ferred to physicians, whose profession gave them comparatively but little opportunity of testing actually or by comparison, a person's mental soundness. Professional esprit du corps, too, needs to be guarded against; and laymen, while more surely impartial, are in fact not less competent judges than medical men of most matters to be submitted to official examination and inspection. This is indicated in the English as well as certain American laws. The insane in hospitals exist in such unmitigated seclusion that the eyes of the community never rest upon them to any appreciable extent. They receive little or no recognition from the public, who may be quick to extend their sympathy and aid to the wronged and suffering of all other classes. This indifference not unfrequently extends itself even to those who are set over these unhappy beings, from the chief to the lowest attendant of the hospital. Rarely or never can injuries be so exposed as to come to the public eye, and are never considered, much less believed, upon the testimony of the suffering patient; who in a large majority of cases is quite capable of clearly and truthfully presenting the facts. It is unnecessary to say, for it has been recently exposed to the public in a most aggravated manner, that brutality even to the extent of causing death may obtain immunity even in a court of justice. Such things could not be, if the community recognized the condition of these wards of the State and appreciated their infirmity, their needs, and the measure and character of the attention and relief which they require. Few members of any community ever visit a hospital for the insane. Few strangers in a city make such an institution one of the objects which they desire or expect to investigate. If in either case, there are exceptions, the show wards alone are open to inspection, or at most a hurried walk is made through the corridors, where the quiet patients lounge or saunter in unvaried depression or ennui. While the hospitals of all other descriptions, the asylums for the blind, the mute, the feeble-minded, the houses of refuge and even the prisons, are always open to the unrestrained inspection of all respectable people, this asylum for the mentally diseased is practically closed against such "intrusion." The necessity does not exist. at all, in the degree alleged. I am not ignorant of the fact that unguarded and indis criminate visiting at all times and under all circumstances would be injurious to some of the patients, and would derange the administration of the hospitals. Such license would be mischievous anywhere, and more especially where the inmates, in large proportion, require freedom from disquieting influences. On the other hand, however, the social experiences of the inmates of almost all hospitals for the insane, are of a nature to induce insanity, where it does not exist, to intensify it, where it does exist, and to drag down to irremediable madness the unhappy victims of such companionship as they are consigned to, in these institutions. It becomes, therefore, all parties in authority in these institutions, in the State and in the community, to mitigate this fundamental evil, and remove as far as possible this chief hindrance to recovery or amendment, by a relaxation of the system of isolation from all companionship or familiar intercourse, outside the ranks of their fellow-sufferers and their keepers; the one always suggestive of an indefinite imprisonment, the other of unrelieved misery and distress. I speak, of course, of the general condition of a class and not of exceptional cases. Not only public asylums and hospitals, but also private houses and institutions for the care of the insane need visitation and thorough inspection, both for the protection of their inmates, and for the protection of the community. Care must be taken lest, through the malice of relatives or guardians, and the incompetence or collusion of (so-called) physicians, they become places for the hopeless incarceration or detention of perfectly såne and innocent persons, who, being forced helplessly into such a condition, and surrounded by such associations, may, after no very long time, be actually reduced to a state of real and remediless insanity or idiocy. The degree of M.D., even though the prescribed course of study has been thoroughly mastered-which is far from being always the case-does not of itself qualify a man to decide upon the question of the sanity or insanity of an individual. There is no good reason why as great care should not be taken that no sane person should be incarcerated in an asylum or hospital, whether public or private, as that no innocent person should be subjected to punishment with the guilty. For a further and very complete exposition of all this part of the subject-at least in relation to the legislation of one State-reference is here made to the Appendix, containing the Report of a Commission appointed by Governor Hoyt, of Pennsylvania, in 1882, "to consider the question of the care of the insane in this Commonwealth, the mode of their introduction into public and private asylums, the general scope of their treatment, the mode of their supervision and release, which are believed now to be inadequately guarded and provided for; to examine into the present system, and inquire into the legislation of other States and countries, and report the result of their investigations, conclusions, and recommendations, for the further protection and amelioration of the insane." To this report is appended the draft of a law submitted by the commission. It will be seen by reference