Royal Albert Asylum for the care, education, and training of idiotic, imbecile, and weak-minded children and young persons, belonging to Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Westmorland, Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland : twenty-eighth annual report.

  • Royal Albert Asylum (Lancaster, England)
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Royal Albert Asylum for the care, education, and training of idiotic, imbecile, and weak-minded children and young persons, belonging to Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Westmorland, Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland : twenty-eighth annual report. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    their birth, and therefore through no fault of their own; of those who were placed in a position in which the divine spark of intellect, which, he thought was not wanting to some extent in every being that came into the world, v/as at all events overshadowed and overclouded by misfortune and calamity, until it had lost all power for actual use, and if left in that state would result in the individual himself or herself being reduced to the lowest possible condition, often of degradation and misfortune. Such a work must commend itself to all who gave it a moment’s thought. The work at Lancaster was carried on on behalf of the seven northern counties, and it had therefore the advantage that by a combination of power and resources, it was able to accomplish in one spot what otherwise would be scattered over many places, and by this combination it was enabled to bring a greater amount ot scientific knowledge and experience and research to bear upon the inmates who were intrusted to its care. The methods adopted in the Institution were purely those of an educational character. It was intended to be an educational institution. It was not a charity in the ordinary sense of the term—that is, an institution where individuals were placed, simply because they could not be provided for elsewhere, to pass a life of do-nothingness in compara¬ tive comfort to what would have been their surroundings at home. No ! The object of the Institution was educational : it was to try and fan into an active flame that spark of intellect of which he had spoken. It occurred to those gentlemen who originally combined to found this Institu¬ tion, and who brought it to maturity, that what had been done elsewhere could be done and should be done in this northern part of the country. That it could be done elsewhere had been shown to some slight extent in our own country, but to a still greater extent in America, where the care and education of the weak-minded had been developed to a marvellous extent. Acting upon this knowledge, the Royal Albert Asylum was founded. The development of the intelligence of the patients was gradually and systematically effected, and though the process was a very slow one yet he thought he might safely affirm that in the majority of cases it was a very sure one. It was marvellous to see how, by slow and steady degrees, the intellect became developed, and whilst the body physically became strengthened the mind was strengthened in a correspond¬ ing degree. In these cases of imbecility it was found that mental and physical weakness continually went hand in hand, and therefore when care was taken to promote the welfare of the body the improvement of the mind became a comparatively easier task than it would otherwise be. The work in which they were engaged at the Royal Albert Asylum was one which was doing a marvellous amount of good. Any who wished to satisfy themselves as to the work that was being carried on ought to go and see the Institution themselves. There they would see patients who had been in the Institution for different periods of time, and they would see those who had come in at the last election, and those who had been elected during the preceeding seven or eight years ; and it was wonderful to notice the great and steady progress which had been accomplished in the children who had been in the Institution for the longer period. He did not think it was possible for anyone to conceive it—that was to say, if they had any conception of what these unfortunate creatures were like when first ad¬ mitted to the Institution. To most people the term “ imbecile ” merely implied a weakness of mind, and they could not realise the condition of these unfortunate beings unless they were brought into personal contact with them. But, as he had said, those who had seen what they were on admission, and what they became after one or two years in the Institution, would be perfectly astonished at the marvellous change that had taken place. To see this progress was a guarantee that the work in which they were engaged at the Royal Albert Asylum was a good work and one in which they ought never to slacken their hands. It was quite