Annual report of the General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland : 7th 1865

  • Great Britain. General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland : 7th 1865. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    33/290 (page 13)
    It appears from these Tables that the admissions are most Statistics frequent in the months of May, June, July, and August; that of Insanity. there is a general preponderance of female admissions, which, how- ~~ ever, is subject to considerable fluctuations ; that, as a rule, the male recoveries are rather above a third of the admissions; that the pro- portion of female recoveries is considerably higher; and that the number of recoveries for both sexes is, on the whole, lowest in the colder months. Insome months the number of male deaths is greater than that of male recoveries. A corresponding result is rarely found ou comparing the female recoveries and deaths. On the contrary, there is very generally a large excess of recoveries, The proportion of deaths, calculated on the admissions, is, on the whole, much higher for males than for females. Indeed, as a rule, the absolute male mortality considerably exceeds the absolute female mortality, notwithstanding the excess of female admissions. The causes which determine the higher male mortality seem to act most powerfully from December till April, both months inclusive ; in the remaining months the male mortality, consider- ing the predominance of female admissions, is not disproportionally high. The mortality of both sexes is lowest in August and September. These Tables must not, however, be regarded as conveying any very accurate information concerning the influence of the seasons on the production and cure of insanity, for, in the first place, the occurrence of the malady and the admission into the asylum are _ very far from being always contemporary ; and, in the second place, the discharge of the patient, notwithstanding his recovery, is frequently delayed until the expiry of his quarter. On comparing the mortality of private and pauper patients, the ratio is found to be nearly alike. Thus, in the seven years ]858- 1864, the percentage of deaths in Public Asylums was 8:2 for the former, and 8:0 for the latter, on the average numbers resident. The totality of the private patients under our cognizance (vide Table, p. iii.) is to that of the paupers very nearly as 1 to 5; and the mortality of the two classes (vide Table p. ix.) is almost exactly in the same proportion. There are many points of statistical interest, embracing, among others, the civil condition of the patients, their occupations, their ages at the period of attack, the causes and forms of their mental affections, the duration of the malady on admission, and the intervals between successive attacks, which we would gladly have brought under review, had the materials at our command per- mitted us to do so to any useful purpose. In the following Table we continue the progressive history of patients admitted into Asylums during the year 1858. For the reasons formerly stated, this inquiry is restricted to the results of this one year only, but these may be accepted as closely indicating those of other years :—