0
PROCEEDINGS
*V
ON THE OCCASION OF
LAYING THE CORNER STONE

               OF THB




    AT  PHILADELPHIA.
INCLUDING THE
ADDRESS
BY'
     GEO.  B.  WOOD, M. D.,
SENIOR MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL STAFF OF THE PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL, ETC. ETC.
     PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF TIIE BOARD OF MANAGERS.


               £-'         ''*
               fa'"*:':■ <SS

            PHILADELPHIA:
T. K. AND P. G.  COLLINS, PRINTERS
                   1856. 
 
PROCEEDINGS, ETC.
  Agreeably to public invitation, a large number of
ladies  and gentlemen, interested in the welfare  of
those afflicted with mental disease, convened  on the
grounds of the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane,
near the site of the new building, on the afternoon of
the 1st of 10th month (October), 1856.
  The assemblage wras called to order  by Mordecai
L. Dawson, President of the Board of Managers, who
made the following remarks:—

  Fellow  Citizens:  We have  assembled  upon an
interesting and important occasion—to lay the corner
stone of a building having for its object the alleviation
of human suffering; and, if we can judge of the future
by our knowledge of the past, we may  certainly in-
dulge the  hope that  it will prove to many an inesti-
mable blessing.  Twenty years since, the corner stone
of the building  east of us  was laid.  The  wants  of
the community have already required  an extension
of the means of treating the insane, and the liberality
of our citizens has enabled us to commence the work, 
4
of which the corner stone will now be laid by Richard
Vaux, the Mayor of Philadelphia.
   In the granite block before you,  a  carefully sealed
glass jar has been securely placed, and in it has been
deposited the following coins of the United States, of
the coinage of 1856, viz:—
   One half-eagle, one quarter-eagle, and  one dollar,
in gold.
   One dollar, a half-dollar, a  quarter-dollar, a dime,
a half-dime, and a three cent piece,  in silver.
   One cent and a half-cent, in copper.   Also,
   Copies of the newspapers of this  day.
   Some account of the Pennsylvania  Hospital, con-
taining a copy of its charter,  and  other  documents
connected with its early history, published in 1814.
   Reports of the Pennsylvania Hospital  for the In-
sane for the years 1853, '54, and '55.   By Thomas S.
Kirkbride, M. D.
   The last Annual Report  of the Managers, and
statement of the accounts of the Pennsylvania Hos-
pital, as laid before the contributors, 5th mo., 1856.
   An  Appeal to the Citizens of  Pennsylvania for
means  to provide Additional Accommodations for the
Insane.  Philadelphia, 1854.
   The last circular issued by the Board of Managers,
and a  list of the  subscribers  to the new buildins
fund.
   An impression of the  Corporate Seal—the Good
Samaritan, with the  motto, "Take  care of him, and
I will repay thee."
   A copy of the address  of Dr. Geo. B. Wood, deli-
vered on the occasion of laying the  Corner Stone.
   A paper  containing a  list  of  the  present Board 
5
of Managers and Officers of the  Institution, as fol-
lows:—

                 MANAGERS.
Mordecai L. Dawson, President, John M. Whitall,
Wm. Biddle, Secretary,        Alex. J. Derbyshire,
Frederick Brown,            Samuel Mason,
James R. Greeves,           S. Morris Waln,
John Farnum,               Samuel Welsh,
Mordecai D. Lewis,          Joseph S. Lewis.
                   Treasurer.
                 John T. Lewis.
                   Physician.
           Thomas S. Kirkbride, M. D.
               Assistant Physician.
             Edward A. Smith, M. D.
                    Steward.
                  John Wistar.
                    Matron.
              Margaret  N. Wistar.

  The  Building Committee consists of
James R. Greeyes, Chairman,  Wm. Biddle,
Samuel Welsh,              M. L. Dawson,
John M.  Whitall,           T. S. Kirkbride, M. D.,
A. J. Derbyshire,                     Secretary.
  Samuel Sloan, Architect.

  Franklin Pierce, being  President of the United
States;  James Pollock, Governor of Pennsylvania;
and Richard Vaux, Mayor of Philadelphia. 
6
          REMARKS OF MAYOR VATJX.

  Mayor Vaux, having properly adjusted the corner
stone, which is placed at the  southeast corner of the
centre building, said:—

  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and Gentlemen: With
ceremonies both venerable and appropriate, the  cor-
ner stone of the New Buildings of the Pennsylvania
Hospital for the Insane has been laid.
  The unerring test of the existence of  true philan-
thropy in a  community is found in the works which
unostentatious liberality enables charity  to raise and
foster.   Philadelphia,  when asked for the jewels of
her character, can point to her institutions for the
benefit  of mankind.   No class of such benefits is
without  its  representation.   The noblest of man's
endowments—reason—finds  every  facility afforded
for its cultivation.  And also, here, as in the  streets
of  Decapolis,  can  be found those whose  cause of
gratitude is that they have been restored to a right
mind. 
    ADDRESS BY  PROFESSOR WOOD.


