The moral treatment of the insane : a lecture / by W.A.F. Browne.

Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The moral treatment of the insane : a lecture / by W.A.F. Browne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    of the insane has been occasionally alluded to in history, in the Egyptian myth and in the chanted exorcisms and the canticles of the mediaeval church. But, almost legitimately, or appropriately, it was the good fortune of an Italian to remind men of modern and colder type of the connection. Phihp V of Spain was plunged in melancholia and apathy, and was, as may without lese- majeste be inferred, a dirty dement. rarmeili, 160 years ago, a master of song, had scarcely given forth a few of his marvellous notes in his presence, when he raised his head, exhibited exquisite pleasure, and recovered his reason. On demanding what recompense would satisfy his saviour, rarinelli said, as a physician has often to say, Shave, and wash, and dress yourself/'' The physician, or system, with one remedy, whether it be digitalis, the Turkish bath, or opium, is as much open to sus- picion as the man of one idea. Aversa had the unfortunate, but unmerited reputation of curing madness of all sorts by music alone. And there was the pleasing picture presented of the insane swinging in hammocks, gazing on cloudless skies, inhahng the fragrance of orange flowers, to the sound of the lute, sackbut, dulcimer, &c. An observer visited tliis temple of the muses in 1829, with the suspicion that the concerts were cooked, and that the whole arrangement was a sham which would collapse on close examination. He was unde- ceived, partly by encountering similar adjuvants in the Senavra of Milan, and, long subsequently, upon a more extensive scale, and with a more perfect organisation, at Quatre Mars under Dumesnil. Here the actual performers, drawn from the workmen class, amounted to thirty, although 150 had been subjected to a certain degree of in- struction. AU had been taught to read music; and the orchestra, after a grand march, performed boleros, waltzes, polkas, &c., in a masterly and marvellous manner. We are familiar with all this; classes, concerts, bands, &c., form one of the embelUshments of every asylum, and with effects which can be best appreciated by those who are themselves sensible of the powers of music to soothe, enliven, rouse, or melt. The worst dement should never be despaired of while music is untried. There is or may be a hidden hfe within him which may be reached by harmony. He may be recalled from the profound abyss of mental darkness to glimmerings of life, if not to full sunshine. Watch an assemblage of lunatics while national or cheer- ful airs are played; and it becomes palpable that though dead to all else, they are aUve to sweet and famihar sounds. A lady after hear- ing Scotch music retired to bed degraded, mute, fatuous; she arose next morning and remained permanently of right and rational mind, quietly remarking to the pliysician, that The banks and braes o' bonny Doon had awakened her. This must not be received either as a miracle, or without doubt as a sequence : it is given simply as an illustration.