[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As an ex-chaplain to
a county asylum in Ulster, I have not the slightest hesitation in saying that an investigation into the treatment of lunatics is most desirable. A friend of mine confined in the asylum to which I was chaplain told me, long after she had left the asylum, that gross cruelties were practised on patients by the warders. The warders gave one another fictitious names in the presence of patients. One, e.g., would be known as Tom Jones, and when a patient complained that he had been subjected to physical abuse by Tom Jones, this was proof positive of hallucination, for there was no warder of that name. I myself, on one occasion, found an attendant abusing a patient by beating him savagely about the abdomen. I remonstrated, tried to discover the attendant's name from other attendants and failed. I then went straight to the medical officer and told him that unless the whole matter was thoroughly investigated I should take my own course. The attendant was dismissed.
—I am, Sir, &c., UISTF-R CLERGYMAN. [We have received more letters, for which we have no space, from ex-patients, some of whom were satisfied with their treatment while others were not.—En. Spectator.]
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