   The President then introduced Professor George
B. Wood, who made the following address:—

   At each stage in the progress  of important series
of events, it is well to look backward, and trace from
the starting point the course already traversed.  The
contemplation of past successes yields new hopes and
energy; of past errors or failures, most valuable les-
sons for the future.   You will, therefore,  not deem it
inappropriate to the present occasion,  if I ask you to
take with me a retrospective view of the institution
in the interests of which we are here assembled, in
order to witness  the opening of what may be consi-
dered as a new  era in its history.
   The  idea of  a refuge  for the  insane  lay at  the
very foundation of the Pennsylvania Hospital.  In  the
first clause of the charter establishing that institution,
granted February 1, 1751, by the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, the objects are stated to be "the recep-
tion and relief of lunatics and other distempered and
sick poor within the Province;" so that insanity would
appear to  have had priority to other forms of disease,
in the thoughts and purposes of the founders of that
great charity.  Accordingly, arrangements for the ac-
commodation of the insane were made at the opening 
8
of the hospital, the second patient admitted was of that
class, and this distinct  object of the institution has
been invariably kept in view from that time to the
present.
  The Pennsylvania Hospital was the first chartered
institution for the insane established in America; and
it long continued to maintain that precedence in cha-
racter and reputation which belonged to it in point of
time.  Such wTas the estimation in which it was held,
that patients were sent to it from all parts of the Pro-
vinces, and subsequently of the Union; and, for a long
series of years, the  profits derived from wealthy in-
mates of this class contributed to increase the capital
of the institution, and consequently its means of annual
outlay in the support and treatment  of the poor.
  But, in the mean time, more  enlightened opinions
in relation to the management of the insane had begun
to prevail; a wide interest was excited in the subject;
and numerous establishments were springing into ex-
istence, based upon the  new views.
  Formerly, it was customary either to neglect alto-
gether the treatment of  insanity, under the impression
that it was pure  disorder of  the mind, and therefore
immedicable, or to employ energetic remedies for the
cure of inflammation of  the brain, in which the disease
was supposed essentially to  consist.  Both  of  these
courses were erroneous, and based upon erroneous
opinions.  Insanity is probably never purely spiritual;
and though, in certain forms and  stages, it may be asso-
ciated with cerebral inflammation, it is generally alto-
gether independent  of  this,  or  any  other  observable
physical lesion.   It is essentially a simple perversion
of the sensorial  functions, through  which mind ex- 
9
presses itself.  The brain acts wrongly, and the result
is deranged intellect or feeling.   What is the precise
nature of the deranged action, thus evincing itself in
mental alienation, no man can tell;  because no man
understands how the brain acts at all as the instrument
of the mind.   This much we know—for experience
has taught  us the lesson—that the disordered action
is not of a nature to yield to  mere physical agents.
As it becomes  sensible only through irregularity in
mental phenomena, it is only through the medium of
the mind that it can be reached and rectified.   The
great principle, therefore, in the management of in-
sanity, when all signs  of physical disease have been
removed, or none have existed, is so to operate on the
mind as to produce and maintain, as far as possible,
normal trains of  thought and states of feeling, by
which healthful actions may be excited and kept up
in the brain.  The organ is thus, as it were, drawn off
from its preceding irregular course of action, to which,
under a continuance of the same influences, it has less
 and less disposition to return, until at length its mor-
bid tendencies  are entirely superseded, and a cure is
 effected.
   But how is this object to be attained]   How are
 the insane to be treated, so that their minds may be
 led into regular, healthful action 1  The consideration
 of this question brings us back to that new class of
 institutions, of which mention has been made as coming
 into  existence after the establishment of the Pennsyl-
 vania Hospital.  What is required is simply that the
 patient should be surrounded with circumstances under
 which the  desired mental condition, whether active or
 passive, shall arise spontaneously, as a natural result. 
10
 Agreeable and healthful bodily and mental occupation,
 suitable social intercourse, a guarded exercise and in-
 dulgence of the aesthetic faculties and tastes, and the
 refined gratifications of sense; these, and such as these,
 are the required agencies;  while everything must be
 sedulously avoided, which  can have  any tendency to
 bring the mind back into its morbid state.  To apply
 these agencies effectually, establishments are necessary
 in which there shall be ample space within and with-
 out, arrangements for varied labour and  amusement,
 opportunities for the requisite social and medical clas-
 sification, sufficient personal attendance to carry each
 purpose into full effect, and  the constant superintend-
 ence of one mind, capable of maintaining a consistent
 system  in the  working of the whole machinery.
   Such was not the  condition of things in the Penn-
 sylvania Hospital as originally constituted; nor, at the
 period  of its  foundation, was there probably,  in the
 whole world, an establishment in which the principle
just elucidated could be fairly carried out.  But, one
 after another, such institutions rose up, both in Europe
 and the United States, and very soon  proved, by their
 success, the immense superiority of the new system of
