Sixth annual report on the County Pauper Lunatic Asylum / Buckinghamshire County Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

  • St. John's Hospital (Stone, Buckinghamshire, England)
Date:
[1859]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sixth annual report on the County Pauper Lunatic Asylum / Buckinghamshire County Pauper Lunatic Asylum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    MEDICxlL SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT. To the Committee of Visitors of the Pauper Lunatic Asylum for the County of Buckingham. Gentlemen, At the close of 1857 there were resident in the Asylum 212 Patients; 111 have since been admitted, making a total of 323 under care and treatment during the past year. Of the 111 Patients received during 1858, 64 only were chargeable to Parishes in this County, 16 were Chronic Male Lunatics from the Not¬ tingham Asylum, 22 came from the Metropolitan Unions, 4 were Private Patients, and 5 were received from other Counties. As is well known the Asylum was built for 200 Patients, hut by classifying them according to the original plan of the building, it has been found that 140 persons of either sex can be received without overcrowding. During the last five years the average number of admis¬ sions of persons chargeable to the Unions in this County has been sixty, so that it is probable that without any alteration in the present arrange¬ ment, the existing accomodation in the Asylum will be sufficient for the wants of this County for the next five or six years. Forty-five per cent, of the persons admitted in 1858 were at the time of admission suffering from Mania with various complications usually considered incurable or had been insane for so long a period as to render their recovery extremely improbable—thus 13 were afflicted with Epilepsy, 6 had Partial Paralysis, 5 were suffering from General Paralysis of the Insane, and 26 had been of unsound mind for a period varying from 3 to 24 years. Twenty-nine have had previous attacks varying in number from 1 to 4. Forty-seven Patients have been discharged, of whom 30 had recovered, being at the rate of 27 per cent, on the number admitted, or 13.33 per cent, on the average daily number resident. The actual number of recoveries is less than in any of the four pre-