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Beginning Ethereum
Smart Contracts
Programming
With Examples in Python,
Solidity and JavaScript
Wei-Meng Lee
Beginning Ethereum Smart Contracts Programming:
With Examples in Python, Solidity and JavaScript
Wei-Meng Lee
Ang Mo Kio, Singapore
Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to
readers on GitHub via the book’s product page, located at www.apress.com/9781484250853. For more
detailed information, please visit http://www.apress.com/source-code.
Contents
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Index��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 289
Introduction
Welcome to Beginning Ethereum Smart Contracts Programming!
This book is a quick guide to getting started with Ethereum Smart Contracts
programming. It first starts off with a discussion on blockchain and the motivations
behind it. You will learn what is a blockchain, how blocks in a blockchain are chained
together, and how blocks get added to a blockchain. You will also understand how
mining works and discover the various types of nodes in a blockchain network.
Once that is out of the way, we will dive into the Ethereum blockchain. You will
learn how to use an Ethereum client (Geth) to connect to the Ethereum blockchain and
perform transactions such as sending ethers to another account. You will also learn how
to create private blockchain networks so that you can test them internally within your
own network.
The next part of this book will discuss Smart Contracts programming, a unique
feature of the Ethereum blockchain. Readers will be able to get jumpstarted on Smart
Contracts programming without needing to wade through tons of documentation. The
learn-by-doing approach of this book makes you productive in the shortest amount
of time. By the end of this book, you would be able to write smart contracts, test them,
deploy them, and create web applications to interact with them.
The last part of this book will touch on tokens, something that has taken the
cryptocurrency market by storm. You would be able to create your own tokens and
launch your own ICO and would be able to write token contracts that allow buyers to buy
tokens using Ethers.
This book is for those who want to get started quickly with Ethereum Smart
Contracts programming. Basic programming knowledge and an understanding of
Python or JavaScript are recommended.
I hope you will enjoy working on the sample projects as much as I have enjoyed
working on them!
CHAPTER 1
Understanding Blockchain
One of the hottest technologies of late is Blockchain. But what exactly is a blockchain?
And how does it actually work? In this chapter, we will explore the concept of blockchain,
how the concept was conceived, and what problems it aimed to solve. By the end of this
chapter, the idea and motivation behind blockchain would be crystal clear.
Hold on tight, as I’m going to discuss a lot of concepts in this chapter. But if you
follow along closely, you’ll understand the concepts of blockchain and be on your way to
creating some really creative applications on the Ethereum blockchain in the upcoming
chapters!
Placement of Trusts
All these boil down to one key concept – placement of trust. And that is, we place our
trust on a central body. Think about it, in our everyday life, we place our trusts on banks,
and we place our trusts on our governments.
Even for simple mundane day-to-day activities, we place our trusts in central bodies.
For example, when you go to the library to borrow a book, you trust that the library
would maintain a proper record of the books that you have borrowed and returned.
The key theme is that we trust institutions but don’t trust each other. We trust our
government, banks, even our library, but we just don’t trust each other. As an example,
consider the following scenario. Imagine you work at a cafe, and someone walks up
to you and offers you a US ten-dollar bill for two cups of coffee. And another person
who offers to pay you for the two cups of coffee using a handwritten note saying he
owes you ten dollars. Which one would you trust? The answer is pretty obvious, isn’t it?
Naturally you would trust the US ten-dollar bill, as opposed to the handwritten note.
This is because you understand that using the ten-dollar bill, you can use it elsewhere
to exchange for other goods or services, and that it is backed by the US government. In
contract, the handwritten note is not backed by anyone else (except perhaps the person
who wrote it), and hence it has literally no value.
2
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
Now let’s take the discussion a bit further. Again, imagine you are trying to sell
something. Someone comes up to you and suggests paying for your goods using the
currencies as shown in Figure 1-1.
Would you accept the currencies as shown in the figure? Here, you have two different
currencies – one from Venezuela and one from Zimbabwe. In this case, the first thing
you consider is whether these currencies are widely accepted and also your trust in these
governments. You might have read from the news about the hyperinflation in these two
countries, and that these currencies might not retain its value over time.
And so, would you accept these currencies as payment?
T rust Issues
Earlier on, I mentioned that people trust institutions and don’t trust each other. But even
established economies can fail, such as in the case of the financial crisis of the United
States in 2007–2008. Investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008
because of the subprime mortgage market. So, if banks from established economies can
3
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
collapse, how can people in less developed countries trust their banks and governments?
Even if the banks are trusted, your deposits may be monitored by the government, and
they could arrest you based on your transactions.
As we have seen in the example in the previous section, there are times when people
don’t trust institutions, especially if the political situation in that country is not stable.
All these discussions bring us to the next key issue – even though people trust
institutions, institutions can still fail. And when people lose trust in institutions, people
turn to cryptocurrencies. In the next section, we will discuss how we can solve the trust
issues using decentralization, a fundamental concept behind cryptocurrency.
E xample of Decentralization
To understand how decentralization solves the trust issue, let’s consider a real-life example.
Imagine a situation where you have three persons with DVDs that they want to share
with one another (see Figure 1-2).
4
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
The first thing they need to do is to have someone keep track of the whereabouts
of each DVD. Of course, the easiest is for each person to keep track of what they have
borrowed and what they have lent, but since people inherently do not trust each other,
this approach is not very popular among the three persons.
To solve this issue, they decided to appoint one person, say B, to keep a ledger, to
hold a record of the whereabouts of each DVD (see Figure 1-3).
5
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
This way, there is a central body to keep track of the whereabouts of each DVD. But
wait, isn’t this the problem with centralization? What happens if B is not trustworthy?
Turns out that B has the habit of stealing DVDs, and he in fact could easily modify the
ledger to erase the record of DVDs that he has borrowed. So, there must be a better way.
And then, someone has an idea! Why not let everyone keep a copy of the ledger
(see Figure 1-4)? Whenever someone borrows or lent a DVD, the record is broadcast to
everyone, and everyone records the transaction.
6
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
We say that the record keeping is now decentralized! We now have three persons
holding the same ledger. But wait a minute. What if A and C conspire to change the
records together so that they can steal the DVDs from B? Since majority wins, as long
as there is more than 50% of the people with the same records, the others would have
to listen to the majority. And because there are only three persons in this scenario, it is
extremely easy to get more than 50% of the people to conspire.
The solution is to have a lot more people to hold the ledger, especially people who
are not related to the DVDs sharing business (see Figure 1-5).
7
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
Figure 1-5. Getting a group of unrelated people to help keep the records
This way, it makes it more difficult for one party to alter the records on the ledger,
and that in order to alter a record, it would need to involve a number of people altering
the record all at the same time, which is a time-consuming affair. And this is the key idea
behind distributed ledger, or commonly known as blockchain.
8
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
Figure 1-6. Transactions form a block, and then blocks are then chained
Based on what we have discussed, we can now summarize a few important points:
9
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
Figure 1-7. Every blockchain has a beginning block known as the genesis block
The blocks are connected to each other cryptographically, the details in which we
will discuss in the sections ahead. The first block in a blockchain is known as the genesis
block.
So, the next important questions is – how do you chain the blocks together?
We are now ready to discuss how blocks in a blockchain are chained together. To
chain the blocks together, the content of each block is hashed and then stored in the next
block (see Figure 1-8). That way, if any transactions in a block is altered, that is going to
invalidate the hash of the current block, which is stored in the next block, which in turn
is going to invalidate the hash of the next block, and so on.
11
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
Observe that when hashing the content of a block, the hash of the previous block is
hashed together with the transactions. However, do take note that this is a simplification
of what is in a block. Later on, we will dive into the details of a block and see exactly how
transactions are represented in a block.
