The Probert Encyclopaedia of General Information

ASYLUM

Asylum was a sanctuary or place of refuge, where criminals and debtors sheltered themselves from justice, and from which they could not be taken without sacrilege. Temples were anciently asylums, as were Christian churches in later times. The term in the 19th century was usually applied to an institution for receiving, maintaining, and, so far as possible, ameliorating the condition of persons labouring under certain bodily defects or mental maladies. Later the term was applied to a refuge for the unfortunate, such as those suffering persecution in their own country.
Research Asylum