Report on lunatic asylums / by Fredc. Norton Manning.
- Manning, Frederick Norton, 1839-1903.
- Date:
- 1868
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report on lunatic asylums / by Fredc. Norton Manning. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.
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![LUKATIC A.8rLL'M3. This system, as it exists in Scotland, is not without it.^ evils. The nuiMbm- of* pregnancies occurring in imbecile or insane patients, under such a system, is out ot all proportion to tliat which is found in close asylums—where also, unhappily, such a thing is not totally unknowii; and a momentary consideration of the life led by the parish fool or softy, even under the best circumstances, will show that it is by no means a desirable one. It has, for these and other reasons, met with the sharpest criticism in J^ngland ; and yet, on^ a study of the evidence whicli is adduced in its favour by Dr. Mitchell, and in the Eeports of the Lunacy Board of Scotland, its marked advantages are apparent; and it is impossible to do other than admit that, under such a system, fah'ly and strictly worked, a certain proportion of the chronic insane may, in almost all countries, be provided for and kept in comfort, happiness, and health, at a cheaper rate than in county asylums or the wards of poor-houses. The number, however, can never be very large ; and it is noteworthy that in Scotland, where the existence of a poor and scattered po])ulation—many of them of the cottier class—affords peculiar advantages for the carrying out of the system, the number of patients so acconmiodated is only one- third of the entire number of pauper insane, and has been slowly and steadily diminishing I'ver since the visitations of the Board commenced. A new country must, however, form a complete exception. There can be little doubt that it would be impossible now, and for many years to come, to provide such accouunodation as woidd be fitting, or to carry out this system to even the least extent in Xew South AVales, where the population is a changing one, the mass comparatively wealthy, and the class, with whom lodging and care is found for the patients in Scotland, does not exist. In America the system has attracted nuich attention ; but so far has been thought, and doubtless has been, impossible in the majority of the States of the American Union: but the Massachusetts Board of State Charities, impressed with what has been done in Scotland, has eloquently advocated a trial at least of it in Massachusetts, one of the oldest and most settled States of the American ITjiion. A considerable number of insane are provided for in private dwellings in Belgium, but instead of being scattered throughout the country they are collected in one District—the Colony of Gheel—a description of which, written'on the spot, and free, it is hoped, from the bias of extreme opinion, will show the nature and peculiarity of this insane Colony, which, spite of cross railways and diligences, has been visited by a large number of physicians and others interested in the care and treatment of the insane. The Colon)/ of Gheel, has been described by many of its visitors, some of whom have vaunted it highly, whilst others have deprecated it with systematic hostilitv. Trench, German, Belgiixn, and English literature is voluminous on this subject, arirl around the Coh)ny has arisen a storm of controversy. To M. Jules Duval* we owe the fullest description we have of the colony ; but^ nothing but personal inspection can satisfy any one really interested in the subject, or enable him to realize Gheel as it exists. The colony is situated in the district called the Campine, in the Province of Antv.erp, in Belgium. It may be reached either from Antwerp or Brussels: th(> railway going to the small town of Uerenthals, and the rcmaijider of the joiu-ney being luade in a dilir/eme. The colony includes an area of about :W,000 acres, aud'its populatiou IS 11,000, about a quarter of whom live in the town of Gheel, whilst the remainder are spread over the country around, in a total of 2,000 houses. In the town itself these liouses are usually of briek or stone ; but in the country around they are not nncommonlv made of osiers, plastered with mud, and thatched with straw or reeds. They are the dwellings, in fact, of a poor peasantry. Among this population are scattered the large number of 1,040 insane, sent from every part of Belgium, who are in charge of 780 hosts or nourriciers.! Of these, 100 are paid for by their friends, the remainder are paupers living at the cost of the commune to which they belong. They live in the TIT • / .^v'^'^'i^'i Colo'iie D'Alienes yivant en fainille et en liberte : Par Jules Dural, Ancien Magistrate Vice-President de la Commission Centrale de la Societe de Geograpliie de Paris -Paris 1867 t The term nonrricier is applied to those receiving indigent patients paid for by the 'public ; «-h,lst ho«t IS applied to t^.ose receiving patients paid for at superior rates by their friendi. The words, however, are used almost mdiscrimiaately. •](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21292450_0017.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
