iT^i^
Dr. HACK TUKE
KEFORM IN THE TKEA TMENT OF THE INSANE.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE RETREAT,
YORK;
ITS OBJECTS AND INFEUENCE,
WITH A REPORT OF THE CELEBRATIONS. OF I'
CENTENARY.
I D. HACK TUKE, M.D., LL.D.,
^ Foniicily Visiting Physician to the Retreat.
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2 1892.
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SRHICK, del. 1791,
DANIELSSON iCO.Imo.
fITT«RUROH ACADEMY OF MEDIOlNB,
882 North Oiraig fit.,
Co ti)c iiacmoi-j) of
W^ILLIAM TUKE,
Whose Courageous Humanity a Century Ago
Is Recognized at Home and Abroad,
This Sketch is Dedicated by his Great-grandson,
THE AUTHOR.
"A// men seem to desert me in matters
essential y — W. T.
\^\^ \<o
" Kind and conciliating treatment is the best means to pro-
mote recovery, as proved in the management of the Retreat^
where coercion, though sometimes necessary for feeding the
patients and preserving them from injury to themselves or
others, is administered in the most gentle manner, and the
use of chains is never resorted to." — Williavi Tuke.
" The York Asylum has been wrested from its original
design ; the poor are in a great measure excluded, and the
Institution, it is understood, is committed to the care of a
physician and apothecary, without the interference of any
committee or visitors in the internal management. Thus,
instead of being a public charity, it has become a source of
private emolument, and ///;/r ///cV lacJiryiiuv.' — Henry Tiike.
" If the ' Description of the Retreat ' should be thought to
afford satisfactory evidence in favour of a more mild system
of treatment than has been generally adopted ; if it should
also prove, which I flatter myself it will, the practicability
of introducing such a system into establishments for the in-
sane poor, whose situation has, in general, been too pitiable
for words to describe, I shall esteem myself peculiarly
happy in this publication." — SminicI Take.
PITTPBUROH ACADEMY OF M*DW)^^.
882 North OnU^ P-t..,
PIT
PREFACE.
Shoui.d this sketch be deemed a dry narration of
facts, the writer would plead in excuse that he has
purposely restricted himself to them, in order to
ensure historical accuracy, rather than allow sentiment
and imagination to run wild in rhetorical reflections.
In truth, the facts themselves ought to speak eloquently
enough to those who have ears to hear. If, however,
he has resisted the temptation to indulge in romance,
and has rigorously confined himself to the records of
the period which he describes, he is not the less
impressed with the moral grandeur of the bold step
taken a century ago in the interests of the insane. It
was, indeed, a death-struggle between cruelty or
neglect on the one hand, and kindness and considera-
tion on the other. For long the issue trembled in the
balance, but at last victory crowned unceasing labour.
The imperative task and the great love, which Victor
Hugo says, render men invincible, were not wanting.
2
Of those now living, comparatively fev^ have the
faintest conception of either the nature or the in-
tensity of that struggle, the desperate efforts made to
escape exposure and evade surrender, and the brilliant
onslaught made upon long-established abuses. The
languid interest now felt in the stirring events of that
period (i 792-1815) by the general public, and even
many medical men, is not a little surprising, seeing
that one in every three hundred of the population
suffers from mental disorder and has good reason to
be thankful that he is not lying in a dark cell on straw,
" being bound in affliction and iron." His friends have
also, one would have thought, some reason to be grate-
ful. But, for all that, most of them would not care two
straws for a narrative, compared with which a third-
rate novel would excite more interest and emotion ; it
is, in short, to the majority of people, a matter of pro-
found indifference to know the cardinal facts of the
history of the amelioration of the insane in England
and France. At the annual dinner of the Medico-
Psychological Association in 1881, Dr. Bucknill anim-
adverted on the strange and discreditable contrast
3
between the popular estimate of a victory like that
achieved at the Retreat and a victory won on the field
of battle.
There is a touching legend of a monk, who, as we
have been lately reminded, wandered one day from his
monastery into the adjacent forest, and, listening to
its minstrelsy, did not return, oblivious of the flight of
time, until fifty years had passed away. When he
presented himself at the once familiar gates he was
unknown, and he found, to his sad surprise, that
scarcely one in the convent remembered his name.
Had the principal actor in the scenes which were
witnessed at York a hundred years ago revisited the
Retreat this Midsummer, he would have found that
his name, if not his person, was still remembered and
reverenced. This would have been the reverse of the
melancholy experience of the good monk, and he
would surely have rejoiced, not, indeed, that his own
name was held in remembrance by the company
assembled on the scene of his labours, but that his
strenuous and oftentimes painful endeavours had borne
such remarkable fruit in his own country and abroad.
The writer embraces this occasion to thank, not
only in his own name, but in that of the Retreat, the
numerous friends of the insane in many lands, who, by
their presence at the Centenary or by letter, rendered
unstinted honour to the man who conceived the idea of
the Retreat, and, thereby, of a new departure in the
treatment of the insane, and whose dying words
referred to the institution which, for nearly thirty
years, he had served so faithfully and loved so
well.
Lyndon Lodge, Hanwellj IV.,
September, i8g2.
REFORM IN THE TREATMENT OF
THE INSANE.
EAELYHISTOKY OF THE EETEEAT, YORK;
ITS OBJECTS AND INFLUENCE.*
In celebrating the Centenary of the York Retreat,
the questions which arise in everybody's mind are,
why was it estabhshed, and why at one time rather
than at another ? Further, it is natural to inquire
what w^ere its objects, and what influence has it
exerted ?
I. To answer the former questions we must briefly
touch on the general condition of the insane a century,
or rather more than a century ago, and also on the
local circumstances which led up to the foundation of
the institution. I shall not describe the dreadful
suffering and neglect which existed in regard to the
* Paper read at the first Centennial Meeting of tlie Retreat, York,
held at tliat Institution, May 6, 1892.
6
former condition of the insane. I may take it for
granted that everyone here knows sufficiently well the
deplorable state in which, for the most part, those
labouring under mental afflictions were formerly to
be found. He who doubts the truth of the descrip-
tions oriven of the had old times should visit the
Guildhall Museum in London, and he will see there
a specimen of the heavy chains formerly in use
at Bethlem Hospital, and also the celebrated figures
by Gibber of raving madness and melancholy, bound
in fetters. The Treasurer and Governors of Bethlem
have presented these relics of the past as the outward
and visible siofn of the blessed chano^e which has
taken place in asylum treatment. So far from being
ashamed of them we glory in having them exhibited
to the public eye, that the thousands of people who
visit the Guildhall Museum may " Look here upon this
picture, and on this."
It is interesting to refer for a moment to John
Howard's incidental reference to asylums when, at
the latter part of the i8th century, he was visiting
prisons in various parts of the world. He says, " I
greatly prefer the asylum at Constantinople to that of
St. Luke's, or to Swift's Hospital at Dublin ;" but he
appears to refer to the structure of the building, the
rooms, the corridors, and the gardens, rather than
to the condition of the patients themselves, for at
Constantinople there was an asylum for cats near the
Mosque of St. Sophia, where the feline inmates seem
to have received more consideration than the human
inmates of the asylum. Speaking of English prisons,
in I 784 Howard observes that idiots and lunatics are
confined in some gaols, and adds, " These serve for
sport to idle visitors at assizes and other times of general
resort. Many of the Bridewells are crowded and offen-
sive, because the rooms which are designed for pri-
soners, are occupied by the insane." It is remarkable
that more practical work was not done for the insane in
England at this period when we remember the great
interest which was excited in the disease by the fact
that a distinguished Prime Minister, Lord Chatham,
and the Sovereign himself had been laid low by mental
disease. In fact, the attention of the nation had been
concentrated upon the sick-room of George the Third
and upon Dr. Willis, the clerico-medical doctor, who
gained so much notoriety at that period. It was in
April, 1789, that his Majesty went to St. Paul's to give
thanks for his recovery, and enjoyed a lucid interval
until 1 80 1. It may be observed In passing that the
treatment of the Royal patient was much on the lines
of the prevalent doctrines of the day, perhaps not
quite so depressing ; and although there was nothing
apparently to call for coercive methods, he was not
only mechanically restrained by the doctor's orders,
but was brutally knocked down by his keeper.
It would carry me quite too far, however interesting
it might be, to recall what was happening in the world
at the eventful period when this comparatively small
work commenced at York. But what a contrast
do the quiet proceedings which we commemorate
to-day present to the wave of excitement which
was passing over England as well as France, where
the guillotine had just been invented and the
King's fate was rapidly approaching. If we turn to
the Annual Register of that period its pages are full of
addresses from political societies in this country to the
French National Convention. The preface to this
volume asserted that " metaphysicians, geometers, and
astronomers have applied the compasses of abstraction
to human passions, propensities, and habits. The
minds of men are alienated from kings and become
enamoured of political philosophy." It may be said of
0
some of the oreat events of this period that splendid
and magnificent as they were when contrasted with
lesser achievements, the world might have been better
had they never occurred. Washington exclaims in
one of his letters, '' How pitiful in the eye of reason
and religion is that false ambition which desolates the
world with fire and sword for the purpose of conquest
and fame, when compared with the minor virtues of
making our neighbour and our fellow-men as happy as
their frail condition and perishable natures will permit
them to be."
And it was this very thing, " the minor virtue of
making our fellow-men as happy as their frail con-
dition permits them to be," that characterized the pro-
ceedings at York a hundred years ago. It was a time
of local as well as national excitement, when the Corpo-
ration of York presented Charles James Fox with the
freedom of the city in recognition of the efforts which
he had made on behalf of liberty and the rights of man.
I must now ask your attention to the earlier year of
lyyy, wlicu au asylum was opened at York in conse-
quence of the need felt lor such an institution for the
insane poor in this locality. It was commenced under
favourable auspices and evidently with the best inten-
10
tions. It was not very long, however, before its
management became unsatisfactory. I wonder how
many people know that Mason, the Poet and Precentor
of York Minster, was something more than either, and,
in conjunction with Dr. Burgh and Mr. Withers, of
York, endeavoured to hold the Governors of that day
to the original design of the institution. They w^ere
persistently thwarted in their honourable endeavours.
In 1788 Mason published his "Animadversions" on
the asylum. In 1789 he was the means of procuring
a legacy, which afterwards constituted " Lupton's
Fund " for the poor, but from unworthy motives this
charity was opposed by the physician of the asylum^
and the Governors even passed a resolution in 1791
that anyone who contributed to it (and among those
who did so was no less a person than Wilberforce)
should be excluded from the privilege of being a
Governor. In fact, in spite of these praiseworthy
efforts, nothing w'hatever was done to remove abuses,
and Jonathan Gray, the historian of the old York
Asylum, wrote, " The opponents seem to have
abandoned the matter as hopeless," and pathetically
adds : " It cannot be doubted, therefore, that Mason,
Burgh, and Withers quitted the world under an im-
11
pression that their labours in this benevolent cause had
been worse than useless, having been repi^id only by
obloquy and misrepresentation." Although, however,
they were thus hopeless about the York Asylum, they
rejoiced to know that an important step had been taken
in establishing another institution. And this brings
me to the well-known local incident which occurred
in 1791.
A female patient was admitted from a considerable
distance into the York Asylum. After a time her
relatives desired and authorized some of their friends
in York to visit her. They met with a repulse from
the asvlum authorities, and not lono; afterwards the
patient died. That there are cases when a superinten-
dent is fully warranted in advising the relatives and
friends not to see a patient cannot be denied, and it
would be, therefore, very unreasonable to ground
serious complaint on the simple refusal of the superin-
tendent to allow a lunatic patient to be visited. How-
ever, in this instance, as the patient was very ill and
her friends were forbidden to see her, suspicions were
naturally aroused, and further inquiries made after her
death suggested neglect and possible cruelty. At this
juncture William Tuke, a philanthropic citizen of York,.
12
Avas informed of the circumstances. He felt strongly
that there was something wrong, not only in this case,
but in the general management of the institution. He
was not given to listen readily to sensational reports ;
his temperament was certainly suflficiently calm, and
indeed his character, if contemporary descriptions are
worth anything, was typical of enthusiasm without
fanaticism, human sympathy without intrusiveness,
philanthropy without fads. His portrait on the wall is
■expressive, I think, of this kind of man. The evidence,
therefore, must have been of a very decisive character
to induce him to arrive at this conclusion. He knew
that any direct attack upon the asylum would meet
with the same fate as that which disheartened
Mason and Dr. Burgh ; but his mind was stirred
within him, and he began to think whether it would not
be desirable and possible that an institution should be
established in which, without destroying privacy, there
should be no secrecy in its relation to the family
of the patient, and in which the inmates should be
treated with humanity. Thus revolving the subject in
his mind, he arrived at the conclusion that the question
ought to be answered in the affirmative. He conferred
with his friends. Some of them took the same view as
13
himself, especially his son and daughter-in-law, Henry
and Mary Maria Tuke, who warmly supported the idea,
as also did his excellent friend, Lindley Murray, the
grammarian. His own wife, although she had been a
helpmate in some of his benevolent schemes, did not
favour this, and, being of a satirical turn of mind, said
he had had manv children emanate from his brain, and
that " his last child was going to be an idiot." Who
shall say how many of the great designs of men have
been nipped in the bud by the ridicule of women ! How-
ever, he was not one to be easily discouraged either by
opposition or by satire, and the result was that in the
spring of i 792, he brought forward a definite proposition
at the close of, and altogether distinct from, the busi-
ness transacted at a quarterly meeting of the Society
of Friends held at York, that an asylum for the
insane should be established. No official record, there-
fore, was made of the conference. The proposition
was thought to be one the wisdom of which
admitted of grave doubt indeed ; a wet blanket
was, in fact, thrown on the scheme, and the meeting
broke up in this mood. Even several years afterwards
we find him, on the brink of despair, writing a letter, in
which he exclaims, " All men seem to desert me in
14
matters essential." Many would no doubt have been
permanently disheartened ; but William Tuke made still
further inquiry as to the necessity for such an Institution
with the effect of fortifying his position. He visited
some of the asylums in repute at that period. At St.
