The prevention and repression of crime : being a report of the fifth section of the International Congress of Charities, Correction and Philanthropy, Chicago, June, 1893 / edited by Frederick H. Wines.

Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The prevention and repression of crime : being a report of the fifth section of the International Congress of Charities, Correction and Philanthropy, Chicago, June, 1893 / edited by Frederick H. Wines. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    buoyant with hope and daring schemes for the future. Without prudence or judgment, they always fail, then resort to stimulants to drown their feelings, or in reaction from the change. They are sober men in the high-tide of expectation, when all is clear and the path smooth, but from the first obstacle or discouragement drink precipi- tately. When they come to the asylum they are melancholy and rave against fate, and after a time have high expectations of getting well, but never work for it, trusting it all into the hands of their friends. Although planning for the future, they seem to be governed by the knowledge of their past failures, and relapse on the slightest temp- tation or source of irritation. After a few weeks' residence in an asylum they clamor to be released, and make all their surroundings very disagreeable, often relapse and get turned away, go to another asylum, and react the same scenes over. In the meantime they try various methods for cure, keeping their friends buoyed up with hope that is never realized. At any time they are plunged into the deepest melancholy, and not unfrequently commit suicide. If they commit crime, it is of a petty character and against property. They are usually filled with delusions that they can do what others cannot, and will escape where others fail. These cases come from good families and surroundings generally ; and are often sporting-men, and politicians, and followers of new movements and new creeds of religion, or active patrons of lotteries and games of chance, buyers of chances in Wall street and pools at a horse-race. If they win anything, they drink in elation, and when drunken grow melancholic for a time and want some one to help them get well. These cases end often in paralysis, epilepsy and suicide. Such are some of the most prominent facts which a study of these classes reveals. We come now to the practical consideration of treatment. Here we Jitid the management of inebriates passing through the same stages as that of insa7iiiy. The care of the insane was for many years without system and classification, and this was and is one of the greatest obstacles in the successful treatment of this class. The testimony of writers and observers is unanimous in condemning the system which places all classes of insane together. The effect on the mind, by contact with others of a different form of disease, is not unfrequently the starting-point of a condition more or less chronic. The general want expressed by all observers is facilities for a more perfect classification, so that the surroundings shall aid and not present any obstacles in recovery.
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