to the laws of Pennsylvania on this subject, that, with some changes, this draft was adopted by the Legislature and enacted into a statute. As I cannot regard these changes in the light of amendments, the draft of the commission is here printed at the end of the report, and is commended to the careful consideration of future legislatures in the several States. I cannot claim the right to name the best examples of lunacy laws in the different States; but as some references may be convenient, I will state that I consider those of Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New York, Iowa and Pennsylvania worthy of commendation. There are, no doubt, others of equal merit. The compilation of this volume has been a work of much labor and difficulty. Exactness has been necessary throughout all its pages, and great embarassment has been experienced both in obtaining access to the required legislation and in extracting from the mass of laws on the subject in every State, precisely what was actually in force at a given date. I had the good fortune to obtain the assistance of Albert B. Roney, Esq., a very intelligent lawyer of Philadelphia, and his brother, W S. Roney, Esq., whose industry and appreciation of accuracy have been of the greatest value in the production of this work. I have also received valuable assistance from Dr. Ourt, Secretary of the Penna. Lunacy Committee. JANUARY, 1884. G. L. H. ALABAMA. GOVERNMENT OF ASYLUM. 1. Establishment of asylum. 4. Government vested in board of 5. Board of trustees, appointment, 7. Counties entitled to patients in 8. Indigent patients chargeable with actual cost; private patients in measure with care. 9. Preference given to indigent pa- 11. Unexpended moneys returned. 16. Condition of patients as to clean- 17. Expenses of commitment paid by county. 1. There is established in the EXAMINATION OF CRIMINAL INSANE. 18. Examination of acquitted criminals. 19. Examination of person charged with crime; discharge when sane. 20. Examination of persons charged with misdemeanors. 21. County commissioners may act instead of judge. DISCHARGE FROM ASYLUM. 22. Indigent patients entitled to two years; unless then benefited, discharged. 23. Expenses of removal borne by county. 24. Discharged patients supplied with clothing and money. INSANE CONVICTS. 25. Physician of penitentiary to report 26. Insane convicts removed to asylum. prison. 29. Convict insane at expiration of term transferred to asylum. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 30. Annual appropriation for hospital. 32. Records of hospital to be filed. state of Alabama a state hos Code of 1876. pital for the care and proper treatment of insane persons, which is located in the county of Tuska- 1470 loosa, and near the city of Tuskaloosa. Establishment of hospital. politic, under 2. Such institution is a body corporate and the name and style of "The Alabama Insane Hos- 1471. $ Is a body corpital," and by that name may sue and be sued; porate. may contract and be bound; have, possess and enjoy real and personal property, and have perpetual succession; may have and use a common seal, and break or alter the same at pleas ure; and for the purposes herein set forth, have all powers properly incident to corporations of such nature; and suits for and against such corporations may be brought in the appropriate courts of the county of Tuskaloosa. § 1472. Property of corporation. 3. The property of such corporation consists of such funds as have been or may be provided by the state for the establishment and support of such hospital, and of such other money, property and assets as may be acquired by such corporation by gift, devise, bequest or otherwise, and the profits thereof, and of the land which has been procured, and buildings which have been or may be erected, and of the other property which has been acquired, to be used for the care, maintenance, treatment and cure of insane persons. 4. The affairs of the corporation must be managed and governed by a board of trustees, consisting of a president and six others, and not less than four of the seven shall constitute a quorum, a majority of which shall decide in all cases, and may bind the corporation. § 1473. tees. 1474. trustees, how chosen; quali fications, resi dence, term, compensation, 5. The president and trustees must be nominated by the governor, as often as necessary, to the senate for its President and confirmation or rejection, and the appointment is completed by the confirmation of such nomination. The governor must temporarily fill all vacancies in removal. the recess of the senate, and his appointment shall continue till the action of the senate be had thereon. They must be selected with a view to their capacity for the management of the hospital. Three of the trustees, or the president and two trustees, must be residents of Tuskaloosa county, or of a county adjoining it, and the remainder must be residents of other parts of the state. The present arrangement of the commencement and end of the respective terms of the six trustees, whereby the term of [two] trustees shall expire at the termination of each successive period of two years, is continued. The term of the president and each of the trustees is six years, except where a trustee is appointed to fill a vacancy, in which event the appointment is made for the unexpired term of the vacated office. All appointments made by the governor, before confirmation by the senate, are temporary filling of vacancies until they are confirmed. The governor has power to remove the president or a trustee for cause deemed sufficient by |