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fIEW JVIETfIODS OF TPE/\|fflG JflS/^E JVf pOGfIESTER"^"
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A new feature in the treatment of in
womt-ii is being very successfully
tried at the state hospital for the insane
at Rochester, Olmsted county. The great
problem of finding light, interesting, yet
not too fatiguing work is -jeing satis
factorily solved, seemingly, by the intro
duction of lace making, and beautiful
work of that sort usually described as
••pillow lace" is now done by these pa
t'i nts.
Indian basketry too, has been tried, but
has not as yet been as thoroughly estab-
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ARTHUR F. KILBOURNE, SUPERINTENDENT.
lished as the lace making which is now
past the experimental stage. Next month
probably, basketry will be taken up in
earnest, and will, it is confidently ex
pected, furnish employment and amuse
ment to many other patients.
Dr. A. F. Kilbourne, the superintendent,
is an enthusiast on the subject of suit
able employment for the insane; he de
clares that the improvement noticeable
evon in long standing and chronic cases
after the patient becomes interested in
some work, is frequently astonishing,
and that after such an interest has been
aroused the patient is not uncommonly
able to return to friends as his or her
condition has become so ameliorated.
The duty of the state toward the in
sane, in his opinion, does not cease with
giving such unfortunates custodial care,
H *B
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OPEN WARD AND PATIENTS, ROCHESTER ASYLUM.
but every effort, he asserts, should toe
made to prevent the patient from sink
ing into a «tate of absolute dementia.
According to his opinion the ideal insti
tution for the insane furnishes 1 employ
ment of a^uitable nature for each pa
tient, taking into consideration, of course,
both his mental and his physical state.
Amusement and occupation frequently,
he asserts, go hand in hand.
This being his theory it is not then
surprising to find that a determined effort
is being made here to find as great a
variety of employments for the inmates
as possible. In the spring it is proposed
to establish a sort of garden colony of
women, sending some twenty or thirty
out to a separate house in the hospital
grounds, under the care of several nurses.
These patients will have the care of a
6mall vegetable garden, a flower garden
and some cliiekens, which will be another
departure in the method of treating the
insane.
Many of the women in such institutions
as this are quite sane at times, and others
are only insane upon some subjects, or
in some directions, and to these work in
which they can really take an interest is
a godsend. How much so none can re
alize perhaps save those who have been
compelled for one reason or another, to
spend long hours unoccupied. And when
to the unutterable dreariness of idle
ness is added the separation from home
and friends, even though it be best for
both the patient and the family, only
those who have been so placed can under
stand what it means to these women
when some new and pleasant occupation
nas been found- for them, so the authori
ties here say.
Keep the Patient* Busy.
; Most, of the patients, it la fair to as
sume, have been, workers in some line
during the greater portion of their lives
previous to entering - here. They have
been houseworkers, wives and mothers of
families, or wage earners, and enforced
Idleness makes the time hang heavily
oh, so heavily, on their hitherto busy
hands, and so the lace making- and oth
er plans of this sort have been hailed
by them with delight. Knitting, crochet
ing, tatting and embroidery all havV
their devotees at Rochester, but the' lace
making is to most of the patients some
thing new and attractive in the line <bf
decorative handwork and its very novelty
gives it an added interest in their eyes.
The hospital for the insane at Roch
ester was the second to be established
In the state, and - -was opened for the
reception of patients thirteen years after
that at St. Peter, which is the oldest of
all in the state. The history of its
foundation' is rather an unusual one, and
th« first intention was not to build: up
another hospital for the insane, but to
make it an asylum for Inebriates. For
the purpose of creating a fund for this
proposed institution and for its main
tenance a bill was passed by the legis
lature in 1873, and next year amended,
levying a tax of $10 on all the liquor
dealers an the state. By means of the
fund so obtained it was determined to
erect a suitable building, which, when
completed, would be maintained by a
continuance of the same tax. For this
purpose a farm consisting of 160 acres
vtaa bought at Rochester, and the build
irgs begun In 1877. The class taxed, as
might be expected, derided the constitu
tionality of the law and attacked it on
the ground of being unjust and discrim
inating', but they were unsuccessful In
the courts, and the constitutionality ot
the new law was upheld.
