Second annual report of the Suffolk Lunatic Asylum : December, 1839.

  • Suffolk Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Second annual report of the Suffolk Lunatic Asylum : December, 1839. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a religious light, with which, as a CHRISTIAN PHYSICIAN, he has every thing to do. Now; it is a fact, that the attempt at self-destruction, is often the first distinct overt act of Insanity; and it is by no means an uncommon event, for men in large practice, to be called to Suicides, who had not fully effected their object, and who were not before supposed to be insane; but whose marked symptoms of insanity shortly afterwards became manifest, though those symp¬ toms may have been modified and subdued by medical treatment. A. B. was brought to the Suffolk Lunatic Asylum on the 22nd of December, 1831. A few weeks previous to his admission, he was working in a field with some other labourers; when, without any previous notice, leading to a suspicion of his intention, without any provo¬ cation whatever, he suddenly ran from his work, seized a clasp knife, and stabbed himself in the abdomen. With great care and difficulty, the wound (a very dangerous one) healed and did well; but he became permanently insane: he is here now, in a state of Mania ; but though very violent, has never been personally restrained, having never since attempted the suicidal act. The assertion is not made that all Suicides are lunatics, but it is contended, from facts, that the