The Necessity for Hospital Treatment for Curable Cases of Insanity

Extract

Dr. D. Hack Tuke in his interesting work, “Chapters in the History of the Insane in the British Isles,” has shown how the asylum of to-day was evolved from the madhouse of old. Originally the madhouse was simply a prison in which persons who had shown themselves dangerous to their fellows because of madness were confined and punished. With the general advancement of knowledge and civilization, the lamentable lot of the madman improved. One barbarous and inhuman custom after another was dropped, and at length it was dimly recognised that madness was a disease. Then for the lunatic the day of salvation was at hand—the cell, the chains, and the whip became things of the past, and he stood emancipated from all but his terrible disease.