But In the meantime the number ot
the insane had increased and the pro
vision for them at St. Peter, or the first
state hospital as it was then called, so
limited and the overcrowding 1 so great
that it became generally evident that
ttaere was more urgent need for a second
hospital for the insane than an asylum
for the inebriates. So the legislature "hi
1878, taking- these things into considera
tion, and in view also of the deter
mined opposition to the plan to build ana
maintain an inebriate asylum by such
means as the before mentioned, repealed
the law levying the tax of $10 on ffi* d
liquor dealers and devoted the whole in
stitution to the service of the insane,
calling it the second hospital for the in
sane, with the provision, however, that
here inebriates might be admitted, cared
for and treated at state expense and
on the same basis as the insane.
Had a Small Beginning;.
The first building was a small center
structure, with a little east wing, and
the accommodation was for about 100 pa
tients, men only. Dr. J. E. Bowers, as
sistant at the hospital at St. Peter, was
made superintendent, and in January,
1897, the first patients were received. To
day the hospital at Rochester Is the
largest in the state, though that at Fer
gus Falls is a close seconds The present
population at Rochester, including the
nurses and doctors, is over 1,300 persons,
and of this over 1,100 are patients, male
and female.
The present buildings are enormous
when contrasted with that first insig
nificant little edifice that formed the
1^ . X
FRONT LAWN, ROCHESTER INSANE ASYLUM,
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nucleus of this magnificent hospital, and
consist of a main building, including the
administration building and two annexes,
the west annex being used for women,
and the east for men. The structure is
of red brick and four .stories high, and
the administration building, which is
crowded with a tower, is the most impos
ing in appearance. The grounds and the
scenery surrounding the hospital are
more than ordinarily beautiful, and the
hills, both back and front of the institu
tion, lend variety and picturesqueness to
the view. The grounds are laid out as
a park, and in summer the lawns, flower
beds and shrubbery make the asylum one
of the show places in this part of the
country.
This is indeed a little city of itself, and
the institution has its own water works,
fire department, gas works,, engineering
department, ice house, sewer system,
farm, paint shop, mattress making de-
partment, shoe repairing, drug store and
a soap factory, where soap is made not
only for the institution her^, but for the
thirteen other state institutions. This is
of itself a large business, but there is
also a cabinet and carpenter shop, where
all the repairing of the furniture of the
institution is carried on, and many new
and fine pieces manufactured. In the
bakery an average of 700 loaves a day
is baked, so that the asylum is in ftself
a complete city, with manufacturing in
dustries! of its own, and supplied with
every modern improvement and con
venience. Surrounding the hospital,
which is in the valley of the Zumbro
river, is some 700 acres of land belong
ing to the state, and some 700 more which
is rented for the use of the institution
and the inmates.
To this hospital belongs the proud dis
tinction of being among the first nine
asylums in the Union to establish a train
ing school for nurses, and to introduce
a regular system of training for them.
This school was commenced in 1889, and
the first class graduated in 1892, since
ROCHESTER HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.
then the graduates number about 175,
more or less, and there Is a great de
mand by other outside institutions for
nurses from this training school. Many
of them are now filling responsible posi
tions as general nurses, and as heads of
other institutions, and the hospital au
thorities are constantly importuned to
send nurses outside for general nursing.
This, of course, can only be done when
they can be spared from the work here.
The present superintendent, Dr. A. F.
Kilbourne, has been here for tho past
thirteen years, and it is due to his ad
vanced ideas of the proper functions of a
state asylum that so vigorous a search
for work adapted to the needs of the pa
tients has been made. Every energy
should be devoted, in his opinion, to cure
the patient while still in the acute
stages of his malady. And employment
of the right nature for each patient Is,
in his opinion, a most valuable therapeu
tic measure. Even df it cost the stat9
something sometimes to secure the
means for such labor he considers it
cheaper In the long run to find some
thing that interests the patient. In the
first place, he points out, anything that
will tend to his cure and make him once
more able to take 'his place in the world
and to support himself and this family is
not only more humane, but, regarded
from a strictly commercial basis of dol
lars and cents, more economical, for
while employed congenially in the asylum
he helps to work out his own discharge
the sooner, and thereby not only does
the state receive the benefit of his la
bor, but he is restored to his family and
the state relieved of tih© burden the more
quickly.
