Report on insanity and idiocy in Massachusetts / by the Commission on Lunacy under resolve of the Legislature of 1854.

  • Massachusetts. Commission on Lunacy.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on insanity and idiocy in Massachusetts / by the Commission on Lunacy under resolve of the Legislature of 1854. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    1855.] other means where exercise is combined with diversion, or in which the mind is agreeably and suitably employed. The only resort for exercise is, either to walk in the public streets or in the fields of the Hospital, or to labor on the farm or in the garden, which are almost as public. Unfortunately, the original site of the Hospital is small and surrounded by streets. The other lands which have been subsequently added at various times, as opportunity offered, are necessarily sepa- rated from it. Grounds.—The plan of the estate, which was drawn by Messrs. Boyden & Ball, of Worcester, and is herewith pre- sented, shows that there are twelve acres in the original lot on which the buildings stand ; four acres and twenty-six rods in the east garden, which is separated by Mulberry Street from the first-mentioned lot; and eighty-four acres of tillage, pasture and woodland on and about Chandler Hill, separated from both of the other lots by Central Street, and this is divided by Pine Street; and the situation of the whole estate is precisely the reverse of that compactness which is the most advanta- geous for a lunatic hospital. The grounds are not only overlooked by the people in the streets, but the pasture, the great body of the land, is the common and agreeable resort for the people of the city in their hours of leisure, and for the idlers and the loungers who wish to find fresh air and enjoy a pleasant prospect. The patients cannot, therefore, exercise in that place with the privacy that is generally requisite. These lands, then are of comparatively little value except for agricultural purposes. The surface of the ground being very hilly, the steep ascents and precipitous declivities will prevent its being used for rides; the stony soil of a part will not admit of much high cultivation; and its publicity must prevent its being used for walks with the free- dom that is desirable for hospital patients. Drainage.—The drainage is unsatisfactory. Although the Hospital stands upon a hill at the foot of which runs a small stream, yet the Trustees have been unable to obtain leave to conduct the sewer and carry the waste into that channel. It was not unreasonably supposed that the pouring of the offal 23