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24 A LUNATIC VILLAGE.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Nected Happy Or Not With As Is We The A ...
outward aspect of Gheel . If , however , lie be cognisant of the condition of a part of the _pojDulationor if he be of the medical profession
and quick to discern the signs , of mental aberration , he may notice _,, some wandering- dreamerwith [ his eyes cast up to heavenor
another to overwhelm , him with smiles and salutation , third who eager instantly treats him as hail fellow well met . It is quite s , true or a
that he . is in a sort of metropolis of insanity ; concerning which , by due inquiry , he may learn the following details : —
Of the total number of 5 , 500 insane in Belgium , Gheel receives from 800 to 1000 ; or not quite a fifth , of these , half are sentr
from the asylum at Brussels , which only retains a few patients of this nature , in cells annexed to its beautiful _hosj > ital of St . John .
Mad people of all sorts are admitted at Gheel , except those "whom it is absolutely necessary to confine continuously : _jDatients afflicted
with murderous monomania , and incendiaries ; those who could not be persuaded to remain without running away , and all such as are
prone to trouble public propriety , are , of course , likewise . excluded from Gheel . But patients only liable to occasional fits of fury are
, as we will explain further on , much sought as inmates by _the-23 easants . Unfortunatelythe greater number are already confirmed
, incurables when received into the colony ; as relatives send them there after more pretentious methods of treatment have failedand
rather to get rid of them than with any hope of their cure . , Thus the deaths are in greater _projoortion than the recoveriesand that
from no fault of the treatment . In the list of admissions , no regard is paid to nationality , creed , age , sex , or fortune ; all are alike
welcomed with sympathy , and receive the same sanitary and medical care . Arrangements are made to lodge the patients according to
the customs of the rank to which they belong . Belgians are naturally in the majority ; after them , the Dutch and Germans are the
most numerous ; a few French patients are likewise to be found ; and more rarely , English , or Scandinavians . Communes and lums
who have more than twenty patients at Gheel are allowed asy a delegate , who j > ossesses a voice at the meetings of the administrative
commission . The greater number of the nourriciers are of the peasant rankand their inmates belong to the same . There are
howeversome , families of the middle classunder whose roof rich , patients , can find all the comforts , if not all the , refinements of
opulence . By spending less money than would be required in all private asylums , horsescarriagesmusic booksand paperscan be
_23 rocured at Gheel , , besides the , simple recreations , of the , commune . There was once a mad Englishman at Gheel who spent a large
income in fUes , hunting parties , and pic-nics , to the great amusement of himself and his neighbors . The various languages spoken
by the insane do not cause much confusion . The Flemish idiom of the peasantry is tolerably well understood bythe German and
Dutch . French is _sjDoken by the middle class , and , French patients
are placed in suitable families . Dr . Parigot compiled a conversation
24 A Lunatic Village.
24 A LUNATIC VILLAGE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1861, page 24, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031861/page/24/
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