Third report of the medical superintendent / Provincial Hospital for the Insane, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

  • Provincial Hospital for the Insane (Halifax, N.S.)
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Third report of the medical superintendent / Provincial Hospital for the Insane, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/28 (page 8)
    Females—o had been Servants, 4 “ Farmers’ wives, 2 “ Seamstresses, 2 11 Sailors’ wives, 1 “ Captain’s wife, 1 “ Laborer’s wife, 1 “ Clerk’s wife, 1 “ Grocer’s wife, 1 “ Pensioner’s wife, 1 “ Teacher’s wife, 1 “ Milliner. Considerable difficulty is experienced in ascertaining any particulars concerning some of the patients brought to the Hospital. In several instances nothing could be learned be¬ yond the name of the patient, and in one, this was supposed to be an alias. A very material amount of useful information might readily be given by the Medical men called upon to grant certificates of insanity; and I have particularly to re¬ quest of my professional brethren as full a statement as possi¬ ble relative to each individual case. DISCHARGED. Of the twenty-three discharged during the year, nine have been “restored,” ten more or less “improved,” and four have died. All of those restored were recent cases, showing the im¬ portance and benefit of early treatment. Looking upon insanity, as too many are still inclined to do, as a disgrace, the desire to conceal the malady, leads to delay in subjecting the cases to Hospital treatment. There can be no greater error. Insanity is no disgrace, disease is no longer esteemed a crime, and friends ought to be well apprised of the important fact, that treatment to be effectual must be early. Of those discharged improved, none were allowed to remain long enough to test fairly the benefits of Hospital life. With a single exception, they were removed against the remonstrance of the Superintendent, and this was one of General Paralysis, where the certainty of the fatal issue led to the removal of a patient at a stage of the disease when he could easily be removed. Four have died during the year. Of these, one was subject