A Psychiatric Milestone: Bloomingdale Hospital Centenary, 1821-1921
History
A Psychiatric Milestone: Bloomingdale Hospital Centenary, 1821-1921
Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane; Mental illness
A hundred years of growth and activity in the work thus established have
now been accomplished, and it seemed fitting to the Governors of the
Hospital that the event should be commemorated in a way that would be
appropriate to its significance and importance. It was decided that the
principal place in the celebration should be given to the purely medical
and scientific aspects of the work, with special reference to the
progress which had been made in the direction of the practical
usefulness of psychiatry in the treatment of illness generally, and in
the management of problems of human behavior and welfare. Arrangements
were made for four addresses by physicians of conspicuous eminence in
their particular fields, and invitations to attend the exercises were
sent to the leading psychiatrists, psychologists, and neurologists of
America, and to others who were known to be specially interested in the
field of study and practice in which the Hospital is engaged. It was
felt that, in view of the place which France and England had held in the
movement in which Bloomingdale Asylum had its origin, it would add
greatly to the interest and value of the celebration if representatives
of these countries were present and made addresses. How fortunate it
was, then, that it became possible to welcome from France Dr. Pierre
Janet, who stands pre-eminent in the field of psychopathology, and from
England Dr. Richard G. Rows, whose contributions to the study and
treatment of the war neuroses and to the relation between psychic and
physical reactions marked him as especially qualified to present the
more advanced view-point of British psychiatry. The other two principal
addresses were made by Dr. Adolf Meyer, who, by reason of his scientific
contributions and his wonderfully productive practical work in clinical
and organized psychiatry and in mental hygiene, is the acknowledged
leader of psychiatry in America, and by Dr. Lewellys F. Barker, who,
because of his eminence as an internist and of the extent to which he
has advocated and employed psychiatric knowledge and methods in his
practice, has contributed greatly to interesting and informing
physicians concerning the value and importance of psychiatry in general
medical practice. The addresses given by these distinguished physicians,
representing advanced views in psychiatry held in Europe and America,
were peculiarly appropriate to the occasion and to the object of the
celebration. They were supplemented by an historical review of the
origin and development of the Hospital and of its work by Mr. Edward W.
Sheldon, President of the Society of the New York Hospital, and by a
statement concerning the medical development, made by Dr. William L.
Russell, the Medical Superintendent. The greetings of the New York
Academy of Medicine were presented in an interesting address by Dr.
George D. Stewart, President of the Academy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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