Twenty-fifth annual report of the medical superintendent of the lunatic asylum, for the counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the borough of Wenlock, 1869 / [Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum].

  • Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Twenty-fifth annual report of the medical superintendent of the lunatic asylum, for the counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the borough of Wenlock, 1869 / [Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/68 (page 19)
    The year just closed has been marked, I am thankful to say, with freedom from Epidemics or other serious diseases* and the accidents which have occurred have been remarkably slight and few. The general health of the community has been as good as could be expected when the number of aged Paralytics and Epileptics is taken into consideration. Of the 510 patients now remaining in the Asylum, it is discouraging to reflect that only in 33 males, and 35 females is recovery possible. The number whose insanity is complicated with serious bodily ailments is very considerable, and more than sufficient to fill the Infirmary accommodation provided on both sides of the House. Many others without any material physical disease are of advanced age, no less than one-fourth of the total number remaining in the Asylum being above the age of sixty, and a large proportion of these from their feebleness and liability to physical disturbances, are frequently requiring Infirmary treatment. Besides these helpless infirm cases there are the demented classes, many of whom although harmless to themselves and others, still require great care and supervision, without which it would be im¬ possible to repress that proneness to degeneracy and decay which in a greater or less degree is always the concomitant of mental disease, and which if allowed to travel on unchecked, invariably ends in noisy behaviour, destructiveness, and other difficulties of manage¬ ment. A most important element in the treatment of insanity, and no easy part of the duties of those in attendance upon the insane, is to arrest this downward tendency, to watch over and develop what remains of intellect, and if possible direct it into some healthy and useful channel. The great value of moral and industrial training is well exemplified in our records of employment, the majority of our best and steadiest workmen, whose daily labour so materially lightens the burden of the rate-payer, are drawn from the more intelligent and physically robust of this demented class. Those industrial occupations as tabulated in the daily returns show no diminution in the number of patients engaged in useful and profitable employment. Household duties, needlework, the laundry and kitchen, absorb nearly the whole of the available labour of the female inmates, three-fourths of whom are thus occu¬ pied. Among the males the agricultural class predominate, and they with others whose bodily health would be benefitted by out door exercise, are engaged on the farm, garden, or airing courts. Attempts have been made, in some cases successfully, to instruct some of the more intelligent and younger class in trades, such as tailoring, shoemaking, &c. Many of the more demented class are employed in hair and coir picking. Our skilled labour is made the most of in the various workshops, and as evidence of our industry in that respect, I may mention that with the exception of the plumbing, all our repairs, alterations and improvements have been the work of the