Fifth annual report on the County Pauper Lunatic Asylum / Buckinghamshire County Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

  • St. John's Hospital (Stone, Buckinghamshire, England)
Date:
[1858]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fifth annual report on the County Pauper Lunatic Asylum / Buckinghamshire County Pauper Lunatic Asylum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/36 (page 19)
    We were glad to learn that the supply of good spring water is now abundant. It is obtained from the seven acres of land recently purchased/' and is pumped by horse power into a tank, from whence it is raised and distributed by steam power. We saw the Patients at their dinner, which was well served, and good in quality. In Gallery No, 6, on the female side, in which 53 Patients, including many epileptics and refractory were congregated, there are three Attend¬ ants, one of whom is constantly engaged as Superintendent of the work¬ room. Having regard to the number and class of Patients in this gallery, during this day, we think it most desirable that an additional Attendant should be engaged, whose principal duty should be to promote the exercise and recreation, and take charge of the Patients in the airing ground. We think that, by this arrangement, the comfort and tranquility of the Ward would be materially increased, and the ground would be kept in better order than at present. The beneficial effect of a similar arrange¬ ment has been felt on the male side. We found upon full enquiry that the Lavatory on the Upper Floor, belonging to Ward No. 1 on the male side, had not been used for many months, and that the 37 Patients in that Ward all wash in two basins in the lowrer Lavatory. We strongly recommend that the means of washing be furnished to the Patients generally in the associated Dormitories, and that they be encouraged and trained to make use of them. We suggest, for the consideration of the Committee of Visitors, whether it would not be advisable to enclose the open covered ways, now com¬ municating with the kitchen, to which all access at present is through the open air. The furnace, for heating the drying Closets in the Laundry, was not, when we visited that Department, in proper working order, and requires more constant attention. We noticed an Idiot Boy, seven years of age, named Francis Lloyd, whom we think a more fit object for an Institution for Idiot Children, than a Lunatic Asylum. We beg to draw the attention of the Committee to his case. (Signed) It. W. S. LUTWIDGE, ) Commissioners ROBERT NAIRNE, ] in Lunacy. * Note.—A plan of this Land, and of the Willow Spring, is prefixed to this Report.