INSANITY AND ASYLUMS.

THE Press is the universal champion—the friend of the Negro, the mitigator of sanguinary punishment, the abater of grievances among the poor and oppressed. Its light is now to break into the cell of the maniac. When we saw the title of this work, we were struck by the description the writer gives of himself: he has been himself a patient in one of these institutions he deems so ill-regu- lated by the law—he is come to tell us the secrets of his prison- house. Some heartrending tales of cruelty, privation, and suffering, were naturally to be expected, and the minds of the humane were prepared to sally to the rescue of the injured unfortunates. It was, therefore with some surprise that we found Mr. GRIGGS'S auto- biography turn out a eulogy upon the jolly life led in one of the insane monasteries in the neighbourhood of town, and a descrip- tion of treatment, as considerate as humane, of persons, every one of whom, according to his own account, were fit subjects for restraint. The only rational argument which this quondam patient uses against the present system of confining lunatics, is that the certificate at present required is not a suffi- cient protection for the liberty of the subject. He demands a jury in all cases; and is indignant that a jury should be thought neces- sary where property is concerned, and not where personal liberty or life is at stake. The certificate at present required is the signa- ture of two distinct medical practitioners, neither of whom shall be the party receiving the patient into his abode. And between pro- perty and the person there is this difference, that the temptation to lay hold of the former is great, but to incarcerate the latter there can be few improper inducements. Mr. GRIGGS alleges, that in- stances are frequent in which individuals unjustly and without due cause confine their immediate relatives; but he gives no proofs, and we should doubt the fact. A further security against unjust detention does not seem understood by Mr. GRIGGS: he speaks of certain Commissioners appointed to make visitations of private lunatic asylums. These Commissioners, beyond the range of seven miles round London, are no other than the local Magistrates, who are appointed in company with a physician to inspect private asy- lums. Within that distance, they are an especial board.. Mr. GRIGGS seems-astonished that he never saw these personages,and was greatly disappointed that he had no opportunity of putting some acute cfnesticos to them, which he bad ready, he says, "-cut

Magistrates are only bound to perform one inspection per quarter; which may account for the want of oppbrfunity laboured under by the lucid Mr. GRIGGS. •

However little reason the author may have to complain of the defective state of the law, he has been successful in putting to- gether a curious pamphlet. The description of the interior of an asylum, by a quondam lunatic, is even more novel than many of the works to which that description is now assigned, too much after the manner of the old derivation of //tuts a non lucendo, —for few things are older than the materials of most novels. The following is Mr. GRIGGS'S account of his introduction into the esta- blishment in which he had the good fortune to be confined.

I had been suffering under mental delusion some months, augmented by drink- ing to excess; this brought on an excitement of the brain, which deprived me of almost every. faculty. I had the best advice; medicine and various methods were tried, but without success; at last a medical gentleman was found of sufficient nerve to stop my further career, and had me taken to Mr. Finch's Asyluni, Kensington ; and by being kept quiet and from strong liquors, in the short space of four weeks was perfectly recovered.

I will now, for the information of the friends of those who are in this asylum, briefly state the treatment I received while under Mr. Finch's care ; and the treatment of all the patients was the same, for I had the indulgence of seeing all of them, and know it to be a fact.

In justice to Mr. Finch, I will first give my unbiassed opinion of him. A more humane and tender man does not exist,—a man possessed of the finer feelings in a high degree ; and for his kindness to me, and his humanity to all persons in his asylum, I shall ever hold as one of the hest of men I ever knew, and hereby give him my warmest thanks. 1 was made an inmate of his house, October 9.9, 1831 ; and had I been Ger- man Coburg, could not have been introduced with more politeness by Clarke, the keeper, into the parlour of that establishment. It being evening, my coffee was brought in, and the door locked on sue. I was sensible enough to know mv situ- ation, and after a moment's reflection, was determined to make the best of it.