 managing  the insane.  The department  of our own
hospital appropriated to the insane fell, consequently,
from its former  pre-eminence on this side of the At-
lantic ;  and there was  danger that, instead of contri-
buting,  as before, to the support of the  other depart-
ments, it would become a burthen upon the resources
of the  institution,  and thus  materially  narrow the
circle  of its usefulness.
  Besides, it was no light weight on the consciences
of those upon whom the responsibility rested, to receive 
11
and treat patients afflicted with this terrible malady,
without the ability to afford them all those  means of
relief which experience had proved to be so efficacious.
It became, therefore, incumbent on  them  either to
abandon the treatment of insanity altogether, or to
place the institution on a basis, in this respect, corre-
sponding to  the  improved methods recently adopted.
But the obligations of the charter forbade the former
course; and  it only remained for them to pursue the
latter, at least so  far as might be compatible with the
resources at  their command.   Happily, there was a
reserved fund in  the vacant grounds  around the hos-
pital, which, originally purchased at a trifling cost, had,
in the progress of time and improvement, advanced so
much in value as  of themselves to afford the  means for
the attainment of this desirable end.  It was not only
an act of duty in the managers, under the considera-
tions mentioned, but it was also a wise forethought,
on the mere point of expediency, to dispose of these
grounds, and apply  the proceeds to the purchase of
the noble estate on which we stand, and the erection
of that noble edifice within view, of which we all have
so much reason to be proud.
   The first positive  step in  this direction was a reso-
lution of the contributors, at their annual meeting in
May, 1831, declaring that  it  was expedient to have
a separate hospital for  the insane.   At  subsequent
meetings, in May, 1832 and 1835, authority was given
to sell the vacant lots before referred to; and these
were accordingly disposed of as opportunity offered.
Early in 1836, the present site was  purchased;  and
on the 22d  of June, of the same year, the  corner
stone  of the  new  edifice  was laid.  This  was com- 
12
   pleted, and opened  for the  reception of patients on
   the first of January, 1841.
     Allow me to  mention here a  fact, which is the
   strongest possible proof of  the expediency  of  this
   change.  In the insane department of the old hospi-
   tal, from the year 1752, when it was first opened, to
   March 1, 1841, when it was fully transferred  to the
   new site, 4366 patients were received, of  whom 1493
   were  cured, or a little more  than one-third  of the
   whole number.  In  the new building, from its open-
   ing in 1841 to the  end of 1855, 2752 patients were
   admitted, and 1334, or somewhat  less than one-half,
   were discharged cured.  From these statistics it ap-
   pears, that not only  has the extent of operation been
   vastly increased, so that, in the last fifteen years, con-
   siderably more than  half as many patients have been
   treated as in ninety years under the old  arrangement;
   but there has  also been an increase in the ratio of
   cures  from 34 to 48  per cent.   It is .pretended by no
   one that this greater remedial efficiency is ascribable
   to any want of skill or attention  in the former treat-
   ment.  The happy result is due solely to the supe-
   riority of the  new  arrangements,  which enable the
   improved method of treating  insanity  to be  carried
   into effect.   No other fact is wanting  to satisfy the
   most  sceptical,  that the  managers  were fulfilling a
   sacred duty, in separating the insane department from
   the ordinary medical and surgical departments of the
   hospital, and in giving to the former a rural position,
   with all the requisite accessaries for the attainment of
*   the ends proposed.
     It must  be  remembered, moreover,  that  the im-
   provement has been  made without diminution of the 
13
productive fund, the income of which is employed for
the general  support of the institution.  It has been
merely an exchange of real estate, yielding nothing,
in the vicinity of the old hospital in  town, for  the
grounds  and improvements here  around  us, which,
independently of the  buildings, will, ere long, proba-
bly far  exceed in money value what  was sold, and,
besides, have been yielding, and will continue inde-
finitely to yield an incalculable income of good to the
community, in the cure and comfort of the insane.
   Another  important consideration,  in reference to
the operations of the institution,  is that, out of the
proceeds  derived from  the wealthy boarders, which
are much less than the same  accommodations would
cost in a private establishment, not only are the im-
mediate expenses of this class of patients  defrayed,
but an excess remains sufficient for  the support of a
considerable number of poor patients who  can  pay
nothing, and a still larger number  of others in strait-
 ened circumstances, who are received for  a charge
less than the actual cost.   Thus, in  the fifteen years
which have elapsed  since the commencement of the
present arrangements, nearly  700  of the former class,
and 1000 of the latter have  been admitted; and, to
speak in round  numbers, out of  110,000 dollars ex-
pended on  the free patients, about 70,000 have been
the earnings of  the institution, and 40,000 have been
drawn from the general income of the hospital, or at
 the rate of nearly 3000 dollars a year.  This amount
is not more than the poor insane  may be considered
 as having a right to  call  for; and there is  reason to
hope that it may be considerably diminished, if not
 reduced to  nothing, in the future working of the esta- 
14
 blishment.  According to the Report for 1855, the
 deficiency to be supplied out of the general income
 of the hospital was less than 2000 dollars.
