Books Received
| Date | 01 September 1969 |
| Published date | 01 September 1969 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486586900200318 |
188 AUST. &N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (1969): 2, 3
FABIAN BRYANT,
Psychiatrist,
North
Ryde Psychiatrie Centre,
New
South
Wales.
states, The nomenclature differs
but
the
clinical pietures
are
essentially those of
today. The use of various forms of co-
ercion
are
described, together
with
other
management methods,
and
at
times
the
outcome is documented. Finally, some
notes on apossible hospital
at
Bedlam
Point, Gladesville, before 1820
and
the
Lunacy Act of 1843 of Governor Gipps,
provide interesting additional material.
Criticisms include
the
omission or
any
reference to the asylum
at
Port
Arthur,
where
medico-legal problems
were
of such
considerable importance,
and
the
rneagre
ref'erences to non-institutional psychiatry.
From the comparatively small nurnbers of
hospitalised patients, it was evident then
as
now
that
the
greatest
morbidity is in
the
cornmunity and
not
in
the
institutions.
The book could be read
with
profit by
those who deal
with
State
psychiatrie ser-
vices. Those who engage in
any
of the
social services will see in
the
book
some
interesting parallels
with
their
own
organi..
sational development.
Any
books
[or
review should be
sent to the Editor,
Department
of
Criminoiogy,
University
ofMelbourne,
Parkville,
Victoria, 3052.
The
Editor
and the
Advisory
Edi-
torial
Board
do
not
accept
respon-
sibility
jor
any
views or
criticisms
expressed reqarding any books re-
viewed in thlS section.
BOOKS RECEIVED
Cuzzort, R. P.,
Humanity
and
Modern
Sociological Thought, Holt, Rinehart
and Winston, 1969, 349
pp.
Eisner, V., The DeHnquency Label: The
Epidemiology of Juvenile Delinqueney.
Random House, 1969, 177 pp., A.$5.95.
Germann, A. C., Day, F. D.,
and
Gallati,
R. R. J., Introduction to Law Enforce-
ment
and Criminal Justice. Charles C.
Thomas, Illinois, 1969, 406 pp., $9.75.
Marshall, J., World of
the
Living Dead
and
Jail
From Within.
Wentworth
Press,
(Memorial Edition), Sydney, 1969, 139
pp., $2.75.
Packman, J., ChUd Care: Needs and
Numbers. Allen and Unwin, London,
1968, 247 pp., $6.30.
Wheeler, S., Controlling Delinquents,
Wiley, 1968, 332 pp., $8.95.
cratic
neglect and, at tlmes, hostile public
opinion. This view is
rather
inevitable
as so much of the source material was
the
annual reports
and
administrative cor-
respondence of the superintendents.
The origin of psychiatrie services
from
the penal system is shown by
the
removal
ot
lunatics
from
the
Parramatta
Prison in
1811 to the first well-documented asylum
in Castle HilI
and
the committal of luna-
tics
with
trial by jury.
The
accommoda-
tion
of lunatics in the prisons of South
Australia, Vi c
tor
i a, Queensland, and
Western
Australia before
the
development
of asylums was described. Even the
court
house
at
Liverpool served as an asylum
between
1835
and
1838. Many
other
medico-legal facets
are
illustrated, includ-
ing the differentiation of malingerers, "im-
postors",
who at times
went
to
great
Iengths
to
change
their accommodation from
prison
to
the
slightly
more
comfortable
asylums. The developing relationship of
psychiatry
and
the
law
is carefully out-
lined on such
matters
as committal,
wrongful admission (assault
and
wrongful
imprisonment), inquest
and
official inspec-
tion
by
statute
and case
and
regulation.
Difficult administrative
areas
such as
the
caring for
both
free
men
and
prisoners,
the
physically sick and the weIl, the violent
and
the
aging are fascinatingly illustrated.
The book holds some messages for all who
are
concemed with
the
administration of
social institutions. Those particularly em-
phasised
are the
great
importance of the
careful selection of leaders;
the
need for
freedom to build a
staff
team;
the
Import-
ance
or those making decisions to appre-
ciate
the
details of
the
circumstances;
the
dangers
of administration by obstruction
and
pin-pricking.
The first years of
Tarban
Creek Asylum
(now Gladesville Psychiatrie Hospital)
are
documented with careful detail in adminis-
trative
and clinical areas. This was Aus-
tralia's
first carefully planned asylum. The
methods, including the avoidance of re-
straint
wherever possible, of Mr. Digby,
the
first superintendent, followed the best
English methods of
the
day. The vicissi-
tudes
of trying to follow this bears
relevanee today.
The development of asylums in other
Australian States is outlined, though there
is
great
paucity of adequate historical de-
tail. Clinical developments
over
the
years
range
from Dr.
Parmenter's
classification
system
of 1817 (1st: class of maniac; 2nd:
melancholie; 3rd: epilepsia and 4th: the
wornen), to a
chapter
on
the
case
notes
of Dr, F. Campbell,
written
between 1848
and 1850. He presents
aseries
of bril-
liant
descriptions of mental deficlency,
dementia, mania and melancholia, schtzo-
phrenia, paranoid eonditions and
other
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