Insanity. Report on the present state and management of the hospitals for insane persons at Paris / translated from an official report on the hospitals in general of that metropolis [by the Marquis de Pastoret]; with an appendix.

Date:
1817
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Insanity. Report on the present state and management of the hospitals for insane persons at Paris / translated from an official report on the hospitals in general of that metropolis [by the Marquis de Pastoret]; with an appendix. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    effect in the existing establishments, such as they were, as much good as their means would allow, and the success has exceeded their expectations. One of the chief advantages consists in the separation ot the insane, according to the dif¬ ferent degrees and characters of their malady. The patient, for whose recovery means are employed, is no longer confined with him who is incurable, nor the violent with him who is calm. To effect this purpose some new divisions and new buildings became necessary. Those low and confined cells which were placed around the narrow courts, and rather resembled dungeons than habitable rooms, w7ere suppressed, or so arranged as to be rendered more healthy. At Bicetre, the part appropriated to insanity was equally unfit for the purpose, as applica¬ ble either to those patients who were deemed curable or to those whose cure was hopeless. In proportion as the number of the latter class increased, the cells in the courts were gradually increased also, with a correspondent diminution of the open space ; these cells were also damp and unhealthy in consequence of their situa¬ tion* having their backs partly against the walls of a terrace, and partly against those of a bury- ing-ground. When the burials w ere transferred to oneof the gardens of the hospital, a large space B