   It  is not my wish to pronounce a eulogy on the
 Pennsylvania  Hospital  for the Insane.  It is before
 you in all its beauty, excellence, and  usefulness;  and
 you can judge of it for yourselves.   I would merely
 observe that, by its establishment, if we  have not re-
 gained the pre-eminence lost before it was undertaken,
 we have at least placed ourselves  upon a  footing with
 our contemporaries; and I can honestly declare  that,
 among the many institutions for  the  insane  which I
 have visited, whether in  the United States, in Great
 Britain, or on  the Continent of Europe, though there
 are not a few  exceeding ours  in magnitude, and the
 number of their inmates,  I  have seen none  which,
 taking all points into consideration, the beauty of its
 site, the neatness of its internal and external arrange-
 ments, and the appropriateness of its various appli-
 ances to the end in view, has approached so nearly
 my notions of  perfection as the one before us.
  But I have  yet to speak of the particular purpose
 for which we are now assembled.
  Much less than one-half  of the land purchased for
 the site of the Pennsylvania  Hospital for the Insane
 has been occupied for the special  purposes of the in-
 stitution.   The wall surrounding  it  encloses  only
 about forty acres; while  more than seventy have re-
mained unemployed except for farming. But the rapid
 extension of the city has vastly increased the value
of this, as of all other  land in its immediate neigh-
bourhood.  It  has become, then, a question, whether
some immediate advantage  might  not be  gained from 
15
this augmented value.   Is it to be entirely neglected,
and a large capital of charity thus allowed to lie un-
productive \  This would seem to be wasting a sacred
fund  entrusted  to  the  keeping  of  the managers.
Ought not these surplus grounds to be sold, and the
income of their proceeds applied to the relief of the
poor sick and insane 1.  There are two objections to
this course.
   In  the first place, the property, if suffered to lie,
will  probably, at some future time, acquire a value
far exceeding any amount that could now be obtained
for it, even  with  the interest superadded;  and the
Managers might well  doubt  whether they would be
justified  in foregoing this prospective benefit.
   Secondly, the existence in a compact body of more
than one hundred acres of ground, in the midst  of the
city,  may serve hereafter the  purposes  of  a great
park,  such as will probably  not be otherwise  se-
cured.   Nothing conduces more  to the healthfulness
of large towns, than  the  influence of open spaces,
clothed with a luxuriant vegetation.   They are  said
to be the lungs of cities.   They are something more.
They not only, like the lungs, supply fresh air, and
aid  in  throwing  off  that which  is foul,  in  other
words, perform the  office of ventilation; but, through
the agency of vegetable  growth, serve positively to
purify the atmosphere, by absorbing and converting
into  organized matter the noxious gases contained
in it.  The large extent of  surface  covered by the
city of Philadelphia, compared  with  the number of
its inhabitants, and the  grassy  plots, adorned with
shrubbery and  trees,  which  occupy,  in  countless
numbers, the unbuilt interspaces, are probably one of 
16
 the  main causes of her extraordinary healthfulness.
 To retain  this immense advantage, it will be neces-
 sary to obviate the inevitable concentrating effect of
 increased population and  business, by seizing  every
 opportunity  incidentally offered of preserving large
 open spaces; and an  admirable opportunity of this
 kind is here  presented.  To prevent disease  is even
 better than to cure it; and by so occupying these ex-
 tensive grounds as to  preclude a crowded population
 upon them, the hospital will be acting in conformity
 with the spirit, if not with the literal purposes of its
 institution.   It is even  not an extravagant supposi-
 tion, that more lives  may be saved  by  the  general
 salubrity thus secured, than by applying the proceeds
 of the sale of the land to the treatment of the sick.
  If, then, the land is  not  to be sold, what profitable
 disposition can be made of it, so as not to suffer the
 capital invested in it, which is its  present pecuniary
 value,  to lie  idle and  useless'?  Happily the success
 of the first great  experiment has suggested an appli-
 cation, conformable in all  respects to the proper ob-
jects of the institution.  The present hospital for the
 insane is full to  overflowing.  During the past year
 not less  than fifty .patients have been denied admis-
 sion, from the impossibility of doing them justice in
 the crowded state of the apartments.   Why not then
 extend the establishment %   Why not appropriate the
 unemployed  ground  to  the same purpose as that
 already occupied, and repeat upon  the  seventy  re-
 maining acres the experiment which has proved so
 successful on the  forty now occupied]
  Other considerations come to enforce  this sugges-
 tion.   From  statistical reports it appears  that, while 
17
in the State of Pennsylvania there are between 2500
and 3000 persons affected with one or another form
of mental alienation, there  is at present, within the
same limits, a capacity in the various institutions for
not more than 930.   Again, experience has  esta-
blished the fact, beyond  possibility of contradiction,
that the treatment of the insane in hospitals, while
it relieves families of a vast burthen of suffering and
responsibility,  is  also  most effective.   Of  patients
admitted at a  sufficiently  early  period  of  the dis-
ease, there  are  grounds for believing that about 80
per cent, may be restored to reason; and, if the ratio
of cure, as exhibited in the hospital reports, be much
less than this, it is because  a  resort to such institu-
tions is often postponed beyond the period at which
a cure can be reasonably  expected under any  circum-
stances.  Every day of detention  at home,  after an
