H.-8

16

it now contains 119 ; and tho extent to which it is overcrowded is such as almost entirely to destroy its character as an Asylum for the treatment of the insane, and to render it very unsafe even as a mere place of detention. Some of the dormitories give an allowance of only 216 cubic feet per bed, and several of the day-rooms are so crowded that one has difficulty and danger in wending his way among the patients. There are two airing courts, both of which are much too small for the number of patients confined to them. They are dreary yards, with no outlook nor proper shelter from sun and rain. The one for the refractory ward is enclosed by rows of single sleeping-rooms opening direct into it. The doors of these are left open, so that the patients can retreat into them for protection from the heat. They are dismal cells, with asphalted floors and small barred windows. The whole of this building has been condemned as no longer fit for its purpose, and it has been determined to entirely abandon it so soon as the male wing of the new Asylum can be got ready. Meanwhile no efforts are spared to turn it to the best account. It contains a good deal of comfortable furniture, and numerous pictures and other articles of ornament, and a billiard table, which is much used by the patients. Notwithstanding the many difficulties arising from the structural defects of the building, and the dangerous degree to which it is crowded, the patients appear to be very well cared for. They are clean, suitably clothed, and well fed, and most of them are tidy in person. But many of them, especially in the refractory and epileptic wards, are in a very unsatisfactory condition, being quarrelsome, excited, and prone to violence, and manifestly suffering great detriment from the close confusion in which they are huddled together night and day. One-man, G. D., who is a most dangerous patient, being very powerful, and having a strong homicidal tendency, is always kept secluded from the others. At night he occupies a single room, and during the day a large room (which is used as a dormitory at night by several patients), with unglazed, strongly-barred windows, looking into the court occupied by the other patients. In the present state of the Asylum, this is probably the only way in which this patient can be safely kept. As a matter of fact, being in a large well-ventilated room, he is better off than the others, who are confined to a small yard without protection, such as he has, from the heat of the sun. When seen at various times during the visit, he was always cheerful and loquacious. He should be entered in the medical journal as being in seclusion. The sleeping-room of this patient had a very offensive odour. He is extremely dirty in his habits, and paints the wall of his room with his own filth, and it is found very difficult to keep his room free from offensive smells. All the rest of the building seemed to be in as good order as its structure and crowded condition admitted of. One patient wears a locked dress, on account of destructive habits, and requires attention from the night attendant. About fifty attend chapel, and take part in general amusements, and forty enjoy the privilege of walking beyond the Asylum grounds. About forty are industrially employed. This last is a small proportion. Out of the forty employed, only twenty-one seemed to bo engaged in farm and garden work. Endeavours should be made to largely increase these numbei*s. Somewhere about thirty-eight patients are confined to the airing courts. This is a very large proportion, and strenuous efforts should be made to reduce it. The airing yards are wretched, depressing places, and confinement in them must foster pent-up excitement, and have a positively injurious effect on the patients, instead of any tendency to cure them. It cannot be possible that so large a number cannot with safety be taken out to walk in the general grounds. In many Asylums airing courts are now entirely disused. The new building, which is occupied by the women, consists of the wing of an Asylum, which, when completed, is intended to accommodate 500 patients. It is built of concrete, is two stories high, and is divided into four wards, each of which is self-contained. The two wards next where the central administration block is to be placed consist of wide handsome corridors, which are well lighted on the north side, and on the south side have dormitories, single sleeping-rooms, attendants' rooms, bath-rooms, and stores. They are pleasing and cheerful wards, very comfortably furnished and tastefully decorated. The two wards beyond these are not so well constructed. Each has a good large day-room for its centre, on either side of which are somewhat narrow passages, with bedrooms, &c, on both sides of them. Great pains have been taken to have these passages properly lighted and ventilated, but not with entire success. The day-room of the lower ward, though provided with large and handsome windows, is only lighted from the south side, which is felt to bo a disadvadvantage in winter. The earth-closets in use for these wards project from the main building, from which they are separated by a passage in which ventilation is well secured ; but the closets for the other two are inconveniently situated, and do not admit of the pans being removed from the outside, which gives rise to much annoyance. There are two airing courts—one is for the use of the refractory patients, and is asphalted, raised in the centre, and provided with a covered seat from which the patients can see over the fence into the surrounding country; the other is so large that it can hardly be considered as a mere airing court. It is only enclosed with an open wooden fence, and is tastefully laid out in grass plots, flower beds, and gravel paths, and is well planted with trees. All the female patients, except two or three very excited ones, have free access to this garden. There is a laundry and washing-house in connection with the female department, in which all the washing of the Asylum is done by the patients and one paid laundress. The female department of this Asylum creates an exceedingly favourable impression on any one going into it. It is comfortably furnished throughout, and at the time of the visit was found in excellent order. The patients were also in a very satisfactory condition, being suitably clothed and clean, and very neat and tidy in person. With the exception of one or two acute and excited cases, they were remarkably quiet and orderly, and seemed to be as happy as their mental condition would admit of. The attendants, for whose comfort a wise care is shown, seem of a superior class, and are well trained to their duties. About fifty of the female patients attend chapel and join in amusements, and some thirty are in the habit of taking walks beyond the Asylum grounds. About thirty-four are employed in household duties and in the laundry. Only one patient is confined to bed, and only three are restricted to the airing court for exercise, the large garden in front of the wards not being reckoned as an airing court. None were in seclusion, and none are subjected to any kind of mechanical restraint, except a suicidal patient, who, on the first day of the visit, was wearing a dress the sleeves of which were sewn together to prevent her injuring herself; and an epileptic, who has a special padded chair fastened to the floor, and provided with a strap, which, when she is violent to herself or others, is fastened round her