Storing the hash of the previous block in the current block assures the integrity of the
transactions in the previous block. Any modifications to the transaction(s) within a block
causes the hash in the next block to be invalidated, and it also affects the subsequent
blocks in the blockchain. If a hacker wants to modify a transaction, not only must he
modify the transaction in a block but all other subsequent blocks in the blockchain. In
addition, he needs to synchronize the changes to all other computers on the network,
which is a computationally expensive task to do. Hence, data stored in the blockchain
is immutable, for they are hard to change once the block they are in is added to the
blockchain.
Up to this point, you have a high-level overview of what constitutes a blockchain and
how the blocks are chained together. In the next section, you will understand the next
important topic in blockchain – mining.
M
ining
Whenever you talk about blockchain or cryptocurrencies, there is always one term that
comes up – mining. In this section, you will learn what is mining, and what goes on
behind the scene.
Mining is the process of adding blocks to a blockchain. In a blockchain network,
such as the Bitcoin or Ethereum network, there are different types of computers known
as nodes. Computers on a blockchain that add blocks to the blockchain are known as
miner nodes (or mining nodes, or more simply miners).
We will talk about the different types of nodes later on in this course, but for now, we
want to talk about a particular type of node, known as the miner node. The role of the
miner node is to add blocks to the blockchain.
But how are blocks added?
B
roadcasting Transactions
When a transaction is performed, the transaction is broadcasted to the network (see
Figure 1-9).
12
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
Figure 1-9. Transactions are broadcasted to mining nodes, which then assemble
them into blocks to be mined
Each mining node may receive them at different times. As a node receives
transactions, it will try to include them in a block. Observe that each node is free to
include whatever transactions they want in a block. In practice, which transactions get
included in a block depends on a number of factors, such as transaction fees, transaction
size, order of arrival, and so on.
At this point, transactions that are included in a block but which are not yet added
to the blockchain are known as unconfirmed transactions. Once a block is filled with
transactions, a node will attempt to add the block to the blockchain.
Now here comes the problem – with so many miners out there, who gets to add the
block to the blockchain first?
13
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
Figure 1-10. Hashing the block to meet the network difficulty target
In order to successfully add a block to the blockchain, a miner would hash the
content of a block and check that the hash meets the criteria set by the difficulty target.
For example, the resultant hash must start with five zeros and so on.
As more miners join the network, the difficultly level increases, for example, the
hash must now start with six zeros and so on. This allows the blocks to be added to the
blockchain at a consistent rate.
But, wait a minute, the content of a block is fixed, and so no matter how you hash it,
the resultant hash is always the same. So how do you ensure that the resultant hash can
meet the difficulty target? To do that, miners add a nonce to the block, which stands for
number used once (see Figure 1-11).
14
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
Figure 1-11. Adding a nonce to change the content of the block in order to meet
the network difficulty target
The first miner who meets the target gets to claim the rewards and adds the block to
the blockchain. It will broadcast the block to other nodes so that they can verify the claim
and stop working on their current work of mining their own blocks. The miners would
drop their current work, and the process of mining a new block starts all over again.
The transactions that were not included in the block that was successfully mined will be
added to the next block to be mined.
In the case of Bitcoin, the block reward initially was 50 BTC and will halve every 210,000
blocks. At the time of writing, the block reward is currently at 12.5 BTC, and it will eventually
be reduced to 0 after 64 halving events. For Ethereum, the reward for mining a block is
currently 2 ETH (Ether).
15
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
For Bitcoin, the network adjusts the difficulty of the puzzles so that a new block is being mined
roughly every 10 minutes. For Ethereum, a block is mined approximately every 14 seconds.
Proof of Work
The process in which blocks are mined and added to the blockchain is known as the
Proof of Work (PoW). It is difficult to produce the proof but very easy to validate. A good
example of Proof of Work is cracking a combination lock – it takes a lot of time to find the
right combination, but it is easy to verify once the combination is found.
Proof of Work uses tremendous computing resources – GPUs are required, while
CPU speed is not important. It also uses a lot of electricity, because miners are doing the
same work repeatedly – find the nonce to meet the network difficulty for the block.
A common question is why you need to use a powerful GPU instead of CPU for
mining? Well, as a simple comparison, a CPU core can execute 4 32-bit instructions per
clock, whereas a GPU like the Radeon HD 5970 can execute 3200 32-bit instructions per
clock. In short, the CPU excels at doing complex manipulations to a small set of data,
whereas the GPU excels at doing simple manipulations to a large set of data. And since
mining is all about performing hashing and finding the nonce, it is a highly repetitive
task, something that GPU excels in.
Tip When a miner has successfully mined a block, he earns mining fees as well
as transaction fees. That’s what keeps miners motivated to invest in mining rigs
and keep them running 24/7, thereby incurring substantial electricity bills.
Immutability of Blockchains
In a blockchain, each block is chained to its previous block through the use of a
cryptographic hash. A block’s identity changes if the parent’s identity changes. This in
turn causes the current block’s children to change, which affects the grandchildren, and
so on. A change to a block forces a recalculation of all subsequent blocks, which requires
enormous computation power. This makes the blockchain immutable, a key feature of
cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
16
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
Tip In general, once a block has six or more confirmations, it’s deemed infeasible
for it to be reversed. Therefore, the data stored in the blockchain is immutable.
• A block header
17
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
• Timestamp
• Merkle root
• Nonce
Figure 1-13. A block contains the block header, which in turns contains the
Merkle root of the transactions
18
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
T ypes of Nodes
Before we address the rationale for storing the Merkle root in the block header, we need
to talk about the types of nodes in a blockchain network. Figure 1-14 shows the different
types of nodes in a blockchain network.
Tip Note that full nodes are not necessarily mining nodes. However, mining
nodes need to be a full node.
The purpose of a full node is to ensure the integrity of the blockchain and people
running full nodes do not get rewards. On the other hand, mining nodes are rewarded
when they add a block to the blockchain.
19
Chapter 1 Understanding Blockchain
And so, we can summarize the types of nodes that we have discussed thus far:
• Full node
• Visit the following sites to see the current number of full nodes for
the following blockchains:
• Bitcoin – https://bitnodes.earn.com
• Ethereum – www.ethernodes.org/network/1
20
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
too much respect for the integrity of his hide. We are informed that
they have established a company in Paris, upon the Hudson’s Bay
principle, to buy up all the rats of the country for the sake of their
skin. The soft nap of the fur when dressed is of the most beautiful
texture, far exceeding in delicacy that of the beaver, and the hatters
consequently use it as a substitute. The hide is employed to make
the thumbs of the best gloves, its elasticity and texture rendering it
preferable to kid.
Parent Duchâtelet collected several particulars of the rats which in
his day frequented the knackers’ yards at Montfaucon. Attracted by
the abundance of animal food, they increased so enormously that
the surrounding inhabitants, hearing that the government intended
to remove these establishments, were seized with apprehension lest
the vermin, when deprived of their larder, should spread through the
neighbourhood, and, like a flight of locusts, swallow up everything.
The alarmists may even have feared lest they should meet with a
similar fate to that of the Archbishop of Mayence, who, if old
chronicles are to be believed, retired to a tower in one of the isles of
the Rhine to escape being devoured by a host of these creatures
whose appetites were set upon him, and who, pertinaciously
pursuing him to his retreat, succeeded in eating him up at last. The
report of the Commission instituted to inquire into the circumstances
of the Montfaucon case, showed that the apprehensions of serious
damage were by no means unfounded.
