The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-08-12
DOCTOR E. C. RUNGE.
of City Insane ASylum


institution has been serving the purposes
of reformatory and Industrial school and
Of a home for feeble-minded, epileptic, in
corrigible and simply homeless children,
without adequate means for their separa-
ton, which is nothing short Of a social
crime. The same may be said regarding the
present treatment of the Juvenile offender
confined in jail. The criminal. the vaga-
bond. the dissolute woman, are as often
products of misspent childhood as of
beredity.
THE duty OF providing proper care for
these classes will always devolve upon the
municipality since preventive measures will
never eradicate the dependent classes from
our midst. 1t is absurd to exact from the
most conscientious management such care
as long as the management is suffered TO
face most outrageousIy inaoeQuate housing
facilities. This fragrant defect should be
corrected by the ciuzens voting at the COM
ing election the necessary means for enlarG-
ing our eleemosynary institutions.
Many Patients in Asylum.
To-day the Insane Asylum shelters 666
patients. with a daily average for the year
OF &c. of which all but ninety 1--we in the
main building. The baleful effect of such
overcrowding is particularly teIt in the DIS
turbed and innrmary wards. We are also
unable to Isolate cases Of conta gious dIs-
ease, of child birth ana those requiring
surgical operations
During the year Al patients were ad-
mitted. which, adder to the patients remain
ing at the end of the last fiscal year, makes
the total number treated, l,l10 of which
Gig were men and AL women. OF these S2
men and AZ women were negroes There
were Il men and IL women discharged as
recovered. and AZ men and IS women left
the asylum very much improved. There
were 81 men and IS women discharged as
unImproved. Four inmates, three of whom
were TRUSTEES. escaped and are still at
large. There. were liz deaths in the year.
10 men and 10 women. The predomlnatiug
causes of death were: Dementia paraIytIca,
40; seniie dementis, lB: pulmonary tubercu-
losis, II. The higher death rate, 10 per cent
OF patients treated. is accounted for by
the addition to the population of 81 patients
suffering from demsnlia paraIytca, or
paresis, and So suffering from senile de-
mentia-
One death, that of a Jewess, was caused
by debility, brought about by her refusal
to take mouthful of food in period OF
30 months. during which time she was fed
through a tube
Low Rate of RecoVeries.
The unusually low rate of recoveries is
accounted for by the admission of a num-
Der of irrecoverable cases, afflicted with
serile dementia, epilepsy, dementia para
lytIca and imbecility.
The year was remarkably free from I'M
pleasant incidents and accidents. not even
an attempt at suicide being noted.
The most important innovation of the
year, Doctor Runge Gays, was the perma-
nent assignment of two members of the
Fire Department to duty at the institution.
The discovery of the fire In the laundry
on February 20, while the weekly entertain
ment was in progress brought forc.bly home
to Doctor Runee realization Of the made
| quate provisions at the disposal of the man
agement for prompt and successful evacu-
alton of the main buildings in the event Of
! fire or similar emergency. He recon-
| mends that the amount necessary for the
! erection Of suitable exposed fire escapes
should be allowed Immediately. The fire
| escapes, he suggests. should be arranged so
| as to communicate with the windows of the
| rooms of the attendants on each floor, and
as these windows DO not require bars or
| screens they can readily be used as means
| of egress.
improvements of the Year.
| Among the more important improvements
{, of the year was the erection of a new dry
! ing-room In the iaundry, and the addition of
a glass porch to the cottages. offeting the
! patients the benefits of sunroom at all
seasons Of the year. Many minor improve