Luke's Hospital, London, he found a miserable state
of things, chains, and a large number of patients lying,
as he described them, naked and on filthy straw. His
description recalls that given of Mrs. Fry's visit to an
asylum at Amsterdam many years later, where she
noticed but could not relieve an unhappy woman heavily
ironed and similarly grovelling on the floor.
What this angel of mercy was unable to do at
the Amsterdam asylum William Tuke was able to do at
St. Luke's Hospital, so far as this, that a female patient
who was thus chained to the wall and shamefully
neglected was subsequently removed to the Retreat,
and in one of his letters he speaks with gratification of
the comfoit thus afforded her.
Well, William Tuke, although he had received a
check, returned to his charge and reinforced his
arguments at a meeting held June 28th, 1892, three
months after his first proposal in March. The
opposition was renewed. One of those who were
15
present on this stormy occasion has stated that the
whole scheme seemed for some time as if it would be
entirely shelved, so strong was the objection to it, but
that the speech c f Henry Tuke turned the scale, for if
his father was the fortiter In re, the son was the
suauitcr in viodo, which sometimes succeeds when the
other alone fails. He said to the meeting, " Well, but
isn't it -vvortli while considering my father's proposi-
tion ? " The consequence was t4iat at this second
meeting tne Retreat was instituted, though not without
the note ot Cassandra being heard, and, therefore,
assembling as we do in this month of May to celebrate
it, we meet very appropriately at a time intermediate
between the first proposition in the spring and its
formal institution in the midsummer of 1792, and can
vividly realize the anxiety which must have filled the
breast of the projector as to whether his scheme would
be crushed or accepted.
The opposition to the proposal is not surprising
when we consider how little was known at that time
of the condition of the insane, or of what might be
done in the way of treatment and kindly moral manage-
ment. I have already said that conspicuous among
those who listened to the proposition was the well-
16
known Lindley Murray, who not only gave what I may
call his " Grammar of Assent " to the undertaking, but
was helpful from time to time in giving that which was
far better than money — his calm judgment and thought-
ful advice as to the best mode of proceeding — employ-
ing just that diplomatic way of going about the busi-
ness which succeeded in winning over objectors and
lukewarm friends in support of the experiment,
which Lindley Murray so well knew how to employ
on critical occasions — a man so justly respected for
his worth, his kindly nature, and the judicial character
of his mind. To most he is known only as the Gram-
marian, and I suppose there are many who wish they
had never formed his acquaintance in this character
when at school ; but he ought to be remembered with
respect for the wise counsel which he gave in con-
nection with the early history of this institution.
A learned Professor of Chemistr}^ in an /Vmerican
College, when travelling in Europe, visited the recluse
at Holdgate at this time, and in his book, giving an
account of his travels, he records this visit with great
pleasure, and writes : " Who would not rather be Mr.
Murray, confined to his sofa, than Napoleon, the guilty
possessor of a usurped crown and the sanguinary
17
oppressor of Europe?" I fear that, in this wicked
world, all would not reply as the Professor anticipated !
When I was in America some years ago I was
requested to be present at a social gathering in the
institution at Northampton, Massachusetts, over which
the veteran alienist, Pliny Earle presided, as medical
superintendent, and in the speech which he made
nothing was more interesting to the audience than the
statement that when a young man he visited York and
had the pleasure of finding in the bedroom which he
occupied in Samuel Tuke's house, the wheeled chair
which was used for many years by the Grammarian,
who, as you know, met with an accident in his native
land (America), in consequence of which he had only
the partial use of his lower extremities.
As a consequence of the Resolution which was passed
at the midsummer meeting, ground was purchased in a
suitable and healthy locality near York, a city then of
16,000 inhabitants. The locality itself was historically
interesting, for it contained a mound on which at that
time stood a windmill, from which it is supposed that
its name, " Lamel Hill," was derived, " being no
more," says Drake, " than le iiienl, miln hill, called so
by the Normans." Its height above the summer level
2
18
of the Ouse was about 90 feet. Here it was that the
troops of Fairfax and Lesley placed their battery during
the siege of York by the Parliamentary Army in 1644,
symbolical, we may say, of the fight made by those
whose weapons were not carnal against the cruel treat-
ment of the insane, while they laid siege to the whole
system of asylum abuses. But we must hasten on and
think rather of the new Institution itself, of which, in its
original state, there is a representation here from a
drawing taken by a York artist, Mr. Cave. The build-
ing bore no resemblance to the prison-like asylum of the
day, and a special point was made of avoiding bars to
the windows ; but time will not allow of my entering
into any details, important as I consider them to be.
If these old windows now excite criticism, let it be
remembered that at Bethlem Hospital, even in 1815, the
bedroom windows were unglazed."'"
On the foundation stone, which Macaulay's New
Zealander may some day find among the ruins of the
Retreat, were inscribed the words : —
Hoc Fecit
AmICORUM CaRITAS IX HUMANITATIS
Argu.mentum
Anno Dni MDCCXCII.
* " Report of ihe Select Committee of the House of Commons,
i8i=."
19
This inscription is of i^rcal interest and importance,
as proving that in i 792 the word HUMANITY was upper-
most in the minds of the friends of the movement —
their leadiniij idea. " The charity or love of friends
executed this work in the cause of humanity." In
other words, chanty raised the edifice as a token or
sign in demonstration of humanity. It is also in-
teresting to note that on the foundation stone, not
actually laid until later, the period of instituting the
Retreat was carefully recorded as 1792, as, indeed, it
was on the first page of the early Annual Reports.*
But in dwelling on the foundation stone we must not
forget the important matter of the name which was
given to the institution, and this, like the inscription,
carried with it a deep meaning. I have said that the
wife of William Tuke indulged in some sarcasm with
* When the Retreat was projected the great mass of the insane in
England were unprovided for as regards asylum accommodation. In
addition to three or four private asylums, including Ticehurst, there
were the well-known, but unfortunately ill-managetl hospitals of
Bethlem and Saint Luke's, and the lunatic ward of Guy's Hospital.
There were, at IMancliester and Liverpool, wards for the insane in con-
nection with the Royal Infirmaries of those towns, and in addition to
the old York Asylum there was the Norwich Bethel Hospital, and St.
Peter's Hos{)ital at Bristol, to which, many years after, the celebrated
Dr. Prichard was physician. The recognized number of insane in
London and in the country was under 7,000, which stands out in
strange contrast with the number registered at the present day.
20
regard to his proposal. It was very different, however,
with his daughter-in-law, Mary Maria Tuke, and when
the inevitable question arose and was discussed in the
family circle, " What name shall we adopt for
the new establishment ? " she quickly responded
"The Retreat" — a name, be it remembered, w'hich
up to that time had never been applied to an asylum
for the insane ; in fact, in the vulgar tongue, an
asylum was, as I have said, a madhouse — this and
nothing more. Surely, it was a most felicitous term,
and a beautiful illustration of that aspect of the move-
ment uppermost in the minds of those who were
engaged in the undertaking, that, as is stated, " It was
intended to convey by this designation their idea of
what such an establishment should be, namely, a place
in which the unhappy might obtain a refuge ; a quiet
haven in which the shattered bark might hnd a means
of reparation or of safety." I wish that I had the
happy power of reviving or restoring the picture of the
interior of the early Retreat life as I seem to see it
myself. William Tuke's brother-in-law, T. Maud, a
surgeon in Bradford, was to have helped him in carry-
ing forward his plans and resided at the Retreat, but
this arrane^ement was unfortunatelv cut short bv his
21
unexpected death, and William Tuke had to superin-
tend it himself. My father, in his " Review of the
Early History of the Retreat," writes : " The Founder
looked around among his friends for a suitable
successor, but not finding one ready for the engage-
ment, he agreed to take the office himself till a
substitute should be found ; and for nearly twelve
months he had the immediate management of the
young establishment upon him," and for about thirty
years, having retained his paternal interest in it, in-
spired its proceedmgs. There was, then, William Tuke,
the father of the little family, organizing, planning,
and arranging the details of the house, and planting
with his own hands the trees which we now see on
the north boundary of these grounds. Then there
was a physician at that time in York, Dr. Fowler,
who, in this capacity, visited the Retreat, and was a
kindly, estimable, and unassuming man. He is
described as one " who estimated men and things
according to their real value rather than their names
or aspects." He originally came from Stafford. I
am unable to obtain any particulars with regard to his
life ; but his name is associated with what is called
'* Fowler's Solution," the well-known preparation of
22
arsenic in use at the present day. He died, much
regretted, five years after the opening of the institution,
and was succeeded in the office of visiting physician by
a young and ardent physician, Dr. Cappe, whose
talents and affectionate disposition gave promise of a
useful career, and who felt a warm interest in the
Retreat. He threw his whole soul into his work, but
grave pulmonary symptoms soon made their appear-
ance. He sought in vain to recover his health in a
warmer clime, and, to the sorrow of all connected with
the Institution, fell a victim to consumption.
But to return. Patients were being admitted, and
were kindly cared for and treated. I have mentioned
the poor woman who was brought from St. Luke's, and
I may add that there was another patient (a man), who,
when admitted, was found to have lost the use of his
limbs, and when released from his manacles tottered
about like a little child, but regained the use of his
muscles and required no mechanical restraint. A\'hen
visited by one of his relatives and asked what he called
the Retreat, he replied, with great warmth, " Eden,
Eden, Eden ! "
And now I must hasten to speak of one who was
largely influential in carrying out the hopes and aims
of the original projector. This was George jepson, a
most estimable man residing at Bradford. My father,
who greatly appreciated him, writes : — " He was
almost entirely a self-taught man ; yet so highly
esteemed in his neighbourhood, that he was the
counsellor of many of the country people for miles
around his residence, in some of their most important
private concerns ; and he may be said to have been a
medical practitioner." He by no means confined him-
self to the medical art ; in fact, he never passed any
examination, for at that period it was not illegal to
practice without a qualification. He was an acute
observer, and one who thought for himself. It was in
1797 that he was induced to come to the Retreat. It
certainly was not the amount of medical knowledge
which he possessed, but rather freedom from the
trammels of the medical schools of the day (although
at first he had a prejudice in favour of the lancet),
which rendered him a suitable person to be appointed
to the Retreat. My father thus writes of this period :
— " George Jepson was of course initiated into the
duties of his office by William Tuke. It was indeed,"
he remarks, " a rare concurrence of circumstances
which brought together two minds, one so capable to
2i
design largely and wisely, the other so admirably
fitted to carry such designs into execution. The two
men, though exceedingly different, were one in an
earnest love to God and man, in disinterestedness and
decision of character, and therefore in a steady con-
stant perseverance which works outward wherever
truth and duty lead.'' It may also be stated that
when Sydney Smith visited the Retreat at a later
period he was much struck with Jepson, and his wife
also, who acted as matron. The Grand Duke
Nicholas, afterwards the Emperor of Russia, on going
round the Retreat, was impressed by her appearance,
and remarked in a low tone to my father, " Quel
visage ! " No man was more esteemed and be-
loved by the projector of this institution and by his
family, and I am quite sure that if he could be with
us to-day he would wish that due honour should be
rendered to Jepson for what he did within these walls.
There was but one feeling, that of mutual esteem.
William Tuke rejoiced at being able to meet with
a man who entered so readily into his schemes and
acted so loyally in carrying them out ; while Jepson
looked upon "the Manager-in-Chief " (as my father
designates William Tuke) as his "guide, philosopher,
and frieiicl.'" It was William Tuke's custom to corres-
pond with a medical nephew and to comnmnicate to
him what they were doing at the Retreat, especially
as to the results of the then heterodox treatment pur-
sued. My father attached great value to these letters,
and I have a vivid recollection of the pain which he
experienced in consequence of a number of them
being carelessly destroyed by a domestic who, in
her ignorance of their value, had torn them into
shreds, and had been using them for her candles.
In one of the letters which remain (and some are
only fragments) written in 1 798, and addressed
from the Retreat, I find him discussing the value
of opiates, although without the advantage of a
medical education ; while in other letters he refers
with lively interest to the utility of the warm bath.
Of course, all this was very wrong from my own
professional point of view, but there w'as some
excuse for it when we consider the state of mental
medicine at that time in York. Why, the physician
of the old York Asylum boasted of his " secret insane
powders, green and grey," which, as Dr. Thurnam
states, " were sold as nostrums for insanity throughout
a great part of Yorkshire and the north of England."
