Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1886-11-05
THE POPuL ATION.

On October 1st, was 627, there being 3l4
males and 313 females. This IS one-third
more than were there IN 1879. The num-
Der at the close OF each has for seven years
past been as follows:-1879, AS; $50, 479;
'e1, 492; 'S2, sos; 'S3. $50; "a, 500; 'S5. Clio.
and '86, 627. There were 1856 applications
for admission during the past year, OF
which 166 were admitted and ITO rejected.
The number of applications during the
year for room for pay patients was Is, of
which were admitted and rejected.
THEIR SOCIAL CONDITION..
There are go men and 100 women mar
ried, and 214 men and 176 women unmar
ried. Eight men are widowers and
thirty seven women widows. Of the whole
number 416 are quiet and harmless incur
ables, who could safely be associated in
large rooms in two separate buildings
designed especially for that class.
There are % male attendants, 25 female
attendants and night watches.
There are 30 patients now away On fur
Tough.
There are now in the various counties
awaiting admission to an asylum 81 male
and 80 female insane persons.
THE YEAR OPERATIONS.
During the year the following discharges
of patients have been made: recovered 10;
improved II; uuimproved s; not insane l.,
and died 49. The ratio of recOverles to
admissions was S.. 40 per cent; the ratio
of deaths to the daily average was 7.9O per
cent OF the 166 patients admitted during
the year, 80 were re-admissi0ns.
COST OF SUPPORT.
The daily average of patients in the
Asylum has been about 627 and the in
come of the Asylum has been-including
its annual allowance from the State Of
$50, OOO-$1OO, 900, making the annual cost
. p State Of each patient, 1854.
PAY PATIENTS.
me list of pay PATIENTS" says DIR.
Conrad s report. sis noticeable from the fact
of there being only So out of 627 patients
some of whose accounts run back as far as
1874 In the last year there were admitted
7who pay their board at 1925 month,
while among those who were rejected
there were s who offered to pay for their
maintenance. The reply to those who
ask to be admitted as pay patients, is that
no discrimination is made. either as
to admission or treatment, between
those who do, and those who do not pay
that the payment was purely optional, ano
if it interfered with the proper support
of the family and the education of the
children of the patient, it was not to be
Thought of. The only consideration that
. influences us in admissions is the
nature of the insanity and what vacancy
exists in the wards.H
THE CROWDED STATE OF THE
ASYLUM.
The report shows in strong light the
crowded state of the Asylum. 1t is filled
with the accretions and debris of the ad-
missions for tifty-nine years-since the
Institution was opened-and a large num-
Der of those who have in the progress OF
their disease become hopeiessly imbeclls
and idiotic, One hundred and eighty
four of the patients have been there from
ten to fifty years, and 116 have been ther'
from FIVE to ten years, making 1856 patti
ents who will surely be there for life
while of the remaining 241-most of whom
have been there for over two years-lt cal
only be seen at this day that twenty ar
likely to be discharged as recovered.
There are 1853 rooms into which ar
crowded 627 patients and there are nov
no vacant rooms Or beds.
Since the Asylum was erected SO year
ago, it has bad 900 patients and every yea
has added to it's list of incurables still re-
manning within its walls. OF it's nearly
1000 admissions there have been 2 1856 dis
charged as cured, Lose have died, aD6
there remain today 800 incurables out oil
627 inmates. The incurables are all il
good physical health from the fact tina
2hey are taken care of, regularly fed OF
simple food, go to bed and rise at the SAM
hours, aad thus lead an orderly, quiet, IN
q, ssg.ai LIFE Taken care of, body ant
soIs.N ,r5hey beco0se mere machines and liz
indefinitely some 10 e very Old age as mum
pers there now shoTv.
E4LARGING THE ASYLUM.
Dr. Conrad thinks that unless enlarged
tbe ASYLUM will il few years came to b
MACE not for the cure Of the insane, Blu
merely a place, fer the safe-keepiDg O
ineurable insane. as that class will yer
soon take up all the room IL has, 10 til
exclusion Of thoss who might be cured i
they could obtain admission. In view
this impending paralysis CT the useful
ness of the Asylum in the direction tha
IFS erection was intended for, DIR. q. re
.commends the erection of two building
for the reception of the 1856 quiet, harm
less. and incurabIe insane, which can b.
done at cost of $50 600, and thus Civ
room for about the same number of ne'
patients who have a chance Of being cured
The Superintendent strongly enforces il
his report tue necessity and advantage O
she early admission to asglums Of thos
who are attacked BIZ insanity.
THE ALLEGED INCHEAsE OF
INSANITY.
DIR. Conrad exhibits statistics to shGy
thai, The increase of Insanity in The Cnitet
States Is apparent rather than real. Tn
disease is not increasing beyond the pc
centage CT increase Of population p 4-1C
IN 1880, i'll Virginia, there was one insan
person to every eZZ of her Inhabitants, an
in 1886 one in every 700 Between th
faces, insanity in Virginia is divides
as follows: Whites--in 1880, 10 SOL ant
in 1886, in csc; Colored-in 1880, I il
9l3, and in 1886, in 1,O9S