The Medea Complex (9 page)

Dr Savage

November 10th, 1885

Royal Bethlem Hospital

Dear Dr Savage,

It is with regret that I write to you rather than
speaking with you face to face, but at present I am engaged in a rather tedious
yet necessary business matter, and will be away from London for a few weeks.
Doctor, it has come to my attention that you have adopted a regime of
mechanical restraint since the retirement of your eminent predecessor, Dr
William Reece Williams. I shan't go so far as to echo the opinions of your
contemporaries in labelling such methods as primeval: nor do I believe that in
the future, you shall look back upon your defence of restraint with the same
wonderment of those whom encouraged domestic slavery. However, being aware of
this issue arouses in me some sense of anxiety, as only a father whose own
daughter is locked in such a place could appreciate. So, whilst I believe that
your personal character is sufficient to serve your profession and henceforth
my daughter well, I hereby request that you do not put Anne under any
restraints of this manner, nor of any other, including that which is termed
'chemical restraint'.

Kindest Regards

Lord Damsbridge

Folding the letter into eight, I bite my tongue and remind
myself that anger is poison.

It is one thing for a Lunacy Commissioner to attempt demands
and restrictions upon me, but for a lay-person to instruct me in my treatments!
And with a rather clear sense of blackmail, at that! Lord Damsbridge has the
good fortune of birth and riches but the ignorance of a peasant when it comes
to the field of psychiatry. No doubt he has read one of Dr Bucknill's numerous
articles and letters published in The Lancet: that man has been doggedly
pursuing his mission over the past two decades to abolish the use of mechanical
restraint throughout the entirety of England. Damned journalists and their
sensationalist cosh! Their indulgence of one half-mad alienist could risk the
very future of psychiatry.

I pen a letter back:

Dear Lord Damsbridge,

Whilst I understand your concerns on the matter, and
agree to indulge you upon your request, I would like to make my point known.
First of all, I can only assume, and, forgive me if my assumption has no basis
in fact, but I am fairly certain that you must have read an article by the
'eminent' Dr Bucknill. Whilst it would be improper of me to voice a negative
opinion against a fellow doctor, I feel I have to say, quite forcefully, that
he is wrong in his impressions. Mechanical restraint has been abused in the
past and regretfully, with that comes a sense of fear, and public outrage
against the practice. I am aware of this, and indeed aim to change such
negative perceptions. Used sparingly, this method offers a substantial amount
of freedom to those patients whom would otherwise be controlled with the use of
drugs: that is to say, medicated to the point of semi-consciousness, the
chemical restraint to which you mention. I should be wanting in courage indeed
my Lord, if I refrained from the use of those means simply based on their
neglectful and improper history. My profession has not yet reached the point of
having fixed principles, and as such we are chiefly guided by experience. I am
sure it will be of great comfort to you, that I do not use this chemical cosh
method on any of my patients. I must also impress upon you that Royal Bethlem
Hospital prides itself on being an epicentre of excellence: providing a wide
variety of methods of psychiatric investigation, in the fields of both
neurological and psychological research. If you do not wish Lady Stanbury to
take part in such, I will, of course, abide by your wishes.

My Kindest Regards

Dr George Savage

I omit mentioning the other research we perform, and the
fact that Lady Stanbury will be taking part in it.

Is a lie, a lie by omission?

If so, I have just lied to a man who contributes thousands
of pounds per year to this hospital.

And yet.

I consider myself to be a moral man and I abhor liars, but I
cannot stand back and watch a young woman potentially be destroyed. Her
father’s ignorant and dogmatic incredulity with regards to a field he does not
understand is dangerous to her.

After all, how long it will be before he blackmails me
again, insisting his insane daughter is discharged: still mad? It is essential
I work upon her quickly, for if he asserts his authority before she is cured, I
fear for those around her. Lord Damsbridge himself would be in danger, though
he does not recognize this fact. He is blinkered by his understandable, yet
incredibly biased feelings towards his own flesh and blood. If I must apply
treatments to Lady Stanbury away from the eyes and ears of her father, then so
be it. There is nothing of more importance than the well-being of my patients.