“If the carcases of dead horses be thrown during the day in a corner,
the next morning they will be found stripped of their flesh. An old
proprietor of one of the slaughter-houses had a certain space of
ground entirely surrounded by walls, with holes only large enough
for the ingress and egress of rats. Within this inclosure he left the
carcases of two or three horses; and when night came, he went
quietly with his workmen, stopped up the holes, and then entered
into the inclosure, with a stick in one hand and a lighted torch in the
other. The animals covered the ground so thickly that a blow struck
anywhere did execution. By repeating the process after intervals of a
few days, he killed 16,050 rats in the space of one month, and 2,650
in a single night. They have burrowed under all the walls and
buildings in the neighbourhood; and it is only by such precautions as
putting broken glass bottles round the foundation of a house
attached to the establishment, that the proprietor is able to preserve
it. All the neighbouring fields are excavated by them; and it is not
unusual for the earth to give way and leave these subterraneous
works exposed. In severe frost, when it becomes impossible to cut
up the bodies of the horses, and when the fragments of flesh are
almost too hard for the rats to feed upon, they enter the body and
devour the flesh from the inside, so that, when the thaw comes, the
workmen find nothing below the skin but a skeleton, better cleared
of its flesh than if it had been done by the most skilful operator.
Their ferocity, as well as their voracity, surpasses anything that can
be imagined. M. Majendie placed a dozen rats in a box in order to
try some experiments; when he reached home and opened the box,
there were but three remaining; these had devoured the rest, and
had only left their bones and tails.”
We have been informed that these rats regularly marched in troops
in search of water in the dusk of the evening, and that they have
often been met in single file stealing beside the walls that lined the
road to their drinking-place. As the pavement in Paris overhangs the
gutters, the rats take advantage of this covered way to creep in
safety from street to street. Their migratory habits are well known,
and every neighbourhood has its tale of their travels. Mr. Jesse
relates an anecdote, communicated to him by a Sussex clergyman,
which tends to prove that the old English rat at least shows a
consideration and care for its elders on the march which is worthy of
human philanthropy. “Walking out in some meadows one evening,
he observed a great number of rats migrating from one place to
another. He stood perfectly still, and the whole assemblage passed
close to him. His astonishment, however, was great when he saw
amongst the number an old blind rat, which held a piece of stick at
one end in its mouth, while another had hold of the other end of it,
and thus conducted its blind companion.” A kindred circumstance
was witnessed in 1757 by Mr. Purdew, a surgeon’s mate on board
the Lancaster. Lying awake one evening in his berth, he saw a rat
enter, look cautiously round, and retire. He soon returned leading a
second rat, who appeared to be blind, by the ear. A third rat joined
them shortly afterwards, and assisted the original conductor in
picking up fragments of biscuit and placing them before their infirm
parent, as the blind old patriarch was supposed to be. It is only
when tormented by hunger that they appear to lose their fellow-
feeling and to prey upon one another.
The sagacity of the rat in the pursuit of food is so great, that we
almost wonder at the small amount of its cerebral development.
Indeed, he is so cunning, and works occasionally with such human
ingenuity, that accounts which are perfectly correct are sometimes
received as mere fables. Incredible as the story may appear of their
removing hens’ eggs by one fellow lying on his back and grasping
tightly his ovoid burden with his fore-paws, whilst his comrades drag
him away by the tail, we have no reason to disbelieve it, knowing as
we do that they will carry eggs from the bottom to the top of a
house, lifting them from stair to stair, the first rat pushing them up
on its hind and the second lifting them with its fore legs. They will
extract the cotton from a flask of Florence oil, dipping in their long
tails, and repeating the manœuvre until they have consumed every
drop. We have found lumps of sugar in deep drawers at a distance
of thirty feet from the place where the petty larceny was committed:
and a friend saw a rat mount a table on which a drum of figs was
placed, and straightway tip it over, scattering its contents on the
floor beneath, where a score of his expectant brethren sat watching
for the windfall. His instinct is no less shown in the selection of
suitable food. He attacks the portion of the elephant’s tusks that
abounds with animal oil, in preference to that which contains
phosphate of lime; and the rat-gnawn ivory is selected by the turner
as fitted for billiard-balls and other articles where the qualities of
elasticity and transparency are required. Thus, the tooth-print of this
little animal serves as a distinguishing mark of excellence in a
precious material devoted to the decorative arts. The rat does not
confine himself to inert substances: when he is hard pressed for
food, he will attack anything weaker than himself. Frogs, Goldsmith
says, had been introduced into Ireland some considerable time
before the brown rat, and had multiplied abundantly, but they were
pursued in their marshes by this indefatigable hunter, and eaten
clean from off the Emerald Isle. He does not scruple to assault
domestic poultry; though a rat which attempted to capture the
chicken of a game-fowl was killed by the mother with beak and spur
in the course of twelve minutes. The hen seized it by the neck,
shook it violently, put out an eye, and plainly showed that the fowl in
a conflict would be the more powerful of the two, if he was only
equally daring. The number of young ducks which the rats destroyed
in the Zoological Gardens rendered it necessary to surround the
pools with a wire rat-fencing, which half-way up has a pipe of
wirework, the circle of which is not complete by several inches in the
under part, and the rat, unable to crawl along the concave roof
which stops his onward path, is compelled to return discomfited.
The rats have been for a long time the pests of these gardens,
attracted by the presence of large quantities of food. The grating
under one of the tigers’ dens is eaten through by this nimble-
toothed burglar, who makes as light of copper wire as of leaden
pipes. Immediately upon the construction of the new monkey-house,
they took possession, and eat through the floors in every direction to
get at poor Jacko’s bread. Vigorous measures were taken to exclude
them; the floors were filled in with concrete, and the open roof was
ceiled; but they quickly penetrated through the plaster of the latter,
as may be seen by the holes to this day. They burrowed in the old
inclosure of the wombat till the ground was quite rotten; and they
still march about the den of the rhinoceros and scamper over his
impregnable hide. It is only by constantly hunting them with terriers
that they can be kept down; and as many as a hundred in a
fortnight are often despatched, their carcases being handed over to
the vultures and eagles. Many of them seek in the daytime a securer
retreat. They have frequently been seen at evening swimming in
companies across the canal to forage in the gardens through the
night, and in the morning they returned to their permanent quarters
by the same route.
The proprietors of the bonded-wheat warehouses on the banks of
the Thames are forced to take the utmost precautions against the
entrance of these depredators; otherwise, they would troop in
myriads from the sewers and waterside premises, and, as they are
undoubtedly in the habit of communicating among their friends the
whereabouts of any extraordinary supplies, they would go on
increasing day by day as the report of the good news spread
through rat-land. To repel their attentions, the wooden floors and
the under parts of the doors of the granaries are lined with sheet-
iron, and the foundations are sometimes set in concrete mixed with
glass—matters too hard for even their teeth to discuss.
Country rats in the summer take to the fields, and create enormous
havoc among the standing corn. They nibble off the ears of wheat,
and carry them to their runs and burrows, where large stores have
been found hoarded up with all the forethought of the dormouse.
Farmers are often puzzled to account for the presence of rats in
wheat stacks which have been placed upon the most cunningly-
contrived stands. The fact is, these animals are tossed up with the
sheaves to the rick, where they increase and multiply at their leisure,
and frequently to such an extent, that a rick, seeming fair on the
outside, is little better than a huge rat-pie.
