Fifteenth annual report of the managers of the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane for the year 1885 : transmitted to the legislature January 15, 1886.

  • Buffalo State Hospital
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fifteenth annual report of the managers of the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane for the year 1885 : transmitted to the legislature January 15, 1886. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    wise ordered. The history showed the ease to he one of melancholia of some twelve years5 standing. Under the regularity of life in the asylum and the medical treatment, he gained in flesh and was some¬ what less restless and irritable and more comfortable though not essentially improved. His friends, however, made many requests for his discharge and were quite persistent. They appealed to the judge, who recommended the asylum authorities to discharge him. The board could find no authority in the statute allowing them to act, as the case was one under the section where a special verdict had been ordered and under which he could be discharged only upon an order of a justice of the Supreme Court if it should seem safe, legal and right. As the recommendation for the discharge was not com- plied with, a writ of habeas corpus was issued. The return was made by the superintendent of the asylum and the discharge was opposed by the district attorney on the ground of want of jurisdic¬ tion of the court. The counsel for the prisoner claimed the illegal¬ ity of the commitment, as the judge had not called two physicians to make certificates of lunacy on which to commit the patient to the asylum. The judge, the same before whom the prisoner was tried, and who had commited him to the asylum, decided that the point was well taken, and ordered him discharged on the illegality of his own judicial action. The district attorney took an appeal. There are certain needs of the institution which the managers would present to the Legislature, and for which an appropriation is respectfully asked. And first of them is a building for the outside employees of the asylum. Thus far several of them have been accommodated on the wards and in the center building, while others have been compelled to find lodging places away from the grounds. It is proposed to erect a brick building of two stories for the use of the men employed in the various departments of labor; as the steam-fitter, the baker, the launderer, the firemen, the gardener and some of the farm hands. The same building, in case of an emer¬ gency, can be vacated and used as a hospital building if any conta¬ gious or infectious disease occurs among the patients. Last year a request was made for an appropriation for the piggery. It was stated that a substantial structure was needed to take the place of the tumble-down shelter now in use. This want has become more imperative after another year’s use, and a new building is now an absolute necessity. A shop, where the blacksmith and heavier work in iron for re¬ pairs about the asylum can be done, has become a seriously felt
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