48 THE CARE AND TREATMENT OF THE INSANE. 



While this report, published in 1844, aroused sympathy 

 to a considerable extent, it failed for the time to secure 

 tangible results. In 1854 the condition of the insane in 

 the poor houses had become so bad that the superin- 

 tendents of the poor addressed a communication to the 

 Legislature asking for relief. Again public sentiment 

 was stimulated for the time but again the results were 

 barren. Things went from bad to worse until 1865, when 

 the report upon the condition of the insane in the poor 

 houses of the State, made by Sylvester D. Willard, 

 undertaken by legislative authority, granted a year be- 

 fore at the suggestion of the State Medical Society, 

 whose Secretary Dr. Willard was, resulted in the passage 

 of what was known as the Willard Asylum Act, This 

 act was designated Chapter 342 of the Laws of 1865, and 

 was entitled "An act to authorize the establishment of a 

 State Asylum for the chronic insane, and for the better 

 care of the insane poor, to be known as the Willard 

 Asylum for the Insane." The fact that the State owned 

 about 300 acres of fertile land on the beautiful shores of 

 Seneca Lake, which had been originally obtained for the 

 purpose of establishing an agricultural college which 

 was broken up by the Rebellion, resulted in the location 

 of the asylum in that part of the State. This was the 

 first decisive step on the part of the State to assume the 

 care of all its dependent insane. The asylnm, however, 

 grew slowly and was not opened for patients until 

 October 13, 1869. In the meantime "the needs of the 

 insane had become so urgent that other institutions were 

 projected at Poughkeepsie and Middletown, and later at 

 Buffalo and Binghamton. But despite all efforts the 

 accommodations were never adequate to the demands, 

 and in 1871 a great step backwards was taken when 

 Chapter 713 was passed giving counties the right to re- 

 sume the care of their insane upon satisfying the State 

 Board of Charities of their ability to properly maintain 



