Official reports of the trustees and officers of the State Hospital for the Insane at Danville, Pennsylvania : from October 1st, 1886 to September 30th, 1888.

  • State Hospital for the Insane (Danville, Pa.)
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Official reports of the trustees and officers of the State Hospital for the Insane at Danville, Pennsylvania : from October 1st, 1886 to September 30th, 1888. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Superintendent’s Report. -«,- To the Trustees of the Hospital : In the orderly movement of the seasons, we are once more brought to the end of our biennial period, when law and cus¬ tom require that the chief items of the work done by the Hos¬ pital, during the last two years should be laid before the public, and its present condition and coming necessities be considered. If a State is most prosperous when materials are wanting to make its history interesting or voluminous, we need not regret that what requires to be mentioned here will not make this an extended report. When the Hospital was planned and erected it was sup¬ posed that 350 patients of each sex was the number that could be properly accommodated. This has, however, long been ex¬ ceeded, especially on the male side, which has 150 more than this estimated capacity; and at least 100 more than it ought to have. The evils of overcrowding are numerous and manifest, when into the space required for four, an additional person is thrust, all the conveniences and appliances of a ward become inadequate. Nor is the evil confined to the ward alone, but reaches into the kitchen and other departments as well. But the greatest evil is mental, and arises from the character of the inmates. They are more often than others irritable and impa¬ tient under accidental annoyances. It is thus that collisions arise, and passions are stirred up, whereby efforts at cure are made difficult or nullified entirely. It is not probable that time alone will diminish our num¬ bers ; for since the law of ’83 has been fairly in operation the addition to the number of our male patients has been annually about fifty. The causes of the increase cannot, therefore, be