Epileptic Colonies
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
establishments modeled on farms in which epileptics inhabit houses surrounded by open ÉPINAL spaces such as gardens and meadows, and supplemented by factories, schools, theaters, and churches, giving the patients occupation and a diversion, and the opportunity of a life spent largely in the open. The idea is a modern one and has been fruitful of results. It was first conceived in Germany and the epileptic colony at Bielefeld, in Westphalia, the best known of its kind, provides with the officials and employes for about 4,000 persons. Both sexes are accommodated, and the tabulated results show that less than 1 per cent. of the patients have been allowed to develop insanity. Nearly 10 per cent. are discharged as cured; over 20 per cent. improve sufficiently to leave for ordinary duties; 21 per cent. show no sign of improvement; and 20 per by death. Epileptic cent. are released by colonies, modeled on that of Bielefeld, have been established in different parts of Europe. There are several in Germany, one in Holland, one in Italy, and one in Switzerland. The English established colonies at Chalfont St. Peter in 1894, and another at Warford, Cheshire, in 1900. The results have been similar to those noted at Bielefeld. The principles that lay at the basis of the treatment of epileptics in Germany had long received favorable consideration in the United States, and in course of time several States established farm colonies of a similar character. There are now such colonies in New York, Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, and other States. The colony at Sonyea, N. Y., was opened in 1896, covering something like 2,000 orchards, woods, acres, with gardens, as, meadows, parks and numerous groups of buildings, including mills, residences, churches, libraries, schools, shops, and barns, and the available means for many industries. The average attendance is about 1,500. The census of 1912 showed 745 males, 673 females, of whom 130 males and 97 females were admitted during the previous year, 146 males and 83 females being discharged, transferred or died, 4 recovering.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921, segregating epileptics on self-contained farm colonies was the state of the art, and the encyclopedia could report little more than that some patients "improve sufficiently to leave for ordinary duties." Effective drug treatment arrived soon after — phenobarbital came into use around 1912 and phenytoin (Dilantin) in 1938, followed by carbamazepine and valproate — and with Hans Berger's electroencephalogram (1929) epilepsy became a diagnosable disorder of brain electrical activity rather than a condition managed by removal to the countryside. Most people with epilepsy now live at home with seizures fully or largely controlled, and the colonies emptied: Craig Colony at Sonyea, New York, closed as an epilepsy institution, and the American laws that once barred epileptics from marrying or authorized their sterilization were repealed through the twentieth century. Two of the places named survive in altered form — Bethel at Bielefeld is still a large German care foundation, and Chalfont St Peter continues as the Epilepsy Society's centre.
Written for this edition, 2026.