met only with increased respect and attention from her comrades; not an individual presuming to utter a word that might insult her, or breathing a doubt that could

affect her reputation.

'At length, her motive for enlisting and remaining in the service was discovered. An only brother was confined for debt at Bopal; and this interesting young creature had the courage to enrol herself as a com. mon soldier, and afterwards persisted in exposing her person to the dangers and difficulties of a military life, with the generous idea of raising money sufficient to

liberate this loved relation from confinement."-(pp. 264-266.)

These extracts will give a good idea of the sort of entertainment which this book affords. We wish the Row (when they get hold of a young man who has made notes for a book) would be less splendid in their productions;―leave out pictures, lessen margins, and put books more within the power of those who want them most, and use them best.*

I am sorry that I did not, in the execution of my self-created office as a reviewer, take an opportunity in this, or some other military work, to descant a little upon the miseries of war; and I think this has been unaccountably neglected in a work abounding in useful essays, and ever on the watch to propagate good and wise principles. It is not that human beings can live without occasional wars, but they may live with fewer wars, and take more just views of the evils which war inflicts upon mankind. If three men were to have their legs and arms broken, and were to remain all night exposed to the inclemency of weather, the whole country would be in a state of the most dreadful agitation. wholesale death of a field of battle, ten acres covered with dead, and half dead, and dying; and the shrieks and agonies of many thousand human beings. There is more of misery inflicted upon mankind by one year of war, than by all the civil peculations and oppressions of a century. Yet it is a state into which the mass of mankind rush with the greatest avidity, hailing official murderers, in scarlet, gold, and cocks' feathers, as the greatest and most glorious of human creatures. It is the business of every wise

Look at the

and good man to set himself against this passion for military glory, which really seems to be the most fruitful source of human misery.

What would be said of a party of gentlemen who were to sit very peaceably con

versing for half an hour, and then were to fight for another half hour, then shake hands, and at the expiration of thirty minutes fight again? Yet such has been the state of the world between 1714 and 1815, a period in which there was in England as many years of war as peace.

MAD QUAKERS.

(E. REVIEW, 1814.)
Description of the Retreat, an Institution

near York, for Insane Persons of the Society of Friends. Containing an Account of its Origin and Progress, the Modes of Treatment, and a Statement of Cases. By Samuel Tuke. York, 1813. THE Quakers always seem to succeed in any institution which they undertake. The gaol at Philadelphia will remain a lasting monument of their skill and patience; and, in the plan and conduct of this retreat for the insane, they have evinced the same wisdom and perse

verance.

The present account is given us by Mr. Tuke, a respectable tea-dealer, living in York-and given in a manner which we are quite sure the most opulent and important of his customers could not excel. The long account of the subscription, at the beginning of the book, is evidently made tedious for the Quaker market; and Mr. Tuke is a little too much addicted to quoting. But, with these trifling exceptions, his book does him very great credit; —it is full of good sense and humanity, right The refeelings and rational views. treat for insane Quakers is situated about a mile from the city of York, upon an eminence commanding the adjacent country, and in the midst of a garden and fields belonging to the institution. The great principle on which it appears to be conducted is that of It does not kindness to the patients. appear to them, because a man is mad upon one particular subject, that he is to be considered in a state of complete mental degradation, or insensible to the feelings of kindness and gratitude. When a madman does not do what he is bid to do, the shortest method, to be sure, is to knock him down; and straps and chains are the species of prohibitions which are the least frequently But the Society disregarded. Friends seems rather to consult the Societies have been instituted for the preservation of peace, and for lessening the popular love of war. They deserve every encouragement. The highest praise is due to Louis Philippe for his efforts to keep Europe in peace.

of

interest of the patient than the ease of of the moral remedies employed.

his keeper; and to aim at the government of the insane, by creating in them the kindest disposition towards those who have the command over them. Nor can any thing be more wise, humane, or interesting, than the strict attention to the feelings of their patients which seems to prevail in their institutions. The following specimens of their disposition upon this point we have great pleasure in laying before our

readers :

"The smallness of the court," says Mr. Take, "would be a serious defect, if it was not generally compensated by taking such patients as are suitable into the garden; and by frequent excursions into the city, er the surrounding country, and into the fields of the institution. One of these is surrounded by a walk, interspersed with trees and shrubs.

It is

therefore used very sparingly; and the superintendent has often assured me, that

he would rather run some risk than have recourse to restraint where it was not

absolutely necessary, except in those cases where it was likely to have a salutary moral tendency.

"I feel no small satisfaction in stating, upon the authority of the superintendents, that during the last year, in which the number of patients has generally been seclude, on an average, two patients at one sixty-four, there has not been occasion to time. I am also able to state, that although it is occasionally necessary to restrain, by the waistcoat, straps, or other means, several patients at one time, yet that the average number so restrained does not exceed four, including those who are se cluded.

