Chapter 16

be to fill hospitals for the insane with unpromising cases, at a considerable increase of expenditure, to the exclusion of others more urgent or more hopeful. The answer to this seems plain, that if the accommodation for the insane is inadequate, every effort should be made to provide increased means of protection for those who are unable to care for themselves. It cannot surely be reasonably maintained that because the accommodation is inadequate for the want of the insane population, for that reason no further legislation should be put in force for their better protection, nor does the supposition that mistakes might occur in sending people to asylums who do not require to be deprived of their freedom, deserve more serious consideration. That such mistakes may and will occur for all time cannot be doubted, but there cannot be any reason to suppose that because increased supervision is provided, these mistakes would become more frequent. Such has not been found the case in England, where this Act has been in force for many years."[291]

The best thing we can hope for the effectual care of the insane in Ireland is legislation in the direction indicated by Lord O'Hagan and Mr. Litton.

ADDENDUM.

TABLE A.

NUMBER OF PATIENTS IN DISTRICT ASYLUMS, JANUARY 1, 1881.

-------------+----------+-------------+-------- Asylum. | Males. | Females. | Total. -------------+----------+-------------+-------- Armagh | 100 | 96 | 196 Ballinasloe | 266 | 197 | 463 Belfast | 262 | 201 | 463 Carlow | 137 | 116 | 253 Castlebar | 174 | 115 | 289 Clonmel | 213 | 197 | 410 Cork | 450 | 420 | 870 Down | 197 | 141 | 338 Ennis | 140 | 121 | 261 Enniscorthy | 157 | 143 | 300 Kilkenny | 129 | 114 | 243 Killarney | 178 | 124 | 302 Letterkenny | 200 | 99 | 299 Limerick | 235 | 244 | 479 Londonderry | 147 | 124 | 271 Maryborough | 155 | 118 | 273 Monaghan | 244 | 159 | 403 Mullingar | 240 | 194 | 434 Omagh | 284 | 201 | 485 Richmond | 451 | 571 | 1022 Sligo | 200 | 141 | 341 Waterford | 126 | 146 | 272 +----------+-------------+-------- | 4685 | 3982 | 8667 -------------+----------+-------------+--------

WORKHOUSES.

Insane and Idiots.

Ulster 1054 Munster 1036 Leinster 1170 Connaught 313 ---- 3573

In jails 3 In Dundrum 180

TABLE B.

NUMBER OF PATIENTS IN PRIVATE ASYLUMS, JANUARY 1, 1881.

-------------------------------------+------+--------+------ |Males.|Females.|Total. -------------------------------------+------+--------+------ Armagh Retreat | 16 | 9 | 25 Bloomfield Retreat, Co. Dublin | 14 | 27 | 41 Cittadella, Co. Cork | 15 | 9 | 24 Cookstown House, Piltown, Co. Dublin | 1 | 3 | 4 Course Lodge, Co. Armagh | -- | 12 | 12 Elm Lawn, Co. Dublin | -- | 3 | 3 Esker House, ditto | -- | 3 | 3 Farnham House, ditto | 31 | 23 | 54 Hampstead House, ditto | 23 | 1 | 24 Hartfield House, ditto | 29 | -- | 29 Highfield House, ditto | -- | 14 | 14 Lindville, Co. Cork | 13 | 19 | 32 Lisle House, Co. Dublin | -- | 3 | 3 Midland Retreat, Queen's Co. | 4 | 7 | 11 Orchardstown House, Co. Dublin | 5 | 6 | 11 St. Patrick's (Swift's), Dublin City | 38 | 63 | 101 Rose Bush House, Co. Dublin | 2 | -- | 2 Stewart Institution, ditto | 45 | 67 | 112 Verville, ditto | -- | 19 | 19 St. Vincent's, ditto | -- | 95 | 95 Woodbine Lodge, ditto | -- | 3 | 3 +------+--------+------ Totals | 236 | 386 | 622 -------------------------------------+------+--------+------

FOOTNOTES:

[251] Dublin. See _postea_.

[252] "Tenth Report of the District, Criminal, and Private Lunatic Asylums in Ireland."