26
In another letter, dated from the Retreat in that year^
and before William Tuke had had the o-ood fortune to
meet with Jepson, he mentions the case of a female
who, on the way to the institution, " dreaded being
put into a kind of dungeon." When visited, the
morning after her arrival, she promised him that if she
might only stay at the Retreat she would behave well^
and she requested her daughter who had accompanied
her to return home. On this he makes the commen-
tary, ''A strong proof of the sensibility of insane
persons respecting those who have the care over
them." With delight he reported that he had almost
every day observed an improvement in the case of a
patient among those first admitted who had occasioned
him great anxiety. In one instance a patient com-
mitted suicide, and he was greatly distressed. He
relieved his mind in a letter to his friend, the well-
known philanthropist Richard Reynolds, and received
a very sympathetic letter in reply.
I may remark that it is not very difficult to under-
stand the successful treatment of the patients at the
Retreat, although there may have been little of that
definite scientific or medical element which is sq
justly prized at the present day. But although there
27
was not over mucn science and still less medicine in
the primeval atmosphere of the Retreat, the single-
mindedness of those who were trying what may be
called a Holy Experiment — that of personal kindness
and love to man in his misfortune and sickness as well
as in health — helped to secure its success. It must not
be supposed that medicine was despised. It is true that
a clean sweep was made of the routine of bleeding,
blistering, purgatives and emetics then in vogue in
what were regarded as the best institutions for the
treatment of the insane, and this probably gave rise to
the idea that /Esculapius was not duly honoured at the
Retreat ; but there was the guarded use of drugs, a
careful attention to the general health, and a very
special use of the warm bath. It was also found that
instead of lowering the patient it was generally better
to feed him, and that good nights could be obtained
for the excited, not by antimony and other depres-
sants, but by good malt liquor. Medical men were
scandalized at such a reverse in the mode of treating
excitement and sleeplessness, but it was acknowledged
before long that the results were of the happiest kind.
And here we shall be assisted in forming an idea
of the management and treatment pursued at the
28
Retreat by the evidence which WiUiam Tuke gave
before the Select Committee of the House of Com-
mons, although of course he did this at a much
later period. The new system had become widely
known, the old system was on its trial, and the
Parliamentary Committee naturally called upon the
projector of the Retreat to supply them with informa-
tion in regard to its management and the treatment
pursued there. I have heard my father, who accom-
panied him, speak of the great interest which his
presence excited. The witness spoke with pleasure
and satisfaction of what had been effected at the
Retreat. After stating (in reply to a question) that he
had taken an active part in everything that had been
done respecting the institution from the beginning, he
was asked to give to the Committee an account of the
practice pursued in the establishment. He replied in
general terms that " everything is done to make the
patients as comfortable as they can be, and to
endeavour to impress upon their minds the idea that
they w^ill be kindly treated ; that is generally the
setting out ; when that is done it is not so difficult to
manage the patients." Asked in regard to the effect
of medicines in cases of mental deranefement, he
29
replied that he thought that very httle could be done
except when the disorder is accompanied by bodily
disease of one kind or other. He said that from his
personal observation he considered that patients had
frequently recovered in consequence of the removal of
the physical complaint. He was requested to inform
the Committee whether the patients were periodically
physicked, bled, made to vomit, and so forth, and he
replied with great emphasis "No such thing," and
added, " That with respect to bathing the bath was
frequently used, the warm bath more than the cold,
but that in no case was it employed periodically. It
was his opinion that the warm bath had been found
very beneficial." The subject of mechanical restraint
has become such a burning question in these latter
days that it is interesting to ascertain from his
evidence what was the actual practice at the Retreat.
It has often been stated in histories of the treatment
of the insane in Enoland that the Retreat introduced
what is called non-restraint. This is quite a mistake.
It never was and is not at the present day a dogma
held by those who have the management of the
Retreat that under no circumstances whatever is it
justifiable to resort to mechanical means of restraint.
30
On the contrary, it was frequently stated by those who
spoke in the name of the institution that no rule could
be laid down on the subject, and that it must be left
entirely to the discretion of the medical superintendent
so long as he retains the confidence of the Directors.
William Tuke stated to the House of Commons Com-
mittee that in violent cases it was found necessary to
employ, sometimes, a leather belt to confine the arms,
and that this was preferred to the strait-waistcoat on
account of its not heating the body so much, and
leaving the hands free for use, although not so much
as to do mischief. Seclusion was resorted to, he said,
when it was found necessary. Thus he says, " We
have a patient who has long lucid intervals of calm-
ness, but is subject to verv violent paroxysms and
verv sudden ones, during which we conceive he would
injure any person who came within his power; this
man during his paroxysms is confined in a separate
room, about 12 feet bv 8." In this instance
it seems that the strait-waistcoat was occasionally
used, and W^illiam Tuke found it necessary to state
that he did not permit the use of chains of any kind.
I hope that this evidence, along with the letters I
have quoted, few as they unfortunately are, will convey
31
a clear idea of the early, as well as the somewhat later,
Retreat treatment of patients. I must for a moment
retrace my steps to remark that one of the best proofs
of the important work carried on in the early days of the
Retreat was the striking impression produced upon
visitors, especially medical men. Only two years after
its opening a Swiss physician. Dr. de la Rive, bent his
steps thither, was delighted with what he saw, and
published a very interesting account of his visit. " This
house," he wrote, " is situated a mile from York, in
the midst of a fertile and cheerful country ; it presents
not the idea of a prison, but rather that of a large
rural farm. It is surrounded by a garden. There is
no bar or grating to the windows." In 1812 Dr.
Duncan, of Edinburgh, who was greatly interested in
the lunatic asylum of that city, also visited the
Retreat, and spoke in the highest terms of its manage-
ment. He considered that it had " demonstrated
beyond contradiction the very great advantage result-
ing from a mode of treatment in cases of insanity,
much more mild than was before introduced into
almost any lunatic asylum either at home or abroad."
He regarded it as " an example claiming the imitation
'and deserving the thanks of every sect and every
nation. For, without much hazard of contradiction
from those acquainted with the subject, it may be
asserted that the Retreat at York is at this moment
the best regulated establishment in Europe, either for
the recovery of the insane, or for their comfort where
they are in an incurable state."
When in Paris many years ago, I visited M. Ferrus^
the first Napoleon's physician, and a distinguished
alienist. He recalled in graphic terms and with that
gesture-language in which the French so much excel
us poor phlegmatic Englishmen, the pleasure and
surprise he had experienced on visiting the Retreat.
I subsequently found a description of his visit in print.
There he refers to it as " the first asylum in England
which attracted the notice of foreigners ; " and describes
its projector as "a man for whom religion and morality
were practical virtues, and in whose eyes neither riches,
nor poverty, nor imbecility, nor genius ought in the
slightest degree to affect the bonds which unite all
men together in common, He thought with reason
that justice and power ought to be evinced, not by
shouts and menaces, but by gentleness of character
and calmness of mind, in order that the influence of
these qualities might make themselves felt upon all,
even when excited by anger, intoxication, or madness.
33
The traditions of this friend of humanity are preserved
in the house which he founded." M. Ferrus adds that
" those who are admitted find repose in this building,
which much more resembles a Convent of Trappists
than a madhouse ; and if one's heart is saddened at the
sight of this terrible malady, one experiences emotions
of pleasure in witnessing all that an ingenious benevo-
lence has been able to devise to cure or alleviate it."
A pleasing picture of the interior of the Retreat is
given in a poem written more than 80 years ago.
Many here are no doubt familiar with certain lines of
Wordsworth, headed " To the spade of a friend, an
agriculturist, composed while we were labouring
together in his pleasure ground." His friend's name
was Wilkinson, a minor Lake poet, who, on visiting the
Retreat 14 years after it was opened, described it in
verse too long to cite here, but from which I may take
the following few lines : —
" On a fair hill, where York in prospect lies,
Her to'.vers and steeples pointing to the skies,
A goodly structure rears its modest head ;
Thither, my walk the worthy Founder led.
Thither with Tuke, my willing footsteps prest,
Who oft the subject pondering in his breast,
Went forth alone and weigh'd the growing plan,
Big with the lasting help for suffering man."
34
I must not occupy your time in quoting more from
this poem than the Hues which bring before us in a
vivid manner the social and homely character of the
group of patients whom he describes, and which
appears to have removed from his mind the apprehen-
sions with which he entered " The Wards of Insanitv,"
as he calls them : —
" Such and so on I passed with fearful tread,
With apprehensive eye, and heart of lead ;
But soon to me a motley band appears,
Whose blended sound my faltering spirit cheers ;
What female form but brightens into glee
Whilst bending o'er exhilarating tea ?
What man but feels his own importance rise,
Whilst from his pipe tiie curling vapour fiies ?
But oft, alas ! tea and tobacco fail
When demons wild the erratic brain assail.
But why this wreck of intellect ? Ah ! why
Does Reason's noble pile in ruins lie?"
Whether Wilkinson's poetry is equal to that of his
friend's " Excursion " I will not decide, but we cannot
help feeling grateful to him for having left on record
the Impression produced upon his mind by the Retreat
not many years after it was opened.
II. Now, what were the primary objects in view in the
foundation of this Institution ?
First, the revulsion from the Inhumanity which had
35
come to light rendered it necessary that the funda-
mental principles of moral treatment should be those
of kindness and consideration for the patients. They
were the basis of the proceedings which were taken ; in
fact, as we have seen, they were carved upon the very
foundation stone of the building.
A second object undoubtedly was to provide an
atmosphere of religious sentiment and moral feeling
congenial to the accustomed habits and principles of
those for whom the institution was primarily intended.
Thirdly, it is a significant fact that when the Retreat
was instituted, it was laid down that there should be "a
few acres for keeping cows and for garden ground for
the family, which will afford scope for the patients to
take exercise when that may be considered prudent
and suitable." Recreation and employment were
put prominently forward directly the Institution was
opened, and were carried out into practice much
to the surprise of those who visited the house. The
Swiss physician (Dr. de la Rive), who in 1798 visited
the Retreat, as I have related already, reported
thus : — " As soon as the patients are well enough
to be employed, they endeavour to make them
work. The women are employed in the usual female
36
occupations ; the men are engaged in straw and basket
work, etc. The Institution is surrounded by some
acres of land which belong to it. The superintendent
had undertaken to make the patients cultivate this
land, giving each a task proportioned to his strength.
He found that they were fond of this exercise, and that
they were much better after a day spent in this work
than when they had remained in the house, or even
when they had taken a walk. "
Fom'thly, the moral treatment must no doubt be
emphasized as characteristic of the early practice of
the Retreat. The physician just mentioned writes : —
'' You see that in the moral treatment they do not
consider the insane as absolutely deprived of reason^
that is to say, as inaccessible to the motives of hope^
feeling, and honour ; rather they are regarded, it would
seem, as children who have an excess of force and who
make a dangerous employment of ii." In the first
Annual Report (written by W. Tuke) occurs the follow-
ing:— "They who think the object worthy of their atten-
tion may be encouraged to promote it, not only on the
principle of charity to the poor, but even from com-
passion to those in easy and affluent circumstances^
who will, doubtless, think themselves benefited, though
37
they may pay amply for it." It is pointed out that
*' those who have embarked in this undertaking have
not been influenced by interested views, nor are tliey
requesting or desiring any favours for themselves, A
malady, in many instances, the most deplorable that
human nature is subject to, hath excited their sym-
pathy and attention." Lastly, an appeal is made
for " co-operation in an Establishment which hath
for its object the mitigation of human misery, and the
restoration of those who are lost to civil and religious
society, in the prosecution of which they humbly rely
on the favour of Him whose tender mercies are overall
His works." I may add that the title page of this
Report bore the words : '' The State of an Institution
near York, called the Retreatj for persons afflicted
until Disorders of the Mind ; " certainly a very sufficient
description of the object for which it was established,
and this title page remained undisturbed until 1869,
when, unhappily, as I think, it was discarded for
another.
Fifthly, that which from the first has been regarded
as a most important feature of the Institution, is its
homishness — the desire to make it a family as much as
under the peculiar circumstances of the case is possible
38
However desirable the scientific study of insanity may
be, and I hope we shall never underrate it, it would be
a fatal mistake to allow it to interfere with or in the
slightest degree take the place of the social and
domestic element, and the personal relationship
between the physician and his patient, which tend to
mitigate the distress which may be occasioned by the
loss of many home comforts and associations, along
with the residence amons^st strangers.
III. I must pass on now to an important event in
the history of the Retreat. I refer to the publication
of the " Description of the Retreat,"* written by
Samuel Tuke in 1813, and dedicated to his grand-
father, William Tuke. Now what had the old York
Asylum been doing since the female patient died there
in 1 791, an interval of 42 years? Why, it had gone
from bad to worse. In the Preface to this book the
author made an observation w^hich gave great offence
to the superintendent, who interpreted it to be a reflec-
tion upon that institution. Well, what was this terrible
passage? Nothing more than this. " If it" (that is
this book) " should be thought to afford satisfactory
* " Containing an account of the Origin and Progress, the Modes-
of Treatment and a Statement of Cases, with an Elevation and Plans
of the Building." Harvey and Dartun, London, 181 3.
39
evidence in favour of a more mild system of treatment
than has been generally adopted ; if it should also
prove, which I flatter myself it will, the practicability
of introducing such a system into establishments for
the insane poor, whose situation has, in general, been
too pitiable for words to describe, I shall esteem myself
peculiarly happy in this publication.'' This paragraph
did, however, cause the greatest offence, and the
superintendent of the asylum wrote a warm letter to
the newspapers under the name of " Evigilator " in
defence of the institution. Qui s excuse s\iccuse.
