(Excerpt from Memoir of Isaac Ray, M.D., LL. D: Read Befor...)
Excerpt from Memoir of Isaac Ray, M.D., LL. D: Read Before the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, July 6, 1881 It was at this time, while living in Eastport, that Dr. Ray first had his interest excited on the subject of insanity and the treatment of the insane, and especially in reference to matters connected with the branch of medical jurispru dence relating to it. The prevalent views on all these sub jects were then far behind what are common at the present day, and led Dr. Bay to prepare a work, The Jurisprudence of Insanity, since generally recognized as one of the highest authorities in this department of medicolegal knowledge, and quoted alike by alienists, lawyers, and all others inter ested in the subject, at home and abroad. No better evi dence of its being generally appreciated need be given than the fact that six editions of it have been exhausted in this country, while it was a source of grief to Dr. Ray that his condition of health rendered it impossible for him to prepare a seventh, which had been asked for by his publishers, and for which he had on hand interesting and important. Mate rials. The steady increase of popularity attained by The Jurisprudence of Insanity, as might have been anticipated, led to a change in the tone of the criticisms made in regard to it. From being originally adverse in many quarters, they became highly cornmendatory everywhere. Dr. Ray was appointed Medical Superintendent of the State Hospital for the Insane at Augusta, Maine, in the year 1841, and this led to his permanent removal from Eastport. He immediately assumed the duties of this position, residing in the institution, till he was invited by the Board of Trus tees of the Butler Hospital at Providence, Rhode Island which was then about to be organized-to become its Super intendent. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(Excerpt from On the Construction, Organization, and Gener...)
Excerpt from On the Construction, Organization, and General Arrangements of Hospitals for the Insane The proper custody and treatment of the insane, are now recognized as among the duties which every State owes to its citizens; and as a consequence, structures for the special accommodation of those laboring under mental disease, provided at the general expense, and under the supervision of the public authorities, will probably before any long period, he found in every one of the United States. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Kirkbride was born on July 31, 1809 on a farm in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of John and Elizabeth (Story) Kirkbride. His parents were the members of Religious Society of Friends, his paternal ancestors having come to America with William Penn.
Thomas received a classical education under Jared D. Tyler of Trenton, studied under the mathematician, John Gummere, at Burlington, and later began his medical preparation with Dr. Nicholas Belleville of Trenton. Subsequently, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania and in 1832 received the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
About 1832 Kirkbride became resident physician at the Friends' Asylum for the Insane, at Frankford, a suburb of Philadelphia, and in 1833 he was appointed resident physician of the Pennsylvania Hospital, where he supervised the treatment of the mentally diseased. After two years there, he engaged in general practice in Philadelphia until October 1840, when he was elected physician-in-chief and superintendent of the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, a department of the Pennsylvania Hospital, for which a separate building had just been erected. This position he held until his death, forty-three years later.
Here he met novel problems with such executive ability and sympathetic understanding as to make his influence in the field of mental disorders a lasting one. The period in which he flourished has been termed "the Renaissance in psychiatry, " and Kirkbride put into his institution the advanced ideas that insanity is a disease to be treated in a hospital (not in an asylum); that occupational therapy would "restore mental health, tranquilize the restlessness and mitigate the sorrows of disease"; and that patients should be individualized and respected as persons who appreciate libraries, lectures, and courtesy. He prepared and published in 1844 a set of rules for those employed in the care of the insane. In 1847 he issued a small work, Remarks on the Construction and Arrangements of Hospitals for the Insane; a larger work, On the Construction, Organization and General Arrangements of Hospitals for the Insane, appeared in 1854; and a more extensive edition, with some remarks on insanity and its treatment in 1880. He also contributed to the American Journal of Insanity and the American Journal of the Medical Sciences. He served for some time as trustee of the first state hospital in Pennsylvania, and of the Pennsylvania Institute for the Blind. In 1844 with other specialists he established the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane.
Thomas Story Kirkbride was known for his contribution to the development of treatments for mentally ill people. His theories of hospital design, known as the Kirkbride Plan, were described in his famous book "On the Construction, Organization and General Arrangements of Hospitals for the Insane" (1854). The "Kirkbride plan" for building hospitals for mental cases was widely adopted. Thomas was also the founder of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane.
(Excerpt from On the Construction, Organization, and Gener...)
(Excerpt from Memoir of Isaac Ray, M.D., LL. D: Read Befor...)
Kirkbride was the secretary of Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for eight years, and its president for a like term.
Kirkbride was a man of medium height with a rather frail body. He was "gentle as a woman, firm as adamant. " Among his most conspicuous qualities were continuing enthusiasm and the power to formulate his ideas definitely and clearly. To Quaker inheritance and training may be ascribed his tranquility and his tenacity in holding to a course which was guided by an inner light.
Kirkbride was twice married: first in 1839 to Ann West Jenks of Philadelphia, who died in 1862, and four years after her death, in 1866, he married Eliza Butler.
