THE LUNATIC ASYLUMS OF EUROPE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2254, 23 June 1881, Page 3

THE LUNATIC ASYLUMS OF EUROPE.

[Home paper.] Dr. G. M. Beard, of New York, who has made a special study of disorders of the brain and nervous system, visited Europe last summer and studied the asylums and asylum systems of Great Britain, France, and Germany. The results of this inspection ho publishes as a pamphlet for the guidance of those «ho keep similar institutions in the United States. Dr. Beard states that everywhere he was treated with all the courtesy and kindness ho could ask; every possible facility was given him of studying all the outs and ins of the methods of treating the insane in Europe. The conclusions he comes to may be thus summarised—(l) In the methods of supervision and in the general care of the insane in public and private asylums, Great Britain has been easily first of all nations. Next to Britain comes Germany, which, however, is so fast improving that she may soon be on an equality with Great Britain. Of the three British Isles, Scotland, on the whole, according to Dr. Beard, takes the lead of England and Ireland; and it may be positively affirmed that on the average the insane in Scotch asylums are better treated than in any other country. Next to Germany comes Franco in order of merits. (2) Some method of Governmental supervision of the insane appears to be universal, both in Great Britain and on the Continent. Of the four great countries, the United States appears to be alone in compelling the insane to depend exclusively upon their attendants and superintendents and local trustees. Dr. Beard describes with strong approval the systems of central supervision which prevail in Great Britain and Ireland. (3) In the best asylums in Europe mechanical restraint is reduced to a mere percentage, and instead of restraint, labour is employed as a therapeutic agent. These two facts, Dr. Beard says, absence of restraint and presence of labor, impress one at once on visiting institutions like those, for example, near Edinburgh, or at Alt Sherbitz, near Leipsio. In England and Scotland Dr. Beard found no patient under restraint, and scarcely any excitement in the wards or grounds. In one of the German asylums, the assistant who took Dr. Beard round pointed out one er two patients with theis arms confined, and said, “ This is not my idea ; it I could have my way I would not use these.” " The extent to which labor is employed,” Dr. Beard goes on to say, “ seems incredible, and cross-examinations were constantly needed in order to convince mo that not only washing, cooking, cleaning, and the immense farm work done in the grounds, but also various trades, wore carried on by tho inmaton, the patients, of the asylums. Again and again I asked how they succeeded in making the lunatics work. Tho average reply was that, in general, there was no serious difficulty; that by proper management they could be trained to work and kept at work, and would do as much as, and in some cases very much more than, persons in health.” The general principle of reducing restraint, Dr. Beard finds, is not only universal in the best asylums of England, but is growing into favour everywhere in Europe. Among tho most scholarly, thoughtful, and advanced men, especially the younger men, both in England and on the Continent, it is no longer a question, but tho established principle beyond discussion ; as universal as tho belief in the preventive power of vaccination. (4) In the best asylums in Europe tho insane are treated much like children j and they are children, diseases of the brain practically depriving them of the advantages that come from education and maturity ; it is, therefore, wise to treat them like children allowed to come and go os they please and as we please, all tho time watched and guarded, lest they wander or run away, or do injury to themselves or society. (5) The best asylums of Europe are not enormous or imposing buildings, but a series or collection of small or moderate-sized unimposing cottages or houses; tho results of this method of building have been of tho highest advantage to tho patients. Lastly, Dr. Beard strongly advocates the introduction of tho European system into America, where thei;treatment of the insane leaves much to bo desired. One difficulty will be that of getting good men in America to servo as officers and attendants for the small salaries prevalent in Europe. In all departments of activity in Europe we find men of much ability filling humble or badly rewarded stations who in this land might be making themselves wealthy and industrious Dr. Beard states, in conclusion, that in the treatment of various morbid states of the nervous system that often load to insanity there has been nowhere such satisfactory progress as in the United States. “This is tho philosophical method of combating insanitytreating tho insane before they are insane ; arresting candidates for lunacy before they , have stopped on tho threshold of the asylum.”