A VISIT TO THE LUNATIC ASYLUM.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 121, 25 May 1870, Page 2

A VISIT TO THE LUNATIC ASYLUM.

From a Correspondent. Having been present in the Council Chamber the other night when one of the members moved for a Select Committee to inquiie into the state of the Lunatic Asylum, and, iD doing so, read extracts frora the annual report of the medical officer in charge referring to the insufficiency of accommodation in the building set apart for the purpose, I determined on paying it a visit and, having done so, now propose to give you the result of my observations. Accompanied by the doctor who kindly undertook to go the rounds with me I proceeded to the entrance hall where I received a hearty welcome from Mr. Butler the warden, and Miss Best the matron, both of whom appeared to take the greatest pleasure in showing visitors over the establishment under their charge. The first place into which I was shown was the female ward consisting of a room about 20ffc in length by 9ft in breadth with a fireplace in it, round which were sitting some five or six of the inmates, one of them having in her arms an infant of a few weeks old, which, by the way, seemed to be looked upon with much interest by those around. Entering into conversation with them, I confess tp being much surprised at the rational way in which they spoke on genera! matters; the weather was of course the first topic on which we touched, and then I was entertained with an account of what work they had done during the morning and how they enjoyed quietly seating themselves round the fire after their labors were over. These are matters seemingly of no importance and I merely mention them for the information of those who may, perhaps, in common with myself, have been under the impression that no connected conversation could be sustained with individuals suffering as these were from aberration of intellect. Leaving this room, I crossed a small enclosed yard and was shown into another apartment of somewhatsmaller«imensious, on both sides of which, as iv the one I had just left, where the dormitories of the inmates. On entering this ward we heard a great disturbance in one of the sleeping apartments evidently occasioned by a quarrel betweeu two women. The warden and matron who accompanied me, showed by their countenances that they were by no means pleased at the idea of a row taking place in the presence of visitors, but I trust they

will pardon me when I say that to me ifc was a source of considerable satisfaction, as I was extremely anxious to have occular demonstration of the manner in which these poor reasonless creatures are treated in their more excitable moods. The belligerents — for I may justly call them so, as they were really engaged in active warfare — were two sisters, one of them a complete idiot who seldom leaves her apartment, the other being an epileptic subject who could hardly be termed mad, but who at the same time, could not be looked upon as altogether responsible for her actions. This latter had gone in to clean out her unfortunate sister's room, and it seems that words had ensued, and that from words they had come to blows, or, perhaps, it would be more correct to say — scratches. And now ensued that scene in the act which to me. was the one of greatest iuterest— walking up to the elder and more reasonable of the two, the matron quietly, but firmly, placed her hand upou her shoulder, turned her round, marched her out of the room, and then commenced to remonstrate with her on her conduct. Excited, and almost furious, the culprit screamed something in her defence, but meeting the calm, but steady, look of the matron, she gradually dropped the defiant air she had assumed, looked down with an air of injured innocence, and almost with an expression of pain, which was well calculated to enlist the sympathies of the bystanders, and then suddenly dropped at our feet in what I supposed to be a fit. But the matron was not to be so easily taken in, and you may, perhaps, understand the astonisment I felt when I heard her say, "Oh, come Mary, that won't do, you've tried ifc a litte too often — get up and be off." Evidently, Mary lelt that it would not do, for after a moment's consideration, she recovered from her fit in a most miraculous manner, rose up, and, without saying a word, walked off into the yard, where, a few minutes after, she met the doctor and endeavoured to smooth matters over byexpressing her sorrow for what had takea place. In the next room to that in which, this scene had been enacted was, without exception, the most distressing specimen of an idiot that it has ever been my lot to witness. Speechless, deformed, with a countenance the exact counterpart of an ape's, and which was every now and then distorted into the most horrible grimaces, there lay at my feet, clothed in a sort of sack fastened round the waist, a creature which I was told was a woman of thirty years of age, who had uever from her birth been gifted with reason. Gibbering and chattering in a wailing monotone this repulsive looking caricature of the " human form divine," on our entering rose from her crouching attitude and paced round the room, thus exhibiting more conspicuously than ever her hideous deformities. Truly it was a horrible sight, in viewing which it would be difficult to say whether of the two predominated— pity or disgust, and your readers will understand the feeling of relief with which I saw the door close upon so pitiable au illustration of what man, although " created in the image of G-od," may be reduced to by depriving him of reason. Leaving this saddening spectacle, we were shown into the women's exercise yard where some half-dozen of them were walking about, apparently enjoying the bright sunshine. One of these who was. introduced to ma as "Mother," was a fine buxom dame, with a beaming countenance expressive of tbe most supreme good temper; she had just come out from cleaning the rooms, and at once held out her hand to me in the most friendly manner, aud on my taking it assured me that she could not bear scrubbiug, because her hands — one of whicb, by the way, was as large as both of mive — were too small to enable her to hold the brush properly. This appeared greatly to amuse the good natured matron I who told me that there was not another woman in the Asylum who was so willing fo do auy kind of work, or who had such a partiality for that particular branch of it which involved the manipulation of the scrubbing brush as "the Mother."

