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A Psychiatric Milestone by Various

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ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC BY THE GOVERNORS 1821[25]


The Governors of the New-York Hospital have the satisfaction to announce
to the public, the completion of the Asylum for the insane; and that it
will be open for the reception of patients, from any part of the United
States, on the first day of June.

This Asylum is situated on the Bloomingdale road, about seven miles from
the City Hall of the city of New-York, and about three hundred yards
from the Hudson River. The building is of hewn free-stone, 211 feet in
length, and sixty-feet deep, and is calculated for the accommodation of
about two hundred patients. Its site [Transcriber's note: original reads
'scite'] is elevated, commanding an extensive and delightful view of the
Hudson, the East River, and the Bay and Harbour of New-York, and the
adjacent country, and is one of the most beautiful and healthy spots on
New-York Island. Attached to the building are about seventy acres of
land, a great part of which has been laid out in walks, ornamental
grounds, and extensive gardens.

This institution has been established by the bounty of the Legislature
of the state of New-York, on the most liberal and enlarged plan, and
with the express design to carry into effect that system of management
of the insane, happily termed _moral treatment_, the superior efficacy
of which has been demonstrated in several of the Hospitals of Europe,
and especially in that admirable establishment of the Society of
Friends, called "THE RETREAT," near York, in England. This mild and
humane mode of treatment, when contrasted with the harsh and cruel
usage, and the severe and unnecessary restraint, which have formerly
disgraced even the most celebrated lunatic asylums, may be considered as
one of the noblest triumphs of pure and enlightened benevolence. But it
is by no means the intention of the governors to rely on moral, to the
exclusion of medical treatment. It is from a judicious combination of
both, that the greatest success is to be expected in every attempt to
cure or mitigate the disease of insanity.

In the construction of the edifice and in its interior arrangements, it
has been considered important to avoid, as far as practicable,
consistently with a due regard to the safety of the patients, whatever
might impress their minds with the idea of a prison, or a place of
punishment, and to make every thing conduce to their health and to their
ease and comfort. The self-respect and complacency which may thus be
produced in the insane, must have a salutary influence in restoring the
mind to its wonted serenity. In the disposition of the grounds attached
to the Asylum, everything has been done with reference to the amusement,
agreeable occupation, and salutary exercise of the patients.

Agricultural, horticultural, and mechanical employments, may be resorted
to, whenever the inclination of the patient, or their probable
beneficial effects may render them desirable. To dispel gloomy images,
to break morbid associations, to lead the feelings into their proper
current, and to restore the mind to its natural poise, various
[Transcriber's note: original reads 'varius'] less active amusements
will be provided. Reading, writing, drawing, innocent sports, tending
and feeding domestic animals, &c. will be encouraged as they may be
found conducive to the recovery of the patients. A large garden has been
laid out, orchards have been planted, and yards, containing more than
two acres, have been inclosed for the daily walks of those whose
disorder will not allow more extended indulgence. The plants of the
Elgin Botanic garden, presented to this institution by the Trustees of
Columbia College, have been arranged in a handsome green-house, prepared
for their reception.

The apartments of the house are adapted to the accommodation of the
patients, according to their sex, degree of disease, habits of life, and
the wishes of their friends. The male and female apartments are entirely
separated, so as to be completely secluded from the view of each other.

Care has been taken to appoint a Superintendent and Matron, of good
moral and religious characters, possessing cheerful tempers, and kind
dispositions, united with firmness, vigilance and discretion. A
Physician will reside in the house, and one or more Physicians, of
established character and experience, will attend regularly, and afford
medical aid in all cases where the general health, or the particular
cause of the patient's insanity, may require it. The relations or
friends of patients will be at liberty, if they prefer it, to employ
their own physicians, who will be allowed to attend patients, subject to
the general regulations of the house.

The institution will be regularly visited and inspected by a committee
of the Governors of the Hospital, who will, as often as they may think
it advantageous, be attended by some of the physicians of the city of
high character and respectability.

The charges for board and the other advantages of the institution, will
be moderate, and proportioned to the different circumstances of the
patients, and the extent of the accommodations desired for them.

Patients at the expense of the different towns of the state, will be
received at the lowest rate.

Application for the admission of patients into the Asylum, must be made,
at the New York Hospital, in Broadway, where temporary accommodation
will be provided for such patients as may require it, previously to
their being carried to the Asylum out of town. A committee of the
Governors will, when necessary, attend at the Hospital in Broadway, for
the purpose of admitting patients into the Asylum, and to agree on the
terms and security for payment to be given.

_By order of the board of Governors._

MATTHEW CLARKSON, _President._

THOMAS BUCKLEY, _Secretary._

_New-York, 10th May, 1821._

N.B. The friends of the patients are requested to send with them an
account of their cases, stating the probable causes of their insanity,
the commencement and peculiar character of the disorder. It is desirable
that this statement, where it is practicable, should be drawn up by a
physician.

Applications from abroad, for information relative to the admission of
patients, may be made by letters addressed to THOMAS BUCKLEY, Secretary
of the New-York Hospital.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 25: Address of the Governors of the New York Hospital to the
Public, Relative to the Asylum for the Insane at Bloomingdale. New York,
May 10th, 1821. Reprinted Bloomingdale Hospital Press, May 1921.]




