Twenty-third annual report of the medical superintendent of the lunatic asylum, for the counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the borough of Wenlock, 1867 / [Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum].

  • Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Twenty-third annual report of the medical superintendent of the lunatic asylum, for the counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the borough of Wenlock, 1867 / [Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Asylums which have been attacked during the last three years sufficiently prove that this precaution has not always been found an effective safeguard against the introduction of contagion. Cholera made its appearance in several Asylums during the last year, and in the Devon Asylum, where it seems to have arisen spontaneously, no less than 35 patients were attacked, the disease proving fatal in 25 instances. Exposed then as we may he at any moment to the visitation of epidemic diseases, I think it highly desirable that we should supplement those precautions taken against the entrance of contagion, by precautions which would tend to circumscribe the disease whence once it has obtained a footing, and so limit the probability of its spreading; for that purpose, it will be necessary to provide ourselves with some means of effectually isolating any patients from the general body of the inmates when so required; but with our present accommodation we should be unable to do so, the Asylum consists of a series of wards directly com¬ municating with each other and all under one roof, it would be almost impossible even if we could spare the room, to effectually separate one ward from the rest, so that it could be used as an hospital for infected cases; we have no outbuildings, except the laundry and the chapel, and the only cottages on the estate are the clerks’ residence, and the porters’ lodge. The importance of this subject, will, I think, sufficiently excuse my again bringing it under your notice. The various particulars respecting the patients remaining in the Asylum is shown in Table 17 ; from it will be seen that of the total number, 470, only 84, viz: 38 males and 46 females are deemed curable, the remaining 386 admit of little hope of ultimate recovery and comprise 46 who are suffering from general paralysis, 37 epileptics, 28 idiots or imbeciles from birth, and 137 chronic confirmed cases in various stages of dementia. Much interesting information will be found in Table 4, winch gives the history of the admissions since the opening of the Asylum; from it will be seen, that the total number admitted during the last 23 years has been 2,505, and of this number no less than 558, or about 22 per cent, were re-admissions, a proportion, I believe, unequalled in any other Asylum. The number of recoveries is stated to be 1050, which is about 41 per cent, on the admissions, but of this number only 651 continued well, the remainder relapsed, and were re-admitted. In Table 22 the history of these recoveries is fully given, so that it may be seen how many of each year’s recoveries had relapsed, and how many had continued well. The accompanying Table is compiled from the Annual Eeports made by the Clerks of the Unions, and Overseers of Parishes, of the number of lunatics, idiots, and persons of unsound mind, chargeable to Salop and Montgomery; the respective popula-