Dr. Bucknill, the eminent English specialist who quotes this pas-
sage in his work on The Care of the Insane^ published by Macmil-
lan in 1880, says further on the same subject : —

It has long been the accepted doctrine that insanity can only be
treated curatively in asylums. But it must not be forgotten that
most of the works on the treatment of insanity have been written
by medical men connected with asylums, who, without insincerity,
might express opinions founded upon their own limited knowledge.
A wider knowledge of insanity as it occurs among the upper and
middle classes would have taught them that a very considerable num-
ber of cases of actual insanity run a short course, and recover in
domestic life, with no great amount of treatment, and that not, per-
haps, of a very scientific kind. . . . But the experience of the Lord
Chancellor's visitors proves that judiciously selected cases of tran-
quil lunacy may be made more comfortable and happy in very homely
places of residence, and at a very moderate cost. Therefore, the
development of this system is not for the advantage of the rich alone,
but for that of all lunatics who are easily manageable and are not
dangerous ; and it is in the development of this system of domestic
treatment that the greatest promise lies of the largest possible amel-
ioration of the unhappy lot of those afflicted with mental disease.
