The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-06-19
 UNSHACKLING TIE INSANE
EDWIN F. BOWERS, M. D.


cattle, and that their mental sickness
 was being aggravated by this fearful
 congestion.
 It became a question which the
 board of health was called upon to solve. MT. Wilson, assistant director of the department of health and charities, immediately adopted the Bedburg and Gheel systems, and put
 them into practical operation. He located a thousand acres of fertile. land at Buberry, in the suburbs of.
 Philadelphia, with farm houses aban-
 doned to the corroding influence of the elements. These could, however, be reconstructed at slight expense. and the surroundings were exception ally healthfuL
 Wilson brought out "a number of the mild cases from the municipal l asylum, and organized colony. The patients, working under adequate su-
 pervision, painted, remodeled, and re- paired the old buildings, and settled down in community houses, under the supervision of a man and his wife the latter assuming the duties of ma tron.
 Each colony now consists of about twenty-five men, mildly insane, but
 harmless, and willing to make them selves generally usefuI-aIl eager for | a share in the responsibilities and
 duties of farm life. From sullen, dis contented, prisoners, herded in an un- ] sanitary institution, with outlook grim and saturnfne, they are develop ing into responsible citizens of one of the most unique settlements in
 America.
 Almost immediately after their ad-
 nTittance to Byberry Farm, a decided change for the better seemed to take
 place in the physical, moral, and men tai status of these patients. The symptoms of mental derangement
 which had led to their committal to
 the asylum gradually cleared up.
 Agreeable and hea1tnfuI work in the open air afforded them proper exer- else. Amusements diverted their
 mindBs and wholesome interest in an active life, of which they felt they
 were an important integral part, i'm
 duced a radical betterment in their mental conditions.
 pr. Edward M. McLane, physician in charge, in commenting upon this i improvement says: s"The health of the men in the colonies is far better than, that of the patients in the institu-
 ton. The farmers are contented. ] They gradually learn to forget their grievances and manias under the in f1uence of liberty, work, sleep, and recreation. Their health is improved, and that has it's effect upon their mental condition. We have little or no trouble with those that have been
 placed in the cottages under the su- pervision of the matron and her hus- band. They are tractable and eager to remainN where they are Many of them actually object to returning home when they are declared cured.
 The percentages of discharges is in finite1y higher than at instituti ons, | and whereas the runaways from in- stitutions are as many as four a day, !, we have only rarely a case of a man attempting to escape.
 The "colonists'' are not restricted. They are guarded only in a general way, and are given carte blanche as to their choice of work. There is no attempt made to enforce a derTnite i task. There isn't any need for it. Each is glad to help keep the ball
 ro1hng.'' The cultivation of the farm, and the labor entai1ed thereby, is
 simply part of a beneficient method l of cure.
 When first admitted. it is difficult to teach the ''guests'' to work. But
 after they have comprehended what
 is expected of them, they take pride
 in exhibiting proficiency. The men raise practically all they consume in the shape of eggs, ducks,
 milk, fresh vegetables, and other
 farm produce. They also do all chores about the house, as we'll as in
 the barns and fields, and consequent 1 1y, the cost of maintaining them is
 brought down to a minimum. l Phi1adelphiats experiment at By
 berry has demonstrated the efficiency and, what is perhaps even more in l teresting to state and city govern rnents grooming under the steadily in creasing burden of asylum support 1 the economy of colony treatment for l the mentally defective.
 The general adoption of this plan
 promises solution of the pressing
 problem of dealing with the insane. | Those who might be incurab1e get
 well quickly-and they practically
 support themselves during the pro-
 cess.
 This must inaugurate a new era,
 and will appeal to both the humani-
 tarian and the pocketbook side of our interest
 l Twenty or twenty-five years ago,
 these ideas and methods were so novel I-so unuSua1-that their promuIga-
 tors were regarded as mildly tinctured
 with the maladfes of their patients. 1 Now, time and experience have jUsti- fled the pioneer innovator's splen- 1 did vision.
 For the non-restraint treatment of
 the psych opath in increasingly rec
 ognized as the one method which re- places their drear-sou1ed despair with l the bright dawn of a hope for eventu-
 ally recovery-even though this hope, las yet, exists but for a small fraction 1 of the cripp1e-minded.
 We have looked upon the lunatic i with dread and suspicious horror; we
 may now treat him with sympathy | and intel1igently directed kindness. l The mad-house was a prison; now it may be a refuge. Time was, when to be sent to asylum was practically l equivalent to burial. In fact, death
 were preferable to lingering through
 a miserable existence-every day an eternity of suspense to family and 1 friends-ended only when they | brought the broken body home. | But now-even though the percent
 age of actual cures is pitifully meagre 1 l-zcomes to the insane the apprecia- l ton that, at least, humane treatment, kindly manifestations, and feasible
 creature comforts are being dis ! pensed.
 1 For the 1eSven of hunanitarianism I is working amongst us. We are
 realizing that asylum treatment mere