But asid<e from all these other consld~
erations, the primary object of a hos
pital for the insane la, in the doctor's
opinion, to cure and alleviate the suf
ferings of the patients.
Favors Outdoor Work.
Dr. Kilbourne beside preaching the
doctrine of labor, particularly favors out
door work for the patient, something
that if possible will keep them occupied!
and Interested wihile out in the open air,
and every foot of land possible should
be worked by these wards of the state,
he believes. Indoor shop work might, he
thinks, take the place of outside, work
in the winter when the severity of the
winter compels it. These theories will
no doubt strike many as very different
methods from those employed a few
years ago in the treatment of the in
sane. It is yet within the memory ot
the living that those not so long past
days when the mentally deranged man or
woman was an object of scorn and de
rision and often was scarcely treated
as a human being, and certainly not as
sick and in need of medical attention, it
is not more than a generation ago since
lunatics', as they were, harsihly described,
were chained to the walls in cells upon
the floors of which straw was considered
a good and sufficient covering.
How strange and barbarous all this
was, and how sharp the contrast
with present day ideas can best be
understood, after a visit to such an in
stitution as that at Rochester. The
large, ligiit wards, the- broad corridors
and the handsome and attractive day
rooms excel in , comfort and beauty the
living rooms in many of the houses of
the ordinary well to do family. Here
the insane man and woman are treated
as they should be, as a desperately sVck
patient, ono requiring the most skillful
medical attention and nursing, to Ift
watched and oared for all the time and
every effort made not only to make their
lives as little a burden to themselves
and oth-er3, but if possible to cure them
and to encourage the dewn-hearted and
ciscouraged man who sees no future be
fore him but misery unrelieved except
by death.
Dr. Kilbourne's idea of the necessity
of proper employment, <-md his definition,
of the ideal institution are, however, as
far in advance of the common theories
on such subjects as the present methods
are over those of thirty or forty years
ago. His theory, too, that the knowl
edge that insanity is hereditary to the
offspring of the insane and is almost as
great a curse as the actual fact of its
being hereditary, is mcst interesting an 3
the, idea naturally arises as to whether
or not some of these wees reported as
resulting from heredity may not be
largely dus to the fact that there TfaS
euch fatal knowledge and a consequent
brooding over what seen ed an inevitable
fate, and that these irjay have been
largely responsible for just that condi
tion.
Someone ha 3 made the suggestion that
in order to provide plenty of land for
some of these insane nen to work that
portions of the state lands in the north
ern part of the istate might be held out
for their benefit, and that nunpiTs of
male patients might be sent out under
proper supervision to clear these lands,
the state' thus obtaining the benefits of
their laber and- the insane patients re
ceiving the benefit to be derived from
such a life and such. work.
To keep the patients outdoors and to
keep them employed is in Dr. Kilbourne's
opinion the best and quickest cure that
has been so faf discovered for diseases
of the irind.
At Rochester the interior arrange
ment is somewhat similar to that at
St. Peter: ' The wards are numbered and
lettered for example A 1, A 2, B 1, B 2,
etc., and this plan is the same in both
annexes. The treatment of the Incoming
patient is the same at all these hospi
tals; that is to say, the new arrival is
given a bath and put to bed to rest,
and the next day "a thorough physical
and mental examination mad* of the
case. There, is not sufficient room here;
that is to say, the buildings are too over
crowded and there is scarcely a suffi
cient number of certain classes of pa
titnts to enable the physicians to clas- VIEW,"
sify the patients dn just the exact way
they would wisih to do.
Women in West Wing.
The women's annex, the west wing, is
under the care of the assistant superin
tendent, Dr. O. C. Heyerdale, and Dr.
Laura Ldnton. In this department there
are 512 patientsl. Much of the new work,
the pillow lace, is done in ward A 2.