The propensity of the rat to gnaw must not be attributed altogether
to a reckless determination to overcome impediments. The never-
ceasing action of his teeth is not a pastime, but a necessity of his
existence. The writer of an interesting paper on rats in Bentley’s
Miscellany has explained so clearly the dentistry of the tribe, that we
extract his account:—
“The rat has formidable weapons in the shape of four small, long,
and very sharp teeth, two of which are in the upper and two in the
lower jaw. These are formed in the shape of a wedge, and by the
following wonderful provision of nature have always a fine, sharp,
cutting edge. On examining them carefully, we find that the inner
part is of a soft, ivory-like composition, which may be easily worn
away, whereas the outside is composed of a glass-like enamel, which
is excessively hard. The upper teeth work exactly into the under, so
that the centres of the opposed teeth meet exactly in the act of
gnawing; the soft part is thus being perpetually worn away, while
the hard part keeps a sharp, chisel-like edge; at the same time the
teeth grow up from the bottom, so that as they wear away a fresh
supply is ready. The consequence of this arrangement is, that, if one
of the teeth be removed, either by accident or on purpose, the
opposed tooth will continue to grow upwards, and, as there is
nothing to grind them away, will project from the mouth and turn
upon itself; or, if it be an under-tooth, it will even run into the skull
above. There is a preparation in the museum of the Royal College of
Surgeons which well illustrates this fact. It is an incisor tooth of a
rat, which, from the cause above mentioned, has increased its
growth upwards to such a degree, that it has formed a complete
circle and a segment of another; the diameter of it is about large
enough to admit a good-sized thumb. It is accompanied by the
following memorandum, addressed by a Spanish priest to Sir J.
Banks, who presented it to the Museum: ‘I send you an
extraordinary tooth of a rat. Believe me, it was found in the Nazareth
garden (to which order I belong). I was present when the animal
was killed, and took the tooth; I know not its virtues, nor have the
natives discovered them.’”
We once saw a newly-killed rat to whom this misfortune had
occurred. The tooth, which was an upper one, had in this case also
formed a complete circle, and the point in winding round had passed
through the lip of the animal. Thus the ceaseless working of the rat’s
incisors against some hard substance is necessary to keep them
down, and if he did not gnaw for his subsistence, he would be
compelled to gnaw to prevent his jaw being gradually locked by their
rapid development.
The destructive nature of the rat, the extraordinary manner in which
he multiplies, and his perpetual presence—for where there is a chink
that he can fill, and food for him to eat, there he will be,
notwithstanding that a long line of ancestors have one after another
been destroyed on the spot[11]—necessitates some counteracting
influence to keep him within due bounds. This is done by making
him the prey of hunting-animals and reptiles, beginning with man,
and running down the chain of organized life to the gliding snake.
The poor rat, although he doubtless does service as a scavenger,
and must have his use in fulfilling some essential purpose of
creation, finds favour nowhere: every man’s hand, nearly every
feline paw, and many birds’ beaks are against him. The world thinks
of him, as of the pauper boy in “Oliver Twist,”—“Hit him hard; he
ain’t a’got no friends.” Dwelling in the midst of alarms, he might be
supposed to pass an uneasy and nervous existence. But it is nothing
of the kind. The same Providence which has furnished him with the
teeth suitable to the work they have to perform, has endowed him
with the feelings proper to his lot; and no animal, if he be watched
from a distance, appears more happy and complacent. In danger he
preserves a wonderful presence of mind, and acts upon the principle
that while there is life there is hope. His cunning on such occasions
is often remarkable, and evinces a reasoning power of no
contemptible order:—
“A traveller in Ceylon,” says Mrs. Lee, in her entertaining “Anecdotes
of Animals,” “saw his dogs set upon a rat, and, making them
relinquish it, he took it up by the tail, the dogs leaping after it the
whole time. He carried it into his dining-room, to examine it by the
light of the lamp, during the whole of which period it remained as if
it were dead,—limbs hanging, and not a muscle moving. After five
minutes he threw it among the dogs, who were still in a state of
great excitement, and, to the astonishment of all present, it
suddenly jumped upon its legs, and ran away so fast that it baffled
all its pursuers.”
The sagacity of the rat in eluding danger is not less than his
craftiness in dealing with it when it comes. A gentleman, Mr. Jesse
relates, who fed his own pointers, observed through a hole in the
door a number of rats eating from the trough with his dogs, who did
not attempt to molest them. Resolving to shoot the intruders, he
next day put the food, but kept out the dogs. Not a rat came to
taste. He saw them peering from their holes, but they were too well
versed in human nature to venture forth without the protection of
their canine guard. After half an hour the pointers were let in, when
the rats forthwith joined their hosts, and dined with them as usual.
If it comes to the worst, and the rat is driven to bay, he will fight
with admirable resolution. A good-sized sewer-rat has been known
to daunt for a moment the most courageous bull-terrier, advancing
towards him with tail erect, and inflicting wounds of the most
desperate nature. The bite of any rat is severe, and that of a sewer-
rat so highly dangerous, that valuable dogs are rarely allowed by
their masters to fight them. The garbage on which they live poisons
their teeth, and renders the wounds they make deadly. Even with his
great natural enemy and superior, the ferret, he will sometimes get
the advantage by his steady bravery and the superiority of his
tactics. Mr. Jesse describes an encounter of the kind, the
circumstances of which were related to him by a medical gentleman
at Kingston:—
“Being greatly surprised that the ferret, an animal of such slow
locomotive powers, should be so destructive to the rat tribe, he
determined to bring both these animals fairly into the arena, in order
to judge of their respective powers; and having selected a fine large
and full-grown male rat and also an equally strong buck ferret,
which had been accustomed to hunt rats, my friend, accompanied
by his son, turned these two animals loose in a room without
furniture, in which there was but one window. Immediately upon
being liberated, the rat ran round the room as if searching for an
exit. Not finding any means of escape, he uttered a piercing shriek,
and with the most prompt decision took up his station directly under
the light, thus gaining over his adversary (to use the language of
other duellists) the advantage of the sun. The ferret now erected his
head, sniffed about, and began fearlessly to push his way towards
the spot where the scent of his game was strongest, facing the light
in full front, and preparing himself with avidity to seize upon his
prey. No sooner, however, had he approached within two feet of his
watchful foe, than the rat, again uttering a loud cry, rushed at him
with violence, and inflicted a severe wound on the head and neck,
which was soon shown by the blood which flowed from it; the ferret
seemed astonished at the attack, and retreated with evident
discomfiture; while the rat, instead of following up the advantage he
had gained, instantly withdrew to his former station under the
window. The ferret soon recovered the shock he had sustained, and,
erecting his head, once more took the field. This second rencontre
was in all its progress and results an exact repetition of the former—
with this exception, that, on the rush of the rat to the conflict, the
ferret appeared more collected, and evidently showed an inclination
to get a firm hold of his enemy; the strength of the rat, however,
was very great, and he again succeeded not only in avoiding the
deadly embrace of the ferret, but also in inflicting another severe
wound on his neck and head. The rat a second time returned to his
retreat under the window, and the ferret seemed less anxious to
renew the conflict. These attacks were resumed at intervals for
nearly two hours, all ending in the failure of the ferret, who was
evidently fighting to a disadvantage from the light falling full on his
eye whenever he approached the rat, who wisely kept his ground
and never for a moment lost sight of the advantage he had gained.
In order to prove whether the choice of this position depended upon
accident, my friend managed to dislodge the rat, and took his own
station under the window; but the moment the ferret attempted to
make his approach, the rat, evidently aware of the advantage he
had lost, endeavoured to creep between my friend’s legs, thus losing
his natural fear of man under the danger which awaited him from his
more deadly foe.”
