Report of the medical officers of the Lunatic Asylum for the County of Lancaster : instituted 28th July 1816 1849.
- Lancaster County Lunatic Asylum
- Date:
- 1849
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of the medical officers of the Lunatic Asylum for the County of Lancaster : instituted 28th July 1816 1849. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![lai’°e boiler is extensively used for cooking1, washing, and drying clothes; steam pipes have been introduced into several of the corridors and dormitories, which have added much to the comfort of the patients during the winter months: and by the same means warm water in the different bath rooms can at any time readily be supplied. The removal of the old kitchen has materially enlarged one of the yards on the east or women’s side of the building; additional light and air have thus been admitted into the large dormitory below, as well as into the gallery or passage in the basement story to the front, and the alteration in a sanitary point of view is altogether most satisfactory. The old laundry is at present used as a dormitory far twenty patients, who are daily assisting in the wash-house or laundry. It is with deep regret that the Medical Officers have again to advert to the great deficiency of water during the last three months. The laudable exertions made by the Visitors a few years back to avert such a calamity, by forming a large reservoir within the grounds, calculated to hold one million and a half gallons of water, and obtaining its supply by pipes from a spring on the heights above Stanley Farm, have, during the late dry season, entirely failed. It is estimated that 18,000 gallons of water are daily required for the purposes of the Institution, and yet for two months back cer¬ tainly not one third of this quantity has been obtained from every available source. The wells in the immediate vicinity have all been put in requisition, and still it has been found absolutely necessary to exercise an injurious economy. It is not easy to conceive the difficulties which have to be contended with under such untoward circumstances, more especially in a crowded hospital, where persona] and general cleanliness are of the first importance. Every means that could be devised to meet such an exigency have been promptly applied ; and although the necessity for unremitting care and watchfulness still exists, yet it is consolatory to add that there has been no sickness in the establishment which can be fairly attributable to this state of things. Occupation of some kind is provided for all patients capable of undertaking it. Out-door labour, as being the most beneficial, is encouraged as much as possible; and many who had been unac¬ customed to this kind of work cheerfully render assistance. A large amount of earth has been removed from the north front of the building, the advantages of which have already become apparent, and in ad¬ dition much of the land is kept in a state of profitable cultivation. The workshops continue in full operation—the joiner, painter, and blacksmith, receive considerable assistance from the patients; and weaving, shoemaking, and other occupations are extensively en¬ gaged in—indeed all the shoes for the establishment are made by them, with the assistance of two paid workmen. The tabular returns will show that the women are not behind hand in industry, and that besides the large quantity of clothing made by them, they are extensively occupied in the laundry, kitchen, and galleries. It is no part however of the system of management merely to obtain work from the hands of the patients; all is done with a view to](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b3030832x_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
