Volume 2

The care and cure of the insane : being the reports of The Lancet Commission on Lunatic Asylums, 1875-6-7 for Middlesex, the City of London and Surrey with a digest of the principal records extant and a statistical review of the work of each asylum from the date of its opening to the end of 1875 / by J. Mortimer Granville.

  • Granville, J. Mortimer (Joseph Mortimer), 1833-1900.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The care and cure of the insane : being the reports of The Lancet Commission on Lunatic Asylums, 1875-6-7 for Middlesex, the City of London and Surrey with a digest of the principal records extant and a statistical review of the work of each asylum from the date of its opening to the end of 1875 / by J. Mortimer Granville. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    28/334 (page 16)
    Nothing would be easier than to run through any one of the licensed houses, and point out defects which ought to be remedied. It could not, however, be fairly expected that recommendations based on a judgment thus formed would have much weight—if the fundamental conditions were over- looked, and the changes proprietors were asked to make involved an expenditure beyond the bounds of commercial prudence, and were therefore unreasonable to suggest. Throughout this inquiry, both as regards the public and private institutions visited, we have been careful to keep practical considerations in view, and we have no hesitation in saying that the reforms from time to time advocated, whether in relation to constructional or managerial matters, have been carefully weighed before putting pen to paper, and are urged under a sense of responsibility. It is gratifying to know that many of our recommendations have already been adopted, and we look with confidence to others being considered, and sooner or later carried into effect, by the authorities to whom the counsel or remonstrance has been addressed. Hoxton House stands in need of a larger outlay and more considerable alterations than any one of the institutions we have previously visited. It is only fair to state that the circumstances in which this establishment is placed must prove exceptionally embarrassing. The license is for 325 patients. Of the 279 resident on the ist of January, 1876, 222 were paupers ; and when the new asylum at Banstead is opened, probably nearly all of these will be suddenly with- drawn. The removal of pauper patients without adequate notice is a serious obstacle to improvement at the metro- politan licensed houses, and Hoxton will probably feel the deprivation of support more than others, because the private patients at this establishment are of a class from whom a large revenue cannot be expected. This, also, should be borne in mind, because it would be in the last degree unreasonable to complain of matters which no proprietor in the position of the owner of Hoxton House can be expected to remedy without some guarantee of a return for his money. The situation of the licensed houses receiving paupers is one which calls for a closer scrutiny than we are at present prepared to make. Meanwhile, looking at