Directions for the establishment and government of lunatic asylums / tr. from the French by E. Quincy Sewell.
- Alexandre Jacques François Brière de Boismont
- Date:
- [1840?]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Directions for the establishment and government of lunatic asylums / tr. from the French by E. Quincy Sewell. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![Directions for the Establishment and GoMmment of a Lunatic Asylum. By M. Brierre de Boismont, M. D., of the Faculty of Paris and Knight of the Legion of Honour. •[Translated from the French by E. Qoincy Sewii.l, M. D.] [The following paper received the prize offered in 1834, by the Society of the Medical and Natural Sciences, at Brussels, for the best memoir on the establishment of a Lunatic Asylum—its location—the disposition of its grounds—its internal arrange- ments—government and Medical attendance. The facts collect- ed in it would be valuable at all times, but they acquire additional importance at a period when the State of New-York is about con- structing an extensive asylum for its insane poor. In the hope that some of the suggestions may prove useful, the present trans- lation has been prepared and communicated to the Committee of Publication.] Experience has long since demonstrated the necessity of secluding the insane in asylums devoted to their safe keeping and proper attendance. But although all enlightened persons a°ree in the propriety of this, few are able to furnish the practical details that are indispensable to its success. There is scarcely a building, which in all respects, can be consider- ed as a model, and we are obliged to visit a number, in or- der to make a selection of what appears most useful in each. Many indeed of the modern asylums have been convents, al- tered or enlarged for the present purpose. Hence little uni- formity of plan exists, and none indeed with reference to the main object of the establishment. It is evident that a knowledge of the nature of the disease and its numerous and varying forms is essential to a proper construction of the building. No one, of course, can be bet- ter fitted to furnish a good plan, than a physician who has long studied the subject of insanity, and been familiar with its victims. The monomaniac—gay or sad—the turbulent, furious maniac—the individual disposed to suicide—the con- valescent—all require to be separated from each other, and to be removed according to the shifting condition of their](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21032397_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
