• HOME
• THE LANGUAGE OF MADNESS
• THE ASYLUM
• • Asylum Design
  • Patient Buildings
• SOCIETY
• • Urban & Rural Life
  • Class & Gender
  • The Hysterical Female
  • The Evils of "Self-Abuse"
  • Family
  • Visitors
• LEGISLATION
• • Legislative Influence
  • Origins of Legislation and the Criminality of Insanity
  • Teenaged Years: Marked Custody Transition
  • Turn of the Century: Voluntary Admissions
  • Updated Act: The Mental Hospital Act
• SUPERINTENDANTS
• STAFF
• • Working at the LAI
  • Hiring Practices
  • Rules for Employees
  • Employee Roles in Moral Therapy
  • Doctors at LAI
  • Doctor Connections to UWO
  • Training School for Nurses
  • Attendants
  • General Staff
• PATIENT PERSPECTIVES
• • Introduction
  • Patient Art
  • Patient Letters
  • Their Voice
• MEDICAL TREATMENTS
• • Medical Treatment Introduction
  • Use of Restraints
  • Drug and Alcohol
  • Hydrotherapy
  • Female Surgeries
  • Neurosyphilis
  • Shock Therapy
  • Lobotomies
• MORAL THERAPY
• • Moral Therapy Introduction
  • Labour
  • Amusements
  • Diet
  • Religion
• THE WORLD WARS
• • Before the First World War
  • During the First World War
  • After the First World War
  • The First World War and the LAI
  • First World War Veterans at the LAI
  • The Second World War
• MEMORIES OF RMHCL
• • Introduction
  • Their Memories

Dr. George Alexander McCallum 1902-1907

Dr. McCallum was appointed superintendent following the unexpected death of Dr. R. Maurice Bucke. He assumed additional responsibility during his tenure by lecturing on mental diseases at Western University. Previously, he taught school at Ringwood, Ontario before entering the Medical Department of the University of Victoria College, Toronto. In 1866, he received his M.D. degree and eventually established a country practice in Dunnville, Ontario.

In his 1902 annual report to the inspector, he argued for proper care and isolated housing for patients suffering from tuberculosis, protesting that patients confined to asylums were susceptible to infection. He also argued for a nurses training school, with specific instruction in the management of the mentally ill at the asylum to secure the most "intelligent care and treatment for our inmates." Dr. McCallum saw additional benefit in staff morale. He felt they would have greater interest in their work and should have specific training in mental health. Dr. McCallum left London when he was appointed superintendent of the Asylum at Penetanguishene in 1908.

Dr. McCallum was also a naturalist and sportsman interested in the preservation and protection of fish and game. He maintained a life-long interest in ornithology and membership in the Ornithological Section of the Entomological Society of Ontario. Also interested in indigenous archaeology his collections of relics from the Dunnville area are at Queen's University. In later years, he lived with his son in New York, New York where he was elected Fellow of the New York Zoological Society and became Pathologist of the New York Aquarium.

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