The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-12-25
State to be Urged to Pro-
vide An Institution For
Care of Inebriates.
mot FOR INSANE HOSPITALS

The establishment Of state home for
inebriates and state colony for cpl
leptics, and the confinement of idiots
and imbeciles in county institutions
are recommended in the biennial report
Of DR.. Charles Gorst, superintendent of
the Mendoza state hospital for the in
sane, just transmitted to the board of
control.
During the past biennial period DR..
Gorst found that 1861 per cent of the
male patients committed belong to the
alcoholic class, and that per cent are
epileptic. The report is the most ex-
haustive analysis of the causes of in
sanity ever fled with the board Dis
regarding previous methods of CLASH
/ fcation, DR.. Gorst has made an indie
pendent investigation of each case. Of
the 1929 patients admitted to the Men
dota hospital in 1911-1912, DIR. Gorst
found that 1918 per cent of those ad-
mitted in 1911 and l4.74 per cent ad-
mitted in 1912 suffered from alcoholism.
This is an average percentage for the
two years of 1851.
Finds Strong Argument.
If the three hospitals in the state
Winnebago, Mendoza and Milwaukee,
admit 1900 patients during one year.
and three-ffths of them are men, J, says
Dr. Gorst report, sfthere would be
2SS alcoholic patients committed each
year. This is a very strong argument
in favor of state home for inebriates
where they would not be obliged to
live with the ordinary insane pa
tients.''
DR.. Gorst's tables show that APP
proximately three per cent of the adj
missions are classified as epileptics,
and upon the same basis of the admis-
sion of 1900 patients in year, CON
cludes that ffty-four epileptics are
cared for annually in these three insti-
tutions.
These are always chronic cases,
and most of them are sane except for
a short period after convulsion,' con-
tinues Dr. Gorst. They ought not to
be transferred to the county asylums
and be obliged to live their lives among
the insane. Instead, there should be a
state colony for epileptics. There are
enough epileptics in the state at pres
ent to occupy an institution of consid-
cradle capacity. =
Injury of Head Not Common.
DR.. Gorst says that contrary to popu-
lar belief of both physicians and laity,
statistics gathered at this institution
show that less than one-half of one per
cent of those committed are suffering
from injuries to the head. The report
also shows that during the biennial
period ninety patients classified as
senile imbeciles or idiots were admitted
to the hospital They amount to be-
tween 10 and IL per cent of the total
admissions.
If the state had home for inebri-
ates, 16 per cent, and colony for
epilepties, 3 per cent, and would send
seniles, idiots and imbeciles to the
county institutions, TO per cent, it
would relieve the state hospitals of 20
| per cent of their present admissions
and certainly would be more humane, +,
says DIR. Gorst It should be the policy
of the state to accomplish these results
as early as possible. These tables
show, too, that only about per cent
| of the admissions to this institution
were unelass.ied, which is very good
evidence that extremely careful atten-
ton has been given to diagnosis; that
in only per cent of the admissions
were the patients found to be not in
sane, which shows that physicians who
examine patients under an order of the
lcounty judge are nearly always cor
rect in their diagnosis with regard to
the patient being insane, but they are
far from correct in classification u
Insane Drug Victims.
| of the 1920 patients admitted in the