AND LUNATIC ASYLUMS. 75 



mind, and rightly, the site of an asylum ought to be a subject of 

 urgent importance : every care should be bestowed on the selection, 

 with reference to salubrity : it should possess the advantage of a dry 

 cultivated soil, with an ample supply of water : and it should be so 

 far removed into the country as to have an unpolluted atmosphere, a 

 retired and peaceful neighbourhood, and yet be so near a town as to 

 enjoy the comforts and privileges and intercourse which can only be 

 attained in large communites. If the building be erected upon the 

 summit or the slope of an eminence, the advantages are incalculable : 

 to many, whose intellectual avenues to pleasure are for ever closed, 

 the mere extent of country affords delight : to some, the beauty of 

 wood and water, hill and dale, conveys grateful impressions : to 

 some, the inanimate objects, the changes of season, the activity of 

 industry, the living and moving things which pass across the scene, 

 form a strong and imperishable tie with the world and the friends to 

 which the heart still clings : and to all, a succession of new and varied 

 and salutary impressions must be communicated. His plan for the 

 construction and arrangements of an asylum, as regards the security 

 and comfort and cure of its inmates, is quite graphic, and seems pre- 

 ferable in all its details* He would make it fire-proof, pad the walls, 

 and heat the apartments by the circulation of hot water : he would 

 surround the place with airing-grounds, shrubberies, and gardens ; 

 give the patients warm clothing, exercise them in form-employment, 

 and pay them for their labour — not in money, but with such objects 

 as may be judged most acceptable to the patients, so as to gain their 

 good-will and confidence. 



Mr. Browne recommends the admission of insane persons to reli- 

 gious worship and instruction ; not indiscriminately, however, but 

 under careful and prudent selection. Upon certain forms of mental 

 disease, he believes, religious teaching or ceremonies would act as a 

 direct irritant ; upon others, they would fall powerless ; upon a third 

 class, such instruction would operate as any other new scene or occu- 

 pation which assisted in relieving the monotony of their mode of life ; 

 while, upon others, their influence would be altogether benign, afford- 

 ing a legitimate gratification to healthy feelings, directing the mind 

 from depressing or agitating, to soothing associations, and tending to 

 inspire with brighter and nobler hopes which disease can neither 

 darken nor quench, which will beam on the troubled spirit amid its 

 gloomiest delusions, as clear and certain points of guidance, like 

 ■bore-lighte to the storm-bound mariner. In his opinion, it is upon 