This Is the most cheerful ward of all, for
the simple reason that it is occupied
principally by convalescents, and the
visitor knows that for these patients the
hope of returning reason and home-going
is looming large on their mental horizon,
with the fair prospect of fulfillment. Here
in the bright, pretty day room,' with its
lovely flowering plants, soft carpets,
snowy curtains, comfortable couches and
easy chairs, the whole aspect enlivened
by the flames of a bright coal fire in tho
large light windows, sit many women at
Pi epR&IInE R*m k 9 HHfir M
iiinm iri»n'|-»jama»TMlMmifriliaMifiia»mßMMliMiMll^^
a long wooden table, with the circular
wooden pillows or stuffed looms making
lace, and weaving who knows how many
thoughts of the home to which they are
so soon to go, and of the sweet, childish
voice that will again sound in the ears
that have so often longed to hear their
melody just once again.
The looms are about two feet in
diameter, and have fiat, wooden backs
and' upper sides stuffed out rounding and
covered with ticking. In the center is
a cylinder about ten inches long, and
about as thick through as the length of
a finger, the pattern Is pricked out on
a little square of parchment, and from
the work hang down innumerable little
wooden bobbins. It is pretty, dainty
work, and for the women with pretty
hands who wish to display their beai
tiea it offers exceptionable opportunities
in that line. It is slow work, in as much
that all careful hand work is necessarily
so If well done.
It is amazing, too, how fresh and clean
it all looks, every piece, though the
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&HOWIUG LAWN
thread must be continually handled—is as
un'soiledi and clean as thought it had just
come off the spool. In about a month
from now the basketry will probably be
well under way in this same ward, and
it may be that some of the other wom
en who have found the lace making tco
trying or too intricate, or have not be
come interested in it, will find work and
recreation In that. These looms for the
lace were made here in the carpenter's
shop, so that indirectly the work given
the women has also furnished a little
for the men.
In a glass case in this ward are a
number of articles of all sorts made by
the patients, beautiful laces' by the yard,
and insertion to match, lace handker
chiefs, silk embroidered doilies, knitted
and crocheted bedroom slippers and head
wraps, talting, embroidered and silk
worked cushions', etc. The history of tho
MALE INFIRMARY, ROCHESTER HOSPITAL.
introduction and growth of this partic
ular department is brief, and much is
owing to Dr. Laura Linton, both for the
innovation and for its successful carry
ing out in detail.
About a year ago in September Dr. Lin
ton borrowed $10 from the state funds
for the purpose of obtaining materials
for fancy work for some of the patients.
(The lace work it may be remarked in
cidentally has: not yet been installed a
year.) With the materials 'obtained with
the $10 borrowed, paper flowers, slippers,
mittens, shawls, etc., were made and sold
to the nurses and to. visitors, who bought
them frequently not only because of their
desire to possess the article itself, but
also for the purpose of securing some
souvenir of their visit to the institution.
Not only were articles sold when ex
hibited, but orders for lace handkerchiefs,
etc., have come in quite freely from pri
vate individuals.
When it was decided to introduce lac»
making Miss Ida Sonnenberg, the in
dustrial instructor at . Rochester, was
ROCHESTER INSANE ASYLUM.
.
sent to the state school-;for the f e eb'
minded at Faribault, .where; similar lac-
Is made in order to learn the art A
the end- of two weeks she returned wlti
patterns, both of the lace and loom"
and began a class in new work. Mam
of the patients were pleased to learh
end: now it may be reckoned as one o
the regular industries of the hospital
How profitable the work has been i;
shown _by the fact that the $10 wa
repaid tKe-flrst month, and at preset'
there is on hand nearly $7 worth or
material unnade, about $40 worth o
made work in stock and $137 in th '
bank.
This does not include the money ex
pended on magazines, books, a show
case for the work, for a set of pyro
grraphic tools—or they expect also u<-m>
take up this work soon—for a sewing
machine, some snail, musical instru
ments, $10 worth of permanent decora
tions for the Fourth of July, a Christ
mas present of $2 to each ward for dec
orations and a present of $2 to every
worker among the inmates, to be ex
pended in any way that best pleased th
recipient.
