ii6 WILLIAM M. EDWARDS 



unsuited for treatment in the hospitals for the acute may be 

 transferred as occasion arises to the asylum proper, and from it 

 to the colony, as they may seem to be adapted for such resi- 

 dence. Many patients of the periodical types, as manic-de- 

 pressive insanity in the intervals between the more active 

 manifestations of the disease, may reside at the colony with 

 comfort and pleasure to themselves and profit to the institu- 

 tion. Indications of a returning attack of disturbance will 

 enable them to be retransf erred to the asylum. Chronic cases 

 requiring surgical care can be taken into the hospitals for the 

 acute and given such attention as may be required, and then 

 returned to the asylum proper or colony, as indicated. 



Third, colonies : A colony located upon a farm affords a 

 healthy, economic means of providing for the more robust, 

 chronic insane who are able to do some work. Such patients 

 live under more natural surroundings and are allowed a greater 

 degree of liberty than can be given many times in a parent 

 institution. By becoming interested in farm operations, a 

 disposition to elope from the asylum is often entirely nullified. 

 The insane individual usually does best that which he has 

 previously known how to do best. Patients drawn from an 

 agricultural community find on the farm, in the gardens and 

 barns, healthy and congenial occupation of the kind to which 

 they have been accustomed. The colony should be located 

 with reference to accessibility, ease of transportation between 

 it and the parent institution, with a view to a water supply 

 and the disposal of sewage. The latter, however, can be taken 

 care of by methods of distribution upon the land. 



Colony houses should be constructed substantially of 

 brick, and may accommodate according to the taste and ideas 

 of the builders, from 20 to 75 patients each. They should have 

 large, airy dining rooms with a reasonable proportion of day 

 room space, and patients may sleep very largely in associated 

 rooms or dormitories. They should be lighted by electricity 

 and warmed by indirect radiation, using low pressure steam 

 boilers. In colony houses for men, rooms in the basement or 

 elsewhere must be set apart as smoking rooms, where the men, 

 after their day's work, may congregate and enjoy games and 

 indulge in the use of tobacco. For both men and women 



