In seeking information for an article on the treatment of the insane, we applied to Dr. Kirkbride, superintendent of the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane. Far from having recourse to any quibbles, or offering to instruct us as to the technicalities of titles, that gentleman politely brought his carriage for us to the Continental Hotel, conducted us through the whole institution, afforded us every facility to familiarize ourselves with his mode of discipline, and finally sent his carriage back with us to the hotel. This gentleman can probably tell to-day whether we have ever abused his confidence, or whether we have made any false representation of his system of discipline; he can also tell whether we have ever called to him for as much as one dollar, or received one dollar from him. Since there was then, as there is now, a Dogberry who loved darkness rather than light, it may be neither uninteresting nor irrelevant to extract a passage or two from that article. The following will show how "savage" we were ten years ago: "If the reader who has carefully read all the testimony from various sources which we have adduced in this article as to the treat ment of the insane even so recently as twenty or twenty-five years ago, will visit some of the principal hospitals for the insane in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island; such institutions, for example, as the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, Philadelphia; Butler Hospital for the Insane, Providence, R. I.; State Lunatic Asylum, Utica, N. Y.; State Lunatic Asylum, Worcester, Mass.; Retreat for the Insane, Hartford, Conn.; N. Y. City Lunatic Asylum, Blackwell's Island, etc., then he will be able to form an adequate estimate of the amount of good accomplished within a comparatively brief period. "Nearly all the asylums just mentioned are among the several which we have visited within the last six months, and in each case their superintendents have evinced a disposition not only to communicate every important fact relative to the treatment of those under their charge, but to show us any departments of their institutions which it was proper for us to see. In those instances in which we did not happen to find the superintendents at home, or in which we were not able to visit the asylums, we have been courteously favored with their Reports for years, generally accompanied with the assurance that any further information we might desire for the public benefit would be cheerfully furnished. For the politeness thus shown we have to return our particular thanks to Drs. Thomas S. Kirkbride, Isaac Ray, John S. Butler, and Moses H. Ranney; gentlemen who are so well known as eminent physicians and philanthropists, that it is needless for us to mention in connection with their names the institutions to which they belong, and which they have contributed so much to render famous.” Such was the manner in which we falsified the condition of the institutions which we were permitted fully to examine. The following passage will show what we thought of the Stillé or ostrich plan then, and how we had the "savage savage "-like assurance to find some fault with the Stillé-Brown theory: "Indeed, all to whom we have applied on the subject, whether personally or by letter, with the sole exception of the Superintendent of the Bloomingdale Asylum, cheerfully and promptly furnished us all the statistics within their reach. Perhaps the only reason why Dr. D. Tilden Brown declined to give us any information relative to his institution was that his time was too valuable. But without going any farther for a comparison, Dr. Ranney, of the Blackwell's Island Asylum, had more than five times as many patients to attend to-an excess of the difference between 805 and 151-and yet the latter not only gave us information cheerfully on every subject in reference to which we sought it, but accompanied us to every part of the Asylum, explaining or describing as we proceeded whatever seemed to require either. True. Dr. Brown sent one of his assistants to show us certain parts of the house, but the only information worth mentioning given by him was, that a portion of land belonging to the Asylum would be sold for about $20,000. This, however, was not intended for us, but for a gentleman who had much more money at command. It is but justice to Dr. Brown to say that we could not regard his course towards ourselves as any personal discourtesy, since he pursued the same towards the president of a college who brought a fine amateur band, consisting of his owa students, to perform before the patients, as it seems he had done more than once before. Kindness and philanthropy like this merited at least a cordial recognition, but the * "The Insane and their Treatment, Past and Present," National Quarterly Review, No. xiv., September, 1863. humane president was treated quite as cavalierly as we were ourselves. It "We must confess it seemed to us that there was an air of mystery about the whole institution; nay, it looked more like a prison than an asylum. Not that there were any shackles, fetters, or other iron chains visible; we do not know that any such are used in the institution. But in any of the asylums which we have visited in Europe or America, we have never seen patients so sullen, sad, and defiant. seemed as if most of those at the Bloomingdale detested the officers, while those who were in a lighter mood ridiculed them as they passed, but avoided as much as possible being heard or seen. So far as we could judge, without being too inquisitive, only one patient had liberty to go outside the Asylum alone; and this one got charge of our horse and wagon; the assistant-superintendent regarding it as