What asylums were, are, and ought to be : being the substance of five lectures delivered before the managers of the Montrose Royal Lunatic Asylum / by W.A.F. Browne.

  • William A. F. Browne
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: What asylums were, are, and ought to be : being the substance of five lectures delivered before the managers of the Montrose Royal Lunatic Asylum / by W.A.F. Browne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    o WHAT IS INSANITY. iiig of indignation tliat tlicse misfortunes sliould often be multiplied through the apathy, or ignorance, or cruelty ot those who have it in their power to become benefactors, in the noblest sense of the term, and in the noblest cause which can arouse virtuous ambition. Should this attempt to en- list in that cause the feelings of justice and mercy in every bosom, in anj' degree succeed, as b\' the blessing of a just and mercibil Ciod I trust it may, and should the cry for im- provement in public Asylums be raised where hitherto the silence of inditl’erencc has reigned, the only reward which I covet will have been obtained. What is insanity ? The question may be put and answer- ed in two senses; cither philosophically or jiracticallj^; ei- ther as directed to ascertain the actual condition of the mind which constitutes disease, or to determine that amount of diseased action which compromises the safety of the suffer- er, and justifies legal interference. Our chief concern is with the aspect which the disease presents, after the law has interfered. In order to arrive at just conclusions on such a subject, it is incumbent to understand something of the na- ture, the powers, and tlie laws of the mind while in po.sses- sion of health and vigour. This is generally overlooked in the investigation, and the verdict of the j)ublic and of a jury is as recklessly and ignorantly pronounced respecting men- tal strength, as if the points at issue were the discover}' of the perpetual motion or the utility of a comet. It is not to be expected that either of these tribunals should be com- posed of metaphysicians; but it is highly desirable that every man, qualified by his station in society to judge or legislate in such matters, should be competent by education to found and form his judgments on a knowledge of what consciousness and observation shew to be the laws of our spiritual nature. So vague are the ideas generally enter- tained, or, rather, so destitute is the great majority of even educated men of any ideas or definite opinions as to mental