From that moment hostilities commenced. York
became the scene of an exciting encounter. I have
said that Fairfax's battery on Lamel Hill was a symbol
of the moral warfare upon which the Retreat entered. I
find in the Yorkshire CJirouicle of September 30th,
1813, a letter from Northallerton, signed by " Viator,"
which runs thus : —
" It is customary with travellers to call for the papers containing
intelligence of the important events which now attract the attention
of all the world. After my supper this evening 1 indulged my usual
appetite for news, and on two papers being brought to me, from a sort
of instinctive partiality for Yorkshire, I seized the York Coiirant, in
preference to a London paper, which was at the same time laid upon
the table. The editor's summary account. from the late Gazettes
40
pleased me much ; I there read : First despatch, * Forced St. Cvr
from a strongly entrenched camp ; ' second despatch, ' ^Melancholy
fact of ^loreau having lost both his legs ; ' third despatch, * Important
victory over Vandamme ; ' and fourthl\-, ' A Gazette containing the
numerical account of cannon and prisoners taken in the various actions.'
'• My heart was filled with exultation at these glorious achievements of
our allies. Nothing less than the humiliation of the Grand Tyrant and
the repose of all the world filled my imagination, when casually casting
my eye upon a column of the paper parallel to that which contained
this gratifying intelligence, I found an account of further hostilities
having been carried on by ' storming/ ' boarding,' ' grape or shells,
by ' sapping,' * mining,' ' catamaran,' or ' torpedo.' Now (thought I)
for the fall of Dresden 1 And who is the gallant General that has
employed all these means ? On looking for the name and the date, I
discovered with astonishment that York was the scene of these tre-
mendous military operations.
" In a fit of terror and surprise the paper fell from my hand ; by an
involuntary impulse I rang the bell, and on the waiter entering,
anxiously inquired if he had heard that the City of York had been
blown into the skies by some insidious revolutionists. With equal
surprise, but to my great joy, he answered, ' No, sir, all was well there
to-day when the coach left it.' Recovering a little from my confusion,
I took courage to examine this article a little more carefully."
The writer tells us that he then found that the article
he had read was occasioned by the alarm which one
"Evigilator" had taken at a mere description of the
Retreat, written by one of the most unwarlike and in-
offensive of people.
41
William Tuke, as vigilant and earnest as he had been
in 179T, wrote a letter to the Governors of the York
Asylum, in which he says he had the satisfaction of
asserting that " kind and conciliating treatment is the
best means to promote recovery, as proved in the
management of the Retreat, where coercion, though
sometimes necessary for feeding the patients and pre-
serving them from injury to themselves or others, is
administered in the most gentle manner, and the use
of chains is never resorted to." It was not difficult to
read between the lines, and the Governors, doubtlessly,
did so. And here I cannot avoid pointing out the
gratifying contrast, in which no one rejoices more than
the present Governors, presented by the well-managed
institution of to-day — well-managed for so many years
— and that which, unfortunately, became so notorious
at the period under review. As a Governor of Bethlem
Hospital, I have the corresponding feeling. Nor can I
resist the temptation of expressing the pleasure which I
feel in the fact that a former superintendent of the York
Asylum, Dr. Needham, has been made a Lunacy Com-
missioner. A better appointment the Lord Chancellor
has never made. Writing in the York Herald of
October 23, 1813, Henry Tuke says of these
42
Governors : — " Like a modern warrior of declininof
fame, they claim victory where others consider them
defeated. Their self-congratulations will add nothing
either to their own credit or that of their cause. The
asylum has been wrested from its original design ; the
poor are in a great measure excluded ; and the Institu-
tion, it is understood, is committed to the care of a
physician and apothecary, without the interference of
any committee or visitors in the internal management.
Thus, instead of being a public charity, it has become
a source of private emolument, and ' liinc illsc lachrymse,'
Let the Governors of the asylum turn their attention to
this important subject, and seriously consider whether
they are acting the part of good stewards of the trust
reposed in them. It is to them only that the public
can look for a reformation, and without their interfer-
ence all altercation is fruitless."
The question at the bottom of all this controversy
was, whether or not the same system of neglect and
cruelty, alleged to have been in force in 1791, was still
a reality in 1813. As we know, prolonged investiga-
tions followed. Concealment was attempted, but
fortunately in vain. A Yorkshire magistrate, Godfrey
Higgins, of Doncaster, attracted by the fray, and
4o
convinced that abuses did exist in the asylum and
ought to be exposed, came forward and was of signal
service in bringing the engagement to a victorious
result. I possess a large number of letters which
passed between him and my father at this exciting
crisis. A warm friendship was formed between them,
based upon their equal indignation at cruelty and wrong.
I met the widow of Professor De Morgan, when above
80 years of age, and she told me that she had
received from the lips of Mr. Higgins himself a
stirring account of his visiting the York asylum one
morning, when a remarkable scene occurred. He was
assured, on asking the attendant where a certain door
in the kitchen led to, that the key could not be found.
Mr. Higgins replied that if it was not found he would
find a key at the kitchen fireside — the poker. The
key was then instantly produced. When the door was
opened, this faithful, fearless, and resolute magistrate
entered, to find four cells in the most disgraceful and
sickening condition. He demanded that he should be
taken to see the patients who had slept there the
previous night, and was shown no fewer than thirteen
women ! Comment is needless.
To give a history of this period and the disclosures
44
which were made, would require a lecture devoted to
it ; but for our present purpose it is sufficient to record
the fact that the Governors of the asylum, with the
Archbishop of York in the chair, reinforced by the
entrance of a batch of new Governors, eventually
passed a series of resolutions which sealed the fate of
the old regime^ and paved the way for a complete
reorganization of the management of the institution in
1 8 14. I have met with those who think that the
ill-treatment to which the insane were subjected in
former days, whether in this asylum or Bethlem, in
which I feel as much interest as in the Retreat, should
be passed over in silence ; I have indeed. But I am
strongly of the opinion of Sydney Smith, when he
said in anticipation of such a mistaken feeling, and in
reference to the abuses in this very asylum at York,
that they should be " remembered for ever as the only
means of preventing their recurrence."
Now it was undoubtedly the exposure of the con-
dition of the insane in the old York Asylum, followed
as it was by suspicions in regard to the state of other
asylums, which led to Parliamentary investigation into
the abuses which, almost everywhere, existed at that
time, and which, happily, forced the Legislature to
45
pass acts for the protection of the insane and for the
provision of better institutions. The hnk between the
successful management of the Retreat on new hues
and kinacy legislation is not my assertion. It was
clearly pointed out by Sydney Smith in 1817, as well
as by many others : — " The new Establishment " (he
says) " began the great revolution upon this subject,"
and he adds, " The period is not remote when lunatics
were regarded as being insusceptible of mental enjoy-
ment, or of bodily pain, and were accordingly consigned
without remorse to prisons under the name of mad-
houses, in the confines of which nothing seems to
have been considered but how to enclose the victim of
insanity in a cell, and to cover his misery from the
light of day. But the success of the Retreat demon-
strated by experiment that all the apparatus of gloom
and confinement is injurious, and the necessity for
improvement becoming daily more apparent, a Bill for
the better regulation of mad-houses was brought into
Parliament by Mr. Rose." It was, sad to say, after
great delay and discouragement that really effective
Acts of Parliament were passed, and, in this con-
nection, the name of Lord Shaftesbury at once rises
to my lips. In the speech which he delivered in the
46
House of Commons when Lord Ashley, on the occa-
sion of his introduction of the famous Lunacy Bill of
1845, ^""is eulogy of the movement inaugurated here 53
years before, is of the strongest and warmest character.
I am sure that we, who know what Lord Shaftesbury
has done for the insane, can most fully appreciate the
splendid, and, as in the case of the projector of this
Establishment, the unremunerated services, which he
rendered to this neglected class, and must acknowledge
that the work in which he was engaged with such
unfailing energy and perseverance was, as he himself
regarded it, the necessary supplement to previous
reforms, inasmuch as it evoked the strong arm of the
law to make adequate provision for the insane and to
protect them from harsh treatment. Honour to whom
honour is due !
I should like to refer now to one of the most
• pleasant features of the history of the Retreat, and
that is that there has been no international rivalry,
and no desire in our own country to detract from the
beneficial effect of the courageous step which was
taken in this City 100 years ago.
A well-known French physician, the late Dr. Foville,
after observing that Pinel was not aware of what had
47
been accomplished at York until 1 798, and that on
the other hand it was not until 1806 that the news of
the enterprise undertaken at the Bicetre reached the
Retreat, generously acknowledges that the philan-
thropists in Paris and in York alike deserve public
recognition for the work of humanity which they con-
temporaneously accomplished in France and in Eng-
land, without there being room for raising any question
of rivalry or precedency between them.*
And who is there amongst us, as among all British
alienists, that does not revere the memory of the
illustrious Pinel ?
Germany clearly recognized the improved methods
of treatment introduced at the Retreat. One day,
nearly 60 years ago, there arrived in York a German
physician, Maximilian Jacobi, the son of the well-known
mental philosopher, the head of a school of meta-
physicians contemporary with Goethe, who took a
great fancy to the medical son, and expressed his
*' admiration of his unswerving devotion to his pro-
fession." The doctor came to the Retreat, was
delighted with what he saw, and stayed some days at
York for the purpose of examining on the spot the
* Iniroduction to " Le Corps et I'Espiit,'" page xx.
48
arrangements and management of an Institution with
which he had already (in the year 1822) made his
countrymen acquainted, by translating into German,
the work on the Retreat of which I have already
spoken.
I really must read to you the passage in his travels
wherein he describes his visit to this City, to which he
came by coach from Hull. He says : — " As I ap-
proached York I perceived the Retreat through the
trees, when looking out to the left of the road, being
able to recognize it from the ' Description of the
Retreat,' which I had translated, and I rejoiced that I
was now able actually to see this memorial of Christian
humanity. A letter from my friend, Dr. Zeller, of
Winnenthal, secured for me a very friendly reception
from Samuel Tuke," who. Dr. Jacobi goes on to say,
" introduced me to the superintendent of the Retreat,
Thomas Allis, who by his character as well as by his
outward man produced a powerful impression, and who
possessed special knowledge and dexterity in (com-
parative) anatomy, as was proved to me by the
beautiful preparations to be seen in the new Museum
of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. As Thomas
Allis led me through the Retreat I felt at home from
49
the first step, because I had so long been familiar with
the plan and arrangements of the building from my
translation of Tuke's " Description of the Retreat."
I may mention that some time after his return to
Germany he sent the latter a work on insanity
inscribed, " To his friend, in dear remembrance of
the two days spent with him in October, 1834. Sieg-
burg."
Dr. Jacobi became in the course of years the
Nestor of German medical psychologists, and, while
the Superintendent of the Siegburg Asylum, near Bonn,
he in his turn wrote a work on the construction and
management of asylums, which my father asked John
Kitching to translate, and wrote an Introduction to it
of some length. I mav add that I visited him at his
asylum on the Rhine, when he was in very advanced
life, and that he had lost none of his interest in the
Retreat, nor was the memory of his visit to York
dimmed by age. The whole incident affords a pleasing
picture of international reciprocity in the common
interests of humanity, and emphasizes the truth of
what I am endeavouring to show, that so far from
there having been any jealousy on the part of foreign
countries, there has been the fullest, warmest, and
4
60
most generous appreciation of the lead taken a century
ago by the Institution whose birth we celebrate to-day.
In connection with the visit of Dr. Jacobi to the
Retreat, I may mention that another figure in the
group to whom he makes a pleasant reference was
Dr. Caleb Williams, an honoured name so familiar to
us all, and for so many years professionally connected
with the Retreat.
The Americans, and notably the very distinguished
Dr. Isaac Ray, have been forward to pay their tribute
to the influence exerted by " The Retreat," and have
acknowledged the direct help they derived in the way
of advice from those who were connected with it. I
may, perhaps, be allowed to say that I possess
the original letter of inquiry from an American to
Samuel Tuke respecting the Retreat, and that it was
in replying to it, the latter was led to think it might
be useful to publish an account of the mode of treat-
ment practised there. This resulted in the work the
wide-spread influence of which he little anticipated.
In our own country there has been the same
generous feeling in recognizing the position of the
Retreat as the pioneer in the amelioration of the con-
dition of the insane. I may specially refer to Dr,
51
Conolly, for the circumstance which connects his
career with the Retreat is exceedingly interesting. I
have just spoken of the remarkable influence of the
publication of the " Description of the Retreat." But
it had another effect no less remarkable, though not
so generally known. There was in 1 8 1 7 in the Edinburgh
University a student of medicine of Irish extraction,
but born in Lincolnshire, into whose hands there fell
this book, and upon whom it produced a powerful and,
as it proved, a permanent and far-reaching impression.
That student was John Conolly, and in after years,
when tracing his past history and the influences which
led to his great work, he mentions this circumstance.
^' Viewing the things which I have described, day
after day, and often reflecting upon them, and with deep
impression, partly derived from the perusal again and
again, even when still a student, of that excellent ' De-
scription of the Retreat near York,' already alluded to,
and which I would still urge every student to read and
to add to his library, and partly from what I had
actually seen at Lincoln a few v.'eeks before commenc-
ing my residence at Hanwell, I was not long before I
determined that whatever difificulties there might be to
encounter, no mechanical restraints should be per-
52
mitted In the Hanwell Asylum." — {Medical Tivies and
Gazette, April 7th, i860). If that Httle book of 18 13
had done nothing more than inspire Conolly to under-
take his work, it would not have been written in vain.
