Star.
London, England, 1815-09-04 00:00:00

MAD NOUSE&

ZETHLEM ROSPITAL.
ZITRAOII 1110311 TH$ IVIDSZCI OITZX ZZIOHI A 00M.
Min= Ot, THZ HMO Ok COMMONS.
Mr. Geneve Wallet, (Steward)—exAmination confined.
Has the Hospital a chaplain ?—Not the under-
taker that buries item, has them buried in a burying
ground in Golden-lane. There is a clergyman who
reads the service, and if they are buried by the Hos-
pital, some of the servants of the house attend the
funeral.
Do the keepers of the male .and female wards
always sleep within hearing ?—They sleep in the

•
galleries. -
All the patients, male and female, are locked for
the night in their cells ?—They are locked in the cells,
they used to go to bed as soon as between eight
and nine at Summer time.
At what time are the cells opened ?—Siz in the
summer, and seven in winter. The keepers are good
sort of men, and I tell them if the patients are quiet
and orderly. to indulge them a little longer, and
then they take a candle and lanthorn and send them

to bed.
Do not you conceive it would be a considerable
comfort to patients who are convalescents to have
lamps ?—Yes, if they were out of their reach.
Dr. John Weir examined.
What does the medical establishment at Betblem
consist of ?—lt consists of one physician, one surgeon,
and one apothecary.
What is the average number of patients they have
to attend ?—The number is in a continual state of
fluctuation, arising from receiving and discharging,
and also from the death of patients.
When you visited Bethlem in 1812, what was the
number of patients then in it ?—One hundred and

forty-eight.
Nave you visited it since ?—Not to make
.any par.
ticular enquiry, but merely to see one or two naval
patients.
Have you not visited the naval patients that were
in Bethlem, since you made your Report in 1812?
No, I have not visited them regularly ; .if a common
seaman in Bethlem applies to his friends to be re-
moved, the Transport Board send to me, and I visit
that patient, but I am not peimitted to visit ge-
nerally.
Do you consider the Medical establishment at
Bethlem fully adequate to the. treatment of 148 pa-
tients ?—I am of opinion that' the present medical
establishment is insufficient, even if they were to pay a
strict and exclusive attention to the 148 patients coin-
mitted to their charge; but that is not the case, for
they attend at Bridewell likewise, and the physician
and surgeon are in private practice, the former ex
tensively so, and the Apothecary lives at Islington ;
so it should seem probable that the Hospital is fre-
quently left without any medical assistant at it, in
case of emergency.
What is your opinion as to the medical treatment
of naval patients received at Bethlem ?—From the in-
discriminate system of bleeding and purging in the
spring months, which I have already adverted to—
from having observed patients lying perfectly naked
and covered up in straw • from their mixing the mild
and frantic patients together, and others being unne-
cessarily loaded with chains ; 1 am of opinion both
that the medical treatment is injudicious, and that
uncalled-fur severity is practiced towards them ; how•
ever requisite it may be to impose a restraint on, and
to inspire maniacs with a dread of their keepers, it
will appear but reasonable that the mildest possible
methods should be adopted for the accomplishment
of those objects.
With a view that due attention and justice should
be done to the medical treatment of each individuals
patient, what extension of medical establishment do
you conceive would be necessary in Bethlem ?-1t
appears to me that such an extensive field as this
Hospital presents for improvenient in the treatment,
of insanity, should be duly cultivated for this purpose.
I The various cases should be considered ; and the re-
sult of 'the practice in each carefully inserted in a
journal to be kept for that purpose : from this, the
most important practical knowledge might be coal.
Intmicated to the medical prblession in general ; to
effect this great object, I am of opinion, there should
be three or tour physicians, and a proportionate num-
ber of surgeons and other medical attendants at-
tached to them, the same as at other public hospitals.
Do you tirink it would be advisable to separate
Bethlem and Bridewell- hospitals, into two distinct
medical establishments ?—As the medical treatment
of insanity has hitherto beet, much overlooked, or at
least enveloped in mystery, with a view, therefore, to
extend medical enquiry into the nature of this ma-
lady, and the more successful treatment of it, I am
of opinion it would be a wise measure to separate
them.