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INSANITY - ITS CAUSE AND CURE. 7
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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• __ -«©> . , .. ,^ Y V'. • I "We Are Al...
eessary we consider connection that the with duties mental of exertion that officer on will the require part of on the his patient part ,
_great judgment and discretion in their discharge ; so that while the carefull dition consolations of y abstain the of patients reli from gion will are any full thing not y afforded be calculated lost , si the ght to peculiar of disturb , and the that mental minds he con will of
the The patients state . of " Pauper Lunatics in our Workhouses is still deplorable .
On the 1 st of July , 185 8 , they numbered seven thousand six hundred a , nd sixty-six , close upon one thousand more than they feeble numbered and dis
eased only the in year bod before as well . as Most in mind of these and unhappy in a beings lement are to the twelfth - report of the y Commissioners in , Lunacy , the supp great increase in their
numbers is attributed to the neglect of curative , means applied in time to prevent chronic insanity takinthe lace of mere physical and
mentaldeterioration . We cannot g do better p than ive the substance of this , valuable report . It states that the proportion g borne by the
insane , idiotic , and weak-minded , to the other inmates in the workh land ouse , and varies Wales considerabl and tliat y in it the is considered different unions bsome throug that hout the En- - pro
portion g is greater , in remote rural districts than y in the more populous localities . Again , as respects the nature of the insanity , a marked
difference has been observed between rural and city workhouses . In while the former in the , congenital latterthe and weak imbecile -minded cases are hav held e been to foun form d to a prevail smaller ;
, portion , and cases of epilepsy and paralysis to be more frequent . Generallthe cases met with in workhousesare those of persons
y , suffering under chronic dementia , melancholia , and epilepsy : they comprise many who are idiotic or imbecile , none of them able to
take care of their own interests or welfare , or to conduct themselves discreetly , if left without some governing control . Some reduced to
poverty by their disease are of superior habits to those of ordinary paupers , and require better accommodation than a workhouse affords .
bett Many er nursing are weak , better in bod clothing y and , require and better better bedding diet . . Almost Many all require , and
particularly those who are excitable , require more healthful exercise , and all more tender care and more vigilant superintendence .
In some of the smaller workhouses , situate in the rural districts , a greater degree of comfort and content is observable than in the
larger houses which stand in crowded situations and are hemmed in by other buildings . In the former , the arrangements have a more
homely and domestic character , and there are more means of occuworkhouses pation , and of the free large exercise proportion in the open are of air great . But size of , the old metrop badly olitan
conminded structed , and and , insane placed inmates in the midst are generall of dense y crowded populations into . rooms , The weak of in-
sufficient sizesometimes in an . attic or basement , made to serve for ,
day and sleeping accommodation . Of the six hundred and iifty-fivQ
Insanity - Its Cause And Cure. 7
INSANITY - ITS CAUSE AND CURE . 7
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1859, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091859/page/7/
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