Dorothea Dix and her two missions of mercy in Nova Scotia

Dorothea Lynde Dix, 19th century defender of the rights of the mentally ill to hospital care, holds a significant place in the history of Nova Scotia. Her two major accomplishments in this province include laying the groundwork for its first psychiatric hospital and the outfitting of treacherous Sable Island with rescue equipment to aid ships stranded off its shore. The techniques that Miss Dix employed in these missions parallel those she successfully used in the establishment of psychiatric hospitals in a number of American states. It will be argued that her influence has been a positive one on the treatment of the mentally ill particularly in light of the failures of the deinstitutionalization movement.