in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, which demand a very serious inquiry. The masters of these receptacles of misery, on the days that they expect their visitors, get their sane patients out of the way; or if that cannot be done, give them large doses of stupifying liquor, or narcotic draughts, that drown their faculties, and render them incapable of giving a coherent answer. A very strict eye should be kept on these gaolers of the mind; for if they do not find a patient mad, their oppressive tyranny soon makes them so there should be no such receptacle as a private madhouse allowed; and the relations and friends of the insane should be allowed to visit at all times." We do look forward with anxiety for the day, when lunatic asylums shall be managed with the same humanity, science and good sense, which have distinguished and raised the other public charities of this country above those of every other nation.

As the author very properly observes, justice and humanity are the two principles which should ever direct our treatment of lunatics. Justice will prevent us from carrying our humanity to an extent, which might endanger the safety either of property, or life; and humanity should induce us to do every thing for the comfort, as well as for the cure of the deranged, which is not incompatible with either of these objects. Enough, we presume, has been said to show that the present system of treating the insane is woefully deficient in both these points, and if the objections which have been urged against it have been well grounded, the mode in which some of them may be obviated it will not be difficult to lay down. If it be an error to entrust into the hands of non-professional men the charge of insane people -if it be an evil to associate lunatics with lunatics, without any respect to their different forms, or degrees of lunacy-if it be a defect to have lunatic houses in the uncontrolled possession of interested men-and if it be true that the present system of seclusion prevents even professional men from studying with proper attention the nature and cure of lunacy-surely these are evils well worth the people of England to investigate and to rectify, as well from the sad extent to which they are carried, as from the disastrous consequences to which they tend.

The substance of the arrangements which the Professor adopts to effect all these objects is-to place all insane persons under the care of the state -to have a lunatic asylum in each county, two in London, and one, if necessary, in any large provincial town-to have small lunatic houses in the neighbourhood of each of these asylums, which should be under the same government with the larger houses, and into which such patients might be admitted as require removal from home, but whose friends are averse from sending them to the asylum-to make every lunatic asylum the property of the state to send no lunatic to an asylum, except it were found from his relatives and friends that he could not receive proper care elsewhere-to make every lunatic asylum a school for the knowledge of lunacy-to have all the officers of these asylums appointed by, and under the control of the Secretary of State-to attach to every asylum a certain number of medical officers and keepers, who should be ready at all times to attend insane patients in their own houses-to give notice at the public asylum of the district, as soon as signs of insanity appear in any person, and, if a keeper be required, to have a certificate to that effect signed by the medical attendant on the patient's family, and some of the medical officers of the asylum-to keep

a register of every insane person, whether in or out of the asylum, and to have the out-patients visited by a medical officer from the asylum, at least twice a month in chronic, and once a week in recent cases-to have nonprofessional men as visitors attached to each asylum, who should visit the patients in the asylum once a week, those out of it twice a month, and make a monthly report of the state of each-to prohibit the reception of lunatics into work-houses, or houses kept by persons interested in keeping lunatics, and to punish all instances of concealment to so separate the insane, that no society could be held between the deranged-to allow each lunatic a keeper, who should be with him a great part of each day, to converse with, sooth, amuse, and instruct him-to open every asylum to the public from two till four, p. m., three days in the week, a keeper or house-pupil going round with the visitors-to allow free access to the friends of the insaneto have divine service regularly performed in each asylum-to lay before the Secretary of State every quarter a report of the number of patients admitted and discharged from each asylum, with the names of the out-patients and visitors.

How far these suggestions might tend to obviate the evils which have been pointed out, the reader may now be tolerably well prepared to form his own conclusion. It appears to us that, although strong exceptions may be taken against many of them, their general principle is excellent. The preposterous custom of delivering the insane into the hands of men, whose utter ignorance of mind, as well as of bodily disease, disqualifies them from taking charge of patients, who require both medical and metaphysical treatment, would thus be abandoned, and interest would be no longer allowed to traffic with liberty and life-professional men would be furnished with the means of studying every form and modification of insanity, and of preparing themselves for meeting and managing it in private life-the peculiarities, tastes, habits and propensities of individual lunatics would be carefully consulted, and every light which they might cast upon the nature of their derangement could be made available-friends would confide with comfort and satisfac tion in the integrity of those to whose care they had committed the insane, and the insane would look with confidence and affection on their attendants, as men uninfluenced by any other motive than that of discharging with humanity and success the important duties which devolved upon them. If any thing can solace the mind of a lunatic during the lucid intervals with which he is occasionally blessed, and can reconcile him to the sad bereave→ ments which he is doomed to suffer, it is his conviction that, when his lights have been extinguished and he lies helmless and hopeless upon the surge, there is a skilful hand prepared to rescue him from the tempest, or, if unable to save him, anxious to assuage his misery and to sooth his mind. And when it is remembered that the most furious insanity differs only in degree from passions, emotions and propensities, which the wisest among us are hourly betraying, and that the transition between a harmless oddity and a pernicious hallucination is as short as it is easy, those, who are blessed with the richest gift of heaven, should look with any other feeling than one of ridicule or indifference upon the distracted lunatic, and should hail with encouragement every plan which furnishes the faintest hope of ameliorating his condition, and of restoring him to reason. Dr. Conolly has espoused the interests of this most destitute class of the human race, in a style and with a

