Twenty-eighth annual report of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital, at Worcester. October, 1860.

  • State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Twenty-eighth annual report of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital, at Worcester. October, 1860. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/80 (page 10)
    The number admitted during the year was two hundred and fifteen, of whom one hundred and five were males, and one hundred and ten were females. The whole number under treatment during the year was five hundred and thirty-two, of whom two hundred and fifty-seven were males, and two hundred and seventy-five were females. The whole number discharged during the year was two hundred and one, of whom one hundred and two were males, and ninety-nine were females. The whole number remaining in the hospital at the close of the year was three hundred and thirty-one, of whom one hundred and fifty-five were males, and one hundred and seventy-sis were females. Of the two hundred and one patients discharged during the year, one hundred and twenty-nine had so far recovered their full measure of mental and physical health that they returned to their homes and resumed their ordinary labors. Thus it will be seen by a glance at the accompanying tables, that the recoveries were in the ratio of fifty-five and one-third per cent, to the whole number admitted, or twenty-four and one-fourth per cent, to the whole number under treatment, and ninety-two per cent, to the number of those whose insanity had existed for a period less than one year. A larger proportion of recoveries has seldom been reported in this hospital; and the result, so gratifying, is due mainly to the fact that a large number of the admissions were recent cases of acute mania. Several other cases whose insanity had existed less than one year were suffering from a variety of nervous disorders produced by grief, anxiety, or long-continued watchfulness, and required only change of scene and hygienic treatment, to restore the proper balance of the mind and vigor of the bodily powers. Of the thirty-five discharged as improved, a few returned to their homes in a very comfortable state of health, some were sent to almshouses, and others were transferred to other hospitals for the insane. Nearly all those discharged as not improved were transferred to other hospitals. The standard of health, though always low in hospitals for the insane, has been, during the year, higher than usual. Late in the autumn there were a few cases of pneumonia of a mild