insane patient has become a proper subject for hospi-
tal treatment, is so  much taken from  the chances of
an ultimate cure.   Thousands, and probably tens  of
thousands, have been condemned to hopeless insanity
by the  impossibility of obtaining access to a  suitable
hospital, or the unwillingness of friends, through an
unhappy prejudice, to  take  advantage of the oppor-
tunity when offered.  This prejudice has been rapidly
disappearing, under the  cheering influences of the
present modes of treatment;  and the means of relief
have  consequently  become inadequate  to  the de-
mand.   It  would seem,  therefore, to  be  a  manifest
duty to make further provision for patients so utterly
incapacitated for the care of themselves.  It may  be
said that  this duty belongs to the public generally.
This may be true.   But, if neglected  by the public,
     2 
18
it  no less remains incumbent  upon all individually
who are competent to its performance; and corporate
bodies, created in part for this  very object, are under
a special obligation to let no favourable opportunity
pass of promoting it.
  To condense this course  of  argument;—here are
vacant grounds which can be applied to no other pur-
pose so  appropriately;  the excellence  of the plan
already carried into effect has been fully tested; the
demands for relief from the suffering insane  exceed
the capacity of existing arrangements;  and the duty
attaches undeniably to the corporators of the hospital
to extend its beneficent  influence as far as possible.
The inference is  unavoidable  that efforts should  be
made to establish a  counterpart  of  the institution
which has proved  so  efficient for  good; and,  that it
should occupy preferably the present locality,  follows
not only  from what has been already said of its pecu-
liar  applicability  to the  purpose,  but also from the
consideration, that the arrangements of the existing
establishment may, in some  degree, be extended over
that proposed, with little additional cost.
  Accordingly, both  the managers and contributors
of the hospital have felt that this duty was incumbent
upon them;  and, at the regular meeting of the latter
in the spring of the past year, it was  unanimously
resolved  at least to make an attempt to carry such a
project into effect.
   But how were  the necessary funds to be  raised %
Those  at the  command  of the Board  were already
fully occupied, and could not  justly be diverted to
another purpose.  The State and the City were loaded
with debt; and no aid could be reasonably expected 
19
from either of these sources.  Nothing remained but
an appeal to individuals.  This was resolved on; and
you all know with what promptitude  and zeal it was
made, and with what alacrity it has been answered.
Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars were needed
for the  completion of the proposed hospital;  and it
was determined by the managers to do nothing until
one hundred and  fifty thousand should be subscribed,
which it was believed would be sufficient to secure
the  ultimate accomplishment  of  the object.  Sub-
scriptions to  the amount of one hundred and  seventy
thousand  have been  already obtained.    Upon this
basis the work has been commenced; and we are now
met  to witness the laying of the corner stone.
   Before  we part, let me urge upon all who hear me,
or whom these  remarks may reach, some considera-
tions in reference to the completion of the proposed
amount of subscription.   Eighty thousand  dollars
are yet required. Is it possible  that,  in a  commu-
nity so large, so wealthy,  and so liberal as that of
Philadelphia, and the  adjacent counties, which  are
not less interested than the city itself, so great a want,
at so small  a cost, should not be supplied?  What
has  been already contributed will, it  is supposed, be
sufficient to  raise the walls of the edifice, and put it
under roof.  Will Philadelphians  be content to let it
stand at that point %   What one of us, with  a  dollar
to spare, could pass by the unfinished building, want-
ing but a comparatively small  sum of money to ren-
der it a secure haven for the saddest form of human
wretchedness, and not involuntarily thrust his hand in
his pocket for that last dollar as a contribution! What
one of  us, passing with a  stranger, and asked what 
20
meant that great unfinished and desolate structure,
would not hang his head with shame as he answered,
" That is an hospital for the insane, which awaits but
a scanty liberality on the part of our citizens for its
completion ]"  There can be no doubt that it will be
ultimately completed.  But time  is precious in such
an enterprise; and I would excite prompt action, in
order that there  may be no suspension of the work,
and that the time may never arrive, when sheer shame
will be the prompting impulse to our benevolence.
  I would appeal to your public spirit as Philadelphi-
ans.   Is there one among us insensible to the honour
which has accrued to  our city from the hospital already
in operation, known creditably everywhere, resorted to
by the afflicted from  every section of our country, and
eminent for its excellence among all that is most ex-
cellent of the  same kind upon the earth]   Is it not
incumbent upon us to do what we can to maintain this
reputation, nay, even to extend it, so that, in the great
race of improvement which is  now, the world  over,
trying to the utmost the capacities of civilized com-
munities, we may keep neck and neck with  the fore-
most]  Besides, it is not honour alone that we gain.
Even in a mere business point of view, we shall pro-
bably be no losers by the required expenditure.   The
visitors and sojourners  attracted to  our  city, and the
disbursement, in various ways, on account of patients
from a  distance, would go  far to counterbalance any
pecuniary loss, and might even yield to the community
in general a profit on the outlay.
   I would appeal also  for  aid to your sentiments of
philanthropy and Christian benevolence.  Simply re-
member that you are contributing to the relief of one 
