Rules and list of the present members of the Society for Improving the Condition of the Insane : and the prize essay entitled The progressive changes which have taken place since the time of Pinel in the moral management of the insane and the various contrivances which have been adopted instead of mechanical restraint / by Daniel H. Tuke : together with a short abstract or classification of cases ; contributed by Sir Alexander Morison.

  • Tuke, Daniel Hack, 1827-1895.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rules and list of the present members of the Society for Improving the Condition of the Insane : and the prize essay entitled The progressive changes which have taken place since the time of Pinel in the moral management of the insane and the various contrivances which have been adopted instead of mechanical restraint / by Daniel H. Tuke : together with a short abstract or classification of cases ; contributed by Sir Alexander Morison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    walls and heavy iron gates; tlie result, no doubt, of the altered view ki which the lunatic is regarded. Ceteris paribus^ however, it is certain that, in proportion as we extend the personal liberty of the lunatic, we must render secure the environs of the asylum. Sometimes we have been inclined to doubt, when the rural character of an asylum has been pointed out to us, with the slight protections thrown around it, whether had we been able thoroughly to ascertain the condition of the patients, we should not have found a proportionate amount of personal restraint imposed, or at least in-door restriction, in order to prevent the frequency of escapes. It must not be forgotten that one of the first objects in view, in placing a patient in an asylum, is security, by which is implied that he shall be secure from individual harm, and that the community shall be secure from receiving injury from him. It may, therefore, be said that only so much of rusticity and absence of a prison-like arrangement sliould be aimed at as is consistent with such security. A wall of sufficient height to prevent the patient climbing over it, is required to enclose the grounds: it is very desirable that it should not be bare, but covered with ivy or other foliage, so as to add a pleasing aspect to the primary object of security. Still more important are the airing court walls, as regards ap- pearance ; they should be covered with trellis work, for rose trees or any trailing plants. It is also of importance to have the centre of the airing court raised, so as to allow of the patients seeing over the wall, (when not undesirable), but without the elevation being so near as to admit of his scaling the wall. Much more might be added to these matters of detail, but it would be beyond the object of the present paper to enter more fully into the arrangements of