The Non-Restraint Treatment of Lunatics.

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is at length beginning to establish itself upon the European continent. Baron Mundy says:

Dr. Ludwig Meyer, of Hamburg, has had the courage to defend the nonrestraint system in Germany, and also himself to practise it in the Hamburg Asylum with the best success. It is true that Dr. Meyer had previously visited England, and examined with careful eyes, impartial goodwill, and practical mind, the non-restraint system.

*

'More than a quarter of a century has passed,' writes Dr. Meyer, 'since the English asylums undertook to do away with the last remnants of imprisonment and restraint. The immense importance of this idea is shown by the magnitude of the opposition raised by the alienists of England. The enthusiasm of Conolly and his adherents was not less than the bitter excitement of his opponents. When the former made the abolition of mechanical restraints—the chief aim and test of the efforts of alienists-when they saw, in these restraints which then in English (and still in many French and German) asylums, were regarded in the light of therapeutical agents, only the embodiment of all the gross mismanagements which had so often raised a storm of public indignation against these institutions, their opponents were not slow to declare the results of the so-called new system mere delusions, chiefly intended to lead public opinion astray, and to aggravate the unhappy lot of the patients. The harmless strait-jacket was, they said, only exchanged for the rough hands of the warders, and they added, "Is this the success of the new system that violent patients are deprived of fresh air, and exchange the movements of the whole body for the narrow limits of the padded-cell merely to abolish the strait-jacket, which for the moment protects the useless limbs better than fetters?"

"The condition of the Hamburg Asylum has acquired a kind of celebrity more from the philanthropy than the professional reports published. However much exaggeration and falsehood these descriptions contain, they at all events prevent the necessity of my mentioning the insurmountable difficulties which would stand in the way of removing the restraint system and introducing a new arrangement based on Conolly's ideas. The physicians of the asylum themselves, although all of them persuaded of the propriety of the non-restraint system, would have rejected any plan for its introduction, three years ago, as perfectly Utopian, but for two years past the application of restraint to the male patients has been unnecessary; in the female department, which contains 100 more patients than the male, it has occasionally been found necessary to apply the foot or chest straps to some of the patien's to prevent their disturbing the peace of the dormitory. For a number of 330 female patients, there are only at disposal four isolated rooms (and these only to be had with difficulty) for protecting the quietness of the night's rest, and restraint, therefore, must assist when this scanty accommodation does not suffice. There were rarely more than two patients restrained, never more than four; the period of restraint was generally from four to five hours, no patient being ever restrained for an entire day. These cases of restraint were of so mild a character that disciplinarians would have resorted to more violent means. These cases of restraint, however, stand in no relation to our question, and in all essential points we may consider the introduction of non-restraint in our asylums as established. The abolition of restraint in this position, surrounded by local difficulties, has been highly instructive, and the result, therefore, is so much more striking.

'I have no hesitation (adds Dr. Meyer) in fully bearing out the maxim of the English physicians, that the abolition of restraint has a beneficial influence on the temper of all the insane, and disposes them to submit more willingly to the wishes of the physicians.

"The number of really raving maniacs has in a department of 230 males so completely diminished, that many weeks often pass without the four isolated

isolated rooms being used at all. Since the introduction of non-restraint among females, no case of regular furious mania has occurred among 500 lunatics, no bodily injury of any moment to the insane or the attendants, and no continued refusal of food. The number of workers is continually increasing, and that of the sick diminishing. The accidents and escapes have not increased, though the opportunity for both is not wanting, considering the situation of our asylum, the garden, which is cultivated by patients, lying between a deep town moat and two frequented streets, from which it is merely separated by a light railing. With the introduction of the non-restraint system, we feel the local difficulties less, which oppose a consistent psychiatric treatment, whilst the insane endure their painful position with more patience, and at times even with gaiety. Facts are stronger than the will of any individual! As long as the German asylums must waste all their best energies on the care and discipline of the miserable and neglected insane, so long will they be unable to bring forward their experience for or against the question of non-restraint; and the often cited words of Conolly, "Restraint is neglect," receive their full signification when applied to the condition of the insane in certain countries.'

Thus writes and acts Dr. L. Meyer, of Hamburg; can any one judge more simply, truly, and honestly of the non-restraint system, or write more rationally concerning its merits than this distinguished German physician does ?

ROTTERDAM.

In a Report of a Visit to the Continental Temperance Congress at Hanover, by Mr. Harper Twelvetrees, a recent number of the Bromley Lecture Hall Chronicle' gives the following account of things seen in Rotterdam.

To those who see Holland for the first time, this fine town, characteristically Dutch, appears very entertaining. There are as many canals as streets, all flanked by good quays, covered with merchandize, and planted with rows of trees. The streets and promenades thus beautified, and the sight of their fresh verdure in the heart of this busy town, give to it an indescribable charm; while the combination of streets, water, bridges, trees and masts, forms a sight at once novel and picturesque.

