A Treatise on the Nature, Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment of Insanity with Practical Observations on Lunatic Asylums ....
first edition Original publisher's blind stamped green cloth.
1838 · London
by Ellis, W C
London: Samuel Holdsworth, 1838. First Edition.. Original publisher's blind stamped green cloth.. Very good; front hinge cracked; some spotting.. 8vo, viii, 344 pp. + folding frontispiece
Ellis, a self taught progressive and humane medical superintendent, was placed in charge of the Wakefield Asylum in1818. He, along with his wife, saw the asylum as a 'community' and themselves located within a 'family' of which they were the heads. He sought better training for the nurses and attendants, better pay, meaningful work for the inmates, and he was among the earliest proponents of so-called half-way homes. Violence, restraint, harsh punishments were forbidden. He preceded Conolly, the much lauded reformer, by years in many of these practices. An important book. See Hunter / MacAlpine pp. 870 - 877. (Inventory #: 17109)
Ellis, a self taught progressive and humane medical superintendent, was placed in charge of the Wakefield Asylum in1818. He, along with his wife, saw the asylum as a 'community' and themselves located within a 'family' of which they were the heads. He sought better training for the nurses and attendants, better pay, meaningful work for the inmates, and he was among the earliest proponents of so-called half-way homes. Violence, restraint, harsh punishments were forbidden. He preceded Conolly, the much lauded reformer, by years in many of these practices. An important book. See Hunter / MacAlpine pp. 870 - 877. (Inventory #: 17109)