There are few minds, even amongst the insane, who are not accessible to the salutary influence of this kind and liberal mode of proceeding. It is true, that many paupers, who have long been subjected to a very different system, are scarcely receptive of any of the impressions which belong to human nature; but with a higher class of patients, this can seldom or never be the case, unless it be in cases of absolute dementia. Even in the height of the most furious paroxysms, it is astonishing how much may be done by liberality and kindness. Nothing but absolute necessity should justify absolute restraint. It must always be considered as an evil to which we are reduced, in order to avoid a greater. Whenever it is unnecessary, and continued too long, it will do more harm than good: the furious will be made more furious, and the suicide more determined to effect his purpose. Whenever the patient is indulged with more liberty and behaves better, we must have forbearance to the utmost extent, and submit to all possible risks, losses, and expenses, rather than again have recourse to it; and when it is repeated, the patient must be made, if possible, to feel that it is deserved. Their faults, like those of children, must be viewed with pity. They are the wild displays of feeling, without understanding. We must make excuses for them; often overlook, as often visit them slightly, only seldom with seriousness, and always with moderation, justice, and prudence. No evil is greater than the evil of constantly chiding and suspiciously watching for faults. It is an evil spirit that poisons and inflames every thing within its sphere. A contrary spirit has a healing influence; and though it requires numerous attendants, and makes the whole business of superintending the insane a source of constant and intense anxiety and solicitude, yet it is pleasing to have it in my power to state many “striking” examples of its efficacy, but I shall, notwithstanding, content myself with only slightly glancing at two or three. _No._ 372. I shall not at present give the particulars of this interesting case, except so far as is necessary for the purposes of illustration. When he came from a private Asylum, he was in a state of the most furious, destructive, and malignant excitement, and had been in this state for so many months, that he was considered by his friends as an incurable case. I attribute his cure, chiefly to his being treated with apparent confidence, and induced to work with a spade, when even in his worst state—a state so dreadful, that the least word or wrong look would have roused him to commit some dreadful act of vengeance, and it therefore required two men to be constantly in attendance to watch him, and this without appearing to do so.