Plenty of Amusements.
The next most important thing afte>
wo is to keep the patients amused t
and billiard tables, cards, checkers' '
erokinole boards, etc., are provided free
ly for their use. Out on the lawn iv
the warm weather the nurses and pa
tients can play basketball, tennis or
croquet, while on the men's side ther"
is a bowling alley and a baseball clubov
In the women's wards there are dining
•rooms on each flat, but many of th
rr.en, just now to the number of i'J,
dine in a large central dining room
downstairs. There are, however, som
dining roomsi in the -wards on'the men':
side also. The plan of the wards for
men and for women is the same am
the more violent and less tidy patients
of both sexes are- fed from trays.
This asylum also has its famous char
acter, ,and here it is an old woman,
sharp and quick tongued despite he]
mental derangement, who is now con
vinced that she is the rightful owm.
of $400,000,000 or $500,CC0,001 She an
nounces vigorously that she intends to
take most of the hospital staff and sev
eral of the state officials, including th
governor, to Washington in order to
make them disgorge, or to help her maJ -
those who 'have robbed her disgorge, v
is not quite plain which. She is writing,
a history of the ' present century be
cause it is a new one, which is perhaps
Just as good a reason as many author,
could give for their literary efforts, ana
insists on all the visitors spelling the:;
names in order that she may write them
down on the various slips of paper franc
which it is to be presumed at some iv
ture date she v.ill compile her history.
When not so occupied she makes very
pretty paper flowers and wreaths. To
disagree with hei does not at all hurt 1-'
her feelings. She simply treats such be
havior with the contempt that in her
eyes it deserves.
The extraordinary silence preserved by '"*,
some of these patients is remarkable
and there are patients who have been
here for months who have never said a
word, or (have been heard to speak, while
others chatter or mutter all thfe time.
One of the best of the lace workers has
never spoken since her entrance to the
hospital, while another, equally good
talks incessantly.
Here at Rochester a school is main
tained, and during certain hours of the
day some of the nurses and attendants
give such of the patients as wish it
instructions in reading, writing, etc., and
and one gray-haired old lady has learn
ed since she was committed here to write,
much to her own delight and pleasure,
until now she can use her pen quite neat
ly.
Among the men is a patient who own;
a special train and who willingly puts it
at the "service of all to whom he may
take a fancy, and another buys carload*?
of wheat constantly.
One the men's side is what is called the
"open ward," which is the only ward in
the asylum that is never locked. The
male patients who wish Co do so have
free access to this room, and use it as a
recreation and smoking room. There is a
little library for them, and a large table
at which they can play cards, and there
are big, easy chairs in which they can
sit and read.
The kitchen in a big institution like
this) is a sight in itself, and this one is
a beauty, a gem in its way. It is large.
sixty feet long and about forty-five wide,
and the floors are white tiled, the great
steam kettles, holding 125 gallons each,
are copper, polished to the very brightest
degree, and near the kitchen is the great
bread oven, also white tiled, steam gauge,
with thermometers revolving shelves and -
every known modern device, and not far
•away Is. the bread-making room, where •
six great dough tubs are filled with .
enough sponge for TOO loaves at a baking.
Over^ at the farm there is a herd of
100 milch cows,'. beside other stock, 27
horses, - 300 . hogs, - etc. There is - also a
slaughter 'house, and not far from it the
soap factory :' which now makes toilet,
laundry I and scrub soap for more than
a dozen of the other institutions.
The root cellars are considered one of
the curiosities of this institution, they
are hiollowed out of the sandrock bluffs,
and these cave cellars afford ideal stor
age for thousands of bushels of vege
tables, together with a chamber for but
ter, and another with a ' capacity of
two carloads of apples. The cellars art
well worth a visit, and are unique as
well as commodious. Teams can be driven,
through from one side to.the other with
out the slightest inconvenience, going in
at one horseshoe-shaped door and com
ing out of another, the other side of the.
hills. •-< " v ,". :4pߧgg§gg@3SHPßK
;." In connection : with the school in the
near future the authorities hope to e«-
Coutlnued on Twenty-Second Po-B**
