First annual report of the Argyll District Asylum for the Insane : 1864.

  • Argyll District Asylum for the Insane
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: First annual report of the Argyll District Asylum for the Insane : 1864. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    asylums, thirty-nine, or more than a half, have fallen into that hopeless condition known as dementia, where the power of reasoning is altogether gone. It is also worthy of notice that the proportion of epilepsy and general paralysis is unusually small, being only about three per cent. Causes of The third table shows the causes of insanity in those Insanity. . admitted from their parishes; and intemperance, as usual, occupies an important place among them. In nearly half the males the disease appears to have origi¬ nated from this cause. Duration In the fourth table the duration of disease previous Admission° to residence in an Asylum is shown; and it will be observed that all those cases in which there is a proba¬ bility of recovery have been sent in within three months of the access of the malady. Importance The importance of early treatment cannot be too of early • Treatment, forcibly impressed on the friends of patients, and on the members of Parochial Boards. In one case, a man admitted into the Asylum labouring under acute mania, was, owing to the deficiency of suitable means for his care previous to admission, allowed to burn himself so severely that, about a week after his arrival in the Asylum, he died from the effects of the injury. The wife of this man subsequently became insane, the disease having been produced, it is believed, partly by intempe¬ rance and partly by distress produced by the fate of her husband. She was sent in to the Asylum as soon as the necessary forms were prepared; and she has, since the commencement of the present year, been discharged recovered. Occupation The fifth table shows the occupations of the inmates previous to their admission. The majority of the males have been engaged in out-door occupations, either as labourers or as sailors and fishermen—thirty-five out of the fifty-three men having been so employed. Social A remarkable preponderance of unmarried men and Condition. women is shown in the sixth table among those admitted
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