The first report of the Society for the Treatment and Attendance of Poor Persons Afflicted with Diseases and Distortions of the Spine, Chest, Hips, &c.

  • Verral Charitable Society (London, England)
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The first report of the Society for the Treatment and Attendance of Poor Persons Afflicted with Diseases and Distortions of the Spine, Chest, Hips, &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    assistance until the deformity has proceeded to a very formidable exent. Many of such terrible cases are on the list of the Society’s patients. They must, the greater part of them, be long indeed before they can advance towards a cure; but there are none that have not found, or are not finding, the greatest benefit from the plan of treatment. The cure of Triphina Moulton is almost complete. Her case has been already recorded, and will be found in Mr. Verral's paper appended to this report. Elizabeth Denyer is steadily advancing towards a cure, while Charles Cohen whose case was of recent date, but who had considerable curvature of the spine, both towards the right shoulder and in the left loin, is, at the end of four months, as nearly as possible, well. James Knight, and Elizabeth Cohen, may be noticed for the very great improvement they have experienced, both in their forms, and in their general health, although their ages, and their very great deformity, forbid the hope of their ever being perfectly cured. As this species of distortion, perhaps more than any other, demands the personal assistance of the surgeon, and, as the cases must of necessity be of very long dura- tion, they particularly awaken the wish that the Society may one day be enabled to enlarge its sphere of usefulness by opening a House for the reception of the most dis- eased and the most destitute patients. In this immense metropolis—in this great kingdom indeed, so celebrated for its numerous and magnificent benevolent insti- tutions, it is surely strange that the hand of charity should never before have been held out to the assistance of the deformed poor. Distortions of the spine, with all then- concomitant evils, the sufferings, the discharge, the paralysis of which they are the frequent cause; diseases of the hips, with the abscesses, the contracted limbs, the pain, the emaciation, and the premature death, which they so often occasion,—for these dreadful maladies, and for many other distortions of minor, but still of very considerable importance, no adequate means of relief have hitherto been benevo- lently afforded. The Hospitals cannot receive such Patients, or receiving them cannot retain them long enough to give them a chance of cure. Their beds are wanted for accidents, operations, and for diseases of a more acute character. That excellent institution, the Margate Sea-bathing Infirmary is in part an exception to this rule, but that is open only during the summer months, and it has-for its object the restoration of the patient’s health, rather than the amendment of his figure. Our humble and infant Society is the only one that especially aims at both these objects; the only one that professes to save the unhappy sufferers from helpless deformity, from lingering anguish, and perhaps from a premature grave. That such objects could generally be best accomplished in an Institution devoted to the peculiar pur- pose, must be evident. In such an Institution too, education might be afforded to the young, and some profitable employment be found for the more adult patients. Most earnestly is it to be hoped, that the funds of the Society may one day enable it to found an Institution so greatly needed. There are two circumstances that particularly call for these observations. First, the sad privations to which the wretched objects of the society’s benevolence are too frequently exposed in their own desolate homes, where not only are they often in want of that nutritious diet which is so essentially necessary for their restoration, but also of the cleanliness, the clothing, the warmth, and even the kind and constant attentions which are such im- portant aids. And secondly, the difficulty of getting patients at their own homes to conform to the rules that are laid down for them, or to bear the tedious confinement that their cases so frequently require. When positive disease and suffering have not existed, or have ceased to exist, confinement becomes irksome, especially to those who, having few mental resources, have little to cheer or amuse them. There are many fortunate exceptions to this too general rule, and the reward of these will be found very constantly proportioned to their tractability and patience. Thus, while James Bowler, who began with a few months of attention and consequent improvement, but who has since got weary of his couch .and has at length thrown it away altogether, has doomed himself to a life of helplessness, perhaps of suffering, and certainly of frightful deformity, the little girl, Jane Gregory, of Roehampton, is already repaid for her sixteen months of patient submission, by an extraordinary improvement in her shape ; while her cheerful and youthful look, and the bloom of health that glows upon her cheek, form a delightful contrast to the pale, aged, and care-worn countenance with which she began her career on the prone couch. Of distortion and contraction of the ciiest, it will not be necessary to say