Insanity Its Causes and Prevention   By: Henry Putnam Stearns

BY HENRY PUTNAM STEARNS, M.D. SUPERINTENDENT OF THE RETREAT FOR THE INSANE, HARTFORD, CONN.; LECTURER ON INSANITY IN THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF YALE COLLEGE, ETC., ETC.

"It is the mynde that makes good or ill, That maketh wretch or happie, rich or poore." SPENSER Faerie Queene , Book XI, Canto IX.

NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET 1883

COPYRIGHT BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 1883

Press of G. P. Putnam's Sons New York

TO JOHN SIBBALD, M.D., F.R.S.E., COMMISSIONER IN LUNACY FOR SCOTLAND, IN PLEASANT REMEMBRANCE OF A PORTION OF OUR STUDENT LIFE PASSED TOGETHER, THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED WITH SINCERE REGARD BY HIS FRIEND, THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

It is something more than two years since I read a paper, entitled "The Insane Diathesis," at a meeting of the Connecticut Medical Society. The numerous requests received for copies of that article have led me to think that something more in detail in relation to the prevention of insanity might be desired by the reading public both lay and professional. Hence this little book. It has not been written for specialists exclusively, though it is hoped it will not prove wholly uninteresting to them, but rather for those in the general practice of medicine, educators, and the more intelligent lay members of society.

It has been written during odd snatches of time and with many interruptions, so that there exists less uniformity of style than there would otherwise be. Moreover, some of the subjects presented have been discussed by me in papers which have already been published. These papers, however, so far as they have been introduced into this work, have been rewritten, and, it is thought, improved.

H. P. S.

HARTFORD, Dec., 1882 .

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PRELIMINARY.

PAGE.

Increase of interest in the subject of insanity, resulting from, first, more intelligent views concerning its nature; and, second, the obligation to make provision for the care of the insane in a larger measure than for other unfortunate classes Results in the way of hospitals Asylum attendants Change in the modes of management, and care of the insane 3

CHAPTER II.

INCREASE OF INSANITY.

Indications which point to the probability of its increase in a greater ratio than that of the population: (1) in relation to the general conditions of society; (2) in occupations; (3) in the character or tendency of disease Increased demand for hospitals for the insane not a conclusive evidence of increase of insanity; other reasons exist for this Improvements in hospitals The chronic as well as the acute insane now provided for more generally than formerly Accumulations in asylums Statistics Those of England and Scotland Their character and import as presented in the yearly reports of the Boards of Lunacy Commissioners 11

CHAPTER III.

INSANITY AND CIVILIZATION.

Prevalence of disease among savage nations Conditions of life not such as to produce insanity Definitions of civilization Several conditions attending civilization combine to increase diseases of the brain Increase of brain activity Over stimulation of the brain in schools and by the use of alcoholic beverages A community of interests exists in savage life which is lost in civilized life In the latter the strong thrive at the expense of the weak Monopolies in land and other forms of property Inference to be drawn from the tendency of insanity to increase The primary condition of insanity one of the brain Investigations should relate to the nature and causes of this condition 33