Report by the ordinary managers of the Royal Lunatic Asylum, for the year 1845 : Presented to the annual general meeting held on Monday the 26th January, 1846.

  • Royal Edinburgh Asylum.
Date:
[1846?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report by the ordinary managers of the Royal Lunatic Asylum, for the year 1845 : Presented to the annual general meeting held on Monday the 26th January, 1846. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    REPORT BY THE Ordinary managers of the royal lunatic ASYLUM, for the Year 1845. Presented to the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING held on Monday the 26th Ja¬ nuary, 1846. The Managers are happy to report, that during last year the progress of this Asylum has been most satisfactory ; and they are convinced that it will now stand a favourable com¬ parison with any other in the kingdom. Occasional diffi¬ culties and discouragements will arise in every such institu¬ tion ; but as the modern system of treatment gets better un¬ derstood, these also become less formidable; and, generally speaking, the interior aspect of an Asylum for the Insane now exhibits as much of order, quietness, and comfort as can be witnessed in any other public establishment. The number of inmates has increased from 303 in the house on 1st January 1845, to 404 on 1st January 1846; and, as will be seen from the abstract of accounts, the income from their board alone has within the same period increased from £6811, 8s. 9jd. in 1844, to £8261, 6s, 2|d. in 1845. Until the close of last year, the Managers could scarcely be said to possess sufficient data for estimating correctly the amount Of board necessary to be charged for the poorer classes, rela¬ tively to the expense of their maintenance; but it is now evident that they were justified in fixing the rate so low as £15 a-year, although the expense of maintenance and clothing for the insane must always be fully a third more than is requi¬ site for supporting the sane poor in a workhouse. The accounts exhibit a surplus on the ordinary revenue of nearly £400,—not, indeed, a large surplus for the amount of revenue, but sufficient to prove that the finances of the Institution are At