Notes of a recent visit to several provincial asylums for the insane in France / by John Webster.

  • Webster, John, 1795-1876.
Date:
[1850?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes of a recent visit to several provincial asylums for the insane in France / by John Webster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    three others had their arms restrained by leather straps. Besides these six patients, one man was also shut up in his iron-barred cell, who certainly made a very great noise, and thrust his clenched hands through the unglazed window as if to strike. This individual, the attendants said, was so dangerous, that they did not think it safe to approach within arm’s-length of such an excited maniac. Another male patient, who had recently committed murder, was likewise confined to his caged bed in a solitary cell; but this man was quiet, although very filthy. Defer ring again to the female wards, I would repeat, the inmates were exceedingly noisy; and when passing through a court-yard, in which the most agitated female patients were confined, being accompanied only by the attendant sisters, I must acknowledge our position then seemed somewhat dangerous; and although I have often perambulated similar departments in France, as well as in other countries, our sojourn here was far from agreeable ; and my kind conductress thought so likewise, whilst she told me that one of the sisterhood had been almost strangled by a furious maniac then at large in the court-yard wTe had just visited. So little importance seems attached at this institution to employing the strait- waistcoat in refractory cases, that I was informed, if any sudden fit of phrenzy seized a patient, the sisters in the ward, at their own discretion, would at once put the party in a camisole, or shut up the lunatic in one of the caged beds, to which they were likewise even bound by ligatures; and this was done, they said, as well for the patient’s own safety as that of others, and even of the attendants’; the physician being, of course, duly informed of such proceedings at his subsequent visit to the institution. Notwithstanding the remarks now made respecting the employment of mechanical restraint at Bon Sauveur, which I have now detailed from personal observation and inquiry on the spot, the benevolent sisters perform tbeir painful duty amongst the many afflicted fellow-creatures by whom they are surrounded, most zealously and courageously, according to their own views respecting the nature and treatment of insane persons ; but the system and machinery now in operation in such an establishment is defective; and I unhesitatingly assert, however well disposed or charitable the holy sister¬ hood are undoubtedly, there ought to be resident medical attendants, with internes, having the sole and responsible control over every patient; the entire management being also remodelled and made conformable to the reeent laws enacted by the legislature, according to which every public lunatic establishment in France ought to be now governed. Employment to a considerable extent is carried out, both amongst the male and female patients; the former being frequently occupied in cultivating the extensive gardens of the hospice, in the lai'ge drying-house, or in various trades and handicrafts ; as also at a farm belonging to the establishment in the vicinity, where a portion of the insane patients are engaged in agricultural operations ; and although axes in cutting wood, or other dangerous weapons, are often put into the hands of the lunatics, no harm or accident, I was informed, has ever resulted from such employments. Amongst the female patients, knitting, sewing, household work, and various other occupations, for which women are by nature adapted, were likewise zealously encouraged and put in practice; so much so, that it gives me infinite satisfaction to finish this brief notice of the Bon Sauveur Asylum, by saying, however much I differ from the authorities of this institution, respecting their frequent recourse to mechanical restraint, the endea¬ vours constantly made to employ the insane patients are highly creditable and satis¬ factory. When alluding to the holy sisterhood of this large institution, arid the important position they still hold, it may be considered interesting to state, as an illustration of the persons often composing this religious body, that many belong to the upper ranks of society, of which the following is an instance. During my perambulations through the extensive apartments of the establishment, I was introduced to a noble “ Comtesse” connected with a distinguished family, formerly attached to the court of one of the recent kings in France, when royalty was still in the ascendancy. This lady had also moved in the first circles of London, where she likely joined, as also at Paris, in the gaieties of fashionable life. However, here she now was, clad in the plain flowing black dress of her order, with her head enveloped in an ample snow-white hood; the only ornament she wore being a silver crucifix on the breast. Although no friend to monastic institutions, ] could not but admire the devotion of this worthy individual, who had dedicated the remainder of her future existence and energies to attendance upon the sick, and to works of charity. That she had, nevertheless, not forgotten the