Eighth annual report of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester. December, 1840.

  • State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester
Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Eighth annual report of the trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester. December, 1840. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of labor is to be estimated by a higher standard than money. Labor is the health of the mind. It is that power in man, which unfolds and directs his capacities, and thus reveals and secures the sources of his happiness. The man who labors, shares first and largest in the fruits of his own toil, for, in every condition of human life, useful employment is the surest enjoyment, the best security of a “ sound mind in a sound body.” In a disordered state of mind, judicious occupation is among the best remedies, and agricultural and horticultural occupations are among the best of all. “ Grain and fruit are God’s bounty, the flow¬ ers are his smiles.” This beautiful thought of the poet, may come over the troubled mind, when engaged in the field or the garden, in the midst of Heaven’s gifts, with a divine power to dispel gloom, and infuse hope and peace and joy. The experiment of cultivating the gardens, and tilling the soil by the patients, has proved so beneficial to them, that the Trustees regard it as true humane economy, to purchase more land adjoining the Hospital farm, whenever favorable opportunities may offer. Another barn is now much needed for the use of the Hospital. The Report of the Treasurer, presents a clear, full, and satisfactory statement of the fiscal concerns of the Hospital. It appears that the amount of cash on hand, December 1st, 1839, and receipts from all sources, from Decem¬ ber 1st, 1839, to November 30th, 1840, inclusive, is $30,046 16 The amount of expenditure during the same term, is 27,844 98 The amount of cash on hand, December 1st, 1840, 2,201 18 30,046 16 It appears that the cost of supporting the Hospital, ex¬ clusive of salaries paid from the State Treasury, was, for the year ending November 30th, 1839, 29,474 41 For the year ending November 30th, 1840, 27,844 98 Difference, 1,629 48 The amount of cost of supporting the Hospital for 1840, $27,S44 98, divided by the average number of patients, 229, gives as the cost of supporting each patient, a fraction less than $2.33 per week. This is
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