Report of the directors of the Montrose Lunatic Asylum, infirmary and dispensary (instituted 1782) for the year ending 1st June, 1849.

  • Royal Lunatic Asylum, Infirmary, and Dispensary of Montrose.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the directors of the Montrose Lunatic Asylum, infirmary and dispensary (instituted 1782) for the year ending 1st June, 1849. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    merable ships, which she could destroy and reconstruct at pleasure ; every thing she touched was converted into gold, and the very stones and rubhish in the Airing Court were precious perils. To this state succeeded the tottering gait and faltering tongue, so characteristic of the disease. The whole system of voluntary muscles gave way, and the invo¬ luntary partook of the same debility, till at length the indi¬ vidual, who not many years ago bore the impress of Divinity, was converted into one of the most wretched and repulsive objects that bear the human form. Epileptiform fits oc¬ curred in close succession, each more severe than that which immediately preceded it, until death spread his mantle over the unhappy sufferer. One of the Parties noted as having died of apoplexy was a dwarf, aged 60, who, in many re¬ spects, was an exceedingly interesting Patient in the In¬ stitution. At the age of eleven he had been apprenticed to the sea, and at that time w^as an active and intelligent boy. An accident of a very serious nature, however, befell him, which laid the foundation of that state of brain which, in after life, proved fatal. While walking on the deck he was struck down by a marling-spike, which had accidentally dropped from the hands of one of the seamen engaged at work on the ship’s rigging. The instrument had penetrated the brain, to the extent of an inch, at the upper and middle part of the head. For some hours after the accident he lay in a state of insensibility, but by degrees recovered his senses, although ever afterwards he was subject to attacks of giddi¬ ness, terminating in fits, resembling epilepsy. His vision was also permanently impaired. The growth of his bodily organisation stopped completely, his height being the same (4 feet and an inch) at the day of his death as it was at the time he met with the accident. He had no whiskers, and the organs peculiar to the adult male were like those of a child. His mental powers approached more nearly to those of ordinary men, and he was unusually shrewd and happy in many of his remarks. Among the admissions of the past year, there were com¬ paratively few who evinced a suicidal disposition. One of this unhappy class of Patients was a female, who, at a par¬ ticular period of life, had got into bad health, with which the brain sympathized, and a state of deep mental depression ■was the result. She had meditated self-destruction for seve¬ ral weeks, but in consequence of the strict vigilance exer¬ cised by her relations, was prevented carrying her plans into execution. At a time when the friends were partially off their