| Abstrakt: |
The article examines the incidence of insanity in Great Britain. A special investigation made by the Royal Commission on the Feeble-minded in England and Wales disclosed the fact that 0.46 per cent, of the total population were mental defectives and were not at present registered; they are therefore almost as numerous as the registered insane. It has been calculated that if the same percentage holds good for the population of London, England with its 4,522,961 inhabitants there would be 20,805 unregistered mental defectives. It is quite possible that while registered insanity has increased markedly during the last twenty years, with the provision of increased accommodation, unregistered insanity has diminished; in fact, it is well known that the village idiots and the lower grade imbeciles--who were at large all over the country--have accumulated by detention in asylums and now help to swell the registered insane. Another important cause of the increase is that collective responsibility has replaced family responsibility; and the humane treatment and improved housing of the insane under the control of the people's representatives, with all the legal penalties attached to any cruelty, have removed the objections the public formerly had to put away an insane relative or friend. |
Plný text