Chapters in the History of the Insane in the British Isles

Daniel Hack Tuke

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• Publié par: ansio
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 10
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chapters in the History of the Insane in the British Isles, by Daniel Hack Tuke This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Chapters in the History of the Insane in the British Isles Author: Daniel Hack Tuke Release Date: February 5, 2010 [EBook #31185] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INSANE IN THE BRITISH ISLES *** Produced by Jonathan Ingram, S.D., and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr) Transcriber's Note: This book contains several Unicode characters. You may need to change your browser's character encoding or use a different font in order for them to display properly. You can hover your mouse over Greek words to reveal a transliteration, and click on illustrations for a larger view. For detailed information about the corrections and changes made, see the end of the text. ORIGINAL BUILDING OF THE RETREAT, YORK. INSTITUTED 1792. From a Painting by Cave.] [Frontispiece. C H IN THE A P T E R S HISTORY OF THE INSANE IN THE BRITISH ISLES BY DANIEL HACK TUKE, M.D., F.R.C.P. PRESIDENT OF THE MEDICO-PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, JOINT EDITOR OF "THE JOURNAL OF MENTAL SCIENCE," AND FORMERLY VISITING PHYSICIAN TO THE YORK RETREAT "I might multiply these instances almost indefinitely, but I thought it was desirable just to indicate the state of things that existed, in order to contrast the Past with the Present."—EARL OF SHAFTESBURY. WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1882 (The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved. ) DEDICATED TO JONATHAN HUTCHINSON, F.R.S., PROFESSOR OF PATHOLOGYAND SURGERY ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, ENGLAND, , IN MEMORY OF A LONG FRIENDSHIP. [vii] PREFACE. [Skip to Contents] I THINK it was Pascal who said that the last thing an author does in making a book is to discover what to put at the beginning. This discovery is easily made in the present instance. I wish to state that the range of this book, as its title implies, is mainly restricted to the salient points of the historical sketch it attempts to pourtray. To have written a complete History of the Insane in the British Isles would have necessitated the narration of details uninteresting to the general reader. Hence, as the periods and the institutions of greatest importance have alone been brought into prominence, others have been inevitably thrown into the shade. Thus Bethlem Hospital has occupied much space as the centre around which gathers a large amount of historic interest, having been with our forefathers almost the only representative for many centuries of the attempt to provide for the insane in England—the outward symbol of nearly all they knew on the subject. To the Retreat at York, again, considerable attention has been devoted in this history, as the cradle of reform which made the year 1792 the date of the new departure in the treatment of the unhappy class, on whose behalf the various charitable and national acts recorded in this volume have been performed. Lincoln and Hanwell also, which in the course of time were the scenes of redoubled efforts to ameliorate the condition of the insane, have received in these pages a large, but certainly not too large, measure of praise; and the writer would have been glad could he have conveniently found space for a fuller description of the good work done at the latter establishment.[1] Of no other malady would the history of the victims demand so constant a reference to legislation. In the chapter devoted to it, the Earl of Shaftesbury has formed the central figure, honourably distinguished, as have been several other members of the legislature in the same cause, both before and after the year 1828, when as Lord Ashley he seconded Mr. Gordon's Bill, and first came publicly forward in support of measures designed to advance the interests of the insane. A laborious and sometimes fruitless examination of Hansard from the earliest period of lunacy legislation, has been necessary in order to present a continuous narrative of the successive steps by which so great a success has been achieved. No one knows so well as the historian of an important and extended movement like this, the deficiencies by which its recital is marred, but I trust that I have at least succeeded in supplying a want which some have long felt, in placing before the British reader the main outlines of a history with which every friend of humanity ought to be acquainted. Its interest, I need hardly urge, extends far beyond the pale of the medical profession, and no one who has reason to desire for friend or relative the kindly care or the skilful treatment required for a disordered mind, can do otherwise than wish gratefully to recognize those who, during well-nigh a century, have laboured to make this care and this treatment what they are at the present day. In conclusion, it remains for me to express my obligations to those who have in various ways rendered me assistance in the prosecution of this work. In addition to acknowledgments made in the following pages, I have pleasure in thanking Dr. McDowall, of Morpeth, for the use of manuscript notes of works bearing on the first chapter; as also Mr. S. Langley. I have to thank Mr. Coote, of the Map Department at the British Museum, and Mr. F. Ross, for help in preparing the chapter on Bethlem Hospital; also Dr. W. A. F. Browne of Dumfries, and Dr. Clouston of the Edinburgh Royal Asylum, for valuable information utilized in the chapter on the history of the insane in Scotland. Lastly, in the preparation of this, as of other works, I am greatly indebted to the ever-willingly rendered assistance of Mr. R. Garnett, of the British Museum Reading Room. 4, CHARLOTTE STREET, BEDFORD SQUARE, June 12, 1882. [viii] [ix] [x] FOOTNOTES: [1] The reader is referred to Dr. Conolly's "The Treatment of the Insane without Mechanical Restraints" (1856) for more details. [xi] CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. MEDICAL AND SUPERSTITIOUS TREATMENT OF THE INSANE IN THE OLDEN TIME II. BETHLEM HOSPITAL AND ST. LUKE'S III. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ASYLUMS—FOUNDATION OF THE YORK RETREAT IV. COURSE OF LUNACY LEGISLATION V. LINCOLN AND HANWELL—PROGRESS OF REFORM IN THE TREATMENT OF THE INSANE FROM 1844 TO THE PRESENT TIME VI. OUR CRIMINAL LUNATICS—BROADMOOR VII. OUR CHANCERY LUNATICS VIII. OUR IDIOTS AND IMBECILES IX. SCOTLAND X. IRELAND XI. PROGRESS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE DURING THE LAST FORTY YEARS: 1841-1881 CONCLUSION APPENDICES INDEX 1 45 92