In addition to the canals before referred to,-lined with houses, bordered with trees, and crossed by innumerable drawbridges, I was particularly interested in noticing the tall, red, quaint buildings, with variegated tiles and variously pointed gables facing the street, and often considerably overhanging the foundation; the houses and shops so faultlessly clean; the shoes of the horses sounding as if they were pattened; the angular mirrors projecting in front of the windows of the houses, by which the inmates may see all that passes in the street; the comely figures of the buxom little Dutchwomen, in their Sunday attire; the picturesque barges gliding to and fro with their gilt prows, round sterns, and painted sides, looking as bright and shining as if they had come fresh from the painters' brush; the brass milkpails of the dairymaids, glistening like polished armour; and the rude busts of the 'Gapers' or Moors' heads, formed with the mouth gaping, the eyes protruding, and the whole countenance expressive of agony, placed as a sign in front of the druggists' shops. I observed, also, that the lower classes here wore clumsy sabots, pipe-clayed outside, in which they moved along with wonderful dexterity. There were no beggars abroad about the time of divine service, but every one seemed to possess an expression of genuine good nature and unsophisticated kindness, which did one's heart good to see.

All the

It was curious at first to observe the costumes of the women, so prim, neat, and picturesque. The females of the lower classes are certainly better looking than in any country I ever visited; having excellent features, beautiful complexions, and plump tidy figures, with generally a good-natured smile on their face. They indulge in most singular head-dresses. females, even down to little girls, wear caps; and these caps are marvels of plaiting, trimming, and curious needlework, and are as white as the driven snow. The women have a great taste for jewellery, and wear large, heavy, and long ear-drops and ear-rings of different patterns; heavy glittering breast pins; strings of showy beads, sometimes fastened by a monstrous clasp in front; and forehead-bands of gilt brass, which span the skull from ear to ear. The dress generally worn is a long jacket, made of clear cotton print, worn over a red or black petticoat; and these jackets, which are often made of elegant patterns, set off their comely figures to great advantage, and are really at once becoming and picturesque.

The cleanliness of the town was something marvellous. It is not an exaggeration to say that the streets, even along the quays and busiest parts of the town, were so clean that one might almost eat his food from them. I had previously been informed that the passion for cleanliness is carried to excess in Holland, and was therefore prepared to see everything bright and shining, and possessing an air of freshness and purification. It would seem that every day the housemaids are seen hard at work, scrubbing away with a will. You may see them running across the streets to the canal, dipping their brightly-painted, brass-hooped pails into the water by means of a long pole and hook, and off they run to wash the paint or scrub the windows with the most assiduous industry. By means of brushes, attached to poles about twenty feet long, they attack dirt-spots which lie beyond the reach of their hands; and ever and anon they squirt the water over the windows and house-fronts with a pump, similar to those used at home for watering gardens.

But it is on Saturdays, I learned, that a most extraordinary cleaning, or 'schoonmaken' takes place. Every house-door then presents a scene of most energetic activity; the brushing and mopping, the scrubbing and scraping, are not confined to steps and doorways; the pavement, wall, windows, however guiltless of impurity they may be,-are all equally subjected to the same course of ablution. Within doors equal purity and precision reign; and the mop or the broom itself, however worn out or old, is subjected to a similar process of cleansing. It may safely be affirmed that spiders stand a worse chance in Holland than in any country of the globe. This rage for cleanliness is carried to such an extent throughout the whole country, that even the cows' tails, proverbial in other countries for growing downwards, are here made to grow upwards; for with the view of promoting the cleanliness of the animal while in the stall, the tail is tied up to a ring in he roof of the stable. In some cow-houses it is managed by a pulley, with a weight at one end of a line, the other being fastened to the end of a cow's tail. The cleanliness of their dairies is notorious; in the country, the family of the dairy-keeper often make one end of the cow-house their sitting-room, having a fire-place at one end, and always at least one comfortable bed for a labourer or servant, who sleeps in the cow-house.

OZONE.

An interesting article in the 'Social Science Review,' by Dr. T. Wood, F.C.S., recites the history and describes the properties of ozone.

The discovery of ozone is attributed to Professor Schoenbein, of Bazil, who in the year 1839-40, while decomposing water by means of electricity,

observed

observed that the liberated oxygen possessed a peculiar odour similar to the one generated by the action of a common electrical machine: he commenced a series of experiments to determine the cause of this electrical odour, which experiments have led us to our present knowledge of the uses, nature, and manufacture of ozone. It must not be supposed that the smell emitted from the electrical machine when in action had never been noticed before the year 1839; it had been noticed, and Priestly had especially remarked on the phosphorescent smell of the electrical spark; but to Professor Schoenbein is due the honour of bringing this smell prominently before the scientific world, and giving it a name, the one it now bears, ozone (from ozu, I smell), on account of its peculiar odour, the well-known smell of the air of the deep blue sea.

From the dissimilarity between oxygen and ozone, and the peculiar way in which the latter acted, it was not long before the idea was suggested that ozone might be a new and distinct body, belonging to the same class as chlorine, bromine, and iodine, which it much resembles both in smell and in its property of uniting with hydrogen and the metals.