Driven from his defensive position, the rat continued his attacks, but
with an evident loss of courage, and the ferret ultimately came to
the death-grapple with his crafty antagonist. A similar battle was
witnessed by a friend, with the difference that the rat, being
undisturbed in his advantageous position with regard to the light,
finally beat off the ferret, which was absolutely bitten into shreds
over the head and muzzle. The repetition of the same conduct by a
second animal shows that this particular species of cunning is a
general faculty of the tribe. The main superiority of the ferret is in
his retaining his hold when once he has fastened on his prey,
sucking his life’s blood the while; whereas the rat fights by a
succession of single bites, which wound but do not destroy. The
snake prevails by his venom. Mrs. Lee relates the particulars of a
combat in Africa, in which rat and snake repeatedly closed and bit at
one another, separating after each assault, and gathering up
strength for a fresh attack. At length the rat fell, foamed at the
mouth, swelled to a great size, and died in a few minutes.[12]
If he can be savage when self-protection requires, he also has his
softer moments, in which he shows confidence in man almost as
strong as that exhibited by the dog or cat. An old blind rat, on
whose head the snows of many winters had gathered, was in the
habit of sitting beside our own kitchen fire, with all the comfortable
look of his enemy, the cat; and such a favourite had he become with
the servants, that he was never allowed to be disturbed. He
unhappily fell a victim to the sudden spring of a strange cat. A close
observation of these animals entirely conquers the antipathy which is
entertained towards them. Their sharp and handsome heads, their
bright eyes, their intelligent look, their sleek skins, are the very
reverse of repulsive; and there is positive attraction in the beautiful
manner in which they sit licking their paws and washing their faces—
an occupation in which they pass a considerable portion of their
time. The writer on rats in Bentley’s Miscellany relates an anecdote
of a tame rat, which shows that he is capable of serving his master
as well as of passing a passive existence under his protection. The
animal belonged to the driver of a London omnibus, who caught him
as he was removing some hay. He was spared because he had the
good luck to be piebald, became remarkably tame, and grew
attached to the children. At night he exhibited a sense of the
enjoyment of security and warmth, by stretching himself out at full
length on the rug before the fire; and on cold nights, after the fire
was extinguished, he would creep into his master’s bed. In the
daytime, however, his owner utilized him. At the word of command,
“Come along, Ikey,” he would jump into the ample great-coat
pocket, from which he was transferred to the boot of the omnibus.
Here his business was to guard the driver’s dinner; and if any person
attempted to make free with it, the rat would fly at them from out
the straw. There was one dish alone of which he was an inefficient
protector. He could never resist plum-pudding; and though he kept
off all other intruders, he ate his fill of it himself. These are by no
means extraordinary instances of the amiable side of rat nature
when kindly treated by man, and we could fill pages with similar
relations. But it seems, in addition to his other merits, that he
possesses dramatic genius. We have heard of military fleas, we have
seen Jacko perform his miserable imitation of humanity on the top of
a barrel-organ; but who ever heard of a rat’s turn for tragedy?
Nevertheless, a Belgian newspaper not long since published an
account of a theatrical performance by a troop of rats, which gives
us a higher idea of their intellectual nature than anything else which
is recorded of them. This novel company of players were dressed in
the garb of men and women, walked on their hind legs, and
mimicked with ludicrous exactness many of the ordinary stage
effects. On one point only were they intractable. Like the young lady
in the fable, who turned to a cat the moment a mouse appeared,
they forgot their parts, their audience, and their manager, at the
sight of the viands which were introduced in the course of the piece;
and, dropping on all-fours, fell to with the native voracity of their
race. The performance was concluded by their hanging in triumph
their enemy the cat, and dancing round her body.
The rat, as we have said, has many enemies: the weazel, the pole-
cat, the otter, the dog, the cat, and the snake hunt him
remorselessly all over the world. Man, however, is his most relentless
and destructive enemy. In some places he is killed for food, as in
China, where dried split rats are sold as a dainty. The chiffonniers of
Paris feed on them without reluctance. Nor is rat-pie altogether
obsolete in our own country. The gipsies continue to eat such as are
caught in stacks and barns, and a distinguished surgeon of our time
frequently had them served up at his table. They feed chiefly upon
grain; and it is merely the repulsive idea which attaches to this
animal under every form that causes it to be rejected by the same
man who esteems the lobster, the crab, and the shrimp a delicacy,
although he knows that they are the scavengers of the sea. They
were not always so nice in the navy. An old captain in her Majesty’s
service informs us that on one occasion, when returning from India,
the vessel was infested with rats, which made great ravages among
the biscuit. Jack, to compensate for his lost provisions, had all the
spoilers he could kill, put into pies, and considered them an
extraordinary delicacy. At the siege of Malta, when the French were
hard pressed, rats fetched a dollar apiece; but the famished garrison
marked their sense of the excellence of those which were delicately
fed by offering a double price for every one caught in a granary. Man
directs his hostility against the rat, however, chiefly because he
considers him a nuisance; and the gin and poison, cold iron and the
bowl, a dismal alternative, are accordingly presented to him. With
the former he is not so easily caught, and will never enter a trap or
touch a gin in which any of his kind have fretted and rubbed. Poison
is a more effectual method, but it is not always safe. Rats which
have been beguiled into partaking of arsenic instantly make for the
water to quench their intolerable thirst, and, though they usually
withdraw from the house, they may resort in their agony to an in-
door cistern, and remain there to pollute it.[13] The writer who calls
himself “Uncle James,” and who, for a reason that will shortly
appear, is exceedingly anxious to impress the public with the belief
that the best mode of getting rid of the rat is to hunt him with
terriers, states that a dairy-farmer in Limerick poisoned his calves
and pigs by giving them the skim milk at which rats had drunk when
under the pangs produced by arsenic. One mode of clearing them
out of a house is either to singe the hair of a devoted rat, or else to
dip his hind-quarters into tar, and then turn him loose, when the
whole community will take their leave for a while. But this is only a
temporary expedient, and in the interim the offenders are left to
multiply, and perchance transfer their ravages to another part of the
domain where they are equally mischievous. The same objection
applies to the remedy of pounding the common dog’s-tongue, when
gathered in full sap, and laying it in their haunts. They retire only to
return. The Germans turn the rat himself into a police-officer to warn
off his burglarious brethren. Dr. Shaw, in his General Zoology, states
that a gentleman who travelled through Mecklenburg about thirty
years ago saw one at a post-house with a bell about its neck, which
the landlord assured him had frightened away the whole of the
“whiskered vermin” which previously infested the place. Mr. Neele
says that at Bangkok, the Siamese capital, the people are in the
habit of keeping tame rats, which walk about the room, and crawl up
the legs of the inmates, who pet them as they would a dog. They
are caught young, and, attaining a monstrous size by good feeding,
take the place of our cats, and entirely free the house of their own
kind. But the most effectual and in the end the cheapest remedy is
an expert rat-catcher. Cunning as an experienced old rat becomes,
he is invariably checkmated when man fairly tries a game of skill
with him. The well-trained professor of the art, who by long habit
has grown familiar with his adversary’s haunts and tactics, his hopes
and fears, his partialities and antipathies, will clear out a house or a
farmyard, where a novice would merely catch a few unwary
adventurers and put the rest upon their guard. The majority of the
world have, happily for themselves, a better office, and the regular
practitioner might justly address the amateur in much the same
words that the musician employed to Frederick the Great, when the
royal flute-player was expecting to be complimented on his
performance: “It would be a discredit to your Majesty to play as well
as I.”
