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INSANITY; ITS CAUSE AND CURE. 9
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.
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the taug outpouring ht breaking , and of " are of vindictive still some teaching beneficent wrath us , , but that law the the of product scourg our being e of of our pestilen to own which ce foll is y the no in
attaching penalty is appointed to bring us to obedience , . This great truthhas now been recognised in the treatment of mental disease ;
. it is recognised that the individual , or others for him , must have broken one or more of the laws of lifeand a return to a simple and
, entire obedience to these constitutes the remedy to be applied . In the words of Dr . Conoliy of
Hanwell" In every well regulated asylum the whole system is strictly h attention ygienic , to in all the that largest can directl sense or of indirectl the term y promote ; comprehendin the health g an of
the body and the mind . Tlie y patients enjoy perfect liberty of their limbsChains and all mechanical instruments of coercion are
. unknown ; buildings for the reception of many hundreds of insane patients being opened for tlieir reception without one instrument of
restraint being provided . Fresh air , clean clothing adapted to the seasongood food liberallliedcomfortable beds , warmth ,
ventilati , on , scrupulous cleanliness y supp throug , hout the house , varied occupations and amusements , social entertainments , religious
services judiciously and regularly performed , and spiritual consolation timely and prudently imparted , are now the lunatic things is which introduced charac to
comforts terise asy , lum unknown s for the to in him sane before . The , and poorest which diffuse calming influences over his whole frame of body and soul . " And under
these calming influences many recover their reason , from whence it is easy to see that had those calming influences been earlier applied
they would never have lost it , which brings us to the grand doctrine of preventabilitythat great gospel of the grace of God which is
being preached , among us . True there is incurable insanity , but you have only to search back to the cause of that to find it
preventable too . Undoubtedly , extreme poverty is the most fertile source of mental
as it is of ; bodily disease . Its physical , and moral influences tend to impair at once the mental and bodily powers . The immense number
of pauper lunatics , and the great proportion of incurables among _tliem , establish the fact . We do not mean hard labor and humble
fare when we speak of extreme poverty , but of over-work , of insufficient food , and the other bad sanitary conditions which are forced
upon a numerous class of the population , especially , though by no means onlin our large towns . " Want of food" said Lord
a Sliaftesbury very sad y and , , before serious the effect Parliament upon the ary Committee nervous system , last , , March and I , " have has
known some instances in which it has superinduced madness . I remember some instances in that most oppressed class , the
_needlewomen and slop-women . I have seen two or three cases in which they have been brought into the house in a state of decided insanity ,
"but in a very short time these poor creatures have been sot right ,
Insanity; Its Cause And Cure. 9
INSANITY ; ITS CAUSE AND CURE . 9
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1859, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091859/page/9/
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