The observations of the Governors upon the report of the Commissioners in Lunacy to the Secretary of State on Bethlem Hospital : with appendices.

  • Bethlem Royal Hospital (London, England)
Date:
[1852]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The observations of the Governors upon the report of the Commissioners in Lunacy to the Secretary of State on Bethlem Hospital : with appendices. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and candid course to make the enquiry wholly ex-parte in the first instance, it was, we submit, their plain and obvious duty to have communicated to the Governors the evidence they had received, and to have afforded them the opportunity of making such observations thereon as they might deem necessary before the Report was prepared. It is possible that the Commissioners conceived that by their Coinmimication of the 3rd July, 1851, and the 1st August, 1851, they were affording the Grovernors those opportunities of ex¬ planation and defence upon the want of which they animadvert. The first Communication, however, relates only to the case of Miss A. M., so fixr as it had then been investigated, and concludes by a request for Copies of the Rules and Regulations of the Hospital. TsTo specific information as to any other of the five cases reported upon was communicated to the Grovernors. The second Communication informs the President of the in¬ tention of the Commissioners to transmit their Report to the Secretary of State, and adds,—“ Before, however, so doing, the “ Commissioners desire to afford the Committee of Grovernors and yourself an opportunity of making any statements or commnnica- tion which you or any other Member of the Committee may be “ disposed to submit for the consideration of this Board.” With reference to the first part of the communication of the 3d July, it is obvious that the opportunity for any useful explana¬ tion had passed, and the inquiry was completed without allowing the Grovernors or any one on their part to be present during the investigation ; and with reference to the latter part, it will be seen by the Resolution of the Bethlem Sub-Committee that the several documents asked for were transmitted forthwith, accompanied by an assurance on the part of the Governors, of their readiness to co-operate mth the Commissioners, and afford every assistance in the investigation of any case relating to the treatment of any pa¬ tient in the Hospital. And as relates to the communication of the 1st August, 1851, the President, on the day following the re¬ ceipt of the letter, attended at the Office of the Commissioners,