"The safety of those who attend upon the insane is certainly an object of great importance; but it is worthy of inquiry "The superintendent has also endea- whether it may not be attained without voured to furnish a source of amusement materially interfering with another object to those patients whose walks are neces--the recovery of the patient. It may also sarily more circumscribed, by supplying deserve inquiry, whether the extensive each of the courts with a number of ani- practice of coercion, which obtains in some mals, such as rabbits, sea gulls, hawks, and institutions, does not arise from erroneous poultry. These creatures are generally views of the character of insane persons; very familiar with the patients; and it is from indifference to their comfort; or from believed they are not only the means of having rendered coercion necessary by preinnocent pleasure, but that the intercourse vious unkind treatment. with them sometimes tends to awaken the social and benevolent feelings."-(pp. 95, 16.)

Chains are never permitted at the Retreat; nor is it left to the option of the lower attendants when they are to impose an additional degree of regraint upon the patients; and this compels them to pay attention to the feelings of the patients, and to attempt to gain an influence over them by kindness. Patients who are not disposed to injure themselves are merely eocfined by the strait waistcoat, and let to walk about the room, or lie down on the bed at pleasure; and even in those cases where there is a strong tendency to self-destruction, as much attention s paid to the feelings and ease of the patient as is consistent with his safety.

* Except in cases of violent mania, which is far from being a frequent occurrence at the Retreat, coercion, when requisite, is dered as a necessary evil; that is, it is theght abstractedly to have a tendency to retard the cure, by opposing the influence

"The power of judicious kindness over this unhappy class of society is much greater than is generally imagined. It is, perhaps, not too much to apply to kind

treatment the words of our great poet-
'She can unlock
The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing
spell.'-MILTON. Į

"In no instances has this power been more strikingly displayed, or exerted with more beneficial effects, than in those deplorable cases in which the patient refuses ingenious arts of the superintendents have to take food. The kind persuasions and been singularly successful in overcoming this distressing symptom; and very few instances now occur in which it is necessary to employ violent means for supplying the patient with food.

"Some patients, who refuse to partake

of the family meals, are induced to eat by

being taken into the larder, and there allowed to help themselves. Some are found willing to eat when food is left with them in their rooms, or when they can ob tain it unobserved by their attendants. Others, whose determination is stronger, are frequently induced, by repeated per

suasion, to take a small quantity of nutri- | sition, and permitted the stone to drop to tious liquid; and it is equally true in these, the ground. He then submitted to be as in general cases, that every breach of quietly led to his apartment." resolution weakens the power and disposition to resistance.

"Sometimes, however, persuasion seems to strengthen the unhappy determination. In one of these cases, the attendants were completely wearied with their endeavours; and, on removing the food, one of them took a piece of the meat, which had been repeatedly offered to the patient, and threw it under the fire-grate; at the same time exclaiming that she should not have it. The poor creature, who seemed governed by the rule of contraries, immediately rushed from her seat, seized the meat from the ashes, and devoured it. For a short time she was induced to eat, by the attendants availing themselves of this contrary disposition; but it was soon rendered unnecessary by the removal of this unhappy feature of the disorder.”—(pp. 166, 167, 168, 169.)

"Some years ago, a man, about thirtyfour years of age, of almost herculean size and figure, was brought to the house. He had been afflicted several times before; and so constantly, during the present attack, had he been kept chained, that his clothes were contrived to be taken off and put on by means of strings, without removing his manacles. They were, however, taken off when he entered the Retreat, and he was ushered into the apartment where the superintendents were supping. He was calm: his attention appeared to be arrested by his new situation. He was desired to join in the repast, during which he behaved with tolerable, propriety. After it was concluded, the superintendent conducted him to his apartment, and told him the circumstances on which his treatment would depend; that it was his anxious wish to make every inhabitant in the house as comfortable as possible; and When it is deemed necessary to apply that he sincerely hoped the patient's conany mode of coercion, such an over- duct would render it unnecessary for him powering force is employed as precludes to have recourse to coercion. The maniac all possibility of successful resistance; was sensible of the kindness of his treatand most commonly, therefore, extin- ment. He promised to restrain himself; guishes every idea of making any at and he so completely succeeded, that, all. An attendant upon a madhouse during his stay, no coercive means were exposes himself to some risk—and to fords a striking example of the efficacy of ever employed towards him. This case afsome he ought to expose himself, or he mild treatment. The patient was freis totally unfit for his situation. If quently very vociferous, and threatened the security of the attendants were the his attendants, who, in their defence, were only object, the situation of the patients very desirous of restraining him by the would soon become truly desperate. jacket. The superintendent on these ocThe business is, not to risk nothing, the first sight of him seemed rather to incasions went to his apartment; and though but not to risk too much. The gene-crease the patient's irritation, yet, after rosity of the Quakers, and their courage sitting some time quietly beside him, the in managing mad people, are placed, violent excitement subsided, and he would by this institution, in a very striking listen with attention to the persuasions point of view. This cannot be better and arguments of his friendly visitor. illustrated than by the two following After such conversations the patient was generally better for some days or a week: and in about four months he was dis

cases:

"The superintendent was one day walk-charged perfectly recovered. ing in a field adjacent to the house in company with a patient who was apt to be vindictive on very slight occasions. An exciting circumstance occurred. The maniac retired a few paces, and seized a large stone, which he immediately held up, as in the act of throwing at his companion. The superintendent, in no degree ruffled, fixed his eye upon the patient, and in a resolute tone of voice, at the same time advancing, commanded him to lay down the stone. As he approached, the hand of the lunatic gradually sunk from its threatening po

"Can it be doubted that, in this case, the disease had been greatly exasperated by the mode of management? or that the subsequent kind treatment had a great tendency to promote his recovery?"-(pp. 146, 147. 172, 173.)

