Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-07-10

including twelve hundred acres of land.
The present value of the property, as es-
timated by Gov. Holbrook, one of the
trustees, is 100000 Your commit
tee estimate it at very considerable eX-
cess of that amount The interest of the
State in this vast property is simply that
by the acts of 1910 and 1S43, if it ceases
to be an insane asylum the State have a
lien upon it for the security of the TWEEN
ty-three thousand dollars heretofore in
vested. The property is owned by pri-
vate corporation, the trustees of which
are A. Keyes, n. B. Williston, Frederick
Holbrook and Daniel kellogg.
The trustees, while refusing to recog-
nize any authority in your committee, yet
afforded them free access to all parts of
the buildings and grounds, and inspection
of the records and other papers of the
institution, and treated us with uniform
courtesy. In the progress of our inves-
tigation, besides visiting the asylums at
northampton, Mass, and Concord, n. H,
Gas directed by joint resolution of the
Legislature, we visited the asylum at
Brattleboro ON three different occasions,
viz. Oct 18th, 1879; Nov 10th, 1879
and June "a, 1878. At the time of our
first visit, we found the number of pa
tients at the asylum to be four hundred
and eighty-five-a number, as the com
mittee believe, and as the officers of the
institution admit in their testimony, far
too large for the capacity of the buildings
comfortably to provide in this view,
your committee is sustained by the testi-
mony of Commissioner Billiard, who
fixes three hundred patients as the maxi
mum number which the asylum could
accommodates About seventy-five of
the patients were, at the time of our
visit, confined in underground apart
ments which were damp, unwholesome,
and entirely unfit for occupation by hu-
man beings The sleeping apartments
in this underground portion were small,
illy-ventilated, warmed and lighted
The sleeping apartments of the males
being altogether too small, while some
| of those in the female ward were only
nine feet in depth, by four in width and
eight in hight, opening into a narrow
! hall and ventilated only by eight two
| inch augur-holes bored through the door.
About midway of the length of one of
these lower wards, and at the end of
| another ward, and at the side are sinks,
which receive the urine and Stops from
! the wards above, and at all seasons of
| the wear must impart unwholesOme
/ OdOrs. On the occasion of our first Wis
it, although disinfectants had been freely
used, your committee found the odCrs
extremely unpleasant. The officers of
! the institution offer as an excuse for
combining patients in this unwhOlesome
manner. that, at the time the asylum was
| built, it was common tOuse underground
apartments for confinement of patients
| and DR.. Bancroft. of the New Hamp-
shire Asylum, informed us that a por-
ton of that asylum was so built, but
had not been used for any such purpose
for many years past. We believe the
confinement of any person, sane or in
! sane, in these underground apartments
to be cruel and that the officers and en-
| ploycs of the institution should be pro
/ hibitcd under heavy penalties from here
after placing any insane person in these
| apartments.
Your committee find the fact that the
whole of said asylum was at the time OF
their first visit, inadequatcly warmed
and ventilated: we also nO1icCd at this
and subsequent visits, the almost entire
! absence of anything to relieve the harsh
| ness of restraint; very few pictures
broke the hard outlines of the hall walls
while Mt northampton and Concord We
found the walls embClishcd With pic.
lures not costly, bat pleasant to the
eve and sense, and which we believe
must tend to draw these unfortunates
from contemplation of themselves. ant
form a means toward their cure. Al
/ Northampton. we also found large
yard decorated with shrubs, and yet
scarcely enclosed, where the more dan
gerous class of patients might exercise
and in the central part OF this yard NJ
artificial mound had been made, enab
ling these unfOrtunatcs to enjoy the
beautiful landscape AT Brattleboro VIZ
found nothing of this kind, except some
small wards, enclosed with high anC
close board fences, without tree. shm(
or even grass, to relieve their untidlncss
We were told, it is true, that othe
classes of patients had exercise in labo
unon the farm. or in walks taken unde
the direction of their keepers, but fo
this class no effort looking toward op
portmitv for out door exercise o.
amusement seems to have been made
The cost of such yards as the one 2
Northampton can be but tritling, and WI
recommend that suitable yards should bt
built. We also find that at NOrthamp
ton nearly every evening the patientS,o
at least as many of them as are able, arr
collected together in the chapel of thu
asylum. and some of the officers of thu
institution read, or caused to be read Il
them, poetry or prose, and en-
terrain them with music, or
lecture and that patients mind
are thus, for the time, turned from
themselves or the particular subject o
their mania into other channels, and, il
the language of DR.. Earl, the superin
tendent, ''are relieved much more rap
idly. and their minds regulated and mucl
sooner restored, than they would b.
without this diversion" No such eXer
cises are practised at the Vermont Asy
lum, though we learn incidentally tina
Dr. Draper. the new superintendent, ha
introduced them somewhat.
While at Northampton, we were pres
ent at one of these evening meetings
and DIR. Minis, the assistant superlntend
emf, read selections from Dickens, AM
there was music interspersed, the chape
being furnished with piano and Este.
cottage organ We judge that abou
,, three hundred of the patients were pres
ent. and they were orderly and SCENE
, interested DR.. Earl kindly furnishe
, us with copies Oh the dhHudl ICloI u
: from one Of which, that of 1868, W
copy the following list of exercises ha
in the year previous
/. Exercises in chapel on the Sabbath
; No. days
Divine worship in the afternoon, 5
: 3. Exercises in chapel on secular even
ings,
: Scripture reading and sacred mu-
sic, II
r Sacred music and reading of poetry, .
, Sacred music and reading of prose, 3
: Lectures,
f Other entertainments,
8. Evening entertainments i'll the pa
tients' hall, -.....
i, Exhibition with magic lantern,
j, 4. Entertainments in the rotunda,
: Dance in the evening,
5. No gathering,
e Total, st
y We find that punishnents are somt