Writing in 1792 Pargeter's ideas about  management  can be seen as anticipations of the work of William Tuke [1732-1822], Philippe Pinel [1726-1826], and Vincenzo Chiarugi [1759-1820], all of whom are regarded as originators of moral therapy. Pargeter wrote:
    The chief reliance in the cure of insanity must be rather on management than medicine. The government of
    maniacs is an art, not to be acquired without long experience, and frequent and attentive observation. Although
    it has been of lage years much advanced, it is still capable of improvement.

Of particular note in Pargeter's views on management was his emphasis on 'catching the eye' of the insane person in the interest of achieving an 'ascendancy' over him or her. This technique entailed catching and holding the patient's gaze  and attention with a complex set of purposes in mind, not all of which seemed to be operative in every case. It served to calme an excited and overwrought, even maniacal, person. And, at times, it was clearly an interpersonal skill conceived of as bringing mad persons under control in a non physical manner and without the use of medications, as thus causing them to be more amenable to other aspects of their care, and as leading to their resumption of the self-control that was thought to be associated with a sane state of mind.

Stanley W. Jackson, "Introduction," in Willam Pargeter, Observations on Maniacal Disorders, [Routledge,1988]