[Thomas J. W. Burgess and the administration of the Verdun Protestant Hospital for the Insane (1890-1916)]

This article examines the administration of the Verdun asylum in Quebec and the central role played by Dr. Burgess from the asylum's opening in 1890 until World War I. It focuses first on the marked difference between the democratic approach to management actively employed at Verdun and the more rigid proprietorial control that characterized francophone asylums. It then outlines methods for organizing the daily routine of patients; achievements arising from the systematic application of moral treatment and the importance that Dr. Burgess gave to this form of treatment; and the problems encountered in medical superintendence of the asylum during these difficult years. The discussion concludes by considering how Burgess and his colleagues contributed both to the development of the psychiatric profession in Quebec and to medical research into mental illness.