A Text-book of Insanity

1902

Truby King Collection WM 100 MJ256

London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co.

Truby King’s ideas on lunacy were influenced by his post-graduate lecturer, Dr Thomas Clouston, who advocated ‘work, play, fatness and self-control’ for a healthy mental state. When King began work at Seacliff Lunatic Asylum in 1889 he initiated measures to achieve these goals. Male patients were put to work on the farm and in the vegetable gardens while female patients, having less freedom, were able to work inside sewing or in the laundry or kitchen. King did provide opportunities for ‘play’, allowing some patients to picnic in nearby Karitane or take trips into Dunedin. He also provided card and board games. This copy of psychiatrist Charles Mercier’s A Text-Book of Insanity has King’s ubiquitous underlining.