Evening star., 1895-09-06
GoDDlNG's CHARGE
Condition Of st. Elizabeth's Hospital for
tho Insane.
Report of the Visitors-Improvcme
Needed and Asked of Congress- -
The Hospital Farm.


the current year. The visitors are DIR.
DR.. Sunderland. Supervising Surgeon Gen.
eral Walter Wyman of the marine hospital
service, Mr.. William A. Maury, Surgeon
John Moore of the army and Mrs. DIR. Mary
E. Fuller.
The report is comprehensive and elab-
crate in its narrative of the work of the
hospital during the past year.
There have been 3Tl admissions, an aver
age of over one Gay. This is larger ac-
cession of patients than in any year since
the last two years of the war. The whole
number under treatment is 2,052, a num-
ber far in excess of that of any previous
year. There have been ninety-eight recov-
cries, which is twenty-eight per cent of
the discharges. Deaths there were to the
number of 179, mortality of 1913 per cent
on the average number of inmates, and S.72
per cent of the whole number under treat
ment. OF the deaths ninety-three were of
soldiers and sailors. The report states
with unmistakable directness that "the in
salubrity of the flats of the Eastern branch
Of the Potomac, In a great measure due
to the abortive efforts of the United States
government to fill them, Is every year in
creasing and is the probable cause of more
than one-half of the sickness occurring at
ST. Elizabeth's."
Malarinl Conditions.
Competent engineers have studied the
problem and say that by filling the flats the
channel can be narrowed. the current
quickened. hundreds of acres of valuable
land recovered and the malarial conditions
removed.
Despite all the preventable causes of
disease there are still living, however, at
the hospital two men and two women, VINO,
Of the s;xty-three persons who were ad-
mitted prior to June 80. 1850, and during
the first six months after the hospital OPEN
ed. One of the men styles himself King"
the other '"The High Priest of Nature"
The hospital grounds embrace 800 acres
and the village of seventeen buildings
house population of over $500. The asy
1um Is divided into six groups OF build
ings. The main building is that where
all cases are received and kept for time
under observation. The female depart
ment makes the second group. Here the
cclored females and the ep.leptics are kept
There are 375 inmates in this group. The
third group is for the criminal and homi-
cidal patients. 1t consists of the four
wings of the Howard Hall. Here 100 pa
tients are provided for. The fourth or
eastern group is for the male patients of
the quiet, chronic class. majority of
whom come from the Soldiers Home. Pro-
vision is made for $40 patients. The build
irgs are Atkins Hall, the Relief. the Home
and the common dining hail. Eight acres
of ground inclosed and beautifully laid
out surround this group The fifth or
rcst but connected BIZ a subterranean
galley, leading to it from the central and
eastern groups is for the male invalid
and epileptic class. This comprises the
and two This group cares for 800 pa
tientS.
Insanity Treated as Disease.
This group represents the most ad-
vanced method of caring for the insane, its
keynote being to treat insanity as a dis
ease which, like any other, may yield to
medical treatment and good nursing. All
about this group the grounds outdoors are
made beautiful and attractive, and every
effort is made to divert, rest and build up
the patient into the conditions of health,
strength and mental integrity. The sixth
group is the agricultural one at Godding
Croft, where harmless. but chronic, male
patients are given steady and helpful en-
ployment in gardening and field work.
This department is in its beginning stage
now with a nucleus of buildings to
which others will soon be added. There
are about fifty men employed here, and
there are as many acres of the finest gar
dening ground to be found in the district.
There are also twenty-five acres, of hill
side for vineyard and sixty acres suited
to fell crops, with over 100 acres of wood
Land and pasture.
- Estimated Expenditures.
The estimates for the next fiscal year
eHQlnS June ous 1891, are as 1ollOWS: Cur
rent expenses. sS6s. 500; general repairs,
$4,000; rebuilding shops $1,000; laboratory
extension, 81 500: heating apparatus for
new buildings, $500; electric fans and re-
sistance coils. $1,000; renewing and fire.
proofing floors. s.. 400; kitchen and dining
re ON, $500. The basis of estimate for
current expenses is 500 per capita for an
estima ted average number Of ,675 patients.
The appropriation is usually divided be-
tween the sundry civil and District bills.
The amount in the District BILL based on
the number of District patients, will be
The amount asked for repairs covers the
preservation of fifty-one buildings, seven
teen of which are hospital structures con-
tanning an average of 100 patients. 1t is
desired that the carpenter and machine
shop be rebuilt. The old building was put
up forty years ago, and has settled and
gone to ruin. The enlargement of the
laboratory is in the line of the important
pathological work that has been carried on
at the hospital for years.
There are incorporated in the report reso-
lutions of respect, adopted by the board at
the time of the death of the late Dr. Well
ing, who was for eighteen years member
of the board.
In closing, the report says: Hospitals
Ike nations, are happy when their annals
are tresome. The daily routine of hospital
life may well seem that the same work is
done over again; a quiet glance that may
require to change nothing, but the over
sight is there: word for this one, a smile
third-a cup of cold water only-that
shall not fail of its reward; these make up
their day, day that becomes their life"