21
of the greatest evils, if not the very  greatest, apart
from crime, which can afflict humanity, and which can
be so effectually relieved in no other way; remember,
too, that the profit derived from the wealthy, through
your liberality, will, in conformity with former expe-
rience, overflow in  abundance  to the  needy and the
destitute, and  you will not, I trust,  withhold your
hand from the necessary offering.
   Finally, let me direct your attention to the personal
interest which every one of us has in the success of
the enterprise.  We are all liable, in our own persons,
or in the persons of those nearest and dearest to us, to
be attacked with this dire malady, especially afflictive
when confined to our own homes, where the authority,
skill, and various  appliances are wanting which are
most conducive to a cure.  Assuredly we must all de-
sire, under such circumstances, the opportunities best
calculated for our comfort and speedy relief;  and these
can be commanded, even by the most wealthy, only in
great public establishments. We must  also, in general,
unquestionably prefer institutions in  our own neigh-
bourhood, with the character and management of
which we are familiar, and where a friendly eye may
always be over us, to those distant and unknown.  Our
own hospital already in operation meets, it may be said,
these requisitions.   But it is full to overflowing; and
we can never be assured of prompt admission, when
it may be most needed. We have, therefore, a private
and peculiar interest in the provision of other facili-
ties, and consequently in the speedy completion of the
undertaking now begun. If every one would subscribe
simply in proportion to this special interest of his own,
 the desired end would be attained.   Fifteen cents for 
22
each inhabitant of Philadelphia would amount to the
requisite sum.  But it is not to the poor that I would
have recourse.  I appeal only to the prosperous and
the wealthy.   Four hundred  individuals have contri-
buted the whole amount already subscribed; assuredly
there is a sufficient number left of the charitable, the
liberal, and, I may add, the just, to make up the defi-
ciency;  and may we not reasonably hope that they who
have already given of their superfluity,  will have ex-
perienced so sweet a reward in their consciousness  of
a good deed, as to be disposed to make a new invest-
ment at so  high a usury?
  Imagine some ten or fifteen years to have elapsed,
and the plan, now in its inception, to have been carried
into full and  complete execution.   Imagine that we
are here again assembled, perhaps to celebrate some
anniversary of this very  occasion,  to look  upon and
enjoy the work of our own hands.   What would be
the vision presented]  I  can behold it now. Around
us is a wide and picturesque expanse of more than one
hundred acres, beautiful with  groves,  grassy lawns
and meadow, and all the tasteful ornature of park and
garden;  secluded from the sights and sounds of the
thronged city investing it, except that here  and there,
through breaks in the leafy screen, glimpses may be
caught of house-top, spire, or distant column of smoke,
serving but to render the sweets of the seclusion still
sweeter  by the contrast.   In the midst of this rural
beauty, two noble edifices arise, each with its subordi-
nate structures, and surrounded by its own  lawns and
gardens; the  one but partially visible from the other
through intervening groves; and separated from each
other, and from the outer world, by a protecting wall, 
23
so distant, however, and so situated in depressed sinu-
osities of the grounds, that  it is scarcely seen by the
inmates, and never so as to suggest to them the idea
of restriction or  confinement.  Within  these stately
edifices are ample apartments; hall, drawing-room,
chamber, and office, all suitably furnished, with neat-
ness,  cleanliness,  and order reigning throughout; the
buildings  themselves massive and substantial, proof
against fire, well heated, ventilated, drained, and wa-
tered;  and yet with  nothing visible of the hidden
agencies—the furnace, the engine, the ventilating fan.
the sewers,pipes, tanks, &c, by which these conditions,
so promotive of comfort and health, are brought about.
Here and there  in the grounds may be seen, in the
one section women, in the other men, all respectably
clad, walking, riding, driving, or  perhaps  engaged in
horticultural labour, or other useful or amusing occu-
pation.  Within the buildings are numerous inmates,
scattered  or  in  groups, sometimes solitary in their
chambers, sometimes socially gathered in the common
apartments, reading, conversing, musing, or working,
occasionally  cheered with music, now circling in the
dance, and now listening to lecture or recitation; the
whole to the eye a well-ordered family, with no appa-
rent  restraint, no hurry or confusion, yet all with  a
watchful care around them, ever ready to  guard against
irregularities, and to check every evil indication in the
bud.  Few, not in the secret, would imagine that here
was a community of the insane; that all these internal
and external fitnesses, beauties, elegancies, and varied
appliances were but remedial means to correct or alle-
viate the miseries of mental alienation; and that there
was here in  slow but constant operation  a course of 
24
treatment for this dread malady, successful beyond the
conception of former times, and in most happy contrast
with the strict confinement, the excessive medication,
and the various other miseries which were then mis-
takenly deemed the surest avenues to health.   Look
on this picture, my friends, and ask yourselves whether
its realization would not be much more than an equi-
valent for any pecuniary sacrifice you may be disposed
to offer, and whether it would not  yield to you more
deep and heartfelt pleasure, than all the fleeting grati-
fication of any purely selfish wish which the money
might command, if withheld from this noble purpose. 
25
     REMARKS OF MORTON M'MICHAEL, ESQ.

