An account of the Mission in the Insane Department and Children's Asylum of Blockley Almshouse, Philadelphia : to which are annexed a series of extracts from the letters of physicians in different insane asylums in the United States to the missionary / by Rev. Edward C. Jones.

  • Jones, Edward Conway, 1820-1865.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the Mission in the Insane Department and Children's Asylum of Blockley Almshouse, Philadelphia : to which are annexed a series of extracts from the letters of physicians in different insane asylums in the United States to the missionary / by Rev. Edward C. Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    summary statement now exhibited, to relate the good results whiah have flowed from these minis- trations, and the system he has adopted for the past six years in a field of labor which has occupied his time and thoughts most unremit- tingly, and to which he feels himself bound by ties at once sacred and imperative. At about 3 o'clock, on Sunday afternoon, the patients as- semble in the chapel in a very orderly and quiet manner, and the exercises are opened by the re- gular devotional performances of the church, a hymn is then sung, the delivery of a sermon follows, and the exercises are closed with a short hymn and the benediction. There are portions of the service of a responsive character, in which the patients take an active and often intelligent part, while the singing is shared by nearly the whole body of the audience. During the de- livery of the sermon the attention is marked and decided and there have been instances where a convalescing patient has taken succinct notes of the sermon and handed them to the preacher, on the termination of the services. In addition to the regular Sunday performances, it was deemed advisable to organize classes for reading, and vocal music through the week as a process of training for the services of the Lord's day. The classes were organized forthwith, and in the lapse of a short time most of the patients attained a credit- able degree of proficiency in reading and singing. Such was the interest created that the hour dedi- cated to this service passed away too rapidly for