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ADDRESS
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RELATIVE TO THE ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE AT
           BLOOMINGDALE.
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 NEW-YORK:
MAY 10th, 1821.
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         ADDRESS,  &c.




    THE Governors of the New-York Hos-
pital have the satisfaction to announce to
the public,   the  completion of the  Asy-
lum for the insane :  and that  it will be open
for the reception of patients,  from any part
of the United States, on the first day of June.
  This  Asylum is situated on the Bloom-
ingdale road,  about  seven miles from the
City Hall of the  city of New-York,  and
about three hundred yards from the Hudson
River.   The building is of hewn free-stone,
211 feet in length, and sixty-feet deep, and
is  calculated  for  the accommodation of
about two hundred  patients.  Its scite  is
elevated,  commanding an extensive  and
delightful  view of the Hudson, the  East
River, and the Bay  and  Harbour of New-
York, and the adjacent country,  and is one
of the most beautiful  and healthy spots on 
4
New-York Island.  Attached to the build-
ing are about seventy acres of land, a great
part of which has been laid out in walks, or-
namental grounds,  and extensive gardens.
  This institution has been established by
the bounty of the Legislature of the state of
New-York, on the most liberal and enlarged
plan, and with the express design to carry
into effect that system  of  management of
the insane, happily termed moral treatment,
the superior efficacy of which has been de-
monstrated  in several  of the Hospitals of
Europe, and especially in that admirable es-
tablishment  of the Society of Friends, called
"The Retreat," near York, in England.
This mild and humane  mode of treatment,
when contrasted with  the harsh and  cruel
usage, and the severe and unnecessary res-
traint, which  have formerly disgraced even
the most celebrated lunatic asylums, may
be considered as one  of  the  noblest tri-
umphs of pure and enlightened benevolence.
But it is by no means  the  intention of the
governors to rely on moral, to the exclusion
of medical treatment.   It is from a judicious
combination of both, that the greatest  sue- 
^
cess is to be expected in every attempt to
cure or mitigate the disease of insanity.
  In the construction of the edifice and in its
interior arrangements, it has been consider-
ed important to avoid, as far as practicable,
consistently with a due regard to the  safety
of the patients, whatever might impress their
minds with the idea of a prison, or a place
of punishment,  and  to  make every thing
conduce to their health and  to their ease
and comfort.   The self-respect and com-
placency which may thus be produced in
the insane, must have a salutary influence
in restoring the mind to its wonted serenity.
In the disposition of the grounds attached
to the Asylum, every thing has  been done
with reference to the amusement, agreeable
occupation, and salutary exercise of the pa-
tients.
  Agricultural, horticultural, and mechani-
cal employments, may be resorted to, when-
ever  the inclination of the patient, or their
probable beneficial  effects may render them
desirable.   To  dispel  gloomy  images,  to
break morbid associations, to lead the feel-
ings into their proper current, and to restore 
6
the mind to its natural poise, various less
active amusements will be provided.   Read-
ing, writing, drawing, innocent sports, tend-
ing and feeding domestic animals, &c. will
be encouraged as they may be found con-
ducive to the recovery of the patients.   A
large  garden has been laid  out, orchards
have been planted,  and yards,  containing
more than two acres, have been inclosed for
the daily walks of those whose disorder will
not allow more extended indulgence.  The
plants  of the Elgin  Botanic  garden, pre-
sented to this institution by the Trustees  of
Columbia College, have been arranged  in
a handsome green-house, prepared for their
reception.
  The apartments of the house are adapted
to the accommodation  of the patients, ac-
cording to their sex, degree of disease, ha-
bits of life, and the  wishes of their friends.
The male and female  apartments are en-
tirely separated, so as to  be completely se-
cluded from the view of each other.
  Care has been taken to appoint a Super-
intendant and Matron,  of good moral and
religious characters, possessing cheerful tern- 
7
pers, and kind dispositions, united with firm-
ness, vigilance and discretion.  A Physician
will reside in  the house,  and one or  more
Physicians, of established character and ex-
perience,  will attend regularly, and afford
medical aid in all cases where the  general
health,  or the particular cause of the pa-
tient's insanity, may require it.  The re-
lations or friends of patients will be at liberty,
if they prefer  it, to employ their own physi-
cians,  who  will be  allowed to attend pa-
tients, subject to the general regulations of
the house.
  The institution  will  be regularly visited
and inspected by a committee of the Gov-
ernors of the Hospital,  who will,  as often
as they may  think it advantageous, be at-
tended  by some of the physicians  of the
city of high character and respectability.
  The charges for board and the other ad-
vantages  of the institution,  will be mode-
rate, and proportioned to the different cir-
cumstances of the patients,  and the extent
of the accommodations  desired for them.
  Patients at  the  expense  of the different 
a
towns of  the state,  will  be received at the
lowest rate.
   Application for the admission  of patients
into the Asylum, must be made, at the New-
York Hospital,  in  Broadway, where tem-
porary accommodation will be provided for
such patients as  may require it, previously to
their being carried to  the  Asylum out of
town.   A committee of the Governors  will,
when  necessary,  attend  at  the  Hospital in
Broadway,  for  the  purpose  of  admitting
patients into the  Asylum,  and to  agree on
the terms and  security for payment  to be
given.
    By order of the board of Governors.
             MATTHEW CLARKSON, President.
Thomas  Buckley, Secretary.
  New-York, 10th Mat/, 1821.
  N. B. The friends of the patients are requested to send with
them  an account of their cases, stating the probable causes of
their insanity, the commencement and peculiar character of the
disorder.  It is desirable that  this statement, where it  is  practi-
cable, should be drawn up by a physician.
  Applications from abroad, for information relative to the ad-
mission of patients, may be made by letters addressed to Thomas
Bucklky, Secretary of the New-York Hospital.
Printed by Mahlon Day, JVo. 372, Pearl-Strett. 
 
 
 
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