are cared for at esti-
mated cost of $20,000,0O0 annually. 1t is
into serious economic as we'll as socio-
logical problem, and one which requires
not only the attention Of the medical pro-
fession. but the nation at large.
Insane persons have the same feelings
and impulses as normal human beings.
but they lack the faculty of fully carry
ing out these feelings and impulses. With
the exception of extreme cases, the mod
ern care OF the insane is almost the
same as that of any other patient. HUI
given insane patients, just as such treat
ment is extended to other patients il sat
isfactory results are to be expected
An Erroneous idea.
The lecturer declared that the popular
idea concerning persons suffering from
mental weaknesses that they are danger
Gus and should be kept continually under
restraint is erroneous. and such ideas
should be eliminated from the public mind
as quickly as possible, in order that it
might appreciate the true condition of at
fairs and lend material aid to the medical
profession in caring for and handling this
class of unfortunates.
He said these ideas of insane persons
originated in the attitude assumed toward
insanity in the seventeenth century and
thing for insane men and women to be
burned at the stake as witches incar-
cerated in underground dungeons, chained
perpetually to posts or seats in public
almshouses and sometimes exhibited in
cages for the benefit of an ignorant and
superstitious public.
The first real advance I'm the care of in
sane persons was in 1892, during the
French revolution, when noted physi-
elan at the time name Pennel obtained
permission from the commune to cut the
chains which bound the insane Of Paris
in the public poor houses The permits
sion was granted with reluctance, but
subsequent humane treatment of the I'M
fortunates by Pennel justified his request
to the commune.
This marked the advance in the care
Of insanity remarked Dr. White, land
it has gradually grown until we have
what we believe really ideal modes OF
treatment in the twentieth century"
First American Asylum.
DR.. White said the first institution Tor
the insane was established in America at
Williamsburg, Va. in 1773. and the sec
ond at Philadelphia in 1917. He declared
from the later date American advance in
the handling of insanity by the country's
medical procession can be traced step by
step, each decade marking a substantial
Improvement.
I'VE have brought it to condition now
where we place female nurses over wards
of insane men numbering many as
fifty and sixty the lecturer declared
And, remarkable as 1t may seem to the
laymen.- these female nurses have been
pronounced success. Humanity and
consideration in the handling or the pa
tients is the secret of It,
The lecture ended with resume of the
needs enumerated above iii the entrance
of patients TO hospitals and the latter
care of patients discharged as cured
from hospitals. The lecturer dwelt at
some length in discussing the economic
side of the question of caring for patients
discharged from hospitals and .ne public
necessity of watching over them until
they became self-reliant.
1T is possible and should be done-it
is a serious matter for consideration
among men who have the welfare of their
human kind at observation-disclosures after
care as / have described il, will save
hundreds of unfortunate individuals from
a maniac's grave"
The lecture room was crowded with
members of the medical profession. in
Guiding many of the Districts well known
alienists and Psychologists.