Transactions of the National Association for the Study of Epilepsy and the Care and Treatment of Epileptics at the first annual meeting held in Washington, D.C., May 14th and 15th, 1901 / edited by William Pryor Letchworth.

  • National Association for the Study of Epilespy and the Care and Treatment of Epileptics.
Date:
1901
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Transactions of the National Association for the Study of Epilepsy and the Care and Treatment of Epileptics at the first annual meeting held in Washington, D.C., May 14th and 15th, 1901 / edited by William Pryor Letchworth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    1. Too easy access of the outside world to the colony and too easy access on the part of the colonists to the outside world are both distinctly objectionable. We must recognize in the type of epileptic that comes under State care an indi- vidual abnormal in some way; at any moment, and for almost any length of time, irresponsible—a fit and worthy child of the State, requiring constantly the beneficent seclusion from society so generously provided. 2. Reasonable proximity to the centers of population is desirable, as most of the colonists will come from such cen- ters; but do not unite the colony with such centers, so as to make it easy for the epileptic to change his place of residence from colony to civil life, or for the evil influences that con- taminate densely populated districts to come easily into colony life. Temptation cannot be avoided, but in a people worthy of and under State care, its gratification may be made difficult, or perhaps impossible. 3. In studying accessibility, the transportation of supplies must not be neglected, for the cost of this service is from three to four per cent, of the total cost of the supplies—fair interest returns on large invested sums. Concisely, then, the good features under “ accessibility7* should be: seclusion of the colonists within a reasonable dis- tance of populated districts, and provisions for the best trans- portation at the minimum cost. But remember, seclusion is the main thing; for we cannot place a money value on the good to society, to the epileptic, and to a growing posterity of the effective removal from society of people of this class. Landscape architecture in connection with charitable in- stitutions is yet an undeveloped art, for the reason that a knowledge of the degree to which the ornamental features of such work should be combined with such as are practical, re- mains largely unstudied and undetermined. But I know of no