  At the close of Dr. Wood's address, the President
introduced Morton M'Michael, Esq., who said that

  The declining sun, the gathering shadows, the cool
autumnal air, and the damp ground on which the com-
pany had already been too long standing, admonished
him not to detain them by any remarks of his; but,
if it were otherwise, the opening statement of the Pre-
sident, the eloquent address of the Mayor, and the
clear, precise, and forcible manner in which the whole
subject of the  Hospital for the Insane had been pre-
sented by Dr. Wood, as well in its past history as its
present condition and future prospects, had really left
him nothing to add to what  had already been so well
expressed.   Indeed, said Mr. M'M., if  the  time  and
the place were propitious to further speaking, which
they were not, the exposition given by Dr. Wood of
the  character  and importance of the institution had
been so ample, his commentary on its value as a reme-
dial agency had been so  complete and judicious, and
his appeal for  additional aid in its behalf so earnest
and touching, that he would feel inclined to say but
little more than Amen to all he had uttered.  There
was one topic  upon which Mr. M'M. was glad to have
the  opportunity of saying a word, and that was  the
unexpected presence of one who, more than any other
living person, man or woman, was entitled to be called 
26
the friend  of the insane poor.  He alluded to Miss
Dix, who had yesterday arrived from England, and,
coming over to Philadelphia on a visit, had readied
the city just in time to be present at the ceremony of
laying the  corner-stone of an  institution intended, in
part, to promote the object to which she had so nobly
dedicated her life.  Mr. M'M. was sure that all who
heard him  would unite with him in offering a cordial
welcome to one who had given fresh dignity to the
character of her sex, by showing what even a feeble
woman, inspired by a holy philanthropy and a single-
minded purpose to do good, could accomplish.  There
was one other observation which Mr. M'M. desired to
offer, and it was that, in his judgment, no institution,
public or private, at  home or abroad, had ever been
better managed than the Pennsylvania Hospital.  The
very respectable and highly intelligent gentlemen who
compose its Board of Directors, prompted by the purest
and  most unselfish  motives, have devoted themselves
to its interests with a zeal and vigor that merited the
success they had achieved; and its medical staff—fitly
illustrated by the distinguished physician who had just
addressed them—had always been pre-eminent for skill
and fidelity.  In this latter particular, the Insane De-
partment had been singularly fortunate.  Succeeding
to a long line of able and accomplished, and, in some
instances, illustrious men, whose memories survived in
the good deeds they had wrought, Dr. Kirkbride, the
present Superintendent of the hospital, had brought
to the discharge  of his grave and delicate  duties a
liberally  cultivated  mind and thorough  professional
training,  and these  and other good qualities he had
given to the service in which he engaged with a gene- 
27
rosity that knew no stint, and an industry that nothing
could tire.   Mr. M'M. spoke of that which he knew
when he said that to the exertions which that gentle-
man had made—to the absorbing interest he felt in
this paramount  pursuit of his existence, and to the
resulting labors  which that interest had produced—to
the enthusiasm  in the cause, which  had enabled him
to pass through  many trials and to overcome all diffi-
culties—to  the  diligence,  the faithfulness,  the con-
scientiousness, and the  energy he had manifested at
all times and under all circumstances, the community
was largely indebted  for a  Hospital for the Insane,
which, as they had just heard on the most competent
authority, had no superior, and probably no equal;
and the same community would be still more large! y
indebted hereafter for the  new  structure, with all its
attendant blessings and benefits, whose inauguration
they had met to-day to witness and commemorate.
   In conclusion, Mr. M'M. congratulated the citizens
of Philadelphia on the possession of an institution so
wisely founded,  so liberally endowed, so munificently
supported, so  ably administered, and so productive of
unspeakable advantages as the Pennsylvania Hospital.
  Among the pleasant incidents connected with this
interesting occasion, in addition to  that already re-
ferred to—the company of Miss  D. L. Dix, who, after
a most extensive journey throughout the continent of
Europe in the cause of the insane,  arrived from her
voyage only the night before, and just in time to be 
28
present at the ceremony—was  the presence of the
Medical Superintendents of  five  hospitals  for the
insane,  a number of Managers of several institutions
of the same character, a large representation of the
ladies and gentlemen who are actively connected with
the direction of our charitable and benevolent institu-
tions, and about fifty of the patients  at  that  time
resident in the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane,
all of whom manifested a deep interest in the prompt
and successful prosecution of this great work for the
relief of human suffering.

