Reports of the medical officer of the Lunatic Asylum, for the counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the Borough of Much Wenlock, 1846-1847 / [Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum].

  • Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports of the medical officer of the Lunatic Asylum, for the counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the Borough of Much Wenlock, 1846-1847 / [Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Although the introduction of any observations having reference to the general economy and organization of Lunatic Asylums may seem foreign to the purpose of an Annual Report, there are certain peculiarities appertaining to the circumstances of this Institution which induce the Medical Officer upon the present occasion to submit the following remarks to the consider¬ ation of the Magistrates. According to the modern system of managing the Insane, in which so much depends upon the arrangements provided for their proper division into classes, and upon the attendance requisite for the care of each Ward, it is generally considered that the Establishment—that is—the Staff of Officers and Attendants—which is unavoidably necessary for the proper care of 100 Patients would be equally effective and not more expensive for that of 200. The Medical Officer would therefore beg to observe that, so long as the number of Patients is not very considerably higher than it has hitherto been in this Asylum, the consequence must be, either a high proportional rate of expenditure in the maintenance of the Institution, or a serious defect in its means of service. The utmost attainable degree of general comfort and tranquillity being the groundwork upon which all other means of moral treatment most securely rest; it is quite evident that without such a provision for the proper association and separation of Patients, in reference to the various modifications in the form or in the degree of their malady as is most conducive to their mutual benefit; the great advantages which would otherwise accrue from a salubrious site, spacious grounds, and well- ventilated apartments, and from other arrangements of a costly description, may be rendered in a great measure nugatory. The number of Wards which it has been found most expedient to establish, under present circumstances, on each side of the