effectually rescue the unhappy sufferers from the state in which they have been retained, partly through the interested motives and partly through the ignorance of those to whose care they were consigned.

The first publication contains the evidence laid before the Members of the Committee, their report on the same, and an appendix of miscellaneous papers. We shall not be able to take a detailed view of the minutes of evidence, which extend to above 350 closely printed pages; nor should we wish to fill our pages with copious details of so melancholy and revolting a nature: but we shall make a few observations on some particular parts, and especially on the general result of the whole as it is stated in the Committee's Report. We fully agree with them in asserting the urgent necessity for farther legislative interference: that no set of persons stands more in need of legal protection than the insane; and that even in asylums established for individuals in the higher classes of life, and still more in work-houses, or in the different receptacles for the insane poor, the neglect and abuses have been much greater than any body could have imagined, or believed, had the evidence of the facts been less decisive. Although we meet with some exceptions to these remarks, they are unfortunately not numerous; for even in those situations in which the afflicted have been treated with personal kindness, and the masters and keepers seem to have been humane and disinterested, it is seldom that the most effectual curative means have been employed, the patients having been regarded as objects rather for restraint than for medical treatment.

The Committee have classed their observations under nine different heads, which we shall quote, premising that on almost every one of them we entirely coincide in their opinion:

Ist, Keepers of the houses receiving a much greater num ber of persons in them than they are calculated for; and the consequent want of accommodation for the patients, which greatly retards recovery; they are, indeed, represented by the President of the College of Physicians, and the physician acting as secretary to the visiting Commissioners, who must be considered as the most competent judges on the subject, to be better calculated for the imprisonment than the cure of patients.

2dly, The insufficiency of the number of keepers, in proportion to the number of persons intrusted to their care, which unavoidably leads to a proportionably greater degree of restraint than the patients would otherwise be under.

3dly, The mixing patients who are outrageous, with these who are quiet and inoffensive; and those who are insensible to the calls of nature, with others who are cleanly.

'4thly,

4thly, The want of medical assistance, as applied to the malady for which the persons are confined; a point worthy of the most serious attention, as the practice very generally is to confine medical aid to corporeal complaints; which circumstance the Committee are the more desirous of inforcing on the House, as an opinion has been given, by a respectable physician and another person of great experience, that where the mental faculties are only partially affected (stated by them to be so in seven-eighths of the cases,) medical assistance is of the highest importance.

5thly, Restraint of persons much beyond what is necessary, certainly retarding recovery, even beyond what is occasioned by the crowded state of the House; of which many instances were stated to the Committee. In the course of the evidence there will be found opinions unfavourable to the use of strait waistcoats, as more oppressive to the patient even than irons; which induce your Committee to observe, that a waistcoat has been invented, under the view of one of the members of it, which appears likely to be quite as secure as the one now in use, and infinitely less distressing to the wearer.

6thly, The situation of the parish paupers in some of the houses for insane persons; respecting the care of whom, when confined in parochial work-houses, the Committee also made some inquiries, as connected with the matter before them, although not expressly included in the reference to them.

6

7thly, Detentions of persons, the state of whose minds did not require confinement:-on this ground of complaint, your Committee had very slender means of information.

8thly, Insufficiency of certificates on which patients are re ceived into the mad-houses.

9thly, The defective visitation of private mad-houses, under the provisions of the 14 Geo. III. c. 49.'

The condition of Ireland, with respect to the management of the insane, is still more deplorable than that of the other parts of the British empire. It would appear that, with the exception of two public establishments and some private asylums in Dublin, no places are appropriated for the reception of the insane in the whole island. When we recollect, also, that no parish work-houses are known in that country, we may readily conceive what misery must be endured by the unhappy sufferers, and what disgraceful outrages must be committed on the feelings of common humanity.

A curious circumstance is mentioned by the Committee, which, while it shews the difficulty of detecting an abuse when it is connected with a public establishment, must make every person still more grateful to them for the labour which they have bestowed on this investigation. During the previous session of parliament, a bill was in progress, the object of which was to establish better regulations for the management of mad-houses; when the Governors of the Asylum at

York

York presented a petition praying that, in consequence of the good management of that institution, it might be exempted from the provisions of the act, and the Governors of Bethlem actually succeeded in obtaining a special clause in their favour to the same purpose. The Committee observe on these circumstances, that they are desirous of directing the attention of the House to the parts of the evidence which relate to these two establishments.' We shall strongly enforce the above recommendation, since we prefer a reference to the original to any attempt which we could make to quote or abstract this part of the evidence. The account of the York Asylum is given by Mr. Higgins, a respectable magistrate of the West Riding of Yorkshire; who, in consequence of an accidental discovery, was the means of disclosing the scenes of wretchedness which had been, for a long time, concealed within its walls. The obstacles which he experienced in the progress of his inquiry are strong confirmations of the truth of his statements; and, which is perhaps the most important of all the facts that have been brought to light, it appears that the medical officers of the institution, men of apparent respectability, have been appropriating to their own use large sums of money which were conceived to have been devoted to public purposes.

