American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-04-01
ITO be continued.)
REPORT OF DIR. COLLINS


DR.. Collins, Chairman Of the Joint Special
Committee of the Cd Branch Of the City Coun-
ellis, appointed to inquire into and report on the
number, condition, and wants of the Insane
Poor in the Aims House of Baltimore City and
County, made an admirable report on Friday
last. There are in the Aims House, says the
report, 10 insane paupers, VIZ: % white men,
50 white women; colored men, and color
ed women. OF the whole number, 2S are for
eigners by birth; so are from the city; IA from
the county; from the Eastern Shore; l from
P. Georges county; from Vermont; from
N. Orleans, and / from Annapolis. Ten are
idiotic or subject to fits; and some-particular-
ly among the women-are old and harmless,
and cannot be cured. The annual cost for the
support of each insane paaper is about 500
The report, after deprecating the employment
of the temporary inmates ofthe Aims House, as
nurses and attendants of these unfortunate pa
tents, proceeds
The next subject for the investigation Of
your committee is the condition OF our insane
poor who are confined in the aims house. A
careful examination has produced the most I'M
qualified conviction that the trustees, the ply
sicians, and the manager have done all that
circumstances would allow for the comfortable
accommodation of this most unfortunate class
of the inmates of the establishment The cells,
although in a crowded condition, are comfort
able and neatly kept; and if this most pitiabe
class Of our citizens were placed beyond the
reach of hopo that any plan OF medical treat
ment could ever restore them to the free hight
and air Of heaven; to the enjoyments of the
domestic and social relations; to the discharge
of the active employments which constitute
the duty and the happiness of man; TO the ra-
tonal worship of the Great Father Of us all
who smites, and who alone can heal, and who
opens his ears to the humble penitent, whether
he bows down in lowly alteration and confess
sion in temples built by the hands of man, or
offers his sacrifice on the altar of the great
temple of nature-tten your committee would
have had nothing to do but to drop sympa-
thising tear at the Pitiable and hopeless condi-
ton Of suffering humanity.
In 1910, DR.. A. G. Robinson, one Of the at
tending physicians, presented to the board of
trustees an able report on the lunatic depart
ment, in which he says, "Although medical
skill is very impairment in the management OF
these peculiar disorders of the nervous system,
it is nc less necessary that, when confined, the
apartments of the patients should be well
warmed, lighted and ventilated; their personal
comforts studious y regarded, and their morbid
ly sensitive minds gently checked and soothed
by experienced, intelligent attendance,a whose
considerations of convenience" should always
be subservient to the probabilities of cure. The
architectural unfitness Of this building for the
accommodation of lunatics need not be argued
1t was not originally designed for their habita-
ton, and does not now afford the means of
either secluding or classifying them, according
to the intensity or peculiar features assumed by
their maladies." 1t is fact universally admitted
in thepresent age, that Aims houses are so little
fitted to the accommodation and cure of insanity
as to be regarded as sepulchres, in which the
mind is entombed almost as hopelessly as in the
solitude of the grave; and therefore your COM
mittee will dwell no longer on this subject, for
their investigation. If any member Of the
Council have doubts on this subject, let
him visit the institution, and walk, as you,
committee have walked, through the cells
which are the receptacles of this living death,
and his heart, while indulging in thankfulness
at his own exemption, will melt in tenderness
and be bowed down in sorrow; and, unable to
scan the righteousness of the dispensaton
which has allowed the disturbance Of the har-
monous action of the immortal mind, he will
"wait the great teacher, death, and God adore"
If man could look without emotion on the
chained occupants of these lonely cells in their
rcturnless punishment, the very stones in the
walls would upbraid him for his inhumanity.
Your committee have now arrived at the
last subject of investigation, viz; the wants of
the insane paupers of the Aims house. AS
this subject, so interesting to humanity, has
never before been presented in detail to the CT
ty Council, your committee claim your kind
Indulgence while they present. as briefly as
possible, the considerations which have forcibly
impressed their own minds.