The fortieth annual report of the visitors of the County Lunatic Asylum, Stafford : for the year ending December 31, 1858.

  • Staffordshire County Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
[1859]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The fortieth annual report of the visitors of the County Lunatic Asylum, Stafford : for the year ending December 31, 1858. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Constant attention is, as usual, paid to the moral treatment of the patients. The school continues to he a source of great attraction, as proved by the school list —all attendance being voluntary. The average weekly attendance has been 279, while from 220 to 275 patients have attended chapel three times a-week, and almost without an exception their conduct has been uniformly attentive and decorous. The usual system of constant employment, so condu¬ cive to the mental and physical improvement of the patients, has been steadily carried out, and the average number of patients daily employed has been 295. No patient has been subjected to restraint during the past year, notwithstanding which no instance of insubordi¬ nation or attempt to resist the authority of the officers or attendants has occurred. The immunity from acci¬ dent which the Asylum has so long enjoyed has, we regret to say, been this year interrupted by an attempt on the part of one of the female patients to commit l suicide, which was fortunately frustrated: with this ; exception the Asylum has been singularly free from : all accidents, casualties, or attempts to escape. In conclusion, your Committee beg to remark that they have regularly inspected the Asylum, and have every reason to be satisfied with the orderly and : cleanly appearance it has uniformly presented, as also i with the efficient manner in which, in every depart- : ment, the duties of the several officers and attendants have been performed. Signed, SHREWSBURY AND TALBOT, Chairman.