Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine,  6 (1857–58), 214–21.

Madhouses and the Mad

Anon

Genre:

Essay

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Hospitals, Cruelty, Display, Commerce, Heroism


    Notes the 'amount of social humiliation' attending insanity (214). Laments the fact that, until the beginning of the nineteenth century, the insane suffered brutal treatment and were exposed, like wild animals, in public exhibitions. Observes that 'fifty years ago' humanity 'pierced the gloomy walls of the madhouse' and that 'eight or ten years ago' the 'perfect amelioration' of the lunatic took place. Adds that the old systems of treatment were conducted as 'profitable and highly productive branches of trade' and seem to have been 'studiously adopted to prevent the possibility of a natural cure', turning an 'inoffensive man' into a 'ungovernable savage'. Illustrates the 'evil and the good of both practices' with a veiled account of an actual visit to a madhouse. (215) Describes the gloomy and squalid surroundings of a madhouse and the violent fights which ensued between patients and guards. Explores how, six months later, 'science and medicine treats the aberration of the intellect' (218). Describes the various types of patient and their surroundings, and the 'keeper', whose cane caused stripes on the back of one patient. Entering the 'female wing', explains the violent behaviour of one patient as 'a simple case of temporally disordered functions, rendered incurable by the want of proper order and humanity in the arrangement of the inmates'. (219) Discusses the changes that have occurred in the care of the insane. These include replacing stone cells and 'implements of torture' with 'padded chambers' and the 'strait waist-coat'. Notes that this system of 'kindness, blended with resolution' renders the 'most obstreperous' controllable in weeks. The illustration depicts a ball held each year at Bethlehem Royal Hospital and 'other institutions' and seeks to represent the benefits of such an event. Concludes with a discussion of the work of Dorothea L Dix, a 'real missionary in the cause of humanity' who conducted an 'energetic' and successful campaign to improve the condition and treatment of the insane. (220).



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