Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-11-03

me IacI tnaL tnls asylum Is so crowded as to
be able to receive only the limited number
have mentioned of recent and durable insane
means that in a few years it will have finished
It's life of usefulness unless it is enlarged It is
now SO years since its organization, and dur
ing that time, 1t has received 5000 PATIENTS
of whom 2l96 have been cured and 1885
have died, leaving in 1t now over 900 incur
able. quiet. harmless insane out of its 627
inmates. These 800 are the debris and the &C
cretions of SO years. The table given just above
accounts for this large number. We have now
30 in excess of our actual capacity, and we have
admitted this excess in our effort to accommo-
date all, and are consequently over-crowded.-
In a few years this will be an asylum filed
with incurable insane. 1t will be practically
SUCH unless enlarged. To remedy this, I pro-
pose that there be added to this thoroughly
organized and well equipped institution two
buildings for the reception of 1856 patients of the
quiet, harmless, and incurable class. This will l
give us vacancies for $50 new and durable cases,
and thus renew our life by allowing us once
more 20 receive and cure. In plain words, au
asylum capable of accommodating $50 patients
can be built and equipped ready to receive and
cure $50 insane for $50, 900. The only mode of
relief which presents ITSELF that Is practicable,
speedy, certain, and economical, is to accom-
modate all the stationary, quiet. harmless and
apparently incurable insane in two buildings,
planned especially for these classes. of whom
we have 1856. These additional buildings should
be near or attached to those now here They
should be three stories high, each story with
two large dormitories containing from TWEEN
ty to forty beds. The attendants rooms should
be between these dormitories with door OPEN
ing directly into them. The water closets and
bath rooms should be attached indirectly as
annexes, and there should be dining room at
the entrance on each floor.
Such building is practicable, for the State
now owns all the ground needed, and the pro-
posed site is vacant and adjacent to the pres
emit buildings. and every way fitted for the
purpose intended. The proposed remedy ia
speedy, for the buildings needed can be erect
ed and equipped in six months by our own la
Dor, under our immediate supervision. 1t Is
certain, for the class for whom 1t is intended
are present and ready, and their removal would
at once give rs 1sary S5G vacancies which
the jais. 1t is economical, for the inmates of
the proposed building could be cared for more
cheaply, as they could be fed, warmed, clothed,
planes necessary for their cure by the present
organized asylum staff. The kitchen, bakery,
here and in operation. The water supply is
abundant, and can be increased by the arte-
sian bore of $40 feet. yielding 45 gallons per
minute, already sunk and ready for piping.
1t is admitted that asyIums for the treatment
Of none but durable cases cannot be, and asy-
lums for the care of none but the chronic in
the former is apparent when 1T Is remembered
that majority of all cases of insanity are from
their outset incurable. Asylums designed for
the chronic insane alone are undesirable. Ex-
perience shows that Bsylums which combine
both these features, the treatment and care of
both durable and incurable, serve better pur-
pose and are more conducive to the welfare of
the insane than any other method yet devised.
This asylum exists for the cure, and conse-
but now when SO many are maintained in it
who cannot be cured, and so many who might
be cured by asylum treatment, If promptly af-
forded, but who cannot be so treated for want
of accommodation, are left to become in all
probability incurable from confinement In jail
or at home, 1t becomes the duty of those in
power 20 remedy this evil promptly, and to in
crease the asylum accommodations up to the
ptOportionate increase of our population, which
at the last census was about % per cent. From
all the sources of information that have been
able to reach, IL is generally agreed that in the
United States insanity is not increasing be-
yond the percentage increase OF the popula-
ton, 224- 10 per cent. The increase Is only APP
parent 1t might just as well be said that the
blind and the deaf are on the increase. Former
~ only the violent. the noisy Il, and the danger
nifty simply protected Itself. But now all who
manifest the slightest alteration of intellect,
OF moral conduct are committed as insane
The boundary line has been widely extended.
The nervous, the gloomy, the eccentric, the
the opium eater-all are sent to
asylums to be retained, and If possible cured.
The now acknowledged longevity of those in
asylums also adds to the apparent increase
We observe all the laws of modern hygiene, at
tending carefully to the sewerage, ventilation,
heating, and the providing of a well cooked and
simple fare, and as consequence the patient
lives an indefinitely prolonged life The result
world has been to lengthen life from the pro-
verbal thirty three to forty years, and why
should not the same result follow here?
There is also a marked char ge in public opin-
ion and feeling regarding asylum life and treat
ment. With the knowledge of what constitutes
the modern asylum, with its kind. mild, and
gentle curative methods. the Old prejudice
against asy iums is fast disappearing, and they
are no longer considered as places of incarcera-
ton, and brutal treatment. The recognition
also of the law that early treatment means
early and certain cure adds to the apparent in
crease Of insanity. Application for relief Is at
once made. Our comparative poverty In this
State is another factor here Many are now sent
to asylums who in former times would have
been kept at home and their condition never
known. And finally, the increased facilities
of travelling is another factor. The numerous
railways bring the asylum In immediate reach
dread of days and nights spent in stage coaches
in the company of the insane, which caused
their removable the asylums to be postponed
from month to month, and often Indefinitely.
The influence of this factor Is proved by the
fact that the cities and counties near the asy-
Iums send double and treble the number of pa
tients that come from places more remote
Here also nearness and ease of sccess have their
influence. Friends and relatives of the patients
can conveniently visit them, and satisfy them
selves of the manner of their treatment, and
learn the value of the asylum.
Weca safely reach the concl usion, therefore,
that insanity is not on the increase out of pro-
portion to the increase of the population, and
that we are too young race to show signs of
decay, and are not on the down hill road of our
life. The following compilation and estimates
from the census of 1880 bear me out in this con-
clusion
CENSUS REPORT OF THE POPULATION OF vIR-
GINA IN 1880.