I have no doubt that one day; this hospital will become the
scientific and social centre of the English lunacy world. I will prove to
everyone that by adopting a wide variety of methods within psychiatry, we can
cure almost every type of madness.

And one of my successes' will be Lady Stanbury.

I pen a second letter, this time to my close friend and
eminent colleague, Dr Daniel Hake Tuke, just in case he did not receive
notification from Nurse Ruth. This trustee of Bethlem is a scientific sponge of
a man whom specializes in experimental psychology.

“Doctor?” Nurse Agnus peeks around my open door. “Miss
Fortier is here.”

“Wonderful,” I say. What perfect timing. “Please, show her
in.” Lady Stanbury's obsession of finding someone whom speaks French infers to
me something of importance between her and the maid.  'Fortier' being a name of
French origin, it seems unlikely that this would be a mere coincidence, and mad
as she is, most lunatics still retain some sort of grasp on reality. In this
manner, there may be something I can use from their shared history that will
allow me to establish a rapport with my patient. I have been looking forward to
meeting the woman who now enters my office with a proud and dignified air.

“Miss Fortier, how wonderful to meet you. Thank you for
making the journey to talk with me. Was it terribly long?” 

“Not at all, Sir. It's a good day for it.”

The rain pounds against the window, and I thereby assume she
is not referring to the weather.

“Miss Fortier, do you know why I have asked you here?”

She puts her gloved hands upon her lap, and maintains eye
contact with me.

“I do. You want to speak with me about my Lady. How can I
help you?”

“Tell me about what sort of child she was.”

“What do you mean, exactly?”

“What were her interests, her habits? Start when she was a
child. Was she a playful child? An insolent child?”

Her eyes adopt a far-away glaze as she remembers, gazing at
a point slightly above and to the right of my head. With a deep intake of
breath, she reverts her gaze to me and says, “She was a normal child, Doctor.
Running amok around the fields, climbing trees, quite cheerful, considering her
motherlessness. I tried to be some sort of substitute for that sad fact; though
of course, she considered her only friend in the world to be one of the
servants, a girl her own age. Perfectly natural in such a young child. She did
not view me as a friend, then, she was more interested in exploring the woods
and trees around her than she was in mathematics, French, music, art, or any
other academic subject. Her interests lay in being a young girl, and playing
with those around her.”

“So you wouldn't say that she was a particularly gifted
child?”

“No. I would say, with clarity, that she was a perfectly
normal child, Doctor.”

I open Lady Stanbury's medical file and start writing.

No precocious traits as a child. 

“Was she a nervous child?”

“No.”

No nervousness in childhood.

Attacks of nervous disorder affecting the unstable
developing nervous tissues of child, can cause rapid and permanent
degeneration. Had Anne suffered from this, it would most certainly have been a
contributing factor to her current insanity. However, she appears to have been
confident, and happy.

Next is to focus on her education. Over-education, or bad
education, consists of the development of one side of the person at the expense
or neglect of the rest.

“When she had her lessons, did you oblige her in that which
she wanted to do with detriment to the rest?”

“No, Doctor. I taught her all manners of things, and she had
lessons in each of them in equal amounts; whether she liked it or not. Despite
what I said, when she wasn't off running around the grounds, she was an
attentive and mediocre pupil.”

“Did she excel or fail in any subjects?”

“No. She passed them adequately, and to the standard
expected of a young woman.”

“Any particular musical talent?”

“No.”

“Artistic talent?”

“No.”

“What of her accomplishments? Did she play the piano, the
zitter?” Almost every well educated lady can play at least a little of these.
“What about sketching, archery?”

