Auckland Institute. 675 



mously awarded to Mr. Fenton for his action in securing so valuable a 

 relic of the Maori race for the City of Auckland. 



Paper. — " The Geology, Eesources, and Future Prospects 

 of the Thames Goldfields,'" by James Park, F.G.S., Lecturer 

 of the School of Mines, Thames. In the absence of the author, 

 the paper was read by Professor Thomas. 



Fourth Meeting : 16th July, 1891. 

 Mr. J. H. Upton, President, in the chair. 

 Professor Arnold Tubbs gave a popular lecture on Greek 



Art, entitled " A Greek Madonna." 



Fifth Meeting : 6th August, 1891. 



Mr. J. H. Upton, President, in the chair. 



New Member. — \Mr. G. "Wilson, Inspector of Mines, 

 Thames. 



Paper. — "The Treatment of Lunatics, historically con- 

 sidered," by F. G. Ewington, Official Visitor to the Auckland 

 Asylum . 



Abstract. 



The lecturer considered that mind was one of man's best endow- 

 ments. It made us heirs of the ages ; enabled us to live the past over 

 again, and anticipate the future ; also to move amongst buried cities and 

 extinct civilizations, and almost feel the heart-beat of our ancestors. The 

 light of reason enabled Newton to deduce the law of gravitation from a 

 falling apple ; Galileo to infer from the sympathy between two magnetic 

 needles that men at gieat distances apart might converse together ; 

 Edison to treasure up the human voice in the phonograph ; Darwin to 

 conceive and expound his marvellous theory of the origin of species ; 

 and Aristotle and Shakespeare, and other immortal leaders of thought, to 

 sway empires vaster and more glorious than ever fell to the lot of political 

 rulers. The lecturer then showed how necessary it was to realise the 

 greatness of mind, in order to realise the seriousness of its ruins. He 

 gave instances of patients under illusional and delusional insanity, 

 also of some suffering from mania and idiocy. The lecturer next 

 proceeded to show the necessity for public vigilance, and then emphasized 

 the fact that the lot of the insane to-day might be any man's to-morrow, 

 through fright, joy, grief, or a break-down in running the pace that kills 

 in modern industrial life. After dwelling on the value of hope, the 

 lecturer showed that in ancient times Hippocrates and others held 

 very humane and scientific opinions on insanity and its proper treat- 

 ment. Some illustrations were then given of cruelty practised in the 

 Middle Ages, when lunatics were burned as witches or killed as demoniacs. 

 Thence the lecturer proceeded to modern times, and showed how shame- 

 fully patients were bound, flogged, chained, caged, held up for public 

 exhibition half drowned in surprise baths, chained in stalls, nearly 



