An account is given of the professional life of Robert Gardiner Hill before and after the publication in 1839 of his lecture on the Total Abolition of Restraint in the Treatment of the Insane. The lecture is summarized and an attempt is made to evaluate his work which has been overshadowed by that of John Connolly.
This paper was researched before the author came to North America. A library request to check that no recent work had appeared on the history of the restraint controversy produced two papers published in 1978. One roundly advocates restraint (1) the other acknowledges its widespread practice in Canada (2).
References
1.
RosenH., DiGlacomoJ.N.The role of physical restraint in treatment of psychiatric illness.J Clin Psychiatry1978; 39(3): 228–32.
2.
GuirguisE.F., DurostB.D.The role of mechanical restraints in the management of disturbed behavior.Can Psychiatr Assoc J1978; 23: 209–18.
3.
Total abolition of personal restraint in the treatment of the insane.A lecture on the management of lunatic asylums and the treatment of the insane with statistical tables. By Robert Gardiner Hill. London: Simpkin Marshall, 1839.
4.
Minute Books from 1821 — Lincoln Asylum (these are deposited in the Lincoln County Archives but some remain at the asylum now The Lawns).
5.
Lincoln Rutland and Stamford Mercury, March 23, 1855, Obituary Notice.
6.
The history and development of mechanics institutions, John Thomas LEA Research in Librarianship, 34 Norfolk St., Werneth Oldham, Pamphlet No. 2.
7.
Lincoln Lunatic Asylum Report1829.
8.
Lincoln Lunatic Asylum Report1835.
9.
Lancet, November 7, 1840.
10.
A Treatise on Insanity, James Cowles Prichard, 1835.
11.
The British and Foreign Medical Review, No 1. (precursor of Quarterly Journal of Medicine).
12.
Ibid, No XVII, Article VI.
13.
Lincoln Lunatic Asylum Report1843.
14.
WalkA.Lincoln and non restraint.Br J Psychiatry1970; 117: 481–96.
15.
Personal Communication, F.H. Thompson, Assistant Secretary Society of Antiquaries.
16.
Personal Communication, Joan P.S. Ferguson, Librarian, Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh.
17.
Medical Superintendents Second Annual Report, cited in Lincoln Lunatic Asylum Report 1841.
