On the State of Lunacy and the Legal Provision for the Insane / With Observations on the Construction and Organization of Asylums

by J. T. Arlidge

On the State of Lunacy and
the Legal Provision for the Insane

ON THE
STATE OF LUNACY
AND THE
LEGAL PROVISION FOR THE INSANE,
WITH
OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONSTRUCTION AND
ORGANIZATION OF ASYLUMS.

BY
JOHN T. ARLIDGE, M.B., A.B. (Lond.),
LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS; ASSOCIATE OF KING’S
COLLEGE, LONDON; PHYSICIAN TO THE WEST OF LONDON HOSPITAL;
FORMERLY MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT OF ST. LUKE’S
HOSPITAL, AND PHYSICIAN TO THE SURREY
DISPENSARY, ETC.

LONDON:
JOHN CHURCHILL, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
1859.

PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.

TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY,
CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMISSION OF LUNACY,
WHOSE LONG-CONTINUED AND UNTIRING EFFORTS IN BEHALF OF THE
INSANE
HAVE EARNED FOR HIM THE HIGHEST ESTEEM AND ADMIRATION
OF ALL WHO FEEL INTERESTED
IN THE WELFARE OF THAT CLASS OF THE AFFLICTED,
THIS TREATISE
IS, BY PERMISSION,
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY HIS LORDSHIP’S MOST OBEDIENT
HUMBLE SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR.

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PREFACE.

The writer of a book is usually expected to show cause for its production,—a custom which, however commendable as a sort of homage to his readers for challenging their attention to his lucubrations, must often put the ingenuity of an author to the test. Indeed the writer of this present treatise would feel some embarrassment in accounting for its production, did he not entertain the conviction that he has, in however imperfect a manner, supplied a work on several important subjects which have never before been so placed before the public, and which, moreover, occupy just now a most prominent position among the topics of the day.