SCHOOLS FOB THE INSANE. 635 



partment who were physically incapacitated, was engaged either 

 in the school or industrial exercises, and that seventy were en- 

 gaged in both. It is true that quite a number of the patients 

 whom I saw were too demented to take a very active interest in 

 the exercises, but it certainly seemed to me that constant effort in 

 this direction could not fail to produce a beneficial effect by in- 

 fusing a spirit of order among the patients, even if it did nothing 

 more. Object-teaching was the plan most in favor among the 

 more stupid ones. For instance, a piece of India rubber would 

 be handed to one of the class, the teacher asking him at the same 

 time to name it ; he would then ask its color, shape, and qualities, 

 getting the patients, by experiment, to find out that it was tough, 

 smooth, opaque, pliable, etc., finally ending by questions as to its 

 uses. Some other object, as a piece of glass, would then be taken 

 up until the time allotted for the exercise in that particular way 

 was exhausted. On one or two occasions the Irishman's natural 

 wit could not be restrained. As, for instance, when one was asked 

 in regard to the most important uses of glass, he replied, for 

 "making whisky -tumblers, sir"; and another, when asked in 

 regard to another object, said, " Sure, you know, sir, without ask- 

 ing me to tell you." The more advanced pupils were instructed 

 in reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography. Music occupies 

 a most important place in the system, and I was told that, when 

 a patient's attention could not be gained in any other way, it was 

 frequently possible to get him interested in the singing-class, 

 and afterward in the other classes. The singing is accompanied 

 with instrumental music. Even the theory of music is not neg- 

 lected, a portion of the daily singing half-hour being devoted to 

 practicing the scale. It should be mentioned in this connection 

 that music also exerts an important influence in another direction, 

 as it naturally leads to drilling and marching, and by placing the 

 less active patients here and there in the line even the most inert 

 can be induced to take part in the exercises, and thus obtain an 

 amount of physical training which it would be difficult to give 

 them in any other way. A number of patients also act as moni- 

 tors, keep records, etc. The object of the school as formulated by 

 Dr. Lalor is, first, to provide occupation for a large class who 

 otherwise would be unemployed ; secondly, to vary the occupa- 

 tion of the patients ; thirdly, to apply a system of education to 

 the relief of mental disorders ; and, fourthly, to promote the hap- 

 piness and welfare of all the inmates. 



I have visited a large number of asylums in various parts of 

 the world, and I am sure that I have never seen any in which 

 there was better discipline and order among the patients. Like 

 all Irish asylums, the wards of the Richmond District Asylum 

 were poorly furnished, and they lacked many of the features 



