Annual report of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum for the insane : For the year ending 31st December 1872.

  • Royal Edinburgh Asylum
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum for the insane : For the year ending 31st December 1872. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In regard to the administration of the internal affairs of the Asylum during the year, the Managers have little to record. The object kept constantly in view, both with them and with the officials in their employment, has been to add to the comfort, ameliorate the condition, and, if possible, promote the cure of the Patients entrusted to their care. They have the satisfaction of knowing that their efforts have not been unattended with success, as will appear from the following extract from the Report made by Commissioner Mitchell on the occasion of his last statutory visit. In reporting on the West House, he writes, “ It is not forgotten that the difficulties in the management of an establish¬ ment so overcrowded, and with such structural arrangements, are very great; that many important improvements have recently been made; that others are in progress, or in contemplation ; that the cleanliness and freshness of the wards are very commendable ; that the food is abundant, of good quality, and well cooked; that extra comforts are given liberally to the feeble and to all who need them; and that an amount of attention is bestowed on the amusement of the Patients which can never be alluded to without praise.” In reference to the East House, the Commissioner remarks, (< Some further improvements have taken place in the East House. For these, and for the improvements noticed so favourably in former reports, great credit is due to the Managers.” The Managers only regret that the funds at their command prevent them from carrying into effect many alterations and im¬ provements which the Commissioners suggest. In regard to the amusements, it is a matter of great regret that the room used as the chapel should be the only place available for the lectures, concerts, and dramatic entertainments, which are so much recommended for the Patients; and it is to be desired that some benevolent persons would subscribe a fund sufficient to erect a suitable place of worship for the inmates and officials, and thus put an end to the present practice, which is both unseemly and inconvenient. The Managers have to record their sense of the loss sustained through death during the past year of three of their number, Mr
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