The fifty-fifth annual report of the officers of the Retreat for the Insane at Hartford, Conn., April, 1879.

  • Retreat for the Insane at Hartford.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The fifty-fifth annual report of the officers of the Retreat for the Insane at Hartford, Conn., April, 1879. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    seven hours a day. Adjacent to these day-rooms there are lavatories, and for the men a billiard-room, and beyond, hospital quarters for those who may be ill, and some rooms for epileptic and dirty patients. These rooms were small, and furnished with a bed and one chair. The second floor was occupied with dormitories mainly, with capacity in each for about twenty beds. There were also some single rooms for such patients as were unfit to occupy dormitories. On the male side there was a large basement room, into which the men were marched after dinner for smoking, preparatory to work in the afternoon. Here the working tools were kept, and the shoes, pipes, etc. The location of the buildings was good, the grounds were deUghtfully arranged, and the sanitary surroundings unexceptionable. I have been thus particular in the description of the arrangement of rooms in this asylum, as it is the last one erected in Scotland, and is considered rather a model one for the class of patients for whom it is designed. There are no cottage buildings or cottages connected with either of the above named asylums. I had the pleasure of frequently visiting the Royal Edin- The Royal Ed- 1 1 ■ ■ 1 -, inburgh asylum. burgh Asylum at Mornmgside, and was much interested in the changes and improvements which were then being carried on, and have now been about completed. This is the largest asylum in Scotland, and has accommodations for about eight hundred patients. It is divided into what are termed the East and West Houses, the former for pay patients and the latter mainly for pauper patients. The East House was first erected in 1809, the West one later; the former with accommodations for about one hundred and twenty, and the latter for about seven hundred. The managers have expended in recent improvements upon the East House about fifty thousand dollars, and upon the West one hundred and twenty-five thousand, so that, with former indebtedness, the total debt of the institution is