And yet, in spite of this apparent contempt of danger, for eighteen years not a single accident has happened to the keepers.

In the day-room the sashes are made of cast-iron, and give to the building

To the effects of kindness in the Retreat are superadded those of constant employment. The female patients are employed as much as possible in sewing, knitting, and domestic affairs; The classification of patients accord- and several of the convalescents assist ing to their degree of convalescence is the attendants. For the men are severy properly attended to at the Re-lected those species of bodily employtreat, and every assistance given to ments most agreeable to the patient, returning reason by the force of exam- and most opposite to the illusions of ple. We were particularly pleased his disease. Though the effect of fear with the following specimens of Quaker is not excluded from the institution, sense and humanity:yet the love of esteem is considered as a still more powerful principle.

himself of some consequence, is induced to support it by the exertion of his reason, and by restraining those dispositions which, if indulged, would lessen the respectful treatment he receives, or lower his character in the eyes of his companions and attendants.

"They who are unacquainted with the character of insane persons are very apt to converse with them in a childish, or, which is worse, in a domineering manner; and hence it has been frequently remarked by the patients at the Retreat, that a stranger who has visited them seemed to imagine they were children.

tendent reads to them several chapters in the Bible. A profound silence generally ensues; during which, as well as at the time of reading, it is very gratifying to observe their orderly conduct, and the degree in which those who are much disposed to action restrain their different propensities."-(pp. 158-161.)

Very little dependence is to be placed on medicine alone for the cure of insanity. The experience, at least, of this well-governed institution is very unfavourable to its efficacy. Where an insane person happens to be diseased "The natural tendency of such treatment is to degrade the mind of the patient, in body as well as mind, medicine is and to make him indifferent to those moral not only of as great importance to him feelings which, under judicious direction as to any other person, but much and encouragement, are found capable, in greater; for the diseases of the body no small degree, to strengthen the power of are commonly found to aggravate those self-restraint, and which render the resort of the mind; but against mere insanity, to coercion in many cases unnecessary. unaccompanied by bodily derangement, Even when it is absolutely requisite to emit appears to be almost powerless. ploy coercion, if the patient promises to control himself on its removal, great confidence is generally placed upon his word. I have known patients, such is their sense of honour and moral obligation under this kind of engagement, hold, for a long time, a successful struggle with the violent propensities of their disorder; and such at tempts ought to be sedulously encouraged by the attendant.

"Hitherto, we have chiefly considered those modes of inducing the patient to control his disordered propensities which arise from an application to the general powers of the mind; but considerable advantage may certainly be derived, in this part of moral management, from an acquaintance with the previous habits, manners, and prejudices of the individual. Nor must we forget to call to our aid, in endeavouring to promote self-restraint, the mild but powerful influence of the precepts of our holy religion. Where these have been strongly imbued in early life, they become little less than principles of our nature: and their restraining power is frequently felt, even

under the delirious excitement of insanity. To encourage the influence of religious principles over the mind of the insane is considered of great consequence as a means of cure. For this purpose, as well as for others still more important, it is certainly right to promote in the patient an attention to his accustomed modes of paying homage

to his Maker.

"Many patients attend the religions meetings of the Society held in the city; and most of them are assembled on a first day afternoon, at which time the superin

There is one remedy, however, which is very frequently employed at the Retreat, and which appears to have been attended with the happiest effect, and that is the warm bath,-the least recommended, and the most important, of all remedies in melancholy madness. Under this mode of treatment, the number of recoveries, in cases of melancholia, has been very unusual; though no advantage has been found from it in the case of mania.

At the end of the work is given a table of all the cases which have occurred in the institution from its first

commencement.

It appears that, from its opening in the year 1796 to the end of 1811, 149 patients have been admitted. Of this number 61 have been recent cases: 31 of these patients have been maniacal; of whom 2 have died, 6 remain, 21 have been discharged perfectly recovered, 2 so much improved as not to require further confinement. The remainder, 30 recent cases, have been those of melancholy madness; of whom 5 have died, 4 remain, 19 have been discharged cured, and 2 so much improved as not to require further con finement. The old cases, or, as they are commonly termed, incurable cases, are divided into 61 cases of mania, 21 of melancholia, and 6 of dementia; affording the following tables: