State of the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum (instituted November 4, 1819) : [seventeenth report].

  • Lincoln Lunatic Asylum (Lincoln, England)
Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: State of the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum (instituted November 4, 1819) : [seventeenth report]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and best means for restoring* the recoverable, and of safety and com¬ fort for those who are not so, is inestimable to the Patients, their Friends, and to Society: nor can a Public Asylum be considered as having* fully accomplished the intentions of its founders, or satisfied just expectation, until these objects shall have been carried out to the fullest extent, which its means will allow. It will be gratifying* to the Governors of this Institution to know that the improvements, which have been effected in the construction and arrang-ements of the house and grounds, have been followed, not only by an extraordinary amelioration of the treatment and condition of the Patients, but also by a cessation of suicidal and other fatal accidents,* and by an increased proportion of Recoveries effected in a reduced space of time; objects of deep importance in a humane point of view, and (as Mr. Farr justly remarks) also as a matter of economy. “ Of the great extent to which the general condition of the Patients has been ameliorated, some judgment may be formed from a review of its early state. Then mig*ht be seen (amidst the Quiet and Con¬ valescent Patients), some in Strait-waistcoats, or wearing* padded iron Collars, heavy cumbrous leathern Muffs, Belts with Manacles, solid iron Wristlocks, jointed iron Leg-locks, or Hobbles;—or in Dresses inappropriate to their sex, to accommodate habits, which the use of Instruments confining- the fing-ers had too often induced ; while others were sitting* locked in massive Chairs with lime strewed underneath, or were secluded in solitary Cells ;•—and these cruel substitutes for a steady system of Watchfulness, but a prelude to the still greater miseries of nig-hts to be spent under the same wretched system of restraints, painfully sacrificing* the freedom and ease of the Patients to the leisure, or misemployment, or inadequate number of the Attendants. Such treatment has gradually given way, as a slowly acquired experience of the tractabilitv of the Insane under a milder management, gave confidence and courage. At last Severity of every * “A late trial at York, concerning a fatal rencontre between two Lunatic Patients confined in an Asylum, both under personal restraint, proves that restraints are not of themselves a sufficient protection even against the worst effects of mutual violence.”