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INSANITY AMONG WOMEN. 153
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.
In Directing His Attention To The Import...
with engaged devising in the _j _^ ill 118 -paid _^ increasing departments the referred comforts , to of . women In connexion , and so
far lessening their chances of becoming insane , I would remark , that the plan proposed by " An Old Maid "* ' of establishing houses ;
where gentlewomen could live together for mutual protection and counciland where they would live at less expenseescape the
loneliness of , solitary lodgings , and secure the wise division , of labor , is well worthy of consideration . In regard to governesses , much
misery may be averted and insanity prevented by the " Governesses ' _benevolent Institution" which endeavors to afford assistance in
, distress , provide a home during the intervals between engagements _^ and secure annuities for the aged .
It will be seen then , that in the various grades of society very different agencies are at work , having the same issue—insanity . In
regard to the lower classes , the deplorable effects on women of the husband ' s drunkennessof wantof brutalityand of neglect in illness ,
are they not written in , the blue , books annuall , y published by the Poor Law Board ? If such poor women escape the evils of luxurious
living , they suffer deplorably in illness from insufficient food and unfavorable surroundings . It is not difficult to believe that the
poor woman after her confinement is greatly more exposed to the risks of insanity by reason of noiseworryexposure to coldand
bad victuals . During the months which , follow , , the wants of , the child are a heavy tax upon the mother , and drain away her already
diminished strength . She requires all the food she can get , but her husband's wages are no higher . Two people at least
suffermother and child . The former becomes bloodless , weak , dispirited ; the latter's constitution has its foundations laid in squalor and in
want . The writer has repeatedly witnessed this condition of things terminate in the mother ' s insanity . Medicine avails little when the
all important prescription of an ample diet cannot be obeyed . It is but mockery to say " You must live well . " " How can Isir ?"
is the unanswerable , reply . Madness and poverty advance , with equal ste _e ps . The house is in confusion ; the husband himself gets *
no rest , probably loses some days' work ; the children—but it is needless to lete the dismal j > _icture . The only remedy is the
county asylum conrp ' or the workhouse . Pauperism and insanity , each produces the other . For it is clear that while insanity causes
pauperism causing insanity , j ) ° . ty Thi is s a is grand one of agen the t many among ways the in lower which classes modern in
civilization may be truly said to be associated with more mental have derangement its oriin than in is non a - stat _j ) reventible e of barb circumstances arism . Poverty but may so of far cours as it e -
arises from drunkenness g and idlenessso far must , these , be regarded , as the common parents of poverty and insanity .
Among the higher , classes of society , much of the insanity that exists may be traced to luxurious and artificial modes of life P -
* " My Life , and what shall I do with it ? "
Insanity Among Women. 153
INSANITY AMONG WOMEN . 153
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1861, page 153, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051861/page/9/
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