Dr. Conolly always took pleasure in attributing to the
foundation of the Retreat the reform in the humane
treatment of the insane. " The substitution," he
writes, "of sympathy for gross unkindness, severity,
and stripes ; the diversion of the mind from its excite-
ments and griefs by various occupations, and a wise
confidence in the patients when they promised to
control themselves led to the prevalence of order and
neatness, and nearly banished furious mania from this
wisely-devised place of recovery."* He spoke of it as
" that admirable asylum, the first in Europe, in which
every enlightened principle of treatment was carried
into effect." I may say that in his declining years I
received a letter from him In which he said he loved to
dwell upon this theme. I should like to add that we^
on the other hand, can and do delight, in the same
spirit, to render all honour to the admirable Hanwell
physician. My father entertained the highest esteem
* " The Treatment of the Insane without Mechanical Restraints," by
Dr. Conolly, page 18.
o3
for him, and in his writings has paid a warm tribute to
his '' zeal, talents, and integrity." In a letter addressed
to myself he writes: — " Lincoln furnished much unhappy
evidence in the abuse of non-restraint, and I do greatly
rejoice that Dr. Conolly has rescued the great experi-
ment from the failure and miserable reaction which
would, I believe, have taken place had it not been for
what has really been effected at Hanwell, where all
may not be done which meets the eye. I fully believe
an excellent system is admirably carried out, and that
Dr. Conolly really deserves all the credit which is
given to. him on the subject. We ought never to have
recourse to mechanical restraint at the Retreat, except
when it is decidedly the most easy and altogether
unexceptional method of coercing the patient ; and
whenever that is really the case, why should we be
subject to a prohibitory law? If the general principle
on the subject be fairly carried out, It will, I believe, be
found that the mfrequency of the exceptions will prove
how fully the rule of non-restraint Is carried out by us,
and this kind of evidence ought to be satisfactory, and
will, I think, be so to all reasonable men."
I need hardly say that the writer of this letter raised
his earnest protest against the abuse of restraint, and
54
reprobates what in our days it would be a work of
supererogation to mention, " those swingings, whirl-
ings, suspensions, half-drowning and other violent
expedients by which some physicians have sought to
frighten the unhappy subject of insanity into reason,
or at least into subjection."*
/ These observations are necessary in order to under-
stand the position taken in regard to mechanical re-
straints by those who first undertook the charge of the
Retreat. When kindness failed to subdue maniacal
excitement, when medical remedies failed to calm, and
when there was danger to life or limb of a patient or
attendant, then mild forms of personal restraint were
reluctantly adopted rather than maintain a prolonged
and exasperating conflict between them. It is notori-
ous that at the same period, painful and degrading
forms of restraint were employed in many asylums,
and even at the Lincoln asylum, so worthily dis-
tinguished afterwards for its humane treatment, iron
handcuffs weighing ilb. 50Z. and iron hobbles weighing
31b. 80Z. were in use until the year 1829.
Having now glanced at the former days of this
* Introduction to Jacobi's " Construction and Management of
Hospitals for the Insane," by Samuel Tuke, 1841, p. 35.
55
Institution, and endeavoured to show the great objects
contemplated when it was founded, and having shown
that the example it set has exerted a wonderful influ-
ence for good by its dual action of exposing abuses,
and, most important of all, of showing a more excellent
way, I would, in conclusion, emphasize the encouraging
record of a century : —
" Over the roofs of the pioneers
Gathers the moss of a hundred years ;
On man and his works has passed the change
Which needs must be in a century's range."
Happily the moss which has accumulated upon the
roof of the building which the pioneers of a new era in
the history of the insane erected, has not been an
indication of stagnation and desuetude, but rather the
venerable reminder of the Past — the original work done
under the roof of the dear old Retreat. We gladly
recognize that a change has passed over man and his
works, such an one as must necessarily be evolved if
the law of progress is to be fulfilled. During this
period, the civilized world has seen the rise and
development of an entirely different system of treat-
ment of the insane, a complete reversal of opinion and
practice having taken place. Therefore I hope it has
56
not been uninteresting or unprofitable to recall, as we
have done to-day, the history of the movement in the
very place of its birth, and where it was cradled with
so much thought and fatherly care — the benefits
secured by this remarkable reform not being restricted
to time or confined to the narrow locality from which
it sprang. The progress may seem to have been
slow and intermittent, being often impeded by those
who ought to have pursued a more enlightened course,
but considering the amount of ignorance and neglect,
and the time-honoured opinions which had to be
exploded, the beneficent change in which all good
men rejoice has been effected in a comparatively short
period. But here let us be on our guard. There is
such a thing as a true and genuinely humane move-
ment against shameful abuses, while on the other
hand there is a fussy, intermeddling philanthropy
which is as different from the former as the true coin
of the realm from the counterfeit. There have been
occasions in later times when the pendulum of lunacy
reform has swung a little too far, and mischief as well
as good has unfortunately been done to the very
classes for which such movements (sometimes origi-
nated by hysterical agitators) have been ostensibly
57
and ostentatiously promulgated. Tnese popular out-
cries, when ill-founded and, therefore, unjust, are
calculated to have the effect of discrediting attempts
at reforms when they are really necessary as they
were when the Retreat was instituted. But so it has
ever been in the history of all philanthropic movements.
There have been uncalled-^for and feeble imitations of
some great original work, and in the minds of too
many people the one is mistaken for the other. A
pseudo-humanitarianism has ended in making lunacy
legislation vexatious, and calculated to interfere with
the prompt care and unfettered treatment of the insane
by the asylum physician, whose thoughts are diverted
by such means from proper scientific work into that
which, as General Sherman would have remarked,
carries us back to the day when our mothers taught
us the Book of Numbers.
It is a great gratification to me to be able to take
any part in this celebration. The Retreat is asso-
ciated with my earliest recollections. My interest in
insanity was inflamed by what I saw and heard respect-
ing the patients here when a boy, and I was mainly
influenced in the choice of the medical profession by
the desire to be connected with this Institution, and it
58
was within its walls when I was on the medical staft
that I was able to find the materials necessary for the
preparation, in conjunction with my friend Dr. Buck-
nill, of the " Manual of Psychological Medicine."
These details are, of course, of infinitesimal importance
to anyone but myself, and 1 only mention them as
reasons why I myself should feel indebted to the
Retreat. My reminiscences before, as well as when
I resided here, include very definite memories of the
Allises, Dr. Williams, Dr. Belcombe, Dr. Thurnam,
the Candlers, and last, but by no means the least
worthy, Dr. and Mrs. Kitching, whose sons, I am glad
to see, are with us to-day. All had their several and
particular merits, their especial characteristics, and if,
being human, they had their imperfections, they
possessed qualities which in their different ways were
of lasting benefit to the Retreat.
It was long after my own connection with it that
Dr. Kitching was succeeded by Dr. Baker, to whom it
must be a great satisfaction to know that his work
here is appreciated, and that he can hand over the
management of the Institution to his successor in so
satisfactory a condition. It is a satisfaction to those
also who have its welfare at heart to know that he will^
59
as Consulting Physician, be still associated with it,
and will no doubt initiate Dr. Bedford Pierce into his
new office much as William Tuke did George Jepson.
I am sure we all desire for Dr. Baker many years of
health after his long and faithful services, while for Dr.
Pierce we wish a most successful career, honourable to
himself and of advantage to the Retreat, animated,
as he will be, I hope, by the inspiriting memories
associated with its past history.
It ought to be gratifying, I may add, to those con-
nected with the Retreat that the Medico-Psychological
Association of Great Britain and Ireland has decided
to recognize the importance of this Centenary by
holding their Annual Meeting in this city in July,
and by making the Medical Superintendent of the
Retreat the President on the occasion.
I had intended to offer an apology for having so
frequently referred to my own ancestors in connection
with its history, but I am assured that this is not
necessary. The truth is, I found it to be inevitable if
I gave any history at all. It naturally happens that
family traditions and papers have given me special
facilities for preparing this sketch. I may, indeed,
employ, in view of the philanthropic movement we
60
celebrate to-day, the language of the Psalm, as para-
phrased in what De Quincey called the Divine Litany
of the Church of England : — " O God, we have heard
with our ears, and our fathers have declared unto us
the noble works Thou didst in their days, and in the
old time before them ; " they looked forward in faith
and hope ; we can look backward and can witness
to-day the fulfilment of their hopes. Those who have
listened to their words may well be incited to follow in
their footsteps. The lesson is surely writ large and
clear in the early history of the Retreat, that not only
ought cruelty and neglect in the treatment of the
insane to be exposed and denounced, but that those
who would reform abuses ought to show a more
excellent way. May the course of the future history
of this Institution be one of continuous progress,
inspired by broad and generous ideas, v/hile con-
ducted on the same humane lines which marked its
early life !
CELEBRATIONS OF THE RETREAT
CENTENARY.
I.
The first celebration of the Centenary, held May 6th,
1892, was of a local character, those attending the
gathering being chiefly residents in York, or officially
connected with the Retreat at the present time or
formerly.
We are mainly indebted to the Yorkshire Herald
for the following notice of this celebration : —
The establishment of the York Retreat is so identified
with the commencement of the movement which brought
about so beneficent a revolution in the treatment of the
insane that its centennial celebration claims an amount
of attention which is not limited either to those imme-
diately interested in the Institution or to members of the
Society of Friends, with which it is more particularly
associated. That the event was regarded with some
such feeling was evidenced by the extent of the cele-
62
brative gathering which took place at the Retreat last
night, and a peculiar interest was imparted to it by the
presence of descendants of the Founder of the Institu-
tion, and of men and women whose names are revered
for their unselfish devotion to its interests, as also by
the presentation of several mementoes.
Under the presidency of Mr. James Hack Tuke
(Hitchin), at one time the Treasurer of the Retreat, a
conference commencing at 5.30 was held in the recrea-
tion-room of the asylum, a photographic picture of the
company grouped near the front entrance of the main
building having been first secured.
The Chairman said they must all feel that their
meetino- that day to celebrate the looth anniversary
of the founding of the Retreat in i 792 was an occasion
of no common or merely local interest, inasmuch as it
not only celebrated the founding of the institution, but
commemorated the initiation of a movement for the
humane treatment and care of the insane which had
profoundly benefited that most afflicted and helpless
portion of the human race throughout the world, many
of whom had hitherto been consigned to " mad houses "
where the accepted " treatment " consisted chiefly in
imprisonment and chains in filthy cells and other bar-
63
baritles. If the Founder of the Retreat and his friends
could be aware of the marvellously beneficial change
which has taken place in the past hundred years, would
they not join with them in profound thankfulness to
the Giver of all good that so great a result had attended
their belief in and steadfast following of the Divine
law of love and kindness ? It was a pleasant thought
to him that William, Henry, and Samuel Tuke, repre-
senting three generations of his family, were permitted
to work together in a cause so dear to each. He
believed he owed the distinction of presiding on this
occasion to the fact that he was the oldest livine
descendant of William Tuke, bearing his name, and
the only member of his family who could remember to
have seen the Founder of the Retreat. Although in
the lapse of time the fact had necessarily grown dim,
yet he did just remember going when a little over
three years of age to take leave of his great-grandfather
and receive his dying blessing in 1822. It had always
been with sincere pleasure that he had witnessed the
various important improvements which had from time
to time taken place in the Retreat during the last forty
years. None of these had seemed to him of greater
importance than the extension of the villa system in
64
addition to the old institutional style of building, a
system which he hoped would develop still further in
the numerous asylums in this country, in which so
many huge and unhomelike structures were to be
found. The Chairman then called upon Mrs. Pum-
phrey, the daughter of a former Superintendent of the
Retreat (Mr. Thomas Allis) to read a paper entitled
" Recollections of the Retreat as it was Fifty Years
Ago."
The paper, not intended for publication, contained a
number of interesting incidents and references to former
patients, many of them of a droll character.
The Chairman announced the presentation to the
Retreat of a number of portraits of those who had
been connected with the Institution and had passed
away, including several superintendents. The pastels
were by H. S. Tuke.
Dr. Robert Baker, the present Medical Superinten-
dent of the Institution, then read a paper on the
" Ministry of the Society of Friends to the Insane,"
in the course of which he said it was good for all of
them, whether as communities or individuals, to pause
periodically amid the hurry and worry of life's fitful
fever and to attempt to climb to some relatively high
65
mountain apart and survey the landmarks of the
memorahle past. Dr. Baker observed it was nearly a
hundred years ago * that there came into the heart of
the great alienist-physician Pinel the belief that the
insane could be safely, satisfactorily, and humanely
cared for without the use of chains. It was one of the
most interesting chapters in the history of the treat-
ment of the insane to read how bravely and courage-
ously Pinel acted out his convictions in performing the
dangerous duties he undertook. Dr. Baker proceeded
to point out that it was a hundred years ago that a
similar conviction was reached at York, and it was
resolved to introduce a humane system of treatment of
the insane. Hence the Retreat, wherein commenced
what was long since described as " a government of
humanity and consummate skill." Dr. Clouston, when,
as President of the Medico-Psychological Association,
* Pinel's nephew, Casimir Pinel, discovered in the registers of
Bicetre that the exact date of his noble inspiration was 1793. " On
doit croire que ce fut vers les derniers mois de 1793, et non de 1792,
que Pinel se presenta a, I'hotel de ville pour demander I'autorisation
a la Commune de faire enlever les chaines aux alienes de Bicetre." —
" Lettres de Pinel," 1859. ^^- Semelaigne, the great-grand-nephew of
Pinel, gives the date of his nomination to Bicetre as August 25, and
the day of entering upon his duties there as Sept. nth, 1793. —
" Philippe Pinel et son ocuvre." Tiien followed the like humane
deed at the Salpctriere.
