Mental defect / by Lionel S. Penrose.

Penrose, L. S. (Lionel Sharples)

Date:: 1933

Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Mental defect / by Lionel S. Penrose. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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began. The attempt made by Itard to educate the wild boy of Aveyron, which began in 1798, attracted a good deal of attention. 1 His example was followed out on a larger scale by his pupil, Séguin, who, in 1837, founded a centre for the training of idiots in Paris. Soon afterwards the need for providing special institutions for those persons who were obviously idiots was recognized in England. The training and care of these individuals was considered an eminently worthy object of charity. For example, the philanthropist, Andrew Reed, expressed, in 1840, the hope that he might be allowed to do something for fellow creatures who were separate 2 and alone, but the Divine image stamped upon all. Largely owing to his efforts the first asylum for idiots in this country was founded at Park House, Highgate. It was a charitable institution under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort. The principle which rules, said Reed, is charity—Divine Charity. The success of the institution was so great that it was soon found necessary to expand it and, in 1849, Essex Hall, Colchester, was started as an annex for nearly a hundred patients, with a view to teaching them simple mechanical employments. During the next few years the directors began to build a model asylum at Earlswood, Surrey. In 1855 all the patients at Park House were transferred to Earlswood, and three years later Essex Hall became the Eastern Counties Asylum. Meanwhile parallel developments were taking place in America with the founding of a private school and also a State school for the teaching of idiots in Massachusetts. The first German schools for mental defectives were started in 1866-7 at Halle and Dresden. It is important to remember that most of these early institutions were supported voluntarily. Although interest in the subject was to some extent maintained by the prospect of curing patients by training, there were strong humanitarian and religious motives for subscribing to these ventures. 1 The Wild Boy of Aveyron, tr. by Humphrey, G. and M., New York, The Century Company, 1932. 2 The Greek word from which idiot is derived means apart, separate, and also lay.