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629, •oater StreetJ BYanaton, Illinoie. lfov. 25th, 1~7.

Xnowing t ou would r••ber 1117 j'arenta (JQ" •at her being so long with the Departaent or Stat~ and IQ' Mother a diatant relative or Senator Garrison), I bave ventured to write 7ou a brier aaoir on the general subject or Lef!l Inaani~l It may be iDrerred that all hiatoriana are icnorant or unac7, and that aost psychiatrists are equall7 ignorant or lecal history; but I believe I can claill the iporaace or neither, since I am both M.A. Cant .... , Pellow or the Soc. or Antiquaries (London) and or the Royal H1ator1cal Societ7, &114 Aaaociate in History at Harvar d, as well as (and I add this with a certain insouciance!) veteran or several "Aeyluae" during the paat raw years. Ae I am a great admirer or the proposal ror Socialized Medicine, I felt that "Legal Inaan1ty" aigbt equally well become a subject tor discussion - and, I hope you would agree, for renunciation - in the not rar distant ruture.

The main point about Legal Insanity i a thiez - it ien't "legal" at allJ The vileness or our credulity tbat the I nsane (sic) exist is only,-as in the 0111noua parallel or (Legal) Witchcraft,-due to the survival or a Law on our statute books dating, in errect, from the Middle Agee. OUr basic law, author-

-izing the certification, etc . or Lunatics and Incoapetente, dates from ita origi nal inception by an English Parliaaent under King Edward II. in 1310 (see Statutes or The Reala, Vol I; and cp. Hazelton and Gillespie's Manual or Psychiatry ~ndo~, p. 22).

As our superb modern aeyluas and even Bedlam didn ' t exist at that date (1310h one can appreciate that the rraa1ng or such a Law was ror aoae legal reaeon other than eillply •co.aitaent• purposes: and, in tact, the crea tion or work- houses and county lunatic asyluma in England took place - barring Bedlaa - in the late eighteenth century (as it did over here, e.g. the first public asylum at Richmond) , and Bedlam itaelr wae an arra1r or the poet-Stuart epoch. Consequently, it ie only neceaeaey to consider why such a Law should bave been paeeed at such a tille, to understand what 'Lunacy' is about.

The intention or the Law waa to regulate feudal aatt .. a ; since its inception in 1310 was co-extensive with the existence or a lj.ost or other anachronistic reud&l Laws, the aajority or which"\ror exaaple, ' knight eerviee 1 ) were repealed in England as the price or restoration or the Bnglieh aonarc~n 1661

• (i1.1111lat't repeal in France only toolupl ace in 1789) . Tbue, there wae at on\ period a valid reason to~ appointing eanity co.aiuione -==--

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<%,r4~~ii~~~~~~i' boldine a&Dity beerinca ~n court , ~ or lunacy, baaldaa tba lecal appolnt-

-aent or Coneenat.ore. Ror.oYer, tbe YeJ'7 word•' lunatic. ' , ' 1Da&ne•, and 'incoepetent• arc Ylolent necat1Yea, ~171nc v1ctl8a or ~ncurable, peraonal altuatlona (Whether ae41cal, deteot1 .. , or accidental). But, believe ae, lt la a queation ot !!fr•a t!!p&, aw,tree 10•ural It waa • ille&al" t or tbe lncoepetiiita and lunatic& to be unable to tultill their obligations to the State, viz. , rendering the annual feudal aer.icea (~ aer.icea in kind, not mere .aney coapenaation&)J and• tbay wer e in the aaae position a a our aodern, wartiae "4-r• a• - even it their true "ottence" wae only lncaae-taz evaaionl l o wonder that they, and tha State, needed t hoae "certiticatea l 0 But t hw,r ar'P't needed nowl And I euagut that AMrica , 1•41nc the world i n JlYg1ene and in Boepltale alike , ouaht to take the l•d in abollabin& a Law• " hich ie a relic ot Bl.lropMD 1Peu4al1~d which could never be aerely explalned away ei ther , the popular ball et in "M alneea• beinc oo etrcQC ( t houah thia abol1-ent couldn ' t 1ft any way, preauaably, attect decieione in Crialnal Law1 ). The King ot Bncland euttere troa a cbrcnio et-•rJ and our late, great Preaident auttered troa Intantile Paralyeial

The prea ent aedical "ahook treataenta•, uaed with con--siderable ettect (aa preventlti•ee) on O.I.'e and in peyoh1at r1cal hoepitale generally, have eurely"looeened up• tbie tantaetic situation, thla witchcraft in -•rn dre10; an4 I alao lM&ine, it you will torg1ve • • tor tbie, that a aolution to ( 1Kental 1

and) Net"Youe Diaeaae aa a whole ahould now be in alsbtli-+

Bence, i t ousbt not to be hard 1ft the future to etr1ke ott the ahacklea t ·roa Lunacy! •• o etrince• on aental 1llneae would relieve the entire civilised worldJ and I venture t o ineiat that, tor t he aake or the doctors and or their eplen414ly r un aodarn (peychiatr1cal) hoepitale, any rep•l by Act ot Con-

- graiO ahould be announced aa a further (or f i nal) 0 Y1ct ory over aental cUaeaae aoh1ned by So1enoe", - 1. • · a a a Ylotory 1 not

' --aa an •xpo••· I do • l ops• tor trcublinc you th1e W&YJ &Dd I have

only dared after t1ret aubalttinc -:r letter to tbe adY&Dce scrutiny or llile Janet IPillb, late l•d or the -..caney Hospital 1ft lluhincton, o.c. , and or ., ratber• e old triend, J. van Neae Philip ot "Talavera•, Clav~ck, lew York.

Youra very 11noerely,

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