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    INSANITY , PAST AND PRESENT. 391

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    ' « In The Last Number Of This Journal W...

    Population . Insane . Proportion toPopulation . England and Wales 20000000 36374 1 in every 700 . ;

    Scotland ... 3 , , 000 , , 000 7 , , 878 1 in every 375 . Ireland 7 , 000 , 000 13 , 493 1 in every 500 . France 37000000 24000 1 in every 800 .

    America 25 , , 000 , , 000 45 , , 000 1 in every 500 . Total 92 , 000 , 000 126 , 745 1 in every 740 .

    Have we ever before realized tlie fact , that in tkese three countries alone , according * to the above table , there are at this present mo * -

    ment above 126 , 000 persons of unsound mind ? Yet this statement has only _reference to the recognised insane- —cases officially knowB

    > under treatment , and certified as such . Even when the last census was taken in France , there were 24 , 000 persons returned as lunatic

    of whom no official cognizance had been taken . Or , confining ourselves solely to our own country , can we for one moment

    imagine that the 4 , 831 persons , who on the 1 st January , 1860 , were stated to be lunatics under treatmentrepresented the whole

    , number of persons of independent means visited by this affliction ? The statement as regards pauper lunatics may indeed approximate

    to correctness ; but we feel certain , that in reference to lunatics of the middle and upper classes the numbers are greatly understated ;

    for according * to such calculation , there would be hardly more than one lunatic to every three thousand of our independent population .

    ] _NTay , to ask a home question , Is there any among our readers who can conscientiously saythat among the circle of their relatives and

    con-, nexions , there is a total exemption from insanity in all its various modifications ? "We feel certain there are none who can affirm such

    an exception . Even the average of one in every seven hundred may look truthful upon paper , but it is not in its unvarnished

    integrity . The presence of insanity is far more intimate than we choose to acknowledge ; but with superstitious credulity we ignore the fact ,

    and wilfully blind ourselves to the evidence of our own senses . Why is this ? why is it , thenthat the condition of _paujDer lunatics is

    , by comparison frequently superior to that of wealthy lunatics ?—of lunatics belonging to that class of society whereboth from position

    , and means , every alleviation that science can suggest and solicitude procure is within reach of the sufferer . We believe the question can

    be easily answered , and we venture to do so by asserting two reasons as the chief causes of this sad state of things—the dread of exposure ,

    and ignorance : the dread of exposure , in that the world should know that insanity is prevalent in the family- ignorancein the

    total and culpable misapprehension which exists , , even among , the well-educated , respecting the cause and treatment of that complaint .

    No shame is felt at having a near relative afflicted with consumption ; the presence of the bodily ailment is readily admitted , every

    discovery of modern research is applied towards its mitigation , and

    Insanity , Past And Present. 391

    INSANITY , PAST AND PRESENT . 391

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1861, page 391, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021861/page/31/