APPENDIX VI

BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL

1821 AND 1921


1821

Matthew Clarkson, President
Thomas Eddy, Vice President
Thomas Franklin
Jonathan Little
Thomas Buckley
William Johnson
Andrew Morris
John R. Murray
John B. Lawrence
George Newbold
Ebenezer Stevens
Peter A. Jay
Najah Taylor
Cadwallader D. Colden
Robert H. Bowne
Robert I. Murray
Thomas C. Taylor
John Adams, Treasurer
John McComb
Benjamin W. Rogers, Assistant Treasurer
William Bayard
Nathan Comstock
Duncan P. Campbell
Rev. F.C. Schaeffer
John Clark, Jr.
William Edgar, Jr.


1921

Hermann H. Cammann
Henry W. deForest
Richard Trimble
Howard Townsend
George F. Baker
Augustine J. Smith
Charles S. Brown
Edward W. Sheldon, President
Bronson Winthrop
Frank K. Sturgis
David B. Ogden
Joseph H. Choate, Jr.
Henry G. Barbey
Cornelius B. Bliss, Jr.
Paul Tuckerman, Treasurer
William Woodward
Arthur Iselin
Payne Whitney, Vice President
G. Beekman Hoppin
Lewis Cass Ledyard, Jr.
Henry R. Taylor
R. Horace Gallatin
Walter Jennings


BLOOMINGDALE COMMITTEE

1821

Thomas Eddy
Cadwallader D. Colden
Thomas C. Taylor
John Adams
Thomas Buckley
John B. Lawrence


1921

Frank K. Sturgis
Augustine J. Smith
Henry R. Taylor
Henry G. Barbey
Walter Jennings
Howard Townsend




APPENDIX VII

ORGANIZATION OF BLOOMINGDALE HOSPITAL

1821 AND 1921


1821

Superintendent or Warden 1
Housekeeper 1
Keepers, Men 3
Keepers, Women 2
Chambermaids 1
Cooks 3
Baker 1
Assistant Baker 1
Dairymaid 1
Washerwoman 1
Assistant washerwoman 1
Yard Keeper 1
Waitresses 2
Gardener 1
Farmer 1
Assistant farmer 1

Total 22

Number of patients 75


1921

Officers and employees:

Men 217
Women 195
---
Total 412

Patients:

Men 132
Women 156
---
Total 288

_General Administration_:
Medical Superintendent 1
Steward 1-2

_Clinical and Laboratory Service:_
Physicians:
Resident 9
Consultants 3
Dentist 1
Assistant 1
Apothecary 1
Technicians 2
Stenographers 5-22

_Nursing Service_:
Director, Assistant, and Instructor 3
Nurses, attendants, and pupils 135
Maids and porters 46-184

_Occupational Therapy_ 13
_Physical Training_ 7
_Hydrotherapy and Massage_ 5
_Dietary Department_ 25
_Housekeeping and Laundry Departments_ 60
_Financial, Purchasing, and Supplies_ 10
_Engineering Department_ 18
_Building Department_ 20
_Industrial Department_ 5
_Farm and Grounds_ 38
_Miscellaneous_ 8
Chaplain, Librarian, Watchmen, Telephonists, Postal Clerk, Barber.


STATISTICS: 1821-1921

Number of cases admitted 1821 to 1921 13,411
Number discharged recovered 1821 to 1921 4,651
Number discharged improved 1821 to 1921 3,873

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The mother of a lawyer who says her daughter's best-selling "misery memoir" is fiction broke down in court yesterday as she told a jury how she had struggled to raise her family. Carmen Briscoe-Mitchell is suing barrister Constance Briscoe for libel. Briscoe alleged she had suffered abuse and neglect during her south London childhood in Ugly, the first part of her autobiography published in 2006.

Briscoe-Mitchell began crying as she described her relationship with George Briscoe, father of seven of her 11 children, on the second day of the hearing at the high court in London at which she is also suing the book's publishers Hodder and Stoughton over her daughter's claims. Her counsel, William Panton, said Briscoe was "spinning a yarn". Her mother had worked as a dressmaker to keep her children, often without their father, and had provided for them equally to the best of her ability, an assertion supported by Briscoe's siblings, he said. Briscoe painted a picture of being regularly punched, kicked and beaten with a stick by her mother, said Panton, yet had not complained to police, social services or teachers.

Briscoe's lawyer, Andrew Caldecott QC, said the jury must remember when they heard witnesses that they were dealing with events between 1964 and 1975 when Briscoe-Mitchell, 74, was in her prime, not a vulnerable old lady, and Briscoe was a child. "Constance Briscoe says she was the victim of sustained cruelty and serious neglect when she was a child. She chose to say it. She has to prove it."

The trial was not of the accuracy of every word or paragraph in the book but of whether or not it was true that Briscoe was physically and emotionally abused by her mother over a lengthy period, said Caldecott. "We say this is a book that has its share of errors but it was properly put in the biography section of a bookshop, not in the fiction section."

Briscoe-Mitchell was asked about her relationship with George Briscoe. "My husband wasn't there to help me along with his children. I've had a very hard time with my husband. He wouldn't maintain them, he wasn't there. It was rough, it wasn't easy but I managed.

"He was in and out. He'd just come and make a baby and go back to his girlfriend and that was my life. It was too much. He'd come and kick the door off." Briscoe-Mitchell said she had four times taken him to court for maintenance. The only time she received any payment was when he was arrested and police gave her the £15 in his pocket. "He didn't want to know about his children, he got no interest there at all."

The case continues.

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