After bidding good-bye to the matron, we were next shown iLto the building set apart for the use of the men, aud here I found twemy-one inmates in almost every stage of madness. A large number of them appeared to me to be mad oa one particular subject ouly, for immediately the conversation turned upou other matters than that which occupied their whole attention they spoke rationally

enough. For instance, there is one man ! who looks upon himself as the God of the earth, and who has written quires upon quires of foolscap to prove his claim to the elevated position he seeks to occupy; another who imagines himself under sentence of death, endeavored to obtain a promise from me that I would at once go to the proper authorities and obtain an order for his execution, in order that he might be put out of his suspense ; a third fancies that he has a claim upon the Superintendent for £1000, for using undue influence for the purpose of keeping him out of the mayoralty of Nelson — an excellent subject, by the way, for a Select Committee to enquire into and report upon — and yet these men would, if asked, tell you in the clearest manner, how they spent their time, or how long they had j heen in Nelson, and, in fact, give explicit replies to any ordinary question put to them. In the long room, which is used as a dining-room and also serves the purpose of a promenade in wet weather, were some eight or ten men, some of them tramping up and down with restless energy, others seated or standing by the fire in gloomy silence, while one or two of them were engaged in reading. My entrance into the room was viewed by these men in various lights according to the respective temperaments of the individuals ; one or two came up in a hearty jovial mauner and made kind enquiries as to the health of my wife and family — questions which, as your correspondent happens to be a bachelor, it is needless to say raised a blush on his countenance — some evidently viewed me in a suspicious light, and had extreme ■ hesitation in trusting their hand in 'mine, | while others again would only now and , then look at me in a furtive mauner from beneath their downcast eyelids. After a short time a Scotch piper, who is an inmate of the establishment, was brought into the room, and immediately commenced to extract from his instrument the discordant tones for which it is famous. It was curious to observe the strange and varied effect that the music, if I may dignify it with such a name, had upon the unfortunate lunatics — those who I have spoken of as being of a jovial tendency at ouce threw dull care away and plunged into the intricacies of the Highland fling, Irish jig, or such impromptu dance as occurred to them on the spur of the moment; some of the more morose looked up, at first with a perfectly impassive countenance, but gradually the eye brightened; slowly, and, as it appeared, agaiust their will they rose frora their seats and moved forward with a hesitating step until at last the exciting tones of the pipes proved too much for them, and they too were soon dancing away with a wild energy that formed a strong contrast to their former gloomy condition. Even upon the poor idiots too, the tones ofthe pipes appeared to have some slight effect, and their dull heavy countenances were lightened with Bomething approaching to a smile which seemed to show that they were not altogether dead to what was going on around them. With the cessation of the music a sudden change came over the dancers, who at ouce relapsed into their former state, the restless ones resuming their unceasing tramp, and the duller ones once more taking their accustomed places by the fire side. But I have been so led away in writing of the personal peculiarities of the individuals that I have totally lost sight of the object I had in view in commencing my communication, namely, to give some account ofthe building itself, and the general management of the inmates, and as this would occupy some considerable space I must defer making any mention of it until a future occasion.