The report of the committee of visitors & superintendent of the Cheshire Lunatic Asylum : made to the court of general quarter sessions of the peace, holden at the castle of Chester, in and for the county of Chester, on Monday, the 2nd day of July, 1855.

  • Cheshire County Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The report of the committee of visitors & superintendent of the Cheshire Lunatic Asylum : made to the court of general quarter sessions of the peace, holden at the castle of Chester, in and for the county of Chester, on Monday, the 2nd day of July, 1855. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    More than one-third of the cases admitted were so greatly enfeebled in bodily condition as to require the liberal and prolonged use of stimulants and generous diet, to prevent the bodily energies from flagging; and in many of this class of cases, notwithstanding the restoration to bodily health, the mind remained in an impaired condition. Recoveeies.—The Recoveries will always bear a relative proportion to the number of curable (and consequently of recent) cases admitted, as calculated upon the admissions; the per centage of cures during the past year was about the same as in the neighbouring Asylums, and may be considered as a fair average proportion. Deaths.—The proportion of Deaths was 8.62 per cent, of the numbers under treatment; nearly one-third (nine out of thirty) occurred in cases of general paralysis. Geneeal Health.—With the exception of a few mild cases of diarrhoea, which occurred during the summer, the general health of the inmates has been tolerably good throughout the year. * Suicidal Cases.—Of the 102 admissions, 42 were reported to be subject to Suicidal impulses, of whom 26 were known to have made actual attempts, and in several instances the attempts were renewed. The proportion of this class of cases is much larger than the usual average; and, as shewn in table 11, the suicidal propensity was more strongly developed in the males than in the females. This class at all times causes great anxiety to the medical officers, as notwithstanding the greatest vigilance on the part of the attendants, fatal cases will sometimes occur; no instance of the kind has, however, happened during the past vear. Geneeal Paealysis.-—To the disease termed General Paralysis of the insane, is due a large share of the mortality for the