drawing chiefly from Mr. Haven's paper, which serves as an Introduction to the Records. The State's edition of the Records very properly omits all notes of whatever sort, except such as are necessary in explaining the handwriting of the manuscript, or other mechanical peculiarities. The two volumes are admirably printed, and are said to be the most precise reproduction of manuscript ever attempted in type. This is what the Massachusetts edition of the Massachusetts Records should be. All the ancient spelling is exactly followed. Even the abbreviations are copied, in type arranged for the purpose. If a bit of short-hand appears in the margin of the text, a facsimile of it is in the printed book. And, as the book has been stereotyped, it has been possible, we learn, to secure, by successive revisions, a degree of accuracy which could not have been otherwise attained, and which leaves no danger of error. A very good fac-simile of the ancient seal is on the title-page. It is the same as the present seal of the State, but that now the State arms bear a crest,—the right arm holding a sword, -and that the old motto, " Come over and help us," so hospitable and at the same time so modest, is changed for Sydney's line (of which the arm is the nominative case): :

"Euse petit placidam sub libertate quietem."

A change of motto could hardly be expected to show so well the change from a colony to a state.

We can conceive no motive but curiosity which shall ever induce any student henceforth to refer to the venerable manuscripts.

A small edition only has been printed, but the General Court itself is so well satisfied with the manner in which the task has been performed, that it has ordered a second edition, and directed that the next three volumes, and the beginning of the sixth, shall be printed in the same way. These bring up the records to the time of President Dudley, in 1686. For the presidency of Dudley in 1686, and for the first year of the usurpation of Andros, the records have recently been restored by copies from the State Paper Office in London. But from December 29, 1687, to the overthrow of Andros, there is a gap, the only important gap in the records of the State,

amounting to rather more than a year. The resolve now passed contemplates the printing of these copies, so as to bring the records up to the time when the folio edition of "The Acts and Laws, published in 1699 by Order of the Governor and Council," begins.

Such an authentic and complete monument of history as the two volumes which are now published make, is so interesting, when read with Mr. Haven's careful Introduction and his and Dr. Young's notes, and with Winthrop and the "Chronicles of Massachusetts" for guides, illustrations, and lighters where the text is heavy, that the "Records" lose the character of a statute-book, and assume much more that of volumes of annals.

It is an honor to Governor Clifford's administration, that he has opened them to his constituents. It would be impossible to ask that the work should be better done.

ART. IV. 1. Reports of the Trustees, Steward, and Superintendent of the Insane Hospital. [Maine.] 1854.

2. Reports of the Trustees, &c. of the Butler Hospital for the Insane. Providence, R. I. 1854.

3. Twenty-first Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Lunatic Asylum. [Massachusetts.]

4. Thirty-sixth Annual Report on the State of the Asylum for the Relief of Persons deprived of the Use of their Reason. [Frankford, Pa.] 1854.

5. Report of the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, &c. 1854.

6. Annual Report of the Officers, &c. of the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum. 1854.

7. Eleventh Annual Report of the Managers of the State Lunatic Asylum. [New York.] 1854.

8. Sixteenth Annual Report of the Ohio Lunatic Asylum. 1854.

9. Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the President, &c. of the Western Lunatic Asylum. [Virginia.] 1854.

10. Annual Reports of the Commissioners, &c. of the Indiana Hospital for the Insane. 1854.

11. Report of the Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital. 1854.

THESE documents remind us of a class of charitable institutions among us, strongly indicative of the philanthropy and science of our times. Those worthy people who see, in the future progress of the race, only a steady increase of selfishness and vice, would do well to consider the history of the noble enterprise which has been so rapidly and satisfactorily accomplished. Eighty years ago we had not a single establishment devoted exclusively to the care and treatment of the insane. Now they number nearly thirty, and contain about six thousand patients, supported, more or less, at the public expense. If modern humanity had no greater triumph to record than this, it would be amply sufficient to redeem the character of the age from the imputations which the faithless and desponding have been too ready to cast upon it. Such is the contrast between the management of the insane now, and what it was fifty years ago, that one can scarcely help suspecting that even the most faithful description of the latter is heightened by exaggeration and false coloring. But it is a fact, abundantly verified, that this unfortunate class has always included many who, long before the impress of the Divinity was entirely erased from their minds, were banished from the sight, and sooner or later, from the kindly sympathies of friends and relatives, and dragged on a wretched existence in jails and poor-houses, in cold and filth, in solitude and chains, abandoned to the tender mercies of ignorant and irresponsible keepers. Insanity is a terrible calamity at best, but then it was the climax of all human woes, for it contained an ingredient unknown in any other misfortune, -exclusion, not only from hearts and homes to which nature gave a claim, but from the sight of familiar faces, from the ministrations of kindness, and from every circumstance of hope or of joy. In this condition, the process of derangement and destruction was rapidly hastened, until nothing but a clod of the valley, a caput mortuum of humanity, remained. Now, on the con

