beasts who serve us, saving them from cruelty, and insuring them good treatment. All this it will do, if practised. And need it be said, that it is the duty of every person to be guided by the Christian law, "Overcome evil with good?" E CHAPTER V. KINDNESS AND INSANITY. "Such is the power of mighty love."-DRYDEN. Than strength of nerve, or sinew, or the sway Is love."-WORDSWORTH. THERE is still another scene in human life, where the law of kindness is producing the most extraordinary results—results which are contrary to all former experience. I allude to those unfortunate beings whose light of reason becomes quenched in madness; and the mode by which they are now generally governed. It has hitherto been universally believed that insane persons must be governed by violence, and that such treatment is the only manner by which they can be managed. Hence, in the past history of insanity, we find it one account of chains, rags, filth, and harshness; while the violent and refractory have been subjected to severe corporeal punishment, in order to subdue them. So that those poor, afflicted persons, whose mental house was in disorder, not only endured the woe of the utter blasting of reason, but were visited with cruelty and unkindness. It is seen and But now such views rarely exist. admitted, not only that harshness and violence aggravate the complaint of the insane, but that it is both necessary and efficacious to cast the oil of kindness upon the boisterous waters of insanity, and that soothing manners, and mild interesting objects, gain the attention of the poor victims, and render the chances of recovery more certain and complete. Hence, at the present day, in most, and I do not know but that in all, of the hospitals for the insane the kindest mode of government is pursued, and the whole discipline adopted is entirely in the spirit of the law, "Overcome evil with good." And over the gate of the institution where the most success in curing insane persons is manifested, there ought always to be written, "Kindness reigns here '." But though kindness is, 1 The following extracts from Reports recently issued by the managers of the Albany and Worcester State Lunatic Asylums (U. S.) merit attention :— "In our day, the maniac is disarmed of his fury in the asylums, made calm by the plastic power of Christian kindness; he feels the benign influence of sympathy and compassion, and becomes a quiet, peaceable, intelligent, and reasonable being. This law of kindness does not stop here; it finds in the maniac the same desire to be active that is found in other men, and this principle is improved for his benefit. He goes to the workshop, the garden, the field of labour, to the delightful office of improvement, here he finds happiness and contentment in these new sources of health and enjoyment. His mind, intent on his labour, runs into healthy channels of thought, he acts and thinks as he has been accustomed to do in the same circumstances when sane. These manual employments bring the mind into its natural state, the delusions and estrangements give way to healthy feelings, desires, and movements; calmly, quietly, and rationally he applies himself or soon will be, the universal rule of action in reference to all maniacs, yet there is an instance on record, which may even be called a bold and daring exhibition of its power; or at least, an instance in which most people would have hesitated, and even refused to adopt it; and one, too, where we should have expected the principle to utterly and entirely fail. There is a lunatic asylum for paupers at Hanwell. This asylum was formerly conducted on the old principle of violence, confinement, chains, strait-jackets, whips, and threats, until Dr. Ellis and his wife took charge of the establishment. They went into it with the broadest benevolence; their only governing power was "good sense and kindness;" for these were the soul of their system. They determined to visit every lunatic with leniency and liberty. Though such an experiment endangered their lives, yet they opened every door of the building, and gave its inmates free access to every part of the asylum, treating them 66 as much as possible as though they were sane." The result is ennobling; after the pursuance of such a course for twenty years, no accident has happened from it. Miss Martineau, who visited the asylum, says:"I have lately been backwards and forwards to business, he feels happy that he is able to accomplish his accustomed labour; his self-respect is elevated, and if his delusions return, their force and tenacity is diminished, they finally yield by degrees, and disappear entirely, and often for ever." "Every one who has had much to do with the insane soon learns that by kind treatment and attention they are far more easily managed, and much less troublesome, than when they are neglected or in any manner abused."—(W.) at the Hanwell Asylum for the reception of the pauper lunatics of the County of Middlesex. On entering the gate, I met a patient going to his garden work, with his tools in his hands, and passed three others breaking clods with their forks, and keeping near each other, for the sake of being sociable. Further on, were three women rolling the grass in company; one of whom a merry creature, who clapped her hands at the sight of visitors—had been chained to her bed for seven years before she was brought hither, but is likely to give little further trouble henceforth than that of finding her enough to do. Further on, is another in a quieter state of content, always calling to mind the strawberries and cream Mrs. Ellis set before the inmates on the lawn last year, and persuading herself that the strawberries could not grow, nor the garden get on without her, and fiddle-faddling in the sunshine to her own satisfaction and that of her guardians. This woman had been in a strait-waistcoat for ten years before she had been sent to Hanwell. There is another place where the greater number of them go with equal alacrity; to the chapel, where they may be seen on a Sunday evening, decked out in what they consider their best, and equalling any other congregation whatever in the decorum of their deportment. Where are the chains, the straw, and the darkness? Where are the howls and the yells, without which the place cannot be supposed a mad-house? There is not a chain in the house, nor any intention that there ever shall be; and those who might, in a moment, be provoked to howl and yell, are lying quietly in bed, talking to themselves, as there is no one else present |