Annual report of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum for the insane. 1879.

Royal Edinburgh Asylum

Date:: [1880]

Credit: Annual report of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum for the insane. 1879. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$The changes which have taken place in the population since the date of last visit are as follows :—• Admissions, Discharges, Deaths, Private Patients. M. F. Pauper M. Patients. F. Totals. 32 15 59 58 164 18 13 37 3G 104 3 3 14 10 30 With the exception of one, chargeable to Kirkliston, all the pauper patients admitted belonged to the five urban parishes forming the District. Already, however, 17 of those admitted have been found to have their settle¬ ments in parishes beyond the District. Of the patients discharged, 75 had recovered. The rate of recovery has thus been high. Of the unrecovered patients discharged, 18 were transferred to other establishments. The rate of mortality has been low, and neither pulmonary affections nor other forms of sickness prevailed among the inmates during the past winter, notwithstanding the severity of the weather. The existing state of health is good. The aspect of the men was particularly satisfactory, in view of the fact that they are entirely drawn from a town population. This is probably due, to a considerable degree, to their being so much in the open air. It is understood, however, that more women than men are at the time of ad¬ mission in a feeble and broken down state of health. The average age of those who died was 48 for men, and 52 for women. In the cases of 28 of the 30 persons who died, a post mortem examination was made, and the results fully recorded. All other medical records are kept with conscien¬ tious care, and show that the condition of every patient is minutely studied, and his progress carefully watched. The causes of death were general para¬ lysis in 5 cases, disease of the brain in 6, epilepsy in 4, phthisis in 4, pneumonia (with or without complications) in 4, heart disease in 2, exhaus¬ tion resulting from mental disorder in 2, and ovarian tumour, obstruction ' of the bowels, and gastritis, in 1 case each. Five accidents are recorded. Two of these were of a trifling nature. Two, involving fracture of the collar and thigh bones, occurred in the case of epileptics. One, a fracture of the femur, occurred as the result of an attempt at self-destruction, but it does not appear that blame attaches to the attendant who was in charge of the patient. There are 8 entries in the Register of Restraint and Seclusion, referring to 5 patients, all females, who were secluded for periods varying from three quarters of an hour to twelve hours. Twenty-five attendants and servants have left the service of the institution —nearly all voluntarily, none of them being dismissed for any serious fault. Of the 347 private and pauper male patients in the West House, 254 are profitably occupied. Only 32 of these are tabulated as assisting attendants. Of the rest, 184 are engaged in out-door work, and 38 as tradesmen. The women are chiefly employed in the kitchen and laundry, as ward cleaners, or in sewing and knitting. Only 15 of them are entered as employed in the laundry. The amusements are very varied, and suitable in their character. They include the regularly recurring as well as special dances and balls; concerts, lectures, and theatrical performances; dinner, tea, and garden parties, pic¬ nics, short residences at the sea-side, and visits to distant places both in this$

Annual report of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum for the insane. 1879.

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