“Uncle James,” however, is of a different opinion. This author
considers that every man should be his own rat-catcher, which he
evidently believes to be the most improving, dignified, and
fascinating calling under the sun, as he considers rats themselves to
be the crying evil of the day, second only in his estimation to the
grand injustice of the old corn-law. Indeed, we cannot see from his
own premises how the evil can be second to any great destructive
principle, earthquakes included. He takes a single pair of rats, and
proves satisfactorily that in three years, if undisturbed, they will have
thirteen litters of eight each at a birth, and that the young will begin
littering again when six months old; by this calculation he increases
the original pair at the end of three years to six hundred and fifty-six
thousand eight hundred and eight. Calculating that ten rats eat as
much in one day as a man, which we think is rather under than over
the fact, the consumption of these rats would be equal “to that of
sixty-four thousand six hundred and eight men the year round, and
leave eight rats in the year to spare.” Now, if a couple of rats could
occasion such devastation in three years after the original pair
marched out of the ark, how comes it that the descendants of the
myriads which ages ago co-existed among us have not eaten up the
earth and the fullness thereof? Uncle James conveniently forgets
that animals do not multiply according to arithmetical progression,
but simply in proportion to the food provided for them. He must not,
however, be expected to be wiser than Malthus on the subject of
animal reproduction, and he has the additional incentive to error,
that he evidently paints up his horrors for an artful purpose. There
can be no sort of doubt that he has several well-bred terriers to
dispose of, and hence the following panacea for all the evils which
afflict society.
“A dog, to be of sound service, ought to be of six to thirteen pounds
weight; over that they become too unwieldy. I would also
recommend, above all others, the London rat-killing terrier: he is as
hard as steel, courageous as a lion, and as handsome as a
racehorse!—[Uncle James is a Londoner, of course.] Let the farmers
in each parish meet and pass resolutions calling upon their
representatives in parliament to take the tax off rat-killing dogs. Let
them devise plans for procuring some well-bred terriers and ferrets,
and spread the young ones about among their men. Let there be a
reward offered of so much per head for dead rats, and let there be
one person in each parish appointed to pay for the same. Rats are
valuable for manure; let there be a pit in each locality, and let this
man stick up an announcement every week, in some conspicuous
place, as to the number of rats killed, and by whom. Then, what will
be the result? Why, a spirit of emulation will rise up among the
villagers, and they will be ransacking every hole and corner for rats.
Thus will a tone of cheerful enterprise, activity, and pleasantry come
in among them, ‘with a fund of conversation;’ and instead of that
crawling, dogged monotony which characterizes their general gait
and manner, they will meet their employers and go to their labour
with joyous steps and smiling countenances.”
The coming man, so long expected, is it seems the rat-catcher. Here
is manure multiplied, agriculture improved, food husbanded, a
smiling, enlightened, and conversible peasantry—and all the result of
rat-catching. But a difficulty has been overlooked. When the entire
population is converted into rat-catchers, rats must shortly, like the
dodo, be extinct. For a while we shall become an exporting country,
but this resource must fail us at last, and England’s glory will expire
with its rats. Then once more we shall have a sullen, silent,
discontented peasantry; “their fund of conversation” will be
exhausted, or at best the villagers will be reduced to talk with a sigh
of the golden age, never to be renewed, when the country enjoyed
the unspeakable blessing of rat-catching. In short, we fear that
Uncle James has been so exclusively devoted to the science of rat-
catching, that he has neglected to cultivate the inferior art of
reasoning; but, interested as we suspect it to be, we join in his
commendation of the virtues of the terrier. The expedition with
which a clever dog will put his victims out of their misery is such that
a terrier not four pounds in weight has killed four hundred rats
within two hours. By this we may estimate the destruction dealt to
the race by that nimble animal, “hard as steel, courageous as a lion,
and handsome as a race-horse.” A custom has sprung up within the
last twenty years of watching these dogs worry rats in a pit, and
there are private arenas of the kind where our fair countrywomen,
leaning over the cushioned circle, will witness with admiration the
cleverness of their husbands’ or brothers’ terriers. “Uncle James”
might commend their taste, and think the sport calculated to furnish
them with “a fund of conversation, and a spirit of cheerful enterprise
and pleasantry;” but except the fact had proved it to be otherwise,
we should have supposed that there was not an educated man in
Great Britain who would not have been shocked at this novel
propensity of English ladies.
LUNATIC ASYLUMS.
Horace Walpole, whose pen has graven so deeply the social
characteristics of his age, in describing to his friend Mann the terrors
excited by the Lord George Gordon mob, says “they threaten to let
the lions out of the Tower, and the madmen out of Bedlam.” In this
short sentence we have a clear view of the opinion which our
forefathers entertained of lunatics—an opinion which the pictures of
Hogarth’s Madhouse Cells have impressed on the popular mind even
to this day. And in truth it is not fifty years since the state of things
which now exists only in the imagination of the ignorant, was both
general and approved. The interior of Bethlehem at that date could
furnish pictures more terrible than Hogarth ever conceived. It is not
our purpose, however, to dwell upon these horrors of former days.
Through the instrumentality of the late Samuel Tuke, of York,
Gardner Hill, Charlesworth, Winslow, and Conolly, of London, the old
method of treatment, with its whips, chains, and manacles, has
passed away for ever; and as a true emblem of the revolution which
has taken place, we may mention that some years since a governor,
in passing through the laundry of Bethlehem, perceived a wrist-
manacle, which had been converted by one of the women into a
stand for a flat iron!
In spite of the ameliorations in the condition of the insane, many
among the higher, and nearly all among the lower classes, still look
upon the County Asylum as the Bluebeard’s cupboard of the
neighbourhood. These unfounded ideas act as a powerful drawback
to the successful treatment of insanity, for as the vast majority of
cures are effected within three months of the original attack,
whatever deters the friends of the patient from bringing him under
regimen at the earliest possible moment, probably ensures the
perpetuation of the disease. We can well imagine the undefined awe
and tribulation of spirit with which the unhappy creatures who are
stricken in mind enter the gates of an abode in which they are
supposed to be given over to a durance worse than death; but so
mistaken is the impression, that the feelings of desperation are
almost immediately succeeded by the inspiriting dawnings of hope.
The furious maniac who arrives at Colney Hatch or Hanwell in a cart,
or a hand-barrow, bound with ropes like a frantic animal, the terror
of his friends and himself, is no sooner within the building which
imagination invests with such terrors, than half his miseries cease.
The ropes cut, he stands up once more free from restraint, kind
words are spoken to him, he is soothed by a bath, and, if still
violent, the padded room, which offers no aggravating mechanical or
personal resistance, calms his fury, and sleep, which has so long
been a stranger to him, visits him the first night which he spends in
the dreaded asylum. An old lady—a relapsed patient—whose silver
locks hung dishevelled on her shoulders, was, when we visited
Hanwell, waiting in a cab in a state of the wildest excitement.
Immediately she was admitted, and recognised the faces of the
nurses who had formerly been kind to her, her whole countenance
changed. “What, you Burke and you Thomson again!” she
exclaimed, delighted at renewing former friendships; and settling
herself down peaceably in the ward, she appeared as comfortable as
at her own fireside.
Not only have the old methods of treatment been abandoned, but
many changes have been made to render the houses for the insane
less repulsive to the eye. Thousands of pounds have been spent in
replacing the dungeon-like apertures (often without glass) with light-
framed windows, undarkened by dismal bars; the gratings have
been removed from the fireplaces; and that all the other associations
may be in harmony with the improved appearance of the building,
the harsh title of keeper has given place to that of attendant, and
the madhouse has become the asylum. In the old plan, the entire
treatment seemed to consist in secluding the patient from every
sight which renders life sweet, and in wrenching him violently from
all the conditions which formerly surrounded him; the new idea is to
bring within the walls as much of the outside world as possible. Here
the artisan finds employment in various handicrafts, the agricultural
labourer renews his commerce with the soil, and the female plies her
needle or pursues her accustomed occupations in the laundry or the
kitchen. Amusement takes its turn, and those who travel by the
Great Western train on winter evenings are surprised to see the
lights streaming from the great hall of Hanwell, and to hear
perchance the sounds of music. These issue from the ball-room of
the establishment! In place of the dark dungeon, the bonds and the
blows which once added outward to inward woe, the inmates are
realising the poetic picture of Gray,—
“With antic Sport and blue-eyed Pleasures,
Frisking light in frolic measures;
Now pursuing, now retreating,
Now in circling troops they meet:
To brisk notes in cadence beating
Glance their many-twinkling feet.”