I found myself in the company of three gentlemen I had never seen before (insane of course); all seemed lost in a kind of melancholy, impossible for me to describe. I attempted to rouse them, but to no purpose. One was Mr. Charles Wright, Opera Colonnade, wine-merchant, who makes a point of never speaking. He has declared he never will speak any more unless his wife Eliza comes to see him; and has been confined many months, and up to this moment has most religiously kept his word. The second, Mr. Richard Burton Williams, a merchant's son of the island of Trinidad, who I recommend to the particular notice of the Commissioners on their next visit. The third, Mr. William Hale. The last two eared little about speaking ; inflict, it was a sort of silent committee.

I soon after went to bed, with a full determination in the morning to attempt to get them into some sort of conversation ; and I succeeded beyond my most sanguine expectation, with the exception of Wright, who made up by dumb mo- tions; and I firmly believe they had not seen so merry a day for months past : in the pugilistic phrase, I would not be denied. The parlour we were confined in was about eight yards square, carpeted all over, mahogany furniture, and a good fire ; no liars to the windows ; not the least appearance of a place of confinement; under no personal restraint what- ever, except our liberty ; our bed-room, above the site of the parlour, with four beds, at a proper distance from each other. My companions were secured to their beds; I was not, but as much at my liberty as I should have been in my own bed-room. In the morning at eight we came down to breakfast, which consisted of a large bason of coffee, with three good slices of bread and butter, and more if we wished for it ; breakfast over, if the weather permitted, we walked in the garden for two hours or more, or spent our time in reading in doors,—for there is an extensive library in the house, which the patients have the use of, if their cases admit of it, with newspapers and periodicals; thus the time is passed till dinner hour, at one, which always consists of some substantial joint, varied every day with soup or pudding. Our aristocratic pride would not suffer a knife in our presence; we give our royal order to bring our meat in ready cut, with silver fork and spoon. We were not supplied with a small plate- full, but with one that will keep off the Cholera. Persons afflicted with this quack disorder, would soon be cured by dining with Finch's patients for a month, and compelled to eat the same allowance. I have known even the good lady of the house send a servant in livery into our parlour, with her compliments, and beg we would accept a little present after dinner. Pretty fair this for a mad- house !

Dinner over, books again, or a walk in the garden, which I should think two hundred yards long. I was allowed a pipe, and derived a very great benefit from the use of it. At five, in to tea, which was precisely the same as break- fast; after which, no more to eat or drink : to bed at eight. Now, be it re- membered, medicine is not required in this disorder. A chapel is attached to the house, and a clergyman lectures every Sunday evening, it the key is to be found. The novelty of preaching a sermon to mad people not a little delighted me; and our parson cut away at Irving in fine style, I assure you.

If Mr. GRIGGS really intended an attack on private asylums, he ought to have been aware that a report of this sort was little likely to be injurious. That it is true as respects some such institutions, we can bear witness; though we are happy to say that we did not gain our experience in the same capacity as Mr. GRIGGS.

Mr. GRIGGS, as we have seen, does not deny that he was very properly put under restraint. It would be vain to tell us that he was never insane, while he recounted such anecdotes as the follow- ing,—which is worth preserving for the sake of the vividness with which the true spirit of madness is caught. It argues little for poor Mr. GRIGGS s ordinary state of constitutional soundness, that he quotes it in proof that "we mad people have their lucid intervals."

While I was at Finch's Hotel, being in a Shandean kind of humour, thinks I to myself thinks I, this confinement of Finch's savours very much of despotism ; so addressing my companions in rather an independent sort of a tone,—" Gentle- men," says I, "suppose we were to establish a little republic among ourselves, and be free at once." "Republic," says Williams, "we will have no rascally republic; if we have any change, it shall be a thundering good limited monarchy; Wright shall stand a dozen of clampaigne, and we will elect him as our sove- reign." Wright nodded assent to our proposal, provided he might be allowed to keep his own conscience: this motion required some consideration, and when put to the vote, Wright had a most triumphant majority in favour of his pro- viso. We immediately gave three cheers; at the noise of which, the keepers rushed into our room, suspended the Habeas Act, upset Magna Charta, burnt the Bill of Rights, and nearly choked poor Wright with his CoronationOath. Such regular confusion was never seen or beard of since Noah's Flood—it was something like Owen's merry plan of dancing and singing into eternity, but not so expensive. Thus was destroyed the sweetest form of government ever pro- jected in a madhouse. " We are not ourselves, when nature. being oppressed, commands the mind to suffer with the body."

