Annual report of the Board of Control : 12th, 1925.

Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Annual report of the Board of Control : 12th, 1925. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    169/482 (page 159)
    Leather work includes hand-bags, cigarette cases, purses, pochettes, tea cosies, cushion covers, mocassins, &c. In raffia and cane we have made baskets and trays, with a few baby toilet-sets, flower-pot stands, dinner mats, &c. (13) Gardening.—This is perhaps the most popular occupa¬ tion for both sexes, mainly because it includes much freedom and fresh air on fine days and a change of work when it rains. The wards are now able to boast of a creditable display of flowers, and even if a fair number of plants are destroyed the increased cheerfulness of the rooms makes it worth while. Lectures.—The courses of lectures to the boys have been on the whole successful, although their capacity for concentrated effort is too small to allow rapid progress. These lectures are being continued as they stimulate interest in reading, and the acquisition of useful and corrective knowledge. Boy Scouts.—We have only a small troop, but their work has been so excellent that the Assistant District Commissioner, who recently inspected them, told me they were well up to if not above the standard of other troops in the district. The only incident has been the escape of two boys while out “ tracking/ Unfortunately, they made the fullest use of their uniform in their effort to reach their destination. Staff.—The courses of lectures and the training of staff has resulted in 18 members (13 attendants and 5 nurses) obtaining the final certificate of the Medico-Psychological Association, while 9 attendants and 2 nurses have passed the preliminary test. Laboratory.—During the year the usual routine tests and aids to diagnosis and treatment of patients have been carried out in our laboratory. A special investigation has been commenced into the relation of calcium deficiency to disease. It has been established that the great majority of epileptics show diminished calcium in the blood-plasma, and further that this deficiency can in some cases be made up by the administration of calcium salts. The effect of extract of parathyroid gland on epilepsy and calcium deficiency is being investigated, and it would appear that in a certain proportion of cases the administration of calcium with parathyroid raises the calcium content of the blood to normal with extremely significant effects on the frequency of seizures. In one case, a patient who suffered from frequent and severe fits, calcium alone given internally has resulted in a com¬ plete cessation of fits for a period of two years. An investigation of this character must necessarily extend over a long period, but the data and results obtained are sufficiently encouraging to justify continuance of the experiments. Other work is now being commenced on the value of the hsemoclastic crisis as an additional method of diagnosis of early mental disorders, more especially of dementia prsecox. W. Rees Thomas, Medical Superintendent. x 2586S G