位于纽约上城的哥伦比亚大学，原来早先那地界是所疯人院，Bloomingdale Insane Asylum。
这所精神病院于1821年开张，是全美最早的此类机构之一。顺便提一下，这个布鲁明黛尔（Bloomingdale），和现如今全美连锁的“布鲁明黛尔百货商店”没有什么关系。
1872年，布鲁明黛尔精神病院遭人起诉虐待病患。这是当时登在《纽约时报》上的报道片段：
"In reference to the report of the Visiting Committee of the Bloomingdale Lunatic Asylum, published in the Times some days since, Mr. Townswend, council for Mr. Van Vleck, yesterday stated to a reporter that these charges had often been made against similar institutions, but never before so direct.
The insane, he said, were kicked and choked until blood spurts from the mouth and nostrils -- some being driven to suicide by systematic cruelties.
He commented on the report of the overseers, making out everything to be 'lovely in the Asylum.... "Does anybody suspect that the people employed in such institutions, while still under engagement, would risk their positions by admitting that they had practiced outrages upon the patients, or had been lewd in their actions?"
再后来（by the 1880s）布鲁明黛尔精神病院搬迁，原因倒不是又有什么官司，而是这一带的房地产热起来了，地产商们认为这所精神病院的存在拖低了周围的房价......
这是现在仅存的原布鲁明黛尔精神病院的一幢楼房，在哥大校园内"Low Memorial图书馆"旁边，名叫Buell Hall，也称作La Maison Française（1913年以后当过“法国文化中心”）。当年是给富有的精神病患住的。
说句题外话，哥大出过的有名疯人是挺多的，金斯堡，克鲁亚克，60年代的极左分子，大多出自哥大啊，想起一部喜欢的电影，《飞越疯人院》，嘿嘿嘿嘿嘿。
