The Sun. — 1826-04-26 (London, England)

THE. LONDON JOURNALS.  I AYLY EXTRACTS `FROM THE MORNING PAPERS, APRIL: 26, 1826.  [MORNING. inutAtp.] Return of all. the houses licenced for the recep, tion of Lunatica in Great Britain, the,names ofte PrOPrietors, .and the number of patients confined in each, has been laid before the House of Commons. We have. otily to regret that the information contained in this document is so. meagre and defective. From many counties there is no return at all, and among these is the county of Middlesex, where there are so many honks licenced for, the reception of lunatics. From some there is a. return of the patients confined not only in private mad-houses, but also in public asyltuns. From others no return of the number of patients confine& in the latter, and from only one establishment, the Shrewsbury House of Industry, is there any return to show whether the house is regularly visited by medical men ; so that we have no means Of ascertaining the exact number of patients, nor the manner iuwhich they are treated in the different asylums throught4he country. The latter species of infOrmariqn, however, is by far the most important, and tomake the document complete. such. returns as the following ought to have been called for, the names of the visiting physicians to every public and private asylum throughMA the kindom—the number of times they had visited the asylum each yeas--what 'complaints against the proprietors or keepers had been made before any Magistrate) and how these. had been disposed of.; the result of any inquiries that had been instituted for the purpose of correcting abuses in public asylums—also affidavits by the visiting physicians,. certifying, from their own personal knowledge, what was the mode of treatment adopted. by the proprietors of these private read-houses--whether, they considered it the best, and whether, for aught they knew, it might be of such a nature as to harass and.. irritate the feelings of the unhappy patients, and thereby prolong. the malady,..for the, purpose of answering the views of those interested. If such returns were made, it is extremely probable, that in some parts of them. there would be sad blanks; thst in others it would, be found that complaints had been made before Magistrates, and that inquiry bad been left to physicians, or to the friend of physicians, interested in concealing abuses, and that the visits of physicians, particularly to private Mad-houses, were, like 'those of angels,. few and far between. In former numbers of this paper, we called the attention of our readers to the abuses that were supposed to exist in private, Mad-houses. We say supposed, because the mysterious manner in which such establishments are conducted' prevents' the public from ascertaining 'correctly their real state. A number of letters from. different individuals bore, testimony to 'such abuses, Mid contained plans for reinedying them. We believe, however, that no remedy will be effectual, till the siole management is taken out of the hands, of physicians, and till the public be made acquaintedwith the froceedings that take place in these abode's of misery. fhe relatives of the patients. might object to this. -They-might as welt however, object to the publicity given to evidence taken at .Coroners' Inquests, and we can see no reason why the law of England should sanction it in one case and prohibit it in the other. Such a Court of Inquiry was instituted for the benefit' of the public in general, and tiur checking the wicked attempts of relatives, or of persons re.. siding in the same house, who might .be interested in the death of any member of the family. What reason, therefore, can there be for this se. crecy in the treatment of Lunatics ? A murderer is commonly regarded as the greatest of. criminals, but there is no reason why that man should not be equally abhorred and. punished, whoe fi.om selfish moti-iss, subjects a fellow creature to unmerited insult and hopeless confinement„ement, and thereby confirms a disease which is worse than death. The keepers of private Asylums are interested parties. We should be sorry to suppose that many of them resort to improper modes of treatment, for the purpose of prolonging the captivity of their patient, but we have no hesitation in saying that such instances clooccur,. and that one solitary instance et a human creature being needlessly confined and driven by cruel treatment to confirmed madness, ou_ght to be a sufficient reason for the interference of the gisleture. Itwere better, indeed, that all such places were declared illegal, than that the present mysterious .system should be continued.. In the. public. Asylums throughout the kingdom, the. patients. are more regularly visited by medical men than the private estab, lishments—the public are occasionally admitted, and eonsequently some•apinion can be formed of the manner in which the patients are treated:;. but. those of a private description are as inaccessible to the public as the bastale was in the reign of Louis XV., or as the state prisons of the Grand Seignior are at the present day. Every establishment is liable to abuse, unless the proceedings be occasionally laid before the • public ; and when it is recollected that ho many of our fellow creatures are cenflued throughout the country in places of this description,' every friend , of humanity must admit the necessity of some change: , From the iiriperfect Returns laid before the House it would apper that 7,904 persons have been, entered into the Registers as Loanitics frour.lBls to 1824. In Some lerge towns the number of women exceeds that dwell in the proportion of six to seven; in others of five to. six, and from the Return made this year,hy the. Physicians of Bethlem Hospital to the Court of governors, it appears that . the number of women in that establishment exceeds that of men by nearly one half. The proportion of inert to women, however, in the gross amount, is as four to three. There has been no return from IrelancL In that country, with all its poverty and wretchedness, we believe instances of Suicide are much less frequent than in England'; and it is ex:tremely probable- that the number of Lunatics bears a „similar proportion. It would, therefore, be interesting to ascertain the number of both these eases in Ireland,in order to compare them. with 60e of Great Britain.  [