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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ure and Pain, and it will be studied by means 

 of lectures, essays, and laboratory work. 

 The present officers of the Philosophical De- 

 partment are Profs. G. H. Palmer, A. M., 

 C. C. Everett, D. D., William James, M. D., 

 and P. G. Peabody, D. D., Asst. Prof. Josiah 

 Royce, Ph. D., and George Santayana, Ph. D., 

 instructor. 



The Founder of Inebriate Asylums. A 



sketch of the late Dr. J. Edward Turner, 

 founder of the first inebriate asylum in the 

 world, has been published by T. D. Crothers, 

 M. D., in The Quarterly Journal of Inebriety. 

 Dr. Turner was born in Maine, in 1822, and 

 had his mind turned to the subject of his 

 life work by being called upcn to take care 

 of an inebriate uncle at intervals of several 

 months, during his student life and after he 

 began to practice medicine. When he first 

 mentioned his idea of an asylum, where such 

 cases could be secluded, housed, and treated, 

 it was received with derision and contempt. 

 He went to Europe in 1S43, and spent two 

 years visiting hospitals and asylums, and dis- 

 cussing his ideas with medical men. On his 

 return he began the systematic collection of 

 facts concerning inebriety. About this time 

 Drs. Valentine Mott aud John W. Francis be- 

 came interested in his plan for an asylum, 

 and continued all their lives to be his warm- 

 est friends. There was much bitter opposi- 

 tion to the idea of treating drunkenness as 

 a disease, and still more indifference to the 

 matter, so that Dr. Turner made but slow 

 headway. In 1848-'49 he made a second 

 visit to Europe. After his return he began 

 to solicit subscriptions to the stock of a 

 company to build an inebriate asylum. A 

 charter was obtained from the State of 

 New York, and finally, in 1858, ground 

 was broken at Binghamton for a build- 

 ing planned by Dr. Turner, and the erec- 

 tion of which he personally superintended. 

 By persistent petitioning he obtained from 

 the New York Legislature a grant of one 

 tenth of the money obtained each year from 

 liquor licenses, for the building and main- 

 tenance of the asylum. In 1S62 Dr. Turner 

 married. The building had progressed far 

 enough in 1864 to open it for patients, and 

 a number of inebriates were admitted. At 

 this point success seemed to have crowned 

 the efforts of the founder. He had won 



over public opinion to his side, and the most 

 active interest was being manifested all over 

 the State in the work. But trouble arose 

 over the mode of treatment. Dr. Turner's 

 system was military in its strictness, his 

 first principle being, that the asylum officers 

 should have full control of the patient, and 

 that this control should extend over a long 

 time, and not be governed by the will of the 

 patient or his non-expert friends. An un- 

 scrupulous, money-getting lawyer in the 

 board of directors, and a weak president of 

 the board, caused a division, which was fol- 

 lowed by persecution of Dr. Turner, and his 

 resignation as superintendent in 1867. The 

 asylum was then sold to the State for a 

 nominal consideration, and thirteen years 

 later was changed to an insane hospital, 

 being known now as the New York State In- 

 sane Asylum at Binghamton. The trans- 

 fer was not legally made, and Dr. Turner be- 

 gan a suit for possession of the property, 

 which was never carried to an issue. Dr. 

 Turner then undertook to raise subscriptions 

 for a woman's hospital for inebriates and 

 opium-eaters. After three years, the sub- 

 scriptions in money and materials had 

 reached a great amount, ground had been 

 broken for a building, when the Legislature 

 of Connecticut crushed the scheme by re- 

 pealing the charter previously granted. For 

 the next two years after this discouraging 

 defeat Dr. Turner occupied himself with 

 writing a book called the History of the 

 First Inebriate Asylum in the World, which 

 was a general account of his forty years' 

 efforts. He then started out to sell the work, 

 and to solicit aid to push his suit for the 

 Binghamton asylum, and was busied thus 

 when he died, July 24, 1S89. Dr. Turner's 

 career was a striking example of over- 

 whelming defeat for the individual joined 

 with signal triumph for his idea. Inebriety 

 is being more widely recognized as a disease 

 each year. There are to-day over one hun- 

 dred inebriate asylums in the world, all the 

 direct result of his efforts in founding the 

 first one at Binghamton. 



Origin of American Public Museums. 



The first chapter in the history of American 

 museums, says Dr. G. Brown Goode, in his 

 lecture on museums, is short. In the early 

 years of the republic, the establishment of 



