The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-11-29

S5S, ,5O7 SO
LIABILITIES.
For supplies. ............ .$11 1886 90
Salaries and wages .......... 3,143 SO
Total. ................. .$14, ,e7s SO
ASSETS.
Due by County Commission
ers.... S23,5 ,5l9 26
Pay patients, regarded good. 1924 SO
State appropriations, to Janu-
ary l, 1871. .......... G,O26 81
Extensions and repairs. :. 10000 90
!otal. S45,4fl 1O
The Board of Regents, in transmitting
the reports OF the Superintendent and Of
the Treasurer Of the institution, accom-
pany them by two important recom,ucu-
dations. viz:
1. That the beneiciaries should be
maintained by the State, instead of the
several Counties; and
2. The extension of the present new
building, SO as to enable us to abandon
the inferior quarters used for patients.
With regard to the first recommends
ton, it has my thorough concurrence.
The effect of the present system is to
throw the entire expense of supporting
the Asylum ON portion of the Counties,
while II considerable number are largely
in arrear Of their payments, as will be
seen by the table accompanying the
Treasurer's report. yapportioning the
amount of the tax on tho respective
Counties to the number of beneficiaries
accommodated ut the Asylum, and col
Letting it with the general tax, n more
equitable system will be reached, and
the Asylum saved from several embar-
easements to which it is now liable.
With regard to tho proposed extension
Of the Asylum, for which an nppropriu-
ton of $40, 600 is asked, think it's pro-
priety, rs we'll as expediency, are matters
of considerable doubt. 1t will be recol-
lected, that for more than twenty years
the suitableness of the present locality
has been q matter of discussion, while
the want of adaptability of the buildings
to their present purposes is generally
admitted In consequence of these def
ciencies, the South Carolina Lunatic
Asylum, which, ut its establishment,
stood at the head of similar institutions
in this country, has entirely lost that
proud pre.eminence, and now lags Ia
mentally in the rear. Among those who
have been most urgent for the abandon
ment of the present site and buildings,
are DR.. d. 81. Trezevant, the former,
and DIR. j. w. Parker, the recent Super
intendent of the institution, who unite
in condemning them for want of space
in the grounds and of suitablencss in the
buildings To these gentlemen, whose
long connection with the institution rem
ders their opinion authoritative, may
now be added those of DR.. j. F. Ensor,
the present Superintendent, who says
that, on taking charge oft, (the Asylum. J
August S, he found it far behind the
times in almost everything that is now
considered necessary i'll well-appointed
| Asylum; it's buildings are not of proper
capacity or construction. No greater
blunder was ever made in architecture
thaa the plan upon which this gloomy,
incongruous pile was erected; tho most
of the rooms are mere cells or chinks in
those on the ground floor damp and un-
healthy; that it would be, to say the
least, the greatest inhumanity to require
the patients to occupy them. In corro-
boration of his own statement, Dr. Ensor
quotes DR.. Wilkins, Commissioner of
Insanity for the State of California, who
is now making tour of the United States
and Europe, in quest of information
touching the subject of insanity, and in
stitutions for the insane, who spoke of
our Asylum Gas the farthest behind the
age of all that he had visited in this
country" with one exception.
With these concurrent remarks of
medical men of the highest authority, it
may we'll be inquired whether it is con-
sistent with policy or expediency to patch
up an old and generally condemned build
ing, by expending large additional
amount of money on it, and thus per.
petuate the institution in its present un-
tit locality, or to make the necessary in
vestigation as to whether more suitable
location could not be selected, where
ample grounds could be secured and
suitable buildings erected for moderate
sum, in addition to the price obtained
for the present premises. I commend
the subject to your careful and deliber-
ate investigation.
QUARANTINE.
The annual report of DIR. Lebby,
Health Officer of the Port of Charleston,
will be found highly interesting and
satisfactory, as exemplifying, beyond all
cavil, the important fact that with on
attentive and vigilant quarantine officer,
the city of Charleston may be considered
perfectly safa from tho visits of trOnical