[253] Page 34.

[254] See Report of Select Committee, etc., 1817.

[255] "Description," etc., 1813.

[256] "The accumulation of the number of incurable cases which necessarily must have occurred from time to time in these asylums, had also been overlooked, and has consequently led to the embarrassment which is felt at present with respect to the best mode of providing for them."--Report of the Inspectors, 1843.

[257] "Report from the Select Committee on the Lunatic Poor in Ireland, with Minutes of Evidence taken before the Committee, 1817."

[258] "An Act to provide for the Establishment of Asylums for the Lunatic Poor in Ireland, 1817." Introduced by Mr. V. Fitzgerald, but prepared By Mr. Thos. Spring Rice, M.P. for Limerick.

[259] Repealing 57 Geo. III., c. 106, and 1 Geo. IV., c. 98.

[260] See Twenty-seventh Report of Inspectors of Asylums, May 1, 1878.

[261] Parliamentary Return, ordered to be printed, April 19, 1826.

[262] Parliamentary Papers, Correspondence, etc., between the Home Office and the Irish Government during 1827 on Public Lunatic Asylums.

[263] First Annual Report of the City of Cork Asylum, dated March 1, 1827.

[264] For particulars in regard to the condition of the insane in Ireland in this year, see "Report of the Select Committee appointed to take into consideration the state of the poorer classes in Ireland in relation to Lunatic Asylums, 1830."

[265] "The Report of the Lords' Committee appointed to consider the state of the lunatic poor in Ireland, and to report to the House."

[266] Report of the Lords' Committee.

[267] Orders in Council were in consequence issued for the erection of the new district asylums, under the statutes 1 and 2 Geo. IV. and 7 Geo. IV., c. 14, which will be found on another page.

[268] This Act was preceded by the Select Committee of Lunatic Asylums (Ireland), moved by Colonel Dunne. Dr. Nugent, the Inspector of Asylums, gave in his evidence a minute description of the system under which asylums have been erected in Ireland, and stated that the expenditure on the seven asylums built since 1847 amounted L313,973. In the same year a Commission was appointed to inquire into the erection of district lunatic asylums, which reported in 1856.

[269] The Prisons Act.

[270] See p. 191. Irish lunacy is only incidentally noticed in this evidence, which had primary reference to England.

[271] The medical superintendent of the Belfast Asylum, one of the best-managed institutions of Ireland.

[272] _Journal of Mental Science_, April, 1875.

[273] Dr. Robertson to the Inspector of Lunacy, Report, p. lxxxvii.

[274] From editorial article in _Journal of Mental Science_, July, 1879.

[275] 8 and 9 Vict., c. 107, s. 15.

[276] Page lxii.

[277] Patients being sent to asylums on the pretext of their being "dangerous lunatics" when not so. See p. 435.

[278] Page lxviii.

[279] The Dundrum Central Criminal Asylum, recommended by the Committee of the House of Lords in 1843, and established by the 8 and 9 Vict., c. 107, was built at a cost of L19,547, and was opened in 1850 on the south side of the city of Dublin, capable then of holding only 120 inmates. When the writer visited it in 1875, he was very favourably impressed with its condition. Dr. McCabe was at that time superintendent, and has been succeeded by Dr. Ashe.

[280] "Parliamentary Debates," 3rd series, vol. ccxlviii., August, 1879, p. 1822.

[281] Ibid., vol. ccliv., July, 1880, p. 892.

[282] Ibid., vol. cclv., August, 1880.

[283] _Op. cit._, p. 894.

[284] "Parliamentary Debates," 3rd series, vol. cclx. p. 802.

[285] _Op. cit._, vol. cclx. p. 810.

[286] It was withdrawn July 8, 1881.

[287] See "The Richmond Asylum Schools," by Dr. D. Hack Tuke, _Journal of Mental Science_, October, 1875. Also an article in the _Journal_, April, 1882, by Mr. Fox, the master of the school.

[288] Only those supported by Government. The total number was 112.

[289] In 1873 the number was greater, viz. 664.

[290] The inspectors make a total of 13,051.

[291] _Journal of Mental Science_, January, 1882.