318 DARWIN AND LUTHER ON IDIOTS. for "may," and to lessen the burden which would fall upon the rates, if the right course for the good of the idiots and imbeciles is to be thoroughly carried out in England and Wales. We cannot close this chapter without remarking on the satisfactory change of sentiment which has taken place in regard to this deplorable class. There may be times when, desiring to see "the survival of the fittest," we may be tempted to wish that idiots and imbeciles were stamped out of society. But, as Mr. Darwin has somewhere said, there is a compensation for the continued existence of so pitiable a population in our midst, in the circumstance that our sympathies are called forth. on their behalf; a commentary on the precept that those who are strong should help the weak. The change in feeling above mentioned cannot be more strongly illustrated than by imagining for a moment that, at the present day, any leading divine should give utterance to the following sentiments uttered by the great German Reformer. "Idiots," says he, “are men in whom devils have established themselves, and all the physicians who heal these infirmities as though they proceeded from natural causes are ignorant blockheads, who know nothing about the power of the demon. Eight years ago, I myself saw a child of this kind. which had no human parents, but had proceeded from the devil. He was twelve years of age, and in outward form exactly resembled ordinary children. . . . But if any one touched him, he yelled out like a mad creature, and with a peculiar sort of scream. I said to the PARTICULARS OF IDIOT ASYLUMS. 319 princes of Anhalt, with whom I was at the time, 'If I had the ordering of things here, I would have that child thrown into the Moldau, at the risk of being held its murderer. But the Elector of Saxony and the princes were not of my opinion in the matter." ADDENDUM. Mr. Millard has prepared the following tabular statement, which shows at a glance the information a reader is likely to require in recommending asylums for this unfortunate class. Election cases must be under 16 years of age and unable to pay 50 guineas per annum. There is a special election list for cases paying 15 guineas per annum. The term of election is for five years; afterwards cases may be reelected, some for life. Cases admitted at high rates of payment have special privileges. Medical Superintendent, Dr. Grabham. Secretary, Mr. W. Nicholas. Office, 36 King William Street, London Bridge, E.C. Cases elected, or admitted upon payment at L21 per annum with £5 55. per annum for clothing, and pauper cases, must belong to the seven northern counties, viz. Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Westmoreland, WESTERN COUNTIES IDIOT ASYLUM, Starcross, Exeter. MIDLAND COUNTIES IDIOT ASYLUM, Knowle, Birmingham. THE BATH INSTITUTION FOR FEEBLE-MINDED 35, Belvedere, to exceed one- Idiots and imbeciles above the pauper class. Idiots and imbeciles, both private and pauper cases. Idiots and imbeciles belonging to the lower and higher middle classes. Youthful idiots and imbeciles under 15 years of age. reduced payment. Also, upon high rates of payment. Pauper cases through the boards of guardians, who obtain the Government allowance of per week towards the payment. 45. By votes of subscribers at half-yearly elections. By payments commencing at £50 per annum, exclusive of clothing. 55. or 10s. per week. Pauper Cumberland, Durham, or Northumberland, and be hopeful of improvement. The term of election is for seven years. No canvassing allowed. The charge made for pauper cases is the sum charged for admission into the County Lunatic Asylum, with 3 guineas extra for clothing. Full payment cases are admitted at 50 guineas per annum and 10 guineas extra for clothing. Cases admitted at higher rates have special privileges. Medical Superintendent, Dr. Shuttleworth. Secretary, Mr. James Diggens, Lancaster. Election cases must reside in Essex, Suffolk, Superintendent, Mr. W. Millard. Secretary, By payments of Private cases that are admitted at 58. per week and pauper cases must belong to the counties of Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Cornwall, or Somersetshire. Cases are admitted also upon a higher rate than 10s. per week, and have special privileges. cases 55. per week, towards which 45. per week is allowed by Government. By election with payment of 10 per annum. By reduced and full rates of payment. By payment of annum, ex- Superintendent and Secretary, Mr. W. Locke, Cases admitted by election with £10 per Superintendent, Miss Stock. Secretary, Mr. The ordinary rate of payment is £25 per annum, exclusive of clothing. Cases paying £50 per annum have special privileges. No medical certificates are required within seven days of admission, as needed for other asylums. Superintendent, Miss Heritage. In two or three counties there are branch asylums connected with the county lunatic asylums, where pauper imbeciles and harmless lunatics are placed; but training schools for pauper idiots are not provided, except in Middlesex. CHAPTER IX. SCOTLAND. OUR reference in a previous chapter to the singular superstitions connected with the treatment of the insane in Scotland, renders it unnecessary to do more than point out in this place the substratum of popular opinion and feeling, upon which the infusion of new ideas and a scientific system of treatment had to work. To some extent it was the same in other countries, but judging from the records of the past, as given or brought to light by writers like Heron, Dalyell, and Dr. Mitchell, no country ever exceeded Scotland in the grossness of its superstition and the unhappy consequences which flowed from it. When we include in this the horrible treatment of the insane, from the prevalent and for long inveterate belief in witchcraft, we cannot find language sufficiently strong to characterize the conduct of the people, from the highest to the lowest in the land, until this monstrous belief was expelled by the spread of knowledge, the influence of which on conduct and on law some do not sufficiently realize. The lunatic and the witch of to-day might aptly exclaim Y 322 EARLY LEGISLATION. "The good of ancient times let others state; I think it lucky I was born so late." As regards the property of the insane, the Scotch law, from a remote period, appears to have been that the ward and custody of it belonged to the prince as pater patriæ. In the beginning of the fourteenth century, the keeping and custody of persons of "furious mind," by a statute of Robert I., devolved upon their relatives, and, failing them, on the justiciar or sheriff of the county. The custody of "fatuous persons" is said to have been committed to the next agnate (nearest male relative on the father's side), while that of the "furious" was entrusted to the Crown, "as having the sole power of coercing with fetters." * An Act passed in 1585, c. 18, in consequence of abuses in regard to the nominations of tutors-at-law, provided that the nearest agnate of the lunatic should be preferred to the office of tutor-at-law. The practice was originally to issue one brieve, applicable to both furiosity and fatuity. The statute just mentioned continues the regula regulans, as to the appointment of tutors-at-law for lunatics. Passing over two centuries, I must observe that in 1792 Dr. Duncan (the physician mentioned at p. 122 of this work), then President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, laid before that body a plan for establishing a lunatic asylum in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. That plan, after due consideration, met * These particulars are given in the Report of the Royal Lunacy Commission for Scotland, 1857, on the authority of Sir Thomas Craig. |