Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-03-14


The Trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital
at Worcester, having determined to attempt to
remedy certain evils of long standing, and to
| lessen certain disadvantages under which the
Institution has too long labored, are met at the
outset by obstacles which the Legislature alone
can remove and they have therefore request
ed the undersigned to memorabilia your hon
orable body upon the subject
In the first place, The SITE Of tie Building
has become gerry anifdrora5ie one.
The Hospital was built some twenty-four
years ago in the outskirts of the pleasant ag-
| ricultural village of Worcester. The first pa
tients enjoyed the quiet of the country and
the solitude of the fields and woods, so sooth
ing to their feelings and so favorable to their
cure. Now, however, their habitation is near
the heart Of city Of twenty-four thousand
inhabitants. who are rapidly increasing. 1t is
near the noisy centre of extensive manufac
turing and railroad operations and it will
soon be surrounded by factories and shops
| The patients cannot walk about the neigh
borhood with that quiet and privacy which
their condition requires and, even when they
are within the building, they are so near the
| highway that oilers and mischievous persons
| can excite them to raying BY calling out to
them and mocking them when they appear at
| the windows.
f. Secondly. The DRAINAGE Is ve1.y Imperfect.
The building was originally surrounded by
suchextensive unoccupied fields, that no reg
ular system of drainage was thought necessa-
ry but now, the whole waste water of the
| Hospital has to be discharged into lot almost
under the caves, and there to be absorbed or
evaporated as may be. This is becoming
serious evil. Already, at certain seasons, it
is a nuisance, and it may be a very dangerous
&c e raft rtd Of b,o
water or etfectually draining the grounds, ex-
cept at u very great expense.
Thirdly. The construction of the building is
for this age vcyy 5ad.-It was built when
comparatively little was known about the con-
| struction of Asylums for the Insane. 1t was
one of the first State Hospitals built i'll this
country. Since it was established, in 1882,
very many improvements have been made in
the arrangements and structure Of such in
stitutions. Ours however remains, i'll these
respects, as it was in the beginning. While
the world has made progress, and other Hos
pitfalls have been built on new and improved
| plans, ours has been obliged to stand still,
and has therefore fallen behind the age and
that which we once proudly called the best,
has become one of the poorest, in the country.
1t can not then offer the best means and facil-
ities for the keeping and restoring the insane,
store them with the certainty and the eeono-
my that they would, if all the modern i'm
provements were placed in Their hands.
| Fourthly. The Hospital is not propided acith
the means Of good gentiiatj0n. The apparatus
used for this purpose, has proved quite made
| quate. The efficiency depends upon the wind,
! and the condition of the atmosphere ; it can
never therefore be relied upon with certainty;
and it is liable to fail Just when 1t is most
needed. gisir6
The evil of imperfect ventilation was felt
before the Hospital was crowded; but, of late
years, SINCE the great accumulation of patients,
it has become very oppressive. In some states
of the weather, the air, in certain parts of the
Hospital, is very offensive and unwholesome.
1t is often such as no Intelligent or decent
man would willingly allow his own family to
breathe an hour. The records of the Trustees
! contain scores of complaints upon the sub
| jeet.
The Superintendent and assistants can not
remedy this evil. The various attempts to i'm
prove the ventilation have all failed of obtain
ing any satisfactory success. Nothing but ex-
tensiye thorough, and costly changes, will
answer this purpose. The primary difficulty
arises from the structure Of the building; from
its being too " low studded circumstance
which renders active and effective ventilation
so much the more necessary. The want of
height in the rooms and halls will ever pre-
vent perfect ventilation, even with the best
means. 20 Ai ~
Filthy. The method Of scarnsing is equally
Imperfect, and, n.oreooer, 1t is dangerous -
The building is warmed by means Of several
furnaces, which carry the air through long
Hues to remote parts of the house. This meth
cd is insufficient, unwholesome, and danger
Gus. The furnaces are beneath wooden floors,
and the fues, albeit of brick, pass in and a.
mong wooden partitions, which, in the course
! of twenty years heating, have become like
finder. A slight defect in one of these fues
may, at any moment, III the silence Of mid
night, set the building in flames
The trustees have been, and are. very anx-
ious about this matter The Superintendent
and his assistants have been very watchful;
and their watchfulness alone has saved the
building, and perhaps many lives, for the Hos
pitaI has been on fire at least flee ttmesi 1t is
liable to be ON fire again. and if the flames get
Roadway before they are discovered, there may |
be an amount Of human suffering, and loss |
of life, the bare thought of which is too ter |
rible for endurance.
The Trustees feel bound to call the atten-
ton Of the Legislature to this matter, and to |
ask for means Of warming and ventilating the |
Hospital, in such manner as no longer to i'm |
pair the health, aud endanger the lives, of the
patients; or else to make provisions for them
in anew building.
The Trustees have procured, and herewith /
submit, estimates of the cost Of warming and
ventilating the Hospital, in such manner as no
longer to impair the health, and endanger the
lives of the patients; or else toimake provis-
ion for them in new buildings
The Trustees have procured, and herewith
submit, estimates Of the cost of warming and
ventilating the building by steam, which they
regard as the most safe and effectual mode
The estimates for this, and for drainage, and
and other essential Improvements, vary from
500 900 1.-THE estimate of DR.. Chandler, Su-
perintendent) to &c., 900. The Trustees think
they are low. They believe that $780, |
would probably be needed and that, after all
is done that can be done for that sum, the
building will still be very imperfect, and much
inferior to others of the kind.
1t would be easy to set forth other faults in
the construction and arrangement ofthe Hos
pital, such as its having five kitchens, instead
Of one central one; its having comfortless and
unwholesome cages for violent patients its
having barns and pig sites under its very
caves, &C., &c. 4ag9
The main object, however, is, that the un-
fortunate should have sufficient pure and
wholesome air, and sufficient genial warmth,
without danger of being burned to death
and the Trustees cannot provide them by any
means within their power.
If the Trustees are asked whether in this
deliberate opinion, so large an appreciation is
absolutely needed, and needed forthwith, they |
answer that tits, unless the Legislature should |