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    316 INSANITY, PAST AND PRESENT.

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    Qp Insanity, Like Other Diseases, Change...

    reference to either numbers , sex _, or age . At the close of 1859 , the returns made by the different institutions throughout the United

    States was as follows : — Males . Females . Total .

    United States Institutions ... 15 , 328 13 , 332 28 , 660 Mixed Corporat Institutions e Institutions ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 , 597 245 5 , 499 793 12 1 , 096 038

    Pauper Institutions ... ... ... ... ... 3423 3880 7 , 303 ,,, 25 , 593 23 , 504 49 , 097

    By this table we perceive that America is an exception to other

    countries , in that men are more subject to mental disorders than women . Perhaps , with greater truth , this would be found to be the consequence of the much larger proportion of men to "women in the

    aggregate _pojoulation ; it is , however , certain that the mortality among the former is greater than among the latter , but on the whole , even taking the official returnswomen are more liable to attack

    , , though the malady being often of a temporary character , the recoveries are much more frequent . Situation also causes striking differences in the relative number to the inhabitants . In New England , where

    immigration is most prevalent and persons are exposed at once to privation and anxiety , insanity is most rife , and those attacked do not recover so soon as in other states . There is another singular

    fact , that while in 1840 the proportion of lunatics among the white population was as one in every nine hundred and seventy-seven , in

    1850 it was one in every six hundred and eighty-eight ; among the colored population the decrease was even more remarkable—in 1840 it was as one in every nine hundred and seventy-eightin 1850

    , as one in every one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine . The prevalence of idiotcy is also singular , —nearly half the insane are idiots or imbeciles . Those who are interested in these matters may

    derive much curious information from an article by Dr . Dungleson _, published in the North A . merican Review of July last , which is not onl endeavoring y most minut to e classify in details cases , but so remarkable as to arrive for at the the care _j _^ shown _ovoking in

    , causes of attack , and the kind of persons most liable to insanity . In respect to Great Britaina separate return is annually made by

    , the Commissioners of Lunacy for each of the three divisions into which the kingdom is divided , England and Wales , Scotland , and

    Ireland . Let us begin with the first , that for England and Wales ,. which has now reached the fourteenth report , and every year not only

    increases in _minutiso and correctness , but also confirms by indisputable facts the sad truth that insanity is making * rapid progressamong us .

    It has been before stated that , computed according to the census

    of 1851 , there was in London nearly one in every two hundred per-

    316 Insanity, Past And Present.

    316 _INSANITY , PAST AND PRESENT .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1861, page 316, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011861/page/28/