Fifth annual report of the Inverness District Lunatic Asylum : May 1869.

  • Inverness District Lunatic Asylum
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fifth annual report of the Inverness District Lunatic Asylum : May 1869. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    is certainly more robust and healthy than that of the females, who have a more pallid aspect, and who are said, as a rule, to suffer from excessive menstruation; but there does not seem to be anything in the diet, or general treatment of the patients, to account for this; and it would be interesting to determine how far this state of matters is prevalent among the women of the district, and whether it has to do with the hardships to which they may have been exposed before ad¬ mission. But in examining this question, it must also be borne in mind that the female mortality appears abnormally high be¬ cause the male mortality is exceptionally low; and this fact may perhaps afford a key to the solution of the difficulty, by institut¬ ing an inquiry whether there are any points in which the treat¬ ment of the two sexes differs, in such a manner, or to such an extent, as would be like to influence their health. The practical result of the low male mortality is, that the male department of the Asylum is now required for the exclusive use of pauper patients; and the removal of the private cases has accordingly been ordered. But the room which is thus gained will, in all pro¬ bability, soon cease to be sufficient for the wants of the district, unless it be found, on measuring the capacity of the day-rooms and dormitories, that more patients can be accommodated than are at present authorised. Of the present inmates, only 16 males and 19 females are deemed curable; and, accordingly, if addi¬ tional accommodation is found to be necessary, it may well be con¬ sidered whether this should not be sought either in establishing lunatic wards of poorhouses, or in removing some of the more harmless cases to private dwellings. But it should be thoroughly understood that the success of either of these alternatives will, in a great degree, depend on the liberality with which they are car¬ ried out. An average allowance of five shillings a-week, exclusive of clothing, for patients in private dwellings, is necessary to secure proper treatment; but to parochial boards this is considerably more advantageous than paying ten shillings a-week to the Asylum. The House was found in excellent order, but in several places the ventilation appeared imperfect. This was ascribed in great degree to the stillness of the day; but it would be a manifest improvement to increase the means of ventilation by making the lower sashes of the windows capable of being opened. The chapel still suffers from the evils formerly adverted to, but it is understood that steps are
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