Report of the Committee of Visitors of the Lunatic Asylum for the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire : presented at the Easter quarter sessions for the respective Ridings, 1849 : together with the superintendent's second annual report, read at the Easter sessions, 1849 : and an account of the receipts and payments to the end of the year 1848 / [North and East Ridings of Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum].

  • North and East Ridings of Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee of Visitors of the Lunatic Asylum for the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire : presented at the Easter quarter sessions for the respective Ridings, 1849 : together with the superintendent's second annual report, read at the Easter sessions, 1849 : and an account of the receipts and payments to the end of the year 1848 / [North and East Ridings of Yorkshire Lunatic Asylum]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sons for the disparity are evident. In proportion to the number of patients accommodated the weekly cost should be diminished, because the staff required to conduct a small establishment is not increased proportionably with the augmentation of the number of patients. Moreover, some articles—as coals, lights, and a few other household necessaries—are nearly as applicable for 800 as 150 patients. The law makes no provision at the outset for a supply of such things, nor for the payment of salaries and wages: a debt must consequently be incurred on the opening before funds are obtained from the parishes. My last year’s report gave a concise relation of the work done by patients and attendants in laying out the grounds, preparing land for cultivation, cropping it, removing earth dug out of the foundations, building a garden house, shed, &c., &c. The like ser¬ vices have since been even more industriously prosecuted, in helping to form and complete the embankment, and to construct the new farm buildings. The land on which brick kilns and clay mills stood, and over which heavy work and carting was done during the erection of the Asylum, has been trenched three feet deep, and comprises three acres; in addition to which four acres more have been recently converted into garden ground, making a total of 20 acres under spade husbandry. As the works connected with the construction are gradually being finished, the powers of the Asylum with reference to garden- fanning will become more developed. There is, however, too much cause for fearing that occasional interruptions will happen, in consequence of the drains having been formed with socket pipes, which have cracked and produced stoppages. Brick barrel drains have been substituted in some instances; and in others of only six inches diameter, pipes have been again used, taking especial care to give them a smooth and even bearing throughout: neglect of this nature when the drains were first laid down seems to be the main origin of these disasters. Such repairs,are of a formidable character, as the drains vary in depth from 8 to 12 feet, and would be a serious expense did the patients not assist.. With any other system than that adopted, the ordinary repairs—if made by master tradesmen—would amount to a much larger sum than at present, as the patients could not be safely trusted under the direction and charge of strangers. The moral management of some cases of insanity is wholly dependent upon suitable employment being resorted to at particular stages of the mental disorder. A young man who had been appren¬ ticed to a wheelwright, and whose father is insane, was admitted in a state of violent mania, which left him in a condition of the lowest mental capacity. When roused from his apathy, it was to commit some improper act, or to attempt to escape. He was entirely heedless of his personal comforts, and his habits would soon have degenerated into the worst description. Many trials were made to stimulate him to useful exertion in the garden. No