On the subject of Bethlem Hospital, the evidence is not less material than that which respects the York Asylum; and, considering it as a great national establishment, to a certain degree open for public inspection, and situated in the centre of the metropolis, the details lead even to more important reflections. We regret to observe that they discover an almost entire disregard to the comfort or feelings of the patients, a dreadful want of accommodation both in the arrangements of the building and in the mode of disposing of its unfortunate inmates, and nearly a total want of any professional treatment, or of any appropriate means of relieving their mental diseases. Patients in all stages of derangement were promiscuously crowded together, chains and fetters were heard and seen in all directions, persons of both sexes were almost in a state of nakedness, and those who were of delicate habits and of mental refinement were compelled to associate with such as were coarse and brutal. A plan like this was better calculated for destroying the understanding of those who were previously sane, than for restoring the reason of such as had experienced a partial or temporary derangement.

Perhaps the most remarkable evidence is that which is given respecting the medical treatment of the patients in

Bethlem

Bethlem Hospital; and on this head we make a quotation from the examination of Mr. G. Wallet, steward to the institution:

Do you know whether it is the practice to bleed at a particular season of the year?-I believe it is, periodically.

At what season of the year?-I fancy about this time. [May.] Is the bleeding begun?-No; and I believe they are also physick'd periodically.

Is that practice general through the whole ward?—I understand it has been the general practice.

Is bathing periodical too?-Yes.'

It is impossible that by any detailed commentary we can add to the effect of this short dialogue. That in this enlightened and scientific age, in this country, where medical science is so assiduously cultivated,—and in the great national establishment of the metropolis, - such a plan should be permitted, must indeed excite our amazement, regret, and compassion. What was held up to ridicule, nearly a century ago, and supposed to be an extravagant burlesque, is now proved to be a reality!We farther learn that Mr. Haslam, the apothecary, lives some miles from the hospital, that he comes pretty regularly every day, and stays half an hour, or sometimes longer,' that he passes along the galleries, and if there be a patient he has a particular desire to see, he sees that patient.' The physician's duty is still more lightly performed. He comes to the Hospital and attends the Committee every Saturday;' and he visits the patients if there is any case reported to him,' but only when there is a case which requires attention:' -so that, on the whole, we learn that he never notices the general condition of the patients, that no means are practised by him for removing the mental diseases, and that he only attends to their bodily complaints under particular circumstances. We farther learn that there are patients who have been in some time, and that have not had any thing done for them;' that there is no warm bath in the hospital; and, with respect to the cold bath, that it is in a very inconvenient situation indeed, it is a long way off." With regard to the periodical bleeding and physicing, we must advise our readers to peruse the evidence of Dr. Monro himself; which, after all the softening down, and all the exceptions that he must have been anxious to introduce, still leaves an impression on the mind that can never be effaced. Indeed, the best defence that he can make must be that he left all the duty to be performed by the apothecary.

Another subject, which occupies a large portion of the reported evidence, relates to the house for the reception of Naval Maniacs at Hoxton. This also may be regarded as a

national

national receptacle, and as one that was furnished with what might appear a sufficient safeguard against abuses, in the regular establishment of medical superintendents and commissioners, whose duty it was to visit it at certain periods, and report to the public boards any circumstances which might require alteration or redress. We do not, indeed, discover in this institution any of that deliberate or wilful cruelty which prevails in some other cases: but we have too much reason to lament that the brave defenders of their country, who are suffering under the privation of reason, and some of them persons of rank and education, are crowded together in apartments so small as to contaminate the air, and render it unfit for respiration;' that the number of servants or attendants allowed to them is utterly inadequate to the duties required, in keeping them clean and comfortable, and in rendering them every other assistance necessary to men in their unhappy situation;' and, which is to be deplored and deprecated in the strongest manner, that they receive no medical treatment whatever for the cure of their insanity. It farther appears that both frantic and mild cases are mixed indiscriminately;' a practice which we think Dr. Weir justly designates as cruel and improper in the extreme, and which must retard the progress of recovery.' On the whole, it is but too evident that, in this establishment, the object has been to crowd the utmost number of persons into the smallest space; to have the fewest attendants to wait on them; and, in every possible way, to diminish the expense of their support, without any regard to their cure, comfort, or accommodation. Most of the observations which we have quoted from the Committee's Report apply but too forcibly to the Hoxton Asylum.

As some relief to the mind, after all these melancholy details, we have the gratification to learn that the labours of the Committee of the House of Commons have already produced some beneficial effects; and that the very magnitude of the evil has operated favourably, by awakening in the public mind a sensation which cannot be repressed but by a reform of the abuses. We also hope and trust that some permanent plan will be adopted, by which the recurrence of such abuses may be prevented in future. Amid the evils which so painfully press on our attention on all sides, it is some alleviation to find that they are, in most instances, obviously productive of some good, and it appears as if the good could not be effected without the preceding evil. In the present cases we apprehend that the dreadful abuses and neglect, which have prevailed in the receptacles for insane patients, must neces