668 eepobt— 1878. 



be very properly treated in district lunatic asylums, and not dealt with as a distinct 

 class. As regards the second class, there are unquestionably great disadvantages 

 in mixing them with the general inmates of a lunatic asylum. But systematic and 

 skilled education and training are obviously called for in the case of all the patients 

 in lunatic asylums, all of whom are prone to breaches of the moral laws. In the 

 district lunatic asylums of Ireland the great insufficiency of the means of educating 

 and training are obvious. 



The Charity Organisation Society of London, after very prolonged inquiry, 

 conducted with peculiar advantages for obtaining information, have come to the 

 conclusion that voluntary charity has not proved equal to providing a remedial 

 machinery for the training of imbeciles and idiots coextensive with the evil, and 

 that such provision cannot be made without the intervention of the State. The 

 society recommends that the administration of such provision should be conducted 

 by governing bodies composed of representatives of the local magistrates, repre- 

 sentatives of the guardians, and persons appointed by the Crown, and that its cost 

 should be met partly out of local rates and partly out of the public revenue. I 

 think municipal bodies should be represented on the governing boards ; and whilst 

 I concur in the other views above set forth by the Charity Organisation Society, I 

 dissent entirely from an opinion which they have expressed, that idiots and imbeciles 

 should be treated distinctively from other classes, and that they ought not to be 

 associated with lunatics in asylums. Indeed, I would disapprove of the introduc- 

 tion of any system that would make provision for the care and training of idiots 

 and imbeciles of the poorer classes distinct in the organisation of its administra- 

 tion and mode of support from that for the insane afflicted with other forms of 

 insanity. 



It is much to be wished that some system may be devised by which the due 

 care and treatment of the insane poor, labouring under the different forms of 

 insanity, may be dealt with so that they should be recognised in law as belonging 

 to one abnormal family or group ; and that their interests, as well as those of the 

 public at large, should obtain that increased and much-needed advancement which 

 might be expected from the combination of existing diverse systems into one con- 

 sistent and homogeneous whole, working with the full power which such union 

 woidd confer. 



Assuming that educational training is a powerful, improving, and ameliorating 

 agent with all classes of the insane, it is important to bear in mind that it does not 

 produce its full results, in many cases, until after the lapse of a very long period ; 

 and it has led, in the Richmond Asylum, in my experience, to most unexpected 

 improvement, and even cure, only after its continuance for years. Hence I venture 

 most earnestly to deprecate any such interference, by legislative enactment or other- 

 wise, as would make its trial short and insufficient. 



In the year 1857, on my appointment to the Richmond Asylum, I found with 

 much pleasure that a schoolmistress was a member of the staff, having been 

 appointed in 1854. At the time of my appointment she had a class of about twelve 

 patients, and also gave elementary instruction to such of the nurses as required and 

 wished for it. I have endeavoured to develop, extend, and strengthen systematic 

 education and training as part of the moral treatment of all forms of insanity in 

 this asylum, and I trust my efforts have been attended with some success. 



In reference to the education or training of the insane, no matter of what class 

 or age, I wish to state that I try to have the patients engaged in the same pursuit 

 for not more than from one to one hour and a half consecutively. Monotony, 

 whether of work, education, or recreation, appears to me to be injurious to the 

 insane of all classes and ages. I consider the alternation of literary, sesthetical, 

 moral, and physical education, with industrial employment and recreation (so as to 

 produce variety of occupation), to be of great advantage in the treatment of the 

 insane, whether the particular form of the insanity be mania, melancholia, mono- 

 mania, dementia, idiocy, or imbecility. 



The great want of further and better provision for the cure of recent and 

 curable cases, and for the training of idiots and imbeciles in Ireland, has, for 

 several years, received some attention, and the latter subject has been brought into 



