A letter to the Metropolitan Commissioners in Lunacy : containing some strictures on the Act of Parliament, and observations on their report / by J. Haslam.

  • John Haslam
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to the Metropolitan Commissioners in Lunacy : containing some strictures on the Act of Parliament, and observations on their report / by J. Haslam. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    “ Divine Service, very few, if any, derive real be- “ iiefit from it.” This is an ample confesssion that the pious projectors of tlie 38th clause have been seriously mistaken, according to your own inquiries and observations: and if these ghostly therapeutics have failed in subduing the malady of insanity, it is presumed you can have no rational objection to confide the entire treatment of this disease to the medical practitioner. If no real benefit has resulted from the eelebration of Divine Service to an insane congregation, common sense would direct its discon- tinuance : but unhappily, you have been induced to persevere in a practice that has been exploded by your own observation and experience; you even ap- pear to eling, with all the foree that prejudiee sup- plies, to an objeet that has already disappointed, and which never can realize your expectations. What is your apology for this obstinate and per- verted adhesion ? After having asserted that “ very “ few, if any, (insane patients) derive real benefit from the celebration of Divine Service,” you say, (Report, p. 4 and 5) ‘Sve are nevertheless most anx- ious that, whenever they can attend with decorum, “ religious service should be regularly performed, “ and we feel this the more desirable, as we cannot “ but contemplate the probability of such a prac- c
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