  The first stone of  the building was laid on the 7th
day of  July, 1856,  and  at  the time of laying  the
corner-stone, the foundation walls  of the southern
half of  the structure,  and of the engine-house and
laundry, were nearly completed.  If sufficient funds
are provided, the whole will be  under roof in 1857,
and ready for the reception of patients at the close of
the following year. 
29
  Subscriptions  and donations will be received by
any member of the Board of Managers or of the Col-
lecting Committee, by John T. Lewis, Treasurer, No.
135 South Front Street, or by Dr. Thomas S. Kirk-
bride, at the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane.


  Legacies, intended to promote the  objects of the
new hospital, should be given  in the corporate name
of the institution, viz: to "The Contributors to the
Pennsylvania Hospital," and  should specify that
they are " to be devoted to extending and  improving
the accommodations for the insane." 
30
              COLLECTING  COMMITTEE.

Mordecai L. Dawson, Spruce Street, west of Broad.
Frederick Brown, Chestnut and Fifth Streets.
James R. Greeves, Chestnut and Seventeenth Streets.
John Farnum, No. 257 Arch Street.
Mordecai D. Lewis,  No. 328 Chestnut Street.
William Biddle, N. W. corner of  Eleventh and Arch Streets.
John M. Whitall, No. 161 Filbert Street.
A. J. Derbyshire, No. 65 North Water Street.
Samuel Mason, Franklin Institute Building.
S. Morris Wain, 35  South Delaware Avenue.
Samuel Welsh, 262 Spruce Street.
Joseph S. Lewis, 403 Spruce Street.
John T. Lewis, 135 South Front Street.
Thomas S. Kirkbride, M. D., Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane.
William Welsh, 406 Spruce Street.
Frederick Fraley, office of Schuylkill Navigation Company.
Edward Yarnell, Twelfth and George Streets.
Wistar Morris, 85 South Third Street.
Horatio C. Wood, 210 Race Street.
Thomas T. Tasker, Fifth Street, below Franklin.
J. Pemberton Hutchinson, 395 Walnut Street.
Joshua W. Ash, M. D., Yine Street, near Eighteenth.
John Livezey, No. 421| Arch Street.
John P. Crozer, Delaware County.
James M. Linnard,  Chestnut Street, West Philadelphia.
Joseph Warner, 225 North Fourth Street.
Thomas  Sparks, Jr., 35 Walnut,  231 Spruce Street.