trary, in most parts of our country, the humblest individual, when stricken down by this calamity, receives the benefit of all the means and appliances which science has discovered and philanthropy brought into active operation, for the purpose of restoring him to himself and mitigating the evils incident to his lot. In comfortable apartments expressly designed for meeting the exigencies of his case, enjoying the pure air and light of heaven, perhaps in the midst of agreeable scenery, expending his surplus energies in useful employment, and guided in the ways of propriety by kind voices and gentle restrictions, he passes through the various stages of his disorder, whether terminating in recovery, or hopeless, chronic disease. And even when made fully aware of the magnitude of this contrast, few can properly appreciate the means by which the change was effected.

When Pinel entered the cells of the Bicêtre, and struck off the chains of the furious maniacs, he manifested that kind of courage, of self-reliance, and of superiority to the current notions of the age, which is indispensable to the success of any enterprise that is to constitute an epoch in the history of the race. Without precedent and against the remonstrances of his friends, guided and supported only by a faith, enlightened by the results of observation, no doubt, but still, no less wonderful nor sublime than the highest inspirations of genius, he dealt the first and the decisive blow at a treatment which, repulsive as it was, seemed to be required by an imperious necessity. About the same time, similar views were successfully acted upon in England, by a true-hearted Quaker, Benjamin Tuke, who, in the spirit of his faith, conceived that the insane, as well as the sane, would be best managed by methods of kindness, conciliation, and good-will. Aided by the benevolence of his sect, he established an institution near York, the management of which was distinguished by the complete, systematic exclusion of everything harsh, whether regarded as punishment or necessary restraint. Of course, some time was required before the influence of these experiments could be thoroughly impressed upon the management of the insane. Long after the fame of the York Retreat had spread over the kingdom, and nobles had solicited the privilege of sharing its

benefits, men were slow to believe that there was no natural affinity between insanity, and chains and stripes, and one could not traverse a lunatic hospital even in England, without witnessing whips, fetters, or iron collars. To inspire the patient with fear, and break his will, at all hazards, by blows, confinement, and every species of contumely, if milder means could not effect the object, was the cardinal principle in the moral treatment of the insane, up to a very recent period. Within the memory of the present generation, and within two hours' ride of this city, was a private establishment where bleeding and purgatives were not more relied upon, than harsh words, whipping, and partial drowning. The more refractory were inclosed in a coffin-like box pierced with holes, and then lowered into a well where they were kept submerged in the water, until the bubbles of air ceased to rise, when they were brought up, and by rubbing, warmth, and other restoratives, fully resuscitated. No attempt was made to conceal these practices. They were well known in the community, and supposed to belong to the most approved methods of treatment. In the infancy of even our most distinguished, hospitals there was a deficiency of furniture and of other little conveniences, and a cheerlessness in all their appointments, which would scarcely be tolerated now.

In this country, the history of hospitals for the insane is comprised, for the most part, within a comparatively recent period. To the Old Dominion belongs the honor of possessing the first institution devoted exclusively to the care of the insane. It originated in an act of the Colonial government in 1769, and the building was opened for patients in 1773. Into the general hospitals founded in the principal cities, the insane had been admitted, with more or less special provision for their treatment. In some instances, one or two wards, in others, a distinct structure on the premises, was appropriated to their exclusive use. Insanity in its recent state was supposed by medical men to require, like other acute diseases, an active medication and a low diet, and to this end their attention was chiefly directed. Its mental element was very little regarded, and consequently the idea of operating directly upon the mind could seldom be discerned in the treatment of the physician. The