First report of the Committee of Visitors, Medical Superintendent, and Chaplain, with an account of receipts and expenditure, from 30 September, 1870, to 31 December, 1871 / Moulsford Lunatic Asylum.

  • Moulsford Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: First report of the Committee of Visitors, Medical Superintendent, and Chaplain, with an account of receipts and expenditure, from 30 September, 1870, to 31 December, 1871 / Moulsford Lunatic Asylum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ment for the special supervision and treatment of a certain class of cases. The windows throughout the asylum are, in general, two-light windows, divided by central stone mullions. The sashes, which are all of wood, are double-hung, in order to allow them to open 5 inches at top and bot¬ tom ; the lower sash being prevented by a lock from opening to a greater extent. The panes are of mode¬ rate size ; measuring on an average 11 inches by Sin. By means of a very simple and ingenious contrivance, an upward current of fresh air can be admitted between the middle extremities of the two sashes, without any draught being experienced by a person sitting close to the window ; the latter to a casual observer seeming ap¬ parently closed. The pleasing domestic appearance of these windows, the facilities they afford for ventilation, and when shut, the immunity they secure from cold draughts, render them extremely well adapted for asylum purposes. In both the male and female division, two single rooms, one on the ground, and one on the first fioor, have been fitted up as padded rooms, the pads of one room being covered with leather, and those of the other three with strong India-rubber cloth. A layer thick of Linoleum has also been laid on the fioors of the two upper rooms. The attendants’ rooms, 21 in number, are so placed as to over-look the dormitories, with which they have small windows of communication, by means of which the attendants can also hear any disturbance in the dormitories, and can be immediately roused by any patient in case of emergency. These rooms which are of good size, have been plainly but comfortably fur¬ nished, and in each there has been fixed a large stained- deal cupboard, with shelving above, and hanging ac¬ commodation for clothes below. By this convenient arrangement, the attendants are deprived of the com¬ mon excuse given in asylums for the too frequent general untidiness of their rooms. The Head Attend¬ ants have each a room centrally placed on the ground floor, between the infirmary and the ward for acute cases.