Thirtieth annual report of the directors of the Dundee Royal Asylum for Lunatics : submitted, in terms of their charter, to a general meeting of the directors, 17th June, 1850 with the report of the medical officers.

  • Dundee Royal Asylum for Lunatics.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thirtieth annual report of the directors of the Dundee Royal Asylum for Lunatics : submitted, in terms of their charter, to a general meeting of the directors, 17th June, 1850 with the report of the medical officers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to be painted, which has been most successfully accomplished by Mr Stewart, of Dundee, and is now placed in the Committee Room of the Asylum. At the last Quarterly Court of Directors a letter was presented from the Parochial Board of Dundee, requesting that the rate of board charged for its pauper patients might be reduced ; the present low prices of provisions having been urged as the grounds of the application. The question was fully considered by the meeting, and it was judged that the many wants and liabilities of the Insti¬ tution rendered any present reduction of the board of its pauper patients injudicious, if not impracticable. In deliberating upon this matter the Directors have been influenced by the consideration that, although it is undoubtedly their duty to charge the lowest possible sum for the pauper patients committed to their care, it is equally incumbent upon them to preserve the resources and appliances of the Institution intact; to adopt all those means for alleviating suf¬ fering which have been pointed out and approved of by science and humanity, but which cannot be thoroughly accomplished unless they at the same time preserve the funds of the Institution as free from embarrassment as possible. The trust committed to their hands, as defined and inscribed upon the foundation stone of the Institution is —“ To restore the use of Reason—to alleviate suffering, and lessen peril where reason cannot be restored.” This is the task which, in humble dependence upon Divine aid, the Directors strive to accom¬ plish ; and the present proposal to cripple the resources of the Asylum would prove a serious obstacle to its progress in the direc¬ tion pointed out by its founder's, who charitably subscribed the funds necessary for its origin. And it may be respectfully mentioned, that, since the promoters of this Asylum began their charitable labours, the population of Dundee has more than doubled; in fact a new population has arisen, but the contributors to the funds of this Institution have not increased in like proportion. Had there been an approximation to this result the present application by the Paro¬ chial Board of Dundee would not have required to have been made. While, therefore, the Directors strive to provide for the necessities of the sufferers committed to their care, at the smallest possible ex¬ pense, they earnestly trust that the poor of Dundee will not, without