The nurse should go with and stay with the
patient, telephoning or telegraphing home when opportunity offers, and
finally securing aid; he should know where the patient is at all
times, foregoing sleep if necessary to protect his charge, and should
avoid as long as prudence permits the publicity of an arrest; though
the latter may finally be essential to safety, and to the prevention
of embarking on a voyage, or taking a train to a distance, or
purchasing weapons.

=Diversions.=--Music favorably affects many patients, so the pleasure
of listening to it should be afforded at frequent intervals. Patients
should be encouraged to absorb themselves in it. It is often possible
to take insane people to opera, musical comedy, or concert. Vocal and
instrumental practice at suitable intervals is of great value in
fixing the attention, filling the mind with desirable thoughts and
memories, and allaying irritability. Drawing and painting are of
service when within the number of the patient's accomplishments.
Intellectual pastimes, as authors, anagrams, billiards, chess, and
many games with playing cards, are generally helpful. Gardening,
croquet, and tennis are very desirable. Golf, rowing, swimming, and
skating are excellent, but are within the reach of very few insane
patients. All regular occupation that necessitates attention and
concentration is of supreme value; in fact, insane patients not
infrequently ask for occupation and find relief in the accomplishment
of something useful, as well as in the healthful sleep and increased
appetite that attend judicious physical fatigue.

_The Beneficial Atmosphere of Sanitariums_

After caring for an insane patient for a time at home, the question
arises as to the desirability of sending him away to a sanitarium.
Generally this is a wise course to pursue. The constant association
with an insane person is undermining; the responsibility is often too
heavy; children, often inheriting the same neurotic tendency and
always impressionable, should not be exposed to the perverting
influence; it may not be safe to keep a patient with suicidal or
homicidal impulses in his home; the surroundings amid which the insane
ideas first started may tend to continue a suggestion of these ideas.
Removal to strange locality and new scenes, the influence of
strangers, the abandonment of all responsibilities and duties, and the
atmosphere of obedience, routine, and discipline are all beneficial.
An insan