talent which are equally creditable, and we do earnestly beseech every friend of humanity and every advocate of improvement, to weigh the alterations he suggests, to consider the errors which he exposes, and to add their influence to his efforts for the relief of those, who of all patients are most unqualified to relieve themselves.

The language and style of this work are superior-very superior to those of any modern medical publication with which we are acquainted. Several of the propositions are, we think, Utopian-and, on the whole, the materials are much inferior to the workmanship.

II.

CLIMATE OF The Neilgherry, OR BLUE MOUNTAINS OF COMBATOOR, SOUTH INDIA. By James Hough, of Madras. Octavo, pp. 172. Hatchard, 1830.

THE baleful influence of an East-India climate on the constitutions of our countrymen and women is now too well known. This it is which often compels many valuable public officers prematurely to retire from a service, in which all their temporal hopes were centered-and that, perhaps, at the very time when their opening prospects were beginning to reward their toils and their assiduity. To men rendered incapable of performing their duties, suffering from disease of body and depression of mind, it must be no trifling gratification to know that, within the territories of British India, there exists a region singularly salubrious, romantic, and beautiful, where they may, with safety and with little difficulty, retire to recruit their health and vigour, without the misery and expense of time and money attendant on a long sea-voyage to Europe.

The Neilgherries were scarcely known before the year 1819, when several gentlemen, then residing at Coimbatoor, explored them, and published some accounts of these singular mountains in the India newspapers. These mountains are situated to the north-west of Coimbatoor, about eleven degrees from the Equator, and ranging 40 miles in length by 15 or 20 in breadth-the highest part being about 8000 feet above the level of the sea. The following extract from the letter of a medical gentleman, who examined the topography of this region, will be read with interest.

"The salubrity of this climate has now been fully ascertained. The incredulity that for some time prevailed on the subject was noticed in my first communication; and, considering the general prevalence of fever in mountainous regions throughout India, it must be conceded that a degree of scepticism was, for a time, not unreasonable. But it is quite inexcusable to remain incredulous after the numerous favourable reports that have been made by eminent medical officers. However, I will endeavour to enable your readers to draw the same conclusion for this inference may be anticipated from every reasonable man, that if my description of the country be correct, it must be the region of health.

In the first place, it is entirely free from those morasses and vast collections of decayed vegetables that generate miasma, which, some are of opinion, is the principal cause of fever in other mountainous regions of India. This cannot be said indeed of the passes to the Neilgherries throughout the year; since,

from February to May inclusive, their climate is as insalubrious as that of other parts of the Ghauts. But no inconvenience is to be apprehended from passing through them even at that season, unless the traveller be so imprudent as to halt there during the night and sleep; and as this may always be avoided by starting at a proper hour with sufficient means of conveyance, the existence of fever in the passes forms no exception to the favourable character given of the climate at the summit. During my residence there, two cases of the kind occurred, both which appear to have been occasioned by zeal for the public service, which detained the gentlemen longer in the unwholesome parts, than was, perhaps, absolutely necessary. However, on re-ascending the hills, both recovered." 28.

The fatal cholera has never ascended these mountains. In equability of temperature, this place surpasses that of any other country with which we are acquainted. The average range of the thermometer is about thirty degrees below that of the adjacent coasts of Malabar or Coromandel.

"In 1825, the frost commenced on the 11th of September, and prevailed, with some intermissions, until the end of the following March. This was unusually early, as it does not often appear before the middle of October. The sight of the ground covered with hoar frost is highly gratifying to an Englishman, as it revives pleasing associations that had, probably, not recurred to his mind since he left his dear native land; and, if I may be allowed to judge of others by myself, he is not displeased to have his fingers pinched by the frost, at least until this sensation ceases to be a novelty. The pools and sides of streams in the valleys are frequently covered with a thin coat of ice, which for some time resists the influence of the sun's rays. Standing water is generally frozen, and on the 13th of February I found some ice an inch and a half thick." 37.

