Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-03-03

/ MeTrlIndc COuulls WHICH Y nSLlt ultS Ll6
/ First District, and sent as fsllows TO the
| Hospital each year: From First District,
one in 2,440; Second District, one in
/ $40; Third District, one in $3.50.
! The hospitals at Lexington as the only in
( stitution for the insane Ia Kentucky from
| 1924 to 1855. -Four years Of its reports
within this period were howsyer not avail
/ able. The First District, FEyette county,
sent annually one in lbs of the people.
! The Second District, within thirty miles
/ Of Lexington, sent annually one in 1860.
/ The Third District, composed of forty
| three counties, ranging from thirty to sew
euty-ive miles from Lexington, sent one
in 1864 Of the people yearly. The Fourth
| District, including thirty-nine counties,
within from IS to $50 miles Of the Asylum,
| sent one patient in 24,132 of the annual
number living. The Fifth District, within
$50 to 800 miles from Lexington, ssent one
in 27,S01 people.
The Tennessee Hospital ftg the Insane,
| the only one in the STATE is located in
Davidson county. DR.. Jarvis, for the pur-
pose Of this analysis, took frJm the records
of the hospital, as printed il. the reports Of
my predecessor, DR.. VIM. A. Cheatham, the
residences of patients from 1852 to 1859.
He then divided the entire State into five
districts. IquOte:
"The First District is Davidson county.
"The Second District includes the six
| contiguous counties, which IRE within 80
miles of Nashville: Cheatham, Robertson,
Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson, Wilson.
"The Third District inc udes nineteen
counties, which are from IS to 20 miles
distant: Bedford, Cannon Coffee, De-
Kalb, Dickson, Hickman, Humphreys,
Jackson, Lewis, Macon, Aashall, Maury,
Montgomery, Perry, Putnanl, Smith, Stew
art, Warren, White.
"The Fourth District includes thirty-nine
counties, 20 to $50 miles from Nashville:
Anderson, Benton, BledsOe, Bradley, Camp
bell, Carroll, Cumberland, Decatur, Dyer,
Fentress, Franklin, Gibson, Giles, Grundy,
Hamilton, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood,
Henderson, Henry, Lawrence, Lincoln, Nc
MINI. McNary, Madison, Marion, Meigs,
Monroe, Morgan, ObiOn, Oyerton, Polk,
Rhea, ROane, Scott, Sequatchie, Van Buren,
Wayne, Weakley.
aThe Fifth District comprises nineteen
counties, from 80 to 300 miles distant
from the hospital: BlOuni, Carter, Clai-
borne, Cooke, Fayette, Grlinger, Greene,
Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson, johnson,
hLluAs LdlGcludlcs Dchloi' louAAAfehs Up
ton, Union, Washington.
sIn the seven and One-haif recorded and
published years, the First District had a
total SUN Of annual pOpulat' ons Of 325,64O,
who sent s. patients. Tho annual aver
ages were 43, AIS people and IL patients, or
l in 1923 Of the living.
'sIn the Second District the total Of the |
populations for the seven AMI One-half years |
OFT to ha
pital. The annual averages were 1920 |
people and l4.9 patients, O. l in S,3lS Of |
the living, at home.
'.In the Third District the populations |
were /, T24,5T4, and the patients l3l during |
the recorded years. These averaged yearly |
129,943 inhabitants aud IL + lunaLics sent /
to the hospital, or / in Is, Ia people.
'In the Fourth District he sum Of the 1
enumerated and calculated populations was 1
S.147,SlT. from whom l54 patients went TO /
the hospital. The a. nual averages Of these |
were 4I9. TOS people and 2O.5 lunatics, OF /
1 from every ZO,44O inhabitants Of the dis
trict.
sIu The Fifth District the sum Of the an
nual populations through seven and one |
half recorded years was l,5S2, 606, from
whom 100 patients went 10 the hospital. |
The yearly averages Of these were 2ll,Ol4 |
people and 1873 lun2tics, or ! IN lj,S2O' Of /
the living
In view of the facts thus eliminated, |
Dr.. Jarvis prOnOunces the centraliZiGg plan /
"uueQUGl and unjust" The distribution 4
Of hospitals, he claims, "will give to l
to all parts Of the state the privileges which 4
have been hitherto withheld from them, |
but which have been enjoyed by the cen
tral counties etc He proposed "tO ere
ate small local asylums in the west, north
east and southeast in the midst Of the peO-
pie wh8 wish to use them Tor theirlnsane."
He says:
The difficulties and expense Of sending
lunatics over long distances, or unfreqUent-
cd and indirect roads, or bT private convey
ances, are perhaps the most etlectual OBJ
stacles in the way, and more than any other
diminish the number Of patients, with the
increase of miles, that separate them from
the hospital.
aFor these reasons the towns in the neigh
borhOoi Of the public hospital in this State
have enjoyed more than four times as much
OF its benefits as the remote towns; and all
the ether hospitals mentioned in this az
ticle have been compelled to confer their
blessings in a similar, and some Of them in
I
people Of the neighboring than upon those
of the distant districts Of the State to which
respectively belong.
1--WE think we have here presented facts
enough to establish it IS a general prin-
ciple, that the advantages Of any public
lunatic hospital, however freely and equal
" they may be offered to ali the people Of
any State, are yet, to certain degree, local
in their operation, and are enjoyed by
people and communities to an extent in
to their nearnnss to or distance
from il.
s.Whenever and wherever the same causes
exist, the same effects must be produced,
and any hospital that may be hereafter
must be subject to the same
law"
If the sum of annual populations send
so much larger proportion to favOrably 10
Gated institutions than do populations in
remote districts, how fearfUlly apparent is
the injury long pTacticed upon the insane
Of East and West Tennessee, for want Of
hospitals located as they were two years
ago; and will members add insult to injury
by repeating the law? W. P. JONES.