A letter addressed to the Right Hon. Robert Peel : in consequence of a motion lately made in parliament for leave to bring in a bill for the better regulating of lunatic establishments / by David Johnston.

Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter addressed to the Right Hon. Robert Peel : in consequence of a motion lately made in parliament for leave to bring in a bill for the better regulating of lunatic establishments / by David Johnston. 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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    funds voted by the general councils of departments, or the councils of municipalities, subject always to the approbation of the minister of the interior. Like all hospitals and hospices, the establishments for the reception of lunatics are under the surveil- lance of the minister ; their internal administration, however, is under the charge of the local authorities, and more particularly of the commissions appointed in each Department for directing its hospitals. At the head of this commission is the Prefect, who no- minates the other members. In the lunatic institutions of France, of whatever description they may be, every lunatic who is pre- sented, is received without respect to any circum- stance which may render his malady more or less incurable or dangerous. The causes, the duration, the character, the complication of malady, whatever these may be, furnish no motive for exclusion. For the simple admittance or dismissal of a lunatic, there is no legal formality, but there exist local regula- tions to prevent the abuse that a want of due for- mality might be apt to raise against individual li- berty. To be admitted into the hospitals of Paris, certain forms must be observed, prescribed by the general hospital council, or by the prefect ol police.
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