English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1861, Edition 1 of 1, Page 100

Page 100

28 of 72

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- 100 A LUNATIC VILLAGE.
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  Part Ii. {Concluded From P. 33.)
  
  content themselves wltli merely making" it a supplement to the real idea of hygienic treatment which pervades the commune . But if
  
  they build cells and transplant _furioiis maniacs to Gheel , who cannot be let loose without endangering * public safety , they will offer
  
  an example of constraint which will alike infect the imagination of nourriciers and patients . The former will be tempted to apply for
  
  authority to use coercion whenever their inmates are particularly troublesomeand the latterseeing and knowing ( for they are
  
  invariably full , of acuteness ) that , there is an asylum in the neighborhood , will lose the sense of home freedom which is now so
  
  efficient an element in the recoveries . To induce the inmate to forget that he is in any Tray marked or peculiar ,, to occupy
  
  him with the common activities of life , to make him feel that his labor is valuablehis efforts crowned with success , and to
  
  , interest and amuse him through the social affections , is now the triumph of Gheel , the loss of which would be ill compensated
  
  by the introduction of scientific apparatus , or even by the creation of an institution which might serve as a first-rate school .
  
  Institutions may be created elsewhere , •—but the lesson afforded by this little Belgian town is the result of the _exiaerience of a
  
  thousand years . Again , it might be desirable to increase the facilities for receiving
  
  _jDatients of a higher class of life , provided always that the frugal simplicity of the population were not contaminated . Poor and
  
  rustic as are the homes of Gheel , it must be remembered that the vast majority of the patients are of the peasant class , who in any
  
  other country would be shut up in a ' pauper asylum . The accommodation they receive is that to which they have been accustomed ;
  
  their diet of bread and vegetables and beer , to which pork meat appears the most luxurious additionis no hardship to them ; and
  
  anything which destroyed the average , level of habits and manners , introducing , strange servants among the po 23 ulation , and
  
  increasing the chances of dissipation , would be a misfortune to a town so situated . . Better that the richer class of patients should
  
  content themselves with the ways of the " bonne bourgeoisie . " Nevertheless , there is room for extra diversions and interests for those
  
  patients whose previous life has unfitted them for manual labor ; but such should be of a simple and scrupulously unperverted
  
  land . With regard to the other questionWhether the customs of Gheel
  
  can be imitated elsewhere ? Whether , a similar town or village could be created ? the answer must be uncertain . Gheel is unique , and
  
  would be as difficult to coj ) y as a parliamentary constitution . The new colony must be planted in a healthy localitywhere the land is
  
  divided into small farms , and chiefly cultivated by , the owners of tho soil . The inhabitants must be at once gentle and robustand the *
  
  , religious feeling should be at once strong and practical .
  
  Everything would depend on the physician and the clergyman who first
  
  100 A Lunatic Village.
  
  100 A LUNATIC VILLAGE .
Citation
- English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1861, page 100, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041861/page/28/

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Part Ii. {Concluded From P. 33.)

100 A Lunatic Village.