1816.] Mr. Baketcell on Ltinalic Asylums. 



" ' Wliat Imve we here,' said I to a 

 person mIio couildcted nic to a kind of 

 prison or receptacle, 'how low, dark, and 

 Iniinid!— \V hat too, I pray \on. are 

 those animals lyinj on tlie sxronnd, 

 whose liidcons heads, appearing from 

 beneatli their wrct( lied rngs, are cover- 

 ed with lonjf and matted hair; they 

 seem unalti^; even to crawl; yet what 

 sfrijied ferocity in their looks! — Ah! do 

 ^hey eat nnly that black and hard hread.'' 

 ' N'o'liin.!^ else.' — 'Drink only that tur- 

 bid water?" 'That alone.' — -'Do tiiey 

 always lie in tliat state?" 'They do.' 

 — 'How lonjv i>ave they hcen here?' 

 ^Tivenfi/ j/sars.' — ' How t>Jd arc they?" 

 ' Sevtuti/.' — ' ^yhat arc they!' 'Alge- 

 rino Tinksl' 



"Tlr-se nnhappy ^Maiiometans are, 

 indeed, so entirely thrn-t out from hu- 

 manity, that tl'.ey frequently lose the 

 spontaneous !rioveinoi.t of tiieir limbs, 

 and, enclosed as it were in a tomb, 

 liarden into idiotism. 



" Captives under sixty, when l)ron£;ht 

 from labonr, are eliaincd in small op'-n 

 niches in a long wall, six teei asunder, 

 in such a way as scarcely to be able 

 either to sit or to recline: in this state 

 they breathe the litt! * air wliie!) is jirivcn 

 fo them, or rather which they steal. 



" In tlie Clean time, (Jenoa, \\ itii more 

 toIeraiiC? than eonid have been exp( cl- 

 od, permits f!;eni a Dioscpie. — 'I'lmPnifrs- 

 tioils in France are not yet allowed 

 churches. 



" Let lue add a conelnsivo trait for a 

 picture of the gallics of Genoa — I have 

 seen the bones and garbage, abaiidnncd 

 l»y the dogs iU' tli(; streets, cairied from 

 bench to bench, and sold to the galle}'- 

 slaves, wiio disputed for their possession 

 with all the rage and sellishness of ex- 

 treme hunger. 



" Genoa! " concludes Dupaty empha- 

 ticalli-. "tliy palaces are not .so grand, 

 so lofty, so luinieroiis, or so brilliant, as 

 they ought to be— they do not hide tliy 

 jjaliies!'' 



I make no apology, Sir, for the fore- 

 going i)ictuie. Such (.'xposnres serve to 

 rouse people into a nicer examination of 

 the uiivery under their ow n eyes, or ex- 

 isting in Ciiristian countries, which 

 while justly stigmatising the cruelties of 

 barbarians, they somctim.'s forget. Ge- 

 noa lias had reason to complain of 

 Algiers, hut angi r is poorly expressed 

 by l!ie imitation of relentless cruelly, to 

 say nothing of IIk." profcssiou of clnis- 

 tianily. Dupaty 's remark on the <'X- 

 clnsi Ml of i'rotestant churches frnm 

 Tiance is curious. — Tliey have since 



3S9 



been admitted, but we all know with 

 what an eye the guest and ally of Great 

 Britain regards them; and what, if com- 

 mon sense prove not too powertui, may 

 ultimately he expected from the un- 

 fettered volition of the family of Bon rboii. 

 Lambeth; lYoj'. 14. L G. 



To the Editor of the Bloitthly Mngaziiw. 



S!K, 



^()AJ E montlis ago I felt myself cal- 

 wy led upon, from a most respectable 

 qiiaiter, 5o enter into a public discus- 

 sion of the merits of county asvlnins for 

 the insane. — I'roin all thai has been .said 

 in the way of reply to what I have ad- 

 vanced, it seems fair to coneltuio, that 

 the advocates of the Gounty-Asvhnn sys- 

 tem stand convinced at the bar of truth 

 and cfiinmon s-'n.se ; and, though we may 

 respect tiieir int'^iitions, wc aie at liberty 

 tolanifnt their total want of information 

 in wiiat r: hues to the prop<'r tr-'alment 

 of uKMita! diseases ; those asylums which 

 have been erected at a prodigal expense, 

 remaining as heaions, to warn others of 

 a weil-iTieant error, not as objects to 

 copy. 



i\' the most intense study for many 

 many years upon the subject — if the 

 mostaitentive observance of every shade, 

 of every variety, in some hiuulreds of 

 cases of mental diseasf-s, can give any 

 pcsurance of being right, in my opinion, 

 then, I am not wrong, in what 1 have 

 .^o boldly asserted of the bad effo<-ts of 

 tlieC'onnty-A.Mlum sciieme; bn! Ii-i 1 not 

 think myself at liberty to fuKJ lault with 

 one system williout belie\iiig that I was 

 able to suggest a better, and to do this is 

 my present purpose. 



] am far from agreeing with two wri- 

 ters of the present day, in their pliilip- 

 picks against alliiiad-honses indiscrimir 

 nat<:ly; for, though I am free to admit 

 that ourpubiic asylums are mere prisons, 

 and many private mad-honscs little bet- 

 ter, still we are not to argue against the 

 use of a thing frtm its abuse; and therft 

 is no question but liiat well n'gulated 

 iiKid- houses may aflonl the very be.it 

 means of recovery, and the greatest de- 

 gree of comfort to thi.-ir inmates, of any 

 plan for. treating the insane, that has hi- 

 therto been promulgated. Indiscriminate 

 invectives must be illiberal. I know se- 

 veral kce()ers of mad houses that I be- 

 lieve to be honest and humane; and, if 

 they are mistaken in their views as to 

 the best methods of cure, the taiilf lies in 

 the body politic, which sanctions nothing 

 but indiscriminate eonlinenieni for the 

 insane; iustciid oIh hich, the proper treat- 

 incut 



