Final answer:
Dorothea Lynde Dix was a 19th-century activist who significantly contributed to the better treatment of the mentally ill by advocating for humane conditions and helping to establish mental asylums.
Step-by-step explanation:
Dorothea Lynde Dix was an activist who advocated for better treatment for the mentally ill. In the 19th century, she was appalled by the conditions that the mentally ill faced in jails and almshouses. After an in-depth investigation into these conditions in Massachusetts, Dix presented her findings to the legislature in 1843. She described the mentally ill being kept in "cages, closets, cellars and pens...chained, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience." Her work was fundamental in the establishment of thirty-two mental hospitals in the United States and other countries, and also contributed to prison reform efforts. Therefore, the student's question about Dorothea Day, more accurately Dorothea Dix, would be answered as (b) Better treatment for the mentally ill.