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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![IS The depra-tmcut for tlie women is surrounded by a wall, and entered through a gate the porteress of whieh is a lunatic. The wall is employed almost entirely to separate the sexe:-:. It is found impossible to allow to the women at Fitz James the same liberty as is enjoyed by the men, solely because the admixture of the sexes is undesirable. If the male and female departments were placed at a greater distance from each other, the women's department would be also without walls, and .some of the patients would be employed in tield work, which is frequently done by women in all parts of I'ranee. 3. The next feature of the establishment is the care, well worthy of imitation in public institutions, with \\ hich one part is made to fit into and work with the other, so as to make the entire undertaking, as much as ])ossible, self-contained and self-supporting. Vegetables and fruit required tor the patients at the colony are grown at the farm, and a considerable quantity of corn also, though not enough for the entire supply. This is ground by steam at the farm, scut to the a.'^yhun at Clermont, and made into bread foi- the use of the entire institution. Cows are kept, and milk for the supply of all thus obtained; and no small part of the meat required for. consumption is obtained from cattle, bred, reared, and fattened at the farm. Whilst the farm thus supplies food, the clothes for the patients are made and repaired almost entirely in the asylum proper : bedding is also made and repaired there, and all necessary carpenters' and painters' woi-k is done ; the washing foi- the entire establishment is done by the Avomen at Fit/, James. The entire establishment is said to be extremely remunerative ; whilst the ])rice at which indigent patients are received, is less than the sum which they are found to cost in most of the departmental asylums of France. Dr. Labirte, Avriting in 1861, says of the establishment of I'^'itz James—Tiu' colony has no\v existed in its completeness for four years, and every day we note its success in the more prompt amelioration in the mental condition of the sick who ai-e suscejitible of euro, and in the facility which we find in directing and occupying those who at first were regarded as tiu'bulent and iiicapable of rendering the least service.'— We are then convinced that tliis system of colonization is most efficacious to arrive at non-restraint and 'la vie a Tair libre', which are the subjects of so much discussion. All idea of restraint and seclusion tends to disappear in a place of residence which pi-esents no character of seclusion, and Avhere everyone pursues, with as great liberty as possible, his usual avocations, and meets in a life in common, wisely directed, an example of order and of work. That the establishment has been a su.ccess since the time this was written may be .seen from its Dresent condition, and from the fact that another farm of equal extent has been lately added. A full examination of the system of Farm A sylums shows that it is economical, and calculated to promote the comfort and happiness, and be beneficial to the mental health, of the inmates. At the farm there are twenty-two itUot or imbecile boys, for whom the country air is considered beneficial. They have a day-room, a school, and a dormitory, com])letely separated from those occupied by the other patients. They spend tour hours a day in school; and in the intervals of lessons, some occupy themselves on tin: farm or in cleaning the courts, and the remainder walk or play in the fields. AVhen they have attained a certain age, they are sent, if sufficiently tractable, to the workshops at the asylum, and taught a trade. At the asylum there are, from among these childi'en, two tailors, a shoemaker, a carpenter, and a joiner, usefully occupied. There is a gradually growing belief in the AA-isdom of employing the insane in outdoor, and especially agricultural, avocations ; and the Department of the Seine, lately engased in remodelling its institutions for the insane, has endeavoured to adopt, to some extent, the principle of the Farm Asylum at the beautiful new asylums of Ville EATard and A^aucluse, both situated immediately beyond the suburbs of Paris. Each of these asylums, intended for the more quiet class of the insane, and for such as are likely to be benefited by agricultural labour, has attached to it 700 acres of land. Excellent fiirm buildings have been erected ; and it is intended to practise agriculture on a large scale, Avith all the accessories of good implements and machinery, by means of the inmates.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21292450_0026.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