66
he spoke at York in 1889, described the system of
treatment adopted at the Retreat as " the keynote,
the example to every succeeding hospital in the
country. There was no doubt," he adds, " that York
was the very Mecca of the mental physician." Pro-
bably most of them were aware that in England there
were three distinct classes of asylums : ist, the vast
county asylums ; 2nd, private asylums ; 3rd, eighteen
hospitals for the care and treatment of the insane.
"The Retreat" belonged to this latter class, where
all the funds derived from the patients who paid were
spent on the patients who could not afford to pay. No
doubt many of them were deeply attached to the name
of "The Retreat," but it was good for them to remember
that it was actually and legally a " Registered
Hospital" for the medical treatment of persons in mental
ill-health ; and it was good for all of them to think of
this famous Institution not so much as an asylum as a
Hospital for the cure of those many forms of brain
disease which collectively were designated insanity.
The great lesson that their ancestors taught in enter-
ing on their ministry to the insane was that they ought
to regard the insane as human beings in affliction,
needing not irons and strait-jackets, but kindness,
67
gentleness, patience, and forbearance. Not only did
they recognize the fact that insanity was only a form
of ill-health, and not a Satanic possession, but that
each special case needed to be ministered to accord-
ing to its own special character and needs. They
would agree that in their recent developments at the
Retreat, the Society of Friends had acted wisely and
humanely in building several villas in their grounds,
and in obtaining Belle Vue House, and Gainsboro'
House, the Convalescent Home at Scarborough. By
means of these villas a higher and healthier classifica-
tion of their patients was possible, inevitable annoy-
ances of asylum life were minimized, and the prospects
of cure considerably promoted. If they visited those
villas they would see that they were made gay with
plants and flowers, and that home comforts abounded.
Asylum surroundings were conspicuous by theirabsence.
There was yet another ministry to the insane, which the
Society of Friends had partially adopted at the Retreat,
but which they should at no distant date carry out to
a much larger degree than had as yet been attained
to, and that was the employment of a gradually in-
creasing number of ladies and gentlemen to tend and
to associate with the Retreat patients, so that they
68
might be ministered to by someone specially called to
his or her high vocation, and endowed with as many
as possible of the attributes of the ministering angels
of God. In conclusion, Dr. Baker spoke of his impend-
ing retirement, after rather more than twenty conse-
cutive years' residence among the insane, and said that
he believed that to be called to minister to the insane
was to be called to the highest of all ministries but one.
Mr, John S. Rowntree hoped the result of their meet-
ing together would be to excite renewed interest in the
Retreat. He believed that the Retreat, in common
with other institutions of the Society of Friends, had
suffered some loss of interest from the origination of
those great movements which had called their sym-
pathies out of the narrower channel in which they had
hitherto flowed into the wider and more national ones.
He thought there was great force in the remarks of Dr.
Baker respecting the employment and special training
of young people for association with the insane.
After an interval for refreshments,
Mr. William Pumphrey submitted a paper, entitled,.
" The Retreat Hospital for the Insane viewed as a
Social and Financial Factor," In the course of which
he sketched the various changes which had taken
place In the constitution of the Retreat, detailed its
(39
mode of working, and gave statistics of its financial
position. The original amount of the donations was
j^'30,000. Patients had benefited in consequence
of the low rate of charges to the poorer class to the
extent of £gg,ocio, and yet the property of the Institu-
tion was now valued at ;,r52,ooo.
Dr. D. Hack Tuke then read his paper on the
^' Early History of the Retreat, its Objects and
Influence."
Dr. Baker moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Tuke for
his kindness in presiding.
Mr. Fryer seconded, and Mr. Joseph Rowntree sup-
ported the resolution.
The Chairman having responded, the proceedings
became of a conversational character, and shortly
afterwards terminated.
11.
The second celebration of the Centenary took place
in connection with the Annual Meeting of the Medico-
Psychological Association, July 21st, 1892, at the
Retreat, the Medical Superintendent, Dr. Robert Baker,
being President. Dr. Semelalgne, the great-grand-
nephew of Pinel, and Dr. Jules Morel, of the Hospice
Guislain, Ghent, were among the visitors.
70
Dr. Yellowlees 'said that it seemed to him that the
Association could not do less than adopt some resolu-
tion embodying their appreciation of the benefits con-
ferred upon the insane by the movement which com-
menced a hundred years ago. He, therefore, proposed
the following resolution : — " That the Medico-Psycho-
logical Association of Great Britain and Ireland,
assembled in its Annual Meeting at the York Retreat
in the year of its Centenary, desires to place on record
its admiration of the spirit which animated William
Tuke and his fellow-workers a hundred years ago, its
appreciation of the mighty revolution which they
inaugurated, and its thankfulness for the beneficent
results which their example has secured in the humane
and enlightened treatment of the insane throughout
the world." He had thought it desirable to put the
Resolution in the plainest words that he could, feeling
that language of a fulsome character would be out of
place in paying their tribute to such men. They were
earnest, God-fearing men, who loved their fellows,
and who gave all the kindly help they could to the
men who needed it most. They were men actuated
by the highest motives, men of sound judgment and
wise action, and he wished that all those who had
appreciated their motives had emulated their wisdom.
71
They were no faddists who were carried away by
ideas, and still less were they Pharisees who attempted
to earn the good opinion of men. William Tuke when
he built that Retreat never imagined that he was
building a famous name. It seemed to him that they
were better able to appreciate the great work that he
did in those days by reason of their distance, and they
could realize that it was really a revolution. It was
something more than dispensing with needless restraint.
It was a revolution — a recognition that insanity was a
disease, not a doom, and that insane people needed
sympathy, kindness, and care instead of the harshness
and cruelty which they had hitherto received. The
results of their work they, too, could better appreciate.
It took a hundred years to tell how a great work
would proceed, and they knew now how mighty the
change had been. The contrast between the condi-
tion of things before the establishment of the Retreat
and the condition of things now was the contrast
between light and darkness. It was one of the greatest
triumphs of humanity and philanthropy that their era
had seen.
Dr. Whitcombe, ex-President, cordially seconded
the resolution.
Dr. Jules Morel, the President of the Society of
72
Mental Medicine of Belgium, desired to say that he
agreed with every word of it.
The Resolution was very heartily carried by acclama-
tion, upon which Dr. Hack Tuke presented the first
copy of the " Dictionary of Psychological Medicine"
to the Retreat Library as a Centennial offering.
After partaking of luncheon provided by the Retreat
Committee, the members were grouped in front of the
Institution and were successfully photographed.
The afternoon meeting was held on the lawn, under
the shade of the trees.
Dr. Baker presided, and called upon the Honorary
General Secretary, Dr. Fletcher Beach, to read some
of the numerous letters received expressing their writers'
regret at being unable to be present at the Celebration.
These included the following communications : —
From the Commissioners in Ltiuacy.
Office of Commissioners in Lunacy,
19, Whitehall Place, S.W.,
i8lh July, 1892.
Sir,
The meeting of your Association at the Retreat at York in
this the Centenary year of that Institution affords an opportunity of
which the Commissioners in Lunacy desire to avail themselves of
expressing their high appreciation of the humane principles of treat-
ment of the insane first practically introduced into this country by its
founder, and since constantly applied there.
The value and importance of those principles were fully recognized
73
by the Commissioners' predecessors, the IMetropolitan Commissioners
in Lunacy, who in their Report for 1S44 referred to the Retreat in the
following terms : —
" The Retreat at York was established in the year 1792, and intro-
duced a milder system of managing the insane than any then pre-
viously practised. This admirable Institution has from its foundation
up to the present time steadily preserved the same humane and
benevolent method of treating its patients with which it commenced."
The Commissioners are satisfied that these words are equally
applicable at the present day.
I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,
G. HAROLD URMSON,
Secretary.
The Secretary of the Medico-Ps}'chological Association.
Letters were also received from the Medical Com-
missioners, Mr. Cleaton, Dr. Southey, and Dr. Need-
ham, expressing regret at their inability to attend.
Scotch Lunacy Board.
From Sir Arthur Mitchell, K.C.B.
General Board of Lunacy,
Edinburgh, 9th July, 1892.
Dear Sir,
I beg to thank the Council of the jMedico-Psychological
Association for their invitation to be present at the annual meeting of
the Association to be held in York on the 21st of July, under the
presidency of Dr. Baker, in honour of the Centenary of the foundation
of the Retreat. I greatly regret that, inconsequence of the state of
my health, I cannot accept the invitation ; but, though not present,
I shall join most heartily in the celebration of an event which has
proved so great a blessing to the insane of our country ami of all
countries.
74
The whole work of my hfe has been coloured by Samuel Take's
"Description of the Retreat." It was William Tuke who founded the
Retreat, but it was Samuel Tuke who made it known to me, and I
think I lift my hat as high to the grandson as to the grandfather. If
the " Description of the Retreat " had not been written, I might have
been well up in years before I had known much or anything about it.
Samuel Tuke's Description spread the story of William Tuke's good
deed, and brought imitations everywhere — filled men with the desire
to do likewise.
The title of Tuke's work misleads. It is much more than
a description of the Retreat. It is a presentation of the principles
which should guide men in treating and caring for the insane. It is
beautifully written, and I find it still delightful and instructive reading.
Our friend Dr. Hack Tuke should be proud of having such ancestors.
And proud he is, I doubt not, for he inherits their spirit as well as
their name.
I hope you will have a very successful meeting.
Believe me, very faithfully yours,
ARTHUR MITCHELL.
Dr. Fletcher Beach.
From Dr. Sibbald, a Commissioner in Lunacy for Scotland.
General Board of Lunacy,
Edinburgh, nth July, 1892.
Dear Dr. Fletcher Beach,
I have to thank the Council of the INIedico-Psychological
Association very sincerely for their kind invitation to the Annual INIeet-
ing to be held at York.
It is with great regret that I find myself unable to avail myself of
this invitation, especially on account of the connection of the meeting
with the Centenary of the foundation of the Retreat.
I gladly take this opportunity, however, of expressing my hearty
concurrence in the intention to do honour to the projector of the
75
Retreat. No one who is interested in the welfare of the insane can
fail to be grateful to William Tuke and his associates and successors
in that Institution, where those principles were first carried into opera-
tion, upon which the efficient treatment of insanity must always rest.
Had it not been for the Tukes and their fellow workers, one of the
most gratifying chapters in the history of British philanthropy might
not have been, as it is, a chapter of which we are proud.
With earnest wishes for the success of the meeting, believe me.
Yours very truly,
JOHN SIBBALD.
Dr. Howden, the Medical Superintendent of the
Montrose Royal Asylum, wrote a letter regretting
his inability to attend.
From the Irish Lunacy Board.
Office of Lunatic Asylums,
Dublin Castle, 19th July, 1S92.
Dear Sir,
Since we cannot attend in person, may we ask you to convey
to the members of the Medico-Psychological Association, assembled
at York on the 21st July, our warm congratulations on the celebration
of the 1 00th anniversary of the York Retreat, a place ever memorable
as the fountain-home of the system of non-restraint in the British
Isles, from which the first step was taken to banish the dark ages of
cruelty and terror, and to inaugurate a new era in the humane treat-
ment and care of those who, owing to mental defect or perversion,
are unable to protect or help themselves.
The Founder of the York Retreat, William Tuke, was like his great
compeer, Pinel, one of the truest philanthropists of all time, and to
his memory and to his descendants is due a tribute of gratitude from
all those interested in the care of the insane in every part of the
British Empire, and from no country can it be more heartily offered
76
tlian from Ireland, where his great work has received such heartfelt
sympathy.
A Centenary celebration, which must ever be a landsmark in the
study of psychology, should instil in our minds the desire to emulate
the great work of the illustrious family, who, discarding old methods
and treatment, inaugurated the great work of reforming the mad-
houses of old, and of freeing the patients from fetters and restraint,
and a thousand inhumanities.
We are, Sir,
Your obedient servants,
GEO. PLUNKETT O'FARRELL, .AI.D.
E. IMAZIERE COURTENAY, M.D.
To Fletcher Beach, Esq., M.B.,
Hon. General Secretary IMedico-Psychological Association.
J^rom Dr. Lockhart Robertson, Lord Chancellor' s Visitor
in Lunacy.
The Drive, Wimbledon,
July loth, 1892.
Dear Sir,
I extremely regret that I shall be unable to avail myself of the
invitation which the Council of the Medico-Psychological Association
have honoured me with for the 21st inst. Had it been a week earlier,
Avhen I shall be in York, I should gladly have availed myself of the
opportunity you afford me of meeting Dr. Baker and many other of
my old friends. But I am due in Edinburgh on the iSth inst., and I
have an important professional engagement there on the 20th or 21st
Avhich I cannot alter.
Believe me, sincerely yours,
C. L. ROBERTSON.
Dr. Fletcher Beach.
