Report of the medical superintendent with the accounts of the treasurer of the Norfolk Lunatic Asylum, for the year 1863.

  • Norfolk Lunatic Asylum (Norfolk, England)
Date:
[1864?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the medical superintendent with the accounts of the treasurer of the Norfolk Lunatic Asylum, for the year 1863. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Regarding the aged, who are sent hither in their dotage, there can be no doubt they are much better off in an Asylum; so long as the Unions do not possess good nurses and appropriate rooms, necessary for their care and safety. Is it right however, that the rising generation of these decrepit persons, should be branded with the stigma of “ hereditary taint/' derived from parents, whose only malady was age and its attendant feebleness of intellect! On referring to the table, it will be seen that the recoveries during the past year, exceed those of 1862—-being 45'19 per cent, instead of 34*65—This increase, is in a great measure due to the favorable nature of the cases admitted, as well as to the early admission of the patients. If this were always attended to, we should meet with greater encouragement. In all diseases, the earlier patients are placed under medical care, the better ; but in cases of Insanity, this rule is of vital importance, as the neglect of it, converts a curable condition into a chronic one requiring permanent residence. The average residence in the Asylum of those, who recovered, is about 5 months, the longest was 3 years. The patients cured, are those who were admitted during the year; the old residents are chronic and incurable. On reviewing the obituary, it will be seen, that the deaths are seven in excess of the previous year, this I am happy to state, is not attributable to any contagious disease. Five of the deaths were from Pulmonary Consumption, wffich is unusually high. One death resulted from suffocation during an Epileptic seizure—I consider it a casualty which it is impossible wholly to guard against; still, careful watching on the part of the night attendant is strictly enjoined, and the pillows are filled with well-curled horse¬ hair and covered with a gauze material, all which precautions, are undoubtedly the means of preventing deaths, which would otherwise be not uncommon. Parturition occurred in an inmate at the full period of gestation. The child, a female was born with an imperforate anus, for which she was operated upon, with satisfactory results. The infant remained in the Asylum a month, and since her transference to the Union, (to which she is chargeable) I have learnt that she is doing well. Out of 206 women, about 120 are daily employed in sewing, knitting