Do the Public Asylums of England, as at present constructed, afford the greatest facilities for the care and treatment of the Insane?

Abstract

The treatment of insanity may be said to resemble more a long-continued siege than a vigorous warfare. It is not by action and measures, and certainly not by certain formulæ of medicinal agents that we can hope to make any progress against the disease; not that it is less the province of the medical practitioner to direct the treatment, whatever the means adopted: the progress of the malady has to be watched, and the means of cure varied as circumstances arise. But it is not a well-furnished dispensary, or a large assortment of drugs with which he has to be supplied, his agents are rather careful nursing, wholesome diet, regular employments, diversified amusements, cheerful dwelling, personal cleanliness, and such like; these constitute his materia medica, and these he should have at his command at all times.