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Page 49
5th. On the first day of the week, the Superintendent, or the principal
keeper of the Asylum, shall collect as many of the patients as may
appear to them suitable, and read some chapters in the Bible.
6th. When it is deemed necessary to apply the strait-jacket, or any
other mode of coercion, by way of punishment or restraint, such an ample
force should be employed as will preclude the idea of resistance from
entering the mind of the patient.
7th. It shall be the duty of the deputy-keeper, immediately on a patient
being admitted, to obtain his name, age, where born, what has been his
employment or occupation, his general disposition and habits, when first
attacked with mania; if it has been violent or otherwise, the cause of
his disease, if occasioned by religious melancholy, or a fondness for
ardent spirits, if owing to an injury received on any part of the body,
or supposed to arise from any other known cause, hereditary or
adventitious, and the name of the physician who may have attended him,
and his manner of treating the patient while under his direction.
8th. Such of the patients as may be selected by the physician, or the
Committee of the Asylum, shall be occasionally taken out to walk or ride
under the care of the deputy-keeper; and it shall be also his duty to
employ the patients in such manner, and to provide them with such kinds
of amusements and books as may be approved and directed by the
Committee.
9th. The female keeper shall endeavour to have the female patients
Constantly employed at suitable work; to provide proper amusements,
books, etc., to take them out to walk as may be directed by the
Committee.
10th. It shall be the indispensable duty of the keepers, to have all the
patients as clean as possible in their persons, and to preserve great
order and decorum when they sit down to their respective meals.
11th. It shall be the duty of the physician to keep a book, in which
shall be entered an historical account of each patient, stating his
situation, and the medical and moral treatment used; which book shall be
laid before the Committee, at their weekly meetings.
The sentiments and improvements proposed in the preceding remarks, for
the consideration of the Governors, are adapted to our present situation
and circumstances; but a further and more extensive improvement has
occurred to my mind, which I conceive, would very considerably conduce
towards affecting the cure, and materially ameliorate the condition, and
add to the comfort of the insane; at the same time that it would afford
an ample opportunity [Transcriber's note: original reads 'apportunity']
of ascertaining how far that disease may be removed by moral management
alone, which it is believed, will, in many instances, be more effectual
in controlling the maniac, than medical treatment especially, in those
cases where the disease has proceeded from causes operating directly on
the mind.
I would propose, that a lot, not less than ten acres, should be
purchased by the Governors, conveniently situated, within a few miles of
the city, and to erect a substantial building, on a plan calculated for
the accommodation of fifty lunatic patients; the ground to be improved
in such a manner as to serve for agreeable walks, gardens, etc., for the
exercise and amusement of the patients: this establishment might be
placed under the care and superintendence of the Asylum Committee, and
be visited by them once every week: a particular description of patients
to remain at this Rural Retreat; and such others as might appear
suitable objects might be occasionally removed there from the Asylum.
The cost and annual expense of supporting this establishment, are
matters of small consideration, when we duly consider the important
advantages it would offer to a portion of our fellow-creatures, who have
such strong claims on our sympathy and commiseration.
But, it is a fact that can be satisfactorily demonstrated, that such an
establishment would not increase our expenses; and, moreover, would
repay us even the interest of the money that might be necessary to be
advanced, for the purchase of the ground and erecting the buildings. The
board of patients (supposing fifty) would yield two hundred dollars per
week, or ten thousand four hundred dollars per annum.
Supposing the ground, building, etc., to cost $50,000, the interest on
this sum at 6 per cent. would be $3,000, there would yet remain $7,400,
for the maintenance and support of the establishment; a sum larger than
would be required for that purpose.
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