CHAS. W. PILGRIM, M. D. 41 



rant and superstitions. Luther's firm belief in the doc- 

 trine of possession did much to prevent a true apprecia- 

 tion of the nature of insanity, especially in the north of 

 Europe. 



As we look back upon the darkness of the middle 

 ages, we can scarcely biing ourselves to believe that 

 such things were possible, for now it is no longer a mat- 

 ter of doubt that the majority of those who suffered 

 agony and death on account of their supposed relations 

 with the evil one were victims of disease and should 

 have received medical treatment instead of the tortures 

 of the whip and flames. The wretched condition of the 

 insane at this time who were allowed to live, almost 

 beggars description. They were treated worse than ani- 

 mals. Many were confined for years in cells destitute of 

 windows or doors, with only an opening in the ceiling 

 through which limited supplies of food and drink were 

 lowered to them. 



During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a 

 certain degree of improvement took place. The insane 

 were admitted to houses of correction and the prisoners 

 were compelled to wash, dress and feed them. But even 

 then they were as a general thing neglected and abused 

 or gibed and mocked by their keepers. The belief in 

 mechanical restraint was universal. Physicians vied 

 with each other in devising means of restraint and the re- 

 sult was the ball and chain, the rotary chair, in which the 

 patient was revolved a hundred times a minute, until eme- 

 sis occurred, the gloves fastened to the hands and attached 

 to iron rings in the wall, the muff, the camisole, the re- 

 straint chair, the closed ^ack, the bath of surprise and 

 other ingenious methods of torture. Is it a wonder that 

 under such treatment the unhappy victims of insanity 

 made thrnr loathsome cells resound in their impotent 

 rage with bowlings and cursings, and became in the 



