Ninth annual report of the medical superintendent of the lunatic asylum, for the counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the boroughs of Much Wenlock, Shrewsbury, and Oswestry. 1853 / [Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum].
- Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum
- Date:
- 1854
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Ninth annual report of the medical superintendent of the lunatic asylum, for the counties of Salop and Montgomery, and for the boroughs of Much Wenlock, Shrewsbury, and Oswestry. 1853 / [Salop and Montgomeryshire Counties Lunatic Asylum]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![the ease here alluded to, as well as with an account of one or two other instances in which opium was thus employed; in order that you may readily comprehend the nature of the circumstances under which a practice so unusual may be beneficially adopted. It might perhaps be sufficient for me to content myself with the statement of plain practical facts; but I do not feel disposed to lose this opportunity of expressing my views respecting the nature of that pathological condition, which not only admits, but justifies, the adoption of a course apparently so hazardous. On the 23d of July, 1845, —— “ a puddler,” in the iron¬ works at-— was admitted into this asylum. At that time he was 36 years of age. He had gone from this part of the country some months before, in search of employment, and after various unsuccessful applications, and exposure to much dis¬ appointment and privation, he eventually found work at Glasgow. Adversity had not induced him to reform the habit of intemperance, through which he lost his work at home, and his first earnings wTere soon spent in whiskey. Becoming desperate, he made a resolute but unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide; was then taken to the asylum at Gartnavel, and was subsequently placed here. At the time of his removal from Scotland he was much de¬ pressed in spirits, and averse to any conversation or company; but, beyond this, he did not then manifest any decided aberration of intellect; and after the lapse of a few7 weeks, having become willing to work out of doors, there was an evident improvement in his physical, as well as in his mental, condition. By the time that he began to inquire about his wife and children, he had grown con* siderably stouter; and on the 10th of November, 1845, having become able-bodied, active, and cheerful, he was discharged, re¬ covered. He obtained employment at his ordinary business im¬ mediately after his discharge, and for about a month he followed his occupation very steadily: at the end of that time he took to drinking again, left his situation soon afterwards, and proceeded ‘‘ on tramp” into Staffordshire. Living in a most irregular man¬ ner, on such casual and scanty earnings as fell in his w7ay, he speedily manifested such symptoms of insanity as rendered it necessary that he should be no longer allowed to go at large, and he was taken into the union workhouse at W-. From that place he was brought here, and was re-admitted on the llth of April, ] 846. The change that had taken place in his condition](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30311706_0012.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
