In planning the hospital Dr. P.M.  Wise, who has since become its medical superintendent, aimed to take the utmost advantage of the scenic and hygienic capabilities of the site, and to improve on all previous combinations of the two general divisions of a mixed asylum—­a hospital department for the concentration of professional treatment, and a maintenance department for the separate care of the chronic insane.  He was anxious to secure as much as possible of the compactness and ease of administration of the linear plan of construction, with wings on either side of the executive building of long corridors occupied as day rooms, with sleeping rooms opening out of them on both sides.  But he wanted to avoid the depressing influence of this monotonous structure, as the better results of variety and increased opportunities of subdivision and classification are well recognized.  He was not, however, prepared to accept wholly that abrupt departure from the linear plan known as the “cottage plan,” which in some institutions has been carried to the extreme of erecting a detached building for every ward.  The climate of St. Lawrence county forbade this.  Her winters are as vigorous as those of her Canadian neighbors, even as her people are almost as ebullient in their politics as the vigorous warring liberals and conservatives across the river.  And there are features of the linear plan that can only be left out of our asylum structure at the expense of efficiency.  Other rules that he formulated from his experience were that a building for the insane should never exceed two stories in height; that fire proof construction and at least two stairways from the upper floors should be provided; that day rooms should be on the first and sleeping rooms on the second floor; that all buildings for the insane who suffer from sluggish and enfeebled circulation of the blood should be capable of being warmed to 70 deg. in the coldest weather; that ample cubic space and ventilation should be provided; and that, as far as possible, without too great increase of the cost of maintenance or sacrificing essential provisions for treatment and necessary restraint, asylums should aim to reproduce the conditions of domestic life.

[Illustration:  THE ST. LAWRENCE HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.]

State Architect Isaac G. Perry planned the St. Lawrence State Hospital buildings on ideas suggested by medical experience, with a breadth of comprehension and a technical skill in combining adaptability, utility, and beauty that have accomplished wonders.  The buildings are satisfactory in every particular to every one who has seen them, and even the most casual observer is impressed with the effect of beauty.  This was accomplished without elaboration of material, expressive carving or finish.  The ornamentation is purely structural and is obtained by a handling of the materials of construction which also yielded the largest promise of strength and durability.