77
From Sir James Crichton Browne, Lord Chancellor s Visitor
in Lunacy.
Queen Anne's Mansions, St. James's Park, S.W.,
July 6ih, 1892.
Dear Dr. Fletcher Beach,
I am much gratified by your courteous note, and sincerely wish
it were in my power to avail myself of the invitation which it conveys,
for nothing could give me greater pleasure than to meet a group of
old friends and colleagues in medico-psychological conclave assembled,
on ground, too, hallowed by a century of the calm and persistent
pursuit of Humanity in the treatment of the insane. But alas ! I
have official duties on the date of your meeting which I cannot put
aside. Pray express to those assembled at York my regret that I can-
not join them, and my unabated sense of fellowship with them in
their work, their trials, their aspirations. With kind regards,
Yours very faithfully,
JAMES CRICHTON BROWNE.
Dr. Fletcher Beach, F.R.C.P., etc.
Letters were also received from the President of the
Royal College of Physicians, Sir Andrew Clark, Bart.,
who referred to " the inexpressible benefits conferred
on the insane by the Retreat," and the President of
the Royal College of Surgeons, Mr. Bryant.
From Jonathan' Hutchinson, F.R.C.S., F.R.S., LL.D.,
Ex-Piesidtnt of the Royal College of Surgeons,
15, Cavendish Square, W.
July 1 6th, 1892.
]\Iy Dear Sir,
I much regret that it will not be in my power to be present at
the centenary celebration of the Retreat at York. Had it been
practicable I should have much liked to avail myself of the invitation
78
-with which I have been honoured, to take part in the proceedings.
In common with all who are acquainted with the facts I look back
with great interest and thankfulness upon the part which was taken
by the Founder of the Retreat in bringing about that kindly reforma-
tion in the treatment of the insane which has been achieved during
the last century. For many years it was almost the only Institution
in England in which the poor sufferers from mental disease were
received with sympathy, and where the avoidance of all harsh
measures was systematically enforced. Nor when the humane
principles which it was the first to recognize and to practise had made
their way into general acceptance, did this Institution in any way fall
behind in the race of progressive improvement. The Retreat has
been throughout its whole career, and I believe still is, a model of what
may be effected in such establishments by persevering and judicious
kindness. In addition to these general considerations I have also
personal memories which would have made it a great pleasure to me
to take part in the proposed meeting at York. As a pupil of the late
Dr. Caleb Williams I long resided in York, and was very frequently,
during a period of five years, within the walls of the Retreat. I well
remember many of its patient?, and with one or two formed friend-
ships which I valued. Under the guidance of the lale Dr. Thurnam
the foundations of my knowledge of pathological anatomy were laid
-chiefly in the post-mortem room of the Retreat. I have good reason
for remembering the Institution and its officers with warm gratitude,
and I wish its Centenary every success.
Believe me, yours truly,
JONATHAN HUTCHINSON.
Dr. Fletcher Beach.
From Dr. Fielding Blandford, F.R.C.P.
48, Wimpole Street,
20th July, 1S92.
Dear Dr. Beach,
I greatly regret that circumstances prevent my attending the
meeting of the ^Medico-Psychological Association at York. I have a
79
strong feeling of admiration for tlie work begun at the York Retreat
a hundred year? ago and carried on since in a way worthy of the
founder thereof, and it woukl have given me great pleasure to have
been present on this occasion. With good wishes,
I remain, yours truly,
G. FIELDING BLANDFORD.
Dr. Fletcher Beach.
The President then dehvered his Address, in the
course of which he said that he had once again to offer
them a most hearty welcome to York and to the Retreat.
He thanked them most heartily for their courtesy in
spontaneously offering to revisit York in celebration of
the Retreat Centenary, and also for their goodness in
conferring on him just before his retirement from office
the high honour of the Presidentship of their Asso-
ciation.
Dr. Baker's Address was mainly devoted to a de-
scription of the improvements and additional buildings
which have been carried into effect in recent years,
more especially referring to the separate villas in the
grounds, each carefully designed for the individual
treatment of small groups of selected patients. There
is the Gentlemen's Lodge, w^ith accommodation for 30
male patients, so planned that it is practically three
small independent asylums, each section being fitted
with every known appliance for the prompt treatment
80
of each patient. A few years ago the Committee pur-
chased the adjacent estate of Belle Vue House and
land for ladles. Further, a house, East Villa, was
purchased, with accommodation for three patients.
Lastly, there is the West Villa, accommodating from
12 to 15 patients.
Dr. Whitcombe proposed, and Dr. Conolly Norman
seconded, a vote of thanks to Dr. Baker for his
Address.
A few observations were offered by Dr. Morel and
Dr. Semelaigne, appropriate to the occasion.
Dinner.
In the evening the members attending the meeting,
together with a number of specially Invited guests,
were entertained at dinner. Dr. Baker presiding.
The Hon. Secretary, Dr. Fletcher Beach, read addi-
tional letters of non-attendance and congratulations to
the Committee of the Retreat on Its completion of the
Centenary : —
From the American Medico-Psychological Association.
Buffalo Stale Hospital,
Buffalo, N.Y., July 7, 1892.
To THE President of the Medico-Psychological Association'
OF Great Britain and Ireland.
We take the occasion of the Centennial nf the York Retreat, on
behalf of the American ]Medico-Ps}'chological Association (formerly
81
the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions
for the Insane), to express the indebtedness of the alienists of America
to the York Retreat and to the pioneer work of its Founder in bringing
about the improved treatment of the insane. The reform in the treat-
ment of this unfortunate class, inaugurated by the establishment of
this Institution, and the principles confirmed by its experience, have
gone forth to their beneficent work for successive generations to every
land where the English tongue is spoken or English thought dominates
public sentiment. The importance of this work has had fresh emphasis
during the past ten years in America, where the methods of managing
insane patients have been practically revolutionized by discarding
mechanical restraint and promoting the employment of every class of
insane patients. INIany officers of American institutions for the care
of the insane felt renewed courage to undertake these reforms after
visiting the York Retreat and observing personally what had been
accomplished there.
It should be a matter of congratulation to the descendants of William
Tuke that the good work which he began one hundred years ago has
been increasingly effective year by year since. Kindness, tact, and
employment seem very simple means to accomplish such wide-reaching
results, but they have proven more effective in the management of the
insane than the sterner measures formerly in use. The physicians of
America engaged in the treatment of the insane beg to join with the
British INIedico-Psychological Association in doing honour to the
memory of those pioneers in the humane treatment of the insane who
bore the name of Tuke.
With great respect, we remain,
J. B. ANDREWS,
President.
HENRY M. HURD,
Secretary.
6
82
Dr. Hurd, of the Johns Hopkins University, Balti-
more, in forwarding the foregoing, expressed his hope
that Dr. Walter Channing, of Boston, then visiting
England, would be able to present it to the Retreat
meeting on behalf of the American Association, but
unfortunately his engagements obliged him to return
home before the day of the Celebration.
From Dr. John Curwen, Medical Superintendent of the Hospital for
the Ijisane, Warren, Penti., U.S.A.
Warren, Penn., July ii, 1892.
Dear Sir,
It gives me great pleasure, as one of the oldest members of the
American Medico-Psychological Association, to be able to send a
most hearty greeting to the British Medico-Psychological Association
assembled in the ancient city of York to commemorate the great
event in the history of the care of the insane in England, instituted by
William Tuke at the Retreat.
Believing fully in the practice commenced at that time at the
Retreat that restraint should only be used as a means of protection
to the individual, the effort has been constantly made to minimize
its use.
We need to have our thoughts directed more earnestly and intently
on a greater variety of diversion and occupation for all the insane, as
that seems to be a more direct appeal to the mental structure, while the
medical, dietetic, and hygienic treatment build up the physical struc-
ture.
The American Medico-Psychological Association expects to cele-
brate its semi-centennial in 1894, when it is hoped that many members
of the British Medico-Psychological Association will be able to meet
83
with us, if tliey do not feel able to attend the meeting in Chicago in
June, 1893.
Very cordially yours,
JOHN CURWEN.
Fletcher Beach, M.D.
From Dr. Stearns, Medical Stcperintendcnt of the Retreat, Hartford,
Connecticut.
Hartford, July 4th, 1892.
My Dear Dr. Hack Tuke,
It would certainly give me great pleasure to be present at the
meeting of your Association at York, not only because of my present
interest in Old York and its vicinity, but especially that I might pre-
sent in person the greetings and congratulations of the Hartford Retreat
to her Elder Sister on the occasion of her centennial anniversary. It
is certainly unusual for a younger sister to congratulate an elder one
on the attainment of an advanced age, but when, as in the present case,
she has long been the mother of many vigorous children who rise up,
not only in all parts of Europe, but also in America, and call her
blessed, surely congratulations may be considered in order. On this
birthday anniversary of our country, therefore, the Hartford Retreat
sends salutations and greetings to the York Retreat, and begs to drink
to her health.
May the coming century of her life be characterized by the same
high purposes, and crowned with the attainment of even greater suc-
cesses than those of the past. With best wishes for a good meeting.
I am, most sincerely yours,
H. P. STEARNS.
From Dk. John B. Chapin, Medical Superintendent of tlie Pennsyl-
vania Hospital for the Insane.
Philadelphia, July 6lh, 1892.
My Dear Dr. Tuke,
It is a subject of regret that I cannot be one of those who will
assemble at York, on the 21st, to recognize in some appropriate way
84
the founding of the Retreat, one hundred years ago. It is not so
much the fact that at that period improved accommodation was made
for a certain number of afflicted and helpless insane persons, but that
the principles which actuated the Founder — William Tuke — should be
the leading thought on an occasion like that which calls you together.
It is fitting and becoming that the IVIedico-Psychological Associa-
tion of Great Britain should commemorate and honour the Centenary
of the establishment of the Retreat by holding its Annual JNIeetingthis
year at York. Those engaged in the treatment and care of the
insane at this day may well come together to bear testimony to the
great advances that have been made during the past hundred years,
mainly along the lines originated in the action taken by the founder,
that they should recognize the fact that those principles of the
humane care of the insane which were then inculcated have been uni-
versally confirmed by actual experience, and that the present event may
be regarded as a milestone in the great march of humanity by all the
English speaking people throughout the world.
At the date of the founding of the York Retreat, the Pennsylvania
Hospital was the only established institution for the insane in the
United States. This hospital has always been largely under the
influence and control of the Society of Friends, Many of our con-
tributors and managers have from time to time visited the Retreat to
observe its operations, and to derive from the fountain-head a new
inspiration for their own work. I voice the sense of the contributors
and managers of this hospital when I ask you to be the medium of
conveying to the managers of the Retreat the deep sympathy and
interest they have in the auspicious event they are about to celebrate,
and our congratulations on the direct and indirect results of one
hundred years.
I remain, dear Sir,
Sincerely your friend,
JOHN B. CHAPIN,
Physician and Medical Suptrintende7it.
85
Telegram from the Russian Medico-Psychological Association.
St. Petersburg, June 20th. To Dr. Baker, The Retreat, York.
The INledico-Psvchological Association of St. Petersburg con-
gratulates the York Retreat, from which humane ideas were originally
propagated throughout the Universe, and contemplates on the occasion
of the Centenary the glorious memory of the celebrated William Tuke.
From Professor Mierzejewski, ,5"/. Feiersburg, Hoiioj-ary Member of
the Medico-Fsychological Association of Great Britain and Ireland.
My Dear Confrere,
I write to inform you that I exceedingly regret my inability to
be present at the meeting of the Association held at York on the
occasion of the Centenary of the Retreat, but I beg of you to accept
the expression of my most cordial felicitation on the occasion of this
fete of humanity, which is unique in character, and is associated with
glorious memories.
Yours, etc.,
J. MIERZEJEWSKI.
From Professor Benedikt, of Vienna.
July, 1892.
Mr. President,
IMy desire to be present at the meeting of the British Medico-
Psychological Association was never greater than this year, and I am
very unhappy to be prevented enjoying the honour and pleasure.
You celebrate at York a feast in which every friend of civilization
must participate with enthusiasm. You in England have, before all,
good reason to be proud of this memorial feast. The English can
boast to have taken the lead in a great work in which intelligence,
nobility of heart, and energy have an equal share.
The combination of energetic manifestation of individualism, with
pronounced common sense, exhibited in the features of William Tuke
is characteristic of Englishmen, and this national stamp is evident in
the Rreat deed at York.
86
Accept the expression of his greatest esteem from his respectfully
afi'ectionale Socius,
PROF. BENEDIKT.
Telegram from the German Association of Psychological Physicians.
Berlin, July 20, 7.50.
The Association of German Psychologists sends its heartiest
greetings to the Centenary Meeting of the Retreat, to the Superinten-
dent, to the family of Tuke, and to the Colleagues present at the
meeting.
PROF. JOLLY.
DR. LAEHR.
From Dr. Heinrich Laehr, of the Schweizer-hof near Berlin.
July 14, 1892.
Mental physicians have their eyes at this moment directed to
the building where for the first time after along night in which a bitter
fate befel the insane, the morning sun shone on their humane treat-
ment
How gladly would I have laid on the day of celebration a laurel-wreath
upon the foundation stone of the Retreat, and have expressed my good
wishes to the English nation, but alas! I am prevented by illness.
