Here, then, appears a duty which, in our opinion, should be performed by a duly appointed officer, such as a district medical inspector or examiner; for we would deprive the guardians of the poor of all voice in deciding on the sanity or insanity of any individual. The law might with equal or with greater propriety leave the decision of the success or non-success of the operation of vaccination to a vestry, as that of the question under remark. Further, since many might argue, that to leave the determination of the question to an officer like the parish medical man, directly interested in settling it in one way, and who might saddle the parish with an annual charge for every poor person in it who did not come up to his standard of mental strength, would be unfair to the rate-payers; an independent opinion, given by an officer in no way interested in the decision of the point at issue, would seem to afford the very best means of settling the point, and a sufficient guarantee against any supposable irregularities. We would suggest, therefore, that the district inspector should visit every poor person wholly or partially chargeable, or proposed to be made chargeable to any parish, as being of unsound mind, and make a return to the parochial authorities and to the Poor-Law Board, and that the certificate of this officer should be held to be a sufficient proof of the insanity of the individual.
But the duties of this officer, in relation to the lunatic poor under consideration, would not stop here. In his visit we would require him to investigate more narrowly than a Union medical officer can be expected to do at the remuneration offered, and amid his many other arduous engagements,--into the condition and the circumstances by which the poor patient is surrounded, to report thereon to the Lunacy Board and to the proper Union officials, and in general to state, in the words of the Act, whether he is or is not properly taken care of, and is or is not a fit subject for asylum care. The officer we propose, would approach the inquiry independently of the parish authorities, and indifferent to their censure, having no position and no pay to lose by his decision; whilst as an experienced physician, understanding the varying features of mental disorder, and the conditions necessary to its amelioration or cure, his opinions would claim greater respect.