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Schools In Lunatic Asylums

Creator: n/a
Date: April 1845
Publication: American Journal of Insanity
Source: Available at selected libraries


Introduction

Amariah Brigham, the founder of the Journal of Insanity, promoted many innovations as superintendent of the New York State Lunatic Asylum. Here, the establishment of schools at the asylum is discussed.


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At the New York State Lunatic Asylum, at Utica, schools for the instruction of the patients of both sexes, were established soon after the opening of the Institution. These have been continued most of the time since, and to the manifest enjoyment and improvement of the patients.

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We have three schools for the men, one of which has been managed for the past six months, wholly by a patient, the others by a teacher, hired for the purpose.

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We have one school for the women, which is conducted by a hired instructress.

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The schools commence at 10 in the morning, and at 3 in the afternoon, and continue about one hour. They are opened and closed by singing a hymn by the pupils. To enable all to unite in singing, we have hymns printed on cards, which each pupil holds in his hand.

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The patients then read, spell, answer questions in Arithmetic, Geography, History, &e., assisted by black-boards, and a globe. A majority commit pieces to memory, and once in two weeks, we have a meeting of all the schools in the chapel, when they unite in singing. Then follows declamations and the reading of compositions.

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In all the schools good order prevails, and many of the patients have made great proficiency. Some have here first learned to read and to write. Several inclined to be discontented, have been made far less so by attending school, and a considerable number who were already in a demented state, or fast approaching it, have improved in mind, and become interested in learning.

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Occasionally we have an exhibition, when original plays are exhibited. The following account of two of these exhibitions, written by a patient, and published some time since in the Utica Gazette, may not be uninteresting:

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Mr. EDITOR -- Few of your citizens are probably aware of the entertainments, which are got up at the Asylum -- and none would think of finding amusement there. Yet I have been present on two recent occasions, when it abounded, and I was also gratified, to witness the success with which the more quiet portion of the patients, seek the means of rendering their condition happy. The first was a sort of theatrical exhibition, by the females, in the south wing, and consisted of music on the piano, by one who accompanied it with a voice that denoted its former power, though now its notes were a little wild. Then there was a dialogue, in which a young lady was warned by a friendly aunt, against a certain matrimonial alliance; recitations, addresses, songs, and various characters followed -- altogether a serio-comic affair, and very interesting from its novelty.

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On Saturday evening last, a number of ladies and gentlemen from the city, were invited to a similar exhibition by patients of the other sex, in the north wing. There was speaking, dialogues, some recitations, and a display of mesmerism, which was done to the life, and was a capital burlesque of that science. The audience were convulsed with laughter, at the operation of the professor upon his Roderic Dhu. It was the production of genius, and would have been applauded in any place where wit is appreciated. The contents of a manuscript newspaper, called the Asylumian, just established, were then read, made up of the usual variety of miscellany, news, advertisements, &c. The terms are stated at $3 a year, if paid in advance; and $4, if not paid at all. There are several things worth copying into your paper, Mr. Editor; but I will send you but one, being an advertisement, which you may insert pro bone publico -- if you please:

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"Messrs. C. & F. hereby advertise to their friends and customers, that having made arrangements with the proprietor of the New York State Astor House, rear Utica, under the auspices of Dr. Brigham, they will be able to accommodate ladies and gentlemen, on the most reasonable terms. Having experienced the good effects of its operations upon themselves, they can with confidence recommend it to others. The Table d'Hote will be well supplied, the attendants obliging, and the resting places easy and luxurious.

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"Baths, warm and cold, and shower baths, free of charge, can be had at all hours. Carriages are had at the shortest notice, with good drivers; and the beautiful city of Utica and villages adjacent, with mountains, hills and dales are always in prospect.

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"Good music is had, and a variety of amusements. And in conclusion we would say, that refractory youths, and wild young men and women, are tamed at the shortest notice. The timid need have no fears, as the mildest ladies and gentlemen are employed as attendants, of great sagacity and trust-worthiness."

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We wish not to over estimate the importance of schools in Lunatic Asylums, but we are confident, they have here been of great service; and like beneficial effects seem to have resulted from them in some other Asylums.

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Dr. Conolly, Physician to the Hanwell Asylum, an immense establishment for the Insane near London, quite recently visited the Hospitals, for the Insane at Paris, and in the January number of the British and Foreign Medical Review, has given the following interesting account of the schools at the Salpetriere and Bicetre Hospitals:

THE SALPETRIERE.

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