That a quondam madman may make shrewd observations now and then, is not impossible : for instance, nothing can be more true than this— •

The idea people in general have of insane persons is, that they are very dan- gerous, and keepers say so too, as a matter of course ; but a greater absurdity does not exist. I have known the worst patient at Finch's, in his worst state at the time, walk with his wife in the garden, free from any restraint whatever, and never knew him guilty of the least violence towards her ; for in general they are in that torpid state that a child might lead them any where.

An important truth is here announced. The cases absolutely re- quirin,, forcible restraint are comparatively few ; and there is little doubt that violence is often produced by violence, and that close confinement and severe treatment have been frequently the causes of confirming temporary madness, or of throwing the pa- tient into an incurable state of idiotcy. On this head, we can quote an authority which will have more weight than Mr. GRIGGS'S testimony, dear-bought though it maybe. Dr.; MATHEW ALLEN, in his Observations on the Lunatic Asylum Act, declares that " My average of restraint is only 5 per cent. out of near 500 patients I have had under my care ; and this average would be greatly less if persons came at an: early period of the disease."—Page 4.

Mr. GRIGGS'S lucid interval does not long continue. He soon begins to rave thus against his old enemy the doctor ; not, how- ever, without wit— If I were to make choice of a doctor, I should choose a fine healthy-looking man—a skilful anatomist—one who could tell you the number of degrees of each element your amalgamated body was composed of ; that, if any truant atom has escaped from you, could immediately detect and replace it. Such a man would deserve the name of doctor ; in place of which, we have a parcel of pale-faced apothecaries, half a dozen in a street, blinding you nightly with their cursed bulls' eyes—writing up " Surgeon and A-coach-here"—how they get their di- ploma needs no comment. Pretty fellows these to rob men of their liberty! Perched up in their cabs, these Brooks-looking medical nabobs drive about, seeking whom they pray devour. I should like to give them my advice gratis.

On the whole, Mr: GRIGGS'S pamphlet is acceptable to us. We do not partake of the delicacy which is shocked by the mention of names in his pamphlet : more harm is done by concealment than

by openness. There ought to be no stigma attached to madness. It is true, it may be hereditary ; but for that reason, it is especially desirable that, instead of the disease being carefully concealed, it should be declared in such a manner as to be publicly accessible. Publicity rarely does any harm to the virtuous, though fastidious offenders turn up their noses at the light, and have no hesitation in declaring their preference for the peaceful dark. Besides, the only name here mentioned which the public will recognize, is that of a man who had become as it were public property. We felt as if we had a right to know what had become of one who had so often addressed us both in prose and verse—who had so liberally invited us, by tale or allegory, to his superior vintages—who had, in short, spent a fortune in courting us the public.

On the subject of private asylums—an interesting subject—there is much to be said. Important improvements have been made in these establishments of late; but one of the most essential still remains to be made,—namely, that of depriving them of the hopelessness of their character. "Leave hope behind" is writ- ten upon their gates, according to the impression now existing on the public mind. They are considered, like the House of Lords, houses of incurables. Were it different, insane persons would re- sort to voluntary seclusion. Most persons are aware of the ap- proach of the malady,. when they are to be unfit for the world for a time; but to enter an asylum, it is thought, is to be caught in a trap for life—to suffer a sentence of perpetual imprisonment. Cases thus run on, until the patient is obliged to be driven to the asylum, and consequently kept there by force. Of a great many given cases of voluntary seclusion, we have reason to believe it may be proved that every one was cured. Human nature is however such, that it would be desirable that few or small trials were left to it. For example—the inducement to ordinary keepers of asy- lums is not to cure the patient, but to keep him : he is a profitable boarder. Curable asylums ought to charge high, but to bind them- selves not to keep any patient beyond six months. If they do not adopt this plan themselves, it should be forced upon them. A grand distinction should then be made between medicable and in- curable insanity; and the same distinction would be maintained in the houses appropriated to their reception.