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30 A IAJNATIC VIIXAGE.
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.
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It will easily be believed that the Glieelois have acquired , by observation and by tradition _, a large amount of medical knowledge .
When a patient arrives , they give their opinion on his condition , on the best treatment to be pursued , and Ms probable chances of
recovery ; and their acuteness is often matter of astonishment to the physician . They would make excellent nurses in hospitals ,
owing to this development of their perceptive faculties . They also possess a marvellous amount of tact ; a quality which would not at
first sight seem indigenous in . the Campine . But the necessity of living with the insane in the familiarities of household life has
taught them to respect all inoffensive fancies , and to cultivate the difficult art of guiding the capricious and wandering wills of their
inmates , giving a dexterous turn to ideas which might lead to danger , and seizing every gleam of feeling or of reason to induce
self-control . Moreover , being unable to have recourse to bodily restraint , except in accidental cases , and being rarely able to count
upon anything like intelligent obedience , the peasantry learn to manage the insane through their feelings and sympathies , through
the lingering warmth of the heart , which survives intelligence and is often extinct but with life . As might be expected , women
particularly excel in this kind of tact . Upon them devolves the most delicateand the most important part of tlie domestic treatment .
, Simple , ignorant , and laborious , free from vanity and ambition , but good by nature , and religious by education , the Gheeloises
accomplish marvels with the insane . The patient depends for all his comfort on the mistress and on the daughters of the house , and
they acquire extraordinary empire over him , managing his propensities , and dissipating * the sulky brooding in which he is so often
prone to indulge . It is not uncommon to see maniacs of herculean framein their most capricious and agitated moods , obeying little
, women bent and thin with age , and using no weapons but a few authoritative words . M . Duval says , that the natural superiority of
the female sex , in the art of management , makes them the medical man ' s best allies . They also draw up better reports than their
male relatives , and lend willing aid to all the reforms prescribed ; and he observes , that writers desirous of urging the admission of
women into the medical profession will find excellent _arg-urnents in the aptitudes manifested by the female peasants of Gheel .
Furthermore , in inducing the patient to work , both men and women use all their powers , which not only keeps him profitably employed ,
but possesses also the great negative virtue of keeping him out of mischief . His mistakes therefore are never laughed at ; he is
coaxed and praised , and if he shows any cleverness he is encouraged in every way . He soon catches the spirit of the thing , gets up
in the morning with the others , and delights in being one of the family . If animals can be tamed and trained , surely the power of
man over man has a still better chance of success .
When , however , the malady is hopeless , and of such a nature as
30 A Iajnatic Viixage.
30 A _IAJNATIC VIIXAGE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1861, page 30, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031861/page/30/
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