Fiercely has the point been discussed in miles of print whether ozone contained hydrogen and had the composition IIO3: it is, however, now generally admitted that both ozone and antozone are but modifications of oxygen. Ozone is now supposed to be oxygen negatively electrified, while another body called antozone is oxygen positively electrified, and just as opposite electricities neutralize one another, so ozone and antozone when they come together, neutralize one another and produce common oxygen gas. Antozone has its head-quarters in the peroxide of hydrogen, while ozone is contained in the peroxide of lead and many other bodies.

Ordinary oxygen is slightly soluble in water, but ozone appears to be quite insoluble in that medium, which fact in a great measure contributes to the continued presence of ozone in sea air, there being on the sea no foul odours or steaming alleys filled with human beings and the filth of all kinds that is constantly generated and collected wherever man makes his home, to remove it. Its presence or absence in the air may be determined by its peculiar action on a chemical substance called iodide of potassium strips of blotting paper are dipped in a very dilute solution of this body in which has been boiled a small quantity of starch. The ozone has the power of turning such paper blue by liberating iodine. Ozone is not always to be found in the air, as it is frequently removed as quickly as formed by the many decomposing bodies which emit compounds to the atmosphere fatal to the existence of the substance. So active and energetic is ozone that in warm weather the presence of feathers, old straw, or any fusty body, will prevent it from being detected, even while it is being artificially produced and passed over them, until they are sweetened, then the ozone will pass through them untouched, as there is nothing now to destroy it. When breathed, the effect of ozone is at first pleasant and refreshing, but if large quantities are present in the inspired air, a disagreeable sensation of pricking of the nose and a sense of tightness at the chest, with a fearful headache, are the first symptoms noticed. On continuing the breathing of ozone, as was noticed with a guinea-pig and a rat, the pricking sensation of the nose appeared to increase, from the violent way in which they scratched that organ; the breathing became quick and laboured, and death ensued in about one hour. On a post mortem examination the heart and lungs were found be quite full, and the blood so thick and clotted as to impede its circu

lation.

The antiseptic properties of ozone are peculiar. Meat that has once been well ozonized will keep longer than a piece not thus operated on. A snipe, whose smell was anything but that of myrrh, removed all smell of ozone from four quarts of strongly ozonized air, but, put into the fifth quart, the

Ozone.-Sir Rowland Hill.

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ozone was no longer removed. The bird was now hung up by the side of an offensive fellow bird, and remained so for three or four days, when the exigencies of the cook put an end to the experiment. On the feathers being then removed from the two birds, the ozonized bird was still nearly fresh and sweet, while a lively green pervaded the back of the bird not ozonized, not to mention the presence of a powerful perfume. When sent to table, the difference between the two birds was apparent from the greater sweetness and freshness of the disinfected animal. A safe, supplied with ozone, in which the butcher could hang rumps of beef in summer until they were tender, would be a great boon to the community at large.

Ozone, although nothing practical has been done with it during the twenty-five years that it has been known, is destined to prove as important a oxygen. By the discovery of oxygen the old ideas of 'phlogiston' or hidden fire were exploded. It was the discovery of oxygen that enabled Priestly to prove beyond doubt that such bodies as the candle when burnt yielded products that weighed heavier than before, and that they did not give out phlogiston, and lose in weight, as was supposed. This was a great fact gained for science. And when ozone can be produced at will, at an expense that will enable it to be used generally, we shall have made a discovery not less useful for sanitary science, the advantages of which will be as remarkable as beneficent.

SIR ROWLAND HILL, K.C.B.

The honorarium of Twenty Thousand Pounds awarded at length by the Queen and Parliament to Sir Rowland Hill, in recognition of his immense services to the nation, and, indeed, to the whole civilized world, comes somewhat tardily, in addition to a pension, to smooth the declining years of a great benefactor of his race; but there is some comfort in the thought that it does come whilst yet it is possible to be of service to one who has merited so well, and who would only have shared the lot of most of his honourable class had he passed away from a world too ungrateful to reward him except by a tombstone or a statue.

At this juncture, we turn back with renewed interest to an interesting sketch of Sir Rowland Hill's earlier life and labours, which appeared a few years ago in 'Our Exemplars, Poor and Rich,' a valuable work edited by the Recorder of Birmingham, and with a preface by Lord Brougham. As the learned Recorder is brother to the eminent postal reformer, the correctness of the facts detailed may be thoroughly relied upon.

Rowland Hill, the third son of Thomas Wright Hill, and Sarah his wife, was born at Kidderminster on the 3rd of December, 1795. In the year 1802 his father succeeded to a boarding-school at Birmingham, and here Rowland was educated.

To an observant eye indications of his future distinction were not wanting, even in his childhood, although his progress in the usual acquirements of our early years was somewhat retarded by debility and precarious health. He ever displayed a perseverance not to be wearied in the pursuit of any object on which he had fixed his mind; bearing delay and disappointment with calmness, but never remitting his endeavours, or relinquishing his hopes. As his body grew stronger, and his mind developed itself, he evinced abundant fertility of resource for the attainment of his ends. His faculty of mechanical invention was great and precocious; and his love for

*London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin.