Twenty-fifth annual report of the medical superintendent of the lunatic asylum, for the counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the borough of Wenlock, 1869 / [Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum].

  • Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Twenty-fifth annual report of the medical superintendent of the lunatic asylum, for the counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the borough of Wenlock, 1869 / [Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    some history of the mental disease has been ascertained. In one hundred and eleven cases the insanity may be traced almost wholly to physical causes, the remaining forty having a more purely moral origin. 22 per cent, of the whole admissions were of unsound cerebral constitution by inheritance, their parents or ancestors having been insane: in seven cases it was the only cause to which the disease could be referred; in twenty-three other instances it was combined with other exciting agents. Of the Males in this category sixteen inherited the predisposition from direct ancestors, and five of them had other relatives insane, the remaining eight had collateral relatives insane, but no direct ancestors. Of the sixteen who had insane parents, it was the father in ten cases and the mother in six; in three instances the father died in this Asylum ; in four cases a paternal uncle was insane, and in one both the uncle and grandfather. Three had sisters of weak minds, one of whom died here, and the aunts of three others were insane, one of whom is now-resident. In two cases where the predisposition was of maternal origin, the mothers had been inmates of this Institution previous to the birth of these children: the mother of another patient was admitted twenty- eight years ago suffering from puerperal mania after the birth of this son. The mother of another admission is still a patient here, and in her family, her two sons, one daughter in law, and two grandchildren are or have been insane. Of the 23 females of whom we have a history of hereditary taint, we find this predisposition was transmitted from direct ancestors in fifteen instances, of whom three had other relatives insane. In the remaining eight the disease appears in only collaterally connected relatives. In sixteen instances the taint was derived from the maternal side; in four the mothers died inmates of this Asylum. Three epileptic imbeciles have relatives of weak minds. One admission has her aunt in the Asylum, another her mother, (both admitted last year) and one female imbecile has an insane father, and a brother and sister idiotic. The predisposition left from previous attacks, was another active agent in the causation of insanity: in twelve cases it seems to be the only cause, and in conjunction with intemperance, mental anxiety, and bad health, it occurs in nine other instances. The insanity of twenty-five is attributed to diseases of the nervous centres—Epilepsy being the principal factor in seventeen cases, six of whom are congenital imbeciles. Intemperance by itself and in combination with other causes produced the disease in sixteen cases, decay of old age in ten, general bad health in six, uterine and those diseases peculiar to women in eleven, and seven cases were born with imperfect mental developement. The insanity of a male patient was attributed to excessive j oy he having obtained a lucrative situation; a few days after entering upon the duties thereof, he cut his throat and was brought to the Asylum in a moribund condition. Beligious excite-