The scenery of this interesting country it is difficult to describe in adequate language.

"It presents very little of that bleak, rugged, and barren appearance which is common to most other mountainous regions. Peringa and Maika Naads, are composed of mountains which vary greatly in their elevation. Some of these eminences are almost perpendicular, towering to the clouds, and descending in deep and terrific precipices. Their sides are occasionally bare, but more frequently covered with fine grass, a rich profusion of plants, and a short brushwood, with almost every variety of fern.

Numerous streams are seen meandering through the valleys, and might easily be turned in all directions to irrigate the fields that skirt their margins; but the inhabitants avail themselves very little of this advantage. The bold eminences are surrounded by smaller hills, whose gentle declivities are adorned with patches of cultivation, and whose ravines are filled, and summits often crowned, with groves of majestic trees." 20.

We shall conclude this short notice of the "Blue Mountains" of Hin dostan with the following extract.

"It appears by the registers which accompanied my third letter, that the marimum heat in the shade, at noon, during fourteen months, was 68° Fahrenheit. The thermometer rarely stood so high. The average for the year has been ascertained to be about 5640, whilst the extreme variation is only 120: that is from July to March the thermometer will occasionally stand at noon, both in and out of doors, at 56°; during the remaining three months it will rise as high as 68°.' There are exceptions to this estimate; the general rule is, that the thermometer does not vary two degrees, very often not a line, in a well-sheltered house, during the twenty-four hours. A visitor was once so struck with this fact, that

he seriously asked whether any thing was the matter with a thermometer which hung in his room, as he had never observed the mercury to move during his residence here. The temperature before sunrise is seldom above 50°. For many months in the year it sinks to the freezing point, occasionally below it. It was marked at 194 for three successive mornings of December 1825. Occasionally frosts are seen as early as September, and in every succeeding month until April, in the absence of rain. At times the sun is felt to be extremely oppressive in situations sheltered from the wind; but the thermometer rarely indicates a heat above 76°. The interposition of a cloud or a passing breeze, reduces the temperature considerably. Exercise may be taken on horseback by persons in health, at all hours of the day.

During the prevalence of both monsoons, that is, from the middle of June till the middle of December, very boisterous and unpleasant weather is occasionally experienced. It seldom, however, is so bad as to prevent a person from going abroad during some portion of the day. The nights are uniformly cold, so that blankets for the bed can never be dispensed with, and fires in the morning and evening are comfortable during a great part of the year, and occasionally throughout the day. These are the results of seven years' experience of the climate of the Neilgherries. In what other part of the globe is such a climate to be found? Certainly not at the Cape, where the benefit derived by invalids in the cold season is very generally lost in the hot. The same remark applies to most parts of the Isle of France. In the south of Europe, in France, even in our own country, summer heats are occasionally excessive, and the variations of climate throughout the year very great. The temperature of Van Dieman's land appears to approach nearer to that of the Neilgherries than any other we are acquainted with; but an attentive comparison of their thermometrical registers kept there will show, that even that highly favoured region does not possess a climate at once so equal and so cool throughout the year as that of these mountains.

We have then, within our own territories, a region blessed with an unequalled climate, highly beautiful and fertile, and of easy access from all the Indian Presidencies. By a road which is now in progress, the distance from Ponnany to the most elevated part of the Neilgherries that is inhabited will be about eighty-five miles. Ponnany is a sea-port on the western coast, about thirty miles south of Calicut. An invalid, therefore, leaving Calcutta at any time after the rains, would have a fair-weather voyage of fifteen or twenty days, at an expence of two hundred rupees, to the coast; and from thence, four very easy night-journeys in a palankeen would carry him to the summit of the hills. From Bombay the sea-voyage at the same season would be made in less than half the time. During the prevalence of the south west monsoon, the most eligible place of landing from both Presidencies would be Negapatam, on the eastern coast, which is eighty miles distant from Trichinopoly; and the traveller would be conducted along two hundred miles of good road, and through a populous country to the hills." 132.

There is reason to believe that the Neilgherry Mountains will prove of more importance to Britons than may, at first sight, appear. There are many people in India who have no wish to revisit their native soil-still more who dread its climate, after a long residence between the Tropicsand others still, who have not the means to return home for health. To all these, the Neilgherries present a desirable retreat in which to spend the remainder of their days, or recruit those powers of the animal machine, and even of the drooping spirit, which have been prostrated beneath the burning suns of our Indian possessions. The easy access to such an ASYLUM Of HEALTH," too, must prove a great source of consolation and hope to those who are embarking for the shores of Hindostan.

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