Wisconsin county asylums for the chronic insane : a paper read at the National Conference of Charities and Corrections / by James E. Heg.

  • Heg, James E.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Wisconsin county asylums for the chronic insane : a paper read at the National Conference of Charities and Corrections / by James E. Heg. 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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    of one male and one female superintendent, doing all the work of the house and a large farm, with no doors locked, 'no resident physician, coming and going as they pleased, contented and as happy as they could be in their condition. Wisconsin has accomplished what other states must do. More than half of the present inmates in our state hos- pitals could be cared for in this way-better for the harm- less insane, much better and cheaper for the state. So great au authority as Hon. F. B. Sanborn of Massa- chusetts, who has made a full and thorough study of this question, said to this conference in 1892: I make the assertion and I challenge any one to prove the contrary that the state of Wisconsin comes at this moment nearer to the ideal standard of providing for every person the treatment best adapted to his needs than any state in the Union. I have studied this matter for years, have watched and examined the Wisconsin sys- tem, and have repeatedly stated (and it has never been 'disproved) that the insane of Wisconsin are better pro- vided for in all the essentials of treatment than the in- sane of any other state. In order to settle this question, however, I would here- with urge this Conference to appoint a committee to visit as many of our 23 county asylums as may be possible, talk with the inmates, examine into the dietary, the work and daily liie of these institutions, and make a report of their investigations to the next Conference. The State Board of Control of Wisconsin will do all in its power to make such investigation complete and thor- ough and will aid this committee in every possible way.
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