The history of the first inebriate asylum in the world / by its founder [Jonathan Edward Turner]. An account of his indictment, also a sketch of the Woman's national hospital, by its founder.

  • Turner, J. Edward, 1822-1889.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of the first inebriate asylum in the world / by its founder [Jonathan Edward Turner]. An account of his indictment, also a sketch of the Woman's national hospital, by its founder. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    495/512 (page 491)
    better for tlie wealthy men of tlie country to dispose of their horses and carriages to found an inel)i’iate as^dum for women, and their fasliionable Mdves to ])awn tlieir diamonds to sup2)oi-t it, than to live as man}- rich peo2)le are existius: with such skeletons in the home. Such miseries aud burdens will repeat themselves through all o-enerations. The foliowino; letter ^vas written by one of the noted physicians of New York, and one of the favorite ])upils of the late Dr. Valentine Mott, and will describe the lady that Dr. White referred to: No. 18 West Twenty-Third Street, ! New York City, June Gtli, 1872. j Dear Doctor:—Is there any law by which a |)erson can be committed to an inebriate asyhun and kept tliere? I have a ])atient—the wife of one of the most wealthy, respected, and influential of our citizens—educated, intelligent, and accom- plished—drunk nearly all the time. In her rational moments she is one of the most charming persons I have ever seen, but in her drunken frenzy one of the most infuriated demons out of hell. What can I do for her? Yours truly, EGBERT GUERNSEY, M. D. Four of the most prominent inebriate Asylums in the United States have had ( as it is stated upon good authority) more than (15,000) fifteen thousand patients under treatment. The average treatment of these patients has been less than three months, and the num- ber cured has been estimated at from twenty to thirty per cent. It is also stated by the medical men who have been the superintendents of these institutions, that if the medical treatment with a perfect control over the inebriate patient had been one year, that more than fifty per cent of the 15,000 patients would have been cured. This fully establishes what Dr. Valentine Mott declared forty-five years ago, that when the inebriate was medically treated and controlled in a thoroughlv