Insanity : its dependence on physical disease ... / by John P. Gray.

  • Gray, John P. (John Purdue), 1825-1886.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Insanity : its dependence on physical disease ... / by John P. Gray. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

    17/54 (page 9)
    Their transfer to the exclusive care and control of med- ical men; the increase of the medical staff of hosj^itals; the disuse of harsh and cruel means of restraint; the greater attention to medication, diet, ventilation, and all hygienic means; all indicate the subordination of custodial to medical considerations in the conduct of such establishments. JPost mortem examinations have, in many cases, verified the assumed patholical causa- tion, and revealed the consecutive changes in the pro- gress of the disease and the relations of symptoms ob- served to these changes, in a sufficient number of cases, to justify and encourage more careful and exhaustive investigation. Besides, the advance in physiological and pathological anatomy, in the progress of medical science, offers constantly increased and more reliable means of prosecuting such inquiries. The special atten- tion now given to the nervous system, by the most able observers, is a further inducement to push inquiry in every possible direction, but especially toward changes in the functions or organic structure of the nervous sys- tem, that can throw any light on the subject. Agai]3, the vast number of insane, and the j)ossible fact of in- crease of the disease beyond the ratio of the increase of population, makes it all the more important and imper- ative that no opportunity should be neglected which promises the least light or relief Two years ago I recommended the appointment of a special pathologist, that such investigations might be made as are demanded by the progress of medical sci- ence. The managers of the asylum responded to this recommendation, and the results were so satisfactory, that I felt fully justified in asking that the appointment