Fourth annual report of the medical superintendent of the lunatic asylum, for the counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the borough of Much Wenlock, 1848 / [Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum].

  • Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fourth annual report of the medical superintendent of the lunatic asylum, for the counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the borough of Much Wenlock, 1848 / [Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ally, free from annoyance ; and in an institution capable of con- taming 176 individuals, the number of separate Chambers for single persons was no more than 12,—or less than one-fourteenth of the entire number of the Inmates. The utmost extent to which the classification, if such it may be termed, could be carried, was into no more than three Wards on each side of the institution ; and, from the circumstances above mentioned, even this was not capable of being completely carried out. The Exercising Courts were too small, as well as too few in number, so that even out of the House it was often impracticable for orderly and quiet Patients to escape from such scenes of tumult as were excessively disagreeable to them ; and the outer Grounds were for a long time in such a state as rendered them of comparatively little value for the purposes of employment and recreation. It is not necessary to refer particularly to the structural changes which have from time to time been made in the arrange¬ ments of the older portion of the Building, as these have been described in former Reports; but so far as regards the advant¬ ages which have resulted from them in the way of improved adaptation to the uses and objects for which they were designed, it is very gratifying to be able to state that they are most satisfactory. The extent and kind of accommodation which is afforded by the new wing have placed the means employed in the treatment of the Patients upon an entirely new and comparatively very advan¬ tageous footing. By the acquisition of three new Galleries, with their corresponding Day Rooms, on? each side of the institution, a most important improvement has been effected so far as regards the classification of the Patients during the day time; and the addition of forty-two single Chambers to the twelve which pre¬ viously existed, has afforded such a facility for maintaining com¬ parative tranquillity at night, that the character of the establish¬ ment with respect to order and comfort is as different as possible from what it used to be. The general arrangement of the Patients since the new wing was opened on the 1st of March, 1849, has been as follows : viz — 1. The orderly and convalescent who are most capable of rational enjoyment. 2. Those who are capable of a considerable degree of rational enjoyment, but who are not usually so much under the influence of self-control as to be fitly associated with the first class. 3. Those who possess little power of self control, whose habits are consequently apt to be offensive to the more orderly classes, and such as for the most part liavq com¬ paratively little capability of rational enjoyment. 4. The helpless and demented, and more particularly those who are insensible to the calls of nature.