The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-13 00:00:00

night, and always with an attendant ;—that ha went to
the basement more frequently than elsewhere;—that,

" only so far as the general rules go,"
he made 720 inquiries as to the bodily
condition or comforts of the patients :—that the medi-
cal examination cf 400 patients occupied about one
hour (or less theft one minute to every six lunatics),
and that the bed-rooms were not visited or examined.
But the eviden3e was that of Mrs. HENRIETTA
HUNTER, the matron, a lady who really seems better
suited for a boudoir in May fair, than so vulgar a
place as Bethlehem. She recognises the treasurer as
her master—the controlling authority, who visited
the hospital once a fortnight. We annex a part of
her examination :

"Do you keep any notes of ;.hat you ie e ?—lf any-
thing very particular occurs, make a memorandum.
" You would not r&port it to anybody?—lt is not part
of my duty. I have never been directed so to do.

" If you remove a patient from the upper story to the
basement, to whcm do you report it?-1 do not report it.
The physicians and the resident medical man would soon
find out that the patient had been removed, and if they
thought it wrong, they would alter it.
You do not report it then—do you enter it in any
book?—I have a book in which I make entries from day
to day, and if I were to put a patient in a different ward,
I should erase the name from No. 1 or No. 3, or from
the basement, as the cc ,e might be. It is a book where
I put down the names of the patients. Ido not say it is
my duty to do so, but in it I record it, if a patient is
removed from No. 2 or No. 3, or any other ward.
" Who is that book seen by ?—No one. I keep it for
my own satisfaction. I have never been directed to keep
a book of the kind, but I do it.
" The patients sometimes refuse to take their food;
how are they treated who so refuse?—Why, the nurse.
and if one is not sufficient, two will feed the patient. I
have often gone myself, and I know Dr. Wood has often
gone to see a patient of this kind fed. It has occurred
that the stomach-rump has been used in extreme cases.

. .
. . "
Do you know whether the medicines prescribed for
the patients are daly administered?—No, I do not.
"Do you trust to the nurses?—They are directed to
be administered by the medical man, who gives the
medicines to the nurses with directions. _ _

" But yeti have no means of knowing that the nurses
fulfil their duty in this particular?--No; my only se-
curity is having for the head nurse a woman who has
been there some years, and in whom wo have confidence.

" Are you aware that any of the female patients in
the basement sleep entirely naked on loose straw, with-
out anything Ling interposed Letween the straw and
their bodies?—No, I never saw that. I will not say I
never saw it, Lcause I did when I first came there.

" How many years ego?—Elevc.:n, sad then I made an
applicatien for troughs to eneose the straw.

" It is only recently that the straw has been placed
into covers?—lt is only I. recent thing on the basement.
" Formerly they used to be put into the straw without
any cover?—Yes, with a blanket put upon them.
" Do you mean a blanket placed between the body of
the patient and the straw ?—No, not with regard to the
patient herself, but the bedding. The patient was pre-
sumed to have some sort of clothing or covering about
her, such as her flannel, or her shift.

" end a blanket over her?—Y, s.
" She was placed on She straw?—The blanket first on
the straw, and then the patien`.
" And then a blanket over the pstient?—Yes."
We need not go on. There is no use in proceed-
ing with the disgusting details of this Mrs. HUNTER,
whose humanity appears developed and exhausted iu
tho crowning effort of her matronship, that eleven
years ago she applied for troughs to confine the straw
in which the basement patients sleep ! A farmer's
lad would have done as much fur his master's pigs !
Of course, the matter is not to rest here. The
treasurer and the matron are e:oinently entitled to be
relieved from the further management of Bethlehem.
The whole system there must be changed. It is too
bad for human cruelty and carelessness to make
miserable those whom it has pleased Gov to afflict
with the loss of reason.