Review oj Hcvieics, 20/3/06. 



Australia's Unhappy Insane, 



2?0 



be controlled by these means must be very closelv 

 allied to fiends. Nowadays those with experience 

 l;now that in the great majority of cases to have 

 used such appliances not only tended to intensify 

 the malady and destroy the possibility of cure, but 

 was gross cruelty. I am glad to say in many Aus- 

 tralian institutions at the present time such methods 

 are, to all intents and purposes, practically un- 

 known, but their memory remains, and the public is 

 not yet educated up to the fact that they are un- 

 necessary. 



The popular opinion held of the insane is further 

 strengthened by the cruelly misleading and terrifv- 

 inor accounts of mentally-deranged persons which 



time ago. when on the Medical Staflf at the Ballarot 

 Asylum, I was asked by some well-dressed and ap- 

 parently well-educated people for permission to go 

 through the institution, and the messenger was de- 

 puted to take them round. On their return I hap- 

 pened to be at the front of the building, and 

 casually remarked, " Well, have you seen through ?" 

 " Oh, yes,"' one of the party replied, " but you might 

 have allowed us to see those in the cages." 



Holding such ignorant views, is it any wonder 

 that the public is indifferent to the care and trt^at- 

 ment meted out to the insane ? 



Let me, then, emphatically state that the opinion 



many publishers of cheap fiction place before a generally held of mentally-deranged persons applies 



to but a small percentage of the inmates of our 

 Asylums. I grant a small proportion of them are 

 at times dangerously inclined and violent, but manv 

 of these have long lucid intervals when their misfor- 

 tune is keenly felt. I grant, further, that a number 

 take their food in objectionable ways and have 

 other habits that are distinctly disagreeable, but 

 here, again, under proper care and supervision, much 

 can be done to rid them of such. There is in ad- 

 dition, however, a very large proportion of our 

 insane who are possessed of the most kindly disposi- 

 tions, with natures as keenly sensitive to pain and 

 pleasure as a child. These can appreciate to the full 

 comfort and happiness, and it is peculiady touch- 

 ing to see how very grateful many of them are for 

 any little kindness shown them.' Medical practi- 

 tioners state that the quotation, '• Gratitude is one 

 of the symptoms of the disease, and, like the other 

 symptoms, disappears as the patient recovers,"' often 

 applies when dealing with sane people. It is rarely 

 applicable with the insane. 



Let me cite a case, a type of hundreds at present 

 existing in our various institutions. A voung widow, 

 v.-ell educated, refined, met with severe financial re- 

 verses, and from the wreck just sufficient was saved 

 to enable herself and one child, by the strictest 

 economy, to exist. The child to whom she was much 

 devoted was then stricken down with tvphoid and 

 died. The mother broorled over her loss, became 

 more and more depressed till finally her brain gave 

 way. She became subject to the delusion that h( r 

 daughter had been stolen from her, and as a result 

 could not be prevented from wandering all over th^'^ 

 district in which she lived looking for her child. 

 Being sent to an Asylum, she .spent her time going 

 from patient to patient and from nurse to nurs • 



sensation-lovmg public. Not satisfied in many cases 

 with their written descriptions, thev further disfigure 

 the pages with illustrations horrible in the extreme, 

 and which their readers readily accept as lifelike. 



Not very long ago a reporter went through a Vic- 

 torian Asylum, and as a result an article from his 

 pen appeared in the columns of a provincial paper. 

 It was the most sensational, lying and cruellv mis- 

 leading article it has ever been my lot to peruse ; 

 but the writer knew it would make the paper sell, 

 and that was all he cared about. Patients were 

 compared, and not favourably by this sensational 

 scribe, with the wild animals in the Zoo, and un- 

 doubtedly many of his readers were quite satisfied 

 of the accuracy of his description. It is difficult to 

 overestimate the evil effect produced on the minds 

 of its readers by such an article and the time and 

 education necessary to efface the impression created 

 by it from their minds. Surely flogging is too good 

 for a man who, for the sake of a few pounds, would 

 so malign a cla.ss of persons quite unable to protect 

 themsflvf s, and by his efforts intt^nsifv in the public 

 mind that false opinion which prevent.s instant de- 

 mand for the relief of their sufferings. 



Again, only a few weeks ago I was at a concert 

 on the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and among the 

 bioscopic pictures shown was one that, in my 

 opinion, was a disgrace to the entertainment. It pur- 

 ported to show a madman in his cell, tearing at the 

 iron bars of his window, and generally behaving 

 like a wild animal. Such a picture, of course, was 

 taken in no Asylum, but was arranged and photo- 

 graphed by perfectly sane people merely to pander 

 to the tastes of, I am sorry to say, not a .small 

 proportion of the public. 



Thus from childhood eye and ear have onjv 



brought before thtm sights and stories which leave asking for information of her daughter, and begging 

 the impression that all, or at best most, insane per- 

 sons are dangerous and repulsive creatures incapable 

 of appreciating pleasure or comfort, and only safe 

 when securely housed behind lock and key. Now 

 the evil effect of this impression would be slight 

 were it confined to a small .section or the ignorant 

 of our public. Unfortunately, however, it is wide- 

 .spread, and extends to all classes. Only a short 



piteously to be allowed out so that she might further 

 prosecute her search. Infinitely sad, I allow, but 

 surely in no way repulsive. As I have said, this 

 case is a type of hundreds, and is it right that th."\ 

 should have to submit to the hardships they do in 

 many Australian Asylums? A large proportion of 

 them no doubt is incurable as regards their m.ental 

 trouble, but is that anv reason they should be de 



