3. In sending a patient to a Retreat, you place him under a better moral and mental management than he can have among his friends. There is a peculiar tact requisite for the proper management of the insane, which some seem to possess naturally, and which is much improved by actual practice. In the selection of attendants in our Retreats special regard is of course had to the possession of this qualification. The attendants are therefore skilful in managing the insane mind. They are free from those errors which are so common in the community in relation to the treatment of insanity, and which often do so much harm to the insane while they continue under the care of their friends at their homes. Some of these errors it will be profitable to notice briefly in this connection. It is very common for the friends of the insane to attempt to _reason_ them out of their delusions. If the derangement be of a religious type, the clergyman, or some excellent friend, endeavors by argument to convince the patient of his error. This is in vain, and worse than in vain. _It uniformly does harm._ It does nothing but strengthen the patient’s confidence in his notions, and make him more earnest and obstinate in their defence. It is quite common still, though not so much so as it once was, to practice deception upon the insane. This ruinous error I comment upon in the chapter on _Veracity in our Intercourse with the Sick_, to which I refer the reader. Another error which is frequently committed, is to pursue a timid course at one time and a violent one at another, instead of one which is both mild and firm throughout. This error has been the cause of the practice of much unnecessary cruelty in the domestic treatment of the insane. These and other errors are for the most part avoided by the attendants in our Hospitals. They have no needless collisions with the patients in regard to their notions and delusions. They practice no deception upon them, but win their confidence by an open and candid intercourse. Their conduct towards them is marked with mildness, and they make use of no more restraint than is absolutely necessary, and that with calm firmness, instead of impetuous and noisy violence.