INSANE AND FEEBLE-MINDED IN INSTITUTIONS, 1910

Washington, [D.C.]: Government Printing Office (GPO), 1914. 217 pages. Maps and diagrams printed with the text. Contemporary half red morocco over beveled boards with gilt spine lettering, raised bands, and marbled endpapers. 29.5 x 23.5 cm. Ex-library with modest signs: faint impression of tiny removed call number at the base of the spine, small discard stamp on the front endpaper, and stamp of Franklin Public Library at base of the title and one other page. Else good plus. Moderate wear to the extremities, front joint started at ends, still quite sound. Several small stains on the rear cover. A little marginal damping to endpapers, barely evident on the inner margin of the title page. FIRST EDITION. A report on the second of two special censuses of mental institutions in the United States, the first having been conducted in 1904. Previously, the Census Bureau had tracked rates of insanity among the general population only as part of the regular decennial censuses. The 1910 special census surveyed 366 institutions collectively holding 248,560 inmates. Joseph A. Hill's report analyzes a multitude of demographics including sex, age, race, literacy, marital status, state, region, urban vs. rural, etc. Another factor considered was nativity. The inclusion of this question on the survey reflected, in part, contemporary nativist fears that immigrants were increasing the percentage of mentally ill in the United States, although Hill's report refutes this supposition. Mary F. Griffin and Louis C. Taylor contribute a "Summary of Laws Relative to the Care of the Insane" (pp. 64-105). “The census of 1910 reflected a growing sophistication in analyzing statistical data. The claim that insanity was increasing rapidly, Hill noted, was dubious. A variety of determinants shaped the statistics of insanity, he insisted, including the growing practices of institutionalizing the insane; the increasing average length of life; new diagnostic methods in psychiatry leading to the detection of mental factors in physical cases; the establishment of dispensaries; provision for ‘voluntary’ and emergency commitment; and better modes of transportation (i.e., automobiles) that made it possible to bring individuals in poor physical condition to mental hospitals. By correcting for the age distribution of the entire native and foreign-born population, Hill also demonstrated that the allegation that immigrants had far higher rates of mental illness was in error.” --Gerald N. Grob, “The Origins of American Psychiatric Epidemiology,” p. 232, in A.J.P.H. (1985). The general statistical tables for this volume were published separately the previous year, without any of the explanatory text, illustrations, or additional tables present here.