The Press. — 1858-08-28 (London, England)

TIIE LUNACY QUESTION.  THERE is something so horrible and dreadful in the notion of a sane human being actually being shut up in a lunatic asylum, that it is no wonder, when there seems good ground to fear that such events do take place, that an alarm should be created, and that the most stringent measures should be called for to prevent the recurrence, or continuance of similar cruelties. It is well that thus it should be, and we are glad, therefore, to see that the public mind is aroused to the necessity of a more vigilant inspection being established over private asylums. The cases of alleged lunacy which have recently appeared in the newspapers, coupled with certain admissions from the Commissioners of Lunacy, which prima facie, until explained, appear to imply considerable dereliction of duty on their part, evidently call for some change in the existing system ; but at the same time great care should be taken not to rush into an opposite extreme, which may be productive of great public mischief. The difficulty of placing restraint upon persons who are really insane is, we believe, at present greater than it ought to be, and in confirmation of this opinion we appeal to the constant reports contained in the newspapers of deeds of horror which are perpetrated by madmen who have been left in possession of their liberty, and the numberless suicides which the coroners inquests return as done by persons who are insane. These events prove, at any rate, that if some persons who ought to be free are confined, yet that  B',lo  numbers of persons, who are allowed to go free, ought to have been subjected to restraint. Now, we loathe and condemn, as strongly as any one, the conduct of those, who, taking advantage of their position as relatives, for their own ends, consign an unhappy individual, who is really sane, to the walls of a lunatic asylum. It is, perhaps, more than anything else calculated to drive a man niad ; and if our contemporaries were only directing their energies to cause measures to be taken to prevent so monstrous and fearful an outrage being ever again committed, or prolonged, we should have not one word of caution to say against the tone and object of their articles. But it appears to us that, by the cry which sonic of them are raising against private asylums, and by the obstacles which they would raise to the imposing restraint upon auy person, they are running the risk of creating a far greater evil than the one which they are desirous of remedying ; for, if the amount of human suffering now arising from the improper confinement of sane persons were to be weighed with the amount of suffering occasioned by the liberty possessed by insane persons, it would probably be found that the suffering arising from the latter cause is twenty-fold greater than that arisint, from the former : for, even under the present law, and its admitted defective administration, the difficulty of placing restraint—arising from the unwillingness of friends and relations to have recourse to so extreme a measure, and their ignorance how to set about it—is so great that hundreds, more probably thousands, of persons who ought to be restrained are at full liberty, to the great danger of their own lives, and those of their families, and neighbours. IVhen a neighbourhood has been horrified by some frightful catastrophe, there is no lack of persons to cry shame on the relatives of the unhappy being, whose frenzy occasioned it. They are condemned for having shrunk from the discharge of a disagreeable duty, and for having preferre the chance of an awful crime being committed to incurring the responsibility of preventing it. flow many families are there at this present moment, where the wretched wife and children lie in daily dread of some murderous assault on themselves, or of the realization of suicidal propensities ? If the relatives of the criminal lunatics now in Bedlam had done their duty, many a valuable life would have been spared. IVe therefore deliberately affirm that we believe, so far from its being advisable to increase the difficulties of placing restraint on half, or wholly insane individuals, increased tiicilities, if possible, should be given in order to enable it to be done. None but those who have passed through the ordeal can tell the fearful amount of terror, and anxiety, which a family has to go through, from the first indications of the complaint, till its complete establishment admits of no doubt. There are few individuals, not in their right mind, who are not capable of talking on various subjects with the most perfect sanity and calmness. The intellectual powers of insane persons are not unfrequently greater than they were before their calamity came upon them and persons whom their own family know perfectly well to be insane will conduct themselves towards acquaintances as sanely and agreeably as ever.  Now one of the demands which is being made is to give more publicity to cases of insanity. The effect of so doing will be most disastrous, both to the sufferer and to his family. Every professional man, who has to deal with the malady, will tell you that the chances of recovery mainly depend upon early treatment of the case. If the friends of a person know that they can onlv cause him to be subject to medical treatment, at the expense of his being, for ever after, publicly branded, as having been insane, how much more will they shrink from the early measures necessary for his restoration than they do at present ? How long will it be before an affectionate wife, or parent, or child will bring themselves to take the fatal step which shall fix for ever a public brand upon the husband, the child, or the parent ? and yet by the delay the evil day may be only postponed, at the same time destroying the hist chance of recovery.  These are considerations of the most important nature, which, in dealing with so distressing and delicate a subject, should never be lost sight of; and in amending the present system, which the recent cases render imperative, care ought