German alienists have always had great sympathy with those of
England. We have learnt much from them, and still do so. Our
younger colleagues travel there and forward to me as Editor of the
" Zeitschrift " most excellent articles, and express themselves with
enthusiasm as to what they find in England
It is justly observed in the last number of the " Journal of Mental
Science " that when Jacobi undertook the management of an asylum
in his 50th year he, in the first instance, visited England and found
in the Retreat a model, in the spirit of which he conducted Siegburg.
Thither we young psychiaters directed our steps in order to acquire a
practical knowledge of its teaching. Jacobi also made himself per-
sonally acquainted with Samuel Tuke and became his warm friend.
87
I am convinced that in the collective name of German mental phy-
sicians I may convey their hearty congratulations on the celebration of
this Centenary. Pray assure the assembled colleagues that when they
visit our asylums, when they give us their experience, and when they
gladden us by their presence, it is to us also a festival. Accept once
more the expression of my friendly respect and the cordial greetings of
my colleagues by their friend,
HEINRICH LAEHR.
From Dr. Heinrich Schule, Medical Superintendent of the
Illenau Asyliun {Baden).
July 17th, 1892.
Honoured Colleague,
Accept, among other hearty greetings, the expression of
Illenau's warmest good wishes for the remarkable secular festival of the
greatly renowned Institution at York. May it be granted to the
famous Retreat to be true to its honourable history ; also to continue to
be a blessing to the homestead of noble humanity, the handmaid of
science, and to us all an example.
Our Illenau also will on the 27th of September celebrate its Fiftieth
year Jubilee. United in aims and endeavours, it reaches forth its hand
to its elder sister in good wishes — ad niultos annos.
In fraternal esteem,
Your devoted Colleague,
Dr. H. schule.
Dr. H. Tuke.
From M, Motet, Ex-Hon. Sec. Societe Medico- PsycJiologiqiie de Paris,
Paris, July 12th, 1892.
Monsieur le President — Honoured Colleague,
I should have been very glad to accept the gracious proof of
your sympathy. My regret in being detained in Paris is so much the
greater from the sincere pleasure it would have given me to join in the
88
words which will be uttered on the occasion of a glorious anniversary
to celebrate the memory of the originator of the York Retreat.
England and France have had as contemporaries two men with
generous hearts, who, breaking with the past, have taken pity on the
insane, and been the means of emancipating them from their chains.
There is no room for jealousy between them. They have similarly
marched onward in the path which sentiments of humanity have thrown
open. From this memorable epoch, with both the French and English,
the progress in the treatment of the insane dates. It is the duty of
our generation to express our gratitude, after the lapse of a century, to
the worthy men to whom we owe so much.
I have pleasure in presenting my hearty salutation in assuring you
that I am with you on this solemn occasion, and in conveying to you
the expression of my respectful sympathy.
I am, Mr. President and honoured Colleague,
Your very devoted,
A. MOTET,
From Dr. Cowan, Netherlands Medico- Psychological Association,
Dordrecht, Holland.
Dordrecht, June 28th, 1892.
Gentlemen,
At the last meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association
ofthe Netherlands, on June 22nd, 1892, a Resolution was unanimously
passed to congratulate you on the Centenary of the Retreat at York,
and to express a hope that a happy retrospect may be yours.
Need we add, gentlemen, that we take part in your rejoicings, and
that we sincerely hope the good example set in 1792 may act as a
salutary example to all the world, and that the time may come when an
asylum will be thought of only as a Retreat for mental sufferers.
We send you our fraternal greetings, and add the wish that both the
89
British and the Netherland Societies may long continue in peaceful
strife to relieve the sufferings of the insane.
The Medico-Psychological Association of the Netherlands.
Dr. F. cowan,
President.
Dr. POMPE,
Secretary.
From Switzerland a sympathetic letter was received
from Dr. Wilhelm von Speyr, Medical Superintendent
of the Waldau Asylum, near Berne.
Speeches were delivered by Dr. Clouston, the City
Sheriff (on behalf of the Lord Mayor of York) and Mr.
Joseph Rowntree, the Chairman of the Retreat Com-
mittee, who proposed the " Medico-Psychological
Association," coupling with it the name of Dr. Baker.
He thought that the occasion of the Centenary of the
York Retreat might be made the starting point of
another forward movement. The time of gloomy and
forbidding buildings for the insane had passed away,
and they had palatial edifices with corridors decorated
by Italian artists, and rooms furnished according to
the latest teachings of the gospel of aestheticism,
but it appeared to him that the Association might be of
very great service in creating public opinion on the
question of the conditions favourable for the treatment
90
of insanity. If any of them were ever to suffer from
that great affliction, he thought there would be some-
thing which they would desire more than beautiful
rooms, and that would be that they should have
companionship and sympathy from men of their own
plane of thought and education. Within the lifetime
of everyone in that room Miss Nightingale had been
able with her wonderful enthusiasm to draw from the •
educated classes a continorent of ladies willino- to enter
upon the life of a hospital nurse, and in thinking
about that meeting of the Association it occurred to
him that probably there might be a possibility that in
many of the asylums they should train a body of
cultivated attendants willing for a term of years to be
the companions of those who were afflicted with
insanity.
The President, in responding, said they must feel
deeply obliged to Mr. Rowntree for the way in which
he had'spoken of the work of their Association.
They all felt deep admiration for Tuke, and for Pinel
who amidst the throes of the great revolution in-
augurated humane movements such as that, the
Centenary of which they were now celebrating.
Dr. Yellowlees eloquently proposed the next toast,
91
" The Dictionary of Psychological Medicine," as
fittingly placed on the shrine of the memory of the
author's ancestors in their silent presence on the
occasion of the Retreat Centenary.
Dr. Tuke expressed his acknowledgments and his
unabated interest in an Institution in which he resided
many years ago. Over the entrance of a Buddhist
Temple in Japan there was an inscription " Stranger,
"whosoever thou art, and whatsoever be thy creed,
" when thou enterest this sanctuary, remember that the
"ground on which thou treadest is hallowed by the
" worship of ages," and if an inscription were placed
over the entrance to the Retreat, he would suggest this
paraphrase : — " Stranger, whosoever thou art, and
whatsoever be thy creed, when thou enterest this
Hospital, remember that the ground on which thou
treadest has been hallowed by a noble deed, and by the
humane work of a century." He concluded by pro-
posing the " Health of Dr. Semelaigne," who had come
from Paris to be present at this Centenary. He was
not only the son of a distinguished alienist in Paris,
but was the great-grand-nephew of the illustrious Pinel.
They all appreciated the feeling which brought him to
York, and the testimony which he bore to the work
92
which the Retreat had performed. With regard to
Pinel, there had never been a nobler, never a more
huniane man in all France. The more he (Dr. Tuke)
studied his character, the more he admired him.
Therefore it was most fitting that they should on
this occasion receive Dr. Semelaigne with the greatest
cordiality.
Dr. Semelaigne responded in suitable terms, and
observed that two men in France and England, without
knowing anything of each other, resolved on each side
of the Channel to introduce a humane treatment of the
insane. At that moment the two nations were enemies,
now they were friends, and the book of wars was closed
for ever. As the great-grand-nephew of Philippe Pinel,
he was proud to sit amongst them to celebrate the name
of William Tuke. He should never forget his journey
to York, where he was allowed to see that the two
great sister nations had become so friendly and united —
England and France, as also two great philanthropic
names — Tuke and Pinel.
Dr. Urquhart having proposed " The Visitors,"
cGupling with the toast the names of Mr. W. Hargrove,
of the Yorlxshire Herald, and Dr. Jules Morel, who
responded, the proceedings were brought to a close.
The Annual Meeting of the Association and I lie dnteiiary of Tlte
Retreat, York.
Tlie following leader on the event appeared in the " Britisli Medical
Journal," August 6th, 1892 : —
" The British INIedico-Psychological Association held its annual
meeting this year in the city of York, to mark its sense of the beneliis
conferred upon the insane by the foundation of the Retreat in the
midsummer of 1792. Similar Associations in the United States,
Russia, Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, and other
countries recognized the interest and importance of the event thus
commemorated by sending their greetings. No national rivalries
appear to have chilled the expression of the most cordial felicitations
on the occasion, and the last number of the ' Journal of Mental
Science ' contains ample evidence of this generous sympathy in former
days. The same Journal contains materials which enable us to appre-
ciate the motives which led to the building of an institution destined
to exert so remarkable an influence in reforming the treatment of
lunatics in this country.
" Considerable dissatisfaction had been felt for several years prior to
1792 in the management of a Lunatic Hospital at York, established in
1776 by public subscription. In 1791 a lady patient died. Her
friends had come from a distance during her illness to see her, but
their wish to do so was denied. The event was shrouded in mystery,
and suspicions already aroused as to the treatment of the inmates
were intensified. A citizen of York known for his philanthropy, and
a member of the Society of Friends, took the affair to heart, and
proposed the establishment of a new asylum, where the patients should
94
be treated with kindness, and where the feelings of their friends should
be consulted. William Tuke could not possibly at that time have a
perfect conception of the needs of the insane as we now recognize
them, but he broke with the past, and started upon an untrodden path.
His merit lie§ not in writing fine words, but in doing the right thing.
Little by little the idea grew and formulated itself, so to speak, in a
great work of benevolence and intelligent skill, the outcome of com-
mon sense and philanthropy.
"Perhaps, after all, it was an advantage that he had no knowledge
of medical custom or theory, for at that period the profession did not
shine in its treatment of insanity. In fact, mental medicine was at
its lowest ebb, and was summed up in the well-known epigram on
Letlsom. Tuke's proposition, coldly received at first, was eventually
carried into effect; but for this purpose liberal donations from his co-
religionists as well as himself became necessary. He ensured success
by residing in and directing the house, and subsequently by obtaining
the services of an excellent man, Jepson, possessed of medical know-
ledge although unqualified, who cordially helped him to carry out his
plans. It is evident that a resolute will, strong sense of duty, pity and
good sense were essential, and with these qualities the projector of the
institution was in a large measure endowed ; but more than this, he
not only knew where to find his tools, but how to use them.
'* We have been at some pains to discover what manner of man he
was, and the portrait accompanying the article referred to appears to
justify the description given of him in an obituary notice. ' In person,
William Tuke hardly reached the middle size, but was erect, portly,
and of a firm step. He had a noble forehead, an eagle eye, a com-
manding voice, and his mien was dignified and patriarchal.' His
evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Commons pre-
sents a striking picture of the treatment introduced at the Retreat,
although evidently not reported /// exte/iso. It is satisfactory to know
95
that after more llian a quarter of a century's devotion to the welfare of
the institution he cHd not pass away without knowing that the reform
in lunacy was progressing, and gave promise of further extension and
utility. That he impressed his mark upon his age is proved not only
by the quoted testimonies to the contrast preseiUeil by the management
of tlie Retreat to that of contemporary institutions, but by the action
taken by Parliament in probing the festering wound to the bottom, and
initiating lunacy legislation, which by slow yet sure degrees led to
enactments made to protect the lunatic and to provide accommoda-
tion in asylums which are now the pride of England. With regard to
mechanical restraint, its abolition is stated to rest, not with the
Retreat, but with Gardiner Hill, Charlesworth, and with Conolly, who
attributed his remarkable career in this direction mainly to the Retreat,
and observes that, ' although, certainly, restraint was not altogether
abolished at that establishment, it undoubtedly began the new system
of treatment in this country, and the restraints resorted to were of the
mildest kind.' To him the article in the ' Journal of Mental Science '
pays a glowing tribute of praise for the ultimate developments of
lunacy reform. Now that the battle of humanity has been fought, and
the combatants have gone to their rest, their respective share in the
work can be and is judged with calm impartiality, and their respective
merits justly recognized. This remark applies to those who laboured
in France as well as in our own country, and at the dinner of the
INIedico-Psychological Associatioii at York, a collateral descendant
of Pinel was present to do honour to the Retreat on attaining its
Centenary, while this physician's health was fittingly proposed by Dr.
Hack Tuke, who ungrudgingly paid a warm tribute to the meritorious
act of Pinel in the dark days of the French Revolution, in knocking
oft^ the cruel fetters of the insane at the Bicetre. That there should be
such a recognition of noble reforms initiated so long ago in the two
countries is unmistakable evidence on the one hand of the j)rofound
96
impression they produced, and on the other, of the cordial relations
which exist between the alienists of France and England. As we have
intimated, no trace of jealousy or rivalry appears in this very pleasing
episode. Would that the same happy feeling of international goodwill
characterized all the victories of good over evil, and knowledge over
ignorance, at home and abroad ! "
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
A Dictionary of Psf cliolo^ical Medicine ;
Giving the Definition, Etymology, and Synonyms of the Terms
used in Medical Psychology, with the Symptoms, Treatment and
Pathology of Insanity ; and the Law of Lunacy in Great Britain
and Ireland. 2 vols. £2 2s.
J. & A. Churchill, 11, New Burlington Street, W.
Pricliard and Symonds
IN ESPECIAL RELATION TO MENTAL SCIENCE;
With Cliapters on Moral Insanity.
With Portraits. 8vo. 5s.
J. & A. Churchill, 11, New Burlington Street, W.
Ttie Insane Poor in Yorksliire.
Presidential Address delivered at the Psychology Section of the
British Medical Association, held at Leeds, August, 1889.
8vo. 3s. 6d.
J. & A. Churchill, 11, New Burlington Street, W.
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