Report on Insanity (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Report on Insanity

IT may now be considered the settled policy of the American Medical Association to recognize every branch of medical science as coming within the proper scope of its scientific research and inquiry, and to regard no subject relating to the physical or mental condition of man as outside of its legitimate care and study. The conviction of this truth led to the appointment of two committees at our last annual session, to report at the present meeting on Insanity, one of which was composed entirely, with the exception of the chairman, of superintendents of insane hospitals, and by his resignation and the substitution of J. B. Chapin in his place, wholly of such. In drawing up the present report the Writer desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to several of those in charge of these institutions, particularly Dr. Earle, of the Northampton Lunatic Hospital; Dr. Jarvis, of Dorchester, Mass.; and Dr. Hills, of the Insane Hospital of Western Virginia.

It is a source of great gratification to the philanthropist to con template the great advance made in the management of the insane within the last half century; an advance equally honorable to science and humanity; and whether regarded in a civil, social, or moral point of View, we can but rejoice in the triumphs it has achieved and the benefits it has bestowed upon a most unfortunate class of our fellow-men.

It is not the aim of this report to inquire into the proper method of the study of mind, whether physiological or psychological, or a combination of both; or to investigate, unless very briefly, its pathology. There are many learned treatises relating to these topics, which the reader may consult at his leisure. Our object will be attained if we are able to present a tolerably correct View of the present number, condition, and wants of the insane of the United States.

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