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    318 INSANITY, PAST AND PRESENT.

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    Qp Insanity, Like Other Diseases, Change...

    in London—of the greatest frequency in North Wales and the provinces adjoining " . In reference to sex , the return is 13 , 896 men

    to asy 17 lums , 647 , and women have . consequentl About 18 y , 000 been of accounted these are for lod in _g- the ed in preceding various * ¦ - table . Of the remainder , about 8000 are distributed among more

    than 600 union and . parish workhouses . These belong chiefly to the imbecile , idiotic , and harmless class ; and , as a rule , are very

    badly off . The Lunacy Commissioners have loudly protested against the whole system , as not only cruel to the sufferers , but also fraught with mischief to the community at large . Those of our

    readers interested in the subject may learn many distressing particulars of their miserable and neglected condition in the excellent journal published by the Workhouse Visiting Society , which , though

    still in its infancy , is bravely attempting to improve the condition of the inmates in general . About 5000 reside with relatives , who in this set a good example to their richer neighbors ; the remainder

    are in lodgings , or boarded out ; the state of the latter class is far from satisfactory . During 1859 , the increase in pauper lunacy has been 1 , 127 . *

    As regards lunatics of independent means , we could say much;—at present our limited space compels us to defer especial reference to them to another time .

    By the report of the Scotch Lunacy Commissioners we learn that , in 1859 , the statistics of insanity in Scotland were as follows : —

    Private . Pauper . Males . Females . Total . Males . Females . Total .

    Public Asylums 413 396 809 858 829 , 1 , 687 Private Asylums ... ... 90 110 200 261 360 I 621

    Poor-liouses ... ... ... ... 2 2 328 ' 467 795 Private Houses 1 , 041 846 1 , 887 838 1 , 039 1 , 877 1 , 544 1 , 354 2 , 898 2 , 285 2 , 695 4 , 980

    We have thus a total of nearly eight thousand persons of unsound

    mind , and if we reckon the whole population at 3 , 000 , 000 , this would yield a proportion of one in every 375 of the inhabitants ; or again , numbering the paupers at 79 , 000 , and the insane

    paupers at 5000 , there would be one insane pauper to every sixteen paupers , or one insane pauper to every 600 of the _aggregate population ; and . further , one lunatic of the upper classes

    to every 1000 inhabitants . It has also been computed that in the 3525 * In w 1843 ere in the county number aslums of pauper 2298 lunatics in licensed amounted houses to 16 , 764 063 ; in of , work whom

    houses , . So that in seventeen y , year , s the number of insan , e paup , ers has nearly

    doubled .

    318 Insanity, Past And Present.

    318 _INSANITY , PAST AND PRESENT .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1861, page 318, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011861/page/30/