Twenty-fifth annual report of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital, at Worcester. December, 1857.

  • State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester.
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Twenty-fifth annual report of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital, at Worcester. December, 1857. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    TABLE 1—Continued. Foreigners, and those who have no settlement in this State, remain¬ ing in the Hospital November 30, 1857, ..... 119 Males, a a • ••••• 50 Females, • • ••••• 69 State paupers remaining in the Hospital at the close of each year, as nearly as can be ascertained :— 1842, . . 34 1850, .... 181 1843, . . 38 1851, .... 208 1844, . . 38 1852, .... 241 1845, . 1846, . . 57 1853, .... 216 . 52 1854, . 151 1847, . . 121 1855.° 115 1848, . . 150 1856, .... 155 1849, . . 167 1857, .... 119 The preceding table will show that you have discharged from this hospital, in the course of the year, one hundred and eighteen patients who have no settlement in this Commonwealth. Very few, if any, of these have been supported otherwise than by the charity of the State. They are generally friendless and destitute when they become insane, and if they recover, or so far improve as to come under your consideration for dis¬ charge, they have no homes to receive them, and no friends willing to assist them. Under these -circumstances, the Alien Passenger Commis¬ sioners have received and placed in the State almshouses a considerable number. We have procured places for some who are now at service, and receiving wages. Others have been assisted by the Alien Passenger Commissioners with means to return to their friends in other States. You will remember that none of these patients have been recommended to you for discharge, whose mental and physical health did not make such a step advisable. Those taken to the almshouses have been visited and care¬ fully observed by the Commissioners themselves previous to their removal from the hospital. So that while the Alien Passenger Commissioners and the Board of Trustees have been equally anxious to relieve the Commonwealth of any unneces¬ sary expenditure, the interests of the patient have always been humanely regarded.