Work in the Wards
G. Friendly Talk with a New Patient. Visiting Day at the Asylum. Made Whole. A Parting Address to Convalescents on leaving an Asylum. :Authore: Asylum Attendants.
There is, perhaps, no discharge of the clerical office demanding more care and tact than that of a Chaplain to an Asylum, and his is a singularly delicate, trying, and difficult position. He must be a psychologist in the highest sense. Dealing with the human intelligence in its saddest aspect?with minds intellectually and morally dis- organised, Avith reason either trembling upon its throne or prostrate at its base, a shattered and a ruined mind?he must be a mental philo- sopher and a sound theologian of no ordinary character.
The Rev. H. Hawkins, to whose ready and practical pen we are indebted for these publications, has established his claim as a true type of his responsible office as Chaplain of one of our most important and popular asylums. It is interesting and instructive to observe with what experience and tact he has met each stage of his melancholy yet most benevolent mission. The Friendly Talk which greets the in- coming patient is admirably calculated to soothe the sense of isola- tion and loneliness, and fill the desponding mind with the’ sunshine of hope; at the same time conveying practical instructions bearing upon the duties and privileges of a difficult and untried position. Not less needed and valuable are the hints embodied in the Visit- ing Day at the Asylum, regulating the intercourse with the patients of relatives and friends whose affection and sympathy bring them to the institution. Much wisdom and caution are needed here. The import- ance of assuming a cheerful air, of speaking in tones of encouragement, ?of studiously avoiding allusion to the cause of the malady?above all, gently leading the disturbed mind to a contemplation of the Father- hood of God, are dwelt upon in this little work with remarkable skill and tenderness.
But if our author welcomes with words of greeting the incoming patient, not less affectionate and instructive are his parting counsels to the outgoing one. Not satisfied with an earnest discharge of his anxious duties in the sick room and the lonely ward, when discharged convalescent, to mingle once more with the outer world, Mr. Hawkins follows his parishioner?for so we must term him?to his restored home with words of counsel well calculated to avert a relapse of the terrible malady.
Made Whole, a parting address to the convalescent patient, is the touching endearment of his affectionate farewell. He is earnestly and tenderly exhorted to avoid all those predisposing causes which first originated the calamity, and to pursue such a course o? virtue, activity, and occupation as is best calculated to promote the physical, mental, and moral well-being of the patient.
Work in the Wards by Asylum Attendants, we consider the clief d’ceuvre of our author. It is here his sound practical wisdom and true piety pre-eminently appear. It is the rich result of a long ex- perience in the duties of an asylum?to quote his own words, “many years engaged in the field of duty “?and who therefore speaks with authority and force of a veteran in one of the most difficult and deli- cate missions that could possibly be confided to human hands. This concise but comprehensive little manual of instructions should be adopted as a text-book in all our hospitals, sanatoriums, and asylums throughout the land; a copy placed in the hands of all who devote themselves to the noble art of alleviating physical disease, but especi- ally to the most terrible form of all maladies?the mental.
But if there is one charm in these little works more attractive than another, it is the healthful, moral and religious tone which per- vades their pages. The author has discovered the grand secret of mental repose, which it were well for all to study to whom is entrusted the difficult but benevolent task of ” ministering to a mind diseased.” He enriches his work with apposite quotations from the sacred writ- ings, and culled with much judgment and taste. We cannot take leave of Mr. Hawkins without expressing our acknowledgment for his able and successful contributions to what may be termed the ” moral and practical literature of the insane.” We should esteem it a happy circumstance were the valuable publications we have thus briefly and imperfectly noticed made to flood every similar institution throughout the world.
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