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98 A LUNATIC VJIXAGE.
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.
Part Ii. {Concluded From P. 33.)
keeper ; and it was they who substituted the little light cliains now ¦ worn in cases of need for the old heavy manacles . These are
attached with rings , and are not much heavier than a lady ' s bracelet ; but Dr . _-s Parigot is very desirous of doing away with chains
altogether , employing increased watchfulness over the more danger--ous patients . In support of his opinion he cites a curious fact .
When the council at Brussels ordered ( at his request ) that all chains and machinery of restraint should be replaced by these light
bracelets , everybody at Gheel cried out in alarm that the rings ¦ were too thin , and the new chains too fragile . It fell to Dr . Parigot ,
however came most , to put of the the new opposition law into . execution Nevertheless , and he a few graduall ' nourriciers y over- ¦
, obstinately held out , and as they -were absolutely forced to give up using the old chains , they went from sheer contradiction into the
other extreme , and refused to use any ; hoping , probably , to bring ridicule and blame upon the administrator . To the astonishment of
everybody , however , maniacs who had the character of being dangerousand who had for years worn manaclesproved perfectly quiet
and , harmless from the day they were set , at liberty . At the present time it is probable that the nourrioiers might be persuaded
to discontinue external coercion in every case , provided it were made a matter of emulation among them , and provided some
extraremuneration were given to those who managed to control the more excitable lunatics by increased watchfulness , and by moral and
industrial experiments . The nourricier may manage his inmate in and may show infinite degrees of intelligence in adapting
treatment many ways ; , and nowhere exists a better field for trying reforms than at Gheelwhere the whole population is alive to these
questions ; wher , e there is little danger of accidents , and where the patient himself need never be made aware that he is the subject of
experiment . The economical advantages which Gheel derives from its peculiar
mission are very great . Its farms and gardens are an example of good cultivation to all the _Campinei Its soil—naturally sandy sterile ,
_> and covered with heath—has been redeemed , and rendered fertile by labor in which the lunatics have borne a large share ; while-this
very labor out of doors is one of the chief sources of their cure . The money brought into the district is also considerable . At the
average payment of _£ 10 per annum , 800 inmates bring annually _£ 800 . 0 into Gheel and its neighboring hamlets . When to this is
added the surplus paid by patients of a higher class , and the expenditure of the medical service , of the relatives of lunatics , and of
travellers who come to see the place , the sum rises to £ 10 , 000 a ar ; a large amount for a small Belian commune .
ye From an economical point of view we g may say that there are four classes of * nourriciers : those who are householderswith gardens of
their own , which the inmate helps to cultivate , and , with whom it
is not necessary to economise very closely in the expenses of the
98 A Lunatic Vjixage.
98 A LUNATIC _VJIXAGE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1861, page 98, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041861/page/26/
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