Report on lunatic asylums / by Fredc. Norton Manning.
- Manning, Frederick Norton, 1839-1903.
- Date:
- 1868
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report on lunatic asylums / by Fredc. Norton Manning. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.
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![1?!, a.'^ a ri iile, found desirable to obtain the supply iu tliis way, if possible, so as t<> avoid multiplying the separate departments of an asylum, and so mereasins the dittieulties ot manai;tnnent and superintendence, which, under any circumstances, must bo great. ^ At the Sussex Countv, and at Stafford, the gas apparatus belonging to the asylum was disused as soon as gas could be obtained Irom local companies. At the iormer institution the cost is said to be somewhat increased, but the savnig ot trouble and responsibility to the management is very great; at Stafford it is obtained at a cheaper rate Hum it\'ould be manufactured; and the same is the case at the New 1 ork State Asylum, where the manufacture was discontinued because it proved to be a nuisance to the institution. At the State iVsylum, Brt)admoor, the gas works Avere erected and for some time worked under the asylum mauagemcut; but it has been deemed advisable to deliver over the apparatus to a gas manutacturei-, who keeps it in re[)air and, finding his own coals, supplies the asylum with gas at a fixed price per 1,000 feet. The gas works at asylums are generally placed at some distance Jrom the main building. In several asylums the site selected is near the farm buildings. One man is generally found able to manage the works and keep up a c(jnstant supply. In some American institutions gas is made by very ingenious ])rocesses. At the (xovernment Asylum, AYashingtou, petroleum is used, and the apparatus is much smaller and more handy than usual. At the New Jersey State Asylum, and at the New York Inebriate Asylum, gaso- Hne or automatic gas is used, aud is reported to answer well iu every res]iect, and to be cheaper in its manufacture. The apparatus is described iu the report of the asylum for 18t)G, as the 'Solar Gas Machine,' patented by O. P. Drake, of Boston, and furnished through the agency of Messrs. Ferris & Co., Philadelphia. By this arrangement the building has been successfully lighted at a considerably diminished cost as compared with the old system of lighting by gas made by the heat process. The fixtures consist of a wrought-iron tank for receiving the gasoline (which is a high proof naphtha), three close pans or vessels of cast-iron called evaporators, into which the liquid is drawn from the receiving tank, and a large meter wheel driven by weights which passes the air over the li(pn'd. In its passage through the evaporators and over the na])htha the air becomes so charged with the vapour that it burns like gas. The only attention demanded by the apparatus is to supply the liquid and wind up the weights once in twenty-four hours, requiring from five to ten minutes time. These fixtures are placed hi a room under the pavement outside of the foundation walls of the centre building, where they are considered quite as secure against accident as any form of gas works. The objections to the process are that it is liable to explosion. A fatal accident has occurred from the use of this form of gas at the Treasury Buildings, Washington ; and a low temperature will cause the mixture of air and naphtha to separate, the naphtha being deposited in the gas pipes. It has, however, so far answered admirably at the New Jersey Asylum, and Dr. Buttolf, the superintendent, is enthusiastic in its praise. Gas is used in most asylums for the chapels, amusement rooms, day rooms, corridors and associated dormitories, the burners being placed in the rooms. Where it is desirable to light single rooms, the burners are generally placed in the corridor outside, and made to light the room through a small pane of glass over the door. In some (^mtinental asylums all the dormitories are lighted by burners placed in the corridors. The gas fittings which are in use in public asylums are usually of a sim])le kind, burners without glasses being used in many asylums for all the wards ; whilst at others, in the rooms for quieter ])atients, glasses, simple or ornamental are used, and the result is a much steadier light and a more finished and homelike appearance. It has been the custom, and still is so in many asylums, to place all the gas burners out of reach of the patients ; but in recently finished asylums the burners in the majority of the rooms are not placed higher than in private houses. In the American asylums, it is only in the Avards for the most violent that the gas is ])laced out of reach ; and in some wards for better class patients, chess and reading gas lamps arc fitted to the burners by tubing, and allowed to stand on the tables. At the Montrose A sylum the burners in the passages and staircases are fitted to short pipes about (5 inches long, i)laced high, and projecting from the Avail at such a slope as to make it impossible for j)atients to hang anything, or themselves on them.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21292450_0059.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
