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gates, and walls ; but I am an advocate forwholesome bodily restraint as a curativemeans. I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

A MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT.

Dec. 26,1841.

** The writer has verified his letter byhis name and address in a separate note.

BALLS AT ASYLUMS FOR THEINSANE.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-Again I have been present at one ofthese monthly festivities in the Lincoln Asy-lum, attended, as before, by inhabitants ofthe town, several of whom were young anddelicate females, moving in most respectablecircles of society. The association of thesane with the insane, free from any personalcontrol, under circumstances most exhilarat-ing, forms a peculiar feature in the LincolnAsylum balls, and presents a practical con-tradiction of those prejudices which have solong been fostered, by exhibitions of shackledlimbs behind barred gates and in gloomycells, impressing the beholder with alarmand horror, and inculcating notions of thenecessity of a vigorous and severe manage-ment.

It presents, also, incontestable evidence ofthe capacity of the insane for social enjoy-ment, as well as agreeable excitement, andof the efficacy of these without instrumentalrestraint, or other severities. Even thefamed Miss A., whose case was so industri-ously advertised in the county and otherjournals, by the opponents of the non-restraintsystem, as an argument against that system,I have witnessed, now, on several occasions,relieved both from instrumental and solitaryconfinement, a partner in a dance, or walk-ing in the streets and neighbourhood with asingle attendant.*Finding that similar entertainments are

coming into practice in other asylums, Iwould direct the attention of their managers

Ito the advantage of regular periodicalmonthly parties, to be looked forward to bythe patients as a reward for self-control ;and also to the benefit of introducing somerespectable neighbours. By varying thelatter occasionally, a considerable advancewill presently be made towards breakingdown the barrier which has been so jealouslymaintained between the sane and the insane,to the incalculable disadvantage of the latter,of whose sympathies, susceptibilities, andcapabilities, the great mass of the public arealmost as ignorant as the instrumental re-strainers themselves, their allies-the joiner

* A letter relating to the present conditionof this patient follows this letter.

and the blacksmith ; and their patrons, Drs.Clutterbuck, Johnson, and Co.

When, Sir, I shall learn to distrust theevidence of my own eyes-when my earsshall understand expressions of pleasure tobe those of sorrow-when I can believe thatthe joyous, happy scenes I have lately wit-nessed were but a dream, then, but not tillthen, shall I return to my past belief in theferocious, implacable, and untameable cha-racter of the mad, and in the efficacy ofstraps, chains, and solitary cells.

It should be understood that the male andthe female patients are never in the sameapartment, but female visitors do not refuseto dance with male patients, and malevisitors dance with female patients. I am,Sir, yours respectfully,

A CONVERT.Lincoln, Jan. 1842.

EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF THENON-RESTRAINT SYSTEM.

" ONE of the most refractory and distress-ing cases now in the house, is that of an un-fortunate female (Miss A.), the judicious andhumane management of which, I fearlesslyassert, can never be accomplished, by anymeans at present known, without recourse toinstrumental restraint."-See Mr. Hadwen’sletter in THE LANCET, September 12, 1840,p.906.

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

SIR,-The name of Miss A. having beenrepeatedly brought forward ill your pagesby the opponents of the non-restraint system,as an instance of the impracticability of car-rying out that system with patients who arepeculiarly disposed to commit acts of vi04lence, I beg your insertion of the followingextracts from the journals of the LincolnAsylum respecting her, and some otherpatients of a similar description, who havebeen treated for several months past withoutany recourse to seclusion, a system latelyabolished in the Lincoln Asylum, as restrainthad been long before.

From the House-Surgeon’s Journal." 1841, Dec. 9. C. A. (Miss A.) walked

out on the Burton-road, returning byRiseholme Bar. She was accompanied bynurse Ringham and A. B., a patient, both ofwhom inform me that A- conducted her-self with great propriety : she herself in-formed me that she had enjoyed the walk,and should like to repeat it on some futureoccasion.

° 1841, Dec. 17. C. A. continues orderlyand quiet; in fact, she is becoming one of themost tractable patients in the north gallery.She appears to pay great attention to whatnurse Ringham says to her.