The twenty-ninth report of the director of the West-Riding of York Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

  • West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The twenty-ninth report of the director of the West-Riding of York Pauper Lunatic Asylum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Some difficulty is found at present, from the distance all articles of domestic use have to be conveyed, This inconvenience is principally felt by the attendants, whose labours are much increased by having to convey every article of consumption from the domestic offices of the old building to the wards of the new; but the advantages of having sufficient accommodation for female Paupers, by which they have been received in the early stages of the disease, have, by the speedy recovery of several severe cases, abundantly justified the efforts made to open them before the rest of the building wTas complete. A large augmentation was made from the new building to the guests at our annual Christmas festivities. An alteration which was found to answer much better for the convenience of the attendants, no less than for the enjoyment of the Patients was made this year by holding the parties for the two sexes on separate days. Nothing could be more satisfactory than the evident delight with which the dancing and singing were kept up, and the picturesque effect of the decoration of evergreen and artificial flowers interspersed with lights, gave great pleasure. A stranger to such scenes could not fail to be surprised at the perfect good order, kind feeling, and mirthful enjoyment with which two hundred persons, all suffering one of the direst visitations of providence, can assemble on such occasions. It would appear from the public prints that such re¬ unions were peculiar to certain Institutions, or the effects of some specified mode of treatment, they are now general in most well conducted establishments for Lunatics, and have been a source of unmingled pleasure to the inmates of this Asylum for the last quarter of a century. Nor have such meetings been confined to the usual season for social gatherings at the close of the year. During the summer, they are frequently held in the open air, and at other times in the