INSANE ASYLUM. An institution for the care and treatment of the insane. Monasteries appear to have been the representative of such retreats in the mediceval Christian times; but restraint and rigid asceticism characterized their management. Out of conventual establishments grew the bethlems, or bedlams, with which the English of two generations ago were familiar. (See BEDLAM.) The vast majority of the insane must have been neglected; in some countries, reverenced as specially God-stricken; in others, tolerated, or tormented, or laughed at, as simple tons or buffoons; in others, imprisoned as social pests, even executed as criminals. in a few spots, enjoying a reputation for sanctity, or where miraculou,s cures of nervous diseases were supposed to have been effected, such as Gheel and Saint-Suaire, communities were formed, of which lunatics, sent with a view to restoration. formed a large part, and resided in the houses of the peasants. and partook of their labor and enjoyments. Asylums, properly so called, date from the commencement of the nineteenth cen tury; and for many years after their institution. although based upon sound and benevolent views, they resembled jails both in construction and the mode in which they were conducted, rather than hospitals. Until about 1880 a model erec tion of this kind was conceived necessarily to consist of one vast building, the centre of which was appropriated to the residence of the officers, the kitchen and its dependencies, the chapel, etc., from which there radiated long galleries. in which small rooms. or cells, were arranged upon one or both sides of a corridor or balcony, having at one extremity public rooms, in which the agitated or non-industrial inmates, as the ease might. be, spent the day, while the more tractable individuals were withdrawn to engage in some pursuit, either in workshops, clustered round the central house. or in the grounds attached, which were surrounded by high walls. The population of such establishments, when they were appro priated to paupers. ranged from 100 to 1400 patients. These were committed to a staff com posed of a medical (Aker. matron. and attend
ants, to whom were directly intrusted the man agement. discipline, and oempation of the insane, in accordance with regulations or prescriptions issued by the physician. A gradual but great revolution has taken place in the views of psy chologists as to the provisions and requirements for the insane during seclusion. chiefly through Conolly's influence, in 1817 and subsequently. As a result of this change, asylums, especially for the wealthy classes, are similar in their arrangements to ordinary dwelling-houses; while it is proposed to place the indigent in cottages in the immediate- vicinity of an infirmary. where acute cases, individuals dangerous to themselves or others, or in any way untrustworthy, could be confined and actively treated. as their condi tion might require. Tn all such establishments, whether now entitled to be regarded as cottage asylums or not, the semblance and notch of tho realit‘ tit yoereion has been abolished; the influ ence of religion, occupation, education, recrea tion. the judicious application of moral imlnes ,ion., and the dominion of rational kindne.. and discriminating discipline, lane been added to mere limit iva I t real t men t and substituted for brute force, terror, and cruelty. In fact, the word 'asylum' has been supplanted by 'hospital :' 'keepers' have given place to 'nurses' and "attend and the insane are treated, c•pecially ill institutions in the I 'tilted Stales, as sick people. (See Ixs.txtrv.) •squirol. ihs )(oda da, mentides, etc. (l'aris, Ps3S; English trans. by floats Philadelphia. 1$15) ; (luislain, 7'raito stir Palii'riation inentele et Ica h()S)cil'eS des alicncs (An(Aenlani, IsI261; Collidly, Const•u• tion and Government of Lunatic. .1 -.plums (Lon don, IS17) ; v. Kin:, Neumann, Fr.
Eickholt. \Vilser, Landerer and Diez, Festschrift zur !•irr des fiinfzdyjahrifn n Jubi lawns der Anstalt Illenan (Heidelberg, 1892); ""rho Care and Custody of the Convict and Criminal ill PrvreciiingS of the Au /Maul Prison Association (NVau.liington, 1901). SLY! INSANITY.