Report of the Committee of Visitors, the Medical Superintendent, and other papers relating to the asylum : printed by order of the Court of Quarter Session, 5th January, 1864 / Essex Lunatic Asylum.

  • Essex Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee of Visitors, the Medical Superintendent, and other papers relating to the asylum : printed by order of the Court of Quarter Session, 5th January, 1864 / Essex Lunatic Asylum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    by the men who work in the shops and on the farm, and by con¬ valescing Patients, but the more widely their advantages can be extended, by occasional trial therein of the more troublesome Patients, the better it will be for all. “ These 54 men we found perfectly quiet, and in all respects in a satisfactory state ; and, considering the very large number of Epileptic and Paralytic in the body of the Asylum (nearly a fourth of the whole), we may report satisfactorily of the general condition of the Inmates, as well as of the state of the wards and dormitories in both divisions. The addition of two wards, ren¬ dered vacant by the opening of the new buildings, has improved the Female side : where there has been a supply of 50 washhand stands in the dormitories and single rooms, and other recom¬ mendations made in the last entry have had attention. “ In the Male division no washing materials have yet been placed, and assimilation in this respect to the other division seems to us very desirable. All the lavatories and bathrooms we found in good order. “ Among the suggestions to which effect has been given since the date of the last visit, we observe additional couches or sofa seats in the epileptic wards ; some light and cheerful sunshades in the airing courts, and some enlargement of the planted bor¬ ders in those courts. A beginning has also been made to the ornamental laying out and planting of the grounds belonging to the new blocks. “The numbers regularly employed among the Patients appear to be 133 on the Male and 152 on the Female side, and the average attendances at chapel on week days about 88, and on Sundays 201. As to outdoor exercise and games, and indoor amuse¬ ments, fair provision seems to be made, considering the great number of helpless cases ; and there was a dance and music last night, reported to have been unusually successful. “ Very beneficial results are said to attend the night watch in this Asylum; last night’s report of wet beds showing 10 among the Men and 13 among the Women, out of a large number nightly,