M'Naughten : a letter to the Lord Chancellor, upon insanity / by J.Q. Rumball.

  • Rumball, James Quilter, 1795-1872.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: M'Naughten : a letter to the Lord Chancellor, upon insanity / by J.Q. Rumball. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    declare, from an examination of tlieir lieads, tlie particular delusions, under wliicli several Patients laboured. And tlie following extract from a letter of tlie present Super- intendent exhibits the result: “in all the characters I submitted to the test of Phrenological scrutiny; you were accurate in your description of them, to an extent which I was surprised at.” At the Prison, the Science was tested in the presence of the Surgeon, John Wilton, Esq., and the Governor, Captain Mason. The following is a copy of the notice entered in the day-book of the Prison:— “ Mr. John Wilton, and the gentleman who is lecturing on heads came here;—I had some of the Patients into the Committee room for his examination; he was not out in a single instance.” TAventy years since, the Author wrote the definition of Insanity, embodied in the folloAving pages; the experience of half a life has confirmed its truth. The means sug- gested for the protection of the pubhc from the madness which seeks its destruction, may possibly be considered harsh; but when the Author claims for himself and his late Father, the merit of introducing the present non- restraint system; taking their Patients into the green fields, mid banks and braes, and woods where wild flowers groAV, “ Locks, bolts, anJ bars, all rent asunder,” when he can point to several instances, where those Avho have been cured by him have returned to reside as boarders; he little fears that the advocacy of stern justice upon the criminal, should be thought to involve severity to the Patient; or that he who Avould prevent crime, would punish infirmity. In treating this question Phrenologically, no excuse is required; most of the Superintendents of our Public Asylums are Phrenologists. Hanwell, Gloucester, Glasgow, Leicester, Nottingham, and Maidstone are thus governed; in them, the spirit of improvement, of amelio-