Thirty-ninth annual report of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester. October, 1871.

  • State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thirty-ninth annual report of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester. October, 1871. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Males. Females. Totals, Whole number improved,. 97 80 177 not improved, ..... 7 1 8 died, ....... 41 22 63 Remaining in hospital, Sept. 30, 1871, Cases admitted, duration not exceeding one year, 200 221 421 183 149 332 Duration more than one year,. 72 65 137 Duration not ascertained,. • 1 — 1 Average number of State paupers during the year was . . 44 It appears by the foregoing table that the whole number of recoveries was, in proportion to the whole number of patients in the hospital during the year, 40.44 per cent. The whole number of recoveries to the whole number of recent cases (i. e. not exceeding one year’s standing), was 62.95 per cent. This is a general statement, perhaps not ex¬ hibiting all the elements of a perfect estimate ; nevertheless it is a fact showing impressively the importance of placing the in¬ sane in hospital for treatment, in an early stage of the disease, thereby rendering the chances of recovery more than 38 per cent, greater than when delayed to a later period. Financial Statements. In 1864, in answer to a petition of the Trustees for aid in the construction of a reservoir, and the laying of new water- pipes necessary to insure a full supply of pure water for the use of the hospital, the legislature granted us the sum of $4,000. The work cost the hospital $6,000. Again, in 1867, on petition of the Trustees, the legislature granted the hospital $15,000 to pay off the balance of an old re¬ construction account, four-fifths of which had been paid out of the resources of the hospital previous to the breaking out of the war in 1861, when the cost of provisions and labor were ad¬ vanced beyond the price allowed for board, to such an extent that the hospital was barely able to meet the current expenses of each year, leaving no means to cancel this balance except by recourse to the State. (This matter was fully explained in the Trustees’ Report of 1866.)