a very funny thing that he drove so briskly around the building, but without making any effort to stop him. We do not wish to make any comment for the present on certain scenes which attracted our attention in the interior of the institution; suffice it to say that while passing one of the corridors one of the most respectable looking of the patients threw some verses written with a pencil, by a graceful feminine hand, into our hat, of which the following lines will serve as a specimen : "Alas! instead of Bloomingdale, Call this in future weeping vale, We're here, forsooth, because insane-- If sage as Plato, here we'd stay, While those who sent us agreed to pay." Of course in this, too, we were "dishonest." We "attacked the honored superintendent." That much-injured functionary managed to procure a coat of whitewash from some of our newspapers; but if he tried to induce them to abuse us the editors declined that part of the work. It may, perhaps, be regarded as a curious fact that some of the very journals which then defended Bloomingdale, have within the past year more than corroborated the worst charges we made against that institution ten years ago, so that it stands branded before the world at this moment as exactly the fraudulent thing we described it.. Thus we contrasted Dr. Kirkbride, of the Pennsylvania Hos pital for the Insane, with Dr. Brown, of the Bloomingdale Asylum, ten years ago, just the same as we contrasted Dr. Barnard, of Columbia College, and Dr. Elliot, of Harvard College, with Dr. Stillé, of the University of Pennsylvania, three months ago, and do now! Nor did we evince any different spirit, or arrive at any dif ferent relative conclusions, when we sought information for our article on Prison Discipline-visiting the chief prisons of several States, and writing to the wardens or governors of those which we were unable to visit. We may remark, parenthetically, that it is a singular fact, in view of our recent experience, that of all in charge of those institutions whom we addressed as "governor" or "warden," without giving them their exact title, not one informed us "there is no such person." (!) What is perhaps still more strange, not one of them wrote to us in bad English! But let us see how we libelled Pennsylvanians in this instance. In order to show how "savage" we were, and how prone to falsification, we beg leave to extract a passage or two from our article. Thus, in discussing the solitary system, we proceed : "This change was made at the beginning of 1828, but it was final; the Pennsylvania system has continued essentially the same to the present day. But whatever claim New York or any other State may have in connection with this subject, let justice be done to Pennsyl vania and her philanthropists. We have already said that we visited the famous Cherry Hill Penitentiary, strongly influenced by those gloomy and startling accounts which we had been reading of it, from time to time, for twenty years past." After quoting from the annual reports, politely forwarded to us by the warden, governor, or provost, we continue our comments: "We now felt that we could come to no satisfactory conclusion without visiting the establishment. Although often informed that this could not be done without an order from a magistrate, we had no dif ficulty whatever. We were introduced to Mr. Vaux, ex-mayor of * "Prison Discipline, Past and Present."--N. Q. R., No. XIV., p. 18. Philadelphia, and President of the Board of Inspectors of the prison, who was not only perfectly willing to admit us, but had the courtesy to accompany us himself, and to explain to us every peculiar feature of the institution, as we passed from cell to cell in each department, concealing nothing, evading no query; but on the contrary, inviting investigation, opening any cell for us that seemed more remarkable than the rest, and taking similar pains to show us the yards attached to the cells on the ground floor." * That our judgment was not warped, however, will, we think, be seen from the following: "But no amount of kindness, good intentions, and philanthropy could prevent us from shuddering, as one by one the cells opened, exhibiting their solitary inmates as the impersonations of misery, wretchedness, and despair. Never shall we forget the scenes there presented; nor can we ever recur to them without pain. Not that the unfortunate people seem to want for anything that a convict ought to expect. All are comfortably and cleanly clad; they admit themselves that they get plenty of wholesome food; each cell is heated with steam; the ventilation is as good in general as that of any other prison we have seen; and almost every one we saw had one or more books or magazines. "It is the solitude that seems terrible. We remember nothing more painfully interesting than the eagerness with which nine-tenths of the convicts hastened to look out into the corridor as soon as the thick, close door grated sullenly on its hinges. The few who did not thus rush to the door to get even one glance at the outside world, hid their faces in their beds, as if too sensible of their degradation to let any one see them. In order that they might feel at liberty to speak their minds freely, Mr. Vaux withdrew to some distance whenever we desired to ask the prisoners any questions."† Before turning our attention to other similar institutions, we give further evidence of our "savage" disposition toward Pennsylvania as follows: "We might easily add to these instances; but the subject is too painful to dwell upon. That the Inspectors do all in their power to alleviate the sufferings of the unfortunates placed under their care, we * "Prison Discipline, Past and Present."-N. Q. R., No. XIV., Sept. 1863. + Ib. |