The Principal Abuses and Defects of the Private-Madhouse System: A Review of the Evidence

T Hroughout its history, and especially during the period under present consideration, the private-madhouse system was subjected to persistent disparagement and censure. By the mid-nineteenth century, the standing of the private madhouse in the community had been enhanced considerably compared with its position at the beginning of that century, but the system as a whole never escaped from the shadow of its past. The basic flaw, around which all the known and alleged defects were centred, was the ‘principle of profit’ upon which the system was founded.