“No. Well, she can play a tune on the piano...now. She
excelled in reading, Doctor, and both she and I perceive this to be her
accomplishment. She was an avid reader since a relatively early age. Naturally,
Asquith Manor boasts a rather large library.”

I don't like the sound of this.

“Did she read alone?”

“Often.”

“Did she continue reading into adulthood?”

“Yes, she did. Even now, she can almost always be found with
a book in her hand.” A look crosses her face, and I'm not sure what to make of
it. Is it smugness, or the hint of knowing something I do not? This woman gives
me an uneasy feeling, and yet I cannot say how, or why.

Patient embraced useless book reading from
an early age, allowed to educate herself through this means solitarily;
probably at the expense of social interaction. A certain element of defective
education from a member of the weaker sex.

I frown at Miss Fortier.

“You do recognize that a woman reading all sorts of...” I
search for the word. “Sorts of...rubbish, and stuffing her mind with useless
nonsense is dangerous, don't you? Why would you allow this to happen, as her
Governess?”

“She was, and remains, an intelligent person, Sir. If she
wanted to read, I let her do so. She didn't lose herself in fantasy nor indulge
in romance books. You never asked me what type of books she read. She learned
astrology, social friction, politics, history, and nature through her books.
They have served to improve her as a woman, and I must say I disagree with your
rather old fashioned sentiment indeed.”

Women. Most of them are bordering on the limits of insanity
at the best of times.

I sigh.

“Moving on, Miss Fortier. How was she during her pregnancy?
I’m sure as the woman closest to her, you would be aware of the most intimate
details.”

“Which pregnancy?”

I mentally deride myself. Of course, the miscarriage. I have
seen these occur with frequency in the insane. Mother Nature steps in and
procures the natural destruction of a child who ran a very great risk of being
an idiot. Though I don't believe this to be the case with Lady Stanbury; no
doubt, she over-exerted herself.

“The second one, Miss Fortier. The pregnancy that led to her
being here.”

“Oh, she was anxious, of course. After all, if a woman knows
ten or fifteen women, she probably knows someone who had died giving birth, or
would later die. Add into this equation her own mother and the first baby and
well...” she raised her arms, palms to the sky. “How would you expect her to
feel?”

“I'd expect her to be naturally anxious. But did she do
anything to console herself of these worries?”

“She read, Doctor. About everything.”

“I don’t really understand what reading would have done to
comfort her-”

“Oh, it was more of a comfort than you'll ever realize, Sir.
She read all about pregnancy. She really is a talented reader. She even read
some articles from The Lancet.”

My God. That's it. I start writing, quickly.

Anne was clearly distressed following the
miscarriage she suffered. This grievance left Anne extremely susceptible to
future mental problems. I do not believe that she fully mourned the loss of her
first child, and when faced with her second pregnancy, she thereupon read any
and all literature she could lay her hands on with regards to midwifery and
childbirth in a misguided attempt to keep the second baby safe. This in turn
filled her mind with apprehensions at to the horrors that might be in store for
her, and she thus developed a cerebral disturbance.

It is noteworthy here that Anne gained
access to advice books, medical literature and periodicals, and, having an
intellect great enough to both understand and digest this information, Anne was
open to terror and anxiousness regarding the impending birth of her second
child.

It is for this reason women should not
educate themselves beyond affairs of the home.

I put down my pen. She has confirmed my suspicions. I now know
exactly what caused her insanity.

Books. Women and their books.

“I think I have enough information, Miss Fortier. Thank
you.” I rise from my chair, and call out to Nurse Agnus. Miss Fortier surprises
me by being astute enough to catch my mood, for she instantly justifies her
actions.

“I didn't mean to do her any harm, Doctor-”

“I'm sure you didn't. You should have known enough as a
governess to never have let her read those books. You should never have
encouraged her to become a reader. But the damage has already been done now,
hasn't it? Unfortunately, women don't often think of the consequences of their
actions until afterward.”