APPENDIX V
ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC BY THE GOVERNORS 1821[[25]]
The Governors of the New-York Hospital have the satisfaction to announce to the public, the completion of the Asylum for the insane; and that it will be open for the reception of patients, from any part of the United States, on the first day of June.
This Asylum is situated on the Bloomingdale road, about seven miles from the City Hall of the city of New-York, and about three hundred yards from the Hudson River. The building is of hewn free-stone, 211 feet in length, and sixty-feet deep, and is calculated for the accommodation of about two hundred patients. Its site is elevated, commanding an extensive and delightful view of the Hudson, the East River, and the Bay and Harbour of New-York, and the adjacent country, and is one of the most beautiful and healthy spots on New-York Island. Attached to the building are about seventy acres of land, a great part of which has been laid out in walks, ornamental grounds, and extensive gardens.
This institution has been established by the bounty of the Legislature of the state of New-York, on the most liberal and enlarged plan, and with the express design to carry into effect that system of management of the insane, happily termed moral treatment, the superior efficacy of which has been demonstrated in several of the Hospitals of Europe, and especially in that admirable establishment of the Society of Friends, called "The Retreat," near York, in England. This mild and humane mode of treatment, when contrasted with the harsh and cruel usage, and the severe and unnecessary restraint, which have formerly disgraced even the most celebrated lunatic asylums, may be considered as one of the noblest triumphs of pure and enlightened benevolence. But it is by no means the intention of the governors to rely on moral, to the exclusion of medical treatment. It is from a judicious combination of both, that the greatest success is to be expected in every attempt to cure or mitigate the disease of insanity.
In the construction of the edifice and in its interior arrangements, it has been considered important to avoid, as far as practicable, consistently with a due regard to the safety of the patients, whatever might impress their minds with the idea of a prison, or a place of punishment, and to make every thing conduce to their health and to their ease and comfort. The self-respect and complacency which may thus be produced in the insane, must have a salutary influence in restoring the mind to its wonted serenity. In the disposition of the grounds attached to the Asylum, everything has been done with reference to the amusement, agreeable occupation, and salutary exercise of the patients.
Agricultural, horticultural, and mechanical employments, may be resorted to, whenever the inclination of the patient, or their probable beneficial effects may render them desirable. To dispel gloomy images, to break morbid associations, to lead the feelings into their proper current, and to restore the mind to its natural poise, various less active amusements will be provided. Reading, writing, drawing, innocent sports, tending and feeding domestic animals, &c. will be encouraged as they may be found conducive to the recovery of the patients. A large garden has been laid out, orchards have been planted, and yards, containing more than two acres, have been inclosed for the daily walks of those whose disorder will not allow more extended indulgence. The plants of the Elgin Botanic garden, presented to this institution by the Trustees of Columbia College, have been arranged in a handsome green-house, prepared for their reception.
The apartments of the house are adapted to the accommodation of the patients, according to their sex, degree of disease, habits of life, and the wishes of their friends. The male and female apartments are entirely separated, so as to be completely secluded from the view of each other.
Care has been taken to appoint a Superintendent and Matron, of good moral and religious characters, possessing cheerful tempers, and kind dispositions, united with firmness, vigilance and discretion. A Physician will reside in the house, and one or more Physicians, of established character and experience, will attend regularly, and afford medical aid in all cases where the general health, or the particular cause of the patient's insanity, may require it. The relations or friends of patients will be at liberty, if they prefer it, to employ their own physicians, who will be allowed to attend patients, subject to the general regulations of the house.
The institution will be regularly visited and inspected by a committee of the Governors of the Hospital, who will, as often as they may think it advantageous, be attended by some of the physicians of the city of high character and respectability.
The charges for board and the other advantages of the institution, will be moderate, and proportioned to the different circumstances of the patients, and the extent of the accommodations desired for them.
Patients at the expense of the different towns of the state, will be received at the lowest rate.
Application for the admission of patients into the Asylum, must be made, at the New York Hospital, in Broadway, where temporary accommodation will be provided for such patients as may require it, previously to their being carried to the Asylum out of town. A committee of the Governors will, when necessary, attend at the Hospital in Broadway, for the purpose of admitting patients into the Asylum, and to agree on the terms and security for payment to be given.
By order of the board of Governors.
Matthew Clarkson, President.
Thomas Buckley, Secretary.
New-York, 10th May, 1821.
N.B. The friends of the patients are requested to send with them an account of their cases, stating the probable causes of their insanity, the commencement and peculiar character of the disorder. It is desirable that this statement, where it is practicable, should be drawn up by a physician.
Applications from abroad, for information relative to the admission of patients, may be made by letters addressed to Thomas Buckley, Secretary of the New-York Hospital.
FOOTNOTES:
Address of the Governors of the New York Hospital to the Public, Relative to the Asylum for the Insane at Bloomingdale. New York, May 10th, 1821. Reprinted Bloomingdale Hospital Press, May 1921.