Mental aberration is not of necessity the bane of mental enjoyment.
There are many sweets by which its bitterness may be diluted and
diminished, though our ancestors were so ignorant of the fact, as to
believe that the best thing to be done for a mind o’erthrown was to
pour vinegar to gall.
Dr. Conolly, in his lately-published volume on “The Treatment of the
Insane without Mechanical Restraint,” looks upon the banishment of
the strait-waistcoat with a just pride, for to him we owe the abolition
of the last mechanical means of coercing temporary violence; but we
cannot participate in his fear that the selfishness and ignorance of
human nature will ever be able to restore the gloomy reign which
has at last been brought to a close. We can no more go back to the
days of hobbles and handcuffs, chains and stripes, than we can go
back to the days of the rack and thumbscrew. We may have, it is
true, lamentable exposures, such as took place at Bethlehem in
1851, but the depth of the public outcry, and the promptness with
which the irregularities were remedied, is of itself an evidence that
general opinion will prove the corrective of occasional abuses. Nor
can we, from a fancied apprehension of the return to obsolete
practices, join in the fanaticism which forbids the use of the strait-
jacket as a means of coercion under all circumstances. There can be
no doubt that the treatment which requires its frequent use is a bad
one; but to deny that there are cases which call for its restraints
would be to deny the evidence of our senses. Mr. Wilkes, the late
medical officer to the Stafford County Lunatic Asylum, and now
Commissioner in Lunacy, in answer to a series of questions issued by
the Commissioners on Lunacy upon the subject, makes the following
remarks:—
“With every disposition to advocate the disuse of restraint to the
utmost extent, I am compelled to admit that the result of my
experience in this asylum, up to the present time, leads me to the
conclusion that cases may occur in which its temporary employment
may be both necessary and justifiable. Besides the occasional use of
some means of confining the hands when feeding patients by means
of the stomach-pump, a more prolonged use of restraint was
necessary in two cases which occurred some years since. One of
these was a man of so determined a suicidal disposition, that on
more than one occasion he nearly effected his purpose by trying to
beat his head and face against the walls, to throw himself from
tables and chairs, and thrust spoons and other articles down his
throat. When first admitted, he was not suspected of having any
suicidal tendency, and for some weeks did not show any; as a
matter of precaution he slept in a padded room, and one night he so
battered his head with a tin vessel that he was found nearly dead
from loss of blood, and his life was subsequently in much danger
from extensive sloughing of the scalp. In this case it was absolutely
necessary to confine the hands to keep any dressings on the head,
and after the wounds had healed, and the confinement of the hands
had been discontinued, he wore a thickly-padded cap for many
months. Several years after this, he bit both his little fingers off; and
though the suicidal disposition has in a great measure subsided, he
is still at times much excited, but does not require any restraint. The
second case was one of acute mania. A powerful young man refused
all food under the impression that it was poisoned, and imagined
that every one who went near him intended to murder him. Every
inducement to get him to take food was in vain, and though a
sufficient body of attendants, under my own inspection, attempted
to do what was necessary for him, he became so much bruised in
holding him in his struggles to assail the attendants, when it was
urgently requisite that food should be administered into the
stomach, that I decided upon confining his hands, and both food
and medicine were then readily administered. The result certainly
justified the means employed, as the excitement subsided, and he
soon recovered.”
So much for the experience of the medical attendant of a public
asylum; now let us hear the testimony of Dr. Forbes Winslow, whose
experience in his private asylum, Sussex House, Hammersmith, has
been as great perhaps as that of any man, since he has lived with
his family for ten years in the very midst of his patients, and who is
surpassed by no one in his enlightened and gentle treatment of the
insane.
“Patients,” he says, in his Report to the Commissioners, “have often
expressed a wish to be placed under mechanical restraint, should I,
in my judgment, believe that they would, when much excited,
commit overt acts of violence, and be dangerous to themselves and
others. In cases like these, mechanical restraint may for a short
period be applied, not only without detriment, but with positive
advantage as a curative process. Several instances relative of this
fact have come under my observation. I have seen cases where no
food or medicine could be administered without subjecting the
patient to restraint. In these cases, if all idea of cure had been
abandoned, and I could have reconciled it to my conscience to allow
the disease to take its uninterrupted course, and have permitted the
patient to exist upon the minimum amount of nutriment, and take
no medicine, all restraint might easily be dispensed with; but
considering the cure of my patient paramount to every other
consideration, I had no hesitation as to the humane and right mode
of procedure.”
In a case which came under our knowledge, a patient imagined that
the text, “If thine eye offend thee pluck it out,” was literally
intended, and, after various attempts to comply with the command,
he succeeded in destroying the sight of one orbit. Such instances are
rare, but the medical man should at all times be prepared to meet
them, instead of folding his arms and looking helplessly on whilst the
mischief is being done, through a craven fear of the non-restraint
cry. The strait-waistcoat is certainly liable to great abuse, but less
than the padded room, which may be converted into a cruel means
of coercion in the hands of unwatched attendants.
There yet remains a vast amount of restraint, which is almost as
irritating, if not so strongly reprobated, as the implements which
bind the limbs of the suicidal or violent. Restraint is only
comparative. The strait-waistcoat is the narrowest zone of
confinement, and the padded room but a little wider. Next to these
comes the locked gallery for a class, then the encircling high wall for
the entire lunatic community; and lastly, that aërial barrier the
parole, for those who can be trusted to go beyond the asylum. The
efforts of philanthropists will not, we are convinced, cease, until all
the methods of confinement, down to the parole, are removed; or at
least so disguised as to hinder their present irritating action upon the
inmates. As long as the chief idea in connection with these
establishments is that they are receptacles for the detention of the
insane, so long perhaps the means taken to prevent flight will
obtain; but when they are simply regarded as hospitals for the cure
of mental disease, we shall witness the abandonment of many
arrangements which are as barbarous and ineffectual as the cruelties
practised in the last century. The asylums where the restraint is
greatest are precisely those from which the largest number of
patients contrive to escape; whereas, when restrictions of all kinds
are abolished, as at the insane pauper colony of Gheel, in Belgium,
but few persons ever attempt to get away.
In former days the public were admitted to perambulate Bedlam on
the payment of twopence. A writer in the World gives a narrative of
a visit to it in Easter-week, 1753, when he found there a hundred
holiday-makers, who “were suffered unattended to run rioting up
and down the wards, making sport of the miserable inhabitants.”
Richardson, the novelist, had, a few years earlier, depicted the scene
in the assumed character of a young lady from the country,
describing to her friends the sights of London.
“I have this afternoon been with my cousins to gratify the odd
curiosity most people have to see Bethlehem, or Bedlam Hospital. A
more affecting scene my eyes never beheld. I had the shock of
seeing the late polite and ingenious Mr. —— in one of these woful
chambers. No sooner did I put my face to the grate, but he leaped
from his bed, and called me with frightful fervency to come into his
room. The surprise affected me pretty much, and my confusion
being observed by a crowd of strangers, I heard it presently
whispered that I was his sweetheart and the cause of his
misfortune. My cousin assured me that such fancies were frequent
upon these occasions; but this accident drew so many eyes upon me
as obliged me soon to quit the place. I was much at a loss to
account for the behaviour of the generality of people who were
looking at these miserable objects. Instead of the concern I think
unavoidable at such a sight, a sort of mirth appeared on their
countenances, and the distempered fancies of the miserable patients
provoked mirth and loud laughter in the unthinking auditors; and the
many hideous roarings and wild motions of others seemed equally
entertaining to them. Nay, so shamefully inhuman were some,
among whom, I am sorry to say it, were several of my own sex, as
to endeavour to provoke the patients into rage to make them sport.”
