Second annual report of the Argyll District Asylum for the Insane : 1865.

  • Argyll District Asylum for the Insane.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Second annual report of the Argyll District Asylum for the Insane : 1865. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    / If the Commisioners of Supply shall be of opinion that the sum of 5s. a week, exclusive of clothing, is not an excessive allowance for each patient, and will give formal expression to that opinion, it is thought that no parochial board in the County will hesitate to assent to a suggestion so reasonable, and so well calculated to satisfy all the interests involved in this important question. Should that result be effected, the incurable and harmless patients, released from unnecessary restraint, will be removed to private houses where they will enjoy all the comforts of which their unhappy condition is susceptible—the parishes to which they are chargeable will be relieved of nearly one-half the cost of Asylum treatment—the County will be saved the expense of additional Asylum buildings—and the wards vacated by the out¬ going patients will become available for patients who, if sent to the Asylum on the disclosure of the first symptom of insanity, will have all the chances of recovery which medical skill and kindness can afford. It cannot be too strongly impressed on parochial boards, or on the relatives of those afflicted with mental alienation that, as in the case of bodily ailments, it is on its first manifestation that the malady is most amenable to curative treatment, and that a case which might have been successfully dealt with at an early stage may, if neglected, speedily pass into the stage of chronic and hopeless insanity. In terms of the resolution passed at the General Meeting of 30th April, 1864, a statement of the Revenue and Expenditure for the current year was sent to each Commissioner of Supply on 20th ultimo. The Board considers that the Assessment for the ensuing year should be £2,500 apportioned on the County and Burghs. ANGUS FLETCHER, ALEXANDER CAMPBELL. JOHN RAMSAY. COLIN G. CAMPBELL, JOHN BEITH, Jun. 1 st May, 1865.