Cursory remarks on legislative regulation of the insane : and its probable influence on their physical and moral condition : with observations on some defects in the present system / by George Man Burrows M.D. F.L.S.

  • George Man Burrows
Date:
1819
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cursory remarks on legislative regulation of the insane : and its probable influence on their physical and moral condition : with observations on some defects in the present system / by George Man Burrows M.D. F.L.S. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

    104/114 (page 96)
    9(5 observations; and that a jiulicious combination of medical ith moral remedies promises to esta- blish, if not defeated by injudicious interference, an improved mode of practice for the cure of it. This important inference is happily derived from the best ])ractical authorities. Yet it is plain, from some of the Queries inserted in the Bill, and particularly the fifth, viz. whe- ther medical aid is afforded to them, (i. e. the insane patients) for their mental complaints that those who framed the Bill have adopted a theory of their own as to the nature and treat- ment of insanity ; with which medical men may perhaps be in no way disposed to coincide. The most positive medical opinions are naught when opposed to the favourite hypotheses of speculative philosophers! But a single fact is sometimes more expressive than a volume. If reference be made to the Questions, on the utility of insane persons having free access to a pump of water, and the judicious and peremptory objections of Dr. Finch*, they will be found cogent and con- clusive. Vet this improper licence is to con- stitute a part of the intended law! I think it will not be hazarding much to ass t, that such tenacity of opinion is not justified bj any medical authority whatever; but that many of the principles adopted in the Bill are in direct * See First Report, 1815, p. 51.