Fourteenth annual report of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester. December, 1846.

  • State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fourteenth annual report of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester. December, 1846. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In a peculiarly interesting connection with the contemplated resig¬ nation of the first Treasurer of the Hospital, the Trustees are obliged at this time to report the actual retirement from office of its first Superintendent, who had nearly completed a period of fourteen years, exclusively devoted to the regular and punctilious discharge of most laborious and self-sacrificing duties. It is unnecessary for the Trustees to refer, in any detail, to his services. All that the Hospital has been and is; all that has made it a blessing and a glory to the Common¬ wealth, and a model institution for the whole country, is to be at¬ tributed, in an eminent degree, to the professional skill, the personal address and energy, the conscientious fidelity, and the pure and ardent philanthropy of Samuel B. Woodward; and while the institution shall exist, his name cannot cease to be most honorably and gratefully associated with it. It was with the greatest reluctance, after repeated efforts to avert it, that the Trustees yielded to his decision to leave the Hospital; but, in doing so at last, they were compelled to admit the justness of his views in regard to the state of his health, which had evidently been impaired by his official labors, and also to defer to the private considerations to which, as they well knew, he had long delayed to give their due weight. The correspondence, in which his resignation was tendered and accepted, has been inscribed upon the records of the Hospital, and is also appended to this report. In proceeding to the appointment of another Superintendent, the Trustees deemed it fortunate that they had it in their power to procure the services of Dr. George Chandler, who had been for many years an assistant of Dr. Woodward, and who, upon leaving this Hospital, had been enabled to acquire the advantage of successful experience as a principal in a similar institution, in a neighboring State. They are happy to express their belief that, under his administration, the use¬ fulness and reputation of the Hospital will be maintained, and that those concerned in its welfare, may rely on his ability and his solici¬ tude to perform all the professional and other services which properly devolve upon him. The Annual Report of the Superintendent to the Trustees is here¬ with submitted for the consideration of the Governor and Council, and that it may be laid before the Legislature. The report is so full in statistical details, and these are so clearly arranged, that all who desire to become acquainted with the past and present condition of the Hos¬ pital, and to learn the many important and interesting conclusions which may be deduced from its records, need only to be referred to it.