7 be admitted to take the oath prescribed in the ninth 8 section of the ninety-eighth chapter of the Revised 9 Statutes, before any justice of the peace of the county 10 wherein such arrest or commitment shall take place ; 11 and he shall thereupon be discharged from such 12 arrest or commitment. But such discharge shall not 13 preclude his being subsequently taken on any execu14 tion which may issue on the judgment in which the 15 said mesne process may eventuate; in which case 16 he shall be permitted, if so disposed, to avail him17 self of the provisions of the said ninety-eighth chap18 ter of the Revised Statutes, subject to the liabilities 19 therein set forth.

1

SEC. 3. No person shall be taken on execution 2 unless the judgment creditor, or some person in his 3 behalf, shall make oath before some justice of the 4 peace that he believes that the debtor has property 5 beside the goods and chattels which are by law ex6 empted from being taken in execution, or that he 7 has other estate beside the said goods and chattels, 8 conveyed or concealed, or in some way disposed of, 9 with design to secure the same to his own use, or to

10 defraud his creditors.

EIGHΤΗ

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

OF THE

STATE LUNATIC HOSPITAL

AT WORCESTER.

DECEMBER. 1840.

Boston:

DUTTON AND WENTWORTH, STATE PRINTERS,

......

:

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

TRUSTEES OF THE STATE LUNATIC HOSPITAL.

DECEMBER, 1840.

To His Excellency, MARCUS MORTON, Governor, and the Honorable Council of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts :

THE Trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital respectfully present their Eighth Annual

REPORT:

In reviewing the last year, the trustees feel it to be a grateful duty to acknowledge the continued smiles of Providence upon that great enterprise of humanity, which has been going on with such happy results for eight years past in the State Lunatic Hospital. This glorious enterprise, conceived in a spirit of true philanthropy, and sustained by a humane public sentiment, has, by its beneficent influences, so reacted upon the public mind, and enlightened it, that a great change has already taken place in public opinion with regard to the nature and treatment of insanity. A generation has not yet passed away since insanity was regarded as synonymous with demonomy: and hence the neglect or cruel treatment of the insane. The idea that human skill was unavailing in a disordered mind was not confined to the unenlightened merely. Physicians and learned men either concurred in the sentiment, or were controlled by it. Under these views, the great object was to protect the community from those who were supposed to be "possessed," and confinement in darkness, dungeons and caves, away from the pleasant light of heaven, the beauty of earth, and the cheerful face of man-with terror, blows and chains these were the means employed in those dark days of error and superstition. But more enlightened views, and the brilliant light thrown on the brain by modern science, and consequently on the doctrine of mental phenomena, have greatly dispelled these illusions, and a derangement of the intellectual functions is now regarded as disease-disease, indeed, involving the higher faculties of man-but yet susceptible of successful treatment by means in delightful accordance with the benevolence of the divine Author of the mind, and means which he has graciously committed to his chosen ministers here on earth.

The design of the State Lunatic Hospital, and the plan of treatment pursued in it, furnish a beautiful illustration of the successful results of the humane care and management of the insane.

The Hospital building is a grand edifice, located in the heart of the Commonwealth, a fit emblem of the noble heart of the people, who generously founded and endowed it, spacious in its dimensions-as well ventilated, warmed, and supplied with pure water, and every other necessary and comfort of life, as any public institution in the whole world-with an infirmary for the sick, and a chapel for religious worship-with comfortable and airy apartments for the inmates, always kept clean and neat-with lofty open halls for their recreation and exercise, surrounded with ample grounds, and walks, and trees-placed on a high hill in full view of the magnificent amphitheatre of cultivated and ornamented highlands, which overlook and surround the beautiful town of Worcester-thus affording to the inmates of the hospital, a constant view of scenes well adapted to soothe, to delight and tranquillize their troubled minds. In this blessed refuge of mercy, for eight years past, the ministrations of humanity have been dispensed to more than eleven hundred and ninety of our unfortunate brethren, afflicted with all the various and terrible forms of mental malady-and, during the whole period, not a blow has been struck, not a chain has been used, nor a harsh word spoken, nor a hard look given. Every thing has been done by the intelligence, benevolence and firmness of the master mind of that extraordinary man, who superintends and sways, with consummate skill, the discordant elements over which he presides, and who has raised the reputation of the State Lunatic Hospital to the rank of a model institution, alike admirable for its humanity, economy and success.

On the first day of December, the trustees went through the Hospital thoroughly. The examination was highly satisfactory. The pa