Supposed to be degraded to the level of beasts, as wild beasts they
were treated. Like them they were shut up in dens littered with
straw, exhibited for money, and made to growl and roar for the
diversion of the spectators who had paid their fee. No wonder that
Bedlam should have become a word of fear; no wonder that in
popular estimation the bad odour of centuries should still cling to its
walls, and that the stranger, tempted by curiosity to pass beneath
the shadow of its dome, should enter with sickening trepidation. But
now, instead of the howling madhouse his imagination may have
painted it, he sees prim galleries filled with orderly persons. Scenes
of cheerfulness and content meet the eye of the visitor as he is
conducted along well-lit corridors, from which the bars and gratings
of old have vanished. He stops, surprised and delighted, to look at
the engravings of Landseer’s pictures on the walls, or to admire the
busts upon the brackets; he beholds tranquil persons walking around
him, or watches them feeding the birds which abound in the aviaries
fitted up in the depths of the ample windows. Indeed the pet
animals, such as rabbits, squirrels, &c., with the verdant ferneries,
render the convalescent wards of this hospital more cheerful than
any we have seen in similar institutions. At intervals the monotony of
the long-drawn corridors is broken by ample-sized rooms carpeted
and furnished like the better class of dwellings. If we pass along the
female side of the hospital, we find the apartments occupied by a
score of busy workers, the majority of whom appear to be
gentlewomen. Every conceivable kind of needlework is dividing their
attention with the young lady who reads aloud “David Copperfield,”
or “Dred;” while beside the fire, perhaps, an old lady with silver
locks gives a touch of domesticity to the scene, which we should
little have expected to meet within these walls. In traversing the
male side, instead of the workroom we find a library, in which the
patients, reclining upon the sofas or lolling in arm-chairs round the
fire, beguile the hours with books or the Illustrated News. Many a
scholar, the silver chord of whose brain jingles for the moment out of
tune, here finds a congenial atmosphere, and such materials for
study as he often could not obtain out-of-doors; and here many an
artist, clergyman, officer, and broken-down gentleman, meets with
social converse, which the world does not dream could exist in
Bedlam.[14]
No cases of more than twelve months’ standing are admitted within
the walls of Bedlam, and only ninety persons termed incurables are
allowed to remain beyond that period. These regulations exclude the
idiotic and epileptic patients, who form such distressing groups in
other establishments, and the interest required to obtain admission
into this amply endowed charity ensures at the same time a much
higher class of inmates. Clergymen, barristers, governesses, literary
men, artists, and military and naval officers make up the staple of
the assembly. The representatives of the lower orders are also
present, but the educated element prevails, and the tone of dress
and manners is vastly above that to be found in the pauper-
swarming county asylums. There is a ball on the first Monday in
every month, and the company that gathers in the crystal chamber
at the extreme end of the south wing would not disgrace in
behaviour and appearance any sane and well-bred community. The
polka, the waltz, and the mazurka, performed with grace and ease,
declare the social standing of the assembly; and many a pedestrian
who sees the dark silhouettes of the dancers as they whirl across the
light, is astonished at the festivities of the inmates. In the summer
evenings the spacious courts are crowded with the patients, not
gloomily walking between four dismal walls in which the very air
seemed placed under restraint, but enjoying themselves in the
bowling-green or in the skittle alley. The garden is at hand for those
who love the culture of flowers. When we contrast the condition of
the Bethlehem of fifty years ago with the Bethlehem of to-day, we
see at a glance what a gulf has been leaped in half a century—a gulf
on one side of which we see man, like a demon, torturing his
unfortunate fellows, on the other like a ministering angel carrying
out the all-powerful law of love. Can this be the same Bethlehem
where, in 1808, Mr. Westerton, Mr. Calvert, and Mr. Wakefield saw
ten patients in the women’s gallery, each fastened by one arm or leg
to the wall, with a length of chain that only allowed them to stand
up by their bench, and dressed in a filthy blanket thrown poncho-like
over their otherwise naked bodies? Can this be the same institution
in which poor Norris, like a fierce hound in a kennel, was favoured
with a long chain that passed through the wall into the next room,
and which, while permitting him a little extra tether, enabled the
keeper to haul him up to the side of the cell when it was necessary
to approach him? But this indulgence did not last, and from the
pages of Esquirol we learn the infernal torture which was finally put
upon him.
“A stout iron ring was riveted round his neck, from which a short
chain passed to a ring made to slide upwards or downwards on an
upright massive iron bar, more than six feet high, inserted into the
wall. Round his body a strong iron bar, about two inches wide, was
riveted; on each side of the bar was a circular projection, which,
being fastened to and enclosing each of his arms, pinioned them
close to his side.”
In this position, in which he could only stand upright or lie upon his
back, he lived for twelve years! But in nothing, perhaps, is the
contrast between the past and the present more apparent than in
the two pictures presented by Dr. Hood, the resident physician, from
the case book of the Bethlehem Hospital, which at once show the
difference of treatment and the different results which attended it.
“A. F., admitted into the “M. C., admitted into this
Hospital, February 6, Hospital, Sept. 30, 1853,
1808, aged 34. This in a state of violent
woman was born at raging excitement,
Derby. At the age of 20 depending upon acute
she came to London to mania. She had been in
seek for service, but she this state three days
soon lost her character. previous to her
The natural violence of admission, and had
her disposition was wandered about the
increased by her streets in a comparatively
intemperance. She was naked state, under the
the most turbulent of all excitement of religious
the females that disturb enthusiasm. She was a
the night about Fleet powerful, muscular
Market, and has been woman; and to bring her
repeatedly flogged at to the Hospital it was
Bridewell for her extreme necessary to impose upon
violence and disorder. her the restraint of a
She became at length strait-jacket. She
the horror of the screamed violently all the
watchmen, for punishing way to the Hospital, and
and imprisonment had used the most
no effect in checking her threatening language,
career. She was known refusing to listen to
to her companions by anything that was said to
the name of ‘Ginger.’ In her, but when tired of
one of her paroxysms of vociferating, contented
rage she attacked the herself with kicking and
windows of the Mansion spitting at those within
House, and on her her reach. On admission,
examination before the the mechanical restraint
Lord Mayor, it appeared was removed; she was
that her violent ordered a warm bath, and
disposition had gradually two grains of the acetate
passed into a state of of morphia, and
complete madness. afterwards placed in a
Under these bed in a padded room.
circumstances she was She continued noisy for
sent, February 6th, an hour or two, and then
1808, to the Hospital, became quieter; but the
and placed on the attendant, who looked at
curable establishment. At her every half-hour,
the expiration of twelve always found her
months, her lunacy sleepless. The following
continuing, she was day she continued
admitted on the tranquil, but when
incurable list. There is no addressed, responded
record of the manner in with an oath. She was
which she conducted ordered one grain and a
herself during the first half of acetate of
year, but it appears that morphia. The third day
she was chained to her she continued quiet and
bed of straw for eight sullen, but permitted the
years without any nurse to dress her and
covering or apparel. So place her in a chair in the
long as she continued day-room with the other
thus coerced the patients. The following
violence continued. The day (the fourth) she
last entry is ‘coercion still continued tranquil and
makes her ferocious, but rational, rather shrinking
when left at liberty she is from conversation; and
not in the least degree being a little feverish, was
dangerous.’” ordered ‘henbane,’ with a
saline. From that day she
speedily became
convalescent, and was
discharged cured,
November 11, 1853,
having been a patient in
the Hospital forty-two
days.”
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